Wind and Fire Complement Each Other, Yet One Contract Turns Them into Enemies

Everyone watched the two figures in the arena with burning gazes. Just who was Xiao Yan, to earn Su Yun's regard?

In an instant, the two moved.

A white and a black afterimage shot forward. The longsword and heavy ruler collided, sending fierce sparks flying.

"Clang, clang, clang—!"

Nalan Yanran let out a muffled groan. The immense force of the heavy ruler numbed the web of her hand, and her longsword nearly flew from her grasp. Unconcealable shock filled her eyes.

"If this is all the strength you have, then this match ends here."

A trace of disappointment appeared on Xiao Yan's face.

He had imagined countless times how he would feel after suppressing Nalan Yanran—joy, satisfaction, the exhilaration of avenging a great grievance... But he had never imagined he would feel disappointed.

Xiao Yan had already witnessed Nalan Yanran's strength at the banquet. Perhaps from that moment on, the mountain that had once seemed impossible to cross had become nothing more than a slightly irritating stumbling block in his eyes.

And after kicking that stumbling block aside, his gaze had to reach farther...

Xiao Yan unleashed a second burst of force, sending Nalan Yanran flying.

"Bang—!"

Nalan Yanran staggered back several steps before barely steadying herself. Her sword trembled and rang without end.

"Who are you?"

Nalan Yanran's expression was filled with horror. Xiao Yan's strength had exceeded her imagination, but more importantly, the technique he had used to exert force just now was clearly...

"Who I am—you must already have the answer. Why ask me?"

Xiao Yan's expression became calm. With the knot in his heart untied, even his body relaxed considerably.

"Impossible!"

Nalan Yanran clenched her pearly teeth. Gale-force gathered in her palm, transforming into a small green tornado that attacked Xiao Yan.

"Thousand Winds Gale!"

"Eight Extremes Collapse."

With only an elbow strike, Xiao Yan shattered the tornado through sheer ferocious force.

"Eight Extremes Collapse? Isn't that Yan Xiao's Dou Technique?"

"Yeah, at the Nalan Family banquet that day, Yan Xiao used that move to force even Miss Xian'er to use a Dou Technique in response. There's no way it could be fake."

"Yan Xiao, Xiao Yan... So that's how it is!"

"..."

The people on the raised platform erupted into discussion, and some sharper minds immediately saw the connection between the two.

"Nalan Yanran, back then, relying on your talent and the power of the Misty Cloud Sect, you publicly humiliated my father at the Xiao Family.

Today, I will also defeat you fair and square at the Misty Cloud Sect. I will show no concern for the dignity of the Misty Cloud Sect's Young Sect Master either.

Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river—never belittle a poor young man... What others saw as arrogant words born of youthful recklessness, I will turn into reality."

"I haven't lost yet!"

A faint anger surfaced on Nalan Yanran's face.

"Is that so?"

Xiao Yan's expression did not change. He merely unleashed all the Dou Qi in his body, and earthen-yellow Dou Qi formed a fiery armor that covered him from head to toe.

"A Da Dou Shi!"

"At the Nalan Family banquet, he was only a High-level Dou Master!"

Everyone stared in stunned disbelief.

Fa Ma stroked his beard. "He refined the Three-Pattern Green Spirit Pill during the competition and won the championship with it... It would not be strange for him to have taken it afterward and broken through to Da Dou Shi."

Su Yun fixed his gaze on the two in the arena. Without the Purple Spirit Crystal, Nalan Yanran ultimately could not contend with Xiao Yan.

"Boom—!"

The second round began. The two once again turned into afterimages and clashed together.

Just as everyone had expected, the battle became one-sided. Yet the advantage was not tilting toward Nalan Yanran, but Xiao Yan!

After only a few exchanges, Nalan Yanran was already unable to withstand Xiao Yan's fierce offensive.

"How could this happen?!"

Yun Leng looked anxious. If the Young Sect Master lost to Xiao Yan, it would damage the Misty Cloud Sect's reputation.

What was more, in order to build Nalan Yanran's prestige, he had invited every notable figure in the Imperial Capital.

Before a day had passed, news that the Misty Cloud Sect's Young Sect Master had lost to a youth from a remote border town would likely spread throughout the entire Imperial Capital.

This was absolutely unacceptable!

"Yanran..."

Yun Yun let out a soft sigh. With her eyesight, she could naturally tell that Nalan Yanran's defeat was only a matter of time. Her current struggle was merely futile.

She too bore responsibility for what had happened back then. Perhaps she should never have allowed Nalan Yanran to go to the Xiao Family.

"Eight Extremes Collapse!"

Xiao Yan shouted low as his fist and elbow abruptly exerted force. Ferocious power erupted, and Nalan Yanran flew backward like a kite with its string cut, crashing heavily into a stone pillar at the edge of the training ground.

The stone pillar shook as fragments rained down. Nalan Yanran dropped to one knee, using the Cloud Patterned Longsword to support herself.

She gave a bleak smile, blood staining the corners of her lips. "Eight Extremes Collapse has another technique, an eruption of hidden force, doesn't it? Why didn't you use it? Are you pitying me?"

"There is no need for the hidden force. You have already lost."

Xiao Yan shook his head. There was no need to use the Flame Splitting Wave Ruler he had specially prepared for Nalan Yanran either. The easy victory left him somewhat uninterested.

Xiao Yan took out a marriage contract from his Storage Ring. Flames flickered in his palm and burned it away, while the ashes drifted away with the wind.

Wind and fire complemented each other, yet one contract had turned them into enemies.

"From this day onward, we are both free."

Nalan Yanran's expression was complicated.

Xiao Yan lowered his gaze. The earthen-yellow flames in his palm surged violently, churning like an enraged dragon as the air twisted and trembled.

Why would Heavenly Flames need the wind's aid?

"Everyone, the show is over. Go home."

Xiao Yan gathered his emotions and bowed toward Su Yun's position. Since everyone was seated together, they only assumed he was bowing to them all.

Xiao Yan casually slung the Black Heavy Ruler across his back and walked toward the exit of the training ground.

"Wait, Xiao Yan. You cannot leave yet."

Yun Leng's expression darkened as he flashed forward and blocked Xiao Yan's path.

The thing he had feared most had come after all...

Xiao Yan thought to himself, but he was not nervous.

If the Misty Cloud Sect dared to forcibly keep him here, their fate likely would not be much better than the Imperial Family's.

"Great Elder of the Misty Cloud Sect, what guidance do you have for me?"

Yun Leng said in a deep voice, "I suspect that you cheated during the match and used power that did not belong to you to defeat Yanran. You must cooperate with the Misty Cloud Sect's investigation!"

On the raised platform, Su Yun was nearly amused by those words.

Xiao Yan indeed possessed a power that did not belong to him: the Heaven-tier Advanced Dou Technique, Ghost Possession. By sheer coincidence, Yun Leng had nearly exposed Old Yao's existence.

Xiao Yan was startled as well, but upon recalling that he had not asked his teacher for help at all, he calmed down.

He said coldly, "Is this the attitude of the Misty Cloud Sect? Can't you accept defeat?"

Yun Leng's attitude remained forceful. "Cooperate with the investigation!"

Yun Yun's willow-leaf brows furrowed slightly. She knew what Yun Leng was thinking.

The Great Elder was an elder of the sect and valued its honor immensely, but Nalan Yanran could simply work hard in the future and win it back.

Why resort to such despicable means?

"Great Elder, return. There is no need to dwell on the loss of the sect's honor.

Three years ago, I supported Yanran in going to the Xiao Family to annul the engagement, humiliating the Xiao Family. Three years later, Xiao Yan has come to damage the Misty Cloud Sect's honor. This can be considered the Misty Cloud Sect repaying the Xiao Family..."

"Sect Master, how can these two matters be compared!"

Yun Leng roared, "The Xiao Family is merely a minor clan in a remote border region. If they lose face, then they lose face—it is no great matter!

But our Misty Cloud Sect has been passed down for nine generations. The reputation accumulated generation after generation is far more important than some mere Xiao Family!"