Time slipped by, breath by breath, and the warm aura gathered in his Dantian grew hotter and hotter.

"Boom!"

Countless streams of Qi poured down through his Sea of Consciousness, surging without end toward that blazing knot of energy in his Dantian. Bit by bit, the shape of a Pill Cauldron took form. Then, with a muffled roar, the True Qi within his Dantian seemed to catch fire, searing straight through his Meridians.

The heat had been fierce from the start, yet Tang Yan had managed to bear it. As the moments dragged on, his skin began to scald and flush a deep red.

He meant to hold out a while longer, but when he saw wisps of white mist rising from his own body and felt his consciousness thinning by the breath, he could endure no more. With no time to throw on clothes, he shoved the door open and bolted outside.

"Young Master, where are you going... ah!" Xiaocui, hearing the commotion, poked her little head out the window. In the bright moonlight she caught sight of just how shamelessly bare the Young Master had run out, and her mouth fell open. Her pretty face flushed crimson in an instant. She stamped one little foot, let out an embarrassed, indignant huff, and in the end was far too mortified to chase after him.

"Splash-" In the quiet of the night, a great splash of someone plunging into water rang out across the rear courtyard.

Old Master Tang's cultivation had already reached Black Rank Eighth Grade, a genuine expert, so his hearing was naturally keen. The moment he caught that sound, his heart lurched. That direction... wasn't that where the wretched brat lived?

"What's going on!" Old Master Tang strode out of his study with a roar.

"Reporting, Old Master-the Eldest Young Master's gone to bathe in the lake." A figure stepped out from the shadows.

"Damn that little bastard!" Old Master Tang was so furious his mouth nearly went crooked. He'd only just begun to think the boy had turned over a new leaf, and in less than a day he'd slid right back into his old self. Autumn had come; it wasn't cold yet, but the lake water at night was more than an ordinary person could stand. What madness had seized the boy now?

Whatever faint hope he'd still held for Tang Yan vanished without a trace, dashed by this fresh spectacle of the Eldest Young Master making a fool of himself before everyone. He heaved a heavy sigh, flung his sleeve, and walked off.

As for the Eldest Young Master-the instant he plunged into the lake and felt the cool water wash over him, the burning finally eased. This Supreme Alchemy Scripture truly was a domineering method. On its very first cultivation, it tempered not the Dantian but the Meridians!

That fire-like True Qi tempered his channels without pause, forcing impurity after impurity to seep out and drain away through his pores.

After a whole night of torment, the True Qi at last settled, and Tang Yan slowly opened his eyes.

"So good." He swam to the bank, stretched his limbs, and took stock of his strength. In a single night he had climbed to Origin Rank, Third Grade. He couldn't help marveling at how miraculous this art truly was.

Perhaps it was the leap in cultivation, but his mind felt clear and unobstructed now, and he saw his situation more sharply than before.

The Tang Family had fallen on hard times, and undercurrents churned beneath Yun City. The great families' designs on carving up the Tang Family were plain for all to see. Yet so long as he lived, Old Master Tang-fierce in his protectiveness-would fight to the death, and no one could easily move against them. Only if he died would his grandfather lose all spirit and will. Then the Tang Family would be far easier prey.

You want the Tang Family wiped out? I'll be damned if I let you have your way. A sliver of menace flashed through Tang Yan's eyes. The killing intent he hadn't quite reined in slipped loose, and the imposing aura of a generation's Alchemy Saint surged forth all at once.

The aura was gone in a flash, yet it sent a tremor through the hearts of the experts within the Tang Family. Still, it had been so brief-surely it was only their imagination?

While the Tang Family's experts were still uneasy and unsure, the Eldest Young Master had already changed into fresh clothes. He wore a white robe trimmed with gold, looking remarkably noble, and with a folding fan in hand, anyone who didn't know better would take him for some elegant young lord of a great house.

He might command only the strength of Origin Rank, Third Grade, but with the alchemical experience of his past life, refining First Grade Pills was child's play. The trouble was that the Tang Family didn't even own a Pill Cauldron; to refine Pills, he would have to acquire one himself.

An ordinary Pill Cauldron cost at least a thousand taels of silver. And his grandfather, set on keeping him from going out and stirring up trouble again, had stripped away nearly all his usual pocket money, leaving him a mere thirty taels a month.

"Looks like I'll have to squeeze some silver out of Grandfather." Just as Tang Yan was puzzling over how to broach it, he saw someone come hurrying through the door.

"Young Master, where are you off to? Hurry back and lie down."

"Uncle Mo, what is it?" Tang Yan was curious. For some small matter, any servant would have been sent over. For Uncle Mo to come in person was rare.

Uncle Mo sighed softly. "Last time, Young Master had a small falling-out with the City Lord's daughter. People from the City Lord's Manor have come demanding an explanation. This time it's more troublesome-among them is Wu Xuan of the Myriad Pill Pavilion."

"Myriad Pill Pavilion?" Tang Yan started, and the name's meaning surfaced at once. The Myriad Pill Pavilion enjoyed renown across the whole Tingxiang Kingdom. Its Masters included no shortage of Third Grade ones; whether it held any Fourth Grade Alchemists, no one could say. But by custom, when a place openly claimed Third Grade Alchemists, stronger experts were usually kept hidden.

An Alchemist's standing was lofty to begin with. Lean against a great tree like the Myriad Pill Pavilion, and even a Second Grade Alchemist could swagger through a city untouched, with no one daring to provoke them.

It was said Wu Xuan, the chief Alchemist of the Myriad Pill Pavilion, had stepped into the ranks of a Second Grade Alchemist before the age of thirty. Rumor also held that she was on close terms with Lin Dongxue, the City Lord's daughter. Could it be that Wu Xuan had come this time to win justice for Lin Dongxue?

Over its many years, who could count the people who owed the Myriad Pill Pavilion a favor, or the ones eager to do it one? If today's affair went badly and the Pavilion turned sour on the Tang Family, all those who knelt and begged for Pills would move against the Tang Family as one. Powerful as the Tang Family was in Yun City, it was not the strongest-and Yun City, after all, was only a small place.

"Uncle Mo, Grandfather wants me to go back, lie down, and play sick to win some sympathy. Then we offer the City Lord's Manor a little compensation and let the matter rest-is that it?" Tang Yan mused after a moment.

Uncle Mo blinked. The boy was clever in a way he had never shown before.

"Let's go to the front hall. The Tang Family may not be a family at its peak, but a full-strength blow from us would leave anyone smarting-even the City Lord's Manor. If they mean to move against me, they'll have to weigh Grandfather's feelings. At the very least, they wouldn't dare just now."

Tang Yan gave a soft laugh and strolled off toward the front hall.

Uncle Mo was startled all over again. The Tang Family might rank last among Yun City's four great families, yet it was a great family all the same. Should it cast aside all restraint and hurl its whole strength against any force in Yun City, even the City Lord's Manor would take a heavy blow. Those people might covet the Tang Family's holdings, but so long as the Old Master still drew breath, who would truly dare to kill Tang Yan out in the open?

Watching Tang Yan stroll ahead, hands clasped behind his back, his white brocade robe lending him an easy, carefree grace, Uncle Mo felt his thoughts drift. If only the Eldest Young Master had steeled himself to train in the martial arts back then-surely, among Yun City's younger generation today, there would be a son of the Tang Family stirring up the winds and clouds.