The Summer He Was Twelve

"Yan'er, Yan'er, what's wrong?!"

An anxious cry rang in his ears. A weakness he had not felt for tens of thousands of years made Xiao Yan feel indescribably miserable.

Dazzling white light swayed before his eyes, while noisy voices buzzed around him. Xiao Yan struggled to open his eyes.

"Where am I?"

As his vision slowly cleared, Xiao Yan hurriedly tried to summon his Soul Power to survey his surroundings. Yet he discovered that the Soul Power which had once covered an entire realm of the Great Thousand World could now only vaguely sense a radius of a few meters.

This startling change made his eyes widen. Two faces, one large and one small, gradually came into clearer focus.

The larger belonged to a middle-aged man with thick brows, large eyes, and a square face. His somewhat dignified features were filled with worry, and it was he who kept calling out, "Yan'er."

The smaller face was as fair as jade. Though she was clearly still at an age where her childishness had not faded, she already possessed the makings of a Beauty That Topples Nations, like an exquisite green lotus bud waiting to bloom.

Yet that lovely little face was equally full of anxiety, and crystalline tears even glistened at the corners of her beautiful eyes.

Xiao Yan naturally knew those two faces well, for they belonged to his father and wife, Xiao Zhan and Xun'er.

But after Xiao Yan had brought Xiao Zhan to the Great Thousand World, despite his poor talent, Xiao Yan had relentlessly gathered Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and refined divine pills after entering the Sovereign realm, forcibly feeding Xiao Zhan all the way to the Heavenly Sovereign level.

As for Xun'er, she had been one of the Great Thousand World's peerless beauties. Her cultivation had later reached the peak of the Saint grade, yet the immature appearance before him clearly belonged to a little girl of only eleven or twelve.

"What is going on?"

Xiao Yan froze briefly before struggling to rise.

He clearly remembered cultivating and attempting to break through to a realm beyond the Sovereign realm, fighting against the heavenly tribulation.

Whoosh!

Xiao Yan's arm went limp. He felt as if every bit of strength had been drained from his body, leaving him unable to exert any force at all. When he tried to mobilize the spiritual energy within him, he found that there was almost no power left in his body—only wisps of incomparably weak currents.

"Th-this is Dou Qi?"

Xiao Yan's eyes widened further. Lying on the pillow, he laboriously turned his head to the side. Familiar figures stood silently before him, their faces displaying tension, worry, anxiety, and schadenfreude.

Different expressions surfaced on face after face. Memories from tens of thousands of years ago flooded into his mind. Xiao Yan slowly closed his eyes and took a deep breath before finally accepting reality.

"I actually returned to the year I was twelve!"

Looking at the myriad expressions before him, even Xiao Yan felt dazed, as though he had traveled upstream through the river of time.

Had he been reborn, or was this merely a dream?

Xiao Yan tried every method he knew for breaking through an illusion, but each one failed.

After a while, he finally accepted reality.

He knew that he had once again become that fallen youth at Dou Qi Level 3, but there was not the slightest trace of worry on his face.

Because he was no longer merely that twelve-year-old boy.

He was also the Flame Emperor.

Flame Emperor Xiao Yan!

"Brother Xiao Yan, are you all right?"

At the side, Xun'er saw Xiao Yan's expression turn dazed and then suddenly calm, and she asked worriedly.

"I'm fine. Something merely went wrong during my cultivation. I'll recover after resting for a while."

Seeing Xun'er's worried expression, Xiao Yan smiled. No matter when it was, his wife was still the one who treated him best.

Thinking this, he gently took Xun'er's fair little hand and lightly patted the back of it to reassure her. However, this action instantly flushed the little girl's fair face red.

"Brother Xiao Yan is already in this state, and he still has the mind to act like a hooligan."

Xun'er hurriedly pulled her little hand from Xiao Yan's grasp, leaving him somewhat stunned before he could not help laughing.

In his previous life—simply a convenient term for the earlier Xiao Yan, not truly a previous life—he and Xun'er had already been an old married couple for tens of thousands of years. Such a small intimate gesture naturally meant nothing.

But the current Xun'er was only a little girl who could not even be considered a young maiden yet. How could she possibly endure something like that?

"Yan'er, are you really all right?"

Seeing the smile on Xiao Yan's face, Xiao Zhan visibly relaxed. As a father, his foremost concern was naturally his child's safety; matters such as talent came only afterward.

"Rest assured, Father. It won't be long before I recover."

Xiao Yan's smile was calm, as though he had merely suffered a minor bump.

"Very well. Then rest properly for now. I'll go discuss with the elders how to treat your injuries."

Xiao Zhan nodded, though Xiao Yan could see the worry in his eyes clearly.

Xiao Yan understood that the fact that his Dou Qi had been drained until only Dou Qi Level 3 remained could not possibly escape the examination of several Da Dou Shi.

How could Xiao Zhan not be worried after something like this happened? In his previous life, when he encountered such circumstances, he had been so frightened that he had nearly cried.

"Elders, clansmen, thank you for coming to visit me. However, I'm feeling rather weak now and need to rest. Please return for the time being."

Xiao Yan looked at everyone.

"Since that is the case, Xiao Yan, take good care of yourself. Over the next few days, I'll arrange for the younger members of the clan to take turns caring for you, keeping you company and easing your boredom."

The Grand Elder nodded and led more than a dozen clansmen, along with Xiao Zhan, out of Xiao Yan's small house in a grand procession.

After everyone left, Xiao Yan's Soul Power, far stronger than that of his peers, allowed him to faintly hear their discussion outside the window.

"This accident during Xiao Yan's cultivation is no small matter. His cultivation has directly fallen to Dou Qi Level 3. What an enormous loss."

The Grand Elder's voice rang out.

"The human body is at its most fragile during the Dou Qi cultivation stage. His recovery may take an extremely long time. Even if Xiao Yan recovers, it may take several years or even longer for him to cultivate back to the Dou Zhe level."

The Third Elder spoke even more bluntly. "Compared to this drastic fall in cultivation, I'm more worried that his future cultivation talent may also have been affected."

"No matter what, Yan'er's condition must be treated as quickly as possible. Even if we must exhaust the entire clan's resources, we must cure him."

Xiao Zhan's heavy voice sounded.

Listening to the discussion outside, Xiao Yan could not help revealing a bitter smile.

When he had first become crippled in his previous life, the three elders had still attached considerable importance to him. After all, even from a purely pragmatic perspective, he had been a future pillar of the clan.

Unfortunately, over the following three years, as his Dou Qi remained stagnant, the expressions on their faces grew increasingly cold.

Xiao Yan did not blame them. He could only say that people were always like this. Seeking benefit and avoiding harm was human nature. Not everyone could continue treating another person equally after they had fallen into hardship.

The voices outside gradually faded. Xiao Yan laboriously sat up, and the delicate little face that had once been full of panic now held only endless calm.

It was the composure of someone who had everything under control.

In his previous life, he had had nothing to rely on, yet he had still risen against adversity and reached the peak of the Dou Qi Continent, even the peak of this universe.

Now that he had been reborn, although his cultivation had once again fallen to rock bottom, the precious experience accumulated over tens of thousands of years and the heart of an expert tempered by countless trials had returned with him.

The trees outside the window were lush and verdant, gradually blocking out the blazing sunlight. Summer's heat filled the air with the endless chirping of cicadas.

Specks of sunlight filtered through the window and fell across the youth's face. Light and shadow were distinct yet blurred at that moment, while immaturity and weathered experience intertwined upon those refined features.

Xiao Yan gently stroked the ancient ring on his finger, a faint smile appearing on his lips.

"It is nothing more than a few trials and hardships."

This new book will still be a harem story. Of course, this time, in order to make the female leads more well-rounded, there will be relatively fewer of them.

This book will place greater emphasis on emotion in its harem aspects, and it will also be a test of my character-writing skills. I hope all you readers will give it plenty of support.

By the way, I recommend my previous 2.2-million-word novel, "Emperor Son Xiao Yan." Those interested can take a look.

May everyone's money keep growing, and may your dicks grow bigger.