Xiao Yan

"Xiao Yan, Soul Power, level three!"

The crystal ball before him glowed faintly, and the boy stared at it without expression.

Beside the crystal ball, a middle-aged man in elaborate robes, with a thick beard, announced without expression.

"Level three? My ears aren't playing tricks on me, are they? That Xiao Yan only has level-three Soul Power?"

"Hahahaha! The Xiao Clan really has fallen. Their so-called genius is only this good?"

"Hey, this good-for-nothing once swore he'd take that recommendation letter to Shrek Academy from young master Xiao Yulü and enroll. What happened? He's not even a Soul Master now, let alone a great Soul Master. He's actually fallen to level-three Soul Power?"

"He's brought shame on the Xiao Clan!"

A tide of snickering mockery rippled around him. The black-haired boy lowered his hand and started to leave the square, but then he stopped.

"Heh, Xiao Yan. You're just going to walk away like that?"

Xiao Yan raised his head and saw a man in fine clothes, grinning with utter arrogance, blocking his path.

Xiao Yulü.

The brightest rising star among the younger generation of the Xiao Clan proper, hailed as a blazing sun destined to rise.

At the same time, he was Xiao Yan's rival—or rather, had once been his rival.

"So it's you, Xiao Yulü."

"What do you want?"

Xiao Yan lifted his chin. The boy's tone was flat, almost indifferent.

"What do I want? Of course I want something!"

Xiao Yulü stepped forward, nearly pointing at Xiao Yan's nose.

"Three years ago, when your Martial Soul awakened, it wasn't the Heavy Profound Ruler of our Xiao Clan, but you still possessed the most astonishing Innate Full Soul Power the clan had ever seen!"

"I, Xiao Yulü, stood before every clan member and said you were the role model I'd spend my life striving to catch up with!"

His voice rose sharply, drowning out the clamor around them.

"But what about now?"

"Three years! Three whole years! Your Soul Power hasn't advanced—it's fallen, all the way from a level-ten Soul Master to level three!"

"What happened to your Hundred-Year Soul Ring? What happened to your first Soul Skill? And that damn egg of yours—how much longer is it going to stay dormant?"

Xiao Yulü's voice boomed so loudly that the entire square seemed to fall silent. It was as if his furious accusations were the only sounds left between heaven and earth.

Xiao Yan's expression stiffened. He was about to retort, but Xiao Yulü's face had already darkened.

Yet before Xiao Yan could speak, Xiao Yulü's expression shifted abruptly. His rage gave way to a sorrowful, self-mocking smile.

"Xiao Yan, I respected you, so I waited for you."

"You said your Martial Soul was flawed and you couldn't break through yet. Fine. I, Xiao Yulü, wouldn't break through either. I'd stay at level ten with you!"

"You said you couldn't obtain a Second Soul Ring. Fine. I, Xiao Yulü, would use just one Soul Ring and wait for you to catch up!"

"I waited for you for three years!"

"How many years does a Soul Master's golden cultivation period even last? We've already wasted too much time!"

"I can't wait any longer!"

Xiao Yulü spun around, turning his back on Xiao Yan. His voice was resolute.

"Three days from now, I'll have the clan elders arrange a match. Just you and me."

"The winner will receive a recommendation letter to Shrek Academy. I'm sure that even if your Soul Power can't advance by a single inch, you still know what kind of place that is."

"The most prestigious academy on the entire continent, where monsters are cultivated."

"Xiao Yan, I hope you'll fight me fairly and honorably."

Xiao Yan watched him walk away. The smile at the corner of his mouth slowly faded until his face settled back into its usual blank, dead-fish stare.

Heh, three years?

So it had been three years since his Martial Soul awakened.

Nine years ago, Xiao Yan had been an ordinary student in Huaxia before he was suddenly transported to this world.

His name in his previous life had been Xiao Yan. By some stroke of luck, he'd been named Xiao Yan in this life too. Back then, he'd thought he was sure to make a name for himself in this world.

Just look at the Flame Emperor, Xiao Yan—how mighty was the Endless Fire Domain? He was called Xiao Yan too, so surely he wouldn't do badly.

Sure enough, when he was six, a Soul Master from the Xiao Clan proper came to Xiao Family Village to awaken the children's Martial Souls.

When his turn came, the spectacle was unprecedented. Intense fire-elemental energy gathered, the temperature rose sharply, and the crystal ball used to test Soul Power blazed with light.

The strange phenomenon left everyone exclaiming that this child was surely no ordinary talent.

But he hadn't awakened the Heavy Profound Ruler, the Xiao Clan's hereditary Martial Soul. Instead, he had awakened an egg patterned with red clouds.

Innate level-ten Full Soul Power, yet he'd awakened an egg?

Everyone was stunned. Everyone fell silent.

Xiao Yan still remembered how complicated the Xiao Clan elder's gaze had been.

Delight, excitement, elation—then disappointment and pity.

"Ah, what a talent Innate Full Soul Power is!"

The elder trembled. The Xiao branch hadn't produced a genius with the clan's own Martial Soul in a long time. And now, even this genius with Innate Full Soul Power had awakened a different Martial Soul, not the Heavy Profound Ruler of the Xiao Clan, with its exceptional potential and well-established methods of cultivation.

What a pity. What a pity indeed.

Xiao Yan knew he'd disappointed the elder, but a Martial Soul was something one was born with. He couldn't choose what he awakened.

Still, deep down, he sensed that his Martial Soul was alive. It couldn't possibly be defective.

After that, the elder took him into the forest to hunt a Soul Beast, and he obtained a top-quality Hundred-Year Soul Ring.

On the way back, Xiao Yan asked the elder whether, even if he cultivated hard, he'd still have no way to bring the Xiao Clan back into the Xiao Clan's circle of power.

The elder replied that as long as he worked hard and cultivated diligently, then even if he never became part of the Xiao Clan's inner circle or restored glory to the Xiao branch, he could at least become a formidable expert in his own right.

Xiao Yan had believed those words and had cultivated diligently ever since.

Yet his Soul Power hadn't advanced by a single inch!

Not only that, no matter how hard he cultivated, Xiao Yan's Soul Power didn't rise at all. It actually began to drop, level by level!

Level one, level two, level three!

From level-ten Innate Full Soul Power, from a Soul Master with a Hundred-Year Soul Ring, he'd begun to fall!

His Soul Ring disappeared, his Soul Power plummeted, and now he'd fallen to level three!

Everyone thought the Xiao Clan's genius had fallen before he could even rise.

It wasn't the clan's own Martial Soul. Even if it was mutated, it was still flawed.

But Xiao Yan knew that his Soul Power hadn't disappeared at all.

Hadn't the novels from his previous life described similar situations? Usually, there'd be some old man or something else constantly draining the protagonist's blood.

As long as he held on and let that thing finish developing, it would become a great help to the protagonist.

Wasn't Elder Yao, the old man inside the Flame Emperor's ring, exactly that kind of existence?

So ever since the day he obtained his Soul Ring, he'd cultivated relentlessly, day and night without pause.

The Soul Power he absorbed from heaven and earth was constantly being drawn into his Martial Soul after it entered his body.

And that Red Cloud Egg grew more and more vibrant with each day of nourishment from his Soul Power.

By now, he could hear a thumping sound coming from inside the egg.

Xiao Yan knew—

This black hole that had devoured three whole years of his Soul Power had finally filled up.

"Buzz—"

A force so scorching it could almost melt his soul surged wildly through the crack in the eggshell!

Xiao Yan's fist, hanging at his side, clenched abruptly.

The moment to break free from the cocoon had come!