After giving the cultivation method and Qi Gathering Powder to Xiao Yu, Xiao Se stayed at the Xiao family for two more days.
Xiao Yu spent a day adjusting her condition to its peak. With Xiao Se's help, she successfully broke through to become a Dou Zhe on the second day and switched to a new cultivation method.
Perhaps it was because Xiao Se easily defeated Xiao Ning upon his return that he went from being unknown to widely recognized in the Xiao family. Moreover, due to Xiao Se's handsome appearance, many young women from the Xiao family, led by Xiao Mei, frequently gave him flirtatious glances.
However, none of this had anything to do with Xiao Se.
On the third day, Xiao Se left some pills for Xiao Yu to use in her cultivation, promising to meet again at Jia Nan Academy. With Xiao Yu reluctantly seeing him off, Xiao Se departed from the Xiao family.
"Damn human, how dare you treat this queen like this!" As Xiao Se walked along the path toward the Miteer Auction House, the voice of Queen Medusa suddenly rang in his ear.
As soon as her words dropped, Xiao Se's waist bore two more tiny bite marks.
"I mean, does the queen really need to bite me every other day?" Xiao Se rolled his eyes, clearly getting used to Queen Medusa controlling the Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python to bite him regularly.
"Ask yourself what you've done," Medusa said angrily.
"Uh..." A trace of embarrassment appeared on Xiao Se's face. During his three days at the Xiao family, he certainly hadn't been idle. In addition to training, he remembered the Zihuo Pill (Purple Flame Pill) that Xiao Yan had made in the original story. So, he tried to recreate it, using some saliva from the Seven-Colored Heaven Swallowing Python, combined with some amethyst essence and a few fire-attributed medicinal herbs, to successfully refine the Zihuo Pill.
He had no choice—he didn't have many techniques for fighting opponents stronger than himself.
The only move he could rely on was the "Crimson Flame Sword: Breaking Limits," which, thanks to his Heavenly Flame, was improved to the level of a mid-tier Earth-class skill. It was simply not enough. Skills like Buddha Fury Lotus, which were overwhelmingly powerful, needed to be researched and developed.
[Ding, System reminder: The host has not used this month's exchange quota. There are ten days left before the reset. Please use the quota in time.]
Hearing the system prompt, Xiao Se paused for a moment, realizing that since absorbing the Heavenly Flame, he had been unconscious for quite some time—more than a month had passed unknowingly.
"System, exchange this fire-attribute herb in my hand," Xiao Se said in his mind, casually pulling out a fire-attribute medicinal herb left over from refining the Zihuo Pill.
Over the past year, Xiao Se had noticed a pattern: although exchanging similar items increased the chances of a successful exchange, the increase was minimal. On the contrary, exchanging random items often resulted in getting better rewards.
[Ding, congratulations to the host for obtaining a Dragon Blood Herb from the dragon's lair in the desolate wilderness of the "Dominating Sword Immortal" world.]
"Dragon Blood Herb?" Xiao Se was delighted. As a loyal fan of the novel Sword Mastery in his previous life, he had read it several times. Dragon Blood Herb, formed from the blood of fallen dragons, contained a trace of dragon power.
If refined, it could transform that power into physical strength, turning the person into a body refinement expert for a short period, significantly enhancing their combat ability. In the original story, the protagonist Ye Chen had increased his strength by hundreds of thousands of pounds after refining only three or four of these herbs. Although this was partly due to his cultivation level in the Spirit Sea Realm (a high-level realm), it clearly demonstrated the powerful effect of the Dragon Blood Herb.
With a Dragon Blood Herb in hand, Xiao Se's mood lifted, and his pace quickened. This herb would significantly enhance his strength.
After walking for a while, Xiao Se gradually noticed something was wrong. The route from the Xiao family to the Miteer Auction House wasn't far. He should've reached the main road by now, but he had been walking in circles around this alley for quite some time without any sign of reaching the exit.
"Longkui, Queen, do you notice anything strange?" Xiao Se called out to them in his mind. "So, you've finally realized. But the other party doesn't seem to have any killing intent. Handle this little matter yourself," Medusa responded nonchalantly before going silent.
"Brother, should I..." Longkui began, but Xiao Se cut her off, "No need. I think I know who it is. Stay hidden for now. If I can't handle it, Hai Bodong will intervene, and if worse comes to worst, the Queen is here. If I die, there'll be no one to refine the Spirit Fusion Pill for her."
As they communicated, black mist gradually spread around the alley, shrouding the entire area.
At this moment, everything seemed to come to a standstill. The colorful ribbons hanging from the buildings stopped fluttering, and even the birds in the air froze. The entire space was tinted in shades of gray and white.
With his X-ray vision and soul sense activated, Xiao Se quickly located the source of the black mist on a nearby rooftop. Drawing his demon sword, he coldly said, "Come out, sneaky fellow."
As he spoke, his left hand moved to his waist, grabbing three tiny poisoned steel needles between his fingers.
Holding the demon sword tightly in his right hand, Xiao Se swiftly advanced forward, while his left hand quietly released the three poisoned needles, which shot toward the shadowy figure from different directions.
The figure hadn't expected Xiao Se to locate him so easily. Unable to dodge in time, he pulled out a black curved blade to block the needles.
Clang, clang, clang.
The crisp sound of metal clashing echoed as the needles were deflected. Realizing he had been discovered, the shadowy figure emerged from the mist, stretching lazily. "Kid, you have good senses to have detected my hiding spot."
Seeing the figure finally reveal himself, Xiao Se's expression grew serious. It was Ling Ying. Despite his intentions to test Xiao Se, a high-level Dou Huang (Dou Emperor) was no small threat.
"Who are you?" Xiao Se asked, narrowing his eyes, though he already knew the answer.
"I'm the one sent to take your life." With that, Ling Ying's form vanished into a cloud of black mist.
Xiao Se was shocked to find that his soul sense couldn't track Ling Ying's movements. Fortunately, his X-ray vision allowed him to see through the mist. Tightening his grip on his demon sword, Xiao Se rushed forward and slashed toward the spot where the mist was thinnest.
Clang!
The demon sword clashed with Ling Ying's curved blade, sending out a powerful gust of wind that dispersed the black mist, revealing Ling Ying in his black robe and mask.
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