A parent's hopes were not merely pressure; they were also the greatest source of motivation.
Xiao Yan had not disappointed them. At three, he awakened Fire-attribute Dou Qi. At seven, he possessed nine stages of Dou Qi. The following year, he successfully condensed a Dou Qi Vortex and became the youngest Dou Zhe in the family's history in a single leap.
Yet in the end, he could not escape heaven's condemnation.
The praise of the past became mockery. Wutan City's former genius plummeted from grace, becoming a worthless cripple ridiculed by everyone.
But unexpectedly, Xiao Yan did not become despondent because of it.
"Yan'er is here again?"
Under the dim yellow light, the woman on the bed called softly, her voice carrying both pity and a sigh.
"Mm."
Xiao Yan carried over a bucket, wrung out the towel beside the bed, touched the woman's forehead, and then laid the towel over it.
"Careful, Mother. It's hot."
"You child... You have suffered such a terrible injustice, yet you always refuse to say anything. You won't even let your mother say a few comforting words."
"There's nothing to feel wronged about, Mother."
Xiao Yan wiped the sweat from her forehead and smiled casually. "I'm content."
"Ah..."
The woman's voice was filled with bitterness, as though it carried a faint trace of resentment. "I'm a burden. You all know it, and I know it even better. Even if you don't care about the opinions of others, how can I possibly not care?"
When he had first begun to babble as a child, after awakening Dou Qi, he had instinctively begun using it to warm her body.
During a torrential downpour, she had chosen her own burial site. For the first time, the husband and wife had quarreled fiercely, while the still-ignorant little boy