Huo Yuhao and Xiao Yan

Gamma Empire, Wutan City

A year had passed since that incident. At first, everyone had talked about it with great interest, but now, few people cared anymore. Only when they ran into Xiao Yan himself would they say a few extra words. As for the person involved, after repeatedly failing to restore his Dou Qi, Xiao Yan seemed to have given up struggling and rarely appeared before others.

"Other people transmigrated and became protagonists who shook the world, but I came here to be trash!"

In the back mountain, Xiao Yan lay sprawled on a tree branch, reaching out to pluck two fruits.

"Damn heavens, it would've been one thing if I'd always been trash, but I clearly had talent, and then a year ago, all the Dou Qi I'd cultivated just vanished..."

As Xiao Yan cursed the heavens, he viciously bit into the fruit in his hand.

"Pah—" Xiao Yan spat it out the instant it entered his mouth, then casually tossed away the remaining fruits. "Sour as hell. I can't catch a break even drinking cold water!"

"I don't see any water. Just fruit falling from the sky!"

A crisp voice came from beneath the tree. Xiao Yan lowered his head and saw a girl in a white dress looking up at him with a bright smile, idly tossing the fruit he had just thrown down in her hand.

Xiao Xun'er lightly took a bite from the fruit and smiled.

"Isn't it quite sweet?"

Xiao Yan jumped down from the tree and asked, "Xun'er, what are you doing here?"

"Today is the day the clan tests everyone's Dou Qi. Don't tell me you forgot all about it?"

Xiao Xun'er stepped forward, clasping her hands behind her back as she leaned her face close to Xiao Yan's.

"Ah, right, right!"

Xiao Yan turned his head away and took a step back, speaking dejectedly.

"What's the point of remembering? I'd only be going there to be laughed at by those snobs in the clan."

"If Brother Xiao Yan isn't going, then I won't go either."

Hearing that, Xiao Yan hurriedly said, "You can't skip it! Those old guys will blame me for leading you astray again! Fine, fine, let's go back together!"

Xiao Xun'er smiled. "Mm, then we'd better hurry!"

At dusk, Wutan City's marketplace was at its liveliest.

"Did you hear? The Xiao Clan's Dou Qi test this time..."

"Haha, I heard that Xiao Yan has to climb up using a ladder this time!"

"What a useless piece of trash. He only has three stages of Dou Qi now, right?"

"Hahaha!"

Nearly every vendor and mercenary was gossiping about today's latest news, eagerly introducing Xiao Yan's eventful life to every newcomer who arrived in Wutan City.

Outside the city, Huo Yuhao saw Wutan City's gates and let out a long breath.

"I'm finally home."

Huo Yuhao had been in the Battle Qi Continent for more than ten years. Ever since Xiao Zhan had taken him in, Huo Yuhao had lived in Wutan City as Xiao Zhan's adopted son.

Back in the God Realm, Huo Yuhao had accidentally been swept into a spatial-temporal turbulence. When he first arrived in the Battle Qi Continent, for some unknown reason, his body had regressed into that of a newborn child. He had been terribly weak, and his Spiritual Sea had nearly shattered, leaving him unable to wield spiritual power. At the time, even a stray dog by the roadside could have ended the God of Emotions right there.

Thankfully, Xiao Zhan had brought him back to the Xiao Clan and cared for him attentively. Having never experienced a father's love, Huo Yuhao had naturally been moved by him. He sincerely regarded Xiao Zhan as his father and the Xiao Clan as his home.

Huo Yuhao passed through the city gates and headed straight for the Xiao Clan.

As he passed the marketplace, waves of noisy chatter reached him. Huo Yuhao suddenly stopped and walked inside.

A vendor was gossiping with a customer about the news he had just heard when a travel-worn, handsome blue-haired youth spoke up to interrupt them.

"Sorry, what did you just say happened to Xiao Yan?"

The vendor sized Huo Yuhao up, but found him unfamiliar.

"Are you new here? You haven't even heard of Wutan City's famous figure? What business are you in?"

"Xiao Yan from the Xiao Clan, right? What did you just say happened to him?"

Huo Yuhao did not explain and simply continued asking.

"I'm telling you, Xiao Yan used to be Wutan City's genius. But ever since a year ago, his Dou Qi suddenly disappeared..."

"Thank you." Huo Yuhao did not ask further. He instantly turned and accelerated, vanishing from the vendor's sight in the blink of an eye.

"What happened? Am I seeing things?" The vendor rubbed his eyes, his face full of shock.

The night wind howled, moonlight spilled across the rooftops, and the figure on one roof pulled his outer robe tighter.

"Brr—It's freezing today! I should've worn a few more layers."

Xiao Yan lay on the roof with his hands folded beneath his head and a foxtail grass stem in his mouth.

Tap—tap—hurried footsteps sounded out. Hearing them, Xiao Yan quickly sat up cross-legged.

"I told you not to disturb me. I'm cultivating with the aid of moonlight. My divine art will soon be complete!"

"I never heard that you knew such a cultivation technique."

"Yuhao?"

Xiao Yan quickly turned around, pleasantly surprised.

"When did you get back? What have you been doing all year?"

But once he clearly saw the youth before him, Xiao Yan's voice paused.

"Hahaha! Did you go steal landmines or something? Why do you look so wrecked?"

Huo Yuhao smiled. "I heard someone didn't eat enough dinner and is up here drinking the northwest wind?"

"I really didn't eat enough."

Xiao Yan stood up and put on an affectionate expression.

"Little Hao, while you were out training this past year, I couldn't eat or sleep from missing you!"

"Keep making that face and you won't be eating for the rest of your life."

"Haha, just kidding, just kidding. Let's go to the old spot."

By a small stream, Huo Yuhao and Xiao Yan sat on the ground. The fire drove away the late-night chill. An unidentified magical beast was skewered over the flames, its dripping fat crackling against the firewood. Huo Yuhao held a small brush, coating the meat with his secret sauce, while Xiao Yan ignored the scalding heat and gulped down a bowl of freshly cooked fish soup.

"Hah—Feels like I'm alive again!" Xiao Yan wiped his mouth.

"Is the meat done yet?"

"No." Huo Yuhao kept moving his hands, carefully brushing sauce over every part of the magical beast, not even neglecting the inside of its body.

"Just wait a little longer."

Then Huo Yuhao turned and asked the question that concerned him most.

"Your Dou Qi... what happened?"

Xiao Yan stared eagerly at the roasted meat and answered indifferently.

"Not long after you left, my Dou Qi suddenly disappeared. No matter how I cultivated, I couldn't restore it. I've accepted it now. I'm not the protagonist anyway. Going into business and becoming the empire's richest man wouldn't be bad either."

Huo Yuhao's brows furrowed as he pressed further.

"There's no solution? What have you tried over the past year? Don't tell me you've just been lying around the whole time."

"After my Dou Qi disappeared, no matter how I cultivated, I couldn't retain it. It would disperse almost immediately. I've taken plenty of herbs and medicinal pills during this time. Father even invited Master Gu Ni from the Mittel Auction House to examine me, but nothing worked."

Seeing Huo Yuhao's grave expression, Xiao Yan seemed to think of something and hurriedly added, "It definitely isn't a problem with the cultivation technique you gave me. So many people in the Xiao Clan cultivate it, and none of them have had any issues."

"Father and the other elders also gave me several cultivation techniques, but none of them worked as well as your Heavenly Cycle Art. My Dou Qi disappeared even faster with those."

Huo Yuhao did not reply. After thinking briefly, he decided to observe it himself.

"Xiao Yan, cultivate once and let me see."

"What a hassle!" Xiao Yan grumbled as he sat cross-legged and began circulating his cultivation technique. At the same time, Huo Yuhao's eyes turned golden. He mobilized his spiritual power with all his strength, covering Xiao Yan's body inside and out, including his dantian, refusing to miss even the slightest possible abnormality.

The world's vital energy was drawn in and merged into Xiao Yan's body at a fairly quick pace. As the cultivation technique circulated, it was converted into Dou Qi. A small cluster of faint white Dou Qi appeared within Xiao Yan's dantian.

Very soon, the familiar sensation returned. A bitter smile appeared on Xiao Yan's lips as the Dou Qi he had just cultivated vanished again.

"See..." Xiao Yan had just begun to speak when Huo Yuhao interrupted him.

"Just now, a strand of spiritual power appeared in your dantian and absorbed your Dou Qi."

"Huh? Someone's messing with me?"

"I sensed that the source of that spiritual power is on you. More precisely, it's the ring hanging around your neck."

"How is that possible? This is..." Xiao Yan was greatly shocked.

Before he could finish speaking, the ring inside Xiao Yan's clothes floated out on its own.

"You're quite sharp, little fellow." A translucent figure with white hair, red eyes, and a pure white robe emerged from the ring.

"Who are you? Why are you inside my ring? Were you the one absorbing my Dou Qi this past year?"

The moment Xiao Yan saw the figure, he hurriedly removed the ring and threw it away, pointing at the figure as he questioned him.

Yao Chen's soul body bounced across the stream along with Xiao Yan's ring, but he showed no intention of stopping. A strange smile appeared on his handsome face.

"Hehehe, don't worry. I won't harm you. Still, I have to thank you for the Dou Qi you offered over the past year. Otherwise, I likely would've remained asleep."

"Fuck your mother!"