(Cruel Training) and (Auction) Combined

In the morning, a pale mist had shrouded the surrounding summit and lingered for a very long time. A gentle wind blew by and suddenly a physical grunt could be heard.

Behind the summit, in a hidden groove, both of Xiao Yan's feet were inserted into the soil like tree stumps. His toes clung to the ground while he gnashed his teeth together and had cold sweat pour over his forehead. He only wore short pants and on his naked upper body were crisscrossed scars.

Behind Xiao Yan was Yao Lao in spirit mode, cross-legged above a giant stone. His face was solemn as he gazed at Xiao Yan clenching his teeth to fight off the pain and then his palm softly swung upwards.

Following Yao Lao's palm, a red, materialized Dou Qi shot out from Yao Lao's palm. Just like a whip, it harshly smashed against Xiao Yan's shoulder, leaving behind a long bruise.

As the corners of his mouth violently trembled, Xiao Yan inhaled cold air through the slivers between his teeth in response to the pain. Xiao Yan's shoulder numbed and a wave of scorching pain made its way to his heart. Under the brutal pain, Xiao Yan felt his feet soften, and almost fell off balance…

Under the violent pain, the original weak Dou Qi within Xiao Yan became more animated than before and quickly flowed through the Qi paths and pressure points on Xiao Yan's shoulder. Strands of cool slowly seeped into his bones and quietly strengthened in the progress.

"Again!" When the pain on his shoulder gradually faded away, Xiao Yan young face was filled with persistence and stubbornness and yelled while clenching his teeth.

Looking at persevering Xiao Yan, a gratified smile appeared on Yao Lao's withered face. Slightly nodded, a red materialized Dou Qi shot out from his palm again.

"Bang, Bang, Bang…" Within the small forest, as strike after strike hit Xiao Yan, low grunts along with naked hits sounded…

Every one of Yao Lao's attacks were at the exact point of maximum endurance for Xiao Yan's body. The attacks wouldn't harm Xiao Yan seriously but still brought Xiao Yan the maximum pain possible.

The pain from the Dou Qi lashes caused an unbearable pain, forcing Xiao Yan young face to contort in agony.

On his body, with Yao Lao's swings, more and more crisscrossed scars appeared…

"Bang!" another materialized Dou Qi shot out and the wood stake like Xiao Yan finally reached his limit. With weakened legs, he fell down paralyzed.

Fiercely gasped for air, Xiao Yan wiped away the cold sweat on his forehead and lifting his head up to make a rough smile, he asked: "Teacher, how was it?"

"Not bad, you took eighty four Dou Qi lashes today. That's a lot better than when you started out half a month ago and only able to take nine lashes…" Yao Lao had a smile on his face and nodded. A glint of surprise flirted across his eyes, in the past half-month, the tenacity that Xiao Yan displayed was far beyond what was originally expected. For example, today, Yao Lao had originally thought that seventy Dou Qi lashes was Xiao Yan's limit but the later had persevered to eighty-four lashes. Yao Lao could not help but admire the spirit of Xiao Yan.

After listening to Yao Lao words, Xiao Yan let out a deep breath and slumped on the ground. When he regained feeling, he slowly crawled back up and put back on the clothing he had taken off and placed on a nearby rock.

When wearing the clothes, whenever the cool fabric touched against the bruises, Xiao Yan winced and gritted his teeth.

The transparent Yao Lao turned into a ray of light and disappeared within the black ring. Before disappearing, he left behind a phrase that he had said countless times: "Quickly go back and submerge yourself within the Foundation Elixir to make sure that the congested blood doesn't leave behind hidden wounds!"

Nodding, Xiao Yan finished putting on his clothes and left the forest.

Once Xiao Yan finally made it back to his room while enduring the pain, he quickly took off his clothes once again and jumped into his wooden bowl of green liquid…

The ice cold green liquid alleviated the pains from the bruised skin and Xiao Yan slowly closed his eyes, enjoying the soothing liquid flow over his skin.

After a while, Xiao Yan's rushed breathing slowly calmed and even incorporated a couple of snores! After a painful beating, Xiao Yan couldn't take the fatigue on both his body and mental state and fell asleep…

While Xiao Yan was asleep, the green liquid rippled slightly and slivers of peaceful energy quietly slipped into Xiao Yan's open pores. They washed away the lashes of congested blood and at the same time they revitalized and strengthened the muscles that were already at their utmost limit…

While sleeping, Xiao Yan's body had been strengthened to a whole new level!

While strengthening and repairing Xiao Yan's muscles, the green liquid slowly became lighter and lighter. Obviously, the energy in the liquid was decreasing.

Unaware of how long he had fallen asleep, Xiao Yan only knew that the warm sunlight had already brightened his room when he woke up.

Stretching out his body, his bones suddenly made rattling noises. When he lifted his head, he realized that his entire body was full of energy and power. Xiao Yan couldn't help but yell out: "Great!"

As Xiao Yan stepped out from the wooden bowl, he unexpectedly discovered that the bowl of Foundation Elixir had already turned into transparent water from its originally green state.

"My elixir had already been used up?" Scratching his nose Xiao Yan helplessly shook his head. Suddenly recalling something, he happily closed his eye and carefully sensed his Dou Qi state.

A moment later, Xiao Yan opened his eye and happily laughed: "Finally, I'm at fifth Duan Qi!"

New Chapter

To get to 4 Duan Qi in half a month and then 5 Duan Qi in another month and a half. This incredible speed was impossible even for the old Xiao Yan.

Even though at higher levels, raising one's Duan Qi becomes harder and harder, looking at the speed in which Xiao Yan is rising, it shouldn't be a problem for him to get to 7 Duan Qi by next year.

Of course, this is under the assumption that Xiao Yan has enough Foundation Elixir. Or else, Xiao Yan would definitely die under the severe beatings that he endures every day before getting to 7 Duan Qi. After all, without the Foundation Elixir, Xiao Yan's weak body wouldn't ever be able to withstand the harmful effects of having congested blood and he would die.

Therefore, what Xiao Yan needs to do right now is to buy more material for Foundation Elixir. Even though it sounds very easy, Xiao Yan has a slight problem…. He's broke.

Sitting on his bed, Xiao Yan has a bitter laugh. He had never thought that he would be in such an awkward situation because of money. While calculating… from last time, I still have 900 Gold Coins but with only so much money, buying the same grade material as last time is not going to happen.

Supporting his chin, Xiao Yan's eyes rolled quickly. Suddenly, he asked: "Teacher, for Purple Bluegrass of Bone Washing Flower, can we use younger stalks?"

"Sure, but then the effects would be much weaker and the Foundation Elixirs that I've been refining are tailored for you."

Blinking his eyes, Xiao Yan smiled: "No problem, let's use the worst grade material this time."

"The worst grade? Then the effects would be horrible and you'd need at least half a year to get to the next Duan Qi." Yao Lao's voice showed his displeasure, he was probably furrowing his brows right now.

"Don't have enough money? Go borrow from that girl again. With her background, even a couple ten thousand Gold Coins would be a small matter. Taking a step back, you can borrow from your dad, why must you lower the effectiveness of the Elixir and slow down your training speed…"

Hearing Yao Lao's suggestion, Xiao Yan shook his head: "Just think of it as my self-respect stopping me from doing so. How can I keep on borrowing money from a girl? As for my dad, I've been avoiding him for two months now and if he wants to know why I want the money then wouldn't I have to expose you?"

"Wait, teacher, this Foundation Elixir, can other people refine or make it?" Suddenly thinking of something, Xiao Yan's brows jumped and he hurriedly asked.

"Hehe, brat, in the Dou Qi Mainland, there are countless herbs and within these herbs, you must find a combination that both calms the violent energy within Monster Cores and refine it so that one can absorb it. If you just randomly put herbs together than the Alchemy Furnace breaking would be the least of your troubles, the energy might backfire, hehe…. This Foundation Elixir was created after experimenting for a couple of years! Of course, there might be someone that also found out how to create it by luck but the chances of that happening is almost nonexistent."

"In addition, while refining, you must make sure that the fuse rate, amount used and fire temperature is perfect. You need to do countless experiments and have an incredible soul perception to do that. Or else, why do you think that every Alchemist needs a teacher? To become a strong Alchemist is impossible without a teacher guiding you. Just the time you spend trying out the different combinations of herbs would cost you your whole life!"

"Therefore, I can't include the entire Dou Qi Mainland but at least for Jia Ma Empire, no one else has made a Foundation Elixir like mine!" At this point, Yao Lao's voice incorporated a hint of pride.

Surprised by the complexity in the seemingly simple Foundation Elixir, Xiao Yan instinctively licked his lips. When he looked at Yao Lao refining herbs, it all seemed so simple but now with Yao Lao's explanation, he realized that the art of Alchemy isn't as simple as what he had saw.

The Alchemy world is definitely huge and mysterious. No wonder an Alchemist is the most honorable profession in the entire Dou Qi Mainland.

But after his shock, Xiao Yan felt a tinge of glee: "Teacher, I'm not going to use the horrible Foundation Elixir to train. Instead, I wanted to sell it in an auction. Even though I don't have much right now, after the Foundation Elixir is sold then I'd have quite a bit and at that point buying high quality material for the Foundation Elixir would be super easy. Right?"

"I see… Sure. Alchemists selling their own pills isn't interesting news and the Foundation Elixir is at the lowest level of training medicine so selling it doesn't really matter." After thinking for a while, Yao Lao carelessly said.

Hearing Yao Lao's agreement, Xiao Yan quickly got what he needed and rushed out of his room.

Because Xiao Yan didn't need high quality herbs, he carelessly picked the youngest Purple Bluegrass and Bone Washing Flower in the pharmacy and as for the monster core, he brought the cheapest core he could find, the Green Wood Mouse Monster Core.

After buying all the medicine, Xiao Yan found a hidden alley and had Yao Lao refine the herbs into the Foundation Elixir.

The Foundation Elixir this time not only had a much worse effect than last time, it even had a different color. Going from a near transparent jade green to mottled ugly green…

After placing the pill that was the size of half of Xiao Yan's fist into a while Jade bottle that he had bought earlier, Xiao Yan finally let out a relaxed breath.

After hiding the jade bottle securely, Xiao Yan left the alley and ran towards Wu Tan City's largest Auction.