Check Her Body

"This way's the medicine room. Once you start cultivating later, you'll be coming here a lot more often."

Xiao Yan led the way with a blade of grass in his mouth, taking Xun Er around the rather spacious residence.

The Xiao Clan compound had been built with plenty of extra room from the start, so there would be enough places to live when the family grew more prosperous in the future. Right now, with few people around, the whole complex seemed rather deserted, and there were quite a few paths no one walked.

"Cultivating..." Xun Er took a long look at the medicine room, the look in her eyes impossible to read—yearning, or something more complicated.

"What's wrong?"

Xiao Yan walked a few steps before realizing she had not followed. He turned around, clasped his hands behind his head, and walked backward. "If you want to cultivate, I can teach you! I've only been cultivating for less than two years, but I should be good enough to be your Teacher."

It would not work.

Before she had even begun cultivating, the flames were already this tormenting. If she had Dou Qi to replenish them too, how bad would it become? She could only wait quietly for her body to mature and her Meridians to become strong enough before she could begin cultivating.

Xun Er shook her head without answering and casually changed the subject. "Just now... is uncle usually like that?"

"Hah, him? That's just the kind of person he is. You'll get used to it!"

Xiao Yan pointed over his shoulder with his thumb. "Those couple of hits didn't hurt or itch at all. He was just messing around. You don't have to worry too much either—Father would never lay a hand on you."

"No, I mean... I got you scolded." Xun Er twisted her fingers together, not knowing how to say it.

"Why bring that up?"

Xiao Yan reached out and poked her forehead with a finger. "We're family now. A little sister cries, and her big brother gets beaten—isn't that perfectly normal? My Second Brother never got to enjoy treatment like this... sigh!"

He regretted it. Why had he acted so obedient back then?

Even if he cried his eyes out now, he would not get the chance to watch the show anymore.

"Second Brother?" Xun Er rubbed her forehead. "Oh, right. You're the Third Young Master."

"You won't be seeing Eldest Brother for the time being. After the Coming of Age Ceremony, he ran off to become a mercenary. As for Second Brother, he's probably still cultivating at the Martial Training Field right now—he's probably about to break through to the sixth stage. Lately, he's been eating and sleeping at the Martial Training Field and won't come out no matter how anyone calls him."

"Then are they..."

"They're very gentle people too. You'll understand once you meet them."

"Surrender! Hand over everything in the back, and we'll consider letting you leave."

Amid endless yellow sand, a convoy escorting goods had fallen into an encirclement.

The bandits blocking the road were led by a Dou Zhe. The Dou Qi radiating from him stood out clearly among the crowd, and his star level probably was not low.

"What do we do?"

The middle-aged man wearing an eyepatch looked extremely flustered as he grabbed the young man beside him and asked, "In this situation, what should we do?"

That panicked, desperate look made it abundantly clear he was a coward.

"Hey, that One-Eyed Dragon over there! Looks like you've been scared stupid, actually asking some green kid for help. Don't you have anyone under you?" The Dou Zhe leading the group grinned and mocked him, making his men break into jeers.

The escort team looked as though they wanted to fight back but lacked the strength. Not daring to retort, they could only stand there with frustrated expressions.

"What else can we do? They're so much stronger than us. Boss, I think we should just surrender... Have everyone take out the money they're carrying as tribute too, so at least our lives will be safe." The young man looked helpless.

"Sigh... I suppose that's all we can do."

The middle-aged man waved a hand. "Push one cart out first and let the bosses inspect the goods."

"Mm." The young man nodded.

"Hmph, at least you know what's good for you!"

The Dou Zhe leading them seemed to be fire-attributed. Before stepping forward to lift the cloth, he gave a demonstrative wave of his hand. A scorching aura swept past the young man's face, scaring him so badly that he jerked back.

"You coward!" The Dou Zhe sneered without end.

"Mm, yes. You're absolutely right." Unexpectedly, the young man actually nodded. Then his hand yanked hard, and he turned and ran.

Hiss...

A faint sound came from beneath the curtain.

Not good, it's a trap! Boom—

A scorched figure flew backward.

"Gentle people, huh." Xun Er blinked, and a trace of anticipation rose in her heart.

Compared to those strange, cold relationships back at home, she much preferred the atmosphere of the Xiao Clan.

"All right, that's basically the whole tour."

Xiao Yan quickly walked into the pavilion and sat down, patting the bench. "Let's rest here for a bit. While we're at it, let me take a look at your condition."

"Check my body?" Xun Er tilted her head.

"Right, let me check your body... cough, cough."

Xiao Yan was a little embarrassed. "Who knows? Maybe I'll have a way to solve your problem."

Useless...

Whenever her physical condition came up, Xun Er's mood sank a little.

Her father had mentioned it before—the flame would hurt anyone who tried to help her... It could even leave permanent wounds.

"You really don't have to. I can endure it myself."

"Your hand."

"You'll get burned!"

"Just give me your hand." Xiao Yan grabbed Xun Er's wrist, drew out the Dou Qi inside his body, and sent it coursing through his body along his blood vessels. "Leave the rest to me."

As he spoke, the Dou Qi, split into threadlike strands by the tiny blood vessels, seeped into Xun Er's arm.

The still-thin Dou Qi was rapidly consumed the moment it entered her body. It was like pushing through rock and earth; every inch forward was unbearably difficult.

In just a few breaths, Xiao Yan clearly felt hollow.

It was different from the consumption he felt during past cultivation. This time, it felt more like a true "loss."

What a strange feeling...

It was as if a silkworm cocoon were being emptied bit by bit as its threads were drawn away, leaving only a hollow frame still running.

In the past, though there had been consumption, the Dou Qi circulating inside his body had still been a whole, like a water channel that kept cycling even as the amount of water steadily decreased.

But this kind of pure, one-directional expenditure gave him an even stronger feeling that he could not keep it up, like exhaling—the further it went, the more painful it became.

And the problem Xiao Yan encountered was not limited to that.

A burning sensation slowly appeared in the center of his palm. At first it was not very obvious, but as he continued pouring in Dou Qi, that burning sensation began to spread and intensify.

It was as if he were wrapped in steam rising from boiling water, or as if the tip of a flame were licking at him.

"Brother Xiao Yan!"

Xun Er cried out urgently, grabbing Xiao Yan's wrist as she tried to pull free.

She could clearly feel that the flame had grown restless. The heat flow had been startled by the Dou Qi, and like it was defending its own territory, it kept pouring toward her arm.

"Don't move around. It's fine."

Instead, Xiao Yan tightened his grip a little. "Trust my judgment~"

This was not him trying to show off. Though the heat flow spreading along her arm was obvious, it had not caused any actual harm.

If he had not known what was hidden inside Xun Er's body, he might have thought this was a normal reaction to sending out Dou Qi.

And there was another reason he chose to continue.

Xiao Yan touched his chest.

The ring against his skin was slightly cool. Aside from that, there seemed to be nothing special about it.

But under his soul's vision, the heat flow spreading through his arm seemed to have been guided, following the Dou Qi in his blood vessels to his chest before vanishing into thin air.

I never believed that a Dou Venerate could wake up just by absorbing Dou Qi.

Unless you tell me this is a device booting up on 0.01% battery.