Xiao Yan emerged from the cave after stowing away all his belongings. It was high noon, and the scorg sunlight beat down, baking the cliff walls until they were searing hot.

  He approached a spot beh the cliff fad gazed up at the bzing sun in the sky. After flexing his ankles slightly, he forcefully stomped his foot on the ground.

  With a crisp sound of energy exploding, Xiao Yan's body shot upward like a onball. A series of thunderous booms echoed as he tio propel himself up the sheer cliff face.

  This was the Intermediate agility-type Dou Teique Yun Yun had left behind—Exploding Steps. It worked by trating fire-attribute Dou Qi into a single poih the feet, utilizing the explosive force to gee a sudden burst of extreme speed.

  'It's actually somewhat simir to the Oe Bst.'

  He flipped and wisting his ankles a bit. Like the Oe Bst, in order to start cultivating the Exploding Steps, one o possess a strong body first. Otherwise, the explosive force would break one's feet before propelling the body forward.

  For him, whose physical strength had already surpassed his cultivation level, practig the Exploding Steps was twice as effective with half the effort.

  Xiao Yaled into a daily routine: in the ms, he dedicated himself to practig alchemy until his Spiritual Strength was exhausted, then switched to training Dou Teiques. At night he focused on cultivating the Fme Mantra and the Spirit Heart Gathering Soul Teique. This cycle repeated day after day.

  He tiraining until dusk when he happeo enter Little Fairy Doctor returning with a basket of medial herbs she had gathered.

  In the glow of the setting sun, she stood silhouetted against the twilight, her lonely figure evoking a sense of pity.

  Upon notig Xiao Yan, she smiled sweetly while holding her basket and said, "Are you going to eat dinner? Xiao Lan just caught a mountain goat."

  "Of course. I may know how to refine pills, but don't t oo cook a meal..."

  …

  Sitting on a nearby rock, Xiao Yan couldn't help but smile slightly as he watched Little Fairy Doctor humming a tuhrough her delicate nose while busying herself.

  Over the past ten days or so, she had gradually e to terms with the events in Qingshan Town.

  Chop, chop. Xiao Yan picked up his bowl and chopsticks and began to devour his food like a ravenous wolf. After each day's grueling training session, he had to e a substantial amount of food to restore his energy.

  Chirp, chirp! Xiao Lan watched Xiao Yan wolfing down his meal and quickly grabbed a piece of grilled meat for itself, as if saying, 'Do my share too!'

  A smile of te gradually appeared at the er of Little Fairy Doctor's mouth as she observed Xiao Yan's voracious appetite. Xiao Yan didn't mind in the slightest that she oison Master who possessed the Woeful Poison Body. This undoubtedly left a special impression on her heart.

  Moreover, whenever he o refioxification pills, he would occasionally ask her to poison him so he could practice his antidote-making skills.

  Detoxification pills were one of the most uypes of medial pills. They tested an alchemist's ability to adapt on the fly and their extensive knowledge, as they required the creation of medie tailored to ralize the specific poison involved.

  "ht, I should leave here in about ten days or so ao Desert City. What about you?" Xiao Ya down his bowl and chopsticks and suddenly asked after a long pause.

  Little Fairy Doctor, who was clearing up the dishes, paused for a moment, then replied casually, "Oh, as for me, I'm thinking about going to the Chu Yun Empire to take a look. I've heard that Poison Masters aren't as stigmatized there."

  "The Chu Yun Empire, huh? Well, when I travel the world one day, I'll be sure to visit the Chu Yun Empire and find you," Xiao Yan said offhandedly as he y on the ground, gazing up at the starry sky.

  "Hehe, just don't e to despise me wheime es, or I'll be very sad."

  "How could I ever?"

  Xiao Yan stared bnkly at the retreating figure of Little Fairy Doctor as she walked into the small thatched hut. He shook his head helplessly. Then he slowly stood up and headed toward the cave to begin cultivating the Fme Mantra and Spirit Heart Gathering Soul Teique.

  …

  Early the m, just as Xiao Yan got up, he passed by Little Fairy Doctor's thatched hut and noticed the door was tightly shut.

  "Sigh." He seemed to have anticipated this aly knocked on the door. As expected, there was no response from inside.

  Xiao Yan trolled the Nihility Dev Fme to melt the lod push the door open. Immediately, a pu poisonous mist poured out of the room.

  Meow!

  Mao Wu instantly appeared, its mouth opening wide to form a bck hole that swallowed up all the poisonous mist.

  'This poison is truly fierce. If it weren't for the Nihility Dev Fme, I wouldn't dare e near. This poison could probably kill even a Dou Grandmaster.'

  On the bed, Little Fairy Doctor y with her eyes tightly closed. Her once rosy cheeks were now tinged with an eerie seven-colored hue, almost as if she wasn't breathing.

  Xiao Yan didn't panic. He took out a handkerchief aly wiped the remnants of the poisonous powder from the ers of her mouth, his movements tender and careful.

  Little Fairy Doctor had been uo resist.

  The Woeful Poison Body could only grow stronger by ing poison. For her, poison was like food; she had to e it whenever huruck.

  Resisting the urge to take poison was akin to a starving pers to igheir hunger pangs despite being ravenous. It was a terrible feeling that could drive ao the brink of madness.

  Moreover, with medial herbs growing in abundahroughout the valley, it was all too easy for Little Fairy Doctor to coct poison, making it even more challenging for her to restrain herself.

  In fact, Xiao Yan had noticed the signs the night before. Little Fairy Doctor's cultivation had reached the 9-star Dou Practitioage, improving by four stars in just half a month. It was a rate ress that left even him astounded.

  'A Dou Master already...' Xiao Yan sensed with his Spiritual Strength that Little Fairy Doctor had broken through to the Dou Master realm, and the seven-colored markings on her face gradually faded away.

  Little Fairy Doctor, who had been lying on the bed with her eyes tightly shut, finally opehem slowly. As she turned her head, she saw Xiao Yan sitting quietly on a chair not far away.

  Her delicate hand moved slightly, brushing the er of her mouth as a hint of bitterness gradually surfaced.

  Moments ter, that bitterness intensified. She bit her lip tightly, suddenly pulled the b over her face, and soft, itent sobs emanated from beh the covers.

  "I'm sorry, Xiao Yan. I... I couldn't trol myself. I truly deserve to die."

  Sitting in the chair, Xiao Yan's mood grew heavy as he listeo the faint, gentle sobs. After p for a long while, it seemed as though he had made some kind of decision.

  He slowly stood up, sat on the edge of the bed, aly patted her body ed in the b.

  "I have a way to help you trol the Woeful Poison Body."

  Little Fairy Doctor lifted the b and wiped away a teardrop from the er of her eye. With a hint of anticipation in her voice, she asked, "Are you telling the truth?"

  Xiao Yan nodded and took out a dark gray scroll from his ste ring. Little Fairy Doctor opehe scroll.

  "The Poison Pill Method? It requires an alchemist of the 7th-tier or above to el their Spiritual Strength into the body, gather all the accumuted poison of the Woeful Poison Body, and finally dense all of it into a Poison Pill within the body. Only when the Poison Pill is formed will the Woeful Poison Body truly bee a formidable physique."

  However, her eyes dimmed when she saw the required materials. She shook her head in self-mockery and said, "The Monster Core of a Rank 7 Sky Poison Scorpio, the Bodhisattva Body Transformation Saliva, and three kinds of Heavenly Fmes. A Rank 7 magical beast is equivalent to a Dou Aor, and the Bodhisattva Body Transformation Saliva is something I've never even heard of."

  "Not to mentiohree kinds of Heavenly Fmes. Heavenly Fmes are such rare heavenly treasures in the world that finding just one would be an unparalleled opportunity, let alohree. It's impossible..."

  Just as Little Fairy Doctor was ed by utter despair, a sudden whoosh of fmes erupted, and a deep white light illumihe room.

  She sehe appearance of the firelight and slowly raised her head to gaze at the pale white fme floating in the air.

  The fme was breathtakingly beautiful in her eyes. Its cold yet scorg sensation aroused curiosity, and its vast whiteness resembled a snowy ndscape.

  "Mountains are high, yet there are paths for travelers; waters are deep, yet there are boats to cross."

  "Difficulties may always exist, but solutions will always emerge. See, haven't we already gathered one kind of Heavenly Fme? And it just so happens that we have an alchemist right here."

  Xiao Yan's brilliant smile and the warm firelight gradually cleared the haze in Little Fairy Doctor's heart and shone a light into the depths of her soul.

  The events that had transpired over the past few months had long driven this orphaned girl to the brink of colpse. Only she uood the agony brought on by the Woeful Poison Body.

  Like grasping at a bea of light in the darkness, Little Fairy Doctor g tightly to Xiao Yan's clothes as her tears soaked the fabric.

  A snow-white butterfly fluttered its wings and nded oable from outside the window. Xiao Yan could never have foreseen that by revealing the Poison Pill Method to Little Fairy Doctor ahead of time, he had once again caused a severe deviation in the world's timeline.