Battle Through the Heavens

Blood Lotus
Essence was an extremely rare high-grade medicinal ingredient. This kind
of medicinal ingredient usually grew together with the Yellow Lotus
Essence. Its rarity and similar appearance with the Yellow Lotus Essence
made it difficult for someone who was unfamiliar with them to
differentiate between the two. Had Yao Lao not exclaimed when Xiao Yan
first saw this item, a novice like him would never have been able to
discover that this ordinary looking thing was actually a rare medicinal
ingredient that he had been searching for.

Blood Lotus Essence was
also one of the key ingredients in making a ‘Blood Lotus Essence Pill’.
When speaking of the ‘Blood Lotus Essence Pill’, it was also necessary
to bring up the strange Qi Technique ‘Flame Mantra’ that Xiao Yan was
practicing.

It should be known that the evolution of ‘Flame
Mantra’ requires the consumption of a Heavenly Flame. Swallowing the
Heavenly Flame, however, was not something safe. The Heavenly Flame was
extremely violent and it also possessed terrifying destructive
properties. Even the special metals that were renowned for its hardness,
would be unable to withstand being barbequed to the high temperature of
the Heavenly Flame, much less a person’s body.

Thus, in order to
successfully consume the Heavenly Flame into the body, refine, then
absorb it, some extremely cumbersome things must be prepared.

This ‘Blood Lotus Essence Pill’ was the most important one amongst them.

After
consuming the ‘Blood Lotus Essence Pill’, a strange bloody layer will
be formed on the surface of a person. This bloody layer can withstand
being exposed to extreme heat. Only with its help could one get close to
the Heavenly Flame and search for a chance to undertake the next step.

Xiao
Yan had tried looking for necessary items that Yao Lao had told him of
within Wu Tan City but it was to no avail. He did not expect that not
long after reaching a new place, he would luckily find this rare Blood
Lotus Essence.

Xiao Yan great mental strength allowed him to
completely hide the extreme happiness in his heart and under the
impatient eyes of the shop assistant, he randomly played with the Blood
Lotus Essence in front of him. After being silent for awhile, he
smilingly asked, “Are there any more Yellow Lotus Essence in this stop. I
would like to buy in bulk.”

Hearing this, the shop assistant was
slightly stunned. He suspiciously swept his eyes across Xiao Yan.
Although the Yellow Lotus Essence was only priced at only a hundred gold
a piece, if it was bought in bulk, it would still require quite a hefty
price.

After his suspicious gaze was shifted to the Space Ring on
Xiao Yan finger, the misgivings on the shop assistant’s face quickly
disappeared and was replaced with a flattering smile, “Mister, please
wait for a moment. I will immediately go and get them.”

Xiao Yan
nodded with a smile. He did not continue to focus his attention on the
rare Blood Lotus Essence in his hand, Instead, he searched the
countertop for other things, acting as though nothing had happened.

Not
long after the shop assistant left, he hurriedly returned and placed
the small wooden box he was carrying on the countertop. He smile and
said, “Mister, there are fifty three Yellow Lotus Essences here. Are you
planning to buy all of them?”

Xiao Yan smiled but did not answer.
His gaze swept across the Yellow Lotus Essence in the wooden box. A
moment later, disappointment flashed across his eyes; he did not find a
second Blood Lotus Essence amongst the Yellow Lotus Essence.

Xiao
Yan let out a disappointed sigh from his heart but maintained a smiling
face. From within the box, he randomly chose over twenty pieces before
placing the Blood Lotus Essence among them. Facing the shop assistant he
said, “Help me pack this and calculate.”

“Mister, the bill
amounts to two thousand four hundred gold coins.” The shop assistant
announced the price after counting the number of Yellow Lotus Essence
with his sweeping gaze.

Xiao Yan nodded his head slightly and
lifted his finger. He handed the pale green card containing five
thousand goin coins that had appeared in his hand to the shop assistant
before hurriedly storing the bunch of Yellow Lotus Essence into his
storage ring. Instantly, he felt a great relief.

After a brief
silence, Xiao Yan suddenly faced the shop assistant who was swiping the
card and asked, “Are the Yellow Lotus Essences here from the Mystical
Beast Mountain Range?”

“Hum. The Mystical Beast Mountain Range is
full of medicinal herbs. Our ‘Thousand Medicine House’ has our own team
to gather medicinal herbs. But each time we enter the Mystical Beast
Mountain Range, we have to spend large amounts of money to hire
mercenaries as guards.” The shop assistant, having completed a
transaction, happily answered as he returned the card to Xiao Yan.

Xiao
Yan kept his things and nodded slightly. He was preparing to leave when
he noticed that there was a sudden commotion at the entrance of the
medicinal shop.

“Wow, it actually is the Fairy Doctor!”

“How beautiful, tsk tsk, what a narrow waist…”

“Idiot,
do you wish to die? More than half of the mercenaries in Qingshan Town
have been saved by the Fairy Doctor. If someone heard you, you may well
lose your tongue.”

Two men standing a short distance from Xiao Yan
were conversing. When one of them uttered some dirty words, his
companion quickly stopped him with a quiet lecture.

“I was just
speaking trash...haha, haha.” Feeling the unfriendly gaze from those
around him, that man slightly paled and with an embarrassed face,
hurriedly escaped from the medicinal shop with his friend.

“That
Fairy Doctor... Does she have such a great reputation here?” Xiao Yan
was somewhat surprised by the exchange of the two men and the reaction
of the mercenaries. Standing at a distance, he tilted his head and
barely caught a glimpse of female figure in a white dress through the
gaps in the crowd.

Following the dispersal of the crowd, Xiao Yan
finally managed to clearly see the face of the lady whom the crowd had
clustered around.

The lady was wearing a pale white dress. She was
not extremely beautiful but could be called an uncommon beauty. Her
lightly smiling face emitted a fresh aura that was unique and greatly
increased her charm.

Xiao Yan’s gaze swept across the lady’s body
before finally landing on a narrow waist that was bound by a green belt.
Seeing the narrow waist that could not fill a hug, amazement flashed
across his eyes.

Amongst the ladies Xiao Yan had come to know, Xun
Er was the most enchanting with her beauty and mystery that one could
not find fault with. Ya Fei was a stunning, enchanting temptress and
Xiao Yu had her long sexy legs which Xiao Yan’s eyes could not help but
stare at each time he saw them. The woman in white that was in front of
him, on the other hand, was the one with the narrowest and most delicate
waist.

Xiao Yan smacked his lips, feeling amazed. Beside him, the
shop assistant laughed in a low voice, “The Fairy Doctor is a physician
that was specially hired by our ‘Thousand Medicine House’. There are
many people all over Qingshan Town who like her. If the Fairy Doctor
accompanied us when we go to the Mystical Beast Mountain Range to gather
medicinal herbs, the mercenaries would all lower their wages to the
minimum and at times, even fight amongst themselves for the available
positions.”

“A physician?” Hearing this, Xiao Yan was momentarily stunned and immediately asked, “Isn’t she an alchemist?”

A
physician could be considered as a kind of alchemist but they are much
inferior when compared to the latter. After all, they cannot really
refine any medicine. All they can do is to use a normal fire to mix the
various medicinal ingredients together and achieve a healing effect. If
compared with the medicine refined by an alchemist, such medicine is of a
much lower grade. Thus all physicians desire to become an alchemist,
but many fail to do so even after spending their entire life trying. The
main problem lies both with their elemental affinity and the lack of
guidance.

After seeing the extent to which she was welcomed and
the healing medicine on the countertop, Xiao Yan had initially thought
she was an alchemist.

“If it was so easy to become an alchemist,
the occupation would not have been so rare and precious.” The shop
assistant said helplessly.

Xiao Yan shrugged his shoulders, too
lazy to continue his enquiry. He stared at the lady in the white dress
who had sat down in her seat and attended to her injured patients. He
touched his chin and admitted to himself that the kind smile the Fairy
Doctor displayed when she was treating the wounded was extremely
touching. No wonder these usually fierce mercenaries acted like docile
little sheep in front of her.

After standing at the same spot and
taking another look at the beautiful picture-like scene before him, Xiao
Yan walked out of this ‘Thousand Medicine House’. He walked on the
street for a while before glancing at the darkening sky and randomly
found an inn at the end of the street. He rented a room and went. In the
room, he slightly curled his legs and let out a heavy breath. Tightly
grabbing the hilt of the heavy sword on his back with his palms, he
lifted it off his back with a low groan and carefully leaned it against
the side of the bed.

Although Yao Lao had said that Xiao Yan
cannot remove the heavy sword even when he was sleeping, the current
Xiao Yan simply did not have the ability to do so. Hence, Yao Lao had
allowed him to temporarily remove it while he was sleeping.

Immediately
after the strange heavy sword left his body, Xiao Yan could feel that
the Dou Qi in his body, like a river of water, swiftly and violently
flow within his body.

Xiao Yan slowly let out a breath. All the
pores on his body had suddenly opened up. The comfortable feeling caused
Xiao Yan to joyfully let out a cry. This feeling of suddenly becoming
strong was simply too satisfying.

Twisting his sore shoulders,
Xiao Yan removed the huge bunch of Yellow Lotus Essence that he had just
bought. From within, he picked out the Blood Lotus Essence and
carefully placed it into a white jade box that he had retrieved from the
storage ring. As for the remaining low-grade Yellow Lotus Essence, Xiao
Yan simply dumped them at random into the storage ring.

“Phew…
now that the Blood Lotus Essence is finally in my hand, all that I’m
missing is the Ice Fire Spirit grass and a fourth rank Ice Attribute
Monster Core before I can refine the ‘Blood Lotus Pill’.” Patting the
jade box in his hand, Xiao Yan wiped his mouth and sighed, “It looks
like I will be busy in the future. Just finding the medicinal
ingredients for the ‘Blood Lotus Pill’ has already given me such a big
headache. Alas… successfully consuming the ‘Heavenly Flame’ will not be
an easy task.”

Xiao Yan sighed and shook his head. His sore body finally lay on the bed and he was overcome by his sleepiness...