Selection

After chatting with Xiao Zhan and the others in the hall for quite a while and hearing plenty of experience about traveling the world, Xiao Ming returned to his private courtyard with much to show for it.

This trip had earned him not only thirty thousand gold coins, but also a Fire Attribute Profound Tier Low Grade Dou Skill, along with several Yellow Tier High Grade Dou Skills.

There were also the low-grade healing pills and Qi Recovery Medicinal Pills sold in the Xiao Family marketplace.

In short, they had prepared everything thoroughly for him, showing meticulous care in every regard.

Sitting on the bed, Xiao Ming stored these items in the Na Ring at his collar, stretched lazily, and lay back on the bed.

With the familiar aura lingering at the tip of his nose, Xiao Ming wondered why Xiao Zhan, the Great Elder, and the others had suddenly given him so many good things.

When Xiao Yan from the original work left the Xiao Family, it seemed he had not taken anything with him, right?

Oh, no. Xiao Ming suddenly recalled that, before leaving in the original work, Xiao Yan had used the excuse that he had a mysterious powerful teacher and helped the Xiao Family refine pills, splitting hundreds of thousands of gold coins in profits with them. No wonder he had not taken anything when he left.

Actually, Xiao Ming did not need these things now either. The Xiao Family's thirty thousand gold coins were neither here nor there to him. During one Life Simulation, one option had been a million gold coins, and with nothing better available, he had chosen it.

When it came to cash flow, no one in Wu Tan City could compete with him.

Thirty thousand gold coins were better than nothing. As for those pills, Xiao Ming had long since prepared his own.

Only that Profound Tier Dou Skill held any value for Xiao Ming; the rest were better than nothing.

Even so, Xiao Ming was quite grateful to the clan. After all, they had given much thought to his needs and cared for him attentively.

Xiao Ming was not cold-blooded. Naturally, he was moved inside.

"Come to think of it, did the clan give me so much because they're afraid I'll run off and never come back?" Xiao Ming's expression froze as the thought abruptly sprang into his mind for no apparent reason.

Xiao Ming had actually guessed right. Xiao Zhan and the others truly feared that he would not return.

In their eyes, Xiao Ming might behave like a composed little adult now, but he was only six years old and his personality had yet to fully take shape.

After wandering around outside for a while, he might lose himself and no longer want to go home.

Especially since he was the only child in his branch of the family and had no one close to him. In other words, he had no attachments in the Xiao Family.

It was entirely possible that he would stay outside for ten or twenty years without returning.

Perhaps, once he got caught up in having fun, some little girl might even lure him away and he would never come back.

Jia Nan Academy was a hundred and eight thousand miles from the Xiao Family. By then, they would not even be able to find him.

How could that be allowed!

Xiao Ming was a genius of the Xiao Family. If he ran away, where would they go to seek justice?

It was not that they wanted to cling to Xiao Ming and suck him dry, but once Xiao Ming grew stronger, merely standing there would provide deterrence and bring immense benefits to the clan.

It was fine if he did not stay with the clan, but surely he could come back during holidays, or even once every year or two?

They needed Xiao Ming to remember the Xiao Family's kindness. Giving him money, pills, and Dou Skills was all for that purpose.

This way of thinking might have been somewhat utilitarian, but the continuation of a clan depended on such things.

Setting that aside, directing resources toward geniuses had always been a tradition. Giving something to their own genius when he went out was perfectly normal.

If their own genius was dressed in rags and had no money on him, needing to carefully calculate every expense just to buy some trinket, everyone would feel ashamed if word got out.

It would make the Xiao Family seem very poor.

Xiao Ming had no way of knowing these thoughts.

But if Xiao Ming truly knew what they were thinking, he would probably say that they were overthinking it.

Once his cultivation rose, he would definitely return to the Jia Ma Empire. After all, there were quite a few useful people and Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures here.

Moreover, the Xiao Family might later draw the attention of the Hall of Souls, who could send people from the Misty Cloud Sect to exterminate the clan. How could he Sit Idly By over something like that?

Tomorrow was Jia Nan Academy's preliminary selection, and Xiao Ming had no mind to cultivate. He lay lazily in bed, wrapped in soft, comfortable bedding, and eventually fell into a deep sleep.

Early the next morning, crisp birdsong rang out beyond the window. Beams of light shone through the window onto the floor before the bed, casting speckled shadows, perhaps because the leaves in the courtyard were so lush.

On the bed, Xiao Ming lightly closed his eyes, calmed his mind and gathered his qi, meditated with his eyes shut, and sank his consciousness Inside the Body.

Internal Sight was an auxiliary skill that could only be mastered at the Dou Zhe level. The higher one's strength, the more thoroughly one could examine the condition Inside the Body.

After breaking through to Dou Zhe, he had mastered this skill without a teacher.

His consciousness sank toward his lower abdomen, where a palm-sized milky white Qi Cyclone slowly rotated. Around its outer edge was a layer of milky white energy resembling a nebula.

Gazing at the tiny Qi Cyclone with his consciousness, Xiao Ming Nodded His Head in satisfaction. Although the Qi Cyclone was still very small, the energy it contained was several times greater than that of others in the Xiao Family at the same level. Naturally, the credit went to the Spirit Nourishing Technique.

When he broke through to Dou Zhe, he had chosen to cultivate the Spirit Nourishing Technique rather than the Yellow Tier High Grade Cultivation Technique, Flame Refining Burning, given by the clan. In the end, with the aid of the Spirit Nourishing Jade, he successfully cultivated both techniques at once.

With Internal Sight, one would discover that compared to And Others, there was one additional thing inside his Qi Cyclone. At the center of the milky white Qi Cyclone was a thumb-sized, similarly milky white glowing substance.

That was the Ling Xiao Ming had cultivated using the Spirit Nourishing Jade.

With a slight movement of his consciousness, the Ling that had been exchanging energy with the Qi Cyclone Disappeared.

Xiao Ming opened his eyes and raised his hand. The Ling that had vanished Just Now danced joyfully at the tip of his index finger As If it were alive.

Suddenly, Xiao Ming flicked his index finger. The Ling swiftly Flew Out, leaving behind a white afterimage before sinking into the stone tiles of the floor.

With a thought, the vanished Ling Appeared Before his fingertip again. Seeing that its color had dimmed, Xiao Ming felt somewhat helpless.

"After all, it still hasn't devoured a Heaven and Earth Strange Object. Although I can summon it outside my body to fight enemies, and its power is quite decent, its endurance is still lacking. It runs out after one or two attacks. For now, I can only use it as a trump card. And it only possesses faint spirituality at present. Who knows how long it will take before it develops intelligence."

Letting out a light breath, Xiao Ming kept the matter of devouring strange objects in mind, recalled the Ling into his body, and Glanced At the outside.

"It's about time. Jia Nan Academy's selection should have started by now. Time to Set Off."

Xiao Ming rose, got dressed, left the small courtyard, and walked along the path. Looking at the clan that had suddenly become much emptier, he abruptly felt a bad premonition.

Today, Jia Nan Academy's recruitment team had arrived in Wu Tan City. Could more than half the people in the clan have gone to watch?

Xiao Ming felt that this was probably the case. If the Xiao Family was like this, people from other Places were likely no different. By now, Wu Tan City's City Gate and the selection site were probably already completely blocked by crowds.

When he arrived at the selection site, Xiao Ming's mouth twitched. Things were indeed exactly as he had expected.

On the enormous Square, waves of clamorous noise Soared into the Sky. Countless Young People desperately squeezed toward the inside of the Square. If not for the troops dispatched by the City Lord's Mansion to maintain order around the edges of the Square, these excited crowds would likely have charged in without regard for anything.

Staring blankly at the sea of people, Xiao Ming Sighed Lightly after a long while and Shook His Head with a Face Full Of frustration. Judging by this situation, it would be rather difficult to pass the examination smoothly today!