How Did Everyone Know?

As Little Yan Zi would put it in the future, I was still too spineless to be a scumbag.

The Women:?

"Achoo~"

Having just arrived at the Xiao Family Marketplace to buy medicinal ingredients, Xiao Yan sneezed.

"It must be Nalan Yanran cursing me."

Yao Chen: "."

"Achoo!"

In a secret chamber within the Flame World, Yan Xiao, who was diligently cultivating to surpass his older sister Huo Zhi, also sneezed.

"It must be Huo Zhi cursing me again. Just you wait—once I'm stronger than you, I'll marry you off."

"I won't let you become a thousand-year-old spinster like Aunt Huo Ling."

Huo Ling and Huo Zhi, who had brought him a late-night snack: "."

Chu Xiao knew nothing of any of this and continued his impassioned "writing."

After testing Little Yan Zi, I went to test Xun Er.

She did not hide it from me. She told me her surname was Gu, not Xiao.

"Xiao?"

Within the sect master's chambers atop Misty Cloud Sect's floating mountain, Yun Yun, seated on a stone stool in the rear courtyard and admiring the star-filled sky, narrowed her eyes.

She was all too familiar with that surname. Ten years ago, it had belonged to one of the Jia Ma Empire's four great Dou Wang families. Xiao Yan, the clan leader's son, had been engaged to her disciple Nalan Yanran.

But Nalan Yanran had now joined Misty Cloud Sect and would most likely become the young sect master. If she passed the Gate of Life and Death's trial, she could even succeed Yun Yun as sect master. She definitely could not marry then, much less marry trash; she could only accept a man marrying into her family.

Could this Xiao be that Xiao?

"Right!" Yun Yun suddenly realized.

About five years ago, the sect had sent a Dou Ling elder to the Xiao Family to recruit a disciple. The target had been a genius named Chu Xiao, who had broken through to Dou Zhe at thirteen. Yet he had been unwilling to leave his family and rejected Misty Cloud Sect.

Two years later, news spread that Xiao Yan, the Xiao Family leader's third son, had broken through to Dou Zhe at eleven. Misty Cloud Sect had once again prepared to send someone to recruit him, but before they could act, the Chu Yun Empire launched a war.

That war lasted two years. By the time she arranged for someone to recruit him, she learned that he had already become trash.

"Xiao, younger cousin, Little Yan Zi... Could he be Xiao Yan?"

"Could it really be such a coincidence?"

A bad feeling rose in Yun Yun's heart.

If the information in the Diary was true, Chu Xiao would become a Saint-Rank Heaven Supreme in the future. On the Dou Qi Continent, even a Dou Emperor who had vanished from history was only comparable to a Supreme.

By then, the Xiao Family would surely rise with him. Xiao Yan might not be extraordinary, but becoming a Supreme should not be a problem, right?

For Misty Cloud Sect, even an ordinary Dou Zong expert would require the sect to expend its reserves to defend against.

If Yan Ran went to break off the engagement, wouldn't that be a disaster!?

With that thought, Yun Yun read the Diary even more seriously.

Ordinary people would not feel much upon hearing the name Gu.

Xun Er also did not know that I had already seen through her background.

This Gu was the Gu of the Ancient Clan!

"Brother Chu Xiao, Xun Er knows~" Xun Er lay beneath her blankets, smiling sweetly.

Sure enough, Brother Chu Xiao had asked about her surname to verify the matter of reincarnation.

Yet he did not know that she had also confirmed that he was the one who wrote the Diary.

The Ancient Clan was an imperial clan, a family that had once produced a Dou Emperor.

"What!?"

"A descendant of a Dou God Clan!"

At that moment, apart from Xun Er, every woman holding a Diary lost her composure.

Things Chu Xiao spoke of—such as the Great Thousand World, Supremes and Saint-Rank Heaven Supremes, Peerless Divine Abilities, and the Heavenly Evil God—were far too distant from them.

Of course, Dou Emperors were also immensely distant from them. They had never even imagined such beings before.

But now, Xiao—no, Gu Xun Er, a descendant of an imperial clan, had openly appeared before them, and they knew of her existence.

If they came into contact with this woman, would that not be the same as coming into contact with an imperial clan?

"Is this why she can become Empress, while I can only bear children and take responsibility?" A sharp glint surfaced in Medusa's violet eyes.

Don't panic, some women warned themselves inwardly.

No man remained prosperous for a thousand days, and no flower stayed red for a hundred.

According to Chu Xiao, there had once been many Dou Emperors on the Dou Qi Continent.

Yet Dou Emperors had now become legends, and even tales of Dou Saints were rarely heard.

What could being born into an imperial clan represent?

Perhaps they had already declined?

"The Ancient Clan... There is actually a woman from the Ancient Clan by his side!" Feng Qing Er's expression turned solemn.

If that was the case, she needed to slow down her investigation into Chu Xiao. At the very least, she had to change her attitude.

As a core disciple of the Heaven Demon Phoenix Clan, she naturally knew of the seven great imperial clans.

Since the Xiao Clan had been destroyed by the Soul Clan, the Ancient Clan had been the strongest clan in the open.

Their clan leader, Gu Yuan, was a Late Stage Nine Star Dou Saint.

The Heaven Demon Phoenix Clan was nothing before the Ancient Clan.

"But there's no need to fear her. A woman who was not kept in the Ancient Realm to cultivate likely has ordinary talent and status."

"Her standing in the clan is surely not even comparable to mine. Even if I truly offend her, the Ancient Clan would not do anything to the Heaven Demon Phoenix Clan."

"Besides, the Dou Qi Continent is not ruled by the Ancient Clan alone."

Feng Qing Er comforted herself inwardly.

But in the next instant, her expression froze.

It was common knowledge that a Nine Star Dou Saint could use their own Dou Qi to trigger tides of heaven and earth energy, causing their peak bloodline to begin mutating. Once one became a Dou Emperor, they gained the ability to alter their own bloodline, transforming both their own and their relatives' bloodlines. Their cultivation and aptitude would improve drastically, allowing a single person to revitalize an entire family for tens of thousands of years. Those with concentrated bloodlines would encounter no bottlenecks before reaching Half-Saint.

Xun Er: Brother Chu Xiao is right.

Feng Qing Er: He really might be a reincarnator.

The other women:?

Where did this "common knowledge" come from?

This was clearly obscure knowledge!

It was their first time hearing of it.

There had once been many imperial clans on the Dou Qi Continent, but the ancient war in the Great Thousand World had shattered the plane. From then on, it lost its Origin Qi, and no Dou Saint could break through to the Dou Emperor realm. Without new Dou Emperors, the bloodlines of the imperial clans would eventually run dry.

"The ancient war, Origin Qi!" Xun Er and Feng Qing Er memorized these terms inwardly.

As time passed and the ages changed, only eight imperial clans remained on the continent by a thousand years ago. The Xiao Clan, predecessor of the Xiao Family, had been one of them. Their clan leader at the time, Ancestor Xiao Xuan, had even been a Half-Emperor. By relying on his strength, he wielded three Heavenly Flames at once. The Xiao Clan had truly been the strongest among the imperial clans. Yet because of those events, its main branch was now nothing more than the Xiao Family, barely surviving in a remote region of the Northwest Continent, without even a Dou Wang.

The Women:!!!

The Xiao Family had once been an imperial clan too!

"The Xiao Clan that the Soul Clan destroyed!" Feng Qing Er's eyes widened.

"Brother Chu Xiao really does know." Xun Er shifted into another position.

Of the seven imperial clans still existing on the continent, the Ancient Clan was openly the strongest. Its clan leader, Gu Yuan, possessed the strength of a Late Stage Nine Star Dou Saint. Xun Er was his only daughter.

The Women:???

Terrifying indeed!

But some of them did not understand.

The Ancient Clan's leader, an old monster at the Late Stage Nine Star Dou Saint level, had only now had an only daughter.

And instead of raising this daughter in the Ancient Clan, he had placed her with the already-declined Xiao Family. What kind of move was that?

"The Ancient Clan leader's daughter."

Feng Qing Er's body trembled.

The good news was that she now knew the Jia Ma Empire was on the Northwest Continent, so finding someone would be easy.

The bad news was that he had a Nine Star Dou Saint's only daughter by his side, which was practically the same as having a Nine Star Dou Saint backing him. She could not afford to provoke him.