BTTH : Treasure Exchange System

"You!" Jia Liebi's face twitched, and he angrily scolded, "Xiao Zhan, don't get cocky. Don't think I can't do anything without evidence. My son, Jia Lie Ao, being castrated definitely has something to do with your son Xiao Yan and that girl, Xiao Xun'er."

"Then wait until you have the evidence before accusing me. I could say my son Xiao Yan's disappearance of Dou Qi was caused by your son too," Xiao Zhan said with a relaxed face.

"You're ruthless, Xiao Zhan. This grudge between us is now set in stone," Jia Liebi clenched his fist tightly, making his bones crack.

"Alright, alright. All talk and no action. Are you going to raise the bid or not? If not, I'm taking it," Xiao Zhan yawned, sounding impatient.

"Raise it, of course! I bid sixty thousand!" Jia Liebi, blinded by anger, raised his hand and added another ten thousand.

"Adding just ten thousand? How embarrassing. I bid eighty thousand." Xiao Zhan yawned again, lazily.

"One hundred thousand!" Without thinking, Jia Liebi shouted out an astronomical price.

But as soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted it.

No matter how precious the Peiyuan Spiritual Liquid was, it was still only a second-grade pill. Throughout the entire Dou Qi Continent, no second-grade pill had ever been worth a hundred thousand gold coins.

"You win." Unsurprisingly, everyone knew Xiao Zhan was deliberately provoking Jia Liebi. It was just that Jia Liebi, blinded by rage, fell for it.

Jia Liebi's face looked a bit shocked. Only after noticing Ao Ba Pa's gloating gaze did he realize that he had been played.

"Xiao Zhan, you're ruthless," he muttered, leaving behind a threat before urging the auctioneer to conclude the sale.

In a remote corner, Xiao Se couldn't help but laugh. Remembering the original story, he had assumed that Xiao Yan losing his Dou Qi would cause trouble for Xiao Zhan. But it turned out the tables had turned on Jia Liebi, and Xiao Zhan was actually benefiting from it.

Returning to the appraisers' room, Xiao Se took the gold card and the ring with the herbs under Gu Ni and the middle-aged man's respectful gaze, and left the auction house.

Wandering through the streets, Xiao Se found a secluded corner. After confirming that Ling Ying wasn't spying on him, he removed his black robe, stored it in his storage ring, and made his way back to the stone chamber beneath the waterfall behind the Xiao family estate.

In the stone chamber...

With the help of Long Kui's soul power, Xiao Se's Dou Qi cultivation and spiritual realm both surpassed that of a Da Dou Shi. He easily refined a third-grade pill, the Ice Spirit Pill.

The next morning...

After spending the night adjusting his body and mind to their peak condition, Xiao Se was ready.

"Brother, are you really going to devour this beast fire? Although it's no threat to Long Kui, your strength is only at the first star of a Dou Zhe, and swallowing it could be very dangerous," Long Kui said worriedly, glancing at the jade bottle containing the beast fire.

"Don't worry. According to the method in that Pill Emperor's remnant soul, as long as I have the Ice Spirit Pill, I'll at most suffer some minor burns," Xiao Se smiled.

But in truth, Xiao Se was uncertain as well. Using just the Ice Spirit Pill to subdue beast fire was only foolproof when one's cultivation technique had reached at least the mid-tier Xuan level. His technique was currently only at the low-tier Huang level, lacking both endurance and depth.

However, he had no other choice now.

The future was uncertain, and having more strength meant a greater chance of survival.

"But..."

"Long Kui, if I can't even take this risk, how can I become stronger? How can I protect you? How can I stay with you forever?" Xiao Se replied firmly.

"Mm." Touched by Xiao Se's resolve, Long Kui nodded her beautiful fair head and transformed into a blue light, merging into the demon sword pattern on Xiao Se's right hand.

As soon as she entered the demon sword space, the gentle and graceful blue Long Kui transformed into her fiery, bold red form, softly muttering, "Brother... Long Kui won't let anything happen to you..."

Beast fire, unlike the more spiritual Heavenly Flame, didn't possess sentience. So, no need for spirit subjugation; it only required creating a small space within the Dou Qi cyclone to hold the fire seed to complete the process.

But while it sounded simple, it was far from easy. In the original story, Xiao Yan struggled immensely just by using the Purple Crystal Source to cultivate a weak fire seed, nearly losing his life. And this beast fire came directly from a fifth-tier magical beast, the Devouring Fire Jiao. Even a Dou Wang wouldn't dare handle it lightly.

Taking a deep breath, Xiao Se sat cross-legged on the cold ground and slowly closed his eyes. His hands formed the Flame Art seal as his soul power focused on his Dou Qi cyclone.

Following the method he remembered, he began creating a small space within the Dou Qi cyclone.

After half an hour, Xiao Se's eyes snapped open. "Done."

He took out the jade bottle containing the Ice Spirit Pill, popped off the stopper, and tilted the bottle. A snow-white pill the size of a dragon's eye rolled into his palm.

He brought it to his nose, took a sniff, and then popped it into his mouth.

The pill dissolved instantly, releasing streams of ice-element energy into his body, which condensed a thin layer of frost over his limbs.

Exhaling a breath of cold air, he murmured to himself, "Whether I succeed or not depends on this. I hope I can make it through."

Lifting the jade bottle containing the beast fire, Xiao Se felt the heat emanating from it surge. Gritting his teeth, he removed the stopper and brought the bottle to his lips, swallowing the fire seed whole.

As soon as the fire seed entered his body, Xiao Se's eyes welled up with tears from the pain. It felt as if he had just swallowed a scalding hot dumpling fresh out of the pot, burning him inside out.

As the saying goes, when the technique isn't enough, let the pill make up for it.

Xiao Se had prepared five Ice Spirit Pills for this.

Enduring the excruciating pain, he quickly took out another Ice Spirit Pill and popped it into his mouth, feeling some relief. He guided the beast fire with his Dou Qi, using his soul power to assist as he gradually led it into the Dou Qi cyclone space.

The process of subduing beast fire was long. Unknowingly, two hours passed, and by then, all of Xiao Se's Ice Spirit Pills had been consumed.

"Just a little more... just a little more..." he gritted his teeth as he tried to guide the fire into the Dou Qi cyclone space.

At the very moment when Xiao Se thought he couldn't take it anymore, the demon sword pattern on his right hand suddenly emitted a brilliant, blood-red light.

Under the influence of the blood-red glow, the last portion of the beast fire outside the cyclone space seemed to be drawn by some force, quickly pulling it inside.

Even the meridians in Xiao Se's body that had been burned by the fire began healing at that moment.

The beast fire was successfully subdued.

"Long Kui... was that you?" Xiao Se murmured weakly as he collapsed onto the ground.

"Brother, are you okay?"

The red glow of the demon sword pattern shifted to blue as Long Kui emerged from it.

Seeing Xiao Se lying on the ground, she quickly helped him up.

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