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Dou—Ling, Xiao—Xiao.
"Where... am I?"
Lin Hai struggled to sit up and looked around.
It was a magnificent ancient-style hall, yet an oppressive atmosphere hung over it.
His gaze first fell on the seat of honor. A dignified-looking middle-aged man sat there, unable to hide his haggardness. His fists were clenched tight, and the blue energy around him surged violently before he forcibly suppressed it. In the end, he let out a helpless sigh and sank back into his chair.
"Xiao Zhan! Get a grip! Your words and actions represent the entire Xiao Clan!"
"Would you really put the Xiao Clan beyond redemption for your own selfish interests?"
Two sharp, aged voices came from the side, their scolding utterly undisguised.
Xiao Zhan? The Xiao Clan?
Lin Hai's heart lurched. An absurd, preposterous feeling welled up inside him.
Before he could think it through, his gaze was drawn to the center of the hall.
There stood an arrogant old man dressed in a moon-white robe, along with a pretty young woman who now held her chin slightly raised, impatience in her eyes.
Nalan Yanran! Ge Ye!
Fragments of memory pieced together furiously, and a world he had once known intimately came sharply into focus—the Spirit Continent, the Xiao Clan in Wutan City!
And his current identity... was actually a relative of Xiao Zhan's late wife. By seniority, he was the uncle of the future Flame Emperor, Xiao Yan, who would shake the entire continent!
Just then, the old man named Ge Ye took a Storage Ring and produced a jade box glowing faintly green, his tone as if he were bestowing charity. "This is a fourth-grade pill, Qi Gathering Powder. Consider it a small compensation from the Yunlan Sect..."
Boom—!
Before his words had even ended, a terrifying stream of information that could not be resisted exploded deep in Lin Hai's mind, as if some ancient, slumbering will had suddenly awakened.
[Beep! Host detected...] [Heavens Supreme System successfully bound!] [Initial identity confirmed: Xiao Yan's uncle, Lin Hai.] [Congratulations, host. You have obtained your initial cultivation realm: Peak Spirit Saint!] [Newbie gift pack issued: exclusive cultivation art, Nine Nether Flame God Art; spirit technique, Great Heaven Creation Palm]
An indescribable sense of power instantly filled every corner of Lin Hai's body!
It was as if a wave of his hand could collapse mountains and rivers and shatter space.
This sensation of extreme power—or perhaps a brief reality at that moment—was so overwhelming that it even made him feel a little dizzy.
His gaze swept toward the back of the hall. A handsome young man stood there, his face filled with bewilderment and confusion beyond his years, along with a trace of humiliation deeply suppressed within him.
That was the young Xiao Yan, his "nephew."
As for the "Qi Gathering Powder" in Ge Ye's hand, it might have been a rare treasure in the eyes of the surrounding Xiao Clan members. But to Lin Hai, whose perception had now skyrocketed, the energy it contained was pitifully impure, and the faint glow on the pill's surface was downright laughable.
"Just a mere fourth-grade..." A soft snicker, imbued with boundless authority and disdain, rang clearly in everyone's ears.
In an instant, the entire hall fell silent.
Every gaze—including those of Xiao Zhan, the three elders, Ge Ye, Nalan Yanran, and Xiao Yan and Xun Er at the back—focused on the young man leaning against a pillar.
Ge Ye's face darkened at once. The aura of a seven-star Great Spirit Master erupted instinctively, bearing down on Lin Hai like a mountain. "You brat! What did you say?!"
Yet the pressure, enough to make an ordinary Spirit Master collapse, dissolved soundlessly like snow under the blazing sun when it came within three feet of Lin Hai. It couldn't even stir a corner of his clothes.
Lin Hai slowly straightened up.
Ignoring Ge Ye's flushed face, he looked straight at Nalan Yanran, whose expression had shifted, and the corner of his mouth curled into a chilly arc.
"I said, you think you can trample on my... nephew's dignity just by bringing out a little sugar bean like this?"
He deliberately paused slightly on the word "nephew," and clearly saw Xiao Yan's body jolt as an incredulous light burst into his eyes.
"Is the Yunlan Sect," Lin Hai said evenly, though his voice carried a pressure that seemed to come from heaven and earth themselves, "so poor you can barely keep food on the table, or do you think the people of my Xiao Clan... are that easy to brush off?"
"Impudent!" Ge Ye flew into a rage. White spiritual energy surged out of him as he prepared to attack.
"Elder Ge Ye!" Nalan Yanran hurriedly called out to stop him. She had sensed something amiss more keenly than Ge Ye. This young man who had suddenly spoken was far too calm—calm enough to make her uneasy. She took a deep breath, forced herself to steady her nerves, and addressed Lin Hai. "Who are you, sir? This is a matter between the Yunlan Sect and the Xiao Clan..."
"Who am I?" Lin Hai gave a soft laugh and began walking forward.
With each step he took, invisible ripples seemed to spread beneath his feet. The very space in the Xiao Clan's hall appeared to tremble faintly along with his footsteps.
The hanging plaque and the teacups on the table began to emit faint, humming sounds.
The black ring in which Yao Chen was hiding suddenly grew scalding hot!
The aged soul hidden deep within the ring space abruptly opened his eyes. Sensing that pressure—even just a trace of it, yet so terrifying in essence that it made his soul tremble—he cried out in shock, "Th-this is... the aura of a Spirit Saint?! N-no... impossible!! How could there be one in the Gama Empire..."
Xiao Yan shuddered and instinctively gripped the ring tightly.
Xun Er furrowed her brows slightly. A wisp of imperceptible golden flame quietly flowed around her fingertips, and her beautiful eyes filled with suspicion and wariness.
Ge Ye, who bore the brunt of it, felt his surging white spiritual energy seized by an invisible giant hand and crushed apart in an instant!
He grunted and staggered back several steps, the color draining from his face until nothing remained but boundless terror.
Nalan Yanran's face turned deathly pale. Before that invisible aura, she felt as tiny and fragile as a lone boat in a storm.
All her pride, all the support she had relied upon, was utterly crushed in that moment!
Lin Hai walked up to Nalan Yanran and looked down at her. In his deep eyes, stars seemed to perish and the universe to be born anew.
"Go back and tell Yun Shan," he said. His voice was not loud, yet rolled through the dead-silent hall like thunder. "Whether the engagement between Nalan Yanran and my nephew, Xiao Yan, is dissolved—and when it is dissolved—is for my nephew to decide."
"As for your Yunlan Sect..."
The chilly smile on Lin Hai's lips widened, carrying the indifference of someone looking down upon ants.
"Do you think you're so powerful?"
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