"Cough, cough!"
Just as Xiao Han and Qinglin were flirting at the door, a cough in an unmistakably youthful voice sounded.
A handsome young man with black hair and black eyes stood at the entrance, looking rather awkward as he faced the oblivious pair.
Good heavens, why was it so bright? How could there be a 40-million-watt lightbulb here?
"So it's Xiao Yan. You've been looking a lot more lively since I last saw you over a month ago."
Smiling, Xiao Han walked over to the young man by the doorframe with Qinglin. "What happened to that 'I'm a useless nobody' look you had before?"
"Xiao Han, let's not bring up what a mess I was a month ago."
Xiao Yan rubbed his nose with an awkward smile, then looked at the long sword strapped to Xiao Han's back. "I heard you went out to train. Did you gain anything?"
"Heh, that's a long story. Let's go inside and talk, brother."
Xiao Han draped an arm over Xiao Yan's shoulder and led him into his own Separate Courtyard. Just as they stepped inside, he paused and turned to Qinglin. "Qinglin, go get us some snacks and desserts. Your young master's a little hungry."
"Right away, Young Master."
At Xiao Han's instruction, Qinglin happily ran off toward the Xiao Family Market, planning to buy a little of everything from the food stalls that had recently arrived with the merchants for her young master to try.
Once they were in the courtyard, the two brothers sat down at the stone table.
"Long time no see, Xiao Han~"
Just as Xiao Han was about to speak, Old Man Yao suddenly emerged from Xiao Yan's ring, startling him.
Pfft—!!!
"L-Lord Teacher! Why did you suddenly come out?"
Xiao Han stared at Old Man Yao in shock. Xiao Yan was right there, after all. But when he saw Xiao Yan's perfectly calm expression, he immediately understood.
"You already told him about absorbing Xiao Yan's Third Stage Dou Disciple cultivation?"
"That's not all."
Xiao Yan smiled indifferently. "These past few days, when Father came to submit the ingredients for alchemy, Teacher possessed me to keep himself hidden from him."
"Xiao Han—no, should I call you senior brother?"
"So Teacher took you on as a disciple too."
Xiao Han sighed. "You lost your Dou Qi and spent over two years as a useless nobody. Now that your talent has returned, how does it feel?"
"What's lost is lost. There's no point holding a grudge against Teacher, no matter how much I resent him. I might as well look to the future.
"Besides, as Teacher said, those two-plus years did temper my character. I also came to see some things more clearly. For instance, the people who still treated me the same when I was down were the ones who truly cared about me—the ones I should cherish." Xiao Yan glanced at Xiao Han, then continued sharing his thoughts.
"But I don't want to pursue the people who bullied me, either. Looking back, I really was obnoxious two years ago. I offended so many people, so I can only blame myself for getting beaten and scolded after I fell on hard times."
Xiao Yan shook his head. The bitter, resentful expression he'd worn for so long was gone, replaced by the youthful vigor of a boy his age.
"Having this kind of attitude shows that you really have grown over the past two years."
Xiao Han brought out a pot of tea and poured a cup for each of them.
"Xiao Han, you came from that place too, didn't you?"
Xiao Han wasn't surprised. He smiled at Xiao Yan. "You figured it out?"
"Yeah. I knew from watching all the things you've done. Whether it was toothbrushes and toothpaste or anything else, they were all things I remembered from another world."
Xiao Yan took the tea from Xiao Han, rubbing his fingers lightly against the cup as if lost in thought. Then he continued, "Unlike you, who can make good use of the knowledge from that place, I think I only know I came from there because I watched those completely different memories.
"But all these years, I've never once tried to explore those things on my own. It's as if those memories don't belong to me. When I experienced them, I knew them as an 'outsider,' or maybe a 'viewer,' rather than someone who'd lived through them."
"I see."
Xiao Han finally understood something from what Xiao Yan had said.
Why was it that Xiao Yan, despite being a transmigrator, showed none of the traits of someone from Earth in the original story? All these years, the only things he remembered were that he came from Earth and, while riding a Flying Magical Beast, the idea of airplanes.
It turned out he hadn't been a transmigrator reincarnated on the Douqi Continent. Instead, the remnant soul of a native had fused with that of a transmigrator, allowing him to acquire the transmigrator's memories like watching a movie. Since he'd watched those memories from childhood, Xiao Yan had always firmly believed himself to be a transmigrator.
But when all was said and done, he was merely a native who'd acquired the memories of someone from Earth.
Xiao Han looked at the soul behind Xiao Yan and chuckled. "Teacher, why haven't you said a word since you came out? Eavesdropping on other people's private conversations isn't very nice."
"I was letting you two brothers catch up, wasn't I? Besides, I'm listening openly."
Old Man Yao didn't seem embarrassed when Xiao Han called him out. He simply floated over beside them and looked them over in amazement. "I'd imagined countless reasons why a little family like the Xiao Family could produce two geniuses with such powerful Soul Power, but I never expected you both to be from beyond this world.
"The Great Thousand World truly is full of wonders."
"Forgive me for making you marvel, Teacher."
Xiao Han stood and cupped his hands toward Old Man Yao. "Teacher, I've broken through to become a Second Grade Alchemist on this trip. I've come back to ask you to guide me in my knowledge of alchemy."
"What? You're already a Second Grade Alchemist?! Good! Good! Good!"
Old Man Yao happily stroked his beard, then turned to Xiao Yan. "Yan'er, you're only at the Third Stage Dou Disciple level. You're not qualified to practice alchemy or cultivate techniques yet.
"Go train in the room your senior brother usually uses. I'll get you some Spiritual Medicine to speed up your cultivation at the Dou Qi stage!"
"Teacher, didn't you say that cultivating at the early Dou Qi stages has to be done gradually, and that we can't rely on outside help at all? Otherwise, as the Dou Qi in the body grows stronger, the meridians won't be able to withstand the increasingly powerful surges of Dou Qi, and they'll eventually rupture, leaving the person dead.
"So why can we use medicinal power to boost my Dou Qi cultivation now?" Xiao Yan's eyes widened, disbelief filling his youthful face.
"Heh, you don't understand? You've been repeatedly cultivating Dou Qi all these years. I absorbed it all, but that doesn't mean your efforts were wasted.
"Your meridians have been tempered over and over, so your foundation is stronger than your senior brother's—even though he deliberately worked to strengthen his own. Besides, do you know who your teacher is? I can make things other people can't!"
"Han'er, prepare three whole stalks of Purple Leaf Orchid Grass. The older, the better. Also, two Bone Washing Flowers. Their age doesn't matter. Oh, and a first-grade wood-type Magic Core. With your means, that'll be a drop in the bucket.
"I'll teach you to refine the Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid, which is quite difficult to make even among Two-Grade Pills. It's a secret formula that can increase the speed of Dou Qi cultivation. Yan'er, you come watch your senior brother refine it too."
Having found his teacherly groove again with the Xiao brothers, Old Man Yao launched into a stream of instructions.
"Um, well..."
Xiao Yan raised a hesitant hand, looking a little embarrassed. "Teacher, I can afford the ingredients you just mentioned. There's no need to trouble Xiao Han, is there?"
"Xiao Han? Show some respect. You should call him senior brother."
Old Man Yao glared at Xiao Yan, then shook his head helplessly. "Do you think I don't know how much money you have? How many ingredients can you buy with the thousand-odd Gold Coins you scraped together by living frugally?
"Your senior brother is a Second Grade Alchemist now. He'll support you, so you can use the best cultivation resources. There's nothing shameful about that."
"Hey, hey, hey, Teacher! Be careful with the word 'support'!"
Xiao Han quickly corrected Old Man Yao, then looked at Xiao Yan. "Calling me senior brother feels weird. Just call me Brother Han like you used to."
"Fine."
Xiao Yan nodded resignedly. "Brother Han it is. I really can't bring myself to call you senior brother."
"You two..."
Watching the brothers interact, Old Man Yao couldn't help smiling. These days felt just like the adventures he'd once shared with that kid Feng Xian. They really brought back memories.
Creak—
"Young Master Xiao Han, Young Master Xiao Yan, I'm back with loads of delicious food!"
At the sound of Qinglin's voice, Xiao Han turned around. She was walking toward them with bags upon bags of snacks wrapped in oiled paper. He took them from her and waved her over to sit. "Come on, let's all eat. I've heard the city has all sorts of new local snacks."
The three of them devoured the food, and before long, it was all gone. Poor Old Man Yao could only look on longingly. With no body of his own, he couldn't eat, so he shut himself away in Xiao Yan's ring rather than torture himself.
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