Ambiguous with Xun'er, Reward: Third-Grade Soul Fruit?

[Ding! The host was ambiguous with Xiao Yan's woman, Xiao Xun'er. Assessment: Xiao Yan's level weakened by 3 stars.]

[Reward: Third-Grade Soul Fruit x1.]

[Third-Grade Soul Fruit: After consumption, raises soul power to the late Mortal Realm.]

Just after Xiao Yan took the girl's hand and walked out of the testing square, the system's voice suddenly rang out.

Looking at the words in the system log,

Xiao Yan froze. This worked too?

"System, what is the maximum number of stars you can weaken Xiao Yan by?"

[Maximum 6 stars—kill Xiao Yan!]

A 3-star weakening rewarded a Third-Grade Soul Fruit?

Would 4 stars reward a Fourth-Grade Soul Fruit?

Looking at the girl's tender red lips, Xiao Yan actually felt a little restless.

If he kissed the girl now, the weakening level would definitely reach 4 stars.

However, when he thought of Ling Ying, the Dou Emperor hidden in the shadows, Xiao Yan abandoned the idea.

"Brother Xiao Yan, what are you doing?"

Keenly sensing the heat in the young man's gaze, Xiao Xun'er blushed shyly and lowered her head slightly.

Xiao Yan awkwardly rubbed his nose and said,

"Xun'er, it's getting dark. Let's head back."

"Hm?"

The girl was reluctant to part with him. With her head lowered, she followed behind Xiao Yan.

After seeing the girl off, Xiao Yan headed alone to the back mountain behind the Xiao Clan.

With a thought, he took out the Third-Grade Soul Fruit and swallowed it in one bite.

The Soul Fruit melted as soon as it entered his mouth. Xiao Yan swallowed it before he could even taste it.

At the instant Xiao Yan took out the Soul Fruit, the black ring on his hand flashed with a strange glint.

Inside the ring, Yao Lao saw Xiao Yan swallow the Soul Fruit whole and immediately beat his chest in anguish.

"This brat is simply wasting a treasure!"

If he had used that Soul Fruit to refine a pill, its soul-enhancing effects would have doubled.

"Where did this brat get such a rare Soul Fruit?"

Yao Lao was rather puzzled.

On the Dou Qi Continent, souls were innate and could only grow with age.

Only a very small number of spiritual treasures and miraculous medicines could strengthen the soul.

That was also why alchemists held such exalted status.

After all, to become an alchemist, one's soul had to meet the standard.

Xiao Yan had no idea how Yao Lao had reacted. As the Soul Fruit entered his stomach, he felt his mind clear, and his soul perception improved by a great deal.

He could vaguely hear two ants fighting in the grass some distance away.

He could hear ants battling.

Night had just fallen. A bright full moon rose in the sky, while countless stars filled the dark heavens.

This kind of night view could still be seen on Earth before the seventies or eighties.

Xiao Yan's soul power had reached the late Mortal Realm. Even in the darkness of night, he could clearly perceive everything around him.

He darted and leaped swiftly along the mountain path, soon arriving at the top of a cliff.

Xiao Yan sat down cross-legged, preparing to cultivate.

Although the original owner of this body had cultivated countless times in his memories, Xiao Yan himself had never done it personally.

Following the movements from his memories, he skillfully formed a strange hand seal before him, emptied his mind of its tangled thoughts, and let his powerful soul perception take effect.

Within his powerful soul perception, countless vividly colored Dou Qi energies of different attributes filled heaven and earth. Among them was red fire-attributed Dou Qi energy.

Xiao Yan's own Dou Qi talent was fire-attributed, and he naturally felt close to this red fire-attributed Dou Qi energy, as though he could draw it in at will.

Of course, that was impossible.

Only upon reaching the Dou Wang realm would he be able to draw upon this portion of same-attributed energy.

For his current cultivation, he could only absorb those milky-white, attribute-less Dou Qi energies.

As thoughts flashed through his mind, Xiao Yan began drawing those milky-white strands of Dou Qi into his body.

His chest rose and fell slightly. With every breath, faint white streams entered through his mouth and nose, strengthening his flesh and bones.

At the same time, that white Dou Qi formed Dou Qi and gathered in the qi sea of his dantian.

Xiao Yan was delighted. It seemed that after his soul realm improved, his cultivation speed for Dou Qi had increased greatly as well.

However, the moment the Dou Qi reached his qi sea, it immediately vanished.

When Xiao Yan deliberately focused his senses, he could feel an extremely faint suction coming from the Storage Ring on his hand.

It drew away that Dou Qi.

And this time, it seemed to be even more forceful than before.

It turned out Yao Lao was still angry about Xiao Yan wasting a Soul Fruit, so he did not even bother pretending anymore.

Yet Xiao Yan also pretended not to know. With helpless anger, he cursed,

"Damn it! I finally cultivated some Dou Qi, but before I could even warm it up, it vanished again for no reason."

There was no flaw in that performance. After all, the thrill of his strength increasing had not yet faded when the powerless feeling of his strength regressing came rushing back.

It truly felt awful.

It was like your paycheck had just arrived, and you were thinking of going out for a good meal to reward yourself for a month of hard work.

Then some loan app took your money to repay a debt, and staring at your single-digit balance, all you could do was curse and settle for another bowl of instant noodles.

Xiao Yan let out a deep breath, then suddenly turned toward the pitch-black woods.

"Father, you're here."

"Yan'er, your perception is truly sharp."

As his voice fell, a figure swayed atop the treetops. Before the person appeared, laughter drifted over on the night wind.

Immediately afterward, a middle-aged man dressed in luxurious gray robes leaped down from the tree.

He was the Xiao Clan's patriarch, Xiao Yan's father, Xiao Zhan, a Five-Star Da Dou Shi.

"Yan'er, you're still cultivating so late at night?" Xiao Zhan strode forward with the bearing of a dragon and tiger, smiling as he asked.

Feeling the concern in his words, Xiao Yan thought of his father on Earth.

His father had been a mechanical polisher. Through frugal living, he had built two three-and-a-half-story houses in their village for his two sons.

Even after reaching sixty and developing diabetes, he had continued working just to support his two sons.

Every phone call and video chat had been initiated by his father, asking after his health and work.

Now they were separated by two worlds. He no longer even had the chance to fulfill his filial duty.

Fortunately, he still had a younger brother.

His younger brother was quite capable as well, with three daughters and two sons.

He had also opened a small workshop producing butterfly valves, earning more than two hundred thousand a year after expenses.

With his younger brother able to care for their parents in their old age and see them through to the end, Xiao Yan did not feel too devastated.

As he thought this, his eyes grew moist.

Xiao Zhan thought he was still dwelling on the afternoon's test. He immediately embraced the young man and comforted him.

"Yan'er, as for your falling realm, it's best to let nature take its course."

Xiao Yan drew in a deep breath, gathered up his sorrow, and smiled.

"Father, I can accept that. I believe that one day, my talent will return."

Xiao Zhan burst into laughter.

"That is my, Xiao Zhan's, good son."

"Alright, it's late. We should go back."

"A distinguished guest will arrive tomorrow, so don't be discourteous."

Xiao Yan nodded. Naturally, he knew that the distinguished guest was Nalan Yanran of the Misty Cloud Sect.

He did not ask further and followed his father toward home.