Chapter 37: A Generous Gesture, Xiao Yan Moved to Tears

"Second brother?" The moment Hun Cang clearly saw who it was, a look of joy couldn't help but surface on his face. He hadn't expected that after searching for quite a while and even having a skirmish with the Amethyst Winged Lion King, Xiao Yan would actually take the initiative to find him.

Landing on the ground, Hun Cang waited for Xiao Yan to approach.

A few breaths later, Xiao Yan arrived. Just as he was about to step forward, his gaze was first drawn to the massive figure beside Hun Cang.

"Is this the Amethyst Winged Lion King?!" Xiao Yan’s eyes widened in disbelief. He circled the magical beast, dumbfounded, before finally coming to stand before Hun Cang.

Hun Cang nodded, confirming his suspicion.

Xiao Yan exclaimed, "Holy crap, Big Brother, you are way too badass!"

Yesterday, he and Yao Chen had witnessed a Dou Huang battling the Amethyst Winged Lion King. That female Dou Huang was no slouch, yet even she hadn't gained the upper hand against the beast. Now, with her strength sealed, she was waiting in a cave for her power to recover, having to fend for herself even for food and drink. Thinking of this, the look of admiration in Xiao Yan’s eyes toward Hun Cang grew even more intense.

"Second brother, what are you doing?" Hun Cang asked with a faint smile, looking Xiao Yan over.

Xiao Yan rubbed his nose, embarrassed, and said, "It’s all that old geezer’s fault. He said he wanted to strengthen my constitution, so he arranged for me to be pounded by a waterfall. For convenience, I just decided not to wear any clothes."

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

No sooner had he finished speaking than Yao Chen’s figure flashed out from the ring, raising his hand to rap Xiao Yan on the head a few times.

Xiao Yan scrambled behind Hun Cang, grumbling, "Old man, don't go too far! My big brother is visiting; be careful, or I'll spill all the details of how you’ve been torturing me lately."

Hearing this, Yao Chen was so angry his hair seemed to stand on end. He shouted, "You ungrateful brat! I’m kindly guiding you, and not only do you not appreciate it, but you also slander me and threaten to tell on me?"

"Cut it out! You clearly owe me. If you hadn't drained my Dou Qi back then, would I have ended up in this state?" Xiao Yan stood with his hands on his hips—holding a fish in one—and pointed at Yao Chen with his other hand.

As it turned out, the fish had quite a temper; it flicked its tail, delivering a perfect slap to Xiao Yan's face.

"Ouch, damn it!" Xiao Yan curled up in pain.

Hun Cang watched this scene, a few black lines appearing on his forehead.

"What has possessed you to come to the Magical Beast Mountain Range?" After Yao Chen finished gloating, he turned to look at Hun Cang.

Hearing Yao Chen speak, Xiao Yan endured his pain and looked at his big brother with curiosity.

Hun Cang smiled slightly. "I’ve come to borrow your Bone Chilling Flame."

"What do you need a Heavenly Flame for?" Yao Chen was stunned. If it were for alchemy, Hun Cang could have asked back in Wutan City, but he had never mentioned it.

"Just conducting an experiment," Hun Cang said casually.

"An experiment?" Xiao Yan and Yao Chen said in unison, then exchanged a glance and looked away, clearly annoyed with each other.

Hun Cang couldn't help but curl his lips upward. Shaking his head slightly, he produced the Green Lotus Core Flame and the Sea Heart Flame.

"The nineteenth-ranked Green Lotus Core Flame and the fifteenth-ranked Sea Heart Flame??" As an alchemist who possessed the Bone Chilling Flame and had dealt with Heavenly Flames for a long time, Yao Chen recognized the items Hun Cang had produced at a glance.

*Heavenly Flames?! And two of them at that?* Xiao Yan, forgetting his pain, stood up straight and leaned in toward Hun Cang, his eyes burning with intensity as he stared at the two clusters of fire. It was hard for Xiao Yan not to get excited; after all, his *Fen Jue* was waiting for Heavenly Flames to level up. Being at the Low Huang rank was simply too weak; his Dou Qi recovery speed couldn't keep up with his consumption, and he had to rely on Qi-Returning Pills just to sustain a single battle.

"Stay calm. The Heavenly Flames will be yours, but you are too weak to absorb them right now. If you force it, you’ll likely just be burned to ash," Hun Cang said with a smile, patting his shoulder in a half-truthful manner. With his current strength, Hun Cang couldn't guarantee Xiao Yan could perfectly absorb a Heavenly Flame. Therefore, even though he was eager to see what system rewards he might get for gifting them, he had to restrain himself. After all, Xiao Yan was his medium for farming system rewards; he couldn't afford to lose him just yet.

Xiao Yan’s expression turned moved, his eyes misting over. He said tremblingly, "Big Brother, you are truly too good to me. You’ve given me so much—how can I ever repay you?"

Beside them, Yao Chen looked at Xiao Yan with a hint of envy. *Why was I born so many years too early? If I had a big brother like this back then, I wouldn't have ended up in this state.*

Hun Cang smiled at Yao Chen and said, "The *Fen Jue* is, after all, an incomplete technique. I don't feel comfortable letting my second brother practice it blindly, so I intend to have someone test it first. You understand, right?"

Yao Chen nodded, and a wisp of bone-white flame materialized before Hun Cang and Xiao Yan under his control. "Hun Cang, the Bone Chilling Flame is ranked eleventh. Even after controlling it for so many years, I still have to be extremely cautious when using it. You must not be careless; don't play with fire and get burned." Having handed it over, Yao Chen offered a worried warning. He was still banking on Hun Cang’s promise to provide him with a body comparable to a Half-Saint.

Hun Cang smiled indifferently, formed a seal with both hands, and pointed a finger. The Bone Chilling Flame immediately curled up, just like the other two flames.

Seeing this, Yao Chen’s pupils contracted, and a trace of horror flickered in his eyes. *What kind of technique is this? A single seal can make a Heavenly Flame—something that makes people turn pale just at the mention of it—so docile? If I had possessed such a method back then, I wouldn't have been betrayed by that disciple, forced to destroy my own physical body, and ultimately escape in a soul-only state.*

Yao Chen’s thoughts began to drift, but just then, Xiao Yan’s voice rang out again.

"Big Brother, you really are the best. This old geezer has played with fire his whole life and still isn't as skilled as you. He’s lived his life in vain. Big Brother, how about I just take you as my master instead?"

*What kind of talk is that? Is that even human language?!* Hearing this, Yao Chen felt his soul about to explode with rage. He flashed behind Xiao Yan and kicked him in the backside, sending him face-first into the dirt.

Hun Cang’s eyes twitched, but he pretended not to see. It wasn't the first time Xiao Yan and Yao Chen had engaged in their "love-hate" routine.

With the Heavenly Flame in hand, Hun Cang had achieved his goal for this trip. He stopped the two from bickering and took out the lotus pedestal and lotus seeds that had housed the Green Lotus Core Flame.

Xiao Yan was about to ask what they were when he heard Yao Chen let out a cry of surprise. He looked over curiously.

Yao Chen’s gaze was fixed on the lotus pedestal, and he muttered, "This is the lotus pedestal that birthed the Green Lotus Core Flame! It takes at least a thousand years of condensed earth-fire to form. If a fire-attribute cultivator possesses this, their cultivation speed wouldn't just increase tenfold—three or four times is a conservative estimate."

"As expected of Medicine Venerable, your eye for quality is truly sharp," Hun Cang said, feeling quite pleased. A glimmer of anticipation flashed in his eyes as he turned to Xiao Yan. "Second brother, this is for you. Keep it safe."

"Big Brother..." Xiao Yan had been prepared the moment Hun Cang brought out the items, but hearing it directly from his big brother, he was still overwhelmed with emotion. His lips trembled, and he was too moved to speak.

Hun Cang continued to take out other items, each of which Yao Chen explained to Xiao Yan. In the end, Xiao Yan couldn't help himself; he hugged Hun Cang and wept.

*Living this life again, to have such a big brother... I have no regrets even if I die.*

Listening to the system notifications in his mind, Hun Cang couldn't help but curl his lips into a smile while comforting Xiao Yan.