Hai Bodong abruptly stood up upon hearing this, his eyes flashing with a hint of ferocity as he stared intently at Xiao Yan, as if trying to discern the truth from his gaze.
"Old Hai, don't get too excited. Sit down and have some water first," Xiao Yan said with a calm smile.
Hai Bodong took a deep breath to calm himself down and asked, "Are you telling the truth?"
Xiao Yan took out the Sand Datura from his storage ring, placed it on the table, and said, "It's true. When I infiltrated the Holy City, I entered the Snake - People Tribe's treasury to find the Sand Datura for you..."
Hai Bodong's eyes widened. Entering the Snake-People Tribe's treasury?! Is the treasury that easy to get in?!!!
"In the treasury, I discovered a scroll about the sealing technique used by Queen Medusa. I gave the scroll to my elders to examine, and they finally analyzed a way to reverse and break the seal," Xiao Yan told a half-truth, half-lie in a very calm manner.
Hai Bodong furrowed his brows, pondering whether what Xiao Yan said was true or false.
"However, Old Hai, this method was devised by my clan elders after much effort. And while it can indeed help you break the seal, that 6th-tier pill recipe and medicinal ingredients..." Xiao Yan smiled, his eyes almost narrowing into slits like a cunning fox.
How could Hai Bodong not understand the hidden meaning in those words?
"The pill recipe and ingredients were meant for breaking the seal in the first place. If you can help me break Medusa's seal, I can give you both of them." Shaking his head with a wry smile, Hai Bodong took out numerous alchemy ingredients from his storage ring. In his hand, he held a yellowed, ancient sheepskin paper. The pained expression on his face was not feigned. He had endured countless hardships to obtain this pill recipe.
After all, this was a 6th-tier pill recipe. Giving it away felt like cutting off a piece of his own flesh.
Xiao Yan maintained a gentle smile on his face, though inwardly he was delighted. Even within the mysterious storage ring, pill recipes that could break seals were incredibly rare. Being able to obtain a 6th-tier pill recipe along the way was naturally a great deal.
"Of course, I believe Old Hai still remembers our bet from before, right? If I manage to break the seal within a year, you agreed to give me half of the Miteer Auction House, remember?" Xiao Yan said with a smile, not in a hurry to take the pill recipe.
Hai Bodong's eyelid twitched violently. He had originally thought of using the fact that the agreement was to refine a pill to brush it off later, but Xiao Yan had directly brought it up.
"I... I remember." Those two words were almost squeezed out through his clenched teeth, revealing the struggle in his heart.
Xiao Yan finally accepted the ancient pill recipe after hearing Hai Bodong's agreement. The smile on his face became even brighter.
"You really have a way to help me break the seal?" Hai Bodong asked again, still skeptical. "The Snake-People Tribe is yin-cold by nature, and Queen Medusa even more so. Her seal is extremely cold. To break it, we need to use a Heavenly Flame to enter the body and neutralize the cold energy within the seal," Xiao Yan said without blushing or his heart racing. "Heavenly Flame?!"
Xiao Yan opened his hand, and a cluster of green flames appeared in his palm. "As it happens, Queen Medusa was very generous and gave me a Heavenly Flame."
Hai Bodong fell silent. Letting a Heavenly Flame enter one's body to break a seal was an extremely dangerous thing. If not controlled properly, it could cause irreparable damage.
Noticing Hai Bodong's concern, Xiao Yan directly took out a medicinal cauldron from his storage ring. Right in front of him, he used the Green Lotus Core Flame to refine an ordinary 4th-tier medicinal pill.
His control over the flame could be described as perfect. The originally wild Heavenly Flame had become incredibly obedient due to the Flame Mantra, completely under his control.
With the Flame Mantra, Xiao Yan could be said to have the most perfect control over Heavenly Flames on the entire Dou Qi Continent.
A soft pop sounded as three Great Blood Recovery Pills were successfully refined and placed into a jade bottle.
"Old Hai, my control over fire isn't bad, is it?" Xiao Yan smiled slightly as he put the medicinal cauldron back into his storage ring.
Even Hun Huzi had praised his alchemy talent back then, so it was no surprise that Hai Bodong was half-convinced after witnessing his flawless control over the flame.
"Good! If you can really help me break the seal, I, Hai Bodong, will surely remember it in my heart and treat you with utmost sincerity!" Hai Bodong gritted his teeth. He really didn't want to remain sealed any longer.
Twenty years! Do you know how these twenty years have been?!
Xiao Yan secretly rejoiced in his heart. Although the method he mentioned was fabricated, he indeed had a way to break the seal. He simply didn't want to reveal the ability of the Nihility Devouring Flame.
Hai Bodong led him into a secret chamber and said, "No one will disturb us here."
Xiao Yan lightly tapped Hai Bodong's shoulder with his left hand. A green flame flickered and instantly burned his earth-colored robe into nothingness.
"Old Hai, bear with the pain."
Xiao Yan slowly extended his Spiritual Strength from his body, and with a thought, Mao Wu emerged from his Acceptance Soul, its body shrinking to one-tenth the size of a fingernail as it jumped onto his fingertip.
His finger then pierced Hai Bodong's body with a soft sound, sending Mao Wu to the location of the seal.
Medusa's seal was even more vicious than the one on the Amethyst Winged Lion King. It had sealed almost all the acupoints in Hai Bodong's body. Moreover, the seal had coated his meridians with a layer of poison.
To break this kind of seal, not only did the seal need to be devoured, but the poison layer on the meridians also needed to be consumed without damaging the meridians themselves.
If it were the Xiao Yan who had just met Yun Yun in the Magic Beast Mountain Range, the success rate wouldn't have exceeded 50%.
But now, not only had his Spiritual Strength increased significantly, but more importantly, Mao Wu had also grown stronger.
Under his control, the shrunken Mao Wu fiercely devoured the poison layer in the meridians. Even the deadliest poisons could be devoured by the Nihility Devouring Flame.
As Mao Wu continuously traversed the meridians throughout the body, the black flames persistently burned and devoured the poison layers. Hai Bodong could clearly feel his body becoming lighter.
That smooth, flowing sensation was returning once again!
His aura gradually increased as time passed quietly. Even though he was drenched in sweat from head to toe, the excited smile on his face couldn't be concealed.
'Just a little more... a little more!'
Hiss! Suddenly, a snake pattern counterattacked. Xiao Yan's eyes narrowed as his soul body instantly emerged and fiercely struck out with a palm. Meanwhile, the Nihility Devouring Flame surged through Hai Bodong's entire body like a ferocious tiger, devouring the venomous snake with a single bite.
The moment the snake pattern was eradicated, Hai Bodong's tightly closed eyes suddenly opened wide. A burst of spiritual light shot out from his pupils like something tangible, and the power that had been deeply suppressed for nearly decades erupted from within his body. The walls of the secret chamber began to crack under the immense pressure.
Xiao Yan hurriedly retreated after sensing this Dou Emperor-level strength. "This damned seal is finally gone! I've become a Dou Emperor again!!!" Hai Bodong's face was filled with ecstatic joy as he threw his head back and laughed maniacally.
After a while, he turned his head to look at Xiao Yan, who was sitting calmly on a chair. His eyes narrowed slightly as if contemplating something.
Xiao Yan raised his head to look at Hai Bodong in the air and displayed an incredibly confident smile. It was as if the latter posed no threat to him at all.
"What's the matter, Old Hai? Something wrong with your body?" Xiao Yan slowly took out the Soul Command Token from his storage ring and gently placed it on the table.