Another half a month passed. Xiao Yan's aura was steadily improving, and he was on the verge of breaking through to a two-star Dou Fighter. He was staring thoughtfully at a rough sketch on the table in his room.
The two main circles on the sketch were marked with some information: Azure Lotus Earth Core Flame, Tagor Great Desert; Fallen Heart Flame, Jia Nan Academy.
With his current strength, he could totally get into Jia Nan Academy to study.
Jia Nan Academy accepted students under the age of twenty.
Although there was no lower age limit, students generally went to Jia Nan Academy after their coming-of-age ceremony at sixteen. It wasn't recommended for younger children.
Jia Nan Academy was located in the Black Corner Region, a place of extreme chaos where murder and robbery were commonplace. If students were too young, they could easily suffer psychological trauma, which would be detrimental to their development.
It wasn't impossible to insist on going to Jia Nan Academy.
But Xiao Yan didn't think a Dou Emperor from Jia Nan Academy would personally give him one-on-one tutoring, and the Fallen Heart Flame in the Inner Academy was not something a mere Dou Fighter like him could covet.
As for the Tagor Great Desert… that wasn't a good place to go either.
Without Yao Lao's Heaven Rank Dou Technique, Ghost Possession, Xiao Yan couldn't possibly set his sights on the Azure Lotus Earth Core Flame. Queen Medusa was a peak Dou Emperor, a super-strong expert. With her strength, she was nearly burned to death by the Heavenly Flame. If a Dou Fighter like him went looking for a Heavenly Flame, what was the difference between that and seeking death?
Thinking of this, Xiao Yan felt a bit of a headache.
Originally, he had planned to cultivate to the Dou Master realm as much as possible within these two years. Then, when Yao Lao was about to absorb his Dou Qi, he would expose the old man.
But on second thought, what if the old man didn't play by the rules and just absorbed all his Dou Qi while he was asleep? Wouldn't he be completely screwed then?
Now, after becoming Yun Yun's disciple, Xiao Yan's urgency to awaken Yao Lao had not diminished but had actually increased.
It wasn't because he looked down on Yun Yun, a Dou Emperor, as his teacher.
Mainly, he wanted to start learning Alchemy sooner.
If he could have started learning Alchemy five years earlier, with his Talent, he would have absolutely been able to crush everyone present at any Alchemist Conference or Pill Conference with his alchemy level.
Moreover, practicing Alchemy helped to increase one's Soul Power and gain exquisite control over Dou Qi.
This would also give him an advantage when using Dou Qi in battle.
Looking at it this way, if he wanted to gain some experience, the best places would be Green Mountain Town or the Magical Beast Mountain Range.
Besides those, there was also... the family's Marketplace.
The Marketplace occasionally had troublesome customers and some pickpockets.
That could also give him a little bit of practical combat experience.
Cultivating Dou Qi couldn't be done by closing the door and practicing in seclusion. If you don't fight, what's the point of cultivating Dou Qi? Besides, he felt he was on the verge of a breakthrough and just needed a little push.
Why not ask for his teacher's opinion?
At this thought, Xiao Yan casually used his Dou Qi to shatter the sketch on the table into dust, then waved his hand to blow it out the window. He then pushed open the door and headed to the side courtyard to find Yun Yun.
"You want to gain some practical combat experience?"
Hearing Xiao Yan's request, Yun Yun was somewhat taken aback.
As far as she knew, no ten-year-old one-star Dou Fighter had ever thought of gaining practical combat experience.
"Yes. At full power, I can now use the Fire Origin Setting Sun Sword."
Xiao Yan nodded seriously.
"No, I don't recommend you do that," Yun Yun said with some seriousness.
"Don't think that just because you're a Dou Fighter now, your body is still too tender. If you start fighting at this time, ordinary battles might be fine, but high-intensity battles could easily affect your physical development and leave behind some extremely difficult-to-treat hidden injuries in your body, affecting your foundation. The loss would outweigh the gain.
"Although I've never met a genius like you, combat experience can be cultivated later. The most important thing for you now is still to cultivate Dou Qi and study Dou Skills."
Seeing Xiao Yan's thoughtful expression, Yun Yun's face softened considerably, and she said gently.
As if worried that Xiao Yan couldn't let the matter go, she added, "If you really want to gain combat experience, I can suppress my cultivation level and spar with you. However, you must be careful. Even if I suppress my cultivation to the Dou Fighter level, my body and combat experience are still that of a Dou Emperor."
"Okay, let's fight now then."
Xiao Yan's excitement was visibly apparent upon hearing this.
"Huh?"
Yun Yun was stunned for a moment. With a flip of her hand, she produced a peculiar long, green sword.
The next moment, the longsword was resting on Xiao Yan's neck.
Xiao Yan: "???"
"You lose," Yun Yun said with a slight smile and a soft voice. "The enemy won't announce when they're about to strike."
"Uh..."
Xiao Yan was speechless.
He had indeed been careless. But Teacher Yun's sword was truly fast; he hadn't reacted at all. He hadn't even sensed any malicious intent when she struck; the sword was already at his neck.
"I've learned my lesson."
Xiao Yan nodded slightly, humbly accepting Yun Yun's teaching. Then, he heard a young girl's cry of surprise:
"Ah! Teacher, Xiao Yan, what are you two doing!"
Nalan Yanran had just finished her cultivation and decided to come out for some fresh air, balancing work and rest. She saw Yun Yun "menacingly" holding a sword to Xiao Yan's neck, while Xiao Yan looked like he had done something wrong, his head lowered.
Hiss, could it be that Xiao Yan had offended their teacher? Was their teacher about to clean house?
Nalan Yanran recalled the relationship between her teacher and Xiao Yan in her past life, and her imagination suddenly ran wild, conjuring up some very inappropriate scenes.
"Sparring."
Xiao Yan turned his head unhurriedly and said.
"That's right. Xiao Yan wanted to accumulate practical combat experience, so I sparred with him a bit."
Yun Yun casually retracted the sword from Xiao Yan's neck back into her Storage Ring. Seeing the mix of panic and shock in Nalan Yanran's eyes, she was a little puzzled. Why was this girl reacting so strongly?
So it was just sparring...
Nalan Yanran instantly realized she had misunderstood things greatly. Fortunately, she hadn't been found out. Her face flushed slightly, and she quickly blurted out a random compliment:
"So that's what it was. Xiao Yan, you're so amazing, daring to spar with a Dou Emperor like our teacher."
"I was insta-killed before I even made a move..." Xiao Yan said, feeling a bit speechless.
"That's still amazing. Daring to challenge a Dou Emperor, not everyone has that kind of courage."
Nalan Yanran's words sounded very exaggerated, with the flavor of a brainless sycophant.
But she herself knew how much she had admired and yearned for him back then when Xiao Yan had faced the Dou King-level First Elder, Yun Leng.
He had shown no fear even before her Dou Ancestor-level Grandmaster.
Even after she later understood that it was because the Soul Body of the Medicine Venerable was backing him up, she still felt that Xiao Yan was very domineering and charming.
For his family, he would slay even a Dou Di.
And she could have been his rightful family.
"Sigh..."
Seeing Nalan Yanran like this, Yun Yun knew that this silly child was destined to fall for Xiao Yan in this life.
She really didn't understand how she had fallen so hard in such a short time.
It seems Yanran is a lost cause. Maybe I should just find a way to pass the Cloud Mist Sect on to Xiao Yan...
Xiao Yan felt his scalp tingle from Nalan Yanran's praise. He felt that Nalan Yanran was showing a tendency to evolve into Xiao Mei. He was slightly surprised. Could it be that she had really fallen for him?
Unfortunately, he was not the Xiao Yan she knew.