"Nalan Yanran… what a fine Nalan Yanran…"
Xiao Yan's eyes were wide, bloodshot, filled with scarlet rage. He laughed coldly in fury.
Under the stunned stares of everyone present, he strode toward the table, snatched up the jade box holding the pills, then turned and rushed after Nalan Yanran. When he was around ten meters away, he raised the box high—
—and hurled it hard at the back of her head.
Ge Ye, walking beside her, sensed danger. With a casual flick of his hand, he caught the box cleanly. His gaze turned icy as he stared at Xiao Yan.
"Brat, you've insulted a disciple of the Misty Cloud Sect again and again. Did you really think I, Ge Ye, fear your Xiao family?"
As he spoke, pale cyan Dou Qi violently erupted from his body, sending rippling, watery shockwaves across the air. The waves surged forward with terrifying force, crashing straight toward Xiao Yan.
Xiao Yan was only at third stage Dou Qi. How could he withstand the pressure of a Da Dou Shi?
He spat blood on the spot and was blasted back several meters—only to be caught by the hastily rushing Xiao Zhan.
Ge Ye shot Xiao Zhan a sidelong glare. "Xiao Zhan, we've already given your Xiao family more than enough face. We tried to settle the annulment in private, we even brought generous compensation. But your son is utterly ignorant. He dares openly attack the Sect Master's personal disciple—does your Xiao family take the Misty Cloud Sect for nothing?"
"You—"
Xiao Zhan looked down at his son, who was coughing blood in his arms, then back at Ge Ye.
Once again, he could do nothing but swallow the bitterness alone.
Nalan Yanran's voice was cool. "Elder Ge, there's no need to bother with this madman. Uncle Xiao, I'll take my leave."
She gave Xiao Zhan a simple bow, then turned to walk toward the Xiao family gate.
Behind her, Xiao Yan's voice rang out again, hoarse yet stubborn.
"Nalan Yanran, today's humiliation—one day, I'll pay you back a hundredfold!"
"How ridiculous…"
Nalan Yanran's steps paused for a brief moment. Her brows rose slightly.
She was proud by nature.
If not for Nalan Jie's instructions, she would never have tolerated him this long.
She turned slowly and said coldly:
"From start to finish, you were the one stirring up trouble. In the end, you humiliated only yourself. Do you really think you were once something incredible?"
"A true man doesn't live in past glory. And breaking through to Dou Zhe at eleven—does that truly make you so great? Someone who only clings to the past is just a piece of trash."
"Don't say I never gave you a chance. Three years. In three years, I'll wait for you on the Misty Cloud Sect's summit. If you dare come—then I'll be there waiting."
With that, Nalan Yanran turned and walked straight out of the Xiao family compound.
Ge Ye snorted coldly and followed.
And just like that, the three-year agreement was set in stone.
Xiao Family back mountain, at the cliff's edge.
After Nalan Yanran left, Xiao Yan did what he always did—
he wandered back to his usual spot, hollow-eyed, and vented everything bottled inside.
He had to admit… he had really thrown away all dignity today.
He'd been so sure he could expose Nalan Yanran's "ugly face" in front of everyone.
Yet in the end, not only was he humiliated—
he dragged his father, Xiao Zhan, down with him.
"Strength… it's all about strength. Without strength, you're not even as good as dog shit in this world…"
Fingers tangled in his hair, lips bitten so hard they bled, Xiao Yan stood rigid as the metallic taste of blood spread in his mouth. He barely felt it.
On the surface, he had seemed calm when Nalan Yanran proposed the three-year agreement.
But every word she spoke was like an ice needle, piercing straight through what was left of his shattered pride.
"Am I really fated to be a useless piece of trash for others to trample on?"
As Xiao Yan sank deeper into self-doubt, the ancient black ring on his finger flashed faintly.
Inside the ring, the hidden Yao Lao fell into deep conflict.
According to his original plan, he would have appeared a year later and taken Xiao Yan as his disciple.
By then, after three years of hardship, Xiao Yan's mentality would have become unshakably firm, and Yao Lao's soul power would have recovered nearly seventy to eighty percent.
But this annulment—
this sudden drama—
forced all of Xiao Yan's buried grievances of the past two years to erupt at once.
Yao Lao had to admit—
Xiao Yan's performance today truly disappointed him.
Nalan Yanran was not wrong.
Xiao Yan had asked for it.
A matter that could have been resolved peacefully had turned into a humiliating mess simply because Xiao Yan was too immature, too narrow in his thinking.
Now the whole city knew Nalan Yanran had come to the Xiao family to break off the engagement—
And it was Xiao Yan himself who had shouted it to the world.
"Forget it, forget it… I've waited so many years, and finally, a soul with such good aptitude appears. Perhaps this humiliation can become the fuel that drives him forward. Who's right and who's wrong… time will tell."
With that thought, Yao Lao finally made up his mind.
An ancient, raspy voice slowly echoed in Xiao Yan's mind.
"Little fellow… it seems you're in desperate need of some help."
Magical Beast Mountains, small valley.
A purple streak and a red streak of light clashed endlessly in midair.
Each collision sent out terrifying Dou Qi shockwaves, stirring up fierce winds throughout the valley.
"Boom!"
Another violent impact—
the red streak plummeted, tearing a long trench across the cliffside before finally grinding to a halt.
As the glow faded, Xiao Se's slightly thin figure emerged.
He held his magic sword reversed, blade stabbed into the ground, chest heaving.
"Hey, hey… this is way too demoralizing. Two years ago, you were only a Dou Zhe, and now you're a five-star Dou Huang—and this strong on top of that?"
He looked helplessly at the graceful figure descending in the distance and couldn't help complaining.
It had been more than twenty days since he reunited with Xiao Yixian.
When they first met again, she was already a one-star Dou Huang.
After fusing the two hundred-thousand-year soul bones, she used their stored energy to break through another star. Then, after forcing most of her poison into the bones and stabilizing the Calamity Poison Body, her strength soared another three stars in succession.
Just like that—
She had jumped straight to five-star Dou Huang.
With no side effects.
It was enough to make anyone despair.
After all, when Xiao Se merged two god-level soul bones and swallowed a newborn Heavenly Flame, he only advanced from nine-star Da Dou Shi to five-star Dou Ling.
"Fufu… this is something you can't envy your way into."
Hearing his grumbling praise, Xiao Yixian's pretty face softened into a warm smile. She flicked her jade hand—the massive scythe-like spider leg blade dissolved into a wisp of black light and vanished into her palm. Then she walked slowly over to him.
That spider-leg scythe was one of the two skills granted by her right arm soul bone—Death Slice.
It allowed her to manifest a massive, poisoned blade shaped like a spider's leg and launch high-speed, rotational slashing attacks. Its cuts ignored fifty percent of energy defenses and all physical armor—
And it could be used as a weapon in close combat as well.
(End of Chapter)
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