Xiao Ming

"Dou Qi Power, Stage One!"

As he looked at the five dazzling, almost blinding words on the Magic Stone Tablet, the young child on the platform let out a soft breath. He held his head high, a faintly smug smile curling his lips as his previously clenched fists relaxed.

"Xiao Yan, Dou Qi Power, Stage One! Rank: Low!" Beside the Magic Stone Tablet, a middle-aged man glanced at the information displayed on it and announced it in a shocked tone...

The moment the middle-aged man spoke, a commotion swept through the packed square, just as expected.

"Dou Qi Power, Stage One? Did I hear that right? Pinch me, quick, so I can wake up."

"Hiss! You really pinched me!"

"Wasn't it you who told me to? Did it hurt?"

"It really hurt! This isn't a dream! Goodness, if I remember correctly, Young Master Xiao Yan is only four years old. He only started cultivating not long ago, right?"

"That's right. Young Master Xiao Yan cultivated Dou Qi so quickly—his talent must be exceptional. Our Xiao Family is about to gain another genius youth who will become famous throughout Wu Tan City!"

"Hahaha, I said long ago that Young Master Xiao Yan had extraordinary looks and would never remain ordinary! See? I was right, wasn't I?"

"Oh, give it a rest. I remember you saying that as the Xiao Family's Third Young Master, this kid smiled so sleazily that he would damage the family's image. Let me tell you, Young Master Xiao Yan is so talented, and the old Clan Leader even arranged a marriage for him a few years ago. He'll definitely inherit the position of Clan Leader in the future. You'd better stop getting involved in the struggle between the elders and Clan Leader Xiao Zhan."

"Hehe, I know. Young Master Xiao Yan is so talented—I can't fawn over him enough."

Hearing the praise, flattery, and compliments from all around him, the child standing there like a proud peacock raised his little head even higher.

Amid a lively crowd, there would always be someone who seemed out of place.

That must be Xiao Yan, the one who would one day declare, "Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river—do not bully a young man because he is poor," right?

At the edge of the crowd, Xiao Ming calmly watched the little fellow being welcomed down by a group of children like stars surrounding the moon. He could not help feeling somewhat emotional, but he did not go forward to greet him like the other children.

As one of the Three Great Families in Wu Tan City, a near-first-tier city of the Jia Ma Empire, the Xiao Family had quite a few members. In its struggle for power, the clan was divided into two major factions: the Elder Faction led by the Great Elder, and the Clan Leader Faction led by Xiao Zhan.

Of course, that had nothing to do with why Xiao Ming did not go flatter Xiao Yan. No matter how intense the Xiao Family's internal power struggles became, they would not affect children too much.

The reason Xiao Ming did not want to go over was that, like Xiao Yan, he was a transmigrator.

If you asked Xiao Ming how he had transmigrated, he could only say that the Dimensional Truck driver had chosen him to meet his quota.

By the time he came to his senses, he had already arrived in the Xiao Family and become an orphan whose parents had both died.

Fortunately, the Xiao Family was still a major clan. According to the Clan Rules, servants were assigned to care for orphans within the family whose parents had died, especially someone like Xiao Ming, whose parents had sacrificed themselves for the clan. He even received compensation.

Thanks to that, Xiao Ming had grown up safely instead of dying unattended. It was also because of this that, as a transmigrator, he felt a strong sense of belonging toward the Xiao Family.

As a transmigrator with mature thoughts, Xiao Ming would not run off to play childish friendship games with a bunch of kids.

Even though he was the same age as Xiao Yan, looked like a child to outsiders, and was quite cute as well, asking him to join a chattering group of children like Xiao Yan did...

He truly could not do it.

Besides, this group of children was gathered around Xiao Yan to flatter him. Right now, Xiao Yan was the king of the children in the Xiao Family.

Why should he, a dignified transmigrator, shamelessly go flatter another transmigrator?

As for approaching Xiao Yan with some tearful reunion between fellow countrymen, he had never even considered it.

He would have to be crazy to do something like that. There was no benefit at all. Why would he expose his secret to Xiao Yan?

As for relying on his foreknowledge to pretend to get close to Xiao Yan, build a good relationship, then secretly steal the ring around his neck—the one containing Yao Chen, that old man—he had never considered that either.

Because Xiao Ming did not believe Yao Chen in the ring remained asleep all the time.

In his opinion, Yao Chen had to retain some awareness of the outside world. He could not truly be completely unconscious.

He was definitely deliberately absorbing Xiao Yan's Dou Qi later on. Otherwise, he could have absorbed Xiao Yan's Dou Qi right now.

He could have absorbed Xiao Zhan's wife's Dou Qi before as well, yet Xiao Ming had never heard any rumors that the Clan Leader's wife could not cultivate.

If he went through all the trouble of stealing the ring, only for Old Man Yao to tell him that his character was improper and he was unworthy of becoming his disciple, would he not become a complete joke?

He might even be putting his life in danger.

Flattering was out of the question, and stealing was impossible.

Then he could only cultivate properly and remain a passerby where Xiao Yan was concerned.

If they were talking about talent, Xiao Yan was no match for him. Feeling that the Dou Qi within his body was clearly far beyond Dou Qi Power, Stage One, Xiao Ming revealed a faint smile.

Perhaps because he was also a transmigrator, Xiao Ming's Cultivation Talent was equally outstanding. Perhaps it was because he had crossed the dimensional barrier, but his Soul Perception was even stronger than Xiao Yan's.

A few days ago, after pestering the servants who cared for orphaned children like them to teach him the cultivation method for the Dou Qi Power stage, he had quickly grasped it. Without encountering any bottlenecks, he had cultivated to Dou Qi Power Stage Two.

Given time, even if future breakthroughs became more difficult, Xiao Ming was confident he could break through to Dou Zhe within two years.

A six-year-old Dou Zhe.

Tsk, tsk. By then, he might shock everyone in the Jia Ma Empire senseless!

Xiao Ming was now somewhat hesitant about whether to go up and test his Dou Qi, revealing his Cultivation Talent. After all, the Xiao Family was too small. If his talent were exposed, it would be very dangerous.

Not to mention that Wu Tan City had two other families no weaker than the Xiao Family. Unlike Xiao Yan, he was not the Xiao Family's Third Young Master, with guards accompanying him whenever he went out.

But if he did not reveal it, he had no means to conceal his strength. While they were still young and had not cultivated for long, they could choose whether or not to test their Dou Qi. But once they were a couple of years older, they would have to test at the Magic Stone Tablet.

Did that mean he had to deliberately cultivate more slowly?

But Xiao Ming was undoubtedly unwilling to delay his cultivation for that reason.

"Sigh, I won't test today. I'll deal with it later. If it really comes down to it, I can only reveal my talent, stay hidden in the Xiao Family and never go out, then head straight to Jia Nan Academy when it begins recruiting."

Xiao Ming sighed helplessly.

He really envied those transmigrators with systems. They had everything they could want.

Storage Space, methods for concealing their level—those were just basic features.

They could casually swallow miraculous pills and elixirs, then level up even while lying down.

How could he compare? He did not even dare cultivate diligently. Was there any transmigrator more pathetic than him? He truly was the disgrace of transmigrators.

[Ding. Life Simulator has been activated.]