16
After all, the Heavenly Demon Phoenix corpse was a matter of great importance. Once a fight broke out and attracted other experts, the consequences would be unpredictable.
Xiao Qing dared not stay there any longer. He immediately took Zi Yan and, using his full speed, left the mountain range.
His next objective remained finding Demon Flame Valley to obtain the refining method for the Heavenly Demon Puppet.
And now, having this Peak Seventh-Rank Heavenly Demon Phoenix corpse was undoubtedly an unexpected joy.
Its precious blood essence could completely replace the Seventh-Rank Poison Green Scorpion blood essence obtained previously.
Moreover, the quality was higher, and the attributes were more suitable. It would surely have a better effect when refining a physical body for Yao Chen's resurrection in the future.
"Black Emperor Sect auction... three months later..." Xiao Qing pondered while traveling.
Perhaps, before finding Demon Flame Valley, he could go to Black Emperor City to take a look.
After all, as a hegemon of the Black-Corner Region, the auction held by the Black Emperor Sect should have a higher probability of featuring good items than the Eight Gates.
One day later, they finally arrived at Black Emperor City, one of the core major cities of the Black-Corner Region, directly controlled by the Black Emperor Sect.
The scale of Black Emperor City far exceeded the previous Black Mark City. The guards at the city gate were very strict, but the order was well-maintained.
No entry fee was charged, showing the Black Emperor Sect's absolute control over this place.
The streets inside the city were wide and lined with shops, although it still carried the chaotic atmosphere unique to the Black-Corner Region.
Compared to the naked survival of the fittest in Black Mark City, Black Emperor City clearly had an extra layer of rules and constraints.
Xiao Qing took Zi Yan to find a relatively clean restaurant, preparing to rest for a while and incidentally listen for some news.
He also ordered several dishes with local Black-Corner Region flavors.
Especially the Magical Beast meat, roasted until crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, sprinkled with unique spices.
It made Zi Yan eat with a beaming smile, praising it endlessly, her little mouth covered in grease.
Just as Xiao Qing was dining and silently listening to the chatter of the surrounding diners.
The conversation of a few burly men with not-weak auras at the next table caught his attention.
"Have you heard? Master Medicine Emperor Han Feng will open his cauldron to perform Alchemy in Maple City next month. It is said that what he is going to refine this time is a Peak Sixth-Rank Break-Sect Pill!"
A man with a scar on his face lowered his voice, his tone full of amazement.
"Tsk tsk, a Sixth-Rank Alchemist is just different!"
Another person, a tall and thin man, chimed in.
"Right now, the leaders of all the factions in the Black-Corner Region are probably racking their brains trying to get an invitation."
"Who wouldn't want to befriend the Medicine Emperor?" the third person, a short and fat man, sighed.
"That is an existence capable of refining a Break-Sect Pill! Maybe one day, one's self or one's Sect will need to beg for his help, so establishing a relationship in advance is never wrong."
"Medicine Emperor Han Feng... Break-Sect Pill..." Xiao Qing's eyes shifted slightly.
Han Feng, Yao Chen's former disciple, was also one of the culprits who caused Yao Chen to end up in his current state.
And this move by Han Feng was not just to show off his superb Alchemy and solidify his status as the "Medicine Emperor."
The deeper intention was likely to use this opportunity to win over the various factions in the Black-Corner Region. What Han Feng was plotting behind the scenes was certainly not small.
However, the moment the name "Han Feng" clearly reached Xiao Qing.
The ancient black Bone Flame Ring on Xiao Qing's finger, which had been silent for a long time, began to turn scorching hot!
A violently intense emotional fluctuation, filled with grief and pain, erupted from the ring, almost breaking through the constraints of the ring!
Yao Chen's soul had lost control!
Xiao Qing's expression changed. He used his soul Power to seal off his aura, and the chopsticks in his hand dropped onto the table with a "clatter."
He immediately stood up, threw down a few gold coins to pay the bill, not even bothering to check if Zi Yan had finished eating.
He pulled the still somewhat confused little one away, left the restaurant, and returned to their temporary room at the inn.
Once inside the room, Xiao Qing immediately set up the strongest soul barrier, completely isolating the inside from the outside.
"Teacher! What is wrong with you?" Xiao Qing asked the ring on his finger with unprecedented urgency.
The black luster on the ring flickered violently, and Yao Chen's soul phantom emerged with difficulty.
This time, his phantom was much more solid than ever before, as if he had poured a great amount of soul Power into it.
But the phantom itself was fluctuating violently, filled with indescribable grief and pain that went deep into the bone marrow.
He was silent, his soul phantom trembling slightly; that silent oppression was more heart-wrenching than any roar.
After a long while, Yao Chen let out a sigh that was long and heavy to the extreme.
That sigh seemed to carry decades of grievance and hatred that could not be resolved.
"disciple..." Yao Chen's voice was terribly hoarse, each word seeming to be squeezed out with difficulty from his throat.
"Now that things have come to this, as your Teacher... I will no longer hide it from you."
He raised his illusory eyes to look at Xiao Qing, his gaze intertwined with the pain of memory and the determination to reveal the truth.
"That Han Feng... he was once my only Direct Disciple! He was the successor I, Yao Chen, treated as my own flesh and blood, and whom I poured all my heart's blood into cultivating!"
Xiao Qing listened quietly, although he already knew about this grievance.
But hearing Yao Chen say it in such a painful tone with his own ears, an indescribable anger still surged in his heart.
Yao Chen slowly unveiled that dusty, tearful past, word by word:
Back then, when Yao Chen took Han Feng as his disciple, seeing his outstanding talent, he was delighted and taught him everything he had learned in his life without reservation.
In order to cultivation Han Feng, Yao Chen even refused invitations from many old friends and distanced himself from some... confidantes.
Yao Chen only wanted to pass down his Alchemy and Qi cultivation technique, and to cultivation Han Feng into a pillar capable of supporting the future of the Starfall Pavilion.
Yao Chen's voice carried reminiscence, and even more, the stinging pain of betrayal.
"But... I never expected that although this child had high talent, his character had long since gone astray!"
"On the surface, he was respectful and diligent, but behind my back, he had long coveted the Heavenly Flame I possessed, the Bone Chilling Flame,"
"And that mysterious cultivation technique that could continuously evolve by devouring Heavenly Flames, the Flame Mantra!"
"Disaster from within the walls..." Yao Chen's voice was full of remorse.
"What is even more hateful is that he secretly colluded with an external enemy, the Venerable of the Soul Hall, Old Man Mu Gu!"
"Mu Gu?" Xiao Qing expressed "confusion" at the appropriate time.
"Mu Gu... he was my Junior Brother when I was at the Sect in the past." A trace of complexity flashed in Yao Chen's eyes.
Mu Gu's talent was also extraordinary, but he was narrow-minded and extremely jealous, always harboring dissatisfaction that his Senior Brother Yao Chen was suppressing him.
I do not know when, but Mu Gu had actually defected to the Soul Hall.
The goal of the Soul Hall was, first, to eliminate Yao Chen, a potential threat who refused to join them, and second, to seize the Heavenly Flame on Yao Chen.
"That night... I had just exhausted all my energy refining a crucial batch of Medicinal Pill and was at my weakest moment."
Yao Chen's soul phantom fluctuated violently, as if he had returned to that night of despair.
"Han Feng, this beast! Under the guise of serving tea and paying respects, he personally put the deadly poison specially concocted by the Soul Hall, which targets the soul and Qi, into my tea!"
"And Mu Gu, hiding in the dark, took advantage of my poison outbreak and loss of mental focus to deliver a fatal blow to my soul with the Soul Hall' eerie soul techniques!"
"Although I fought back with all my might and repelled Mu Gu, I was poisoned, and my soul Origin was damaged... In the end, my physical body was destroyed by them together..."
Yao Chen's voice carried endless sorrow and hatred.
"With only this wisp of remnant soul left, I desperately carried the Origin of the Bone Chilling Flame and fled into this Storage Ring, drifting with the currents, and finally... landed in the Jia Ma Empire, where I met you."
"Mu Gu represents the Soul Hall, carrying out the work of eliminating dissidents and plundering resources! And Han Feng... this wolf cub that I raised with my own hands and treated as my own son!"
"He is the greatest pain of my life, and also a traitor I can never forgive for all eternity!"
Yao Chen's soul fluctuations became extremely unstable again, and the edges of his phantom began to blur.
It was evident how bone-eroding and heart-burning this hatred, which had been suppressed for decades, was once it was unveiled.
Watching Yao Chen's painful appearance, Xiao Qing could not help but feel a surge of anger.
He looked at Yao Chen's phantom, his voice resolute and filled with unquestionable determination:
"Teacher has treated me with great kindness! And Han Feng and Mu Gu, such traitors who betray their masters and ancestors, deserve to die ten thousand times!"
"Teacher, please rest assured, this disciple will personally slay these two villains and use their souls and blood to commemorate the suffering you endured in the past and to comfort your broken heart!"
The youth's vow was resonant and powerful, echoing in the sealed room, carrying a sense of dauntless determination.
Seeing the genuine anger and determination in Xiao Qing's eyes, Yao Chen's violent soul fluctuations gradually calmed down a little.
In those illusory eyes, a deep sense of gratification and trust was revealed.
"Good... good child... I have made things difficult for you!"
Yao Chen's voice was still hoarse, but it held a hint of relief.
Yao Chen sighed softly, his soul phantom slowly retracting and returning to the black ring, his aura gradually stabilizing.
But Xiao Qing knew that the bone-deep hatred had already been deeply branded into the depths of Yao Chen's soul, and it had also become a responsibility he had to fulfill.
After comforting Yao Chen, Xiao Qing stood up and walked out of the room, his brows tightly locked as he fell into deep thought.
Han Feng was going to high-profilely perform Alchemy in Maple City next month, at which time the upper echelons and experts of all the factions in the Black-Corner Region would gather.
It was indeed not a suitable time to make contact or even take action.
What Xiao Qing needed to do was, while the news had just spread and the various factions had not yet fully gathered.
And in the next few days when Han Feng might be relaxed, find a way to sneak into Maple City, look for an opportunity, and secretly kill Han Feng!
Moreover, he clearly remembered that Han Feng practiced the incomplete Flame Mantra.
And he also possessed a Heavenly Flame, the Sea Heart Flame, ranked fifteenth! This Heavenly Flame was also one of the goals of his trip.
Zi Yan had been staying quietly at the door of Xiao Qing's room, although she didn't quite understand what exactly had happened.
But she could clearly feel the heavy and cold killing intent radiating from Xiao Qing after he walked out of the room.
She obediently did not make a noise, just looked at Xiao Qing with worry in her big purple eyes, silently guarding by his side.
Xiao Qing noticed her gaze, and the coldness in his heart melted slightly; he walked to Zi Yan's side.
He rubbed her soft purple hair and said in a gentle tone: "I am fine, don't worry."
Zi Yan nodded vigorously and said in a low voice: "Xiao Qing, if you are going to fight bad guys, you must be careful."
Xiao Qing smiled, a warm current surging in his heart.
He began to calmly analyze the situation. Han Feng himself was at the Peak Dou Huang cultivation level, and there must be experts guarding him, and he might even be colluding with other factions.
In a place like Maple City, attacking and forcing his way in was by no means a wise move.
The best method was to sneak in secretly!
If he could find an excellent opportunity, such as when he was alone or let his guard down, he would kill him with one strike!
Xiao Qing quickly made a decision and immediately set off for Maple City!
The goal of this trip was very clear: to scout out Han Feng in Maple City!
To prepare for the next fatal strike, and also to lay the foundation for finally cleaning up the Sect.
If the timing was perfect, he would strike directly, kill Han Feng, and seize the Sea Heart Flame in his hands!
Xiao Qing knew that to successfully complete these goals, especially when facing Han Feng and his potentially complex network of relationships, his own strength was the key of keys.
He needed to improve his strength as soon as possible, whether it was finding an opportunity to break through to the second level of the Heavenly Thunder Body Forging Method.
Or raising the Spiritual Grade High-Level 【Spatial Power】 to the Heaven Grade Initial-Level.
Considering that the trip to Maple City needed to be secret, bringing Zi Yan might be inconvenient and might even put her in danger.
After thinking for a moment, Xiao Qing decided to leave Zi Yan temporarily at the inn in Black Emperor City.
He took out a few bottles of Medicinal Pills with different flavors suitable for Zi Yan's current stage, handed them to her, and carefully instructed:
"Zi Yan, I have some things I need to handle alone, and it might be a little dangerous."
"You stay here obediently and don't run around. Take these Medicinal Pills and eat them. When I finish my business, I will come back to pick you up, okay?"