The old man suddenly seemed to grit his teeth, as if hardening his resolve, and said, "If you agree to the potion, I'll give you this!"

With that, he fumbled for an exquisite wooden box from behind a cabinet.

The box was made of white peach wood, intricately carved with elegant patterns. Putting aside the value of its contents, the box itself was worth hundreds of gold coins.

"I acquired this item through immense hardship. If you agree to let me test the potion on you just once, I'll give it to you," Elder Yi held the box in his palm, his expression twisted, clearly reluctant to part with it.

"What is inside this?" For this to cause the foremost Archmage of the Luo Qi Empire such pain, even Chen Feng couldn't help but become interested.

"This is a true celestial treasure, something I gathered deep in the mountains during my youthful travels. If brewed into medicine, it can raise the cultivation level of anyone below the Dou Shi rank by at least one stage..." Elder Yi spoke as he opened the box.

The inside of the box was layered and wrapped in pale yellow, fine cloth, showing just how much importance Elder Yi placed on the item.

As the fine cloth was unfurled, a strange, exotic fragrance instantly filled the room. Smelling it, Chen Feng's expression immediately became peculiar. He snatched the wooden box from the old man's hand and looked at the object lying flat beneath the cloth; his face bloomed with excitement.

"This is the treasure you said can boost cultivation by one level when brewed into a potion?" Chen Feng swallowed hard, suppressing the thrill in his chest.

Seeing Chen Feng's reaction, Elder Yi assumed he was tempted. He said, "If you agree to let me test its properties, I will give you this peerless treasure, the Southern Bright Snow Pear..."

Before he could finish speaking, Chen Feng tossed the so-called peerless treasure, the Southern Bright Snow Pear, back as if it were garbage: "I don't care for it. You keep it yourself!" Then he turned to leave.

"Hey, don't look down on this thing! If you put it up for auction at the Imperial Auction House, you couldn't buy it for 100,000 gold coins..." Elder Yi called out as he caught the Snow Pear.

"One hundred thousand gold coins?" Chen Feng hadn't expected the item to be worth so much. He stopped and asked, "Is this thing really that valuable?"

Elder Yi’s face was smug: "Of course. This is an exceedingly rare medicinal ingredient that can be found only by chance. On the open market, it is priceless. You have no idea how hard I worked to obtain this..."

Elder Yi was savoring his moment and about to continue when his eyes suddenly snapped wide open, staring intensely at Chen Feng’s hand. His entire body trembled with agitation. At some unknown point, an identical pear had appeared in Chen Feng’s hand.

Moreover, the one in Chen Feng's hand far surpassed the one in the wooden box in both size and quality.

"This... You..." Elder Yi could hardly believe his eyes. "Where... where did you get that..."

Chen Feng casually placed the Southern Bright Snow Pear in his right palm, feigning indifference: "I truly didn't realize this thing was so valuable." As he finished speaking, he swept his left hand through the water pitcher, and three more pears of the same size materialized out of thin air.

When he and Little Tiger fell into the valley, the ground there was covered in medicinal herbs. Pears like the Southern Bright Snow Pear were basically treated as food; he never imagined they held such value. When leaving the valley, he had gathered several portions of every herb. In the water pitcher alone, there were no less than a hundred of these pears. Hearing Elder Yi describe their rarity now, he couldn't help but take out a few.

After speaking, Chen Feng glanced at Elder Yi, only to find the old man standing frozen, eyes wide open, as if stunned into a stupor.

"Elder Yi, Elder Yi..."

It wasn't until Chen Feng called out more than ten times that the old man seemed to awaken, snapping out of his shock, muttering to himself, "How is this possible, how is this possible..."

Chen Feng found the whole situation somewhat ridiculous, seeing how deeply shaken the elder was by a few Southern Bright Snow Pears that were so ordinary in his eyes.

After a while, Elder Yi suddenly burst out laughing, "This is great! Now I can boldly prepare the potion to increase cultivation; I no longer have to worry about insufficient ingredients!"

After laughing, Elder Yi looked earnestly at Chen Feng and said, "Can you sell me the four Southern Bright Snow Pears you have in your hand? I am willing to offer 500,000 gold coins."

"Five hundred thousand gold coins?" Chen Feng shook his head. Gold coins were optional to him; he already possessed over a hundred thousand, more than he could ever spend. The only thing he truly desired was strength!

So he said, "If you can successfully refine the potion that increases cultivation, I can give you these few Southern Bright Snow Pears."

"Give them to me?" Elder Yi could hardly believe his ears.

Chen Feng nodded and said no more.

This wasn't due to Chen Feng’s generosity. Since Elder Yi was known as the foremost Archmage of the Luo Qi Empire, his strength was undoubtedly unquestionable. Chen Feng was merely a Dou Shi; it would be as easy as crushing an ant for the elder to kill him and seize the Snow Pears. Yet, even though envy flickered in the elder’s eyes, there wasn't a trace of greed, which spoke volumes of his character.

Furthermore, Chen Feng had no less than a hundred of these pears. If giving away one or two could earn him a potion to boost his cultivation, it was undoubtedly worthwhile.

Although the Celestial Dragon Yang Fruit was an unparalleled miracle medicine for raising cultivation, Chen Feng decided not to take it out. Such a heaven-defying treasure was beyond his current ability to protect. Moreover, Little Tiger had desperately wanted this item, and the thought of it brought a wave of sadness.

"Good!" A smile spread across Elder Yi’s face. He snatched the four Southern Bright Snow Pears from Chen Feng’s hand and turned, disappearing into the depths of the room to enter a frenzy of research. The original idea of having Chen Feng test the medicine was long forgotten.

Chen Feng left Elder Yi's laboratory. The three Snow Pears in his hand wouldn't be of much use to him personally. If Elder Yi could successfully formulate the potion that increased cultivation by one level, that would be best; if not, his loss would be minimal.

Besides, this was also a way to gauge Elder Yi’s true capabilities. If the elder could truly concoct a cultivation-boosting potion, the countless rare herbs he acquired in the valley could be put to much greater use. Perhaps if he gave the elder more then, even better potions could be formulated.

Upon returning to his residence, Chen Feng slept for a while, then trained his reflexes inside the sphere—if he didn't sleep to recharge, his head would ache as if convulsing.

When he awoke, the sky outside was hazy; it was already dark.

He left his room, found something simple to eat, and was heading toward the small courtyard when he heard someone call out from behind.

"Iori!"

The voice was rich with magnetism, pleasing to the ear. Chen Feng knew instantly it had to be Angellisa, the purple-robed maiden he had met during the day, without even looking.

"What is it?" Chen Feng stopped, not even turning his head, leaving her with the pale crescent of his back.

"The preliminary round is in three days. Aren't you going to practice coordination with your teammates?" Angellisa spoke unhurriedly.

"Coordination? Unnecessary!" Chen Feng’s arrogant voice rang out: "It makes no difference whether you are here or not. Just don't drag me down!"

"You..." Even with her good temper, Angellisa’s pretty face flushed crimson with anger at those words.

However, despite her anger, she had learned a bit about the red-haired youth’s temper through Judy. Her eyes darted, and she said, "Ah, I'm worried about the team composed of the Seventh Prince, Alex, and Joseph. Those three are absolute powerhouses!"

"The Seventh Prince, Alex, and Joseph formed a team?" Chen Feng paused. Those three were all top contenders for the championship. If the three of them teamed up, it would indeed be troublesome.

Seeing that she had finally captured Chen Feng’s attention, Angellisa felt a secret satisfaction and continued, "Yes! Everyone knows it now; I estimate their team will take the championship. My suggestion is that we focus on fighting for second place."

Chen Feng suddenly spun around, his eyes locked onto Angellisa nearby, his tone chillingly cold as he asked, "You think I will lose?"

Angellisa showed no sign of backing down and retorted, "It's not that you will lose, but our small team will lose. Without any practice, without even knowing what your partners specialize in, how can we win? The most crucial element for a team’s victory isn't individual ability, but coordination!"

"Coordination?" A smile played on Chen Feng’s lips. With a shift of his foot, he appeared before Angellisa with lightning speed: "With your speed, can you even coordinate with me?"

Although Angellisa was stunned by Chen Feng’s speed, she was equally dizzy with rage at his arrogance. She snapped, "I cultivate both magic and martial arts, and I am a dual-element mage. If you think I cannot coordinate with you, I challenge you!"

"A challenge?" Chen Feng burst out laughing. "I do not accept challenges from the weak, as they are not worthy of my effort."

"..." Angellisa was so angry she was ready to explode. She raised her magic staff, began chanting a spell, and simultaneously flicked a small dagger from her left hand toward Chen Feng.

Chen Feng snorted, raised his Cāng Yán in his hand, and struck the incoming dagger. He then used Qín Yuè Yīn to grab her by the neck, pressing her to the ground, though he did not unleash the full power of Cāng Yán.

"Stop testing my patience. Don't think I misunderstood your meaning just now; you were trying to verbally provoke me into practicing coordination with you. Let me tell you, real combat is not a game," Chen Feng’s words were like knives slicing past Angellisa’s ear.

Angellisa had never suffered such contempt or been treated so roughly as to be pinned to the ground. Overwhelmed by shame, tears welled up in her eyes as she struggled: "Let go of me..."

Chen Feng actually failed to notice that the way he used Qín Yuè Yīn to pin Angellisa down was quite compromising. If any libertine had seen it, they might have assumed he had indecent intentions...

Seeing her struggle, Chen Feng thought she was trying to resist, so he pressed down harder with his left hand to stop her violent rolling. Suddenly, there was a sharp rrriip sound, and a large tear ripped open in Angellisa’s light purple magic robe, exposing her snow-white skin and her plain white undergarments.

"Ah... What are you doing..." Angellisa finally panicked.

It was already dark, and few people passed through this small courtyard. Being pinned to the ground by him while her clothes were being torn... even the dullest woman would feel fear... (To be continued. For the rest of the story, please log in to www**com for more chapters, to support the author and legitimate reading!)