Xiao Yan's arrival stirred a ripple of liveliness through the entire Starfall Pavilion. Especially after his identity as the Young Pavilion Lord was officially announced, countless disciples were shocked. Yao Lao had returned to his position as Pavilion Master more than half a year ago and had frequently mentioned that he had a disciple cultivating outside. Everyone was immensely curious—just how remarkable was this personal disciple of the famous Venerable Yao?
During his interactions with the disciples of Starfall Pavilion, Xiao Yan carefully revealed just the right amount of strength—only displaying the peak of the Dou Huang realm. Years of navigating dangerous situations had made him cautious by habit. He had no intention of exposing his true strength too early, not even to Yao Lao, who to this day remained unaware of the full extent of Xiao Yan's current power.
Although Starfall Pavilion was Yao Lao's creation, there was no guarantee that no spies from other factions had infiltrated it. Thus, Xiao Yan maintained a low profile in his daily life. Most only knew of a mysterious figure named the Young Pavilion Lord, but few had actually seen him. Those who had interacted with him found their memories strangely fuzzy, their impressions blurred by subtle mental manipulation from Xiao Yan.
While many found Xiao Yan's over-the-top caution a bit much, in the end, they could only follow his lead given his insistence.
Meanwhile, Zi Yan and the others had officially settled into Starfall Pavilion. Thanks to their connection to Xiao Yan, they were naturally granted elite disciple status. But in truth, they needed no such favoritism—they were already prodigies in their own right. During Xiao Yan's time away in the Magical Beast Mountain Range, Xiao Yixian had advanced to the Dou Ling class, while Qing Lin had reached the peak of the Dou Wang realm and was now striving toward Dou Huang.
Only Zi Yan remained at the Dou Huang level, but due to her unique constitution and overwhelming physical strength, few could match her in combat. As a result, she had earned the title of "Little Senior Sister" within the Pavilion and spent her days training disciples—mostly by beating them into submission with her brute force.
The one who lasted the longest against her was a girl named Mu Qingluan, the personal disciple of Venerable Feng. She had been somewhat dissatisfied with Xiao Yan's sudden elevation to Young Pavilion Lord and was even more irked by Zi Yan's arrogant behavior. But no matter how hard she tried, she was repeatedly and easily defeated by Zi Yan.
Although Mu Qingluan also had a beast-like physique, she was nothing compared to Zi Yan, who descended from the Taixu Ancient Dragon clan. Even though Zi Yan hadn't inherited the clan's full legacy, her raw strength was more than enough to keep Mu Qingluan pinned. In their last match, Zi Yan had even spanked the girl into tears, requiring Xiao Yan to personally step in and offer comfort.
Once things had settled in the Pavilion, Xiao Yixian and Zi Yan began clinging to Xiao Yan once again. As the saying goes, "absence makes the heart grow fonder"—and Xiao Yan naturally understood their intentions. Helpless, he had no choice but to "take them both on," wearing them out so thoroughly that they couldn't even get out of bed for days. Though things quieted for a while afterward, given their nature, it wouldn't be long before they recovered and came back for more.
Not that Xiao Yan disliked this kind of life. In fact, he quite enjoyed the warmth and companionship, especially when he held Zi Yan or Xiao Yixian in his arms—it was a warmth he had never known in his previous life. But now was not the time for such indulgences. His top priority remained increasing his strength.
If he lost himself in the pleasures of the flesh, then when Hun Dai'er eventually found him, he wouldn't even have the power to resist. So after spending a month at Starfall Pavilion, Xiao Yan decided it was time to head back out for another round of training.
Now that he was in the Central Plains, he had no plans of remaining cooped up in one place. As for the matter of the Three Thousand Burning Flame that Yao Lao had mentioned earlier, that journey wouldn't begin for another half a year. Xiao Yan intended to make full use of that time to improve himself as much as possible.
Meanwhile, under Yao Lao's arrangements, the members of the Xiao Family who had been transferred from the Xiao Gate were resettled in a city within Starfall Pavilion's sphere of influence. Several elders guarded the area, and for added insurance, Xiao Yan personally established a small teleportation node. Should danger arise, they could evacuate immediately.
This level of thorough preparation left several elders speechless. While it was admirable to plan ahead, Xiao Yan's arrangements practically made it seem like he was preparing for their imminent annihilation. While caution was commendable, wasn't this bordering on paranoia?
Once everything was in place, Xiao Yan set out from Starfall Pavilion—without Zi Yan and the others. Instead, he brought along the reverted Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python. Incidentally, she was no longer called "Xiao Cai"; the girls had renamed her "Cai Lin," a name that Xiao Yan thought was painfully unoriginal.
Bringing her along was more of a necessity than a choice. After absorbing so much of Xiao Yan's refined fire energy, Cai Lin had developed an extremely picky palate. She rejected any other form of fire energy outright, leaving Xiao Yan with no choice but to take her with him.
As soon as they left Starfall Pavilion, Xiao Yao burst from within Xiao Yan's body. Due to strict orders, she had stayed hidden and never revealed herself in front of others. Now that they were alone, she immediately began chattering in Xiao Yan's ear, clearly having been stifled for too long.
"Master, didn't you say you were going to look for more Heavenly Flames? I can help!" Xiao Yao sat on his shoulder, swinging her legs proudly. "I can sense the positions of other flames!"
"Oh?" Xiao Yan was surprised but quickly realized it made sense. Heavenly Flames naturally resonated with one another. As a flame spirit containing eight different flames, Xiao Yao's sensing ability had to be exponentially stronger.
However, as Xiao Yan had already expected, most of the high-ranked Heavenly Flames were already possessed by others. Even if he found them, he likely wouldn't be able to take them by force. After months of searching, the only new flames he had located were the Xuan Yellow Flame and the Yin-Yang Twin Flame—both of which were near the bottom of the Heavenly Flame rankings.
Refining those two flames brought Xiao Yan only a marginal increase in power. Even with months of dedicated cultivation, he had barely advanced to six-star Dou Zun. Most of that progress had come from his own effort rather than the flames themselves. The only silver lining was that after refining them, Flame Mantra finally and painstakingly evolved to the Intermediate Heaven Tier.
Now, among the Heavenly Flames ranked below tenth place, only four remained unrefined by Xiao Yan. Even if he managed to obtain them, they wouldn't bring much improvement. Hence, he shifted his focus toward other avenues of strength.
(End of Chapter)
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