In the square, Shen Tianhu approached the injured Shen Haohai and Shen Yihan and said, "The conflict between us over the position of clan leader is not what I wished for! We are all members of the Shen family, and we should unite. If you do not accept me as your leader, then you may take your people and leave the Shen family."
Shen Haohai and Shen Yihan exchanged glances and then looked at Shen Xiang, both letting out a sigh simultaneously.
Shen Haohai tightly grasped Shen Tianhu's arm and said heavily, "I hope you can lead the Shen family well. I, Shen Haohai, am a member of the Shen family in life and in death! I am fully supportive of the new clan leader."
Both Shen Haohai and Shen Yihan were not foolish; they had just witnessed Shen Xiang's terrifying potential. If nurtured properly, it was likely that Shen Xiang would soon become a powerful alchemist. If they maintained a good relationship, they would benefit greatly. It wouldn't be wise to offend a top-tier alchemist, and now Shen Tianhu was willing to set aside past grievances, which was a good thing for them.
"Two elders, I apologize for any offenses earlier. The reason our Shen family has stood firm in this land for so many years is that we must not have internal strife!" Shen Xiang also stepped forward and apologized to Shen Haohai and Shen Yihan.
This action garnered nods of approval from many young and old members of the Shen family. Although he was young and had just defeated powerful elders, he did not become arrogant; instead, he was humble. This level of composure was something many young members of the Shen family could not compare to.
Shen Haohai and Shen Yihan both felt somewhat ashamed.
"You should go heal first, my dear nephew! The longer you delay, the worse it will be," Shen Yihan said, offering him some healing pills.
The elders were quite satisfied with the outcome of the clan leader contest.
An elder spoke loudly, "Everyone, a banquet will be held in ten days. Please stay here for the next ten days, as representatives from other families will come. You can also take this opportunity to connect with people from other families."
…
…
Returning to his room, Shen Xiang looked at his battered body and breathed a sigh of relief. The battle with Shen Yihan had been extremely perilous, and he felt excited inside, knowing he had defeated a seventh-level martial artist with his fifth-level martial arts skill!
After such a strenuous battle, he also felt his cultivation had improved, and he had gained considerable insights into the use of true energy. No wonder he had heard that to become a great martial artist, one must experience countless battles.
Just after taking a healing pill, two bright figures appeared in front of him. It was Bai Youyou and Su Meiyao, both wearing serious expressions.
"You reckless brat! What if you had died just now? We have invested a lot in you!" Bai Youyou said, her face as cold as ice, causing Shen Xiang to shiver.
Su Meiyao stuck out her tongue and said, "Well, since you showed some guts this time, I'll let you off! But next time, think twice! Take off your clothes; I'll help you apply the medicine."
During his battle with Shen Yihan, Shen Xiang had suffered many cuts from icy true energy, and he had numerous bloodstains on his body. If not treated specially, they would be hard to heal.
Thus, Shen Xiang lay down, enjoying the feeling of Su Meiyao's delicate hand applying the medicine. It felt incredibly soothing…
With the new clan leader selected, it was customary to invite people from other families to celebrate, and it would take some time for them to arrive.
At the banquet, something noteworthy was likely to occur: a duel between Shen Xiang and a genius from the Yao family! This duel had stirred up much excitement, so many people would come, and many would be there to see Shen family's misfortune. However, the Shen family had done an excellent job of keeping Shen Xiang's situation under wraps.
In the morning, Shen Xiang spat out a drop of green liquid from his mouth, a product of his Dragon Saliva technique. He aimed to further master his alchemy skills over the next ten days, even attempting to refine a mid-grade body-refining pill!
If he could refine a mid-grade body-refining pill at his age, it would put him on par with those legendary genius alchemists, perhaps even surpassing them.
"To refine a mid-grade pill in such a short time? That's a bit difficult, but I, Su Meiyao, enjoy taking on such challenging tasks," Su Meiyao's enchanting voice echoed in Shen Xiang's mind.
Shen Xiang grinned and said, "Meiyao, then teach me quickly!"
Su Meiyao laughed and said, "Don't be so happy! This requires a price. You are already quite skilled at refining low-grade pills. You have the experience to refine mid-grade pills, but your spiritual power is insufficient! You need to reach the sixth level of martial arts to have divine consciousness for more precise control over the fire and mastery of the pill-forming moment!"
Shen Xiang nodded, "Then I'll hurry to mature the mid-grade spiritual herbs while raising my cultivation! I hope to be ready by the time of the duel!"
Su Meiyao said, "To develop divine consciousness, you need to fuse a large amount of true energy and spiritual power together into divine consciousness. This has a certain degree of difficulty, but if you practice the Tai Chi Divine Art, you should be able to speed up the process. However, it might not be achievable within ten days!"
Shen Xiang sighed slightly; he was indeed too impatient, which was a big taboo!
"But... there is a way to help you improve quickly," Su Meiyao said with a mysterious smile.
"What method?" Shen Xiang hurriedly asked.
Bai Youyou's icy voice suddenly chimed in, "The Immortal Demon Pool!"
At this moment, Shen Xiang recalled the strange pool beneath the Immortal Demon Cliff. He had been able to breathe down there and had noticed that the pool emitted light, but he had not discovered any special properties beyond that.
"That strange pool beneath the cliff?" Shen Xiang asked in confusion.
"Exactly! You should know we were lured there by our enemies for the sake of that pool!" Su Meiyao's words made Shen Xiang even more curious; these two martial arts experts had fallen because of that pool.
"What is so special about it?" Shen Xiang wondered more and more, as the Immortal Demon Cliff was covered in dead energy, yet there was nothing wrong with the pool below, indicating that the dead energy was concealing something beneath.
After realizing the extraordinary nature of the Immortal Demon Pool, Shen Xiang immediately infused the "Dragon Saliva" into the water and watered the spiritual flowers and herbs. He then greeted his father and quietly left the Shen family estate, heading towards the Immortal Demon Cliff.
On the way, he listened to Su Meiyao recount the legends of the Immortal Demon Cliff.
"The Immortal Demon Cliff is so named because it is the burial ground of immortals and demons. The pool below is formed from the pure energy of a group of immortal and demon corpses, intentionally created. The dead energy also leaks out from the corpses of the immortals and demons," Su Meiyao explained.
Shen Xiang was astonished; immortals and demons were originally just legends, but now he realized they actually existed! This thrilled him. If the pool contained pure energy, then if he could access it…