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**
As for the Jia Ma Imperial Clan, it was possible they feared his talent—worried that he might one day threaten their rule.
However, if that were the case, they would have come for him directly, not wiped out the entire Xiao Clan.
After all, exterminating the Xiao Clan served no real purpose other than igniting his desire for revenge.
So, the Imperial Clan was unlikely to be involved.
A more plausible explanation was what the Second Elder had said earlier—that they came for the Xiao Clan's ancestral jade slip.
"Master, you're well-traveled and knowledgeable—do you know where that Dou Zong came from? From the Second Elder's description, the killer should've been a dark-attribute Dou Zong.
But our Xiao Clan is just a small clan in the Jia Ma Empire. Logically, there's no way we could provoke someone of that level. Besides, I've never heard of any power in the empire possessing a Dou Zong,"
Frustrated, Xiao Yan's thoughts were a mess. Feeling utterly lost, he turned to ask Yao Chen, who had a wealth of experience.
Hearing this, Yao Chen emerged from the ring, his expression dark and stormy.
From the injuries on the victims and the description from the Second Elder, he was certain:
The one who wiped out the entire Xiao Clan was an Protector of the Hall of Souls!
But what puzzled him was—why would the Hall of Souls, the most powerful force on the surface of the Dou Qi Continent, covet a seemingly ordinary jade slip?
Pondering over it, he finally looked at Xiao Yan and said, "Let me take a look at that jade slip."
Without hesitation, Xiao Yan handed the jade slip over.
Yao Chen examined it for a moment but couldn't find anything unusual.
However, when he tried to bend a corner of the jade slip, he discovered it wouldn't budge in the slightest.
"Huh?"
Seeing this, Yao Chen was surprised. With Xiao Yan's permission, he began to apply more and more force.
Even after using his full strength, the jade slip remained unmoved.
Yao Chen's expression gradually shifted to one of astonishment. He turned and said, "This jade slip… is far from ordinary. No wonder they came to seize it."
"Master, does that mean you know where the killer came from?"
Not a fool, Xiao Yan realized from Yao Chen's reaction that the latter must know something about it.
Sigh "Originally, I didn't want to tell you this, but given what's happened, you have the right to know,"
With a sigh, Yao Chen returned the jade slip to Xiao Yan and continued:
"The person who slaughtered the Xiao Clan and captured your father… is from an organization called the Hall of Souls."
"Hall of Souls?"
Xiao Yan murmured the name softly, then asked, "Master, is this Hall of Souls very powerful?"
"Powerful doesn't even begin to describe it. Their lowest rank—Soul Practitioners—start at Dou Wang. As for Protectors, they are all Dou Zong. That Yun Lan Sect? In front of them, it's nothing more than an insignificant insect."
Yao Chen selectively revealed some basic information about the Hall of Souls.
He deliberately withheld details about the Dou Zun and Dou Sheng within the organization, fearing that it would crush Xiao Yan's morale.
He would tell him more—once he became strong enough to handle it.
"So, the one who captured my father… was an Protector from the Hall of Souls? No matter what, I'll definitely rescue him!"
Clutching the jade slip tightly, Xiao Yan declared with firm resolve.
"Don't worry. I'll help you grow stronger as fast as possible. But for now, you need to go to Jia Nan Academy quickly. After all, no one knows if that man knows about you—the one who slipped through the net. He might come back for the jade slip."
By the end of his sentence, Yao Chen's expression was extremely serious. After all, even he couldn't take on a Hall of Souls Protector right now.
"Alright."
Worried that the enemy might return, Xiao Yan quickly buried the bodies of his clansmen.
Then, without delay, he rushed toward the Tagore Desert in the east.
Before heading to Jia Nan Academy, he wanted to inform his two older brothers about what had happened to the clan.
Meanwhile, he had them hide away in a foreign city for the time being,
waiting until the storm passed before resurfacing.
"Hehe, I really am a genius. With so many portraits of Xiao Yan, Lin Feng will definitely be satisfied!"
At that moment, Zi Yan was flying at full speed toward the Black-Corner Region. Looking at the various images of Xiao Yan in her hands, she was secretly delighted.
Just as she expected, on the day after the Three-Year Agreement, when she went to the streets of the capital, she saw many merchants selling detailed accounts of the battle with Yun Lan Sect.
The illustrations on them were all portraits of Xiao Yan in different poses.
The only consistent feature was the white flame that curled around him.
She had bought more than a dozen of them in one go—surely, that would be enough to deliver results.
Plus, she had taken so many medicinal formulas from that Alchemist Guild.
Once she got back to the Black-Corner Region, she was bound to trade them with Lin Feng for a ton of pills—hehe.
At the same time Xiao Yan was dealing with the aftermath for his clansmen, Lin Feng was in the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower, fully focused on breaking through to Four-Star Dou Wang.
Though he had all kinds of amplifications, the fourth and seventh stars of each major cultivation stage were always the hardest thresholds to cross—commonly referred to as the minor bottlenecks.
With constant attempts to push through, Lin Feng could already feel one foot over the threshold. All that remained was that final step to fully enter the fourth star.
But since the breakthrough hadn't come yet, he continued absorbing the dense energy from the Green Colored Lotus Platform.
After several days, Lin Feng gathered all the accumulated energy—and slammed it down in one go.
"Boom!"
With a sound like a barrier being pierced, a wave of power far stronger than before erupted from the cultivation chamber.
However, since the materials of the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower had been chosen by a Dou Zun personally, they were naturally unaffected by the power of a mere Dou Wang.
The surging dou qi that overflowed vanished into the surrounding walls the moment it touched them—as if it had never appeared.
"This time I stayed in closed-door cultivation for nearly a full month… finally, I've broken through to Four-Star Dou Wang."
Letting out a deep breath from his chest, Lin Feng clenched his fist and grinned at the card balance beside him.
With his current dou qi level, combined with secret techniques and the amplification of Earth Class Dou Techniques, he could even go toe-to-toe with a peak Dou Wang.
And with Zi Yan at his side, even a newly-advanced Dou Huang could be suppressed.
However, thinking of Zi Yan, who had been gone for quite a while now, a trace of worry welled up in his heart.
But since he couldn't leave the tower at the moment, all he could do was wait quietly for news.
"Sigh… I wonder how that little girl is doing right now."
He murmured softly, then took out a pill cauldron from his storage ring.
Right now, he was preparing to attempt refining Dou Spirit Pills—just in case Zi Yan failed to uncover Xiao Yan's identity, he could still offer pills as payment.
As for whether or not she succeeded in identifying Xiao Yan… someone else would bring that information anyway.
Although his alchemy level still wasn't high enough to refine peak fifth-tier pills, he wanted to give it a try—maybe he'd get lucky and, like a blind cat catching a dead rat, produce one or two Dou Spirit Pills out of the twelve sets of medicinal ingredients he had prepared.
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