Battle Through the Heavens - chapter-693

Xiao Yan slowly walked into the Alchemist Association which occupied an
enormous swath of land with Hai Bodong. The noisiness behind him was
gradually cast aside and a faint medicinal fragrance spread out from the
place, causing one to feel relaxed and happy.

The current Alchemist Association was much more powerful and prosperous
in terms of ability and numbers compared to three years ago following
alchemists repeatedly joining them during these three years. At the very
least, there had seldom been such large human traffic within the
association back then.

Hai Bodong needed to perform some preparations after entering the
association. Hence, he merely told Xiao Yan the location of the meeting
before leaving by himself.

Xiao Yan still possessed some feelings toward this Alchemist Association
he had parted with three years ago. Back then, he had experienced a great
medicinal refining competition that was extremely tough for him. However,
he was at most considered a tier 3 alchemist who could refine a tier 4
medicinal pill when he participated in the competition back then.
However, now he was a tier 6 alchemist who could be compared to Pill-King
Gu He! This improvement was not a small one…

Xiao Yan’s gaze looked in all directions before pulling Zi Yan, whose
face was also filled with curiosity, as they slowly walked to the
transaction area. If one had good perception and was lucky, one might be
able to find quite a good thing in such a place. The ‘Skyfire Three
Mysterious Change’ of Xiao Yan was something that he had luckily
obtained from this place.

Xiao Yan walked into the transaction area with Zi Yan. The vendors seemed
endless and the black mass of human heads caused Xiao Yan to let out an
exclamation. Following the growth of the Alchemist Association during
these three years, the size of the transaction area had greatly expanded.

Xiao Yan’s sweeping gaze suddenly paused just after he entered the
transaction area. He was somewhat stunned to see a figure that was as
white as snow not far away.

The figure was wearing a white dress while her long hair was emitting an
icy-cool that was just like snowflakes. This somewhat familiar figure
caused Xiao Yan to recall the disciple of Frank whom he had met in the
Black Rock City when he was training in the Jia Ma Empire three years
ago, Xue Mei.

Xiao Yan gained quite the positive feeling for Fu Lan Ke back then. That
old man had helped him out quite a bit. Although this was because the
latter wanted to persuade Xiao Yan to participate in the Alchemist Grand
Meeting, he did not have any ill intentions. This girl who had an
ice-cold snow-like character also gave Xiao Yan quite a good impression.

“I wonder how have they been these three years?” This thought flashed
across Xiao Yan’s heart, but he did not take the initiative to go over
and strike up a conversation. After looking at her from a distance, he
withdrew his gaze from that snow-white figure. He pulled Zi Yan along as
he slowly walked through this transaction area with a fierce human flow.

Not long after Xiao Yan had joined the human flow, Xue Mei who had bent
her body to study a medicinal ingredient turned her head around. She
seemed to have sensed something. The exquisite, ethereal
snowy-mountain-like face carried some uncertainty, causing the
surrounding human traffic that was coming and going to involuntarily slow
their footsteps. Their gazes looked at her somewhat greedily.

Xue Mei knit her eyebrows slightly in the face of the surrounding gazes.
She immediately slowly entered the human crowd before disappearing.

Xiao Yan pulled Zi Yan and walked along the small path filled with
vendors. His gaze repeatedly swept across those vendors. Perhaps it was
because his horizons had widened but he was unable to find a single thing
that could interest him after spending ten plus minutes.

“All of them are broken lousey goods…” Zi Yan smacked her mouth and
muttered. The Yaowan which she usually ate were all refined from
considerably rare medicinal ingredients in the eyes of an ordinary
person. An ordinary medicinal ingredient was no different to garbage in
her eyes even if it was somewhat uncommon in this market.

Xiao Yan was also helpless in the face of this. It seemed that wanting to
find a treasure like the ‘Skyfire Three Mysterious Change’ in this
place really did need to rely on luck.

Since there was no gains, Xiao Yan finally gave up that kind of hope
after roaming a little longer. He helplessly shook his head toward Zi
Yan. Just as he was about to leave, a commotion occurred not far in front
of him. Occasionally, there was even loud enigmatic laughter.

Xiao Yan was usually uninterested in being an observer to such things.
Hence, he merely raised his eyes before turning his body and prepared to
leave. However, just as he turned his body, a clear furious voice was
transmitted from the crowd, one that caused him to pause.

Xiao Yan’s gaze passed through the gaps in the crowd and faintly saw a
snow-white figure. He waved his hand toward Zi Yan and said, “Looks
like I can’t just walk away like this…”

Once he said this, he pulled Zi Yan’s hand and quickly walked toward
the area where the commotion was located. A moment later, he squeezed
into the crowd and swept his gaze over the disturbance within.

At this moment, Xue Mei was quietly standing in the middle of the crowd.
However, that normally somewhat overly white, exquisite face of hers was
filled with anger. There were a couple of men in alchemist robes standing
a short distance in front of her laughing as they looked at her pretty
furious flushed red face. They repeatedly emitted bursts of laughter.

“Aoba, don’t go too overboard! Don’t think that you can be this
arrogant just because your teacher is an Elder of the association!” Xue
Mei’s delicate finger pointed at the man who was the leader and
furiously roared out.

“Hee hee, Xue Mei, the one with the highest bid gets the goods in this
transaction area. Since I am able to offer a higher price than you, it is
only natural that this thing is mine. Even if you were to refer this
matter to the association head, he would not be able to do anything to
me.” That man who was wearing a tier 2 alchemist badge on his chest
merely laughed in the face of Xue Mei’s rebuke. After saying this, he
turned his head to the vendor owner and shouted, “I will offer fifty
thousand gold coins for this ‘Icy Fire Snake Scale Fruit’. Are you
selling it?”

That vendor owner was startled when he heard Aoba’s cry. He immediately
rejoiced in his heart. Although this ‘Ice Fire Snake Scale Fruit’ was
somewhat rare, it was at the very most worth twenty thousand gold coins.
It was unexpected that this prodigal person was actually willing to
purchase it at double the price. Naturally, there was no reason for him
not to agree.

Xue Mei’s pretty face was green as she looked at Aoba who was tossing
the ‘Ice Fire Snake Scale Fruit’ in his hand with a proud look. She
clenched her silver teeth but was completely helplessly. She had recently
undertook a retreat for a period of time and had just left the retreat
today. Coincidentally, she saw this medicinal ingredient that she needed
to refine a medicinal pill. She had just agreed on the price with the
owner of the stall when this hateful person appeared like a ghost.

This Aoba had once tried to woo Mei Xue because of her beautiful
appearance. However, the latter was currently a tier 3 alchemist. Hence,
his attempt at wooing her naturally ended in failure. However, a failure
might be a failure but this stalker finally became extremely displeased
after being publically rejected by Xue Mei a couple of times. He
repeatedly changed his tactics to find trouble with Xue Mei, causing her
to be very irritated. Moreover, his teacher had quite a good refining
ability and had long since been promoted to an Elder position despite
having just joined the association recently. His position within the
association was quite high and he formed cliques using that status. Other
than the association head and his deputy, the one with the highest
authority within the association was Aoba’s teacher. Hence, Mei Xue did
not dare to attack and hurt this fellow despite feeling extremely annoyed.

However, Xue Mei had clearly underestimated the abomination of this
sticky candy. Her tolerance had caused Aoba to take any advantage he
could get. He would come and look for trouble at every opportunity. The
situation today was not the first time this had happened.

Xue Mei inhaled a deep breath of air. She looked at the increasingly
hateful and arrogant face of Aoba before clenching her teeth. Given this
situation, she could only give up on this ‘Ice Fire Snake Scale
Fruit’.

Xue Mei’s eyes were ice-cold as she stared at Aoba before turning
around to leave. A laugh suddenly sounded within the crowd just as she
was turning around, “One hundred thousand gold coins to purchase this
‘Ice Fire Snake Scale Fruit’.”

Everyone was startled when this laughter sounded. They immediately turned
their gazes and saw a black-robed, young man who was pulling a little,
purple-haired girl beside him. Some people involuntarily threw him a
pitiful look. Was this fellow new? He actually dared to embarrass Aoba?

This laughter also caused Xue Mei to turn her head around to look at the
black-robed, young man. That somewhat familiar face caused her to be
startled. A moment later, she finally recalled this young man who had
left a deep impression on her.

“You… haven’t you been…” Xue Mei was stunned as she looked at
the black-robed, young man. She gasped but the words that had reached her
mouth were hurriedly swallowed upon seeing the surrounding audience.

Xiao Yan smiled and walked out from the crowd. He observed Xue Mei for a
moment before laughing, “Is grandmaster Frank well?”

“Teacher is fine…” Xue Mei nodded. She immediately pulled Xiao
Yan’s robe and softly said, “Didn’t you leave the Jia Ma Empire?
Leave quickly, don’t offend these people…” Since Xue Mei was in a
retreat, she was completely ignorant of the matter during these past two
days that had become the greatest news of the Jia Ma Empire. She merely
knew that Xiao Yan was a target of the Misty Cloud Sect and would
definitely be in deep trouble should he discovered by the Misty Cloud
Sect.

“Oh, yo, why? Do you want to act like a hero rescuing a damsel in
distress?” Aoba’s face gradually became dark after Xiao Yan spoke his
first word. He let out a strange laugh and immediately tightened his grip
on the ‘Ice Fire Snake Scale Fruit’ as he coldly laughed, “This
young master has already bought this thing. You should just roll off to
one corner. I advise you not to meddle in another person’s business.
Otherwise, you might be able to enter the capital, but you won’t be
able to leave it…”