Great Dou Master

Xiao Yan was utterly baffled by the strange looks everyone was giving him. He assumed the Cao Family was preparing to trip him up again, so he decided that out of sight was out of mind and went to chat with Dan Xuan off to one side.

"Brother Dan Xuan, you're too polite. I only lent a hand when I could; there's no need to apologize."

"Th-this... Brother Xiao Yan is right. I was being overly sentimental. My younger sister's temperament truly gives people headaches. I've made a fool of myself before Brother Xiao Yan."

"It's nothing. But what are you planning to do afterward, Brother Dan Xuan? I don't think Dan Chen can live on her own."

"My original intention was to request that the Pill Tower arrange our residences close together. However, my younger sister suddenly said she wanted to try living and cultivating independently. Though I'm not at ease, I can't interfere with her wishes."

"That's already a great improvement. Brother Dan Xuan should be happy."

"I'll take your good wishes, then..."

Xiao Yan had not wanted to interact too closely with the others, but Dan Xuan was simply too enthusiastic. He kept pulling Xiao Yan into conversation, and in the end, Xiao Yan could no longer hold back the question in his heart.

"Brother Dan Xuan, I entered the Pill Tower through the Ye Clan's connections. You understand what that means, don't you?"

Dan Xuan seemed not to have expected Xiao Yan to suddenly bring up the subject. His expression froze for a moment, but he quickly recovered and did not play dumb.

"So that's why Brother Xiao Yan has always kept everyone at arm's length. Since you mentioned the Ye Clan, I assume you intend to help them pass that future Pill Tower assessment?"

Xiao Yan had nothing to hide and readily admitted it.

"Then Brother Xiao Yan truly is the Ye Clan's prized son-in-law? Congratulations, congratulations! But don't worry. Whether the Ye Clan withdraws from the Elders' Council has no effect on my Dan Family, so I bear no hostility toward Brother Xiao Yan."

Xiao Yan neither confirmed nor denied the first half of Dan Xuan's words. He cared more about the relationship between the Dan Family and the Ye Clan. Thinking it over, Ye Zhong had indeed never told him to guard against the Dan Family, so he believed seven or eight parts of Dan Xuan's words.

After Xiao Yan lowered his guard somewhat, their conversation became much more relaxed and pleasant. Xiao Yan had to admit that Dan Xuan was knowledgeable, generous in speech, and the sort of person who easily won others' favor.

Though Cao Ying secretly resented the fact that Xiao Yan could laugh and chat with men yet gave her the cold shoulder, her earlier display had at least kept people from bothering her now, leaving her some peace and quiet.

However, those disciples who no longer dared disturb Cao Ying all turned their jealous and hateful gazes toward the young man chatting cheerfully nearby.

Song Qing, who had just been blatantly ignored by Cao Ying, was the best example. He no longer made a sound and merely stared fixedly at Xiao Yan, viciously thinking, "Xiao Yan, was it? Just you wait..."

They were lucky today. An eighth-grade elder happened to be giving a lecture, so everyone naturally flocked over and returned with much to gain.

The days that followed were much the same. Xiao Yan rose early to head to the Pill Tower, returned in the afternoon, refined a batch of pills to test what he had learned, then cultivated his Dou Qi or tempered his combat techniques. Xiao Yan had ultimately taken Elder Qiu's words to heart and did not rashly begin learning other combat techniques.

Xiao Yan did not go out of his way to befriend anyone. Aside from maintaining a fairly good relationship with the Dan siblings, he had no dealings with anyone else. Though his days were somewhat more dreary than before, this ascetic life also settled much of the restlessness in his heart since arriving in the Central Plains.

One month later, at dusk.

Xiao Yan sat cross-legged in cultivation. The energy fluctuations around him were far more intense than usual, because he had reached the critical point of a breakthrough.

Looking inward, Xiao Yan saw that within the Dou Qi vortex at his dantian, a crystal the size of a pomegranate seed had slowly condensed at the center of the fiery-red liquid. That was the key to becoming a Great Dou Master: a Dou Crystal!

When all the liquid Dou Qi had solidified into a Dou Crystal, Xiao Yan would officially become a Great Dou Master!

Xiao Yan continuously suppressed the restless Dou Qi within his body and casually took out a pill to swallow. It was not that he could no longer endure it; as a disciple of the Pill Tower, there was simply no need to be stingy with such things.

After swallowing this fourth-grade Foundation-Stabilizing Pill, Xiao Yan found it even easier to compress his Dou Qi.

In the end, Xiao Yan's breakthrough proceeded without a hitch. His cultivation had been built step by step through arduous training, and with the aid of pills, such an easy breakthrough was only natural.

Xiao Yan calmed his restless Dou Qi, then slowly opened his eyes. With a casual wave of his hand, he fired a stream of Dou Qi that directly shattered a jade bottle in the room.

The mark of a Great Dou Master—Dou Qi Projection!

Of course, there was also this.

Xiao Yan activated his Dou Crystal, and a layer of Dou Qi quickly covered his body before condensing into a suit of armor formed from Dou Qi—Dou Qi Armor!

This armor served a similar purpose to the Dou Qi Veil, but the boost it gave to offense, defense, and speed was far beyond anything the Dou Qi Veil could compare to!

Xiao Yan looked at the armor covering his body, but there was not much joy on his face. Instead, he felt rather melancholy.

"When I left home, Father and those elders were only Great Dou Masters, weren't they? I never expected to reach Father's level so quickly."

"With my current strength, I could raise the Xiao Clan's standing in the Jia Ma Empire by several levels. It's a pity I can't return. I wonder how Eldest Brother and Second Brother are doing now..."

Even setting aside Xiao Yan's age and cultivation, his identity as a fourth-grade alchemist alone was enough to say he could carry the Xiao Clan to new heights.

Unfortunately, Xiao Yan was now separated from them by thousands of miles, so such assumptions could only remain thoughts.

After sighing for a while, Xiao Yan put away his emotions. He understood that if he could already help his clan now, then the assistance he could offer in the future would only become greater!

A fourth-grade alchemist could only make the Xiao Clan a major power within the Jia Ma Empire. But if he became a Seventh-Grade Alchemist, then forget the Jia Ma Empire—even across the entire northwestern region, the Xiao Clan could strut about as tyrants!

Just imagining himself returning to the Xiao Clan as a Seventh-Grade Alchemist made Xiao Yan so delighted that he clutched his stomach and burst into laughter.

This was the childlike expression Xiao Yan only revealed when he was alone.

But then Xiao Yan realized that if he truly waited until becoming a Seventh-Grade Alchemist before going home, it would mean he could not return for at least another ten years. He immediately dismissed the thought.

"Forget it. It wouldn't be appropriate to stay away for that long. But I can't return anytime soon either. Sigh! Whenever I think of going home, I remember that marriage contract. What a headache!"

Xiao Yan began muttering about the matter that troubled him again. Even though he was confident that he was already the strongest fighter in the Xiao Clan, marriage, such a major life event, still gave him a terrible headache. The key was that his marriage contract had been arranged in his grandfather's generation. If he rashly broke it off, both families would be hurt.

The effect this marriage contract had on Xiao Yan was that he felt both happy and worried about being unable to return home in the short term.

He was happy because he did not have to face this troublesome matter, and perhaps there might even be some change in circumstances.

He was worried because it was still only a marriage contract for now. If he returned too late, both families might finish all the necessary arrangements and simply wait for him to return and complete the marriage. By then, once he went back, he would have no choice but to marry...

Xiao Yan understood that he had kept himself wound too tightly. Now that he had relaxed a little today, all sorts of random thoughts spilled out uncontrollably. Seeing that he was no longer in the right state to cultivate, Xiao Yan decisively climbed into bed to rest.

This method proved effective. With the schedule Xiao Yan set for himself each day, he had enough of everything except sleep. The moment his head touched the pillow, drowsiness washed over him.

He soon fell asleep, but Xiao Yan's sleeping posture that night was quite ungraceful, and he occasionally muttered in his dreams.

"Grandfather... Father, you both set me up..."

"I won't marry Nalan... won't marry her..."

"I want... want to marry..."

"Huff... huff..."