Xiao Yi Xian, among the crowd, had cried until her eyes were red and swollen.
Her lovely face was full of emotion and admiration. She thought the story of the Ruthless Empress was truly shocking and grand.
She lightly bit her red lip with her pearly teeth and thought to herself, A person this astonishingly talented and brilliant is truly peerless, worthy of everyone's admiration!
However, when her gaze returned to Xiao Fan on the stage, a hint of attachment quietly surfaced deep in her eyes.
Her heart was pounding like a startled fawn's. Xiao Fan is incredible. He actually knows a story like that...
[Drip! Xiao Yi Xian trusts you deeply. You have gained 500 Bragging Points!]
Night fell, like black silk gently draped over the earth.
Moonlight poured down like water, softly and quietly bathing every inch of the Xiao Clan Back Mountain.
Xiao Fan came alone to the Xiao Clan Back Mountain. His figure looked especially tall and lonely beneath the moonlight.
His hands moved as he murmured an incantation, beginning to set up a magic formation.
With his movements, a great formation covering the entire Xiao Clan slowly activated.
The formation was extremely discreet. As soon as it appeared, it concealed itself underground.
This formation's effects were extraordinary. Not only could it accelerate the gathering and influx of energy from heaven and earth, providing the Xiao Clan's disciples with a richer environment for cultivation and greatly speeding up their progress,
it also possessed powerful defensive functions. It could withstand attacks from a Dou Emperor and protect the Xiao Clan.
Xiao Fan thought to himself that the Xiao Clan had raised him for more than a decade. Now that he had learned what he could, he naturally ought to make some contribution to the family.
As the saying went, "When one man attains the Way, even his chickens and dogs ascend to heaven." When he became an Emperor one day, the Xiao Clan would surely rise to great heights along with him and flourish.
"Next, I just need to focus on cultivating and steadily improving my strength."
Xiao Fan murmured to himself.
"System..."
[Name]: Xiao Fan
[Realm]: Peak Nine-Star Dou Emperor (32,000/100,000)
[Cultivation Method]: Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Art (Minor Mastery: 130,000/1,000,000)
[Skills]: Nine Character Secret—Formation (Beginner: 3,200/100,000), Thousand Flame Sword Aura (Perfect), Great Wind Hand Seal (Perfect), Explosive Step (Perfect), Extreme Wind: Meteor Kill (Perfect), etc.
[Points]: 6,900
Xiao Fan looked at the system panel. He was still more than sixty thousand experience points away from the peak of the Dou Emperor stage.
But the Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Art had reached minor mastery, saving him a huge amount of experience.
During the day, while telling the story of the Ruthless Empress, he had been moved by his own words. Perhaps he had received the favor of some mysterious force and triggered an auspicious manifestation of the Great Dao, which had directly brought his Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Art to minor mastery. He couldn't help feeling secretly delighted.
Previously, his Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Art had only been at the beginner stage. He had merely grasped the method's basic operating pathways and principles.
It was like opening a door for the first time and beginning to guide power through his body according to the Heaven-Swallowing Demonic Art. Although he could absorb the essence of others and make it his own, the process was inefficient, and at that stage he couldn't control the power precisely enough.
Now, things were different. At minor mastery, he could operate the art more skillfully and efficiently to devour the essence of others. Even in battle, it could show considerable power.
He could also better transform and assimilate the power he devoured, which helped him stabilize and improve his realm.
"Time to focus on developing in peace..."
Xiao Fan took a deep breath and sat cross-legged atop the mountain. The energy of heaven and earth surged down like the Milky Way cascading from the ninth heaven.
At the same time, on another part of the Xiao Clan Back Mountain, Xiao Yan seemed to sense something as well.
To his surprise, he found that he was absorbing Dou Qi from heaven and earth much faster than before.
It was as if all the surrounding energy was gathering toward him of its own accord. He felt both excited and confused.
Could it be that his peerless talent was finally showing itself?
Yao Chen stood to one side, watching Xiao Yan toil away in cultivation with a huge stone on his back. He asked deliberately,
"You've already reached the Fifth Stage of Dou Qi. There are only three months left until the clan's test, Xiao Yanzi. Are you confident you can break through to the Ninth Stage of Dou Qi?"
His voice held a trace of expectation and challenge.
Xiao Yan looked up, a confident smile on his face.
The image of the Six-Star Dou Zhe maid by Xiao Fan's side involuntarily surfaced in his mind.
A fierce determination welled up within him.
Even that maid, who looked about his age, had reached the Six-Star Dou Zhe stage. He had to work harder, too!
"Master, I won't just break through to the Ninth Stage of Dou Qi. I'll break through to Dou Zhe as well!"
Xiao Yan's voice was firm and powerful.
"Very good, very good. You truly are your master's beloved disciple..."
Yao Chen was pleased, then looked toward the sky.
Ordinary people couldn't sense it, but with his Heaven Realm Soul, he could clearly feel the energy of heaven and earth continuously flowing into the entire Xiao Clan.
"This feeling... it's just like a formation."
A formation... tsk...
Formations were only possessed by major powers.
Take the Pill Tower, for example. It was the holy land of alchemists across the continent, and Yao Lao, who had once spent some time there, knew it well.
The Pill Tower's protective formation was extremely powerful, an ancient and formidable defensive formation capable of repelling foreign enemies. Its complex runes and powerful energy restrictions could even stop experts at the Dou Zun level.
Beyond that, only the Eight Ancient Clans possessed such formations. They had many legacies.
Their clan territories had powerful defensive formations. These could conceal the clans' locations as well as repel attacks from powerful enemies.
And now, even the Xiao Clan had a formation.
"The Xiao Clan is no simple place..."
Could that person have done it?
For some reason, Yao Lao thought of that youth, who also possessed a Heaven Realm Soul but whose realm he couldn't see through.
At the same time, deep within the Misty Cloud Sect.
Nalan Yanran stood quietly by the window, dressed in luxurious and elegant clothes.
She gazed at the distant sky. Her beautiful face was like a plum blossom blooming in the depths of winter, lovely yet aloof.
She had already made up her mind: she would go to Wutan City herself and break off the engagement!
Nalan Yanran thought to herself,
She was going to inherit the Sect Master's position from her master and become the head of the Misty Cloud Sect, shouldering the rise and fall, honor and shame of the entire sect.
The Xiao Clan's once-prodigious genius had now fallen. He was completely unworthy of her.
And he might even become a burden on her path forward, dragging both her and the sect down.
She would never allow that to happen.
"I'm sorry..."
Nalan Yanran murmured, but there wasn't the slightest trace of apology in her voice, only resolve and decisiveness.
Besides, in her eyes, this was just a trivial matter. There was no need to inform her master.
She had already chosen the time to break off the engagement: three months from now.
She was also about to break through to the next realm, so the timing was just right.