Xiao Yan and Yao Chen

"Miss Nalan, for Old Master Nalan's sake, Xiao Yan has a few words of advice for you: Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river. Never look down on a poor youth!"

Xiao Yan's sonorous, icy words rang through the entire hall. Just like in the original story, he had still spoken those classic words. Xiao Yi Xian watched this momentous drama with great interest.

"Father, three years from now, Yan'er will go to the Misty Cloud Sect and personally wash away today's humiliation for you!" His eyes slightly moist, Xiao Yan heavily kowtowed, then rose straight to his feet and walked toward the entrance without hesitation.

As he passed Nalan Yanran, Xiao Yan paused. His clear yet youthful voice spat out coldly.

"Three years from now, I will come for you!"

The youth's shadow stretched long beneath the sunlight, making him look lonely and desolate.

Xiao Zhan, standing on the platform, felt a headache coming on as he looked at the spectators below. He had opened the Xiao Family gates and allowed people to watch in order to borrow their influence.

Who would have thought they would end up watching such a grand show? Just thinking about it made his head hurt...

Seeing that the farce had ended, Xiao Yi Xian had no interest in witnessing Xiao Xun'er's Golden Emperor Burning Heaven Flame afterward. She carefully followed behind Xiao Yan.

"I, Xiao Yan, do not wish to suffer today's humiliation a second time!" A roar filled with grief and fury came from the distance.

Hearing Xiao Yan's enraged howl, Xiao Yi Xian smiled. With a flash, she appeared before him, blocking him as he suddenly turned around.

The Dou Qi within Xiao Yi Xian's body activated the Sword Box on her back. After a faint tremble, a peculiar pressure spread from her body.

Xiao Yan saw a person in a black robe standing ten zhang away. He felt that this person had definitely come to mock him.

But when he met those eyes beneath the black robe, as deep as an icy pool, Xiao Yan felt as though he had fallen into water and could no longer breathe.

"You..."

Run, run now! Xiao Yan screamed inwardly, but his feet would not move. His entire body felt frozen and numb, and he could not even make a sound.

Is she going to kill me?! Why?

Xiao Yan's eyes nearly split apart. In a blur, a powerful pressure suddenly seemed ready to crush him. As his heart pounded, those icy-pool-like eyes met his at close range. They were so close that he could even see his own pale, twisted face reflected in the fragmented light within them.

The next instant, Xiao Yi Xian, who had been right before him, shattered like a mirror!

Xiao Yan's face turned pale, and he nearly collapsed to the ground. He gasped for breath, the control over his body returning in that instant, as though he had awakened from a dream into reality.

"This junior, Xiao Yi Xian, greets Senior." Her voice was as clear as a mountain spring.

Xiao Yan abruptly looked up and saw that the Black Robe was still standing thirty zhang away, bowing in his direction.

He was utterly baffled by this sight. What did she mean, "Senior"?

The expert who had nearly killed him just now was calling him Senior?

Then, an aged voice suddenly sounded from Xiao Yan's body.

"No need for such courtesy. You little girl have no sense of propriety at all. You really ought to be caught and spanked."

Some people, after living long enough, developed an immortal, sage-like air.

Others became increasingly lecherous the longer they lived.

Looking at the white-haired youth floating out of Xiao Yan's ring, Xiao Yi Xian suddenly felt that the two were not contradictory. The one before her was the perfect example: elegant and otherworldly on the outside, shamelessly disrespectful of his age on the inside.

Don't be fooled by how handsome he looks. Who knew how long he had lived? He was practically a grandfather among grandfathers...

The white-robed youth was observing her as well.

She was only sixteen or seventeen, yet the pressure emanating from her was not the slightest bit weaker than his current one. Although the strength he could currently unleash was only at the Dou Ling level, it was still not something a girl her age should possess.

It felt like all his years of cultivation had gone to the dogs. If he had possessed such talent back then, would he have avoided being driven out of the Yao Clan?

Would he have avoided losing the one he loved?

"Little girl?"

Although Xiao Yan was still confused about what exactly was happening, that did not stop his mind from racing.

Xiao Yi Xian removed her black robe. Strands of purple hair drifted through the air, and her exquisite features and gentle aura—especially that waist—made a flash of amazement appear in Yao Chen's eyes.

Xiao Yan hid behind Yao Chen, staring fixedly at Xiao Yi Xian...

Xiao Yi Xian glanced at Xiao Yan, and an immense pressure instantly descended upon him before vanishing a moment later.

Xiao Yan was so frightened that he hid tightly behind Medicine Elder. The old man grinned, secretly delighted, while Xiao Yi Xian could not help pursing her lips as she interjected, "Young Master Xiao, this is the culprit who absorbed your Dou Qi for three years. Are you sure you still want to hide behind him?"

"What?" Xiao Yan froze.

The old man awkwardly cleared his throat, then glared as he shamelessly accused first, "You little girl are quite unfair. If this old man hadn't acted in time, this boy would have been killed by you!"

Xiao Yi Xian raised her delicate brows slightly and smiled. "I was only scaring Young Master Xiao. What ill intentions could a weak little woman like me possibly have?"

Hearing Xiao Yi Xian's words from behind them, Xiao Yan grew even more disdainful. She had nearly killed him just now, and she still called herself a weak little woman? She hid a blade behind her smile and was up to no good.

This girl was definitely wicked...

"Your pressure has practically reached the level of a Dou Wang, hasn't it?"

Yao Chen smiled as he looked at Xiao Yi Xian, the soul power within him slowly gathering so that he could flee at a moment's notice.

"A Dou Wang?"

Xiao Yan sharply sucked in a breath when he heard Yao Chen's words. This girl, who looked barely older than him, was a legendary Dou Wang expert?

Xiao Yi Xian merely smiled without saying anything. The Sword Box contained the pressure left behind by that Dou Venerate expert. With her current strength, she could only activate it to the Dou Wang realm.

But even the pressure of a Dou Wang was enough to frighten Yao Chen. If she did not say so, who would know that she actually possessed only the strength of a Two-star Fighter?

A trace of curiosity flashed through Yao Chen's eyes. "What would you have done if I hadn't intervened just now?"

"So that's how it was—"

Xiao Yan could not help glancing at Xiao Yi Xian. With the experience of two lifetimes, he understood the sequence of events after only a little thought.

"If Senior hadn't acted, I would have thrown away the ring. Young Master Xiao couldn't have stopped me anyway. As for where I would throw it, that would be anyone's guess." Xiao Yi Xian shrugged calmly.

"With Senior's soul power, returning should not be difficult. If you did not want to return, that would work out as well. Young Master Xiao's talent could naturally recover to how it was before."

"Hehehe, you little girl." The old man laughed teasingly. "If I didn't return, wouldn't this boy have offered up his Dou Qi to this old man for three years for nothing? Aren't you afraid he'll demand compensation from you then?"

"Oh?" Xiao Yi Xian raised a brow and smiled. "Young Master Xiao, you heard him. Ask him for whatever you want. Three years of Dou Qi can't be wasted for nothing."

"..."

The old man slapped his forehead.

That was right. Why throw away the ring? He could just take it off and keep it somewhere. He had been led around in circles.

Though somewhat annoyed, the old man was not angry. Instead, he found this girl clever and eccentric, rather pleasing to the eye.

Sorry, being beautiful meant she could do whatever she wanted.

Thinking this, the old man glanced at the still-dazed Xiao Yan. His expression shifted as he asked with a chuckle, "Boy, do you hate me?"

Xiao Yan's feelings were complicated.

It would be impossible to say that he did not hate him at all. The humiliation he had endured over the past three years remained vivid in his mind, especially the look of relief on Nalan Yanran's face after she severed her relationship with him.

And all of this had been caused by the old man before him. If the fear from that near "pressure" had not lingered, he would probably have flown into a rage the moment the old man revealed his identity.

"I want to become stronger."

As long as you can make me stronger, I will not hate you.

He knew there was no such thing as a free lunch, yet he still asked this mysterious old man for help. He no longer wanted to be useless or be humiliated. He wanted to become stronger—stronger than Nalan Yanran!