Xun Er

Xun Er. The moment Gu Yuan thought of that descendant of the Xiao Clan being of the same generation as him from now on, his head began to ache.

How many layers of seniority had this thrown into chaos?

When he met Xiao Xuan in the future, would he have to call him Old Ancestor too? Was he his own ancestor? "Uncle Xiao Zhan..." Xun Er murmured softly, not liking the title very much, resisting it by instinct.

She did not like strangers.

"Come on. From now on, you'll be living here."

Gu Yuan tugged her hand, the exhaustion in his eyes even heavier, looking as though he might collapse and fall asleep at any moment. "I need to get this arranged quickly. No time to waste."

"Oh..."

Xun Er fell silent, and only after a long while did she answer reluctantly.

"Relax. Ling Ying will stay by your side," Gu Yuan said, rubbing her head in comfort. "If there's anything you want to say, or anything you want to do, you can tell him."

Stay calm, stay calm... mmph!

Beneath the waterfall, Xiao Yan gritted it out against the scouring rush of water, struggling to endure.

For him, the hardest part was not withstanding the current, but rapidly shifting the circulation of his Dou Qi according to the waves.

Relying solely on the controllability of fourth-stage Dou Qi, he could not hold on for more than a few times before he fell out of rhythm. He could only grit his teeth and use his body to endure for a while, waiting until he could regroup.

"It's not just compressing my muscles... cough, cough, my lungs hurt so much!"

The force of the water's impact pierced straight into his heart and lungs, hammering Xiao Yan's organs like heavy punches, even harder to defend against than the pressure on the surface of his body.

After all, even if you wrapped your organs in Dou Qi, you still had to face the vibrations being conducted into your body. It was not as if you could wrap your heart and lungs three layers inside and three layers outside, right? Did you not want to live?

Every breath was broken apart by drum-like vibrations, and even the surging of his blood had become chaotic. Everywhere in his body, swelling pain from blocked blood flow began to appear.

"No good. I can't breathe properly... My head's getting dizzier."

Xiao Yan clenched his teeth hard, but he was still bent down by the pressure, almost pressed flat against the bluestone. If not for the Dou Qi still flowing over his body, he would truly have looked like a corpse slapped dead against the rock.

Right now, he could not breathe at all!

The Dou Qi bracing his back did not dare move in the slightest. His body was already exhausted to the extreme. Once he collapsed and his breath withdrew the Dou Qi, he would not last even half a second.

Breathing...

His lips parted slightly, drawing in faint currents of air, but it was no use at all. The depths of his lungs still could not exchange for fresh air.

Dark, glowing rings had already begun to appear before his eyes, and the circulation of his Dou Qi had begun to weaken uncontrollably.

"Dou Qi, right, Dou Qi!"

Xiao Yan suddenly had a new idea.

At the Dou Qi stage, there were no Qi Methods, and control was also extremely low. The Meridians were even fragile, so circulation basically just wandered back and forth through the surface areas that needed strengthening, slow in speed and touching in its lack of precision.

But there was a ready-made high-speed channel inside the body!

Blood circulation.

Xiao Yan lowered himself a little more, braced both hands against the bluestone, and withdrew his Dou Qi. More than a hundred kilograms of crushing pressure slammed instantly onto his spine, almost crushing him completely.

The heart!

The Dou Qi was poured all at once into his heart, then pumped out together with his blood. In moments, a warm current spread through his entire body, then gathered again and gradually returned.

"It really works!"

Every pump of his Dou Qi-strengthened heart was like an eruption, constantly growing stronger as the circulation deepened until it reached its peak.

The surging blood, guided by the Dou Qi, resisted the crushing pressure, while also carrying Dou Qi through the tiny blood vessels to temper his body. Some of it dispersed out of his body, while some followed the blood back.

And an extremely small amount merged into his flesh and blood.

Aside from circulating Dou Qi, there was still breathing to solve.

Supported by the circulation, Xiao Yan slowly straightened his posture and sat cross-legged, adjusting his organs in rhythm with his heartbeat.

The organs covered in blood vessels suddenly became the part Xiao Yan could control with the greatest precision, and his control over his torso clearly surpassed his limbs.

—Though this bit of control could only be called better than nothing.

"Whew~"

Along with the adjustments of his muscles and organs, his originally heavy breathing suddenly became light, soft, and long, growing steadier and steadier through his stumbling attempts.

Buzz...

It was like a sound coming from the depths of his mind. In an instant, it drowned out all external sights and sounds, as though he had sunk into deep, still water, cutting off all interference. His consciousness only drifted quietly on the surface.

Everything within his body became a little clearer, and even his Dou Qi seemed, in a daze, to have a "shape."

His mind was clear and empty, his body entrusted to his heart.

As the roar receded into the distance, the things outside his body gradually returned to his perception as well.

"What happened just now?"

Xiao Yan only felt that his focus had reached a level he had never experienced before, and his perception had grown far sharper than before. The instant the water touched his skin, he knew the strength of the current, enough for him to handle the waterfall's impact with ease.

"Xiao Clan Leader, the Xiao Clan has a Golden Scale hidden within it."

In the Xiao Clan's Main Hall, Gu Yuan suddenly said something that seemed to come out of nowhere.

"Ah? You flatter us, you flatter us. We're merely a small clan in a remote place. How could we possibly have any Golden Scale hidden among us?"

Xiao Zhan, who was still pondering the purpose of the other party's visit, could only swallow back the words already on the tip of his tongue and offer a few polite replies first.

"Heh."

Gu Yuan laughed despite himself, pinching the empty teacup and rubbing it without stopping. The Maid at the side, ready to refill it, was a little at a loss and could only wait there with an innocent look on her face.

"Sir?"

Xiao Zhan called softly.

"Oh... it's nothing. I was merely reminded of an old friend." Gu Yuan set down the teacup, took Xun Er's hand, and led her in front of Xiao Zhan.

Golden Scale, reminded of an old friend... He was probably seeing the shadow of that old friend in some child.

Xiao Zhan had a rough idea in his heart. He then pointed at Xun Er and asked, "What do you mean by this?"

"This child—I wish to have her fostered in your Xiao Clan."

Gu Yuan stroked Xun Er's hair and dropped another bombshell. "From now on, she will change her surname to Xiao and live on as a junior of the Xiao Clan."

"That absolutely won't do!"

Xiao Zhan instantly rose to his feet and refused again and again. "If you need my Xiao Clan's help, sir, you can simply say so. Why go this far?"

Not calling it a small clan in a remote place now? Gu Yuan neither agreed nor disagreed.

He knew exactly what Xiao Zhan was thinking. It was nothing more than fear that the enemies of him, this "mysterious person," would come knocking and drag the entire Xiao Clan into it.

After all, no matter how one looked at him in his current state, he seemed like someone who had been hunted all the way here and had come to entrust his orphan to them.

Taking ten thousand steps back, even if he, Gu Yuan, truly did have deep ties with the Xiao Clan's predecessors, Xiao Lin was already dead now, the Xiao Clan had relocated, and who would recognize who you were? Our temple is small; it cannot house a great Buddha like you.

"Xiao Clan Leader, there is no need to worry. The ancestors of the Xiao Clan were my beloved friends and sworn brothers. How could I trick the clan of my brothers?"

Gu Yuan stood and shook out his robe. "With my daughter fostered here, I naturally won't accept food, drink, and care for nothing. This Qi Gathering Powder will serve as repayment."

As soon as he finished speaking, a pill wreathed in a thin mist hovered before Xiao Zhan.

After he accepted it and raised his head again, only he and Xun Er were left in the Main Hall.

Xiao Zhan: ...

Damn it, who the hell would dare use this Qi Gathering Powder?

Better leave it for your daughter. My Xiao Clan has a big enough household and estate; we'll just treat it as raising one freeloader.

I'm actually quite curious whether the Ancient Clan discovered Yao Lao's existence at the beginning.