The Martial Arts Arena's Shocking Change, the Youngster Hides His Edge

When the bronze bell of the Xiao Clan's training grounds tolled, Xiao Feng was following Xiao Zhan through the moon gate. The morning light swept across his deliberately lowered brow, hiding the sharpness in his eyes within the shadows. On the stone platform in the center of the grounds, the Third Elder, Xiao Lei, was stroking his goatee while lecturing. Over twenty children stood in formation; Xiao Yan stood at the head of the line, standing on tiptoe to wave at him.

"Don't be nervous later," Xiao Zhan whispered, his palm pressing onto his shoulder. "Just show the level of your Dou Qi condensation; do not force yourself."

Xiao Feng lowered his eyes in agreement, though his peripheral vision swept across the shadows in the corner of the training grounds. There was a faint scent of rotting grass there, mixed with a lingering, icy chill characteristic of the Soul Clan—the black-robed figure from last night had indeed returned.

"Third son, Xiao Feng; fifth son, Xiao Yan, step forward for testing!"

The Third Elder's voice interrupted his thoughts. Xiao Yan hopped forward, pale cyan Dou Qi lighting up his palms as nine rays of light rippled outward. The watching elders exclaimed in admiration, and a smile tugged at the corners of Xiao Zhan's mouth. However, when Xiao Feng stepped forward slowly, only three faint wisps of light emerged from his palms.

"A three-star Dou Practitioner?" The Great Elder's hand, which had been stroking his beard, froze. "A five-year-old child should still be in the Dou Qi stage. This progress of yours..."

"Replying to the Great Elder, this nephew is dull-witted; I only just broke through recently." Xiao Feng lowered his head, feigning trepidation, while his peripheral vision caught Xiao Yan staring at him in confusion. The system notification rang in his sea of consciousness:

Ding! Special area of the training grounds detected. Triggering check-in function. Obtained Xuan-tier intermediate Dou Technique: Wind Blade Technique.

"Since that is the case, let us test your combat ability." The Second Elder, Xiao Lie, waved his hand, and two youths were called onto the arena. Xiao Feng raised his eyes to meet the provocative gaze of his opponent, Xiao Lin—a collateral branch descendant, sixteen years old, a four-star Dou Practitioner.

"Be careful, Third Brother." Xiao Lin flexed his wrists, his joints popping. Earth-yellow Dou Qi surged in his palms, the opening stance of the Huang-tier advanced Dou Technique, Rock Fist.

Xiao Feng took a half-step back, his toes tapping lightly against the ground. The Snow-Treading Trace-less in his system space activated automatically; his figure suddenly blurred, sweeping across the arena like an afterimage. Xiao Lin's punch struck empty air. When he turned, he saw Xiao Feng standing three paces away, pale cyan wind blades condensing at his fingertips—the very technique he had just acquired.

"Wind-attribute Dou Qi?" the Third Elder exclaimed. Most members of the Xiao Clan cultivated fire-attribute techniques; wind-attribute was extremely rare. Xiao Feng kept his edge hidden; as the wind blade was about to strike his opponent, he shifted it by an inch, grazing Xiao Lin's ear and slicing off a few strands of hair.

"I concede," he said, cupping his hands in a salute, his breathing as steady as before. Xiao Lin's face flushed red; he opened his mouth but found nothing to say. The opponent had clearly only used the strength of a three-star Dou Practitioner, yet had precisely suppressed his four-star Dou Qi.

Xiao Zhan's gaze darkened. He could clearly feel that the power contained in that wind blade was far beyond the three-star level, but looking at his son's lowered eyes, he ultimately did not press the issue. A commotion suddenly erupted in the training grounds as Xiao Yan leaped onto the arena, flames raging in his palms: "I want to spar with Third Brother too!"

"Nonsense!" Xiao Zhan frowned, but was stopped by the Great Elder raising a hand.

"It is just a child's whim; let them play," the Great Elder said with a smile, waving his hand. "But keep it to a friendly exchange."

Xiao Feng looked at the fighting spirit in Xiao Yan's eyes and suddenly recalled the scenes from the original novel where the boy fought in the streets of Wutan City. He sighed softly and voluntarily deactivated his Dou Qi defense: "Little Yan, come on."

Xiao Yan paused, then revealed a cunning smile. The flames at his fingertips condensed into an arrow—it was the Xiao Clan's basic Dou Technique, Fire Lotus Arrow. It should have been a low-tier Huang technique, but due to his pure Dou Qi, it transformed into a tangible crimson glow.

Just as the arrowhead was about to touch Xiao Feng's chest, the latter suddenly turned sideways, spinning away with the footwork of Snow-Treading Trace-less. Xiao Yan could not stop his momentum and stumbled into his arms, both of them falling to the ground. The training grounds erupted in laughter. Xiao Yan climbed up, face flushed, but was held by the shoulder by Xiao Feng: "Don't be angry; your control of the heat is excellent."

The youth's earlobes turned red as he muttered, "You could have dodged it clearly; why did you let me?"

Xiao Feng was about to speak when he suddenly caught a glimpse of a black shadow flashing across the locust tree on the west side of the grounds. It was the black-robed man from last night! His pupils constricted, and his soul power shot out like an arrow, but the moment it touched the other party, he felt a familiar energy fluctuation—it was the aura of a transmigrator!

"Father, I need to go relieve myself," he said in a low voice, and without waiting for Xiao Zhan's response, he flashed away. The system notification rang urgently:

Warning! High-concentration soul power fluctuation detected. Suspected subordinate of a parallel transmigrator!

"It really is Hun Dan's man," Xiao Feng cursed inwardly, his toes tapping the ground as he leaped onto the perimeter wall. Under the moonlight, the black-robed man was chanting toward a jade slip, its surface flowing with eerie purple patterns—it was the "Soul-Guiding Jade Slip" used by the Soul Clan to track the bloodline of the Xiao Clan.

"Hand over the jade slip." Xiao Feng landed without a sound, the wind pressure from his Heavenly Demon Wings causing the surrounding leaves to rustle. The black-robed man turned abruptly, three soul insects flying from his palm—the Soul Clan's secret "Soul-Devouring Insect," which specialized in consuming the souls of cultivators.

"A mere Dou Practitioner dares to meddle in the affairs of the Soul Clan?" The black-robed man sneered, his voice as raspy as grinding metal. Xiao Feng, however, noticed the tattoo exposed at his cuff—the mark of the "Blood Soul Hall," a branch of the Soul Clan. It seemed Hun Dan had already infiltrated the areas surrounding the Xiao Clan.

His soul power transformed into an invisible barrier to block the swarm, and Xiao Feng condensed the crimson glow of the Fallen Heart Flame at his fingertips. He deliberately suppressed the flame's might, making it appear as a Huang-tier technique, but the moment it made contact, he suddenly activated "Soul Movement Three Thousand."

The black-robed man groaned, and the jade slip slipped from his palm. Xiao Feng picked up the heavy object, and seeing the "Xiao" clan crest carved upon it, the cold light in his eyes intensified. The system notification rang again:

Ding! Seized Soul Clan secret jade slip. Triggered Devour System function. Obtained Soul Clan basic secret technique: Soul Shadow Step.

"Who are you?" The black-robed man retreated, clutching his forehead. "Why do you possess the aura of Xiao Xuan?"

Xiao Feng raised an eyebrow and was about to speak when Xiao Zhan's shout suddenly came from afar. His gaze turned cold, and the flames at his fingertips surged, instantly burning the black-robed man into ashes—in any case, Soul Clan assassins were accustomed to using substitution techniques; the true body might not be here.

When he returned to the training grounds, Xiao Yan was having his ear pulled by Xiao Zhan as he was being lectured: "Who told you to get on the arena without permission? If you had hurt Third Brother..."

"Father, it was I who asked Little Yan to spar," Xiao Feng intervened in time, hiding the jade slip in his sleeve. "This nephew found this in the corner just now."

He opened his palm, and the clan crest on the jade slip shimmered in the sunlight. The elders gathered around, and the Great Elder's expression changed drastically: "This is the Xiao Clan's secret scripture jade slip that was lost three hundred years ago! Where did you find it?"

Xiao Feng lowered his eyes, his tone half-true and half-false: "Under the locust tree in the backyard; it seems someone left it behind on purpose."

Xiao Zhan exchanged a look with the Third Elder, who waved his hand to signal the crowd to disperse, leaving only the core elders on the training grounds. Xiao Feng noticed Xiao Zhan's fingers unconsciously rubbing the jade pendant at his waist—that was an heirloom left by Xiao Xuan, said to contain the secret of the Xiao Clan's Dou Di bloodline.

"Feng'er," Xiao Zhan suddenly spoke, his voice low. "The wind-attribute Dou Qi you displayed just now, how did you cultivate it?"

The air in the training grounds suddenly froze. Xiao Feng had been prepared; he took a jade slip from his robes: "I found it in the Library Pavilion last night, the Green Mist Art. It said it was suitable for cultivators with mutated attributes."

The Great Elder took the jade slip to examine it, his expression softening: "So it was a private collection of the Great Elder's lineage from back then. Very well, since it was obtained through your own fortune, cultivate it well."

As the crowd dispersed, Xiao Yan sidled up to him, lowering his voice: "Third Brother, your footwork just now was so fast, it was like you were flying!"

"Want to learn?" Xiao Feng chuckled, ruffling the boy's hair. "When you break through to Dou Practitioner, Third Brother will teach you."

Night fell, and Xiao Feng sat on the roof, gazing at the starry sky. On the system panel, the "Billion-fold Return on Gifts" function flickered with a faint light. He tapped his finger, took out a second-grade Qi Gathering Pill from the system space, and tossed it toward the neighboring courtyard—that was where Xiao Yan's friend, Xiao Yao, lived.

Ding! Host gifted a second-grade Qi Gathering Pill. Triggered billion-fold return. Obtained Heaven-tier high-grade pill: Sky-Breaking Pill x1.

"Interesting," he whispered, storing the pill in his system space. From afar came the sound of the night watchman's clapper; at 1:45 AM, it was the peak time for the Soul Clan's activities. He activated "Soul Movement Three Thousand," his soul power spreading like a spiderweb until it reached the barren mountains thirty miles outside the Xiao Clan.

There was an abandoned temple there, and the black-robed man was kneeling on one knee, bowing to a projection in the air: "My Lord, that brat from the Xiao Clan is indeed strange. His soul power..."

"Enough." The man in the projection raised a hand to interrupt, his voice filled with impatience. "He is just a low-level transmigrator; what kind of waves can he make?"

Xiao Feng's pupils constricted. The man in the projection was wearing a modern hoodie and a smartwatch on his wrist—he was a genuine person from Earth. Hun Dan had finally appeared.

"My Lord, he seems to be able to see through the attacks of the soul insects..."

"I said, don't worry about it." Hun Dan tapped his fingers on the table, and in the background, the cover of the novel Battle Through the Heavens was vaguely visible. "The Xiao Clan has the contingencies left behind by Xiao Xuan. Let them jump around for a few more days. Once I break through to Dou Di..."

The image suddenly cut off, and Xiao Feng clenched his fists. So, Hun Dan had known the secrets of the Xiao Clan all along, and might have even read the original novel! The system notification rang:

Warning! Parallel transmigrator detected at Nine-Star Dou Sheng Grand Perfection realm. Host is advised to reach the Dou Zong realm as soon as possible.

"Dou Sheng, is it..." Xiao Feng muttered to himself, looking down at the Fallen Heart Flame in his palm. The system's devouring function could convert Heavenly Flame energy into cultivation base; perhaps he could try fusing multiple Heavenly Flames?

He leaped off the roof and headed toward the clan's forbidden grounds—the location of the Xiao Clan's final fire pool, which might serve as a suitable site for fusing the flames. Passing by Xiao Zhan's room, he heard low voices drifting from within:

"...Before Father passed away, he said that if any clansman awakened wind-attribute Dou Qi, it would be a sign of ancestral bloodline regression..."

Xiao Feng paused, then shook his head with a faint smile. Regression? It was more likely that the transmigrator's soul had resonated with the Xiao Clan's bloodline. He pushed open the stone gate of the forbidden grounds, and the heatwave of the fire pool rushed to meet him, reflecting the sharp resolve in his eyes—Hun Dan thought he held the entire board in his grasp, but he did not know that the real game had only just begun.

He sat cross-legged by the fire pool and took out the three Heavenly Flames from his system space. The crimson glow of the Fallen Heart Flame surged out first, followed by the ghostly blue of the Ancient Spirit Cold Flame and the emerald green of the Green Spirit Earth Core Flame. The three clusters of flame swirled in his palm, gradually merging into one to form a strange, purplish-black flame.

Ding! Host has fused three Heavenly Flames, triggering the Devouring System bonus. Obtained half-step Di Flame "Burning Heaven Purple Flame"!

Excruciating pain erupted from his palm, and Xiao Feng let out a muffled groan, cold sweat soaking his clothes. Yet, he gritted his teeth and held on, letting the flames spread through his meridians—this body had been modified by the system and had long since surpassed the limits of an ordinary cultivator, not to mention the protection of the "Diamond Indestructible" Dou Technique.

When the purplish-black flame finally condensed into a vortex in his Dantian, Xiao Feng felt his Dou Qi realm break through the Nine-Star Dou Huang, pushing straight toward Dou Zong! He opened his eyes, a faint glimmer of purple flame flashing within them, and with a wave of his hand, the rocks at the edge of the fire pool instantly turned to dust.

"Early Dou Zong..." he whispered, feeling the surging power within his body. "Hun Dan, do you think the Xiao Clan is still a lamb waiting to be slaughtered? Just wait. In our next encounter, I will show you what a real transmigrator is."

The system notification chimed at the perfect moment:

Ding! Host has successfully fused Heavenly Flames. Unlocked new feature "Plane Shop"; modern items from Earth can now be exchanged.

Xiao Feng raised an eyebrow, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Modern items? Perhaps he could exchange for some high-tech weaponry to catch Hun Dan off guard. He stood up and looked toward the whitening eastern sky, purple flames dancing at his fingertips—a new day had dawned, and the Xiao Clan's path to rise had officially begun.