Author :Tiancan Potato

1 The Fallen Genius

“Third stage Dou Zhi Qi!”

Watching the five large words imprinted on the Magic Testing Monument that were so bright to the point of being eye piercing, the young man didn’t display any expressions. The corners of his mouth were lifted into a self-ridiculing smile. He tightly clenched his hands into fists and due to the strength that he used, his slightly sharp nails bit into his palm, bringing waves of pain.

“Xiao Yan, Dou Zhi Qi, Third Stage! Rank: Low!” Next to the Magic Testing Monument was a middle-aged man who after looking at the information displayed, announced the results in an indifferent voice.

The moment the words from the middle-aged man left his mouth, a ridiculing commotion ran through the packed field.

“Third stage? Haha, I told you, this “genius” would once again stay where he was!”

“Ugh, this cripple really has disgraced the clan.”

“If his father wasn’t the clan leader, we would have banished this kind of crippled out of the clan and let him live by himself. He definitely wouldn’t have the chance to eat and sleep in the clan.”

“Wow. How could the genius that was renowned in the Wutan City fall to this state today?”

“Who knows? Maybe he did something unforgivable and made the gods angry at him…”

Words of pity and ridicule were emitted from the surrounding and fell into the young man who was standing at the same place like a wood stump. The words were like sharp stakes driven into his heart, making the young man’s breathing a little hurried.

The young man raised his head and showed his delicate and slightly immature face. His dark eyes lifelessly fell upon his peers who were ridiculing him and the self-ridiculing smile at the corner of his mouth seemed to have become more bitter.

“Were these people always so harsh? Maybe it’s because they showed their most humble smile before me three years ago, thus, they want to take it back now…” With a bitter smile, Xiao Yan turned around. His quietly went to the last row of the group. His lonesome figure seemed to be unable to fit in with the rest of his surroundings.

“Next, Xiao Mei!”

With the announcer’s voice, a young girl quickly ran out from within the group of people. As soon as the young girl appeared, the chatter nearby lowered as heated gazes zoomed onto her face.

The young girl was only around fourteen and couldn’t be considered to be an extreme beauty. However, her face which was still a hint of childishness showed a faint enchantment. Innocence and enchanting beauty, this contradicting combination made her the focus of the crowd.

The young girl quickly went up and her small hand practically touched the black Magic Testing Monument. Then, she slowly closed her eyes.

A moment after the girl closed her eyes, the jet black Magic Testing Monument lighted up.

“Dou Zhi Qi: Seventh Stage!”

“Xiao Mei, Dou Zhi Qi: Seventh Stage! Rank: High!”

“Hah!” Hearing the score called out by the announcer, the young girl’s face showed a prideful smile.

“Tsk tsk, seventh stage Dou Zhi Qi, incredible. With this speed, she’ll be a true Dou Zhe in at most three years.”

“Indeed worth of the clan’s top talent.”

Hearing the sounds of envy from the crowd, the young girl’s smile became deeper. Vanity was a temptation that many girls couldn’t resist from.

Talking with her sister friends, Xiao Mei’s gaze shot through the surrounding crowd and stopped on a lonely figure outside of the crowd.

After furrowing her brows and thinking for a while, Xiao Mei decided against walking over. The two were not on the same level anymore. With the performance of Xiao Yan in the past few years, after he undergoes the Adulthood Ceremony, he would only be at most a middle to lower rank member within the clan. On the other hand, the talented her would be a focus point for resources from the clan. It could be said that her future couldn’t be measured.

“Ugh…” Sighing out of the blue, Xiao Mei suddenly thought of the young man three years ago that was excluded a prideful aura. Starting to train at the age of four, reaching the ninth stage of Dou Zhi Qi at the age of ten, tenth stage at eleven where he was able to condense his Dou Qi into a vortex successful, becoming the youngest Dou Zhe that the Xiao Clan had seen a hundred years.

The young before had unlimited potential and captured countless young girls’ hearts, including Xiao Mei.

However, the path of a genius meets its bends. Three years ago, this young man who had reached the peak of his fame suddenly had the cruelest blow of his life. Not only was his Dou Zhi Qi Vortex, that he spent over ten years cultivating, disappearing within one night, as time went on, the Dou Zhi Qi within his body also became strangely less and less.

The direct impact of his Dou Zhi Qi disappearing was that his strength continuously decreased.

Falling the podium of genius to becoming less than a normal person in one night, this blow made the young man lose his vigor. The fame of being a genius also was slowly replaced with disdain and ridicule.

The higher one stood, the harsher one fell. The fall this time, perhaps Xiao Yan would never be able to recover from it.

“Next, Xiao Xuner!”

Amidst the noisy crowd, the announcer’s voice once again sounded.

As this name was called, the crowd suddenly became quiet. All of their gazes turned.

Everyone’s gaze focused on a young girl wearing a purple dress. She was quiet standing and the calm expression on her young face didn’t change at all with the gazes of everyone.

The young girl’s calm and indifferent demeanor was like a lotus blossoming. With such a young age, she had already had such a aura around her. It was hard to imagine how beautiful she would be in the future.

Whether by demeanor or beauty, this purple dressed young girl was prettier than the earlier Xiao Mei by quite a bit. It was natural that everyone would act in such a manner.

Taking small and graceful stuff, the young girl named Xiao Xuner moved to before the Magic Testing Monument. Her small hand reached out and her purple sleeve mixed with black and gold threads fell, revealing a snow-white wrist. She then lightly touched the monument.

After a slight silence, an eye-piercing light shone from the monument.

“Dou Zhi Qi: Ninth Stage! Rank: high!”

Watching the words on the monument, the whole field fell silent.

“…. She’s at the ninth stage, that’s terrifying! The top expert of the younger generation of the Xiao Clan will definitely be Miss Xuner’s.” After the silence, the young men around all swallowed their saliva as their eyes were full of respect.

Dou Zhi Qi was a stage that every Dou Zhe had to pass. The early Dou Zhi Qis ranked from the first stage to the tenth stage and once one reached the tenth stage of Dou Zhi Qi, they could condense their Dou Qi into a vortex and become a respected Dou Zhe!

Within the crowd, Xiao Mei furrowed her brow as she looked at the purple dressed girl before the monument. A trace of envy flashed across her face.

Looking at the information on the monument, the middle-aged announcer finally showed a rare smile. He respectfully said to the young girl: “Miss Xuner, in half a year, you will be able to condense your Dou Qi Vortex and if you succeed, you would become “Thank you.” The young girl slightly nodded and her face didn’t show any joy despite 16:30

a Dou Zhe at the age of fourteen, becoming the second youngest to do so within the past hundred years in the Xiao Clan!”

Yes, she would be second. The first would be Xiao Yan who no longer had the title of genius.

“Thank you.” The young girl slightly nodded and her face didn’t show any joy despite his praise. She quietly turned around and under everyone’s gaze, she walked to the depressed young man at the very end.

“Brother Xiao Yan.” When she passed the young man, the young girl paused her steps and bowed respectfully at Xiao Yan. Her pretty face showed a smile that made the girls around her feel jealousy.

“Do I still have the qualifications to be called such now?” Looking at the clan’s new most radiant pearl, Xiao Yan bitterly spoke. She was one of the few people who remained respectful towards him after his fall from grace.

Brother Xiao Yan, you once said to Xun Er that one must be able to let go of things in order to take on responsibilities. Those that can take on and let go with ease are truly free.” Xiao Xuner said with a light smile. Her voice, while young, warmed people’s hearts.

“Haha, a free person? I can say that. Look at me now, does this look like a free person? In addition… this world wasn’t mine to begin with.” Xiao Yan said dispiritedly with a self-deprecating smile.

Faced with Xiao Yan’s lack of vigor, Xiao Xuner’s think brows slightly furrowed. She seriously said: “Brother Xiao Yan, although I have no idea what happened to you, however, I believe that you will once again stand. You will take back your former glory and respect…” Speaking to this point, the young girl paused as her face showed a quick flush: “The Brother Xiao Yan at that time was also extremely attractive.”

“Haha.” Faced with the young girl’s frank words, the young man awkwardly laughed but didn’t say any more. Young men were supposed to be arrogant and reckless. However, at this point, Xiao Yan didn’t have the qualifications to do so. He silently turned around and walked out of the field.

Standing at the same spot and watching the young man’s back which seemed to be separated from the rest of the world, Xiao Xuner paused for a second before she chased after Xiao Yan and walked beside him under countless jealous gazes.

Chapter 2:Dou Qi Continent

The moon was like a silver plate and the stars filled the sky.

At the summit of the cliff, Xiao Yan lay on the grass and in his mouth was a strand of green grass. He chewed it slightly and let the bitterness spread into his mouth slowly.

He raised his white palm and put it in front of him, blocking the moon and only letting some moonlight pass through the gaps between his fingers. He looked at the giant circular silver moon in the sky.

“Ai...” Thinking back the testing in the afternoon, Xiao Yan sighed lightly. He lazily pulled his hand back and rested both hands on his head. He looked absent-minded.

“15 years already, huh?” a soft voice that suddenly was spat out from the young teen without any warning.

In Xiao Yan’s mind, there was a secret that only he himself knew: He wasn’t a person from this world. More accurately, his soul wasn’t from this world. He was from a deep blue star called Earth. As for unexplainable mystery of why he would be here, he himself had no clue. However, after living here for some time, he slowly realised: He passed through to the other side!

As he grew older, he slowly came to understand bits and pieces of this continent.

This continent was called the Dou Qi Continent. On the continent, there wasn’t many tales of magic users and their effects, but rather, Dou Qi was the main star.

On this big piece of land, the training of Dou Qi had become commonplace after the hard work of countless individuals who continued to train beyond generations, expanding the knowledge surrounding Dou Qi all the way to the top. Dou Qi and mankind are one and the same in everyday life and as such, Dou Qi is extremely important in the continent. It could be called irreplaceable!

As the number of levels in Dou Qi kept increasing, so did the number of ways to train it. Some were better than others, as expected.

After going through a system of analysis, the Dou Qi rankings in the Dou Qi Continent got split into four different classes – Tian, Di, Xuan, Huang.

And every class was split further into Beginner, Medium and High ranks!

The Dou Qi techniques you learned also determined how strong you would be. For example, if a person practiced a Xuan class Medium rank technique, he would naturally be stronger than a person who practiced a Huang class High rank technique.

In the Dou Qi Continent, to differentiate the strong from the weak, there are 3 criterias that need to be looked at.

First, and also the most important, is your natural body strength. If a person only has a 1 star level of strength, even if he practiced the Tian class High rank techniques, he wouldn’t be able to beat a Huang class Combat Master.

Next is technique level. If two people of the same innate strength were to battle, the one with the better technique will obviously win.

Lastly is Dou Technique.

Dou Technique is a special kind of skill that is used when controlling Dou Qi and in the land of Dou Qi, Dou Technique is also separated into Tian, Di, Xuan, Huang.

Dou Qi in the continent speaks for itself, but Dou Technique is different. Almost everyone starts off with a Dou Technique class of Huang. If you wanted to learn more advance control skills, you would need to join a sect or enroll in a Dou Technique school.

Of course, there are some who, by chance, managed to learn the skills that others before have left behind, or those who have compatible Dou Techniques. For these people, their combat level might be slightly higher than normal.

Relying on these 3 aspects, you can determine who is strong and who is weak. All in all, if you managed to learn a high level Dou Technique, the benefits in the future would be enormous.

However, high level Dou Techniques are really hard to come by as a commoner. Those that are open to the public are normal, Huang class techniques. For those bigger clans or small sects, Xuan class techniques are the norm. For example, in Xiao Yan’s clan, their highest level technique was only practiced by the clan leader – Lion Wind Strike. It was a wind style Xuan class Medium rank Dou Technique.

Above the Xuan class would be the Di class, but this kind of high-level techniques might only obtainable by a powerful country-like organisation.

As for the Tian class, in a hundred years, it hasn’t appeared once.

As previously stated, commoners trying to get a high-level technique is like trying to climb a mountain without gear. However, nothing is absolute. In the world of Dou Qi, there are thousands of clans. In the North, there are people referred to as ‘Unbeatable’. They fused their soul with wild animals and became barbarians. In the South, there are smart and talented high class beast spirit clans, and even the strange and infamous underworld people.

Because of the vastness of the continent, there are bound to be cases of nameless figures who, by chance, happened upon a miracle that made them strong. Or, perhaps, there might be people who are bound by fate to discover strong techniques. In the land of Dou Qi, there is one famous sentence: If you find yourself stuck in a ditch or forsaken by the world, don’t panic. Take two steps forward and maybe you’ll find yourself stronger than ever before.

Of course, though this line isn’t false, in the thousand years of history in the continent, there aren’t many stories of people getting strong by random chance.

As a result of this, every day, there are countless individuals who try to break through and discover a new skill or technique, but instead only return with a broken hip or leg.

All in all, this continent is full of mysteries and miracles.

To access the vault of secret Dou Qi techniques, you must at least be a full-fledged Dou Zhe to meet the basic requirements. For Xiao Yan, it seemed so far away.

Puu Xiao Yan spat the grass out and quickly stood up and made a maniacal face. He faced the sky and shouted: “God damn it! How could I be played for a fool like this?”

In his past life, Xiao Yan was a mediocre, average commoner. Wealth, fame and beauty seemed to run parallel to his life, never intersecting it. Then, when he came to this continent, Xiao Yan was shocked. Because of a second set of experiences, his spirit became much stronger than the average person.

It must be known that in the Dou Qi continent, your spirit is decided upon at birth. Maybe, as you grew older, it would strengthen a slight bit, but there is no known technique to train your spirit to be stronger.

It was Xiao Yan’s strong spirit that gave him his talent, as well as his fame as a genius.

For an average person, if they were told that they could be a genius, there’s little doubt that they would claim their fame and live the high life. For the run-of-the-mill person like Xiao Yan, when he started training his Dou Zhi Qi, the temptation of being able to rise to fame would be unbearable. Of course he wouldn’t choose to stay hidden and continue to train!

If there wasn’t any accident, Xiao Yan could perhaps grow even more with his ‘genius’ label. Unfortunately, at 11, his label was stolen from him and in one night, a genius turned into a piece of trash.

After shouting at the top of his lungs for a while, Xiao Yan finally calmed down and his face turned calm again. No matter how angry he got, he wouldn’t be able to get his strength back.

Bitterly shaking his head, Xiao Yan felt miserable. He had no clue what happened to his body, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. His spirit was growing as he aged, as expected. His absorbtion of Dou Zhi Qi was also extraordinarly fast. It was faster than the strongest fighter from a few years back. All these factors should have meant that Xiao Yan was a natural genius, but all the Dou Zhi Qi that he absorbed seemed to be completely gone. His self-esteem took a big hit and he could only feel depressed.

Taking another deep breath, Xiao Yan raised his hand. On his finger was a black ring of simple design. The material used to make it was unknown. On it were some markings as well. This was the only present his late mother gave to him before she passed. He started wearing it since the age of 4 and even now, 10 years later, he was still wearing. It was a precious gift from his mother and Xiao Yan treasured it dearly. He rubbed the ring and said bitterly: “These few years, I’ve really let Mother down, huh?”

Sighing deeply, Xiao Yan quickly stood up and turned around, saying to the black figure from the woods: “Father, why have you come?”

Though his Dou Zhi Qi was only 3rd stage, his spiritual awareness was akin to that of a 5 star Dou Zhe, perhaps even better. While thinking about his mother, he felt a sudden disturbance from the woods.

“Ah ah, Yan Er(1). It’s already quite late. Why are you still here?” From within the cluster of trees, after a moment of silence, a tender voice sounded.

The trees shaked a little and a middle-aged man jumped out, face smiling widely. His eyes were locked on his son under the moonlight.

The middle-aged man was wearing an expensive looking grey tunic. He walked with pride and dignity and his face showed it. He was the Xiao clan leader, as well as Xiao Yan’s father, a 5 star Dou Shi – Xiao Zhan!

“Father, why have you not returned to rest yet?” Facing the middle-aged man, Xiao Yan’s smiled thickened. Although he had another set of memories, when he was born, the person before him treated him as with love and care. When he lost his power and spirit, the love did not lessen but grew instead. This poked at Xiao Yan’s heart, making Xiao Yan recognise him as his father.

“Yan Er, are you still thinking about what happened this afternoon?” Taking a big step forward, Xiao Zhan smiled again.

“Ha ha, what’s there to think about? It’s within my expectations.” Xiao Yan shaked his head and forced a smile.

“Ai...” Looking at Xiao Yan’s tender face, Xiao Zhan let out a sigh. The both of them sinked into silence for a while, before Xiao Zhan said: “Yan Er, you’re 15 now, aren’t you?”

“Yes, father.”

“Just one more year... and you have to attend the Adulthood Ceremony...” Xiao Zhan said.

“Yes, father. Only a year left.” Xiao Yan’s fist clenched for a while before he replied. He was extremely clear what the Adulthood Ceremony meant. Once the ceremony had past, for the Xiao Yan that didn’t train, he would be subject to the criteria of searching for Dou Qi techniques. Because he was so weak, he would be sent to do a normal job in the other parts of the Xiao clan. This was a clan rule and even if the clan leader was his father, he would not be able to do anything about it.

If one didn’t reach Dou Zhe by the age of 25, the clan would abadon them.

“Sorry, Yan Er. If you don’t reach the Dou Zhi Qi 7th stage by next year, I can’t do anything to help you, no matter how much I want to. In this clan, I’m not the sole decision maker. There’s also those old geezers waiting for me to make a mistake...” Looking at the peaceful Xiao Yan, Xiao Zhan voiced guiltily.

“Father, I will continue to work hard. One year later, I’ll definitely reach the Dou Zhi Qi 7th stage!” Xiao Yan reassured his father.

“4 stages in 1 year? Ahh... if it were me from before, it may have been possible, but now... I might not have much of a chance...” Though Xiao Yan was trying to reassure his father, he himself was bitter about it.

Knowing full well Xiao Yan’s position, Xiao Zhan could only answer with a sigh. He knew that 4 stages of Dou Zhi Qi in a year was extremely difficult. He gently patted Xiao Yan’s head, and smiled, saying: “It’s getting quite late, you should go back and get some rest. Tomorrow, the clan has a guest and you shouldn’t miss the ceremony.”

“Guest? Who?” Xiao Yan asked, full of curiousity.

“You’ll find out tomorrow.” Xiao Zhan winked at the restless Xiao Yan, leaving with a big smile on his face.

“Don’t you worry, father. I’ll work really hard.” Xiao Yan rubbed the simple ring while raising his head and whispering.

Just when Xiao Yan raised his head, the black ring on his finger sudddenly lit up with a mysterious glow and flashed. Blinking, Xiao Yan realised it wasn’t a person...

炎儿, the first letter being Yan, Xiao Yan’s name. Used to refer to someone very close or someone you love dearly. Usually used by parents to address their children.

Chapter 3:Guests

A young man was meditating on his bed. In front of him, his hands were clasped in a weird yet relaxed manner. His chest peacefully rose and fell with the rhythm of his breath. Everything was just... so natural! With every breath he took, a pale white stream of what seemed to be air darted into the young man’s nose and mouth, squeezing into his body and reshaping it.

As the young man was meditating, a strange yet dim sparkle appeared for a brief moment on the plain black ring that he wore on his finger ...

“Huuuu...” The young man slowly let out his breath and opened his eyes, blinking. A pale white light flashed across his black pupils, that was the Dou Qi that had just been absorbed but not yet completely refined.

“It took such great effort to get that Dou Qi, but... f*ck, it’s disappearing again! No, no please noooo...” The young man tried desperately to keep the disappearing Dou Qi from slipping away but to no avail. As the last sliver of Dou Qi left his body, the young man’s face changed from being calm to one of anger and despair and his voice rose with fury.

He curled his hands into fists and was rapidly clenching and unclenching them. Eventually, his visage transited from extreme anger to a forced grin. After all, there was nothing he could do about it. Wearily, he dragged his body off the bed and stretched his numb legs. With only Dou Qi of a 3rd Stage, such menial matters were always present.

After having done a few exercises in his plain room, an old, wizened voiced sounded outside of his door: “Young master, the clan leader has requested your presence in the hall.”

The young man was the third son of the clan header, Xiao Yan. Above him were two brothers, but they had already left the clan in search of adventure. Only at the end of each year would they come back and meet their family. Overall however, the two brothers were extremely nice to their little brother, Xiao Yan, even when he fell from being a genius to a piece of trash.

“Coming!” Xiao Yan changed his clothes and went out. Outside of his room was an elder in a green robe. “Let’s go!”

Looking at the young man’s fresh face, the elder nodded his head. But when he turned around, his eyes showed a flash of regret.If young master had his former talent, he probably would have been a great Dou Zhe, such a waste...

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The elder and the young man crossed through the back yard and finally arrived solemnly at the welcoming hall. After politely knocking, the two softly went in.

The hall was quite large, but there were many people already in it. At the head of the hall were Xiao Zhan and three emotionless elders. They were the clan elders and had equal importance to the Clan leader.

On the left, below the four were other elders from the clan. These elders didn’t hold as much power as the clan elders but nevertheless, they had quite a bit of say and weren’t pushovers. Besides these elders were young men that had shown promise and talent.

On the other side was three strangers, looks like they were the people that Xiao Zhan foretold last night.

The young man’s eyes quickly swept through the strangers. Of the three, there was an elder wearing a moon white outfit. Although the elder was all smiles, his tiny eyes were full of energy, restlessly scanning the room. Xiao Yan’s sight dipped lower, stopping at the elder’s chest. On his chest was a silver moon and besides the moon were seven shiny stars.

7 Star Da Dou Shi! This guy’s a 7 star Da Dou Shi? Incredible. Xiao Yao could barely refrain from gasping at the elder. The elder was stronger than his own father, in fact, he was two whole stars stronger.

Anyone that became a Da Dou Shi was at least a power to be reckoned with. With that kind of strength, most places would probably rush for recruitment. To be able to see such a powerful person, it’s not surprising that Xiao Yan was shocked.

Beside the elder were a young couple. They were also wearing moon white robes. The male was about 20 years old and had a handsome face, coupled with a strong build. He was definitely the ideal type for any girl. Of course, the most important thing was, on his chest were 5 golden stars. This represented the strength of the young man: 5 star Dou Zhe!

To be able to become a 5 star Dou Zhe at the age of 20 definitely shows the exceptional talent of the young man.

With a handsome face and decent strength, this young man, not only became the target of stares from young girls in the clan, even Xiao Mei occasionally sent glances to him.

But, the looks that the girls gave had no effect on the young man. His entire focus was concentrated on the young girl beside him...

The young girl’s age was similar to Xiao Yan which made Xiao Yan flinch. Her beauty even rivaled Xiao Mei’s, no, she was prettier than Xiao Mei. In the entire clan, probably only Xiao Xun Er could rival her. No wonder the guys of Xiao clan chased girls outside of the clan.

On the intricate ear of the young girl was a green jade earrings. As she moved around, the pieces of jade clinked together, chirping a beautiful melody and adding a hint of royalty to the girl...

In addition, on the developing chest of the girl were 3 golden stars.

A 3-Star Dou Zhe, This girl... if she didn’t use any special methods, she must be an incredible genius! Xiao Yao’s heart fell, she had talent rivalling his former talent! But Xiao Yao forced his eyes away from the cold beauty. No matter what, beneath Xiao Yao’s immature appearance was a mature soul. Although the girl was very pretty, he kept himself from acting like a drooling slob.

Xiao Yan’s actions caused a slight tension within the girl. Although she wasn’t the kind that had an entire universe revolving around her, her beauty and appearance wasn’t bad. Xiao Yan’s random glance over her was a first for her.

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“Father, three elders!” Walking quickly, Xiao Yan courteously greeted the Xiao Zhan and the three elders.

“Haha, Yan Er, you came! Here, come sit.” Seeing Xiao Yan arrival, Xiao Zhan stopped talking to his guests and nodded in the direction of Xiao Yan, waving his hand to indicate for Xiao Yan to take a seat.

With a slight smile, Xiao Yan ignored the lazy, almost hateful gazes from the three clan elders and searched for his seat. But, he was surprised at the result, he didn’t have a seat...

Hahhh, my position in the clan is just sinking lower and lower. It was better before, but now, they even embarrass me in front of guests, these old geezers... Xiao Yao ridiculed himself silently, in his mind, he shook his head as if it could block the emotions that welled up within him.

Looking at the motionless Xiao Yan, the young clan members let out soft, mocking laughter, showing their happiness at seeing Xiao Yan be made a fool.

Finally, Xiao Zhan realized Xiao Yan’s predicament. A look of anger flashed across his face before being replaced with a bent eyebrow: “Second elder, you...”

“Ohh, really sorry. I can’t believe that I forgot about young master. Hehe, I’ll go get someone to prepare a chair!” The yellow robed elder smiled at the staring Xiao Zhan. He patted his forehead in an act of self-criticism but the belittling look in his eyes didn’t fade.

“Brother Xiao Yan, come sit here!” The clear voice of a girl rang across the hall.

The three elders tensed, their gaze shifting to Xun Er in the corner. Their mouths twitched but none of them said anything...

In the corner, Xiao Xun Er closed the thick book in her lap, and blinked at Xiao Yan.

Looking at Xiao Xun Er’s smiling face, Xiao Yan froze for a second. Quickly, he recovered and after touching his nose, he walked towards Xun Er under the envious gazes of the surrounding clan members and after what seemed like the longest few seconds, he plopped next to Xun Er.

Xiao Yan whispered: “Thanks, you’ve rescued me again.”

Xiao Xun Er lightly smiled, two small dimples appearing on her face. Her slender fingers flipped open the book in front of her. Even though she was extremely young, there was an air of intellectuality around her. After scanning through the page, Xun Er suddenly complained: “Brother Xiao Yan, you haven’t sat beside me, alone, for three years now, right?”

“Uhh...you’re a genius in the clan, isn’t it simple for you if you want friends?” Looking at the resentful face of Xun Er, Xiao Yan drily laughed.

“But the thing is, a certain someone snuck into my room every night when I was 4 to 6. And then that certain someone used a clumsy technique and weak Dou Zi Qi to strengthen my bones and

meridians. Every time, the same person would get himself sweating profusely before leaving. Brother Xiao Yan, do you know who he is?” Xun Er paused for a moment and suddenly tilted her head, and smiled towards Xiao Yan.

“Uhh... how, how am I supposed to know? I was so young back then, in fact, I could barely walk, how would I know?” Xiao Yan’s heart began to beat violently. Forcing open a smile, Xiao Yan guilty turned his gaze to the center of the hall.

“Hehe...” Looking at Xiao Yan’s reaction, a slight smile floated on Xiao Xun Er’s face. Her sight moved back to the book on her lap and as if talking to herself, she said: “Even though I know that, that person did it in goodwill, I’m a girl right? How can I let someone carelessly touch me? If I ever find out who did it, hmph...”

Xiao Yan’s mouth began to twitch violently, keeping his sight straight, he shut his mouth tight...