Reaching the pinnacle from Doupo

Chapter 531 To take something, you must first give something.

Xiao Yan's eyes lit up with joy, and he quickly took the scroll and jade slip in front of him.

He gently stroked the jade slip, feeling the familiar soul power within it. A soft look flashed in his eyes, and he placed it between his eyebrows.

As a stream of soul information flowed in, the girl's gentle voice rang in Xiao Yan's ears. Before long, the gloom and distress between his brows dissipated with the wind, and he faintly regained the vigor of a young man.

Seeing this, Lin Yuan was slightly surprised—that woman Gu Xun'er really understood Xiao Yan, calming him down in an instant!
But upon closer reflection, it's not surprising.

As the proud daughter of the ancient clan, Gu Xun'er naturally harbors a mysterious infatuation with Xiao Yan.

But Xiao Yan himself was also completely controlled by Gu Xun'er, which fostered a personality of 'passing through a sea of ​​flowers without a single petal sticking to him'.

Thinking of this, Lin Yuan couldn't help but think of himself.

Of the women around him—Zi Yan, Medusa, Qing Lin, and Xiao Yi Xian—who is the most adept at manipulating him?
While he was pondering, Xiao Yan finally finished reading the information in the jade slip, carefully put it away, and gently picked up the golden scroll. Feeling the mysterious aura emanating from the scroll, a sense of anticipation welled up in his heart.

Looking at the ancient characters on the scroll, Xiao Yan's eyes flashed with a burning light.

"Is this the complete Emperor Seal Technique?"

He currently possesses the first two seals of the Emperor's Seal Technique. Although their power is considerable, they cannot be considered absolute killing moves. Their power is not much different from the Sun, Moon, and Star seals of the Three Lights Seal Technique.

The Three Lights Annihilation God Seal is too difficult to execute; it is estimated that it will take until one reaches the Dou Zun stage to fully master it.

The Earth-Covering Seal and the Heaven-Annihilating Seal of this Emperor Seal Technique can perfectly fill the gap in the middle. In fact, if one can cultivate the Ancient Emperor Seal and reach the state of mutual generation between seals, this Emperor Seal Technique can even rival the Heaven-Rank Battle Technique, enough to become his strongest killing move.

The Central Plains are different from the Northwest Continent; ordinary high-level Earth-rank combat techniques are not enough for him to stand out from the many geniuses.

Although the teacher is trying to obtain a Heaven-Rank Fighting Technique, it is not something that can be easily achieved.

Taking a deep breath, Xiao Yan suppressed his turbulent emotions, stood up, clasped his hands in a fist salute to Lin Yuan, and said, "Thank you for your trouble, Brother Lin!"

"It was just a small favor, no need for thanks," Lin Yuan waved his hand and said calmly.

"By the way, I noticed you've switched to the Heavenly Capital Fire Scripture, and there are also traces of practicing the Three Lights Seal Technique! Perfect timing, I've studied these two ultimate techniques for several years and made many improvements to them. Since we've met by chance... I'll give you these insights!"

"The Emperor Seal Technique that Xun'er gave you is certainly good and powerful, but you still need to pay attention to the occasion when using it... Don't leave any survivors when you make your move."

"The crystal handprint of the Emperor's Seal Technique is very distinctive, and many powerful figures in the Central Plains recognize it."

After a brief pause, he warned in a deep voice, "Be careful. If you are traced back to this place, the risk of your identity being exposed is not small. At that time... Starfall Pavilion will face a monstrous storm!"

At this stage, it is not the right time for the Starfall Pavilion and the Soul Palace to clash and fight!

As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Yuan didn't wait for Xiao Yan's response. With a thought, a faint silver light flashed at his fingertips. He flicked his finger, and a wisp of soul power landed between the latter's eyebrows.

As for whether Xiao Yan needs it... there's a kind of need, and I think you need it!
In an instant, Xiao Yan's soul trembled slightly as a massive amount of information flooded into his mind, with numerous details about the improvements to the Three Lights Seal Technique and the Heavenly Capital Fire Scripture appearing in his mind.

Over the years, Lin Yuan has seen many cultivation techniques and fighting skills, many of which are at the Heavenly Rank, and his foundation is already extremely profound. Coupled with his already exceptional talent, it is naturally not difficult for him to improve the cultivation techniques and fighting skills that have accompanied him for a long time in his spare time.

This process of optimizing and organizing one's knowledge is also a cultivation method that Lin Yuan likes very much, used to organize his thoughts and improve his ability to deduce and create methods.

For Lin Yuan, who decided to walk his own path, many aspects of his spiritual practice differed from those of ordinary people.

Under his optimization, the improved version of the Heavenly Capital Fire Scripture has reached the pinnacle of the Earth Rank, comparable to the high-level Earth Rank Burning Technique, and almost no less powerful than ordinary quasi-Heaven Rank techniques.

He has also completed the transitional moves from the Three Lights Seal Technique, which consists of the Sun, Moon, and Star Seals, to the Three Lights Annihilation God Seal.

However, Lin Yuan now possesses "high-end Heaven-rank equipment" from head to toe. Not to mention high-level Earth-rank techniques and fighting skills, even low-level Heaven-rank techniques are only so-so.

He can no longer use these two skills that he once relied on so heavily.

But since some effort has been put in, it would be a pity to waste it. It would be better to give it to Xiao Yan as a favor.

If you want to take something, you must first give something else!
According to Lin Yuan's current plan, he will eventually have to go to the Heavenly Tomb to make contact with Xiao Yan's charming ancestor and try to obtain the Heavenly Tomb Soul.

Before that, it's still necessary to do some favors for Xiao Yan and get a "Golden Water Token".

When engaging in in-depth cooperation with strangers, having someone the other party trusts to "endorse" them often makes it easier to gain their trust, and subsequent transactions will be much smoother.

Just like Lin Yuan, who managed to get a "Golden Water" token from the old medicine master before joining the Pill Tower, his development in the Pill Tower was quite smooth afterwards.

Otherwise, as an outsider, it would probably take him some time just to gain the trust of the higher-ups at the Pill Tower—although he has exceptional talent in alchemy and is a rare genius, the Pill Tower has a painful lesson from being infiltrated by Hun Xuzi.

In this situation, building trust is an extremely time-consuming process.

For Lin Yuan at present, the most convenient and suitable pawn to use to manipulate Xiao Xuan is Xiao Yan, the future star of the Xiao clan!
Strong people are often arrogant, and their standards are usually extremely high.

Even if Xiao Xuan managed to get mediocre people like Xiao Ding, Xiao Li, Xiao Yu, Xiao Ning, and Xiao Mei into the Heavenly Tomb, he would almost certainly look down on them.

It's not difficult to distinguish between a truly gifted individual and a mediocre person who has simply accumulated resources.

"My Senior Brother Xiao, is he alright?" As she pondered, Mu Qingluan flew to the two of them. Seeing that Xiao Yan's breathing was steady and his brows were much calmer, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief and asked Lin Yuan in a low voice.

Just now, when they were in the Tianyun Mountains, she clearly sensed Xiao Yan's dejected feeling, which was quite different from his usual carefree demeanor.

Having spent several years with Xiao Yan, this was the first time Mu Qingluan had seen such emotions in his eyes—it seemed that the noble lady from the ancient clan truly held a significant place in his heart.

Thinking of this, she felt a little unwilling, and her delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly!
As someone with experience, Lin Yuan only glanced at the aura emanating from the girl and understood her feelings in general. A playful smile flashed across his lips... Come to think of it, although it wasn't intentional, Xiao Yan seemed to be quite good at "flirting with girls."

His routine "rescue at the checkpoint" technique, in a sense, echoes the sophisticated method of the "suspension bridge effect."

In the original timeline, Xiao Yan often used this tactic to win the favor of beautiful women.

"Hehe, Miss Mu, don't worry, Xiao Yan is fine." Lin Yuan shook his head with a smile, clearing his mind of some distractions, and said calmly, "I just gave him some useful experience and insights, and he is currently digesting them. He will be fine soon."

"I see... Thank you!" Upon hearing this, Mu Qingluan was completely relieved, but then seemed to remember something and hesitated to speak.

"Just say what you want to say." Lin Yuan waved his hand and said indifferently. "What is your relationship with Feng Qing'er?" Mu Qingluan bit her lower lip and reminded her with some curiosity, "Seeing that you two have a good relationship, I'll just remind you... The Heavenly Phoenix Clan is very strict about bloodlines and does not allow its members to marry outside the clan."

"It was precisely because of those extremely strict bloodline rules that their clan became the purest branch of the Phoenix lineage after ancient times."

"They've upheld these rules for countless years; they're hard to sway with a little bit of profit. Be careful!"

The one who understands you best is often your opponent.

As a long-time rival, Mu Qingluan knew Feng Qing'er very well, and she had just noticed the way the latter looked at Lin Yuan... something was up!

"Hehe, me and Feng Qing'er?" Lin Yuan chuckled and said, "I think she has good aptitude, and I'm eager to train her! Miss Mu, you and Brother Xiao must cultivate diligently, otherwise, you'll suffer at next year's Four Directions Pavilion Conference..."

"I see!" Mu Qingluan nodded, then said dismissively, "The gap between Feng Qing'er and us is not so easy to close."

She has full confidence in the current state of the Starfall Pavilion.

In her view, who did not know the true strength of the Pill Tower, the Starfall Pavilion, with dozens of Dou Zun in charge, was incomparable to the Wind and Thunder Pavilion, and in many aspects it was even comparable to the Pill Tower.

Even if Feng Qing'er received help from the Medicine Lord, she and Xiao Yan... were trained by the Medicine Saint!

Regardless of the facts, from the outside perspective, Yaojun's alchemy skills are unparalleled among the younger generation, but there is still a gap between him and the older generation like Yaolao.

Seeing this, Lin Yuan didn't say anything, but just gave the two of them a meaningful look.

At this moment, Xiao Yan had also finished digesting the insights given to him by Lin Yuan. He slowly opened his eyes, his eyes flashing with excitement and complex light—from those exquisite improvements and insights, he vaguely saw the gap between himself and Lin Yuan.

"Thank you for your generous gift, Brother Lin. It has been of great help to me." Xiao Yan stood up, cupped his hands in thanks, and said.

"Don't worry about it, I don't need it anymore anyway." Lin Yuan waved his hand and laughed, "Giving it to you, if you make good use of it, then my efforts won't have been in vain..."

"Practice diligently. As I said before, I have high hopes for you!"

At the same time, he glanced at Xiao Yan and silently added in his heart: "If you can't enter the Heavenly Tomb and gain the approval of your charming ancestor, I will lose a suitable handle to control your ancestor, which will also be a bit of a problem for me."

As for whether Xiao Yan can catch up with him after receiving the inheritance... Lin Yuan has absolute confidence in this regard.

Hearing Lin Yuan's words, Xiao Yan nodded solemnly.

After a moment's thought, he added, "If Xun'er has offended you in any way, please forgive her, Brother Lin. That girl... can sometimes get stuck on things!"

To dispel Xiao Yan's resentment, Xun'er explained in her letter to him some of her "unfriendly" little actions towards Lin Yuan.

Upon learning this, Xiao Yan's resentment vanished, and he also felt somewhat apologetic towards Lin Yuan.

Xun'er chose this approach because she was worried that things would escalate in a dangerous direction—she knew Xiao Yan's personality well and also vaguely sensed Lin Yuan's danger, so she was trying her best to prevent the two from becoming adversaries.

When Lin Yuan became so powerful that he was now dangerous, even Gu Xun'er had to change her approach to dealing with him.

Lin Yuan smiled but did not reply. After a brief conversation, he said goodbye and left.

"Speaking of which, Brother Lin knows quite a few Heaven-rank combat techniques and isn't opposed to trading... Perhaps we could ask him to buy some Heaven-rank combat techniques and mention it to our teacher when we get back! But what bargaining chips do we have left to sway him now?"

Watching the streak of light disappear into the distant sky, Xiao Yan stroked his chin, pondering to himself.
-
Two days later, in the Central Region.

High in the sky, under a clear blue sky, a massive warship pierced through the clouds, creating a whooshing sound as it cut through the wind.

In the room filled with a subtle fragrance, Lin Yuan and Zi Yan enjoyed the tranquility after the storm.

At this moment, Lin Yuan lay on the bed, while Zi Yan lay lazily in his arms, her eyes gently closed, her beautiful face adorned with a faint blush, like a begonia flower that had been nourished, looking exceptionally charming and alluring.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder; the two, reunited after a long separation, had been fooling around in their room for two whole days.

After a long while, Zi Yan slowly opened her eyes, then playfully picked up a strand of her hair and gently scratched Lin Yuan's chest, "Lin Yuan..."

"What's wrong, Ziyan?"

Lin Yuan gently squeezed the soft mass in his hand, eliciting a soft gasp from the girl before she asked in a low voice.

"That little girl from the Heavenly Phoenix Clan, what are you really thinking? Is it really just for cultivating combat skills, or... is she the new sister-in-law you found for me?!" Zi Yan pinched his waist soft flesh as if in revenge before asking.

Although her tone was casual and generous, Lin Yuan was not oblivious and could vaguely sense a sense of unease in her words.

So, driven by a strong survival instinct, he said, "What are you thinking? Do you think I'm that kind of person?"

"I just feel that it's a bit of a pity that the ancient Heavenly Phoenix, such a powerful magical beast bloodline, has completely disappeared, so I want to bring it back to life... Speaking of which, Zi Yan, do you not object to me bringing the ancient Heavenly Phoenix back to life?"

Zi Yan seemed quite satisfied with Lin Yuan's answer. She removed her slender fingertips from Lin Yuan's waist and placed them on his chest again, gently drawing circles.

"Don't worry, the ancient grudges have long been settled!" she said dismissively, pursing her lips.

“In ancient times, our clan had many conflicts with the ancient celestial serpent and the seven-colored heaven-devouring python, but look, the elders don’t seem to have any objections to Sister Xiyue, do they? Reviving a few individuals is completely different from reviving an extinct clan!”

"The growth cycle of top-tier pure-blooded magical beasts is often measured in thousands of years."

"Even if you successfully resurrect a few ancient phoenixes, it will be a long time before they become a magical beast race... It will take thousands, or even tens of thousands of years."

"Having a decent opponent is not necessarily a bad thing for our race."

"In ancient times, although our race was surrounded by many rivals, there were always many strong individuals within our race. However, after the other races were wiped out, our race became much weaker in terms of strong individuals, and even caused a joke like a split."

"What you said, 'Born in hardship, die in comfort,' does indeed have some truth to it if you think about it carefully."

As she continued, the girl's voice took on a more regal air: "Moreover, the birth of a new Dragon-Phoenix Origin Fruit truly requires the power of the ancient Heavenly Phoenix."

In the future, if she and Lin Yuan have offspring, they might need the Dragon-Phoenix Origin Fruit...

(End of this chapter)