Three Years

"Xun Er."

Sitting on the bluestone, Xiao Yan opened his eyes.

"Huh? I got found again..." The crown of the tree rustled a few times, and a flash of green dropped down from among the leaves. "Brother Xiao Yan is so amazing~"

"You were making too much noise."

Xiao Yan tugged at the rod in his hand. "Look, you scared all my fish away!"

"Hmph—"

With a few light hops, Xun Er landed beside Xiao Yan. "Look. Was that loud? Did the fish get scared away? You clearly just didn't catch any. It's like this every day, so you should be used to it by now."

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

Xiao Yan's face flushed red in an instant as he argued with perfect conviction. "How can you call this not catching anything? For cultivators... I'm cultivating. Tempering my mind, understand? I simply don't want to take lives. I'm nurturing a little harmony in my heart!"

"Yes, yes, harmony in your heart~ So one cast of the rod, and you hooked up Cousin's underpants, right?" Xun Er indicated that everything he said was correct.

"What does that have to do with me! You're smearing my innocence out of thin air!"

Xiao Yan cried out loudly, "Xun Er, you know me. I've always been casting from right here!"

Xun Er listened quietly, her eyes brimming with a smile.

"Think about it. I'm so used to this motion that once I sit here and reach out, it just comes naturally! Who knew she'd be so bored as to..."

The more Xiao Yan spoke, the less confident he became, until only a mumbling blur remained.

"Ah, whatever! Anyway, that's what happened!"

I'm a dead pig now. Go on, pour boiling water over me! Scald me all you want. I'm not afraid.

"Bro~ther~ Don't be mad. I was only teasing you." Xun Er inched closer to him.

"Ugh—"

Xiao Yan shuddered violently, stared at Xun Er again and again, and only after a while did he dare confirm that it really was her. "Who on earth did you learn that from!"

"Xiao Mei."

Xun Er suddenly lost her smile, cooling in an instant as if liquid nitrogen had been poured over her.

Her rejection was visible to the naked eye.

But then why had you been imitating Xiao Mei just now?

"By month, you should call her big sister," Xiao Yan said, his head aching a little, not knowing what had happened between the two of them.

"Yes~"

"You don't like her?" Xiao Yan's hand itched again, and he moved the rod, scaring the fish away.

Xun Er glanced at Xiao Yan. "Brother Xiao Yan likes her?"

"Huh? What's there to like or not like? She's my little sister!" Xiao Yan was somewhat baffled. "If I really had to say whether I like her or not, then I like the Xiao Clan."

"You like everyone the same?"

Xun Er narrowed her eyes into a slit. "All to the same degree?"

"Of course!"

Xiao Yan answered as if it were only natural, his tone almost lecturing. "That's called universal love~"

"But some people have spoken badly of you in private."

"Geniuses always have to endure rumors and slander."

"But, but the things they said were awful!" Xun Er's face reddened slightly; she was clearly furious.

"Then, if I got blocked on the street by people from the Gale Family, what would those people who spoke badly of me do?" Xiao Yan had grown a little impatient from waiting, grabbed a handful of bait, and tossed it down.

"They would go help you... and then, then they'd laugh at you!"

"Then isn't that right?"

Xiao Yan reached out and rubbed Xun Er's head. "People feel envy, people get jealous, and people feel unwilling to accept things. That's normal.

"Especially when resources are distributed unevenly. For those already struggling to advance, cultivation becomes even harder. If they fail to pass the Coming of Age Ceremony, they'll even be sent away.

"For those people, that's a blow that determines their lives, burying their futures completely."

Xun Er slowly calmed down and listened quietly to his rambling.

"I'm not surprised there's resentment in their hearts. I'd even be surprised that all they do is simply grumble a bit.

"Let them say it~ That's a right they should have. In the fight over resources, I'm their common opponent. The better I perform, the less they get to eat. If they don't curse me, who will they curse?

"But as long as those negative emotions don't sweep them away, as long as they keep the right stance and can clearly recognize friend from foe, can they really be counted as enemies? They can't.

"In the end, we're still one family, eating from the same pot. Family matters can be fought over within the family, as long as we don't take it outside and embarrass ourselves."

"Brother Xiao Yan..." Xun Er lowered her eyes.

"Mm? What is it?"

Xiao Yan tossed two more handfuls into the water.

"I just felt that you were clearly working so hard, yet they were over there spouting nonsense, openly and secretly slandering you and Uncle Xiao Zhan..."

Xiao Yan's hand trembled around the fishing rod. He coughed dryly a few times to cover his awkwardness. "It's fine—I'm not saying you did anything wrong. It's just that this kind of thing is normal. No matter what you do, you can't completely solve it."

"What makes me angry is that they act one way to your face and another behind your back!"

Xun Er looked as if he had completely missed her point.

"What I want is exactly for them to only dare to play those tricks behind my back," Xiao Yan replied calmly.

"What..."

"That means they really don't dare believe it. They don't dare believe my talent is truly that much higher than theirs."

Xiao Yan lifted the rod. Unsurprisingly, the bait on the hook was gone. "All they can do is cling to it like a life-saving straw, desperately searching, searching for a reason that can put their minds at ease."

"So?"

A strange flicker stirred in Xun Er's eyes.

"So that's their acknowledgment of me, isn't it?" Xiao Yan added more bait and cast the rod again. "Trust me~ when they're out and about, they'll definitely swagger around proudly because the Xiao Clan has me.

"—The deeper the hate, the more intense the love.

"That's just human nature. Xun Er, in the end, you still haven't learned to see past these things. When you grow up, you'll understand..."

"You say that like Brother Xiao Yan is so much older." Though she had listened to every word from start to finish, Xun Er still couldn't help retorting.

"Much older than you imagine, though highly repetitive."

Xiao Yan answered with the air of an old sage.

"The Coming of Age Ceremony is coming soon." After a long silence, Xun Er spoke again.

Of course Xiao Yan knew what she meant.

Xiao Li had told them his decision long ago.

As the second young master of the family, as Xiao Ding's younger brother, he had decided to run away from home and follow Eldest Brother to make something of himself.

"The third young master of the Xiao Clan..." Xiao Yan scattered fish bait as if sighing with emotion.

As their own younger brother, how could he not guess what his two brothers were thinking?

As the eldest young master of the Xiao Clan, Xiao Ding had started too late because of various reasons in his childhood, leaving his cultivation realm far behind. And Xiao Li had been thoroughly outshone by his genius younger brother.

Rather than stay in the Xiao Clan, the two of them might as well take the initiative to step aside, letting the entire Xiao Clan invest its resources into raising this peerless genius without any worries, so he could lead the Xiao Clan back to greatness in the future.

Perhaps even return to the Imperial Capital.

Even without considering that factor, there was also the unique bond between the eldest and second young masters at work.

Xiao Ding was practically half a father to Second Brother. He had raised him from childhood until he was nearly grown, and now he was out there alone, risking his life and struggling for the family. As his younger brother, how could Xiao Li possibly bear to sit by...

"Let's go. We'll see Second Brother."

"Mm."

Actually, the original work couldn't stand up to close thought...

After all, Xiao Zhan's gaze, and even the gaze of the entire Xiao Clan, was fixed on Xiao Yan, making his two older brothers seem like they weren't his biological siblings.

Even when Xiao Yan fell, the elders wanted to support someone else instead of summoning the two of them back.