"By your reasoning, Uncle Xiao, if the Xiao Family were stronger than the Nalan Family, would I already be dead? You are a five-star Great Dou Shi, my grandfather is a five-star Dou Wang, and my master is a Dou Emperor. When have I ever threatened the Xiao Family?"
Everyone shuddered. For a moment, no one could say a word!
Indeed, Nalan Yanran had come today to discuss dissolving the engagement. She had not made it public beforehand, so the damage to the Xiao Family's reputation was hardly severe.
Besides, a Dou Wang expert or a Dou Huang expert could send the Xiao Family into the cycle of reincarnation with a mere wave of a hand, yet this girl had done nothing of the sort!
Instead, she had come to discuss it politely!
Never mind a pampered young lady of the Nalan Family, renowned as one of the Three Beauties of the Holy City-even any other woman would probably struggle to be as gentle as she had been.
"My decision to break off the engagement has nothing to do with my family's influence or my sect's strength. I only want to ask you one thing, Uncle Xiao. Xiao Yan and I were promised to each other before we were born. In these fourteen years, since Grandpa Xiao Lin passed away, have either you or Xiao Yan ever come to our door to bring up this matter?"
The entire hall was struck dumb.
"You never mentioned it, yet I remained a flower already claimed. Innocent as I was, I was fenced into the Xiao Family from childhood, while you never gave me any formal standing. Is this how the Xiao Family conducts itself? Forget the marriage alliance-even for the sake of the friendship between my grandfather and Grandpa Xiao Lin, which of you has visited the Nalan Family over these past few years?"
The entire hall was struck dumb.
"Xiao Yan, you began cultivating Dou Qi at four, reached ninth stage Dou Qi at ten, and became a Dou Zhe at eleven. You simply believed your talent was unparalleled and that I wasn't worthy of you. At the height of your glory, you never came to see me. Then your Dou Qi vanished and you fell into the dust, but even at your lowest, you still never came to see me. What am I to you?"
The entire hall was struck dumb.
"If I'm not mistaken, your relationship with this Miss Xiao Xun'er isn't as simple as that of brother and sister, is it? What a loving couple you make. I mean nothing else by this, but put your hand over your heart and ask yourself: is this how a fiancé should behave?"
"I, Nalan Yanran, have come today to end this engagement. All I am choosing is my own path. It has nothing to do with anyone else!"
Nalan Yanran's words rang out with the force of metal striking stone. For a moment, not a single person in the entire Xiao Family could refute her.
Even Xiao Yan and Xiao Xun'er could not help flushing crimson.
When Xiao Xun'er was between four and six years old, Xiao Yan had slipped into her room every night and, under the pretext of nourishing her bones and meridians, touched her entire body.
Had he been an ordinary native of the Dou Qi Continent, that would have been one thing. But Xiao Yan was an Earthling who had transmigrated from Earth, so his actions clearly smacked of taking liberties with her. A lecherous older man sneaking into a little girl's room in the dead of night and touching her all over-and continuing for three whole years!
What was more, Xiao Yan had done this knowing full well that he had a fiancée.
The difference in their moral character was immediately clear.
Perhaps, in his eyes, Nalan Yanran had never mattered in the slightest.
After finishing, Nalan Yanran turned and glanced at Ge Ye beside her.
Ge Ye gave a bitter smile and hurriedly stood.
"Thank you for your understanding, Clan Leader Xiao." Nalan Yanran could indulge in a little willfulness and lose her temper, but an adult still had to wrap things up in the end. "Clan Leader Xiao, our sect master knows that today's request is rather discourteous, so she specially instructed me to bring something as an apology!"
As he spoke, Ge Ye brushed a ring on his finger, and an ancient jade box, green all over, appeared in his hand out of thin air...
He carefully opened the box. An unusual fragrance immediately filled the hall, refreshing everyone who caught its scent.
The three elders leaned forward curiously to peer into the jade box. Their bodies jolted, and they cried out in astonishment, "A third-tier pill, Qi Gathering Powder?"
Inside the ancient box, a jade-green pill the size of a longan lay quietly,
and that alluring fragrance came from it. On the Dou Qi Continent, becoming a true Dou Zhe first required condensing a Dou Qi Vortex within one's body. Yet condensing a Dou Qi Vortex carried a considerable risk of failure. After a failure, one's ninth stage Dou Qi would fall back to the eighth stage. Some unlucky people might need more than ten attempts before succeeding, and these repeated attempts cost them their prime years for cultivation, severely damaging their prospects.
Qi Gathering Powder could allow someone at ninth stage Dou Qi to condense a Dou Qi Vortex with a hundred percent certainty of success!
Hearing the three elders' startled cries, the boys and girls in the hall suddenly widened their eyes. One burning gaze after another fixed firmly on the jade box in Ge Ye's hand.
"Hehe, this was personally refined by Lord Gu He, our sect's honorary elder. I imagine you have all heard his esteemed name?" Seeing the three elders lose their composure, Ge Ye could not help feeling sorry for the Xiao Family.
"This medicine was actually made by Pill King Gu He?" At those words, the three elders were visibly shaken.
Pill King Gu He wielded immense influence in the Jia Ma Empire. His pill-refining skills were wondrous and unfathomable. Countless experts wanted to curry favor with him but could find no way to do so.
Not only were Gu He's pill-refining skills extraordinary, but his own strength had long since reached the Dou Wang rank, placing him among the Ten Great Experts of the Jia Ma Empire.
Qi Gathering Powder produced by such a figure would probably be worth several times the usual price.
The three elders beamed at the Qi Gathering Powder in the jade box. With this pill, the family could probably produce another young Dou Zhe.
Just as the three elders were pondering how to secure the pill for their own grandsons, a young man's calm voice, holding back his anger, abruptly rang through the hall.
"Elder Ge Ye, you should put that pill away. We may not agree to what you ask today!"
The hall fell abruptly silent. Every gaze swung toward Xiao Yan, who had lifted his delicate-featured face in the corner.
"Xiao Yan, what right do you have to speak here? Shut your mouth!" one elder thundered, his face darkening.
"Xiao Yan, stand down. I know you're upset, but we will make the decisions here!" another, somewhat older elder said coolly.
"Elders, if it were your sons or grandsons whose engagements they had come to break today, would you still say that?" Xiao Yan slowly rose, asking with a mocking smile at the corners of his mouth.
"You..." The three elders faltered at his words. The hot-tempered third elder glared, Dou Qi slowly enveloping his body.
"Elders, Brother Xiao Yan is right. He is the person involved in this matter. You should refrain from interfering." Xiao Xun'er's clear, lilting voice sounded calmly through the hall.
As soon as Xiao Xun'er spoke, Nalan Yanran looked over with something like a smile.
Pfft!
Many of the youths in the hall burst out laughing.
Xiao Yan's fiancée had come to break off their engagement. What did that have to do with Xiao Xun'er? Yet this girl insisted on sticking her foot into the matter, making herself look like a mistress trying to steal a husband right in front of his lawful wife.
Realizing this, Xiao Xun'er suddenly flushed scarlet and sat down sulkily, saying nothing more.
In her heart, she also began to disapprove of some of Xiao Yan's actions. After all, Nalan Yanran's words had made Xiao Xun'er feel that his conduct was somewhat improper too.
After all, Xiao Xun'er was a woman as well. To put it plainly, she shared certain things in common with Nalan Yanran.
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