Eleven-Year-Old Eight-Star Dou Fighter

After cultivating Dou Zhi Qi, Xiao Yan reorganized his daily routine.

Before dawn each morning, he rose to train his body, never stopping even when sweat soaked through his clothes.

Once his body had warmed up, he picked up books and studied—not only texts on medicinal herbs, but also the historical records of the Dou Qi Continent, Dou Techniques of every rank, and general treatises on cultivation methods.

With his current cultivation, he could not truly practice any Dou Technique or cultivation method yet, but that did not stop him from committing the knowledge to memory in advance.

As for whether any elders would stop him, that was needless concern.

Given the talent Xiao Yan had displayed, no one would object to his entering the Dou Technique Pavilion to read up on Dou Techniques.

The afternoons were devoted to cultivation, pouring his whole heart into absorbing Dou Qi, while the nights were reserved for restoring the mental energy spent during the day.

He had considered replacing sleep with cultivation, but this body was simply too young. Even though his Soul Power far surpassed that of ordinary people, his physical body still needed rest.

The days passed one after another.

A month later, Xiao Yan naturally broke through the barrier and entered the First Stage of Dou Qi.

Among the Xiao Clan's younger generation, he was the first to cross that threshold.

The clan elders all praised Xiao Zhan for having such a good son, praising Xiao Yan's extraordinary talent for reaching the First Stage of Dou Qi at the age of four.

Praise came flooding in from all directions, yet not one person mentioned the sweat of those mornings, the lonely meditation of those afternoons, or the exhaustion that piled up at night.

At an age when other children chased one another and played, Xiao Yan squeezed every inch of time dry and ground it all into his cultivation.

A soul stronger than ordinary people's, exceptional cultivation talent, and this almost obsessive diligence—combined, they naturally made his cultivation speed far surpass that of his peers.

It was around this time that an unfamiliar child arrived at the Xiao Clan.

She had pitch-black eyes and a delicate, fair little face that seemed soft enough to break at a touch. Though her features had not fully matured, they already revealed the outline of a breathtaking beauty.

Xiao Yan could not have been more familiar with that name—Xiao Xun'er.

Their first formal meeting came when Xiao Zhan gathered the Xiao Clan's younger children in the courtyard.

Holding Xun'er's hand, Xiao Zhan introduced her to everyone. "This is Xiao Xun'er. You must all take good care of her."

After speaking, Xiao Zhan deliberately glanced at Xiao Yan.

There was none of the curiosity or delight his father had expected on Xiao Yan's face. He nodded calmly, withdrew his gaze, and sat down cross-legged to resume cultivating.

It was not that he had any prejudice against Xun'er. He simply knew her true identity well—the young lady of the Ancient Clan, bearer of the Dou Emperor Bloodline, naturally far more mature than children her age.

Being overly enthusiastic and crowding around her would only backfire.

Nor could he bring himself to press his warmth against her coldness.

Seeing this, Xiao Zhan did not force the matter. After giving a few instructions, he turned and left to handle clan affairs.

Xiao Xun'er had no intention of making friends on her own either.

The Dou Emperor Bloodline had given her not only talent, but also an innate sense of distance from others.

The boisterous play of children her age seemed laughably childish to her. She could not even be bothered to watch their games of chasing and roughhousing.

At first, the Xiao Clan children were full of curiosity about this doll-like little girl and were happy to follow Xiao Zhan's instructions and play with her.

But Xiao Xun'er rejected each of them expressionlessly, as cold as a piece of jade that could never be warmed.

After being rebuffed, the children lost interest and drifted away in small groups to play elsewhere.

Thus, a strange scene appeared in the courtyard: a group of children ran and played, laughter and shrieks blending together.

Meanwhile, at opposite ends of the courtyard, Xiao Yan and Xiao Xun'er each occupied a corner. One cultivated with his eyes closed, while the other watched quietly. Neither paid attention to the other, like two separate worlds forcibly placed in the same painting.

Over the following days, Xiao Yan did not climb over the wall in the middle of the night to find Xiao Xun'er as he had in the original story.

His understanding of Dou Zhi Qi was already sufficient. Between memories from his previous life and the reading he had done during this time, he already knew everything he needed to know.

Besides, he had been an eighteen-year-old adult in his previous life. He could not bring himself to climb into a little girl's room.

The ice between them was truly broken by an accident a few days later.

Out of private motives, Xiao Zhan arranged Xiao Xun'er's courtyard next to Xiao Yan's.

That day, after soaking in a hot spring in the back mountain to wash away the fatigue accumulated from cultivation, Xiao Yan was walking back to his courtyard along the stone path. When he passed Xiao Xun'er's gate, he noticed it had not been fully closed, leaving a narrow crack.

He had no intention of peeking, but when the scene inside caught the corner of his eye, he stopped.

Xiao Xun'er was lying on the ground, unconscious.

Xiao Yan did not hesitate. He pushed open the gate, hurried over, and crouched beside her. His fingers settled on her pulse. It was weak but steady, and there was nothing seriously wrong with her body. She had merely fainted from weakness.

He let out a breath of relief, carried Xiao Xun'er back into her room, and laid her on the bed.

After a brief moment of thought, he slowly transferred the Dou Qi within his body into Xiao Xun'er's meridians, helping nourish them.

Once he was done, he took paper and brush from Xiao Xun'er's desk, wrote out a prescription for warming and replenishing medicine, placed it on the bedside table, then turned and left the room.

The door closed softly.

On the bed, Xiao Xun'er opened her eyes. There was not the slightest trace of grogginess in her dark pupils.

"Elder Ling."

A black shadow landed soundlessly beside the bed. It was Ling Ying.

"What happened just now?" Xiao Xun'er asked. Her voice was soft, but it carried a calmness unfitting for her age.

Ling Ying lowered his head, and a rare hint of confusion surfaced in his tone. "Miss, I am not entirely sure either. A wave of drowsiness suddenly came over me, and I lost focus."

Xiao Xun'er frowned slightly.

Ling Ying was known for his steadiness within the Ancient Clan. The clan elders had sent him to protect her precisely because of his meticulous, watertight manner of handling matters. Any force capable of making Ling Ying lose focus was certainly not simple.

After a moment of silence, she shook her head and stopped dwelling on the matter. She picked up the prescription from the bedside and handed it to him. "Elder Ling, take this prescription and have it examined. If there is no problem, prepare the medicine according to it."

"Yes."

The next day, Xiao Xun'er personally came to thank him.

Xiao Yan waved a hand, his tone calm. "If any other clan member encountered such a situation, I would not have ignored them either."

Hearing this, Xiao Xun'er felt a trace of curiosity. She and Xiao Yan were about the same age, so why did he know so much?

Whenever she passed his courtyard, eight times out of ten he was cultivating, and the remaining two times he was reading.

That almost obsessive diligence was not the sort of self-discipline a four-year-old child should possess.

From then on, Xiao Xun'er occasionally visited Xiao Yan's courtyard. She did not disturb him, merely sitting quietly nearby and watching him cultivate.

Once Xiao Yan finished his cultivation, she would toss him questions she had encountered during her own training.

Xiao Yan kept nothing back and answered honestly.

With each exchange, their relationship gradually grew closer.

Xiao Xun'er's way of addressing him changed from "Xiao Yan" to "Brother Xiao Yan."

Ling Ying watched it all with growing anxiety, but he could not stop it. Xiao Xun'er was the daughter of the Ancient Clan's patriarch. If he displeased her, once she returned to the clan, she could deal with him however she pleased.

At the age of nine, without relying on any external aid, Xiao Yan condensed a Dou Qi Cyclone in his dantian and officially entered the One-Star Dou Fighter realm.

The news was like a stone dropped into a still lake, its ripples swiftly spreading throughout the Xiao Clan.

The entire clan was shaken. The elders ran about spreading the news, and everyone regarded Xiao Yan as the hope of the clan's revival.

The smile on Xiao Zhan's face remained for an entire month.

At eleven, Xiao Yan cultivated to the Eight-Star Dou Fighter realm.

At this rate, reaching the Dou Master realm before the age of twelve was practically certain.

Everyone in the Xiao Clan waited for that day, waiting to witness this genius youth break through once more with their own eyes.

But that day never came.

The bad news arrived without warning—Xiao Yan's Dou Qi fell all the way from Eight-Star Dou Fighter, finally stopping at One-Star Dou Fighter.

Xiao Zhan and the elders exhausted every possible method. They probed his Dou Qi, cleared his meridians, nourished him with medicinal baths, and tried everything they could, yet they found no cause.

They even paid a high price to invite Gu Ni, the Second-Rank Alchemist from the Mittel Auction House. After carefully examining him, the Alchemist of considerable renown in the Jia Ma Empire was equally helpless.

No one knew why.

Xiao Yan knew.

He lowered his head to look at the black ring his mother had left him. It was absorbing his Dou Qi day after day, like a bottomless black hole.

Hidden within the ring was the soul of a peak Dou Venerable—Medicine Venerable, Yao Chen.

He could have taken off the ring and locked it away in some corner, allowing everything to return to normal.

But he did not.

Without Yao Lao and the Flame Mantra, the most he could ever become in this life was a Dou Venerable.

In Wutan City, or even in the Jia Ma Empire, a Dou Venerable was already an existence standing at the pinnacle.

But he knew how vast this world was.

The Central Plains, the ancient eight clans, Dou Saints, Dou Emperors—those were the true stage.

With his current talent, he was considered exceedingly rare in the Jia Ma Empire. But thrown into the Central Plains, or among the ancient seven clans, he would be nothing more than an ordinary person found everywhere.

He needed Medicine Venerable. He needed the Flame Mantra.

So he would wait. He would lie dormant for three years, wait for the soul within the ring to awaken, then soar into the sky.

At twelve, Xiao Yan's Dou Qi had already fallen to the Third Stage.

The news spread through the entire city. Everyone knew the Xiao Clan's genius had been crippled, but strangely, not many people mocked him.

Xiao Yan's reputation within the Xiao Clan was simply too good—he treated people gently, never put on airs because of his talent, and was polite to everyone he met.

Even after falling into the depths, most clan members looked at him with only regret rather than ridicule.

Only a small number were different.

Xiao Ning and his few lackeys mocked Xiao Yan whenever they saw him.

Everyone in the clan knew of Xiao Ning's feelings for Xiao Xun'er, yet Xiao Xun'er had always clung only to Xiao Yan.

When Xiao Yan had still been a genius, Xiao Ning naturally did not dare say anything. Now that Xiao Yan was crippled, how could he possibly resist stomping on him a few times?

Xiao Yan himself showed no sign of dejection.

He still maintained his daily routine—cultivating, training his body, reading—exactly the same as before.