Acting on Impulse

"Xiao Yan, are you really not planning to take the test?"

The First Elder leaned on his redwood cane and turned his head to ask.

"The result will be the same whether I test or not, so why go through the extra trouble..." Xiao Yan gave a helpless, bitter smile.

"Is that so."

The First Elder smoothed his beard and continued watching the crowd bustle about.

Today was another testing day. The doors and windows of the testing room had all been taken down to make it easier to move the Magic Stone Tablet.

The arena in the center of the grounds was being inspected and repaired, with damaged stone slabs pried up and replaced from time to time.

The old man and the youth stood at the edge of the field supervising the work, silent for a long while before exchanging the occasional sentence.

"Not testing is a good thing too."

Who knew what the old man had thought of, but he suddenly sighed with feeling. "It also saves us from that mess of trouble."

Xiao Yan's eyes flickered a few times, but he did not answer rashly.

"Heh heh... since we've already said this much~" The First Elder sighed in amusement. "Fine, fine! In that case, this old man won't ask any further."

Some things were fine to fool outsiders with, or to bluff the younger generation; it could simply be treated as avoiding trouble.

Anyone with even slightly sharper eyes could see the problem.

Someone who could fling a Dou Zhe away with one hand, and you believed he was trash? You might as well believe I was a Dou Sheng.

Batches of medicinal pills had come one after another. It couldn't be that Xiao Zhan had conjured them out of thin air, could it? "Because it would bring disaster."

"Disaster..."

The First Elder, who had not expected any reply, tilted his head and whispered in a low voice, "Jia Ma?"

"No." Xiao Yan's gaze sharpened faintly.

"So that's how it is..."

The First Elder's face remained calm, but the hand resting on his cane kept rubbing against it, his movements growing more and more agitated. "Medicinal pills?"

"I took a master."

"Mm~" The old man nodded heavily, narrowing his eyes out of habit to hide the jumble of thoughts within them.

"Once everything is arranged, I'll set out... of course, there are some matters that need to be resolved first." Xiao Yan kicked a pebble on the ground and turned to leave.

"Do you have any decent suggestions?"

The First Elder tapped his cane twice with two dull thuds, his voice carrying a trace of relief. "Young Clan Leader."

"Suggestions?"

Xiao Yan slowed his steps, turned his head to the side, and thought for a moment. "Of course: people strive upward, while water flows downward!"

The First Elder stood there in silence and gave an almost imperceptible nod.

"First Elder, Third Young Master is...?"

Xiao Yan's words had been a little loud, and everyone present had heard them clearly. The steward took the opportunity to come over and show some concern for the clan leader's son.

"Xiao Yan has given up this test." The First Elder glanced at him, then leaned on his cane and found a chair to sit down. "It's also about time to arrange matters of sending people out."

As he spoke, his gaze settled on the steward and did not leave for a long time.

The other party, however, seemed completely unaware and came closer with a fawning smile. "That doesn't seem too appropriate, does it? No matter how unwilling Xiao Yan is, he can't just miss the test for no reason! But... speaking of being sent out, he is the clan leader's youngest son. Sending him out wouldn't be suitable, would it?"

"Hmph."

The First Elder looked at the steward and gave a cold chuckle, making the latter's heart prickle with unease.

"Counting the time, it should be about when that incident begins."

Carrying the Black Ruler on his back, Xiao Yan wandered through the clan grounds, his thoughts long since drifting far away.

Nalan Yanran.

She could be called a classic early-stage mini-boss. The only person who could make the Flame Emperor swear in his heart to catch up and surpass them was probably her, right? Even that reckless cultivation style in the later parts of the original work owed part of its credit to Nalan.

"Coming to the door for an Annulment of Marriage—how did she even think of that!"

The marriage agreement between the two families had been personally set by the older generation. If it was to be handled, then naturally, it would be best for the elders to come forward and resolve it.

Unfortunately, Xiao Lin had died, and the Xiao Clan had fled in a panic like beaten dogs, relocating—running away—to Wutan City. How would they dare bring up this matter?

Think about it. Xiao Zhan, a Da Dou Shi, traveling thousands of miles to the Imperial Capital just to deal with the marriage agreement...

Putting aside whether those old enemies would kick him while he was down, even the open and hidden mockery alone would be enough to flay Xiao Zhan alive.

Xiao Lin's son led his clan in flight, huddled in a small city with his cultivation stagnated. Knowing his power was meager and his children even less capable of shouldering great responsibility, he could only come in fear and cut off this delusion of climbing onto a higher branch.

Heh heh...

The Xiao Clan, Xiao Lin, and Xiao Zhan would all become infamous clowns in the history books when that time came.

Xiao Yan clenched his fist.

As for the Nalan Family? Nalan Jie had an even more stubborn temper, and he was someone who cared deeply about face and his own reputation, so naturally he would not do such a thing to the family of an old friend.

It was not as if he was especially kindhearted.

It was just that the Xiao Clan had suffered a great disaster and fled far away, and if you, Nalan Jie, hurried to dissolve the engagement right after, the entire Jia Ma Empire would probably laugh at you.

And so the two families remained locked in this stalemate, both silently understanding the situation.

The only victims, instead, became the two of them...

Xiao Yan could roughly guess what the two families were thinking. It was nothing more than shelving it again and again, treating the engagement as a joke, not mentioning it, not pointing it out, and not discussing it.

The Xiao Clan had never come to discuss the marriage. Everyone knew that.

The Nalan Family had never broken the agreement. Everyone had witnessed that too.

All they had to do was wait until time stretched on for ten or twenty years, or even longer, and the engagement would naturally become void on its own.

"A reckless act with neither head nor tail."

Xiao Yan reached his conclusion.

After joining the Misty Cloud Sect, she had outside support that could oppose her family's will, so she followed her own temperament and pursued freedom, leading a squad of lackeys thousands of miles to his door to slap his face.

Yes.

As a Da Dou Shi, Ge Ye could be considered a top-tier expert in Wutan City, but that did not change his essential nature as a minor lackey at all.

The entire time, he listened to Nalan Yanran's arrangements. If she told him to go east, he would not dare go west. If she told him to speak, he would not dare muddle through it.

Throughout the entire Annulment of Marriage, Nalan Yanran was the absolute leader.

And what Xiao Yan and Xiao Zhan faced was the Misty Cloud Sect's Young Sect Master using power to force them, a junior of the Nalan Family publicly slapping their faces, the disdain and disgust of the other party to the engagement, and a genius striking viciously at the scars of a former genius.

On top of that, there was the mockery and ridicule within the clan, and the merciless abandonment and betrayal of the elders and higher-ups...

"Heave-ho~ Guess who I am?"

Xiao Yan's vision fell into darkness, and the waves of thoughts in his mind were instantly cut off.

"What's there to guess? Of course it's the little pig I've carefully fed for ten years." A smile returned to Xiao Yan's face.

"What nonsense are you talking about... You're the pig!"

Xun Er immediately bristled a little, stretching out her foot and angrily tapping the Black Ruler a few times.

"Nonsense?"

Xiao Yan reached out and pinched the soft flesh of her cheek, squeezing, tugging, and rubbing it in circles. "Hiss~ Actually, yeah, after all these years, I still haven't managed to fatten you up. Looks like you still haven't been eating well enough."

"Who wants to get fat?"

Xun Er cried out in annoyance, "It's hard to keep in shape! Brother Xiao Yan, will you only be satisfied if you feed me into a pig?"

"But you've been in poor health since you were little..."

Xiao Yan sighed and placed his palm on her head. "Not only did you eat little, you were a bit picky too. If I didn't take good care of you, who knew what might happen?"

Fortunately.

That pale-faced, frail little girl had grown up healthy in the end.

"Mm." Xun Er pouted and silently rubbed against his hand.