Dou Ling!

"Don't worry."

Xiao Chen smiled.

"I'm tough as nails."

Though he said not to worry, the pills in his hands never stopped coming.

Every two or three days, he took out a bottle of pills and passed it through the crack in the door.

Warm Nourishing Pills, Healing Pills, and Bone Tempering Pills took turns, never repeating the same kind.

"Elder, these pills of yours... they're all treasures!"

The attendant clicked his tongue in amazement. "If they were sold, each one would probably fetch an astronomical price!"

"An astronomical price?"

Xiao Chen shook his head dismissively.

"No matter how expensive a pill is, it has to be used where it counts. If he succeeds in this breakthrough, what are a few pills worth?"

The attendant scratched his head, only half understanding, but his gaze toward Xiao Chen gained a few shades of heartfelt respect.

"This is already the third bottle."

When Xiao Zhan came to visit, he looked at the tightly shut door.

"Elder Xiao, you've truly troubled yourself!"

Xiao Chen smiled and shook his head. As he looked at the door, a meaningful glint flashed through his eyes.

"He's a promising lad I value. Of course I have to take good care of him."

"But there's no need for you to stand guard personally, is there?"

Xiao Zhan advised, "No one can run out of the cultivation chamber. You should return to your courtyard and rest."

"You don't understand," Xiao Chen said calmly.

"When one enters seclusion to break through, interruptions are the greatest taboo. I'm guarding this place to keep petty troublemakers away, and to let him know that if the sky falls, I'll hold it up for him."

"Besides."

He paused, then added another sentence.

"His seclusion may last half a month at the shortest, or several months at the longest. If I don't keep watch, I can't rest easy."

Xiao Zhan froze for a moment. Looking at Xiao Chen's calm face, he suddenly found himself speechless.

He remembered that three years ago, Xiao Yan had still been a good-for-nothing mocked by the entire city.

Yet now, the boy was already a Da Dou Shi, about to climb the gates of the Misty Cloud Sect and fulfill that life-or-death agreement.

All of this had been brought about by the unfathomable elder standing before him.

"Elder Xiao..."

Xiao Zhan opened his mouth. A thousand words eventually turned into a long sigh.

"With you in the Xiao Clan, our ancestors' graves must be smoking."

"You flatter me, Clan Chief," Xiao Chen said with a smile.

"Oh, right."

Remembering something, he cautioned him.

"Clan Chief, people from the Misty Cloud Sect came by not long ago. Over the next few days, have the clan disciples stay alert. Don't let anyone sneak into the rear mountain."

"Yes!"

Xiao Zhan replied solemnly. "I'll send more men at once!"

"And one more thing."

Xiao Chen paused before adding.

"Before the Three-Year Agreement, everything in the Xiao Clan should remain as usual. Don't draw attention to ourselves. The more low-key we are, the less the Misty Cloud Sect will know about the Xiao Clan's true strength."

"Rest assured, Elder Xiao. I understand!" Xiao Zhan nodded heavily and turned to leave.

Watching Xiao Zhan's departing back, Xiao Chen withdrew his gaze and looked toward the tightly shut door.

"Kid, just focus on your breakthrough."

"I'll shield you from all the storms outside."

Another half month passed as he stood guard.

Inside the cultivation chamber, the Dou Qi fluctuations grew more violent by the day.

By the twentieth day, even Xiao Zhan could feel that surging power and could not help drawing a sharp breath.

"Yan'er's breakthrough... the commotion is far too great!"

"With such a solid foundation, a breakthrough will naturally come as smoothly as water flowing into a channel."

A pleased look flashed through Xiao Chen's eyes. "At this rate, when he emerges from seclusion, he'll probably give everyone a surprise."

Late at night on the twenty-third day.

The Dou Qi fluctuations within the cultivation chamber suddenly came to a violent halt!

Xiao Chen abruptly opened his eyes and looked toward the door, his expression tightening slightly.

"Is this... the moment he's about to break through?"

His heart tensed, but he forced himself to remain steady. The greatest taboo during a breakthrough was interruption. All he could do was guard the door and wait quietly.

In the night, the rear mountain was silent. Only the faint Dou Qi fluctuations from within the cultivation chamber sounded like war drums, pounding against Xiao Chen's heart again and again.

"Three years..."

Xiao Chen murmured softly. "Kid, the day you've been waiting for is not far away."

A night passed.

The Dou Qi fluctuations inside the cultivation chamber suddenly surged!

A vast torrent of Dou Qi burst out from behind the tightly shut door, sweeping up fallen leaves across the ground!

Xiao Chen felt as if a gale had blown past him, making his robes flap violently!

"What... what powerful Dou Qi!"

In the distance, several Xiao Clan disciples sensed the fluctuations as well. They stopped in their tracks and stared at the rear mountain in shock.

"Such powerful Dou Qi! Who is breaking through?!"

"Who else could it be? It must be Young Master Xiao Yan!"

"Gasp—this Dou Qi is probably stronger than that of many clan elders! Young Master Xiao Yan is truly about to soar into the heavens!"

Xiao Chen stood with his hands behind his back, watching the door that was still trembling faintly. A slow smile curved his lips.

"Dou Ling... achieved!"

A long howl shot into the sky from the Xiao Clan's rear mountain!

The howl pierced clouds and split stone, scattering birds throughout the mountains!

Xiao Chen rose abruptly and saw the cultivation chamber doors burst open with a bang as a figure strode out.

It was Xiao Yan!

The young man's Dou Qi now surged around him. His robes moved without wind, and every gesture radiated sharpness.

As he stepped forward, the blue bricks beneath his feet cracked inch by inch, shattered alive by that vast Dou Qi!

That howl startled half of Wutan City.

Throughout the city, countless gazes turned toward the Xiao Clan's rear mountain, filled with horror.

"That commotion... was it that kid from the Xiao Clan?!"

"Didn't they say Xiao Yan was useless? This, this Dou Qi fluctuation is probably beyond even the peak of Da Dou Shi!"

"Gasp—the Xiao Clan is about to produce a dragon!"

"Terrifying! The Three-Year Agreement hasn't even arrived, yet the Xiao Clan has already made such a stir. The Misty Cloud Sect... probably won't be able to sit still!"

The streets and alleys buzzed with discussion. Outside the Xiao Clan estate, crowds of curious onlookers had gathered.

Inside the Xiao Clan ancestral hall, a white-haired elder meditating with his eyes closed slowly opened them. A sharp gleam flashed through his clouded old eyes.

"A Dou Ling expert! In three years, from a good-for-nothing with Three-Stage Dou Qi to this point..."

"The Xiao Clan's younger generation has truly produced an extraordinary figure."

"By the looks of it, Miss Nalan's Three-Year Agreement with the Misty Cloud Sect is bound to cause a tremendous uproar."

He murmured to himself, then closed his eyes again, as though the flash of brilliance from before had merely been an illusion.

"High-Rank Dou Ling!"

Xiao Chen's pupils contracted slightly, before a pleased smile rose on his lips.

"Good kid... after one period of seclusion, he actually broke through to High-Rank Dou Ling!"

That cry of shock also alerted the Xiao Clan.

Xiao Zhan hurried over with several elders. Looking at the high-spirited figure on the rear mountain, every one of them drew a sharp breath.

"Th-this is Yan'er?!"

"What immense Dou Qi! This aura is probably stronger than that of more than half the clan's elders!"

"The Three-Year Agreement hasn't even arrived, yet Yan'er has already broken through to High-Rank Dou Ling... the Xiao Clan is truly about to produce a dragon!"

"Gasp—terrifying!"