"Ahem." The white robed elder cleared his throat and stood up. Putting his hands together, he smiled: "Clan leader Xiao Zhan the reason we came here for today is because we would like your help for something."
"Of course, Ge Ye, if you have any problems just let me know. I will definitely help you to solve it." To the visiting elder, Xiao Zhan did not refuse but since he did not know what the request was, he did not make any promises either.
"Hehe, Leader Xiao, do you know her?" Ge Ye smiled lightly and pointed to the girl next to him.
"Umm… this girl is somewhat familiar mmm…" Xiao Zhan looked over the girl and said.
It's inevitable as when Nalan Yanran became Yun Yun's student, she was only 8. After studying in the Faction of Misty Clouds for 5 years, she had changed quite a lot. Before she was only a child but now she is a blooming teenager!
"Her name is Nalan Yanran."
"Uncle Xiao, I haven't come to pay my respect in a long time. It's my fault that you don't recognize me." Nalan Yanran sweetly said.
"Hehe, Yanran, I heard that you've become a student under Yun Yun. At the time, I thought that it was just a baseless rumour, but now I realize that it's actually true. What incredible talent you must have…" Xiao Zhan complimented.
"It was just good luck…" Smiling lightly, Nalan Yanran began to feel uncomfortable and lightly tugged Ge Ye's robe with her hand under the table.
"Hehe, Leader Xiao, the request that I have relates to Yanran. In addition, this was assigned by our faction leader…" Ge Ye kept his smile but when he mentioned the faction leader, he subconsciously lessened his smile and his face grew serious.
Like Ge Ye, Xiao Zhan stopped smiling. The faction leader of the Faction of Misty Clouds was one of the most important people in the entire Jia Ma Empire. Xiao Zhan, who was a small clan leader, wouldn't dare to provoke her. But with her power, what would she need Xiao Clan to help with? Ge Ye did say that it was related to Yanran, is it that?
A wandering thought crossed Xiao Zhan's mind causing the edge of his mouth to twitch slightly and his firm hand to start trembling, thankfully his hands were covered by his long sleeves. Taking care to push down the thought, Xiao Zhan shakily asked: "Mister Ge Ye, please do tell me what is the faction's request?"
"Errr…" Ge Ye hesitated but he thought about how much the faction leader adored Yanran and thus, he clenched his teeth: "Leader Xiao, you know how strict the rules are in the faction. In addition, faction leader views Yanran very highly, in fact, faction leader is expecting Yanran to be the next faction leader. However, due to a special rule, future faction leaders cannot have a relation with another male before they become the official faction leader…"
Taking a breath, Ge Ye continued: "When our faction leader asked Yanran about it, she realized that Yanran and the Xiao Clan had a marriage proposal, therefore, faction leader asks for Leader Xiao to… to cancel this marriage."
"KA!" The jade cup in Xiao Zhan's hands turned into a fine mist in an instant.
In the main hall, everyone was silent. The three clan elders were shocked by Ge Ye's words but soon afterwards, the elders glanced at Xiao Zhan with plain glee and ridicule.
"Hehe, how will you respond to this?" The three elders thought sinisterly.
A couple of the younger kids didn't know about the set marriage between Xiao Yan and Nalan Yanran, but after asking their parents about it, their faces brightened! Their glances towards Xiao Yan were full of ridicule and distaste…
Looking at Xiao Zhan's dark face, Nalan Yanran lowered her head and squeezed her fingers together.
"Leader Xiao, I know that this request is a little over the top, but because faction leader requested it, please cancel the marriage…" Helplessly letting out a breath, Ge Ye lightly whispered to Xiao Zhan.
Xiao Zhan's hands curled into fists. A faint green Dou Qi slowly creeped over his body and finally, it formed a illusory lion's head in front of Xiao Zhan's face.
Xiao Clan's secret Qi Method: Furious Lion's Rage! Level: Middle Xuan!
Looking at Xiao Zhan's reaction, Ge Ye's face became serious. He moved to place Yanran behind him and within his eagle claw like hands a green Dou Qi gathered. The Dou Qi released small but sharp illusory swords.
Faction of Misty Cloud's Qi Method: Green Wood Sword! Level: Low Xuan!
With the release of Dou Qi, the weaker youngsters within the main hall became pale and felt their chests tighten.
When Xiao Zhan's breathing became more intense, the three elders yelled out! Their voices were like lightning that swept through the hall: "Xiao Zhan, STOP! Don't forget, you're the clan leader of Xiao Clan!"
Xiao Zhan stiffened and the Dou Qi on his body disappeared slowly…
Xiao Zhan fell back into his chair and emotionlessly watched the lowered head of Yanran. Finally, he said is a raspy tone: "Nalan, you have some guts. With such a daughter, I'm really envious of Nalan Su."
Nalan Yanran twitched: "Uncle Xiao…"
"No! Call me Clan Leader Xiao from now on. I don't deserve to be called Uncle; you're the future faction leader of the Faction of Misty Clouds. In the future, you'll probably one of the most important people in Dou Qi mainland. My Xiao Yan only has modest talent, he doesn't deserve you…"
"Thank you Clan Leader Xiao." Hearing Xiao Zhan's words, Ge Ye's face brightened. Apologizing, he says: "Clan Leader Xiao, faction leader understands that today's request is quite disrespectful. Therefore, she asked me to bring something, please accept it as an apology from our faction leader."
Ge Ye touched a ring on his hand and suddenly a completely pan-green jade box appeared in his hand…
Carefully opening the box, a fragrance swept through the entire main hall. Anyone who smelled it felt relaxed.
The three elders' curiosity got the better of them and they poked their head to see the contents of the box: "Qi Gathering Powder?"
In Dou Qi Mainland, to become a Dou Zhe, one needs to be able to compress the Qi within one's own body to a Qi cyclone. But the process of compressing Qi to become a Qi cyclone has an extremely high failure rate. After failing, one's 9 Duan Qi would fall back to 8 Duan. Some unlucky people need to compress their Qi 10 or more times before they are successful in doing so. But by wasting so much time on the compression of Qi, one would lose the best time to practice Qi and thus destroy their future.
Qi Gathering Power, its use was to allow someone with 9 Duan Qi to have a 100% percent success rate when trying to compress one's Qi!
This effect makes many people red-eyed. After all, anyone thats not a Dou Zhe is treated extremely badly.
But Qi Gathering Power isn't something made by nature, rather it was made by someone: Alchemist!
In Dou Qi Mainland, the sole profession that's more desirable than a Dou Zhe are Alchemists.
Like the name suggests, alchemists are able to create special pills that raise one's strengths. Every free-agent alchemist is sought after by many forces.
The reason as to why alchemists have such a high position is because of how rare alchemists are and how strict the requirements to become an alchemist are.
First of all, one must be of the fire attribute. And then, within the fire attribute, one must have a tiny sliver of the wood attribute to act as a catalysis in pill-refining.
In the Dou Qi Mainland, a person's attribute is determined by their soul. A soul since birth will only have one, sole attribute and reject any other attribute. So its impossible for a person to have two attributes.
Of course, nothing is impossible. Within a million people, there will always be someone who has a mutated soul. Within these people that have mutated souls, some have the potential to become Alchemists!
However, a person that has the fire and wood attributes is not enough to become an Alchemist. That's because one must also have a strong Soul Perception or Soul Moulding!
In the refinement of pills, the three most important requirements are: The material, the flame and one's soul perception.
The Material. They would have to be natural treasures. After all, even the best alchemists can't create a god-tier pill from trash material. Therefore, good base materials are very important for good pills.
The flame. Or the fire that's required when refining pills. The fire used in refining pills can't be normal flames but rather, they must be Dou Qi flames created though Dou Qi with a fire attribute. Of course, there are some extremely strong mutated flames in nature. Some strong alchemists would take these flames and use them to refine pills instead of their own Dou Qi flame. Not only do these mutated flames boost the success rate of the refinement, they also increase the effectiveness of the pills!
Because refining pills is a gruesome task, extended periods of refinement requires a lot of Dou Qi, and because of that, every brilliant alchemist is also a strong fire-type Dou Zhe.
The final requirement is Soul Perception.
When refining a pill, the intensity of the flame needs to be controlled with ridiculous precision. If the flame is slightly too hot, the pill within the furnace would be burned to ashes, wasting the time and effort of the alchemist. Therefore, controlling the intensity of the flame is a prerequisite to becoming an alchemist. But in order to have a control over the flames, one must have an incredible Soul Perception; without Soul Perception, even if one meets or even exceeds the first two requirements, it would be pointless to try to refine pills.
Under these strict conditions, the ones who have the qualifications to become an alchemist are few and rare. Because there aren't that many alchemists, the magical pills that they refine are also few and sparse. Since rare things are valuable and pills can definitely be defined as rare, alchemists all have a honorable, to an exaggerated extent, position in Dou Di continent.
Back to Xiao clan main hall, with the gasps of the three elders, the younger generation all stare at the Jade box in Ge Ye's hands.
"Hehe, this was refined by our honorable elder Gu He. I think that everyone here has heard of his name right?" Looking at the appearance of the three elders, Ge Ye started becoming arrogant.
"This was refined by the Pill King Gu He?" Hearing Ge Ye's words, the three elders once again embarrassed themselves.
Pill King Gu He, an extremely influential alchemist within the Jia Ma Empire. His alchemy is mysterious and unpredictable, causing countless different forces to try to fawn upon him.
Not only does Gu He have extraordinary talent in alchemy, his own strength is at the level of a Dou Wang and he's one of the top ten Dou Zhes in Jia Ma Empire.
Refined by his hands, the Qi Gathering Powder's value is probably exponentially higher than other normal Qi Gathering Power.
The three elders smile at the Qi Gathering Powder within the Jade box. If the Xiao Clan gets this Qi Gathering Powder, then the Xiao Clan can probably develop another young Dou Zhe.
Right when the three elders were thinking about how to get the pill for their own grandsons, a young voice filled with fury resonates within the main hall.
"Mr. Ge Ye, it would be better if you kept the
this. Your request, we might not accept it!" The main hall fell silent and everyone's gaze turns upon the delicate face of Xiao Yan in the corner.
"Xiao Yan, you don't have the right to say anything right now. Be quiet!" One of the elder's face became dark as he yells at Xiao Yan.
"Xiao Yao, be quiet. I know that you're not happy about this but we'll decide what will happen!" Another quite old elder said to Xiao Yan.
"Three elders, if your sons or grandsons had their marriage released today, would you still be saying that?" Xiao Yao slowly stands up. The edge of his mouth was curved upwards in ridicule. While thinking in his mind it's for his acting skill so first he target these three elder and said with disdain,when they can humiliate him why should he be so respectful to them ?
"You…" Hearing Xiao Yan's words, the three elders couldn't find a way to argue against his words. The grumpy third elder even started materializing his Dou Qi in anger.
"Three elders, Xiao Yao ge-ge isn't wrong. He's the victim of this so you guys shouldn't decide for him." A clear girl's voice rang across the main hall.
Hearing the girl's voice, the three elders' arrogance fell and after exchanging worried glances, they all nodded and sat back down.
Looking at the three elders backing off, Xiao Yao turns his head back and deeply gazes at the smiling Xiao Xun Er conveying Thank you with his eyes.
Xiao Yao walks up to his father and respectfully bows to him. Afterwards, he turns around to face Nalan Yanran.
Slowly letting a breath of air, he asks: "Lady Nalan, I would like to ask a question. Your visit here today, to release the marriage, did Grandfather Nalan give his consent?"
Before, when Xiao Yan came out from his corner, Nalan Yanran already felt uncomfortable with him. Now hearing his question, her brow scrunches up. This guy, at first I thought he was pretty nice, but he's actually extremely shameless. Does he not know the difference between the two of us?
Criticizing Xiao Yan in her mind, Nalan Yanran never considered how releasing the marriage would put Xiao Yan and his father into an awkward and infuriating situation.
Standing up and staring at the should be husband of hers, Nalan Yanran says: "Grandfather didn't give his consent. But! This is my own problem and not related to him."
"Since Grandfather hasn't said anything then I hope that you will forgive my father for not accepting your request. Our marriage was set by our two grandfathers and since none of them have said to release the marriage then this marriage will go on. Or else, the people that are trying to release the marriage would be disrespecting their ancestors! I think, that within our clan, there aren't any people that would do such a dishonorable thing." Xiao Yan tilts his head and stares straight at the three elders and thought now shut up you old mans.
Using the dishonorable title, Xiao Yan forced the elders to be silent. In the strict clan, doing something as blasphemous as disrespecting one's ancestors would be enough for them to lose their spot as an elder of the clan.
"You…" After being rebuffed by Xiao Yan, Nalan Yanran couldn't find any argument to retort Xiao Yan's claim. Her face became ashen and heavily stomping her feet, her princessy nature became apparent. Looking at the young man with disgust, she annoyingly says: "Under what conditions will you release the marriage? Were the reparations too little? Alright, I can ask my teacher to give you another 3 Qi Gathering Powder. In addition, if you want to, I can let you join Faction of Misty Clouds and learn profound Dou Qi training methods, is that enough?"
Hearing the attractive conditions from Nalan Yanran, the three elders' breathing started to become heavy. Within the main hall, the younger generation swallowed the saliva. Joining Faction of Misty Clouds? God, that's the dream of countless people…
After saying all these conditions, Nalan Yanran raised her snow-white chin, like a princess addressing her servants. She waited for Xiao Yan's response and knew that these conditions were enough to make any young man crazy…but she didn't know that he was not any ordinary man and said.