After sealing Han Feng's soul inside the jade bottle, Xiao Yan exhaled deeply. At last, the battle had come to an end. Although no true Dou Zong had appeared in this fight, the difficulty of dealing with those opponents was in no way inferior to a real clash with one—perhaps even greater.
In one continuous battle, he had slain six Dou Huang experts, including the Gold and Silver Brothers, as well as over twenty Dou Wang elites at the five-star level or higher. Such a result would be difficult even for a Dou Zong to accomplish. And yet, Xiao Yan had done it—and walked away nearly unscathed. If news of this spread, it would shock the entire Black-Corner Region.
And he had only done all this as a mere Two-Star Dou Huang. Normally, just facing seven or eight Dou Wangs would be enough to throw someone of his level into chaos. But Xiao Yan had completely overturned such assumptions with his performance. Not to mention, he hadn't even used his true trump card—the Demonic Wrath Flame Lotus!
"Young Master! Are you alright?" Qing Lin quickly rushed to his side, her face filled with worry. She had witnessed clearly how Xiao Yan had taken several hits to protect them. He must've been seriously injured…
"Cough, it's nothing." Xiao Yan weakly coughed out a few mouthfuls of blood, putting on an act. "Just some internal injuries from blocking those guys' sneak attacks earlier. I'll be fine after a couple of months of rest. Don't worry… cough cough…"
"You're always like this, why do you push yourself so hard…" Zi Yan murmured quietly when she saw him spitting blood again. Though her voice was low, Xiao Yan caught every word.
He wiped the blood at the corner of his mouth and said in a "frail" tone, "I had no choice. If I didn't give it everything, they would've hurt you. I couldn't let that happen—I'd feel far too guilty."
Hearing this, Zi Yan paused in surprise. She hadn't expected that she held such importance in Xiao Yan's heart—that he would rather suffer serious injuries just to protect them. Before, she'd even doubted his intentions because of his ruthlessness in battle…
Thanks to his outstanding acting skills, Xiao Yan once again left a shining impression in the hearts of the two young girls. Of course, acting was acting—there was still loot to collect.
Dragging his seemingly "battered and broken" body, Xiao Yan made his way to the corpses he had slain and began removing the storage rings from their fingers one by one.
These guys were all top forces in the Black-Corner Region. Surely their possessions would be worth something. Even if they weren't of use to him, they could at least be useful for the Xiao Sect. When he got to Han Feng's corpse, Xiao Yan was surprised to find that the deep-blue ring on his finger was unlike any common low-grade storage ring.
"A high-grade storage ring? Not bad. Seems this guy was doing pretty well for himself," Xiao Yan chuckled softly as he glanced down at Han Feng's body.
In his previous life, he'd had a top-tier storage ring himself—as a peak Dou Saint, all his equipment was maxed out. But that was in the past. Ever since his rebirth, all he had were subpar goods. The storage space and durability of these rings were nothing but trash compared to what he was used to.
After Yao Lao entered his slumber, he had left Xiao Yan the use of the black ring. But Xiao Yan could only retrieve items from it—he couldn't store anything inside. As a result, he had long been on the lookout for a better ring while roaming the Black-Corner Region. Who would have thought that his own senior brother would so kindly gift him one?
"Senior Brother, what a generous welcome gift," Xiao Yan murmured with a grin, playing with the ring in his hand.
He had seen this ring—the Abyssal Sea Ring—mentioned in the intel Haibo Dong had collected. Rumor had it that Han Feng had paid a great price to acquire it. But now, it was Xiao Yan's.
Though it couldn't compare to his top-tier ring from his previous life, it was certainly a superior item among high-grade storage rings.
He slipped the Abyssal Sea Ring onto his finger, then unceremoniously wiped away the remaining soul imprint and replaced it with his own. High-grade storage rings had soul imprint protection, preventing others from easily accessing the contents. But once the imprint was removed, ownership could be transferred.
Of course, the original owner could sense when their imprint was erased and trace the ring's new location. But Xiao Yan wasn't concerned about that—Han Feng was dead, after all.
In his past life, the storage ring Xiao Yan used could not only protect its contents but even retaliate against invaders. He could channel his soul power through the imprint and strike at anyone attempting to steal it—like reaching through a network cable to beat someone down. At his level back then, no one could ever dream of taking it from him.
Xiao Yan didn't bother to examine the ring's contents just yet. This wasn't the time to inventory the spoils of war. Who knew if someone else might stumble upon this scene? He wasn't afraid of them, but he didn't need unnecessary trouble either. The priority now was to return to the Xiao Sect and refine the Heavenly Flame.
After receiving the Sea Heart Flame—wrapped in Dou Qi—from Zi Yan, Xiao Yan prepared to take the two girls and leave the Fallen Grounds. Their goal had been achieved. There was no need to remain here. Though there were likely other treasures hidden in this place, none of them could compare to the value of the Heavenly Flame in Xiao Yan's eyes.
Before departing, however, Xiao Yan swept his hand and collected several relatively intact Dou Huang corpses into his storage ring—Han Feng's included. Even though their belongings had already been looted, Dou Huang-level corpses still had their uses. If nothing else, he could hang them outside the Xiao Sect gates as a deterrent to enemies.
To others, such behavior might seem excessive or even cruel. But Qing Lin, who idolized him, stared with admiration and said, "Young Master is so kind-hearted. Even though they were enemies, you're still bringing their bodies back to give them a proper burial… so they can rest in peace."
Zi Yan glanced at the battlefield littered with broken corpses and felt like "kind-hearted" was the last thing that described Xiao Yan. And with his personality, there was no way he'd build a grave for them. If someone had said he was going to drag them out and whip their corpses, she might actually believe that…
Even Xiao Yan himself would've laughed until his sides ached if he'd heard such a "glowing" review.
(End of Chapter)
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