"Third rank?" Hearing this, Xiao Yan wiped his brow again, even with the support of Qi from Yunzhi flowing through his body, he simply couldn't overcome this defense—so exceptionally strong it was almost supernatural—of the small crystal-winged lion king lying motionless. Frowning intently at the crouching creature, Xiao Yan pondered for a moment before shifting his gaze to Yao Lao, hesitantly asking, "How about if I ask you to handle that little one?" "I've already told you," Yao Lao floated gently at the top of the passage, smiling softly, "once you enter this mountain of wild beasts, everything must rely on yourself. Unless you're in life-or-death danger, I won't step in to help." "Well, that's tough!" Xiao Yan's face flushed as he angrily stuck out his middle finger at Yao Lao, then sighed helplessly, "I really didn't think we'd be able to take it down!" "Are you really going to just kill it outright?" Don't be deceived by its modest size—when it comes to combat prowess, this little fellow is absolutely among the very top tier of third-stage cultivators. With your slender frame, even if you deploy a ground-stage technique, it would be difficult to defeat it!" the Herbal Elder exclaimed in astonishment. "I'd be a fool to fight it head-on." Sitting against the stone wall, Xiao Yan flipped through a pile of items from his storage scroll, searching for a while before suddenly producing a pale purple fruit and a bottle of clear liquid. "Purple Smoke Fruit?" the Elder murmured, eyes widening at the fruit. "Huh, impressive—this youngster really knows his stuff. He even knows that fire-type beasts particularly enjoy this." The Purple Smoke Fruit is a specialty of the Beast Mountains, containing a small amount of fire energy within its core, which makes it especially favored by the majority of fire-type beasts. Ignoring the elderly physician, Xiao Yan once again retrieved a hollow crystal needle from his storage amulet, placed it into the green liquid, filled it completely, and then carefully inserted it into the purple-smoke fruit. With a gentle squeeze, the green liquid flowed smoothly into the fruit. "Uh, you're trying to poison it, are you? The Purple Crystal Wing Lion King has quite a strong immunity, don't you think? With your concoction, can you really knock it off balance?" the elderly physician expressed his growing doubt as he observed Xiao Yan's actions. "Who says this is poison?" Xiao Yan licked his lips and spoke in a low, amused tone. "This is actually a powerful laxative I've prepared. As long as it consumes it, no matter how strong its immunity, it'll be in for a good bowel movement." "Hmm, impressive—this young one has such a clever touch. But don't underestimate the intelligence of a third-tier beast. Though not as sharp-minded as the one outside, its intelligence is far beyond that of the first- or second-tier creatures. It simply won't eat something unfamiliar." First, he gave Xiao Yan a solid thumbs-up, then nodded to the old doctor. "Won't eat? Heh, that's no longer up to it. No matter what, it's just an animal." With a broad smile, Xiao Yan reached into his storage ring once again, pulled out a bottle of red liquid, and opened the cap. A distinct aroma, so inviting it made people's stomachs rumble, gently drifted out. As soon as the scent began to spread, Xiao Yan quickly covered it again, chuckling darkly. "This is a concoction I prepared using the appetite-suppressing flower. As long as I inject it into the purple smoke fruit, I'm certain that little beast won't be able to resist the feast." Watching Xiao Yan continuously retrieving items from his storage ring, the old doctor found himself genuinely at a loss. How could he possibly expect the creature to consume the medicine if it merely cleaned its digestive tract right here in the cave? His body gently floated as he asked, "Even if it eats it, if it just goes about digesting it here, then your plan seems to fall apart." "Just now, I took a look inside—there wasn't a single bit of animal dung or any other mess. And along the way in, I didn't notice anything like that either. So I think the Purple-Crystal-Winged Lion King must have some particular neatness habits. Could a mythical beast actually be picky about cleanliness? That's truly strange. Also, please don't keep asking questions—these methods are just ideas I've come up with on the spot. They're far from thorough. Whether they actually work or not, I'm not even sure." With that, he paid no further attention to the Elder's inquiries. Xiang Yan poured the pale blue liquid into the Purple Smoke Fruit seven or eight times, then added one final serving of the appetite-suppressing flower juice before stopping. He tossed the now noticeably heavier fruit, chuckled, gathered all the items on the ground into his storage amulet, and gently placed the fruit at the entrance of the cave. After arranging everything, he kicked off his feet, leaping upward toward the ceiling of the passage, his palms generating strong suction forces that firmly anchored his body to the stone wall. The purple-smoked fruit was just placed at the entrance of the cave, and gradually, a distinct fragrance began to emanate, carried gently by the soft breeze and spreading slowly inward. While asleep, the young purple-crystal lion king subtly moved his nose, inhaling the unusual scent deeply into his body. As soon as the first breath entered his stomach, a deep, resonant sound suddenly echoed within him. Gently opening his animal eyes, he swayed his large head, scanning the spacious cave, as if searching for the source of the fragrance. After a brief search, he finally located the origin. With a lazy rise, he emitted a low rumble from his massive mouth, and stepped steadily toward the entrance. Upon reaching the doorway, he deeply inhaled the scent from the purple-smoked fruit, then lifted his head, scanning the surroundings with alert eyes. Extending his large paw, he gently tapped the fruit. After a moment of stillness, he suddenly flicked his tail and walked back. Through a narrow opening, Xiao Yan watched the young crystal-winged lion king turn and walk back, sighing in disappointment—clearly, its vigilance was even higher than he had anticipated. However, just as Xiao Yan was about to think of another course of action, the lion king suddenly turned around again, hurriedly trotted over to the purple smoke fruit, and promptly swallowed it whole. Observing this behavior, Xiao Yan finally exhaled deeply, murmuring, "Damn it, I was almost going to eat it myself. I really didn't think you'd touch it." After consuming the purple smoke fruit, the young crystal-winged lion king once again knelt upon the magnificent floor of crystalline stones. Yet, a moment later, it suddenly rose to its feet, its belly emitting a series of rumbling sounds. It scanned the chamber with its eyes before, in the gaze of Xiao Yan’s tense yet relieved expression, it charged straight toward the entrance and swiftly burst through the passage. "Done!" Upon witnessing the disappearance of the young purple-crystal winged lion king, Xiao Yan couldn't help but emit a joyful exclamation, leaping down from the top and grasping every passing moment, rushing swiftly into the mountain cave lined with purple crystal stones. Inside the cave, Xiao Yan took out the crystal, which had already begun to radiate warmth, and held it tightly, slowly moving through the cave according to the temperature gradients. After wandering for a while, his steps suddenly halted at the spot where the young purple-crystal winged lion king had previously knelt. He slightly bent down, extended his hand, and gently tapped several nearby purple crystal stones. As his fingers struck one of the stones near the edge, a hollow, resonant sound immediately echoed from below. Hearing this sound, Xiao Yan was slightly surprised. With his right hand, he quickly felt along and lifted the stone slab, whereupon a surge of vibrant purple light burst forth, momentarily dazzling him and causing him to swiftly close his eyes. After the pain in his eyes had gradually subsided, Xiao Yan slowly opened his eyes and glanced toward the small opening. There, a sharp, irregular chunk of purple spiritual stone, about the size of a clenched fist, lay quietly within. Radiant light flowed across its surface, exuding a most beautiful glow. At the very moment this sharp purple stone appeared, the crystal in Xiao Yan's hands grew as hot as a flame. He immediately rushed to place it into his storage ring and then carefully extracted the purple stone from the opening, placing it as well into the ring. With the purple stone secured, Xiao Yan restored the small opening and rose to his feet, sprinting furiously toward the channel's outer end. He swiftly traversed the long corridor and reached the branching point. Standing there, he carefully scanned the surroundings before bursting into joyful excitement and once again charged full speed toward the passage housing the companion purple crystal source. After running for a while, the familiar entrance came into view. Xiao Yan immediately stopped, carefully probing the area before stepping inside. He quickly made his way to the platform of purple crystal stone, gazing greedily at the purple orb. Within it lay a profound energy sufficient to elevate the young purple crystal-winged lion king by one rank—though he might not be able to absorb it completely, it would still allow for several consecutive upgrades at the very least. As he thought of the orb's remarkable benefits, his body trembled with excitement. He flipped his hand, and the sharp purple spirit stone appeared in his palm. Swallowing hard, Xiao Yan fixed his gaze on the purple orb, his heart slightly uncertain. "Shall I just smash it directly?" "That should work," came the somewhat hesitant voice of Yao Lao from his ring. "I've never smashed one before." "If anything goes wrong, I'll hold you personally accountable!" The elderly pharmacist's uncertain voice instantly made Xiao Yan feel uneasy. Yet at this moment, he couldn't afford to dwell on thoughts—he gripped the purple crystal stone tightly and struck it hard against the purple sphere. "Crack... crack..." As the stone impacted the sphere, a moment of quiet followed, then a crack appeared on the sphere's surface. Soon, the crack spread rapidly, and then with a sudden "pop," the sphere shattered. Immediately after the companion purple crystal source broke, a stream of purple liquid flowed out, soaking half of the stone platform. "Hurry! Hurry! Collect the purple liquid using the jade bottles—these are the purple crystal source!" Seeing the liquid seep out, the pharmacist quickly called out. As soon as his words fell, Xiao Yan, already deeply worried, swiftly retrieved jade bottles from his storage pouch and began pouring the purple liquid into them with great urgency. Although the companion purple crystal source appeared hot on the outside, the liquid within was unexpectedly cool. Though the sphere appeared quite large, the purple liquid it contained was sufficient to fill only six small jade bottles. After pouring the final drop of crystal-source from the base into the bottle, Xiao Yan stared at the liquid scattered across the stone platform, his mouth trembling with regret. He gazed at it for a moment before suddenly collapsing onto the platform, and with the elderly pharmacist's stunned expression, he used his tongue to lap up every trace of the crystal-source from the small indentations on the stone and swallowed them all. "Man, you're really strong!" Seeing Xiao Yan's demeanor, the pharmacist, usually so composed, finally found himself saying something in Xiao Yan's own enthusiastic tone, exclaiming with a burst of frustration.