Different

Different

Xiao Yan's eyelids twitched. "Bone Chilling Flame."

The heat flowing out of Xun Er's body was being absorbed by the Bone Chilling Flame!

The moment he thought of two activated nuclear bombs being placed this close together, Xiao Yan felt his life flickering uncertainly, a revolving lantern flashing in and out inside his head.

All he could say was that in the original work, ignorance really had been fearlessness.

If the two flames truly went berserk, even if only one ten-thousandth of their power leaked out, it would become a Heavenly Flames storm sweeping through the Xiao Clan, scraping a layer off the very ground.

"Still, I suppose I got the answer in a roundabout way."

Touching the Ring through his clothes, Xiao Yan finally had an answer to the question that had plagued him all this time.

How could Yao Lao, a peak Dou Venerate, possibly wake up relying only on his Dou Qi?

If the requirement were really that low, the random junk inside the Naring alone would have been enough to reboot him countless times.

While he was nourishing Xun Er's meridians, the Heavenly Flames energy that invaded her body was drawn away by the Bone Chilling Flame...

And then it startled that old man awake.

That was right. Yao Lao had most likely been forcibly awakened.

After all, Sky Fire, who was also in a soul state, had possessed that level of strength, while after Yao Lao woke up, taking one Fire Lotus had sent him straight back to sleep on the spot.

The gap was far too large.

"Put that way, the three years of being trash in the original work were purely a test, huh?"

Thinking about it, that made sense too.

Yao Lao had the Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid in hand, and his horizons were absurdly high. If Xiao Yan had truly been just an ordinary genius, making up a mere few years of cultivation would have been far too easy.

Compared with talent, it was only natural that Yao Lao, who had been stabbed in the back by Han Feng, would place more importance on character.

"Brother Xiao Yan?"

"Just call me brother. Adding my name makes it sound distant." Xiao Yan collected himself and withdrew his hand. "Do you feel any better now?"

Xun Er's eyes dimmed slightly.

It worked, but it was almost the same as not working... It was only the difference between being fried in hot oil and roasted over a fire, and only that one arm had changed.

She stood up, turned around, and took two steps. "Much better."

"I treated your arm, not your legs." Xiao Yan pinched both her cheeks and tugged them back and forth. "If something feels wrong, tell me honestly. If you keep doing this, I'm not playing with you anymore!"

"Mmfgh mmfgh."

"There are some snacks here. If you get hungry at night, you can make do with them, but you must remember to rinse your mouth."

Xiao Yan nagged on like an old mother. "These three towels are all new. Use them however you like. People here usually use one bath towel from start to finish, so if you want to separate dry and wet towels, say so now, and I'll get another one.

"If you're afraid of the dark, light this lamp. It burns slowly and it's cheap. Other than being a bit dim, everything about it is fine. Light it once and it'll last the whole night. If you're feeling around in the dark in the middle of the night, remember to feel this way. Open the shutter and guide the flame, and you can light the lamp.

"If you want meals outside the regular dining times, it costs extra. If you're willing to spend more, you can get a private kitchen with a cook."

Xun Er listened carefully to every point.

Halfway through, she suddenly raised her hand and interrupted Xiao Yan's rambling. "Then, brother, since so many things cost money, is my stipend enough? And how should I arrange it?"

"Hiss, about that~ Let me take a look..."

As he spoke, Xiao Yan took down the little booklet hanging by the door and flipped through it. "You haven't started cultivating yet, so it should be three... Hm?"

His originally casual gaze suddenly went rigid.

Xiao Yan stared wide-eyed at the number, counting it over one digit at a time. "What the—"

"What's wrong? Is it very little?"

Xun Er suddenly grew a little nervous. Back in the Ancient Clan, when had she ever experienced this feeling?

The dignified eldest Miss of the Ancient Clan was actually worrying about pocket money. Who would believe it if they heard?

"No, no."

Xiao Yan only felt his mouth go a little dry. He was somewhat incoherent, not knowing how to express himself, and could only look at Xun Er with an extremely complicated gaze. "You're the one who should be Father's biological child, aren't you?"

"Huh?"

"The heavens are unfair! Why is your stipend so high?!"

Uh, this...

Xiao Yan left, taking his deeply wounded heart with him.

No need to think about it. He was the adopted one.

Xun Er's monthly stipend alone was already double his, and as for her accommodation fee, with a grand stroke of someone's brush, five months' worth of stipend had been allocated to her.

Wasn't this gap a little too huge?! His share even included a cultivation subsidy, and that made up a full fifty percent!

So he really was the adopted one, huh~ Xun Er sat by the bed and flipped through that little booklet. Written on it were names, room numbers, and the monthly stipend listed after them.

A booklet like this hung in every occupied room, from Xiao Zhan, the clan leader, down to the old man sweeping the front gate. No one escaped it.

The name in the first section of the booklet had been blacked out with ink. All that could be seen was the repeatedly revised stipend, and the sparse expenses listed after it. Averaged out, there were only two or three entries a month. Very frugal.

The lower corner of the second section had been folded. From here onward, it recorded Xiao Yan's daily income and expenses.

Xun Er flipped through it nonstop, finding it quite novel.

She had never seen anything like this in the Ancient Clan. There, whenever she wanted something, she only had to say so, and in less than the time it took to drink a cup of tea, a servant would bring it before her.

"Miss, it's time to sleep." A mass of black mist condensed in the corner of the room.

"Wait a little longer... we don't have anything like this at home." Xun Er was reading intently.

Reading it line by line felt as if she were seeing someone else's life with her own eyes.

Ling Ying sighed. "Miss, the clan actually does have things like this."

"Huh? But I've never seen them!"

Xun Er was instantly astonished. "Or is it that they're usually not shown to others?"

Ling Ying knew he had misspoken. After hesitating for a moment, he continued.

"There is something in the clan called Merit Points. Whenever anyone receives supplies or buys and sells things, they need to rely on them. They can be considered a necessity for distribution within the clan."

"Then what about me...?"

"Miss, you are different."

"How am I different?"

"You are Miss~"

Ling Ying smiled bitterly. "Please do not ask anymore. This old servant can only say this much. If I say any more, I will have to accept punishment."

The hand with which Xun Er held the booklet trembled. "But I'm also Miss here?"

"Here is different... and yet, it is not that different either." Ling Ying sighed deeply.

When he had first discovered this thing just now, he had even flipped through it everywhere, astonished at how little Xiao Zhan's stipend was.

But no matter what, privilege was still privilege.

"Not that... different..." Xun Er continued flipping back. A number much larger than Xiao Yan's was written after her name.

"Ling Ying."

"Miss." Ling Ying lowered his head even further.

"Are we really different?"

"We truly are different. From the moment you were born, you were different... What you carry is the hope of the Ancient Clan. You must ensure that the God Blood is passed down safely, and ensure that our clan's lineage remains unfailing for a hundred generations."

Since he had already spoken, Ling Ying simply went all the way today, throwing caution to the wind. "Although Master sent Miss here, Miss must never forget your own status, nor become content with this sort of life."

"What the Xiao Clan's Third Young Master shoulders is merely a thousand mouths or so. But what Miss must shoulder is the ten billion descendants of the Gu World..."

"This, I,"

Xun Er gripped the booklet. "Then what am I supposed to do?"

"...Cultivate, marry, and bear children." Ling Ying closed his eyes and lowered his head once more, hiding every trace of emotion.

Xiao Zhan was still quite freewheeling as clan leader. Though the elders argued with him nonstop, anything he made a final decision on could basically be carried out, at most earning him a thorough scolding from the three old men.

And he never deliberately covered anything up. He had openly bid for the Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid for Xiao Yan, not fearing gossip at all.

So here, it stated that his own stipend followed the clan rules, but when it came to Xun Er, he handed it out with his eyes closed.