Breaking the Masked Man

Breaking the Masked Man

Author: Be a Big Bad Wolf

Summary:

In a fantasy world, strength reigns supreme. With strength, you possess everything; you can disregard reason, morality, and even basic human rights. ...In that case, don't blame me for not eating beef!

Chapter 1 Medicine Clan

Shennong Mountain Range.

This place is located in the far south of Zhongzhou. To be honest, this region has already left the Zhongzhou area, so it seems quite remote.

However, as the old saying goes: a mountain is not famous because of its height, but because of the immortals who dwell there.

Although the Shennong Mountains are located in a wild and untamed region, teeming with poisonous insects and ferocious beasts rarely seen in the Central Plains, they are quite lively because they are the home of the Medicine Clan. Moreover, the mountains are rich in various rare medicinal herbs, and many alchemists travel great distances to find the herbs needed for alchemy, making the Shennong Mountains extremely popular.

Of course, these alchemists only dared to search for medicinal herbs in the outer areas, and dared not set foot in the core area at will.

Because that's the territory of the Medicine Clan.

The Medicine Clan is one of the eight ancient clans. They take "Medicine" as their surname and consider themselves the best in the world when it comes to alchemy. Everyone in the clan, even those who are not alchemists, can talk about alchemy and are unparalleled in their ability to appraise pills.

After countless years of development, the clan has countless powerful individuals, and even more high-grade alchemists, making it an extremely powerful force.

……

Dan Ding City, one of the many cities in the pharmaceutical industry.

In the central square stands a bronze medicine cauldron, nearly three meters tall. The surface of the cauldron is decorated with lifelike cinnabar patterns, and a faint medicinal fragrance fills the surroundings, making people feel relaxed and happy. Beside it, three figures are standing.

Leading the group were two solemn-faced old men, both of whom were looking at the young man whose palms were pressed against the surface of the medicine cauldron.

The young man was dressed in an ancient-style robe, his long, jet-black hair casually tied behind his back, and his slightly raised face was quite handsome. At this moment, he was closing his eyes, as if sensing something. As time passed, the pill patterns on the medicine cauldron suddenly lit up.

A moment later, the three pill patterns slowly emitted light, like stars.

Upon seeing the three pill patterns light up, the slightly older man said in a detached tone, "Yao Yan, age twelve, strength six-star Dou Zhe, third-grade bloodline level, talent is acceptable."

"Unfortunately, it's a little short."

Another middle-aged man next to him sighed, seemingly dissatisfied with the result.

As a family with the bloodline of the Dou Di, the importance of bloodline is beyond doubt. The Yao Clan has been passed down to this day, and its population has long exceeded ten million. Many of them are from intermarriage with other clans, or are disciples or disciples, or are related by blood, or are dependent on maternal relatives.

Regardless of their origin, anyone who lives in the Medicine Clan's territory is a member of the Medicine Clan and has an inseparable kinship with them, though they may be referred to as a branch.

Only those whose bloodline level reaches grade four or above are considered core members of the clan, receiving focused training and being provided with abundant rare and precious materials to nourish their bloodline power.

The young man before them was clearly far from meeting the requirements of the Medicine Clan.

This branch and the main branch, differing by only one character, are worlds apart.

"He's still young. When he comes of age, his bloodline level might reach the fourth rank or higher. Even if it's not quite there, if his alchemy skills reach a certain level, it can make up for it. Our Medicine Clan doesn't just look at bloodline level. Kid, work hard and strive to have your name recorded on the clan monument when you come of age."

The elderly man looked at the boy, Yao Yan, with a serious expression and gave him some instructions.

He was an elder in the clan school of Danding City, responsible for the teaching and talent selection of the clan school. He had some impression of Yao Yan, a junior with decent talent, so he said a few more words to him.

"Yes, elder!"

Yao Yan opened her eyes, bowed respectfully, and then glanced at the towering stone tablet standing in the sky, her face showing longing.

That stone tablet, some distance away, is the clan tablet of the Medicine Clan. Only those who have made contributions to the Medicine Clan can be inscribed on it. Basically, every member of the Medicine Clan regards it as their goal and takes pride in it.

Seeing Yao Yan's expression, Yao Shan nodded in satisfaction and said, "Go down."

Yao Yan bowed respectfully to the two of them, then turned and walked out of the square.

Today is the day of the bloodline test, and the square is already surrounded by people, many of whom know Yao Yan.

Seeing Yao Yan's dejected expression, a dark-faced man in armor couldn't help but comfort him, "Kid, don't be discouraged. A third-grade bloodline is not bad. You can still become a captain in my Iron Guard in the future."

The Iron Guards are the Medicine Clan's special army dedicated to protecting the clan's territory. They are responsible for driving away ferocious beasts and outsiders around the city and safeguarding its security.

"Okay, Uncle Tie."

Yao Yan forced a smile and responded, but a hint of frustration was visible on her face.

"Don't talk nonsense. Xiao Yanzi's talent for alchemy is quite good. There aren't many people in this year's class who are better than him."

"Right, right, look at my brain, I almost forgot, haha."

……

Yao Yan responded politely to everyone's words of comfort, her face still showing a sense of dejection as she slowly walked towards home, seemingly very lost.

No one went forward to offer further comfort after witnessing this scene, as similar incidents occur every year.

Not everyone is a chosen one.

The Medicine Clan has many cities within its territory, each with a population of hundreds of thousands. Each city has a school where all Medicine Clan children can enroll and learn about alchemy techniques that are difficult for ordinary people to access from a young age. This is the foundation of the ancient clan.

It is easy to imagine how difficult it is to stand out from the crowd.

Moreover, there are core members of the clan. Compared to those prodigies, these people can only be considered ordinary people.

As he left the square, Yao Yan's dejection lessened considerably. In fact, he was not dejected at all, and was not surprised by the result at all, because his deceased parents in this life were only a Dou Wang and a Dou Ling, and his father did not have the bloodline of the Yao Clan. He had expected this outcome.

Even the fact that he possessed a third-grade bloodline surprised him somewhat.

Taller.

After all, in the Dou Di family of the Doupo world, bloodline inheritance is a matter of absolute certainty. If the parents' bloodline concentration is insufficient, the difficulty for their descendants to give birth to powerful bloodline descendants is similar to winning the lottery in a game; it's entirely a gamble on mutation.

Ordinary members of medicinal clans do not have powerful bloodlines, nor are they nurtured by rare and precious herbs from childhood. How strong can their bloodline power be?

Yao Yan never considered himself an exception, even though he had transmigrated.

He transmigrated from his mother's womb. Not long after he transmigrated, his father died in the Shennong Mountains, supposedly at the hands of a group of fourth-tier magical beasts. His mother also passed away soon after, leaving him as a lonely child. It seemed to confirm the saying: being a transmigrator's parent is a high-risk profession.

I apologize for this.

He didn't know if it was a coincidence or what.

For a moment, Yao Yan even doubted whether he was the so-called protagonist with a system by his side. In the end, he found that he did not. His only advantage was that his soul power was much stronger than that of his peers and that he was familiar with the plot. This made him quick to learn new knowledge since childhood, which also led to his good talent in alchemy.

After several years of hard work, at the age of twelve, he had become a second-grade alchemist, capable of refining more than a dozen first- and second-grade pills.

Yes, it’s that exaggerated.

This is almost a heaven-defying existence in the outside world, but in the Medicine Clan, it can only be considered excellent, far from being a genius or a prodigy.

For the disciples of the Medicine Clan, refining low-grade pills is really not difficult. From a young age, they have an abundance of medicinal herbs to practice with, and there are also alchemists who teach them step by step. Therefore, most members of the Medicine Clan are third or fourth-grade alchemists by adulthood, even the guards.

For them, the difficulty lies in breaking through to the sixth rank or above.

"The blood concentration is generally good, at least it won't attract attention."

Yao Yan comforted himself, but he was actually a little worried that his bloodline concentration was too high and that the Yao Clan would focus on cultivating him. If that happened, he would be really finished and would not be able to escape. He might even be targeted by the Soul Clan.

That's right, he had already started planning to flee in the past few years.

Because there is really no future in staying in the Medicine Clan, and the future is bleak.

In the original work.

The entire Medicine Clan, except for a few individuals, was refined by the Void Devouring Flame, including tens of millions of branch clan members. They were all turned into resources for Soul Emperor to advance to Dou Di. The description was extremely tragic. If Xiao Yan, the original protagonist, hadn't been in the midst of it, probably not a single person would have escaped.

In fact, after Yao Yan learned that he had transmigrated to this world, he began to consider his future path.

As for changing all this... without the strength of a Dou Di, how can you fight against the Soul Clan?

The Soul Clan is the most powerful force on the entire Dou Qi Continent.

Especially the ruthless Soul Emperor, who plotted for a thousand years to break through to the Dou Di realm, and ultimately sacrificed half of the Central Continent and several ancient families, slaughtering trillions of lives. If it weren't for Xiao Yan, the original protagonist, appearing, he would definitely have been the final victor.

Compared to him, the other chieftains of the ancient tribes were undoubtedly unremarkable, all of them living in their comfort zones and just getting by.

This might also be why the Soul Emperor only gave Xiao Xuan a second glance; at least Xiao Xuan dared to take a gamble and use the strength of his entire clan to fight for it.

Think of this.

Yao Yan couldn't help but think of the Burning Execution.

Having transmigrated to the Doupo world, how could one not be interested in the Burning Blade Technique? Even though the risks of cultivating it were no different from committing suicide by swallowing a spear, it was the only cheat code in Doupo. Although the risks were extremely high in the early stages of cultivation, the benefits in the later stages were ridiculously high, making it a direct path to becoming a Dou Di.

As for the path of Emperor Pills... you don't even have the strength of a peak Nine-Star Dou Sheng to even glance at it.

Therefore, a few years ago, Yao Yan inquired about Yao Chen, partly because of the Burning Technique, and partly to determine the timeline.

The name Yao Chen is quite taboo in the Yao Clan because he was an outcast of the Yao Clan. In his youth, he even had a conflict with Yao Wangui, an elder of the Yao Clan's Punishment Hall. However, he has made a great name for himself in the outside world. He not only won the championship of the Dan Tower tournament, but also founded the Starfall Pavilion.

His own strength had reached the level of Dou Zun, and he was known as the Medicine Venerable.

This series of events was quite exciting for the ordinary members of the Medicine Clan. Everyone likes to hear gossip, especially gossip related to the elders.

Therefore, Yao Yan easily obtained the other party's information.

About a decade or so ago, Yao Chen suffered a backlash while refining pills and died...

Yes, it's dead.

It's clear that Yao Chen's 'good disciple' Han Feng has betrayed him, stabbing his teacher who treated him like a son in the back. The gears of the plot are turning ever forward.

As for Xiao Yan, he has not yet appeared.