His strength had only just broken through, yet Tang Yan was in no hurry to cultivate. Instead he turned his thoughts to the Tang Family's present situation.

Spurred by reward incentives and a steady supply of pills, a fair number of the Tang Family's hundred and twenty guards had already broken through to Yellow Rank Second Grade. Once that news spread, it would carry no small deterrent to outsiders.

Even so, Tang Yan felt it was not enough.

A family's true deterrent power still rested on its highest-tier strength.

Take Yun City's four great families. The Tang Family was the weakest of them in overall strength.

But Old Master Tang stood at Black Rank Ninth Grade, a match for Liu Wuhui of the Liu Family.

With that strength behind them, even if the other three families were stronger than the Tang Family, none would dare move against them lightly.

Top-tier strength decided a family's fate.

And yet, even with Tang Ling holding the seat, the Tang Family could not sleep soundly.

The moment the other three families joined hands and struck together, the Tang Family would still be left with nothing but ruin.

They had not acted only because suspicion still ran between them, and because the question of dividing the spoils was hard to settle.

But of late the Tang Family had been riding high. Once they were allowed to grow, swallowing them would become far harder.

The three families would surely be loath to miss the chance to carve up the Tang Family. Barring the unexpected, the day they sealed their alliance was not far off.

The Tang Family had to seize every moment to raise its strength, and keeping more than a hundred martial artists supplied with ample cultivation supplies burned through silver at a frightening rate.

So even if the partnership with the Myriad Pill Pavilion brought in coin, not all of it could go toward buying third-rank Beast Cores.

"My pace is still too slow. If I'd reached Black Rank by now, I could refine pills that would actually help Grandpa and Uncle Mo." Tang Yan let out a soft sigh.

Had Zi Yun heard those words, she would surely have flown into a rage. In all her time in Purple Bamboo City she had never seen anyone climb as fast as Tang Yan, and here he was, complaining that he advanced too slowly.

To become a true expert, one had to pass through countless baptisms of blood.

In so comfortable an environment, swift progress was plainly out of reach.

His gaze drifted to the window, and his heart stirred. He thought, all at once, of the Nether Leopard he had run into outside the city not long ago.

Within Tingxiang Kingdom, Yun City sat in a small, out-of-the-way corner. A few dozen li north of the city walls rose Cangyun Mountain. The range was steep and treacherous, all ancient cypress and strange stone, standing there for who knew how many tens of thousands of years.

He had heard more than a few people say that, because so few set foot inside, spirit beasts survived there. Those beasts were many, and once he entered their hunting grounds, they would come at him with everything they had.

For him, it was without question a superb place to temper himself.

His mind made up, Tang Yan rose and went straight to his grandfather's study. He knew the old man usually spent his mornings there.

A flicker of surprise crossed Old Master Tang's face when Tang Yan walked in. As he recalled it, this grandson of his rarely sought him out on his own, unsummoned.

"Come, Yan'er, sit. As it happens, I wanted to speak with you about something, and here you are ahead of me," Old Master Tang said with a smile.

"What is it, Grandpa?" Tang Yan asked, curious.

"In two months comes the Eastern Region Grand Competition. Our Yun City still holds three places. Make a name for yourself there, and you may earn a place in the Azure Dragon Academy. Enter the Academy, and far broader cultivation resources open to you. It would be of enormous help to your path. Do you wish to take part?" Tang Ling asked.

Tang Yan had heard something of the Eastern Region Grand Competition.

The Eastern Region was made up of five cities: Yun City, Yu City, Song City, Qing City, and Fang City. Yun City was the weakest of them in overall strength, so it was given the fewest places, and its showing over the years had been poor.

At each Grand Competition, people from the Azure Dragon Academy came to watch, and those who showed potential won the right to be selected into the Academy.

The Azure Dragon Academy was the greatest martial academy in all of Tingxiang Kingdom. Talents rose from it without end; it was a sacred ground for the cultivation of the younger generation.

"Of course I'll go. How could our Tang Family be absent from the Eastern Region Grand Competition?" Tang Yan said with a faint smile.

The confidence on his grandson's face filled Tang Ling with quiet joy, though he did not forget to add a word of caution. "Yun City holds only three places. The City Lord's Manor's daughter, Lin Dongxue, will surely take one, and Liu Zhi of the Liu Family another. The last place must be decided here in Yun City. Don't go neglecting your cultivation in the days ahead."

"Mm. That's exactly why I came to find you, Grandpa," Tang Yan said with a nod.

"Something about your cultivation?" Old Master Tang was intrigued.

"My strength grows by the day, but it climbs too slowly. I mean to go to the Cangyun Mountain Range, temper myself there for a time, and return in two months," Tang Yan said after weighing his words.

"This..." At his words, Old Master Tang hesitated.

He knew well enough that Tang Yan spoke the truth. Cultivating within the family could hardly match the pace of training out in the open. But that Cangyun Mountain Range held spirit beasts beyond counting. Who could say whether Tang Yan might cross paths with a high-rank beast and meet with disaster?

Tang Yan was the family's only heir. If anything befell him, the old man would never know peace for the rest of his days.

"Set your heart at ease, Grandpa. I know my measure. I already raised the matter with my master. He told me he means to enter Cangyun Mountain soon to gather herbs, and he'll look over the path I take along the way. Should there be any high-rank spirit beasts, the venerable elder will clear the trouble for me." Knowing what weighed on his grandfather, Tang Yan brought out his fabricated master as a shield.

Sure enough, hearing this, Old Master Tang let half his worry settle. He nodded. "Since you've spoken with your master, then go.

But the world outside is not like home. It is full of treacherous turns and sudden mishaps, and many things cannot be reckoned by common sense. You must take great care. Do not lower your guard against the outside simply because your master is near."

"Set your heart at ease, Grandpa. This grandson has his own judgment."

"When do you set out?" Old Master Tang asked.

"Tonight."

"Tonight? Why not tomorrow morning?" Old Master Tang was taken aback.

"Cultivation cannot wait." Tang Yan said, "The sooner I train, the more strength I may gain. I am only Yellow Rank Seventh Grade as it stands. If I don't raise my strength quickly, then even should I win a place in the Eastern Region Grand Competition, I'd take no rank worth the name. And leaving by night will slip me past certain watching eyes." There was meaning beneath his words.

"You've advanced again?" Tang Ling started.

"A stroke of luck." Tang Yan answered vaguely.

"Good, very good!" Tang Ling was overjoyed; his grandson's gifts truly gladdened the heart. After a moment's thought, he nodded. "Go and tell Miss Zi Yun before you leave. Whatever you need to prepare, take it straight from the storehouse."

Old Master Tang pressed a good many more instructions on him. They were all the same well-worn words, yet Tang Yan listened with great patience. Such heartfelt family affection sat warm in his chest.

Back in his small courtyard, Tang Yan went straight into the pill room.

He could not carry the Pill Cauldron out with him, so refining medicine from here on would be no small trouble.

He kept at it until nightfall, packing several kinds of pills into an array of bottles and jars.

Among them were Hemostatic Pills, Poison-Repelling Pills, High Spirit Pills, Meridian Tempering Pills, and the like - even a few poisons, kept for his own protection.

When Tang Yan stepped out the door, a graceful, slender figure stood waiting outside.

By the faint moonlight, he recognized her at once. It was Zi Yun.