Source of the Problem

[As you faced the girl demanding that you make a choice, you erupted like a volcano.]

[You bluntly tore off Nalan Yanran's mask. She had come to break off the engagement because you, Xiao Yan, had become trash and were no longer worthy of a proud daughter of heaven like her.

But your talent had once been terrifying. When you became a Dou Zhe, Nalan Yanran had only been at the Dou Qi stage...]

"That's right, I may indeed be trash now, but I'm still young. I have plenty of time. Since I could create a miracle three years ago, what makes you think I can't rise again in the years to come?"

[Nalan Yanran's pretty face turned livid with rage, yet she couldn't refute a single word.]

"Miss Nalan, for the sake of Elder Nalan, Xiao Yan has a few words for you. Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river—don't bully the poor young man!"

Xiao Yan's cold, resolute words made Nalan Yanran's delicate body tremble.

[Nalan Yanran was so furious that her head spun. She directly called you trash again and brought up the Three-Year Pact.

As long as you could win, she would serve you as a slave for life. But if you were still trash three years from now, you would write a contract dissolving the engagement.]

[Though you spoke with conviction, you knew in your heart that unless you solved the problem with your body, Nalan Yanran could defeat ten of you with one hand right now. Three years from now, the gap between you would be even greater.]

[You publicly cast her aside and once again made it clear that you had no interest in this fiancée. After kowtowing to Xiao Zhan, who had suffered humiliation alongside you, you left the hall.]

[Sitting by the cliff at the back mountain, you felt terrible.]

[The first time you met your fiancée, she was rather beautiful, with a slim waist and curvy hips. She was a three-star Dou Zhe and highly talented as well. Yet you never expected her to come publicly break off the engagement...]

[You thought that if your strength hadn't regressed, none of this would have happened.]

[Losing a fiancée like her would have left you with, at most, some regret. But because of this broken engagement, your father had lost face as well, and fury burned in your chest. Regret and anger intertwined, leaving your heart in turmoil.]

[You didn't need to think to know that, in the future, besides being called trash, having your engagement publicly broken off would become a subject everyone brought up whenever they mocked you.]

[Afterward, the entire Wutan City would probably know... and perhaps, because Nalan Yanran was the future sect leader of the Yunlan Sect, the entire Jia Ma Empire would know that Xiao Zhan had a son whose engagement had been broken off at his own door.]

[You were going mad. Why was your cultivation speed clearly still there and growing ever faster, yet your Dou Qi kept vanishing for no reason?]

[Suddenly, the ring your mother had left you made a sound. It turned out that it had been absorbing your Dou Qi for more than three years.]

"Fuck your mother!"

If he could, Xiao Yan would definitely have cursed out loud right now.

[After spitting out that curse, your rage made you completely lose your reason. Without even thinking, you threw the memento your mother had left you off the cliff.]

[Just as you began to regret it, the pitch-black ring actually floated up from beneath the cliff. An almost transparent elderly figure drifted out of the ring.]

The old man smiled. "I only absorbed your Dou Qi for a little over three years. Was there any need to be so enraged?"

Xiao Yan's mouth twitched furiously. "Old bastard, are you pretending not to see the consequences of stealing my Dou Qi?"

"But haven't you grown through all that ridicule? Without this old man's actions, would you possess such patience and maturity now?" The old man smiled faintly, entirely unapologetic.

Xiao Yan gritted his teeth. What a shameless old dog!

If he had truly been an ordinary youth, he would probably have been unable to endure the mockery and killed himself by now.

The old man tempted him, "Kid, if you want to fulfill that Three-Year Pact, you need help badly."

[Faced with the old man's temptation, you chose...]

[A: Accept his help. Old sir, you are my god!]

[B: Curse him furiously. You became trash and had your engagement broken off because the old man had absorbed your Dou Qi for years. His "help" would only be making up for his own mistake.]

[C: Attack the old man. Since he could reside inside the ring, that ring had to be extraordinary. Perhaps it contained many treasures.]

Xiao Yan immediately ruled out the first option.

Just as the second option said, the old man was clearly the true culprit, yet he still wore the face of a benefactor. It was utterly disgusting.

Besides, he had begun cultivating at four and only broke through to become a Dou Zhe at eleven.

Now he was left with only three stages of Dou Qi. Even if recultivating would be faster, could he really overtake Nalan Yanran, who had the full support of the Yunlan Sect?

The old man was no good person to begin with and was clearly just making empty promises. Why should he trust an old ghost like that outright?

As for the third option, Xiao Yan ruled it out after considering it as well.

The old man had hidden himself perfectly even before Xiao Yan's grandfather. He was obviously far from ordinary.

With only three stages of Dou Qi, attacking him would be no different from throwing his life away.

After thinking for a while, Xiao Yan decided to choose B.

Because of that old man, he had been cursed at for more than three years. Even if he couldn't return every insult at once, he could at least vent some of his anger.

Better yet, perhaps he could provoke the shameless old man into attacking and end this simulation.

Now that he knew the future, as long as he avoided contact with this ring, his strength would not decline, and the tragedy of the rest of his life would naturally not happen.

All the ridicule and the broken engagement would never occur.

He might even find a way to save his grandfather and mother.

Thinking of it that way, among the three options, B was undoubtedly the best.

[Looking at the old man, whose face was smiling like a blooming chrysanthemum, you flew into a rage.]

"Help? I'll help your grandfather!"

The man who had clearly caused all his suffering actually dared to describe making up for his mistakes as offering help. Xiao Yan wanted nothing more than to tear this shameless ghost apart and devour him alive.

"Back when my grandfather was seriously injured, where were you? Back when my mother was gravely ill, where were you?"

"When I was mocked by others, you watched from inside that ring! If this old bastard hadn't secretly been absorbing my Dou Qi, how could I, someone who became a Dou Zhe at eleven, have had my engagement broken off at my doorstep?!"

[Having seen with your own eyes this old bastard who had absorbed your Dou Qi so brazenly, you were consumed by rage. After a barrage of questions, you began to curse him.]

[Every sort of bastard and dog-shit spilled from your mouth. The more you cursed, the crueler your words became, pouring out all the humiliation you had endured over the past three years. By the end, nothing remained but filthy street obscenities, foul and vile beyond imagination.]

After being cursed at so viciously, the old man looked at the immature youth before him and seemed to see the shadow of his first disciple in him.

Who could have imagined that the disciple he had nearly regarded as his own son would stab in the back the teacher who had raised him with his own hands!

Was I going to be blind again? the old man asked himself.

The youth was already like this now. If he took him as a disciple, he would likely become even more beastly than that animal in the future...

[The old man's expression shifted unpredictably. Then, consumed by fury, he sent you flying with a slap.]

"You brat have terrible character. If I taught you, you'd probably become another traitorous disciple. You are unworthy of becoming the disciple of me, Yao Chen, the Medicine Venerable!"

"Hmph! Gu He, the Pill King of your Jia Ma Empire, is nothing but a fart in my eyes. I originally intended to train you into an alchemist greater than him, but now... you are unworthy!"