After leaving the Misty Cloud Sect branch, Xiao Yao immediately vanished into the darkness.
He traveled through the darkness for a long while before stopping in a corner.
He shook his right hand. The injury it had sustained in the earlier clash had already healed.
Although it was night and no sunlight shone on him, the yang-attribute Dou Qi in his body possessed the dual properties of destruction and vitality. It also had a healing effect, though it was not as efficient as when he was basking in the sun.
When he had traded a blow with the manager of that branch, it had appeared that the other man had come off worse. In truth, Xiao Yao had channeled the force into the ground, leaving several deep footprints.
The other man, meanwhile, had lunged at him and immediately flown backward upon taking the impact, so naturally he had retreated farther than Xiao Yao.
Even so, Xiao Yao's yang-attribute Dou Qi was extraordinary. With the strength of a nine-star Dou Shi, he had actually broken through a four-star Da Dou Shi's Dou Qi Armor and injured him.
That was also why Ge Ye had not attacked immediately after coming out.
Ge Ye could not see through Xiao Yao's strength and dared not act rashly.
He was already the strongest person at that Misty Cloud Sect branch. If he too were defeated, the consequences would be unthinkable.
Xiao Yao went over his earlier actions and, after making sure he had overlooked nothing, put away his disguise. He found a busy street, joined the flow of people, and headed toward the Xiao Clan compound.
As for what Ge Ye and Nalan Yanran would ultimately decide, Xiao Yao paid it no further attention. He had already done what he could.
"Young Master Xiao Yao!"
The two Xiao Clan guards at the entrance greeted Xiao Yao respectfully.
Xiao Yao nodded and walked into the Xiao Clan compound. With his hands behind his head, he looked up at the brilliant stars filling the sky, a thoughtful look in his eyes.
Having done what he could about the breaking of the engagement, Xiao Yao needed to consider his own affairs.
There were only two ways for him to improve his strength: continue developing his cultivation method and continue analyzing the sun.
For now, he could only make slow, painstaking progress on his cultivation method. High-level cultivation methods were hard to come by.
For cultivation methods... I still need to go to Jia Nan Academy. It bears the name of the continent's number one academy, so its collection of books should be quite extensive.
With my current strength, I should receive some preferential treatment at Jia Nan Academy. Perhaps I can use that opportunity to read a great many books from its collection.
Now that he had a solution for the cultivation method, Xiao Yao only had to wait for Jia Nan Academy's recruitment team to arrive in Wutan City.
One reason he had not gone to the academy before was that he had wanted to deal with the broken engagement. If it were handled poorly, it could bring a catastrophe down on the Xiao Clan ahead of time.
After all, Xiao Yao did not know whether his transmigration would cause some butterfly effect.
The other reason was that he had still been creating his cultivation method. If he joined the academy with the strength of a newly advanced Dou Zhe, he could hardly expect much preferential treatment.
Once he had truly created the Sun True Scripture and improved his strength, it would not be too late to go to the academy.
Xiao Yao gazed at the brilliant stars filling the sky, while wondering how to improve his analysis of the sun.
To analyze it, he naturally had to understand the sun's existence thoroughly.
Xiao Yao had also tried using his knowledge of the sun from his previous life to analyze it.
Unfortunately, his analysis had not advanced one bit.
The sun of the Dou Qi Continent and the star called the sun in the real universe were completely different things.
Fortunately, this was a world of cultivation. Once he grew stronger, he could always fly high into the sky, observe the sun up close, and experience its existence for himself.
That would surely improve his analysis of the sun by a great deal.
At present, there was actually another shortcut he could take: reading books that contained records of the sun.
Learning about the sun's essence through others could likewise improve his analysis.
That was what Xiao Yao had learned from reading over the years.
However, the Xiao Clan was only one of Wutan City's three great clans, and its collection of books was limited. Books containing records of the sun were few and far between; some contained only a few scattered words.
Seen that way, going to Jia Nan Academy would be a great help, whether for developing his cultivation method or analyzing the sun.
Xiao Yao's eyes lit up. Jia Nan Academy's recruitment would begin in another month or two.
In the original story, after Xiao Yan's engagement was broken, he had thrown himself into arduous training, turning a deaf ear to everything outside his window and paying no attention to Jia Nan Academy's recruitment.
Of course, with his strength at the time, he could not have passed the recruitment assessment even if he had known about it.
Jia Nan Academy... Then I'll make a good plan during this time and finish dealing with matters in the Jia Ma Empire first.
After all, Jia Nan Academy is thousands of miles away. Once I go there, it will be hard to return anytime soon.
Xiao Yao returned to his room, and after making a rough plan, he went to bed early to rest.
The next day, at the first hint of dawn, he went to the Xiao Clan's forbidden grounds. As he cultivated, he gathered sunlight and vitality to promote the growth of the fire-attribute medicinal herbs.
Time flew by. At noon, Xun'er brought Xiao Yao a lavish lunch as usual.
"Brother Xiao Yao, Uncle Xiao and Cousin Xiao Yan went out after receiving an invitation."
"Hmm? Just the two of them?" Xiao Yao asked.
Xun'er nodded and glanced at Xiao Yao. Her eyes curved as she smiled and spoke.
"You don't seem surprised, Brother Xiao Yao. Do you already know what they went to do?"
"I know a thing or two."
Xiao Xun'er gave Xiao Yao a thoughtful glance.
Although she liked Xiao Yao very much, she had not gone so far as to send Ling Ying to watch him every moment.
"I hope it isn't anything bad."
"Let's hope so!"
Xiao Yao replied casually, thinking to himself that Ge Ye and Nalan Yanran seemed to have taken his advice from yesterday to heart.
Nalan Yanran had not come to the Xiao Clan with great fanfare to break off her engagement to Xiao Yan in front of the many clan members. Instead, she had chosen to do it in private.
That way, the matter would not cause too great a commotion.
In the original story, what had truly angered Xiao Yan about Nalan Yanran breaking the engagement was that she had brought it up in full public view.
He had only regretted not being able to marry Nalan Yanran; it was not that he could not do without her.
But for Nalan Yanran to break off the engagement in full public view, before everyone in the Xiao Clan and all those clan members, was another matter altogether.
That would make Xiao Zhan, the clan leader, lose face and all his authority. That was what had truly angered Xiao Yan.
Now, Nalan Yanran had chosen to discuss it privately behind closed doors. The matter was unlikely to become common knowledge, and there was even a good chance the Three-Year Agreement would no longer happen.
At that thought, Xiao Yao could not help sighing softly to himself. Given his strength, what he had done about the broken engagement could already be considered his best effort.
Time hurried by. After Xiao Yao finished his cultivation for the day, he said goodbye to Xun'er and returned to his room, where he saw that the courtyard not far away was brightly lit.
After a moment's thought, Xiao Yao went to Xiao Yan's room to see how the matter of the broken engagement had gone. He knocked on the door and said,
"Little Yanzi, it's me."
Rustling came from inside the room. A moment later, the door opened, revealing a somewhat youthful face.
"Brother Yao? What brings you here?"
"Nothing much. I just heard that you and Father went out together today after receiving an invitation. Was something going on?"
Xiao Yan gave a self-deprecating smile and shook his head. "It was nothing major. Miss Nalan, the one I was betrothed to before we were born, came to break off the engagement."
"What! This..." Xiao Yao frowned, surprise mixed with displeasure.
"It's all right, Brother Yao. I'm used to it. If she wants to break off the engagement, let her. She looks down on me, so am I supposed to beg her to marry me?"