Xiao Yan: The Three-Year Term Has Arrived—I Have Returned as a King!

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Only after Ge Ye's figure had completely disappeared beyond the Xiao Clan's gates did the air in the courtyard seem to begin flowing again.

Xiao Yan slowly turned around, his gaze settling on the Xiao Clan members.

It was an exceedingly light, faint glance. There was no deliberate pressure, no aggressive scrutiny—he merely swept his eyes across them. Yet that single look made many present stiffen abruptly, their hearts seeming to be gripped by an invisible hand.

Three years.

Over those three years, they had grown accustomed to joking, gossiping, and mocking Xiao Yan without restraint. They had grown accustomed to unleashing their malice without concern before that gentle young man.

They had nearly forgotten that this youth had once been the rare genius of the Xiao Clan's past century, that he had entered the realm of Dou Practitioner at the tender age of nine, that he had once made all of Wutan City take notice.

Now, as those golden-red eyes swept lightly over them, all the memories faded by time came rushing back, drowning them like a tide.

Many silently lowered their heads.

Especially Xiao Ning.

He lowered his head so deeply that his chin nearly touched his chest. He wished the ground would suddenly split open so he could crawl straight inside.

His face burned fiercely, the heat spreading from his ears down to his neck, as though he had been roasted over a fire.

There was no other reason.

Over the past three years, he had been the most enthusiastic person in mocking Xiao Yan.

Whenever Xiao Yan appeared before him, he would always throw out a few snide remarks—sometimes, "A piece of trash is here to join in too?" Sometimes, "Stop disgracing the Xiao Clan." Sometimes he said nothing at all, merely sneered at Xiao Yan before swaggering away.

Just moments ago, in the hall, he had even openly mocked Xiao Yan to his face before everyone.

If Xiao Yan had still been that Three-Level Dou Zhi Qi trash, of course he would not have been afraid.

What right did a piece of trash about to be expelled from the core circle have to make him wary?

But the Xiao Yan before him clearly was not.

Although Xiao Yan had not regained his peak strength, his cultivation as a Four-Star Dou Practitioner alone was not something an eighteen-year-old like him, still lingering at Eighth-Stage Dou Zhi Qi, could afford to provoke.

Xiao Ning knew very well that the gap between himself and Xiao Yan was no longer something that could be bridged by mere effort.

He lowered his head even further.

Yet beyond the crowd that had lowered their heads, another group stood with their backs straight, their eyes full of excitement and reverence.

When they looked at Xiao Yan, there was no guilt, no avoidance—only heartfelt joy and pride.

Most of these people were clan members who had received Xiao Yan's kindness in the past.

When Xiao Yan had still been a genius, he had never put on airs.

If someone in the clan encountered a bottleneck in cultivation, he would patiently explain things to them. If someone was bullied, he would step forward to mediate. During holidays, he would have rice, flour, and money delivered to impoverished branch families.

Those acts of help might not have been much, but to those who received them, every bit of it had been genuine warmth.

Over these three years, after Xiao Yan fell from grace, quite a few of them had spoken up for him behind the scenes.

Whenever they heard someone mocking Xiao Yan, they would stand up and refute them, not caring even if it offended others.

Thus, their consciences were clear.

Naturally, there was no need for them to lower their heads and avoid Xiao Yan's gaze like those guilty people.

Among everyone present, the two most excited people were Xiao Zhan and Xiao Xun'er.

Xiao Zhan stood at the front of the crowd, his tiger-like eyes fixed tightly on his son. His eyes had reddened slightly, his lips trembled, and his Adam's apple rolled several times, yet he could not utter a single word.

He had always thought that his son would be burdened by that strange illness for the rest of his life.

From Eight-Star Dou Fighter all the way down to Three-Level Dou Zhi Qi, no matter how many people he consulted, none could cure him. No matter how many methods he tried, none had any effect.

He had nearly prepared himself for the possibility that, on the day of the coming-of-age ceremony, Yan'er would fail to reach Seven-Stage Dou Zhi Qi and be assigned to one of the Xiao Clan's outer businesses, becoming an ordinary person with no connection to cultivation from then on.

He had even wondered whether Yan'er would resent him or hate him when that time came.

But he had never imagined that today, at his most desperate moment, Yan'er would give him such a surprise—his talent had returned, he had defeated Nalan Yanran, the personal disciple of the Misty Cloud Sect's leader, and he had displayed incomparable confidence and the pride of a genius.

That sharp, dazzling bearing was how his son was supposed to be.

Xiao Xun'er stood on the other side of the crowd, her beautiful eyes locked tightly on Xiao Yan. The joy in them was nearly overflowing.

The corners of her lips curved upward slightly. Her smile was elegant as a lotus, yet brighter than it had ever been before.

She had known Xiao Yan for eleven years. From the quiet little boy at four, to the genius who had stunned everyone at nine, to the discarded trash after the age of eleven—she had seen every version of Xiao Yan.

Yet none of them had moved her heart more than the Xiao Yan before her now.

It was a confidence that came from his very bones, a bearing that remained proud and unyielding even after experiencing immense rises and falls.

It was not arrogance, nor was it flaunting. It was the calm certainty of someone who had experienced darkness, crossed an abyss, and still chosen to stand beneath the sunlight.

"Why are you all staring at me like that?"

Xiao Yan's gaze swept across everyone present, the expression on his face impossible to read.

His tone was calm. There was neither the ostentation of one who had gained power nor the gloom of someone preparing to settle scores. It was as though he were merely mentioning something utterly ordinary.

"Go back."

He raised a foot and headed toward the Xiao Clan's main hall.

The crowd automatically parted like receding tides, opening a broad path for him.

No one spoke. No one hesitated. Everyone made the same motion without prior agreement—they turned aside, made way, and watched the youth walk past them.

That figure was not especially tall, and he even possessed the slenderness unique to adolescence. Yet as he walked through the crowd, everyone had the same illusion—the one passing by was not a fifteen-year-old youth, but a king returning in triumph.

Wherever he passed, even the air seemed to change.

Inside the Xiao Clan's main hall.

Everyone returned to their seats one after another. The tea had gone cold, but no one thought to replace it. No one even noticed it had gone cold.

Although calm had returned to their faces, the shock in their eyes remained clear, like undercurrents surging beneath the surface of water—impossible to suppress no matter how hard they tried.

At this moment, the Xiao Clan's situation had already undergone a subtle change.

The three elders seated above wore grave expressions. The First Elder's fingers around his teacup had turned slightly white. The Second Elder's gaze kept shifting between Xiao Yan and Xiao Zhan. The Third Elder simply lowered his head, no one knowing what he was thinking.

They understood better than anyone else that from this day onward, the sky above the Xiao Clan had changed.

"Yan'er."

Seated in the main position, Xiao Zhan leaned forward slightly. His eyes eagerly watched Xiao Yan, who sat beside Xiao Xun'er, as he finally asked the question he had held back all the way here. "When did your talent recover?"

His voice was slightly tight, as though he were suppressing something.

A father's pride and heartache over his son regaining his strength were all contained in that brief question.

Everyone's gaze gathered on Xiao Yan.

The hall was so quiet that one could hear the faint crackling of the candle flame.

Xiao Yan set down his teacup, raised his head, and calmly met his father's eyes.

"Father, I had already recovered yesterday."

He spoke slowly, neither hurried nor unhurried, as though recounting a story that had nothing to do with him.

"Yesterday, I was cultivating Dou Zhi Qi in the back mountain, hoping to recover some of my strength. Suddenly, someone appeared in the air above me, walking through the void. He took one look at me and said that I was not ill, but undergoing an awakening."

"Walking through the void?" The Xiao Clan members all sucked in a breath.

"A Dou Zong expert?"

The three elders nearly cried out at the same time. At that moment, their expressions were astonishingly identical—shock, disbelief, and a trace of fear that even they themselves had not noticed.

Walking through the void, standing in the air without the aid of Dou Qi wings—this was the mark of a Dou Zong expert.

Throughout the Jia Ma Empire, the strongest openly known power was merely a Peak Dou Emperor.

A Dou Zong expert was the equivalent of a nuclear weapon within the Jia Ma Empire, enough to crush everything.

And such an existence had appeared in Wutan City? At the Xiao Clan's back mountain?

Xiao Zhan was also startled, but he quickly suppressed the turmoil in his heart and pressed on. "Yan'er, what happened next?"

His voice was even tighter than before.

A Dou Zong expert appearing near the Xiao Clan was enough to make anyone wary.

Yet that expert had apparently done nothing to the Xiao Clan. Instead—he had helped Yan'er recover his strength?

"I asked him, what awakening? What had I awakened?"

Xiao Yan's voice was steady, as though recalling a real experience. "He did not tell me. He only said that he wanted to take me as his disciple. He said that after taking me as his disciple, he could not only help me complete my awakening, but also restore my strength."

"When I saw him walking through the void, I realized he was very likely a Dou Zong expert. With the mindset of treating a dead horse as though it were alive, I accepted him as my master."

At this point, Xiao Yan's lips curved slightly, as though he had recalled something amusing.

"When he saw me become his disciple, he laughed happily and answered the doubts in my heart."

"It turned out that a special flame had always been hidden within my body. When I was born, I was too young for my body to bear the flame's power, so it automatically sealed itself inside me.

"When I was eleven and a half, that flame accidentally awakened and began wildly devouring the Dou Qi within my body. My strength began declining from that time onward."

A subdued commotion rose in the hall.

Xiao Zhan's hand trembled slightly. The expression on his face changed from shock to realization, then from realization to heartache.

After three years, he finally knew why his son had become like that—it was not illness, nor was it the heavens envying him. It was because of that damned flame within his body.

For three years, Yan'er had borne the insult of being called trash and endured everyone's cold stares and mockery, while the truth had turned out to be this.

"My master gave me a pill."

Without giving anyone time to digest his words, Xiao Yan continued, "He said it was a Seventh-Rank Pill called the 'Crimson Firmament Profound Origin Pill.' After taking it, it could not only provide enormous energy for the flame in my body, but also help me return to my peak."

Seventh-Rank Pill.

Those four words were like a boulder thrown into a tranquil lake, stirring up monstrous waves.

"A Seventh-Grade Alchemist? How is that possible?" someone cried out in shock.

"Exactly! Even Gu He, the Misty Cloud Sect's Pill King, is only a Sixth-Rank Alchemist. The master the young clan leader spoke of is actually seventh-grade?"

"Could the young clan leader's own words be false? If it were not a Seventh-Rank Pill, how could the young clan leader have recovered from Three-Level Dou Zhi Qi to a Four-Star Dou Practitioner in a single day?"

Whispers surged through the hall like a tide. Countless voices intertwined—some shocked, some doubtful, some already eighty percent convinced, while others remained skeptical.

Yet whether they believed it or not, the way everyone looked at Xiao Yan had fundamentally changed. There was envy, jealousy, reverence, and an indescribable fervor in their eyes.

"Enough!"

Xiao Zhan's shout exploded through the hall like thunder.

His voice carried the pressure of Dou Qi, making even the cups and dishes on the tables tremble slightly.

The once-noisy hall instantly fell silent, so quiet that everyone could hear their own heartbeats.

Xiao Zhan swept his gaze across the crowd in satisfaction before his eyes finally settled on Xiao Yan. His tone softened. "Yan'er, continue."

"To recover my strength, I naturally trusted my master's words and swallowed the pill in one bite."

Xiao Yan's voice was calm as water, as though he were not talking about swallowing a Seventh-Rank Pill, something enough to set anyone's blood racing, but merely drinking a cup of plain water.

"The moment the pill entered my stomach, the Dou Qi inside me surged explosively. That power was too vast, so vast that my body was nearly burst apart—just when I thought I would die there, the flame within my body was activated."

"It began devouring my surging Dou Qi like an ancient ferocious beast that had been starving for far too long, greedily swallowing everything. It continued until the Dou Qi in my body stabilized at the level of a Four-Star Dou Practitioner, then finally stopped."

Xiao Zhan gripped the armrest of his chair tightly, his knuckles turning white.

Although he knew his son was sitting safely before him, listening to Xiao Yan recount that experience still made his heart leap into his throat.

"When my master saw this, he was also stunned in place. After a long time, he finally said that the flame in my body was extraordinarily mysterious. He had originally believed I would at least recover to Eight-Star Dou Fighter, but he had not expected me to recover only to Four-Star."

Xiao Yan shook his head slightly, a trace of bitterness appearing on his lips. "I told my master that my talent and strength had returned, and I could make up the remaining gap myself. After hearing that, my master said nothing more. He left behind a Storage Ring and prepared to depart."

"Before he left, I asked him—Master, what is your name? Where should I go to find you in the future?"

"He said his surname was Yao. If I wished to find him, I only needed to go to the Central Plains after my strength reached the Dou Zong realm."

Xiao Yan paused, his gaze sweeping across everyone before finally settling on his father's face.

"After saying that, he disappeared before my eyes."

The hall was terrifyingly quiet.

If a needle fell to the ground, it could be heard clearly.

Everyone was processing every word Xiao Yan had just spoken.

A Dou Zong expert, a Seventh-Rank Pill, a mysterious flame awakened within his body, an expert surnamed Yao from the Central Plains—these pieces of information were like one heavy bomb after another, exploding in everyone's minds.

Only after more than a full minute did people gradually recover their senses.

The way they looked at Xiao Yan had completely changed.

Envy. Jealousy. Shock.

Those three emotions mixed on every face in varying proportions, creating all sorts of strange expressions.

Some moved their lips but could make no sound. Some clenched fists that trembled slightly. Some looked at Xiao Yan with eyes as complicated as though a jar of mixed flavors had been overturned inside them.

To be noticed by a Dou Zong expert and accepted as his disciple, to have consumed a Seventh-Rank Pill, and to hold an unknown number of high-level Dou Techniques—such an opportunity could likely not be found in a second person throughout the entire Jia Ma Empire.

Why was that person Xiao Yan? Why wasn't it me?

That thought flashed through more than one person's mind, but no one dared to say it aloud.