BTTH: From Genius to Invincible-Chapter 553: Leaving the Ancient Wasteland Region
Word Count: 2,950 Words
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"What is there to be sad about? You’re a 9th-tier alchemist, a true elite Dou Saint. Far stronger than your Master ever was."
The old man drifted closer. His originally translucent body actually solidified in this final moment, growing more real rather than less. He produced an alchemist’s robe and gently draped it over Xiao Yan’s lonely, grief-stricken shoulders.
"Master..." Xiao Yan’s voice cracked with sobs. Even possessing the Bodhisattva Heart couldn’t hide the sorrow burning through his chest.
Though he had never met Venerable Yao in person before this, Xiao Yan knew that through countless days and nights of cultivation, someone had always been silently accompanying him.
The old man’s large hand patted Xiao Yan’s head, his gaze soft as a father looking at his own child. "Silly child, you’ve already completed your apprenticeship. Whether in cultivation or alchemy, I have nothing left to teach you."
"Xiao Yan, your Master is very happy to have you as a disciple. Having you as my legacy disciple is the greatest fortune of my life, hehehe."
"Master!" Xiao Yan’s head snapped up, only to see the old man’s body dissolving into motes of light bit by bit, disappearing as the entire Hundred Reincarnations space collapsed around them.
He reached out desperately, but what had felt so impossibly real just moments ago had already become illusory.
Xiao Yan dropped to his knees with a dull thud and kowtowed heavily to the vanishing old man, his voice deep and resonant. "Without Master, there would be no Xiao Yan today. Please accept this disciple’s bow!"
The old man nodded with a contented smile. As he faded completely, his final words echoed through the space.
"May all people in the world be free from illness; I would rather let the medicine on my shelves gather dust."
"Your Master’s name is Yao Chen."
BOOM!!!
The world shattered in an instant. A terrifying wave of energy surged forth and swallowed Xiao Yan whole, consuming at the same time the old man named Yao Chen.
Beneath the Bodhisattva Ancient Tree, a single tear slid down the face of the cross-legged Xiao Yan. Shortly after, having completed the Hundred Reincarnations, he slowly opened his eyes.
"Farewell forever, Master."
His eyes opened fully, and strange fluctuations rippled through the life-filled space around him.
His pitch-black eyes now held a profound, ancient depth, as though they could see through all worldly things. Within that gaze lay a carefully hidden trace of sorrow.
Xiao Yan lowered his head and opened his palm. A verdant medicinal pill lay quietly in its center.
He gathered fallen branches and leaves from the Bodhisattva Ancient Tree and fashioned them into a crude wooden box, then placed the Bodhisattva Great Restoration Pill inside and carefully sealed it away.
Tier 9 medicinal pills possessed considerable power and required special methods of preservation.
Xiao Yan stood slowly and glanced at the Bodhisattva Ancient Tree behind him, giving its trunk a light pat. "Looking down on you at first was my mistake. Your Hundred Reincarnations truly has some merit to it."
He quickly put everything in order. The Hundred Reincarnations was just that—not reality. He treated it as nothing more than a dream, one the Bodhisattva Ancient Tree had constructed from fragments of spiritual information.
Rustle rustle rustle~~
The Bodhisattva Ancient Tree swayed and transmitted information directly into his mind. His Hundred Reincarnations had taken three months. The process itself consumed barely any time; those three months had mainly been spent on Mao Wu’s refinement and evolution, along with the pill refinement during the final stage of the reincarnation.
During these three months, Little Fairy Doctor had come to check on him several times but left each time upon seeing he had not awakened. What puzzled Xiao Yan, however, was that Nalan Yanran still hadn’t woken up!
"Huh? What the hell? She’s still comprehending? I’m already awake!" Xiao Yan stood there dumbfounded. He possessed the Bodhisattva Heart, yet he had awakened first!
His brow furrowed as he sensed something was amiss. "Brother Ancient Tree, can you let me see exactly what this girl is comprehending?"
Rustle rustle~~ (You may.)
A green sprout extended from the Bodhisattva Ancient Tree and tapped Xiao Yan’s forehead. His Spiritual Strength flowed through the tree and instantly sensed Nalan Yanran’s soul.
["Thirty years east, thirty years west. Don’t you dare look down on me just because I’m poor now!"]
["This contract isn’t for annulling our engagement. It’s this young master’s letter expelling you from the Xiao Clan!"]
["You... you dare expel me?!"]
["Father, in three years, Yan Er will go to the Misty Cloud Sect and personally wash away today’s shame!"]
Xiao Yan froze in astonishment. Nalan Yanran’s enlightenment scene was identical to his own! Moreover, she was viewing it from his perspective. Her Bodhisattva Tree comprehension focused on Xiao Yan himself, specifically that false version of him!
He finally understood why her enlightenment had lasted so long. She had comprehended three full years’ worth of events, from the engagement annulment through the three-year agreement at the Misty Cloud Sect, then her loss to him, her intent to kill herself with her sword, and finally the great battle that erupted with the Misty Cloud Sect.
Nalan Yanran soon awoke, however. The reason was simple: Xiao Yan, the one who possessed the Bodhisattva Heart, had already completed his Hundred Reincarnations. The Bodhisattva Ancient Tree naturally had to leave as well, returning to the earth’s core to rest and recuperate until its next appearance a millennium hence.
Rumble, rumble.
The Bodhisattva Ancient Tree slowly shrank, then drilled into the ground and vanished from sight, leaving behind only a massive pit. Pools of Bodhisattva Body Transformation Saliva gathered at the bottom, proof that it had indeed been here.
Only after the Bodhisattva Ancient Tree disappeared did Nalan Yanran slowly open her eyes. She had not yet fully separated herself from the comprehension beneath the Bodhisattva Tree. The first thing she saw was Xiao Yan standing right in front of her, examining her with a rather strange expression.
"Ah, Xiao Yan!" Whether from guilt or surprise, Nalan Yanran jerked backward as she stood. But with the Bodhisattva Ancient Tree gone and a large pit yawning in its place, she stepped into empty air and tumbled straight down.
Xiao Yan smiled. Having witnessed her enlightenment scene, he understood perfectly that she hadn’t yet distinguished reality from that illusory soul experience. After all, she lacked the Bodhisattva Heart.
A splash echoed from below, followed by frantic flailing sounds. A moment later, a drenched head with disheveled hair and a leaf stuck to the side emerged from the milky pool. Nalan Yanran blinked up at him, her eyes shimmering with dejection.
"You’re a Dou Venerate, and you still manage to step on air?" Xiao Yan couldn’t help but mock her. A Dou Venerate capable of opening spatial passages, yet she fell into a pit? Who would believe that? 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮
"I..."
To his surprise, Nalan Yanran didn’t snort or snap back this time. Instead, she bit her lip and looked at him with a weak, guilty expression, her voice barely above a whisper. "Xiao Yan, if... if your strength had been inferior to mine when I came to annul the engagement... what would you have done?"
His eyes gleamed with mischief at the sight of her guilty expression. His acting skills came online in an instant, and he let out a long, put-upon sigh. "If that had been the case, I probably couldn’t have remained in Wu Tan City. Every day I’d be mocked as a useless man whose fiancée showed up at his door just to dump him. I’d be pointed at on the streets, whispered about behind my back. I’d spend my days muddleheaded, not daring to look anyone in the eye, and in the end I’d probably fall sick and die of depression."
Nalan Yanran’s beautiful face turned deathly pale in an instant. The blow landed straight on her heart. For all her decent talent and cultivation, her emotional intelligence clearly lagged far behind. Otherwise, she would never have thought annulling the engagement in that manner was a good idea.
"I... I..."
She stammered, completely at a loss. Her wet lashes trembled, and the hand gripping the pool’s edge tightened until her knuckles turned white. It never once occurred to her that Xiao Yan was exaggerating on purpose.
No matter what, the situation he described would never have come to pass, because no matter what occurred, Xun Er had always been at his side.
’How can someone be this single-minded?’ Xiao Yan laughed inwardly at her guilty expression.
"Alas, it’s all in the past. Why bring it up again? And besides, there aren’t that many ’what ifs’ in this world." He twisted his shoulders and waved a hand dismissively, then deliberately muttered under his breath, just loud enough for her to catch, "After sitting through that Hundred Reincarnations for so long, my shoulders are a bit sore..."
"I’ll massage them for you!" Nalan Yanran shot to her feet almost on reflex, completely forgetting her current situation. She climbed out of the pool in a fluster and took two quick steps toward him.
Only then did the problem fully reveal itself.
The Bodhisattva Body Transformation Saliva was a sticky, gooey liquid, like paste. Her clothes had been thoroughly soaked and now clung tightly to her skin. The curves of her body were outlined almost perfectly, from the slender waist to the long, shapely legs, every line traced in striking detail by the translucent sheen of liquid on fabric.
Warm drops of Bodhisattva Body Transformation Saliva slid down along her collarbone and disappeared beneath her neckline. The faint fragrance of the medicinal liquid mixed with her own delicate scent drifted through the air.
Although Nalan Yanran’s figure was not quite on par with Cai Lin’s or Qing Lin’s, it was still more than enough to rival that of her Master, Yun Yun. It was no wonder the Deputy Sect Master of the Profound Sky Sect had once coveted that master-disciple pair.
A heartbeat later, Nalan Yanran realized her current state and let out a soft yelp. She crossed her arms over her chest and twisted sideways, her face flushing bright red all the way to the tips of her ears.
"Um... d-don’t look."
She stole a quick, panicked glance at him from the corner of her eye, then immediately ducked her head again like a frightened rabbit.
Xiao Yan coughed twice and turned away. ’Don’t tell me she’s only now realizing the seriousness of that annulment and finally starting to feel guilty...’
One couldn’t really blame her, though. It was mainly because Xiao Yan had been too clean and decisive back then, and had even mocked her on top of it. Anyone in her shoes would have ground their teeth in hatred.
Soon, Xiao Yan collected half the Bodhisattva Body Transformation Saliva, leaving the remainder for the Ancient Wasteland Region’s magical beasts, and opened a spatial soul passage back to the Xiao Realm.
Along the way, Xiao Yan remained thoroughly bewildered. Whatever Nalan Yanran had comprehended under the Bodhisattva Tree, it had left her constantly pestering him with "What if this?" and "What if that?" the entire journey, leaving him not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
The spatial passage opened, and the two of them returned to the Xiao Realm without incident.
Little Fairy Doctor had been watering the Bodhisattva Ancient Tree sapling. She stopped and walked toward Xiao Yan at the sight of the opening passage.
"You’re back... Nalan Yanran, your clothes!!"
Her initial smile vanished the instant she spotted the sticky, unidentifiable liquid smeared across Nalan Yanran’s face and clinging to her clothes. Her pretty face turned pale in an instant!
Little Fairy Doctor was no naive girl anymore. She had read enough and heard enough to know about certain things!
Nalan Yanran, on the other hand, looked completely confused. Xiao Yan understood in a heartbeat and quickly said, "What are you thinking? That’s Bodhisattva Body Transformation Saliva! Haven’t you used it before too?"
Little Fairy Doctor’s gaze snapped toward him, and her pretty face instantly turned scarlet. She had actually misunderstood!
Nalan Yanran also belatedly grasped the implication. Realization and shame flooded her features at the same time, and she stammered, "W-we really didn’t do anything."
"Still explaining? Hurry up and refine the Bodhisattva Body Transformation Saliva clinging to you. That stuff is good for your body."
Little Fairy Doctor shyly lowered her head. Her beautiful eyes couldn’t help darting a quick glance at Xiao Yan’s lower abdomen before she snapped them shut in a panic, her long lashes trembling.
Ever since the two of them had confessed their feelings to each other here and she had been ’tricked’ by this cunning fellow into agreeing to the Dou Saint pact, a subtle change had quietly taken root in her heart. When it came to certain matters between men and women, she felt a natural mix of curiosity and trepidation, of wanting to look and not daring to look.
Her heart was in turmoil. She had always been a very quiet girl, yet in front of Xiao Yan, she constantly felt as though she were walking along the edge of some unknown, intoxicating boundary.
As a Dou Saint, Xiao Yan’s Spiritual Strength was now exceptionally powerful. He naturally sensed her very subtle glance.
He smiled and walked toward her step by step.
Little Fairy Doctor’s heart pounded like a startled fawn. She felt like a little girl caught misbehaving, her ears burning red as she unconsciously retreated several steps.
"Little Fairy Doctor, I just refined a Tier 9 Treasure Pill, the Bodhisattva Great Restoration Pill. It gives a peak Nine-Change Dou Venerate a fifty percent chance of breaking through to Dou Saint," Xiao Yan said with a grin, deliberately teasing the somewhat flustered beauty.
The words ’Dou Saint’ only made Little Fairy Doctor more nervous. Her fingers twisted lightly in the hem of her sleeve, and her speech tangled. "G-give it to Cai Lin. She needs it more than I do."
She then glared at him lightly, knowing full well this fellow was teasing her, but the watery shine in her eyes made the look more coquettish than angry.
The Woeful Poison Body would eventually erupt uncontrollably once too much poison accumulated, and there was no stopping it once it began. The benefit, however, was that the Woeful Poison Body had no bottlenecks. Even the breakthrough to Dou Saint carried none. Little Fairy Doctor only needed to accumulate poison to the peak of Nine-Change, and she would naturally advance to Dou Saint without the Half-Saint bottleneck. She had no need for pills like the Bodhisattva Pill.
That said, the Woeful Poison Body could convert medicinal power into poison Dou Qi, so the Bodhisattva Great Restoration Pill could still accelerate her cultivation.
Xiao Yan did not immediately return to the Yan Alliance. He remained in the Xiao Realm not only to check on the Bodhisattva Ancient Tree branches but also to completely resolve the matter of the Half-Saint-level Ancient Devouring Insect mother.
With his current Dou Saint strength, even if the insect mother fully awakened, he had nothing to fear. He ultimately reached a deal: the insect mother could nest on the Bodhisattva Ancient Tree branches, and in return, it would construct crystal-layer barriers to protect the entire Xiao Realm territory.
During these few days, Xiao Yan also enjoyed the pleasant sensation of ordering a certain ’maid’ around. Nalan Yanran had no idea she had been thoroughly tricked and was still diligently running errands for him.
Soon, however, it was time to leave. He created a pool of precious liquid from Bodhisattva Seeds and Bodhisattva Body Transformation Saliva for Little Fairy Doctor and Nalan Yanran to use, then asked Little Fairy Doctor to take Nalan Yanran with her when she departed the Ancient Wasteland Region.
Xiao Yan himself still had matters to attend to.
As a Dou Saint, he no longer needed to open something as simple as a spatial passage. Instead, he directly folded the void, reducing the distance between two locations to zero—like an ’anywhere door’ from a story—allowing him to cross thousands of miles in a single step.
One step brought him to the small town outside the Ancient Wasteland Region. He appeared inside a particular room.
A graceful figure jolted awake from cultivation the moment he arrived. Recognition ignited anger and resentment in her eyes. She clenched her fists and gritted her teeth as she glared at him.
Feng Qing Er!
"You certainly know how to wait." Xiao Yan walked to a chair and sat down. Feng Qing Er had not left. Instead, she had remained in Wasteland Town, awaiting his emergence from the Ancient Wasteland Region.
She knew this trip had been another great harvest for him!
Of course, she couldn’t go back either. Once she returned, her tribe would inevitably investigate the Asura Slave Seal within her body, and the moment they did, certain matters would be exposed.
"Do you have masochistic tendencies, or are you really not afraid I’ll kill you? Although your soul isn’t worth much, it’s better than nothing." Xiao Yan poured himself a cup of tea, unhurried. He no longer harbored any particular hatred toward Feng Qing Er; their debts had been settled.
He wasn’t bloodthirsty by nature. He simply couldn’t understand why Feng Qing Er had waited for him here.
Feng Qing Er gritted her teeth and drew a deep breath. Her gaze hardened as she spoke in a low voice. "I know some things about the Ancient Void Dragon Tribe. In exchange, I want you... to remove that soul imprint!"
