Beyond the wooden door was a spacious room shrouded in a faint, glowing light.
"Not bad at all—barely worthy of being called a collection," Xiao Yan remarked, a smile appearing in his eyes as he looked around.
The walls and floor of the room were entirely constructed from white jade. For an academy to have a collection of this standard was already quite respectable. The scale alone was comparable to some of the private storerooms owned by the elder members of the Xiao Clan.
High-grade medicinal ingredients were best preserved in premium jade materials. Ordinary storage rings did not offer particularly good preservation effects, which was why the Xiao Clan elders would often use top-quality jade to construct small private vaults.
The treasures Xiao Yan had previously instigated his lackeys to steal had come precisely from those elder-level private storerooms.
"Heh, well? Elder Yan Xiao, our Jia Nan Academy's collection is still fairly abundant, wouldn't you say?"
Seeing Xiao Yan remain silent, Elder Hao couldn't help but show a trace of pride on his face.
The heavenly materials and earthly treasures stored in this vault would make even a seventh-grade alchemist's heart race.
"Not bad," Xiao Yan nodded lightly and continued walking forward with Elder Hao.
Seeing Xiao Yan's calm, indifferent demeanor, Elder Hao couldn't help but curl his lips slightly.
"Hmph, keep pretending. Let's see how long you can hold it. I don't know the nature of alchemists, huh?"
The two continued walking through the vault. As Elder Hao looked at the various medicinal ingredients along the way, his face was filled with pride.
"Elder Yan Xiao, do you know why the academy has nearly ten alchemist elders, yet they chose me—someone who isn't an alchemist—to manage this medicinal treasure vault?"
As he spoke, Elder Hao chuckled cheerfully.
"Why is that?" Xiao Yan asked, a hint of curiosity appearing on his face.
Indeed, it was strange that a vault dedicated to medicinal ingredients wasn't managed by an alchemist, but by an ordinary elder instead.
Seeing Xiao Yan's interest, Elder Hao straightened his posture, a look of pride appearing on his face.
"Because of loyalty. Loyalty. And damn loyalty!"
At that moment, the crystalline glow from the jade walls shone upon Elder Hao, making his previously unremarkable figure seem tall and radiant.
"Elder Hao," Xiao Yan said slowly, "you are radiating something called virtue. It has deeply cleansed my soul."
Hearing this, Elder Hao felt an indescribable sense of comfort in his heart. He looked at Xiao Yan with increasing fondness, as though he had found a kindred spirit.
"Elder Yan Xiao truly understands righteousness! No wonder those trash from the alchemy department can never become sixth-grade alchemists—they've never possessed such noble character!"
"Is this… commercial mutual flattery?" Xiao Yan muttered inwardly.
Just as he was about to continue playing along, a faint rustling sound reached his ears.
"Elder Hao, did you hear something just now?" Xiao Yan asked.
"How could there be any movement in the treasure vault?" Elder Hao shook his head confidently. "Even a Dou Zong expert couldn't sneak in here silently."
Crunch, crunch.
The sound rang out again, like someone gnawing on a carrot. Elder Hao's confident smile instantly stiffened.
"How is that possible? How could someone be inside the vault?"
Crunch, crunch. This time, the sound was even accompanied by faint slurping noises.
"I know who it is—it's her!" Elder Hao suddenly seemed to recall something. His expression changed drastically as he grabbed Xiao Yan and strode toward the source of the sound.
When they arrived, Elder Hao's furious voice echoed through the vault.
"It's you! I knew it would be you, you little brat!"
Unlike Elder Hao's anger, Xiao Yan's eyes brightened slightly.
Standing before them was a white-clad little girl who barely reached Xiao Yan's chest.
She looked only twelve or thirteen years old. Her light-purple hair cascaded down to her waist, her features exquisitely delicate like carved jade, and her large, dark eyes blinked innocently at the two of them.
Yet despite her innocent appearance, Elder Hao felt an even stronger headache coming on.
At the girl's feet lay two completely ravaged medicinal herbs.
A hundred-year Blood Essence Ginseng had been gnawed on at its most tender part, the remainder tossed aside on the floor like a discarded radish.
Another Frost Snow Spirit Fruit had also been bitten halfway through before being casually thrown aside.
At that moment, the girl was holding an Ember Blood Fire Dragon Fruit that had already been bitten twice.
"You're stealing medicinal ingredients again! And this time it's even worse—you take a couple of bites and then throw them away!"
Looking at the two herbs worth hundreds of thousands of gold coins lying discarded on the floor, Elder Hao looked utterly heartbroken.
"I didn't steal anything!"
The girl hid the Fire Dragon Fruit behind her back right in front of them, then grinned sheepishly with a small mouth stained red from the fruit.
"Look, I didn't touch anything at all!"
Seeing her shameless expression, the anger on Elder Hao's face intensified.
"You—at this rate, you're wasting everything! I'm definitely reporting this to the Grand Elder!"
At the mention of the Grand Elder, the girl's innocent little face instantly changed. In the next moment, she raised a粉嫩 fist and waved it threateningly at Elder Hao.
"Old man, are you asking for another beating?"
Elder Hao remained calm and said coldly, "Guarding the medicinal vault is my duty. Even if you beat me to death, I'll still report the truth!"
As he spoke, he quietly stepped back two paces and positioned himself behind Xiao Yan.
He had heard that this newly arrived Elder Yan Xiao was a Dou Huang expert. Even if he couldn't subdue the little girl, self-preservation shouldn't be a problem.
Hearing this, the ferocious look on the girl's face vanished instantly, replaced by a pitiful expression as she looked at Elder Hao.
"Hao Ren! I know you're a good person, a good Hao Ren. Please don't tell the old man, okay? Please, please!"
With her cute appearance and coquettish pleading, anyone with even a shred of compassion would find it hard to refuse. For a moment, Elder Hao actually hesitated and stopped threatening her.
"How about this," he said. "Eat all these medicinal ingredients so they don't go to waste. Then I'll soften my report to the Grand Elder—at least he won't get angry."
True to his name, Hao Ren really was a "good person."
However, the little girl pushed her luck. She snorted at the herbs on the ground, turned her head away arrogantly, and said,
"No way. These herbs taste awful!"
"You—!" Elder Hao immediately became furious again.
Just as he was about to explode, he saw Xiao Yan step forward with a smile and reach out to pat the girl's head.
"Elder Yan Xiao, be careful!" Elder Hao's expression changed drastically.
The first time he had met this little girl, he'd done the same thing—and it had resulted in his right arm being broken.
Yet to his astonishment, after Xiao Yan's hand rested on the girl's head, she did angrily swing her fist at his wrist. But the outcome was that she withdrew her hand, baring her teeth in pain.
Xiao Yan, on the other hand, was completely unscathed.
"So this new Elder Yan Xiao really is unfathomable," Elder Hao thought, reassessing Xiao Yan's strength. This man was definitely no ordinary Dou Huang.
Ignoring Elder Hao's shock, Xiao Yan looked down at the little girl before him and asked softly,
"Little girl… your name is Zi Yan, isn't it?"
....
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