Breakthrough

The wrinkles on the Great Elder's face unconsciously bunched together, but there was nothing he could do.

There was no helping it. This matter was strange, yes, but the facts were right there, and they had no room to throw cold water on it.

After all, if Xiao Yan hitting someone was fake, then could Ga Lie Ao face-planting under Xiao Yan's hands have been an act too?

That old bastard Ga Lie Bi was probably so angry his mouth had gone crooked by now.

At that thought, the Three Elders were no longer quite so hostile toward Xiao Yan.

After all, Xiao Yan was still a member of the Xiao Family. This time, he had given the Ga Lie Family a vicious slap in the face on the Xiao Family's behalf. No matter how one looked at it, that was a great achievement.

Besides, the Ga Lie Family definitely would not dare come to demand an explanation this time.

What a joke. Someone at Dou Qi Stage 8 had been knocked flat in a single exchange by someone at Dou Qi Stage 3. If the Ga Lie Family still had the nerve to come demanding justice over that, once word got out, they really would not be able to keep living in Wutan City.

And the reason the elders and Xiao Zhan had summoned Xiao Yan this time was also because of this matter. Xiao Yan's words merely put the final nail in the coffin for the whole incident.

Seeing that the elders and Father had nothing else to ask, Xiao Yan prepared to take his leave and go back to seize every moment for cultivation.

Over these past two years, he had fallen too far, far behind. If he wanted to catch back up to his peers, he naturally needed to spend even more effort, and even greater effort, to do so.

But just as they were about to let Xiao Yan return to his cultivation, the Great Elder suddenly remembered something.

"In the past half year, the Guest Room Courtyard southeast of the Xiao Family has been occupied by someone. The servants say that person is Xiao Yan's friend, here to stay temporarily with the Xiao Family. Xiao Yan, is this true?"

Xiao Yan, who had already been planning to leave, instantly furrowed his brows.

Xiao Zhan paused. Now that the Great Elder mentioned it, he remembered. More than half a year ago, Yan'er had spoken to him about this matter, but at the time, he had only casually agreed, then given the order and stopped paying attention to it.

Father and son exchanged a brief look. Xiao Zhan was just about to speak up in his son's defense, but Xiao Yan's gaze made him temporarily hold back the words he had wanted to say.

"...It is true."

"May I ask what objection the Great Elder has?"

"Heh heh, I have no objection, exactly. It is just that, Xiao Yan, if your friend stayed here for a few days, then so be it. But how did one stay turn into half a year?"

The Great Elder's tone grew stern as well.

Xiao Yan's brows drew together. He simply could not be bothered to play guessing games with this old bastard anymore.

"My friend came to stay temporarily at the Xiao Family. Does even that need to be reported to the elders? The Great Elder is meddling a little too broadly."

Xiao Yan spoke in an even, indifferent tone.

"Whose friend stays for half a year?"

The Great Elder furrowed his brows tightly. If they were people with ulterior motives, would this not be a thousand-mile dike destroyed by an ant nest?

But before Xiao Yan could reply, suddenly, a powerful Dou Qi fluctuation swept across the entire Xiao Family.

As the person with the highest cultivation in the Xiao Family, Xiao Zhan, a Five Star Great Dou Shi, instantly felt as if he were facing a great enemy.

"Someone is breaking through!"

Xiao Zhan was the first to react, crying out in shock.

Only then did the Three Elders react. This did indeed seem like someone was breaking through a realm, but the scale of the Dou Qi tide it stirred up far exceeded their imagination.

Whether it was a Dou Zhe, a Dou Shi, or a Great Dou Shi, how could any breakthrough cause such a huge disturbance?!

Xiao Zhan and the elders naturally did not dare delay even a moment. They immediately walked out of the Guest Hall.

"Who is breaking through in the Xiao Family?!"

For a time, under this intense Dou Qi tide, the Xiao Family was thrown into complete chaos.

The elders exchanged glances. They had never seen a Dou Qi tide of such strength in their lives. Could it be—could it be that someone in the Xiao Family was breaking through to Dou Ling?!

"Where is the one breaking through?!"

Feeling that violent, tide-like Dou Qi surging without end, Xiao Yan was slightly stunned. Then, subconsciously, he thought of that mysterious young girl.

"It's Miss Wan! Miss Wan is breaking through!"

"What? Who is that?"

Whether it was Xiao Zhan or the Three Elders, all of them were stunned.

"Miss Wan is Xiao Yan's friend. Father, elders, follow me!"

Although he could not guarantee it with absolute certainty, if they were looking for someone in a family whose highest cultivation was only Great Dou Shi who was originally far stronger than everyone else, the only person Xiao Yan could immediately think of was her.

Seeing Xiao Yan leave, Xiao Zhan and the Three Elders did not dare waste any more time and could only follow him, sprinting all the way.

On the roads of the Xiao Family Courtyard, many young men and young girls of the younger generation did not dare move recklessly under this powerful Dou Qi tide.

"What are you all standing here for?! Hurry up and find somewhere to hide!"

As the Three Elders spoke, they drove away the juniors who had been scared stiff on the spot.

Xiao Yan, meanwhile, forced his way against the invisible Dou Qi tide and ran toward the guest rooms.

This Dou Qi tide that echoed through the Xiao Family did not last briefly, but it was not exactly long either.

By the time Xiao Yan, Xiao Zhan, and the Three Elders finally reached the Guest Room Courtyard through the obstruction of the Dou Qi tide, the Dou Qi tide had already begun to weaken and was contracting further in a regular rhythm.

Then Xiao Yan noticed that in the Guest Room Courtyard, the weeds that had originally grown in the corner were withering at a speed visible to the naked eye. Afterward, several somewhat miraculous flowers and grasses drilled up from beneath the thick, smooth bluestone bricks.

At first, it was only one or two stalks that squeezed out the weeds. Then even the bluestone bricks were pushed apart by the plants underneath, revealing fertile soil and all kinds of wildly growing flowers and grasses.

A flourishing vitality, so dense that even Xiao Yan could personally feel it, spread outward with this small courtyard as its center.

Xiao Yan was stunned. Even with his eye, he could tell how extraordinary these newly grown flowers and grasses were. They were all kinds of miraculous medicinal ingredients, and some were even Kings of Medicine that would be difficult to find even after searching the depths of a thousand mountains!

With his experience, it was truly hard for him to imagine what exactly had happened, and what exactly all of this meant.

And drawn by the exceptionally dense life aura outside, Yao Lao also released his Divine Sense. Then, for the first time, Xiao Yan heard even his teacher's voice trembling with shock.

"This... this is...!"

"There is no mistake... there is no mistake!"

"I never imagined that even such a wondrous divine object would be in that girl's hands!"

But Yao Lao's somewhat rambling exclamations truly left Xiao Yan feeling lost in a fog, and even more unable to understand.

"Teacher, what's wrong with you? Why did you suddenly become so excited?"

Although Xiao Yan was also amazed that, for some unknown reason, all sorts of rare medicinal ingredients had suddenly grown in Wan Guniang's courtyard, if one spoke of shock, it was still not to the same extent as his teacher.

"You ignorant brat... do you still remember the Strange Fire I told you about before?"

Yao Lao said, "Your Wan Guniang possesses the Life Spirit Flame, ranked fifth on the Strange Fire Ranking."