The Gears of Fate Clattered

The Gears of Fate Clattered

Kudada—

The two halves of the heavy stone door slowly swung wide. Sunlight poured into the great hall, flashing in Nalan's eyes.

"Young Sect Master, you've finally come out!"

Elder Yun Leng, who had been waiting outside for a long time, hurried forward, sleeves folded over both hands as he bowed with his head lowered. He did not dare look up, not even glancing at her directly once.

He was respectful to the extreme.

"Elder Yun Leng?" Nalan Yanran quickly stepped closer, just about to help him up.

"Welcome, Young Sect Master—"

Huh? Nalan froze. On the tiered steps before the great hall, elders and deacons knelt in waves, like ripples spreading through a tide.

"You all..."

"Welcome, Young Sect Master—"

In the square, disciples stood in rings along both sides of the avenue.

A tsunami of densely packed heads swept over all at once, and within a few breaths, amid the surging roar of voices, every one of them had bowed their heads.

"..."

Nalan's brows and eyes trembled faintly.

Everything today carried a dreamlike feeling that did not seem of this world. The sight of ten thousand people lowering their heads looked inexplicably absurd.

"Welcome, Young Sect Master."

Yun Leng shook out his robes and knelt, presenting her with a cold cyan jade tablet.

"Successor Sect Master Token"

Nalan Yanran's index finger twitched. Her palm hovered in midair, hesitating, before she finally took the jade tablet and stared at it for a long while. Then she turned it over.

As expected.

"Yun Yanran"

"Hah... Elder Yun Leng."

Nalan Yanran let out a breath of stale air and placed the token back in Yun Leng's hand. "And everyone of the Misty Cloud Sect."

"Young Sect Master?!"

The cool jade tablet returned to his hand, and Yun Leng could not help raising his head.

"My name is Nalan Yanran." Nalan tried her best to remain calm, her fingers tapping lightly on the jade tablet, making Yun Leng gradually withdraw both hands.

"Young Sect Master!"

Yun Leng's brows and eyes twisted together. He shuffled forward two steps on his knees and hissed in a low voice, "This is the rule. Hurry and accept it... everyone is watching you!"

"Then let them watch. Let them watch to their hearts' content."

Nalan spread her hands toward him. "The sword isn't even in my hand anymore."

Yun Leng's gaze shook, and he turned to look deep into the great hall.

Sect Master Yun Yun had already vanished without a trace. Only a long sword leaned at an angle against the Sect Master's seat, bathed in light.

"This is an opportunity to become a Dou Emperor, even a Dou Zong!" Yun Leng gripped the jade tablet tightly, furious at her for failing to live up to expectations.

"This is my own choice. When the time comes that I regret it, you can say all this to me then. Believe me, I really will regret it to death."

Nalan patted his shoulder. "A dignified Dou Wang kneeling to me, someone at Dou Qi, really isn't proper. Hurry and get up."

But—

Yun Leng opened his old eyes rather pitifully and was just about to rise when a fierce gust of wind descended from the sky.

Wing-like cyan light flashed in the wind and shattered. Broken cyan radiance unfurled together with the wind. Nalan's clothes were blown until they snapped, and she raised a hand to shield herself from the wind.

"Sect Master." Yun Leng knelt again.

"Nalan Yanran!"

Yun Yun, whose hair was somewhat disheveled, seized the initiative with her voice. "I'll give you one last chance. You'd better not regret this!"

"Hmph... If I'll only regret it in the future, then we can talk about it in the future."

"Heh."

Yun Yun walked up to Nalan in a few steps and looked down at her from above. "But you're going to regret it right now!"

Her slender fingers pinched out a new jade tablet.

"Oh? You're that certain?"

"I'm that certain!" Yun Yun flipped her fingers, and the four characters "Nalan Yanran" were written boldly upon it.

Thud—

"Master!!!"

Xiao Yan sat cross-legged and looked within himself. The vortex at his Dantian had already dimmed to an extreme degree, flickering as if it might collapse in the very next moment.

"Uh..."

Then he tentatively began circulating his Dou Qi.

The Dou Qi in his organs and blood had completely changed. After years upon years of permeation and fusion, that Dou Qi had become crimson and ancient gold.

"Rumble—"

As if horses were galloping wildly, a crimson flood coursed through his limbs and bones.

"—"

Like the resounding toll of a great bell, the heavy ancient-gold Qi settled deep within his organs.

The Dou Qi vortex that had originally been dim and on the verge of dying out suddenly grew active, stirring up the Dou Qi and making it gather and compress at high speed.

A funnel-like vortex abruptly appeared around Xiao Yan. Dou Qi from all directions poured into his body, circulated and refined through his meridians, then sprinkled over the vortex like liquid.

Slowly, the calm, milky-white vortex settled back into stillness, rippling with a few faint waves from time to time.

Xiao Yan, who had been slacking off for three months while waiting for his Dou Qi to drain dry: ...

Yao Lao, who had been sneaking around for ages, carefully siphoning away Dou Qi: ...

Ling Ying, who had been monitoring the decline of Xiao Yan's cultivation: ...

A world where no one was satisfied had arrived so suddenly, so overwhelmingly, right up in their faces with an ultimate move.

"No—"

Xiao Yan was completely numb. "What... what... what does this count as? I'm a Dou Master now? Huh?"

He did not even have a Qi Method! How had he become a Dou Master just like that?

Could someone who actually knew what they were doing come explain this? What on earth was going on?!

"An eleven-year-old Dou Master... Hiss..."

It took Ling Ying a long time to come back to himself, his eyes filled with disbelief.

Such an achievement was extremely rare even among the Emperor Clans, let alone when the person before him had cultivated purely on his own!

"No, I have to tell Miss!"

Ling Ying hurriedly left, his thoughts in turmoil as he vanished into the shadows.

Two figures almost turned their heads to look at the same time, one seeming to sense something, the other having everything firmly in hand.

They turned back, man and soul meeting each other's gaze.

"Bang!"

With an explosion like a firecracker, Xiao Yan instantly shot into the air and flipped up, leaving an exaggerated afterimage as he flashed through the air, then lightly tapped the tip of his foot down and slowly landed on a tree branch.

"Who are you? No, what kind of ghost are you!"

Xiao Yan clutched his chest, his heart nearly scared right out of him.

Even if he had been mentally prepared, that did not mean he had been prepared for a ghost like you suddenly popping up in his face! "Heh heh... little boy, don't be afraid."

Yao Lao hovered in midair, chuckling. "I'm not some villain, much less an evil ghost."

"Haa..."

Xiao Yan calmed his breathing, and the toes resting on the thin branch sank slightly before his figure drifted lightly to the ground, without the slightest ripple of Dou Qi leaking out.

Now that is a fine cultivation base!

Seeing that move, Yao Lao's eyes lit up.

"The loss of my Dou Qi before was your doing, wasn't it?" Xiao Yan strode up to Yao Lao and stopped before him, his voice calm but carrying a trace of cold sharpness. "What exactly is your purpose?"

"Aiya~ little boy, don't be in such a hurry to get angry~"

Yao Lao raised a hand and pressed it down repeatedly in the air, signaling him not to get too worked up. "Having the path of cultivation go too smoothly isn't necessarily a good thing. I merely wanted to temper your temperament a little..."

Yao Lao paused, then took another couple of looks at this bucket of cold water.

That was right, a bucket of cold water. And one suspended from the roof beam by a long rope, hanging just a few inches above the ground.

This was Yao Lao's evaluation of Xiao Yan.

His mind is calm and deeply sunken. Though I can't guess what he's thinking, I can tell his nature is mild, cool, and slow to move—not passionate like fire, and often deciding before acting.

Though he sometimes seems rather gloomy and cold, he isn't a stone, nor a block of ice. He wavers, he has rises and falls, he laughs and curses...

His emotions are hollow and never quite land anywhere solid, as if there is always some restless unease, or something else, hidden in the deepest part of his feelings, wanting to touch the ground yet unable to do so.

"Rather interesting."

Yao Lao could not help sighing with feeling.