Chapter 214: Yan (10,000 Characters Completed) Requesting Recommendations and Subscriptions!

Throughout the Northwest Region, sects abound, and the best locations were long ago claimed. Not to mention places like Yun Lan Mountain—a feng shui treasure—where cultivating Dou Qi and absorbing Heavenly Energy becomes far easier.

Thus, the land held by Yun Lan Sect is truly extraordinarily precious.

Mei Du Sha's beautiful eyes fixed intently on Xiao Yan's dark pupils, her red lips parting to say, "Fine, I'll trust you once. I'll return and notify the other tribal leaders."

Xiao Yan chuckled, "Don't go trying to persuade them and then come back saying it won't work."

Mei Du Sha gave a cold laugh. "Those who refuse to be persuaded are already dead."

Xiao Yan slowly extended his hand. "Then let's have a fruitful partnership, Your Majesty."

Watching Xiao Yan's outstretched hand, Mei Du Sha hesitated a moment before reaching out to lightly grasp it. Feeling the soft, boneless, slightly icy Jade Hand, Xiao Yan couldn't help but feel his spirit tremble.

She truly was a natural temptress.

Though reluctant, Xiao Yan dared not hold it too long—he turned and prepared to leave.

"Hey, what exactly are you planning?" Mei Du Sha watched his back, a flicker of unusual emotion in her eyes, and asked slowly.

Xiao Yan didn't turn around, only shrugged and said coolly, "Who knows?"

Watching the door Xiao Yan gently shut, Mei Du Sha's eyes revealed a hint of curiosity—even she herself hadn't noticed how increasingly curious she had become about Xiao Yan, even faintly harboring a quiet anticipation.

The next morning, Mei Du Sha vanished, leaving Yun Lan Sect for the Snake People Empire; after a day and night, she returned from the Snake People Empire, confirming her empire's joining of the Yan Alliance.

When Princess Yao Ye learned that even Mei Du Sha's Snake People Empire had joined Xiao Yan's Yan Alliance, she had no further hesitation and likewise announced her willingness to sign the agreement and formally join the Yan Alliance.

Not long after, Yun Lan Sect, the Jia Ma Empire, and the Snake People Empire jointly issued a "Yan Alliance Covenant" to all surrounding empires, formally establishing a collective defense alliance.

The day after the Yan Alliance Covenant was issued, on the border of the Snake People Empire, several invading armies from the Chu Yun Empire were instantly annihilated by Yun Yun, Jia Xingtian, Mei Du Sha, and Hai Bodong.

This meant the Yan Alliance Covenant was officially confirmed as real and effective.

The news instantly swept across the entire Northwest Region like a tornado.

"Yan Alliance Covenant? What's that!?"

"Yun Lan Sect, the Jia Ma Imperial Family, and the Snake People Empire have allied?! "

"No way! The Chu Yun Empire's army attacked the Snake People Empire and got crushed when all of them joined forces to attack and retaliate!"

"Are you serious? How did they suddenly form an alliance? Wasn't Yun Lan Sect about to disband? I heard Mu Lan Valley, Luo Yan Sect, and Wan Xie Gate planned to join forces and rob Yun Lan Sect—what the hell happened!?"

"I heard it's because of an alchemist with a unique flame—some guy named Xiao Yan—who brought all these factions together."

Not long after the Yan Alliance Covenant was issued, Xiao Ding and Xiao Li's Mo Tie Mercenary Corps and the Wutan City Xiao Clan finally arrived.

It's no wonder they were late—they had neither a Dou Wang nor a Dou Huang. After receiving Xiao Yan's letter, Xiao Ding and Xiao Li had rushed nonstop, spending considerable time flying to Wutan City on a Flying Beast.

Then it took several more days to fly to Jia Ma Sheng Cheng; several talented mercenaries in the Mo Tie Mercenary Corps were so sick from the ride they swore to cultivate to Dou Wang and never ride slow Flying Beasts again!

"Uncle Xiao Zhan, this way," Nalan Yanran, dressed in the silver-white Yun Lan Sect robes, had already been waiting at the mountain gate.

Xiao Yan's victory over Nalan Yanran had happened two months ago; the news had naturally reached Wutan City, and they had also learned Xiao Yan and Nalan Yanran had mutually agreed to cancel their engagement peacefully.

Seeing Nalan Yanran's courteous demeanor, Xiao Zhan still inwardly hoped to fulfill his father's dying wish.

"It's been over three years—we haven't seen you, Nalan niece, and you've grown into such a graceful, elegant beauty," Xiao Zhan said, his expression as gentle as an affectionate elder's.

Xiao Zhan was not actually old—only in his forties—but years of labor for the Xiao Clan had turned his hair partly white, making him look much older.

"Back then, I was childish and reckless—I dare not ask Uncle Xiao Zhan for forgiveness," Nalan Yanran said. She had lost twice, and after years of trials and growth, she had become far more mature.

The Xiao Clan followed Nalan Yanran to a residential area of pavilions and courtyards; the pleasant climate and magnificent scenery left the Xiao Clan members stunned, marveling endlessly.

"Look over there—there's a waterfall cascading down the mountain!"

"Wow! That tree is enormous—how old must it be? At least two or three hundred years!"

"Quick, look—the outer walls of these pavilions are built from jade! This is outrageous—no wonder it's Yun Lan Sect!"

Nalan Yanran explained, "This was once the residence of the Elders. Now it's been designated as the Xiao Clan's territory. Xiao Yan is inside—I'll leave you here."

Seeing this vast luxurious residential area, even the Xiao Clan members, who ruled Wutan City like local emperors, felt their scalps prickle.

"Third brother has truly done something extraordinary," Xiao Li exclaimed. Once, Yun Lan Sect had been utterly beyond their reach.

The meticulous Xiao Ding said, "Third brother knows we don't seek comfort—he called us here because he has something important to say."

With a creak, as Xiao Ding finished speaking, Xiao Yan himself pushed open the door and stepped out of the grand hall.

"Father, Elder Brother, Second Brother," Xiao Yan said, stepping forward quickly to face his family.

"Elder, Second Elder, Three Elders—long time no see," Xiao Yan greeted each elder in turn.

"Young Clan Leader!"

"Third Team Leader!"

Xiao Li grinned broadly, wrapping his arm around Xiao Yan's neck and ruffling his hair as he laughed heartily, "Hahahaha, Little Yanzi, I heard you've been showing off lately—started some Yan Alliance Covenant!"

Xiao Yan didn't struggle, letting his second brother mess his hair into a bird's nest. He rubbed his nose and smiled wryly, "About that—I'll explain to Elder Brother and Second Brother later. First, let me show you around. We'll be living here from now on."

Xiao Yan, rarely at ease, enjoyed this rare moment of joy with his family, chatting idly and strolling.

Whether it was Ancestor Xiao Xuan or his father Xiao Zhan, they all wanted the family to flourish. Though still far from its former glory, for a small-town clan to rise to become an elite family in the imperial capital was already a tremendous leap.

That night, after settling the Xiao Clan, Xiao Yan went to Xiao Ding's room, where Xiao Li was already waiting.

"Little Yanzi, you didn't do all this just for fame, did you? Something's happened, hasn't it?" Xiao Ding, the most meticulous of the three brothers, had sensed something off the moment he received the letter.

After arriving in Jia Ma Sheng Cheng and hearing Xiao Yan had formed the Yan Alliance, he knew something serious must have occurred.

Xiao Yan made no secret—he told both brothers everything he had learned from the Life and Death Gate. In this world, Xiao Yan trusted only four people unconditionally.

Hearing Xiao Yan's story—so fantastical it seemed like a fairy tale—Xiao Ding and Xiao Li were speechless.

For the former Dou Emperor Family, the Xiao Clan, and the present Xiao Clan, too much time had passed; nearly all traces of the Dou Emperor Family had vanished.

If Xiao Yan hadn't sensed the Heavenly Flame Three Mysteries Black Jade through his bloodline, he wouldn't have believed it himself.

"This… this is really unbelievable," Xiao Li finally managed to say after a long pause.

Xiao Ding's face grew grave. "Little Yanzi, you're using the Yan Alliance's strength to protect the family from the Soul Sovereign's retaliation?"

Xiao Yan shook his head. "The Soul Sovereign's power is unfathomable—the Yan Alliance cannot stand against them. For now, due to certain reasons, they believe the Ancient Jade was taken by the Gu Clan, so they won't act immediately."

"But I fear the other six Dou Emperor Families might develop ill intentions—so I want Elder Brother to temporarily manage Yun Lan Sect, using its resources to strengthen the family. If disaster strikes, at least some of us can escape and preserve the Xiao Clan's bloodline."

Xiao Yan's words shocked both of them—they never expected that the purpose behind their third brother's founding of the Yan Alliance was to buy time in case of emergency, giving the Xiao Clan a chance to preserve its bloodline!

This was preparing for the worst-case scenario!

With Xiao Ding's talent and cunning, Xiao Yan believed he could secretly control the Yun Lan Sect—and even the entire Yan Alliance—to secure the greatest possible benefit for the family.

Xiao Yan looked at his second brother, hesitated for a long while, then pulled out the Soul Robe belonging to Wu the Guardian from his space ring.

"Second brother, I want you to join the Soul Sovereign and take charge of the Soul Sovereign's branch at Yun Lan Sect," Xiao Yan said, a flicker of hesitation in his eyes.

The Soul Sovereign was an extremely dangerous organization—even Yun Shan had fallen in the end—and it required Soul Stones to hunt Soul Bodies, which was hardly an honorable pursuit.

Seeing the hesitation in Xiao Yan's eyes, Xiao Li took the Soul Robe, patted Xiao Yan on the shoulder, and said: "You're underestimating your second brother. I may not be as calculating as your eldest brother, but I'm no pushover—this kind of work suits me perfectly."

Xiao Yan had once considered destroying the Soul Sovereign's branch at Yun Lan Sect, but now, whether it was the Xiao Clan or the Yan Alliance, both were extremely weak, while the Soul Sovereign spread across the entire Dou Qi Continent—not merely possessing resources, but more importantly, possessing an intelligence network, which was exactly what Xiao Yan needed most.

If he wanted to learn about the other Dou Emperor Families, he could only rely on the Soul Sovereign.

To fight the Soul Sovereign, you first had to infiltrate the enemy's inner circle.

Xiao Yan intended to control both the legal and illegal worlds!

Xiao Ding nodded heavily and said: "You are the future of the Xiao Clan. You must keep growing stronger and cultivating. Let your eldest and second brothers handle these matters. Little Yan, remember: your strength is the Xiao Clan's greatest guarantee!"

"You're carrying too much alone—let your second brother help shoulder some of it!"

Feeling the emotion from his two brothers, Xiao Yan's heart instantly warmed; he gave a slight nod and softly replied, "I understand."

Xiao Ding suddenly remembered something and asked: "By the way, you killed Wu the Guardian—doesn't the Soul Sovereign know?"

"No, I heard Wu the Guardian say that all Soul Sovereign Guardians have a Soul Mark registered within the Soul Sovereign; if they're killed, the Soul Sovereign's Enforcers will detect it," Xiao Yan recalled, remembering Wu's explanation when he first described the Soul Sovereign.

A Rank-Person Guardian is eligible to know the location of one branch; a Rank-Earth Guardian can know two; a Rank-Tian Guardian can know three—and a Rank-Tian Guardian can also control one branch.

Wu the Guardian was originally only a Rank-Earth Guardian and had no right to control a branch, but because he had once provided the Xiao Clan's intelligence to Hun Xu Zi, he was granted this authority.

The more branches one knows, the more resources one can exchange for, and the more intelligence one can access. Wu the Guardian had previously summoned several Dou Huang Soul Envoys—each from another Soul Sovereign branch.

After all, this Yun Lan Sect branch had only been established recently and had very few personnel.

"Then what do we do? How strong are those Enforcers?" Xiao Li asked.

Xiao Yan gave a cryptic smile and said: "Leave the Enforcers to me—I have a plan."

In the following days, as the Xiao Clan officially took over Yun Lan Sect, their gates became bustling with visitors. Besides Jia Xingtian and Princess Yao Ye from the Jia Ma Royal Family personally coming to congratulate them, Nalan Jie and his son Nalan Su also arrived.

When Xiao Zhan saw them, all three sighed together. It was simply fate's cruel irony—parents' deepest wishes were often the very things their children defiantly rejected.

In addition, Miter Tengshan of the Miter Clan arrived with Ya Fei to pay respects; no one knew what Miter Tengshan had whispered to Xiao Zhan, but Xiao Zhan was radiant with pride all day.

As for Xiao Yan, aside from necessary receptions, he spent every day refining pills, refining pills, and refining pills.

Because Yun Yun had opened Yun Lan Sect's Medicinal Hall and intended to give Xiao Yan all the precious Medicinal Materials inside.

Remember, this was Yun Lan Sect! The number-one Sect of the Jia Ma Empire, the oldest Sect of them all!

The Medicinal Materials stored by such a Sect were enough to tempt even the most virtuous to commit crimes!

Even Mei Du Sha's royal treasury couldn't match one-tenth of this collection—Xiao Yan was certain the Jia Ma Royal Family's Medicinal Materials depot couldn't compare to Yun Lan Sect's.

Xiao Yan even spotted one Eight-Grade Pill's primary Medicinal Herb, several Seven-Grade Pill's primary Medicinal Herbs, and many Six-Grade ones.

Remember, Gu He had risen from a Fourth-Rank Alchemist to a Sixth-Rank Alchemist in just over a decade, thanks to Yun Lan Sect's unconditional supply of Medicinal Materials.

The fact that they could single-handedly cultivate a Sixth-Rank Alchemist revealed Yun Lan Sect's profound depth.

Xiao Yan had originally refused—after all, as a cultivation practitioner who never stole, cheated, or begged, how could he live off others' generosity?

But after thinking for about one second, Xiao Yan realized these Medicinal Materials would be stolen anyway.

Gu He, the Sixth-Rank Alchemist, had already left, and the only two Fifth-Rank Alchemist Elders along with all the Fourth-Rank Alchemists had vanished—only a few Third-Rank Alchemist Disciples remained.

Why not refine them into Pills before returning to Jia Nan Academy? Let my eldest brother better cultivate talent, and I'll just charge a small fee for refining—after all, that's not living off others' generosity, right?

So Xiao Yan began refining Fourth-Grade and Fifth-Grade Pills, while the Six-Grade Pills, the several Seven-Grade Pills, and the single Eight-Grade Medicinal Herb he kept without a hint of guilt.

Through this relentless pill-refining, exhausting his Soul Force and Dou Qi, Xiao Yan solidified the instability in his Dou Qi caused by his breakthrough from Seven-Star Essence Refining to Dou Ling—effectively killing two birds with one stone.

The only thing Xiao Yan regretted was that the Burnt Scripture had not improved—it remained Earth-Rank Low-Level, though now it was infinitely close to Earth-Class Mid-Level.

This made Xiao Yan realize that if he wanted to further enhance the Burnt Scripture, he needed to seek out a more powerful Infernal Flame, ranked higher.

Another matter that puzzled Xiao Yan deeply: the secret technique "Break the Heavens," passed down by his Ancestor from the Xiao Clan's Dou Emperor, was something he simply could not comprehend!

Xiao Xuan had transmitted all his insights and cultivation pathways for this technique to Xiao Yan, yet when Xiao Yan tried to use it again, he understood why Xiao Xuan had said this technique might be incomplete.

Because it was too weak.

The reason it could instantly kill Wu the Guardian was solely due to the immense power left behind by Xiao Xuan—actually, the technique itself made Xiao Yan feel like something was missing.

"Sigh, Ancestor, you really screwed me over—why not just pass me a Heavenly Rank Advanced Grade Dou Technique? That would've been far more useful," Xiao Yan muttered helplessly. Perhaps it was because the Dead Flame could only store one secret technique, so Xiao Xuan chose the Xiao Clan's Dou Emperor's secret technique instead of other Dou Techniques or Cultivation Methods created by other Xiao Clan elders.

As Xiao Yan pondered the flaw in the "Break the Heavens" technique, his Soul Token suddenly emitted a faint Soul Glow.

"Finally arrived!" Xiao Yan's eyes flashed; he donned the Soul Robe and his body turned into a dark shadow, rushing toward the location of the Soul Sovereign's Space Lock.

Inside the Soul Sovereign's main hall, several Soul Envoys clad in Soul Robes stood gathered—they were the Soul Envoys assigned to the Yun Lan Sect branch, personally selected by Wu the Guardian, and today they had assembled because the Soul Sovereign's Enforcers were arriving to inspect Soul Collection progress.

The Soul Sovereign had quotas—if a branch's Guardian failed to meet them, they were punished; exceeding them earned Soul Points as rewards.

Thus, increasing the number of Soul Envoys to collect Souls was the most basic method.

Some Soul Envoys had not been present at Yun Lan Sect at the time and thus had not been killed by Xiao Xuan's methods.

"Soul Lu, the Guardian's Soul Mark in this branch has vanished—it must mean he was killed."

In the center of the hall stood three figures clad in Soul Robes; the most distinctive was the one in the middle, called the Enforcer, because he wore a Soul Token at his waist!

The Soul Sovereign Enforcer named Soul Lu asked: "Hmm? Who was the Guardian in charge of this branch?"

"Report, Enforcer—it was Wu the Guardian," said one of the Enforcer's subordinates beside him.

"Wu? Oh, that lucky Rank-Earth Guardian who received a gift from our Dan Saint. No wonder this branch is so shabby and its Soul Envoys are all mediocre—just a Rank-Earth." Though Soul Lu's face was hidden, his tone dripped with contempt, clearly indicating his status far surpassed Wu the Guardian's.

"Still, he was one of our Guardians. Send someone to the Spirit Altar, use the secret technique to investigate—who killed him? Use Soul Glow to trace him down and eliminate him."

"Yes!" *2

Cackling, the Soul Sovereign's main doors slowly creaked open as a voice echoed: "Hehehehe, no need to look—he disobeyed, so I killed him."

Xiao Yan pushed open the door and entered, his hood concealing his face. His gaze pierced through all the Soul Envoys to the enforcer at the back, his tone utterly calm.

Hun Lu frowned and asked, "Who are you?"

The Soul Token suddenly flew out from his storage ring, emitting a shocking surge of soul light, with the character 【Flame】 engraved on its reverse side.

"Such intensity of soul light! Are you a Tian Ji Protector?!!!" Hun Lu cried out. When had a Tian Ji Protector arrived in the Northwest Region?! And how did he possess a Soul Token?!

"Welcome, Flame Protector!"

All the Soul Envoys present knelt down and shouted in unison.

(End of Chapter)