The Traceless Pill, a low-grade Second Rank pill. This sort of pill could not aid cultivation, and it was maddeningly intricate to refine, so few Alchemists ever bothered to make it. As a result, hardly anyone knew much about it at all.

In his past life, someone had once paid a steep price to have him refine this very pill, and only then had he committed the formula to memory. He'd never imagined it would come in handy now.

The City Lord's Manor.

A middle-aged man, slender of build yet powerfully made, stood with his hands clasped behind his back before the window, gazing eastward. "That brat from the Tang Family - his Dantian is whole after all. From what's been reported to me, the boy's cultivation has already reached Origin Rank Eighth Grade."

"It is rather unexpected. It seems Dongxue was taken in by the Tang Family last time."

A woman with a graceful figure sat upright in her chair. Even within the Manor, with no outsiders present, a thin gauze veil still covered her face. "Though the grudge between our Manor and the Tang Family has been settled, how we handled it back then was never made public. Others still believe we simply let the matter slide. I fear someone means to seize on it again and stir up trouble."

"True, Tang Yan once meant to force himself on Dongxue, but the boy never so much as brushed the hem of her robe. Besides, that time he composed a ci, and Dongxue, speaking for our Manor, put the affair to rest. No matter how the rumors blow, would our Manor truly go back on its word and trouble the Tang Family a second time?" The middle-aged man frowned.

"Then why not make public how we settled it last time?" the City Lord's Wife suggested.

"That won't do. A single ci resolving a dispute between two families could stain Dongxue's good name. Let's wait a while longer. If the rumors grow too heavy, we can put suitable pressure on the Tang Family." Lin Xiao's eyes were deep and unreadable. "That Liu Family has grown rather brazen of late as well."

"Master, Tang Yan of the Tang Family requests an audience." Just as the couple were speaking, a maid stepped in to report.

"Tang Yan?" Lin Xiao and his wife exchanged a glance, each finding the same doubt in the other's eyes. "He came alone?"

"Indeed."

"What game is the brat playing now?" Lin Xiao considered briefly, then said in a low voice, "Have him wait for me in the front hall."

"What has the boy come for?" the City Lord's Wife asked, curious.

"We'll find out by going to see." Lin Xiao straightened his robes as he spoke.

When Lin Xiao reached the main hall, Tang Yan was drinking tea - though his posture was wildly improper, one leg slung over the armrest, the very picture of ease.

Lin Xiao's brow couldn't help twitching. In Yun City, whoever came to the City Lord's Manor sat upright and minded their manners. When had there ever been anyone so brazen?

Just as he was about to flare up, Tang Yan startled as though only now noticing the City Lord and hurriedly set down his teacup. "Aiya, City Lord, the moment I stepped into your Manor it felt as warm as my own home. I let my guard slip and forgot my manners. Please don't hold it against me, City Lord."

At those words, Lin Xiao found himself reassessing just how thick the boy's hide truly was. Exactly how shameless did one have to be to say something like that?

Still, he did not dwell on it, and instead asked coldly, "I hear your strength has already reached Origin Rank Eighth Grade?"

"This... heh, indeed it has. The City Lord truly is far-reaching and keen of eye; even this didn't escape you..."

"Impudence! When Dongxue visited your Tang Family, you spun lie after lie, claiming your Dantian was ruined! Does your Tang Family take my City Lord's Manor for fools?" Lin Xiao's eyes flared wide, and his vast aura erupted all at once. The Pressure of a City Lord came crashing down on Tang Yan, blotting out heaven and earth.

Tang Yan felt himself wrapped in a fierce, dangerous aura, and a towering wave surged within his heart. The City Lord's presence was this overwhelming - could the man be an Earth Rank expert?

Once a ninth-rank Alchemist revered by the heroes of the world, the one thing he feared least was sheer presence. He explained without the slightest flinch, "City Lord, the Tang Family did not deceive Miss Dongxue. My Dantian truly was destroyed - several renowned physicians of Yun City can attest to it. It was my master who took pity on me, saved my life, and bestowed this cultivation upon me."

His master? A flicker of alarm and suspicion crossed Lin Xiao's eyes. He had quietly questioned several of Yun City's renowned physicians himself, and they had confirmed it: the boy's Dantian had been shattered, leaving him unable to cultivate. If the brat had no master, then how had his Dantian healed - and how had he leapt straight to Origin Rank Eighth Grade?

And in all the world, who possessed the divine ability to remold a shattered Dantian?

"Oh? And who might your honored master be? Might you introduce us?" Lin Xiao asked, feigning calm.

"My master has spent his life indifferent to fame and gain. He bears no title, and forbids me to reveal anything of him. The old one drifts like a lone cloud and a wild crane, roaming the world with no fixed abode. Should I meet him again, I will surely beg him to call on you."

At the boy's earnest, straight-faced words, even Lin Xiao could not be sure. If a powerful master truly stood behind Tang Yan, then anyone who wished to move against the Tang Family hereafter would have to think long and hard first.

Could it be the brat had come to warn him off - to caution him against provoking the Tang Family lightly? At the thought, a cold glint flashed in Lin Xiao's eyes. If that were truly the case, then the Tang Family had miscalculated.

"Then what brings you here this time?" Lin Xiao asked.

"To bring a gift." Tang Yan said it as though nothing could be more natural.

"A gift?" A peculiar look crossed Lin Xiao's face. The world was vast and full of oddities, but this was the first time in his life he'd seen someone announce so brazenly that he'd come to give a present.

"Then you may see yourself out. Today is no festival; there's truly no need for gifts." Lin Xiao waved a hand and turned to send his guest off.

"This is a Traceless Pill my master gave me. Its grade isn't high - only low-grade Second Rank - but few souls know the formula, and refining it is harder still. It takes many steps to succeed, and the rate of forming the pill is dismally low." Tang Yan sighed. "Since the City Lord has no need of it, then this one will take his leave."

Low-grade Second Rank? The City Lord's gaze turned faintly scornful. A low-grade Second Rank medicine might be precious in Yun City, but across all of Tingxiang Kingdom it scarcely counted as a fine pill. He had never heard of a Traceless Pill, yet since it was pegged at merely low-grade Second Rank, it surely wasn't anything rare.

By now Lin Xiao thought he understood the boy's purpose in coming: offer a pill, sell a favor, so that if rumors did surface in Yun City, the Manor would hold back from troubling the Tang Family.

Lin Xiao had never intended to make another great fuss over the matter - but to imagine a single low-grade Second Rank pill could sway the will of the City Lord's Manor was to underestimate it badly.

Bored now, the City Lord was about to turn back and rejoin his wife when he heard Tang Yan mutter, just as the boy was nearly out of the front hall:

"My master said this Traceless Pill can erase any scar without leaving the faintest mark - it can even smooth the skin and preserve one's youth. No idea whether that's true. Since the City Lord doesn't want it, I'll just eat it myself when I find the time."

With cultivation as profound as the City Lord's, his hearing was naturally sharp. Every word Tang Yan spoke reached Lin Xiao's ears without a syllable lost, and Lin Xiao froze where he stood.

He thought of the scar on his wife's face - how she'd sought a cure in vain for so long, passing her days in quiet melancholy behind a forced smile - and his heart ached beyond words.

The Traceless Pill - its purpose was erasing scars? Without leaving a single trace? Why the hell didn't you mention that earlier?!

Lin Xiao could hold back no longer. He cried out, "Young Master Tang, stay your step!"