In the governor’s manor.

 “Li Rong has returned, Governor.”

 “Let him in.” A dignified voice sounded.

 A slightly fat middle-aged man quickly walked into the hall.

 “I hope that you have been well, Old Master.” The fat middle-aged man, Li Rong, kneeled to salute.

 “Stand up please.” The dignified Lord Lin Yuan looked solemn. “Where’s Master Luo? Didn’t he come back with you?”

 “Old Master.” Li Rong answered with a bitter expression on his face. “You gave me the order to wait for Master Luo to complete his refinement of the Spirit Elixir in Dong Lai City when you took your leave. I have given him the best possible treatment. However, seven days after he succeeded, he went back on his promise. ”

 “Ridiculous!” Lord Lin Yuan, Li Boyan, was angry. “Luo Hanyuan is a Grandmaster in the field of alchemy. How can he do that? Does he not care about his reputation? It must be because you did not treat Master Luo well!”

 Li Rong who had just stood up fell on his knees once again when he heard the words coming from Lord Lin Yuan. He cried out and said, “Old Master, it was an important matter. How dare I be negligent? I have been waiting outside his elixir room every day throughout the seven days when Master Luo was refining the Spirit Elixir. I even tried to make his young apprentices happy by calling them young geniuses. I would surely not miss any detail on proper etiquette. I also got Li Fu to prepare a gift for Master Luo every day. However, Master Luo returned all the gifts after he succeeded and did not say anything about following me to Lin Yuan City. Master Luo became livid and drove me out when I asked him why…”

 Li Boyan suppressed his anger and said, “Think! Did Master Luo meet with anyone or say anything after he succeeded?” He knew that his steward, Li Rong, had always been reliable. If that was not the case, he would not have returned to Lin Yuan City beforehand.

 “Old Master, now that you mention it. Many of his friends went to congratulate Master Luo on the day of his success. Master Luo was kind to me at the beginning but his attitude suddenly changed after Officer Liu met him.”

 “Dong Lai’s Liu family!” Li Boyan suddenly understood what had happened. He could not help but sigh and fell back on his chair dejectedly, “Alright. This is not your fault. You can go now.”

 “Old Master, if you don’t punish me, I will not feel at ease.” Li Rong peeped at Li Boyan and said anxiously.

 “Well. It was not your fault. I’m not that kind of person who would release his anger on others.” Li Boyan weakly waved his hand. “I would not let this slide if you were truly in the wrong.”

 “Thank you for your grace, Old Master.” Li Rong was finally relieved and he respectfully retreated.

 There was only Li Boyan left in front of the spacious hall. He sighed deeply and felt an immense pressure on his shoulders.

 A man about thirty or forty years old came out from the inner hall. He was good-looking but his expression was frosty. The man was Li Zhongxuan. He said, “I heard everything. What’s going on? Why did Dong Lai’s Liu family stop Luo Hanyuan from coming to extend our father’s lifespan?”

 Li Boyan said, “Ahem! They want the fiefdom of Lin Yuan City. The head of the Liu family, Liu Junxuan, has advanced to the Mystical Lord stage long ago. His Majesty gave him the Blue Mountain as his reward but he rejected it as it is sparsely populated and rather barren. He only received the rank of an officer. Since Father’s lifespan has shortened considerably, Liu Junxuan wants to seize the chance when His Majesty takes back the fief and gives it to another person. Therefore, he will not stand back and let Father extend his lifespan.”

 Li Zhongxuan frowned and said, “Preposterous! Liu Junxuan is obstructing Father’s attempt at extending his lifespan because of such selfish reasons, and Luo Hanyuan went back on his promise. These are all petty and unacceptable behaviors! Brother, we should stop all transactions with the Liu family and cut off our monthly supply to Luo Hanyuan.”

 Li Boyan shook his head and said, “Zhongxuan, you are acting too rashly. The Li family will suffer great loss if we stop the transactions with the Liu family. As for Master Luo Hanyuan, we cannot guarantee that we won’t need his help in the future. After all, there are too few Rank-5 Alchemist Masters in Dong Lai Kingdom.”

 Li Zhongxuan raised an eyebrow and said, “That is the difference between you and me. There is no compromise in my dictionary.”

 Li Boyan sighed as he looked at the figure of Li Zhongxuan walking away. Both of them had the state of mind of a Grandmaster as their cultivation had reached the Mystical Grandmaster stage. Neither of them was right nor wrong. In Li Boyan’s point of view, the straightforward state of mind that his younger brother had was more conducive in breaking through the stages of cultivation.

 ‘Although Zhongxuan is a few years younger than me, his strength has already surpassed my own… This may be because his state of mind is suitable for breakthroughs,’ Li Boyan thought to himself. ‘Unfortunately, he doesn’t understand that his kind of state of mind is not suitable in dealing with matters in the real world. One should not have too high of a demand in life. Sometimes, compromise is necessary.’

 ‘Now, I can only count on Yuanzhi. She said that she wants to refine the Life-Extension Elixir but I don’t know whether she can succeed. Alas! I’m afraid the effect will not be good enough even if she does succeed. After all, Father is in the Mystical Lord stage. A Life-Extension Elixir is not enough to rejuvenate his vitality.’

 In Vast-Gate Dojo.

 “Young Master, we found out that Xu Yang has left Lin Yuan City and gone to the Python Mountains three days ago.” A Mystical Warrior reported respectfully.

 “The Python Mountains? He is a Mystical Learner and no one else is accompanying him to go through the Ascetic Road. Why did he go to the Python Mountains? Is he going to scavenge for herbs?” Qi Hong was stunned but he soon put aside his questions. “This is a great chance!”

 “Tell Old Huo and his guys to search along Song Ren’s route of Ascetic Road. Kill Xu Yang on the spot when you meet him.” Qi Hong said with his eyes flashing with coldness.

 “Yes.” The Mystical Warrior left with his mission.

 In front of the stone cave at the Python Mountains.

 Rumble! The bluestone was moved and the profusely sweating Xu Yang walked out. He stumbled about and started to cultivate the Dynamic-Static Combined Qi-Introducing Technique. Every single one of his punches brought a dense bursting sound of his crackling bones, it was the sign of his skeleton getting stronger.

 ‘Ha! I have successfully formed the Earth and Dark Mystical Cores, and my physical strength has reached one hundred and eighty juns.’ Xu Yang completed his cultivation and felt exhausted. It was quite terrifying yet amazing at the same time as he had formed five Mystical Cores successively within three days. There were only a few people who could do it even for the Celestials in the future era.

 “Guru.” A gurgling sound could be heard near him. Xu Yang looked down and saw that the chubby little monster had not left yet. It was circling around his leg.

 Seeing Xu Yang looking down at it, the little monster was even more energetic. Its four short legs exerted a force as it jumped three feet high. It opened its large mouth that was disproportionate to its body, asking for food.

 Xu Yang had no choice but to take out some dried meat and gave it two pieces. Xu Yang shook his head and smiled bitterly when he saw that the packet of dried meat was almost empty. ‘I didn’t expect this little monster to have such a good appetite. It has almost finished all my dry food.’

 1“I should call you Chubby Ball as you are so fat and have such a good appetite.” Xu Yang pinched the round stomach of the little monster and said with a chuckle.

 1Chubby Ball rolled about on the ground and waved its four claws wildly in the air to express its dissatisfaction after hearing the name.

 “You can understand my words?” Xu Yang was surprised.

 Chubby Ball nodded its head swiftly. However, its action of nodding its head was hilarious as its neck was so short that it seemed non-existent. However, more than finding the situation amusing, Xu Yang felt more surprised than anything else.

 It was extremely rare for a beast to have such intelligence. Generally, only creatures of higher levels than Savages could have some kind of apparent wisdom.

“This little guy’s background has to be quite good. It is probably a cub of a demon.” Xu Yang made a preliminary conclusion.

 Some of the beasts in the Mystical Continent had powerful combat powers. People had also assigned them ranks according to their combat power levels.

 Normal beasts were classified as ordinary beasts that had no special abilities.

 Some beasts that had devoured treasures might mutate. They might become more powerful or fiercer. Some would even grow a pair of wings and obtain the ability to fly… Such beasts were called Mutants. Only cultivators in the Mystical Warrior stage, or even in the Mystical Master stage could contend with them.

 Furthermore, some high-level beasts were born with special talents and powerful combat powers derived from their blood lineage. Such beasts were called Savages. Some powerful Savages could even compete with Mystical Lords…

 An even stronger level would be beasts called Demons. They possessed the same level of wisdom as human beings. They had extreme brute strength and they were able to be on par with a Mystical Emperor.

 1

Xu Yang held onto Chubby Ball by the skin on its neck and placed it in front of his eyes to observe it carefully. He could hardly imagine that such a greedy little one might be a Demon’s cub.

 ‘It’s cute. I can just keep it. If it is a monster, it may take hundreds of years to mature. I don’t know whether I will still be alive then.’ Xu Yang, with a playful mood, lifted it up and placed it on his shoulder.

 After he returned to the cave, Xu Yang lifted Chubby Ball and placed it on the ground. ‘Since you can understand my words, you must remember that you are not allowed to disturb me while I’m cultivating. Otherwise, I will throw you out of the cave.’

 Chubby Ball vehemently nodded its head and circled around Xu Yang’s legs. It seemed to be displaying a look that says ‘I am a good boy’.

 Xu Yang was still doubtful after some thought. He used his hand to draw a circle of runes on the ground. A faint light flickered as he released traces of Mystical Power.

 “Dual-Extreme Array, a small defensive Mystical Array. It uses Light and Dark Mystical Power as its eyes. If anyone steps into the circle, a dual-extreme protective shield will be formed to eject the invader from the array.” The name and the function of the array flashed across Xu Yang’s head. He then looked at the tiny body of Chubby Ball and sat cross-legged on the ground holding a piece of green crystal in one hand.

 “It’s time to form the Wind Mystical Core with the aid of the Green Prism.”

 What Xu Yang did not know was that Chubby Ball was already restless when he had barely begun to form the Mystical Core. It ran next to the border of the rune drawn by Xu Yang and sniffed curiously. After that, it opened its mouth and inhaled the black and white Mystical Power into its stomach like it was slurping noodles. It even belched loudly after.

 1These two Mystical Powers were infused by Xu Yang when he laid out the Dual-Extreme Array. However, the power used to activate the array was gone and the Dual-Extreme Array was left with only an empty shell.

However, Chubby Ball did not harass Xu Yang who was cultivating, it merely scampered around curiously in the cave. Its little nose sniffed every nook and cranny it could find, and soon it found the packet of dry food on the bluestone that Xu Yang used to block the entrance.