"Senior Sister Han Yue, it's so late, aren't you going back to rest?"
Yan Qingshan spoke as he walked into the hall. Han Yue's sudden visit surprised him greatly. However, since they were all intelligent, he could guess Han Yue's purpose: to join forces after entering the Inner Academy. But joining forces was also a delicate matter. Whoever took the initiative would have more say.
"I came in the afternoon, but Junior Brother Yan made me wait for so long!"
Han Yue's beautiful eyes lingered on him for a long time, her tone slightly resentful. Women were natural actors, let alone women from aristocratic families like Han Yue. Perhaps this wasn't her true personality, but it didn't mean she didn't have the skill.
Yan Qingshan found this kind of Han Yue uninteresting. He sat down and said lackadaisically, "Alright, I've always been straightforward with women. Senior Sister Han Yue came for the Inner Academy."
"Junior Brother Yan is really... unpredictable!"
A strange look flashed across Han Yue's eyes. Yan Qingshan's attitude was unexpected. She also restrained herself and became her usual cold and aloof self, which was closer to her true nature.
"Speak! What did you come to see me for?"
Yan Qingshan lounged half-slumped on the soft chair, picked up the teacup beside him, took a sip, and put it down. His other hand wasn't idle either, quietly reaching towards Xue Lan, but was slapped away by the beauty.
Han Yue stared at Yan Qingshan, unable to see through him. "Junior Brother Yan, did you go to see Han Xian or Lin Yan just now?"
"Lin Yan! He accepted my offer and agreed to cooperate with me."
Yan Qingshan directly stated what he had just done, without concealing anything. Or rather, there was no need to conceal it. Saying it could increase his bargaining chips with Han Yue.
A look of surprise flashed across Han Yue's eyes. "Lin Yan is notoriously stubborn. Many people can't persuade him. I didn't expect Junior Brother Yan to be so capable."
"A person's character stems from their past experiences. Although Lin Yan is a loner, there are people who know his past. I just asked his fellow villagers from the same period, and I learned about his past."
Yan Qingshan's words caught Han Yue's attention. Some of Lin Yan's past was not a secret, and Han Yue knew it too. But she was now very interested in hearing Yan Qingshan's opinion.
"Lin Yan came from an ordinary family, poor. Although he had good cultivation talent, his family couldn't afford the cost of his continuous cultivation. He started working at the age of ten, and only had a little time outside of work to cultivate Dou Qi."
Yan Qingshan said indifferently, "Miss Han probably doesn't know what lengths some poor children go to for cultivation. They hike mountains to find medicinal herbs, fight beasts with a single knife. He was only thirteen when he did these things.
It was by relying on these fights, even life-threatening ones, that he came to where he is today, becoming the star student of Jia Nan Academy. But how many people know and understand the effort behind it?
Senior Sister Han, do you know what I was doing when I was twelve?"
After saying this, Yan Qingshan answered his own question, "At twelve, I was just a little rascal in Qingshan Town. But one day, my father died, and only a broken corpse returned.
From then on, I had to survive in this world on my own. Lin Yan risked his life several times to climb up, and I..."
Yan Qingshan pulled open his collar. There seemed to be a row of faint white marks on his left shoulder, slightly different from the surrounding skin. "A year ago, a green wood wolf almost took my life.
With similar experiences, he and I are the same kind of people. We all want to climb up, climb higher. Many people's starting points are the endpoints that others pursue for a lifetime. We don't want our endpoints to be so low. So to become stronger, I will pay any price.
I've said so much to you, but I don't mean anything else. I just want to tell you that some things are not as complicated as you think. Now, can you tell me your reason?"
Han Yue looked at Yan Qingshan. This young man was completely different from the sunny boy who faced Hu Gan in the daytime. He was like a lone wolf or a domineering tiger, waiting for her to make a decision.
"Actually, I came to see Junior Brother Yan tonight mainly to ask you for some advice."
Han Yue took out a crystal-like scroll from her storage ring and placed it on the table. "This high-grade Xuan-rank sonic Dou Technique, Lion Tiger Gold Shattering Roar, I think Junior Brother Yan saw its introduction in the Book Collection Hall.
High-grade Xuan-rank Dou Techniques are not uncommon, but sonic Dou Techniques of this level are quite rare. After I obtained it, I carefully studied it, but I haven't made any progress.
The other day, I saw Junior Brother Yan use a powerful Dou Technique with sonic attacks in the martial arts arena. I think you must have done a lot of research in this area!"
Yan Qingshan picked up the crystal scroll with a smile, raised his eyebrows, and smiled at Han Yue. "Senior Sister Han Yue wants me to study Dou Techniques. It's late. Why don't you stay tonight?"
"Since Junior Brother Yan is so kind, I'll stay."
Han Yue stared at Yan Qingshan and replied slowly. Neither of them was easy to give up. Although they had roughly confirmed the proposal to join forces, the specific details still needed to be discussed.
Tonight, the moonlight was just right. The two of them studied Dou Techniques in the room, with the lights on all night. It would be hard to believe if word got out.
…
Jia Nan Academy, a secluded cultivation place in the student dormitory area. After Yan Qingshan prepared a batch of materials, he put down his things and took out three jade bottles. Three pills lay in the bottles: one Three Lines Green Spirit Pill and two Purple Heart Barrier Breaking Pills.
These things, plus the materials he prepared for the third Lion Heart baptism, should be enough for him to leap across the Dou Grandmaster realm. It had been nearly half a year since he absorbed the Heavenly Flame, and he felt that he was now ready to break through to the Dou Spirit realm.
"Let's begin!"
Yan Qingshan said to himself. He swallowed the pills from the three jade bottles, and the power of the three pills quickly spread throughout his body.
The Purple Heart Barrier Breaking Pill could increase a Dou Grandmaster's cultivation by one star, and two pills could be taken without significant side effects. The Three Lines Green Spirit Pill had a similar effect.
With the combined effect of the three pills, Yan Qingshan's cultivation soared to the peak of the nine-star Dou Grandmaster realm, and then the transformation process began. At this time, he started the third Lion Heart baptism, using the essence blood from the sixth-grade Amethyst Winged Lion King.
The essence blood of a sixth-grade magical beast was incredibly powerful. After Yan Qingshan began to absorb it, his body was enveloped in a blood mist energy cocoon, and the aura in his body slowly underwent an extraordinary transformation.