Nalan Yanran, Disloyal, Unfilial, and Unrighteous

Xiao Yan slowly walked to the center of the hall, his hands clasped behind his back.

"Miss Nalan, as a disciple of the Xiao Clan, after watching for so long, I have already identified three problems."

Nalan Yanran's delicate brows furrowed slightly. Looking at the youth before her, she began to dislike him. Suppressing the displeasure in her heart, she said with an icy expression:

"What problems?"

Xiao Yan smiled calmly.

"First, regarding your visit to the Xiao Clan today to break off the engagement, did the Nalan Patriarch know?"

Nalan Yanran snorted inwardly. Trying to use an elder to pressure me? He was just another clingy pest. Did he not see the difference between us?

She rose to her feet, her tone calm yet proud. "Grandfather did not know, but this is my own matter. It has nothing to do with him."

Xiao Yan did not refute her and continued:

"Second, since you came to break off the engagement, you are the party at fault. What compensation did you bring for Xiao Yan?"

Hm?

Everyone raised their heads in confusion as they looked at Xiao Yan. Aren't you Xiao Yan?

How had he somehow started demanding gifts?

Nalan Yanran gave a light laugh. She had thought he was so proud.

"Mr. Ge, take out the compensation I brought."

Ge Ye brushed his right hand over the ring on his left, and as if by magic, produced an ancient jade box that gleamed green all over.

He carefully opened the box, and a strange medicinal fragrance immediately drifted through the hall. Just one breath of it left everyone feeling refreshed.

"Qi Gathering Powder?"

"It's Qi Gathering Powder!"

The three elders recognized it and cried out in alarm.

Those who knew the effects of Qi Gathering Powder all stared heatedly at the pill in Ge Ye's hand, which was jade-green throughout and the size of a longan.

As everyone knew, during the Dou Qi stage, one had no cultivation technique, and because the meridians and physical body were fragile, one could not take ordinary medicinal pills.

Thus, Dou Qi cultivation relied entirely on talent and progressed slowly.

After finally reaching the ninth stage of Dou Qi, one still had to condense a Dou Qi cyclone, and that came with a considerable chance of failure.

And once one failed, one's Dou Qi would fall back to the eighth stage.

Some particularly unlucky people might fail more than ten times before they could succeed.

The effect of Qi Gathering Powder was to allow someone at the ninth stage of Dou Qi to condense a Dou Qi cyclone with a one hundred percent success rate.

Its value was obvious.

Moreover, Qi Gathering Powder was not some common commodity. Only alchemists could refine it.

Alchemists were a profession that stood above Dou Zhe on the Dou Qi Continent.

As for how one became a respected alchemist, that was not worth discussing for now.

Yet Xiao Yan did not look at the Qi Gathering Powder. Once he became Yao Lao's disciple, how many low-grade pills like this would he not be able to get?

He continued:

"Third, ever since you arrived at the Xiao Clan, this fellow's eyes have been fixed on you, haven't they?"

"What does that mean? You have not even broken off the engagement yet. You are still Xiao Yan's fiancée. Have you already found your next man so quickly?"

"I'm talking about you. Still looking?"

With his hands behind his back, Xiao Yan paced around the hall as he spoke, eventually stopping beside the twenty-year-old youth next to Ge Ye.

He tilted his head, blocking the youth's line of sight toward Nalan Yanran. The latter snorted disdainfully and turned his head away.

Hm?

Everyone looked at Xiao Yan in confusion. Was Xiao Yan jealous?

Xiao Yan just felt strange somehow.

"Don't slander me."

Nalan Yanran's face turned livid with anger. Looking at the youth, her eyes were filled with disgust.

"Senior Brother Mo Li and I only just met. It is not as filthy as you imagine."

Xiao Yan burst into loud laughter and said:

"Today, I will speak a few fair words for Xiao Yan."

Hm?

Everyone looked at Xiao Yan in confusion. What was this?

He was going to speak a few fair words for Xiao Yan?

No, weren't you Xiao Yan?

This Xiao Yan had really gone mad!

Xiao Yan continued:

"At such an important and private occasion for breaking off an engagement, you actually brought along another young man. Have you considered Xiao Yan's feelings?"

"This is disloyalty!"

"Your engagement with Xiao Yan was arranged by the Nalan Patriarch and Xiao Yan's grandfather. Yet you came to break it off without the Nalan Patriarch knowing."

"This is unfilial!"

"You clearly knew that Xiao Yan had fallen from being a Dou Zhe all the way to the third stage of Dou Qi, yet your compensation was Qi Gathering Powder."

"It is like giving a pair of handsome boots to a cripple, or giving goggles to a blind man."

"This is an insult to Xiao Yan. This is unrighteousness!"

"Nalan Yanran, you are disloyal, unfilial, and unrighteous!"

"You, you, you..."

Nalan Yanran staggered back again and again from his words, finally collapsing into a chair. Her face was pale, her chest heaving violently, and for a moment she could not find any words to refute him.

After softly exhaling, Nalan Yanran calmed her turbulent emotions, her little face darkening slightly.

"Remember, I came here today because my teacher..."

"Save your threats."

"I feel that my words have already touched your soul. I will not say more. Time will give you the answer."

Xiao Yan paced through the hall, his gaze sweeping over everyone before finally settling on Nalan Yanran. He said coldly:

"Nalan Yanran, let me offer you some advice. Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river. Never mock a young man for being poor!"

Nalan Yanran's delicate body trembled lightly when she heard Xiao Yan's forceful, icy words.

She had been pampered since childhood. When had she ever been lectured by someone her own age like this? Anger clouded her head and tightened her chest, and she could no longer maintain her aloof, noble bearing. Her tone became shrill:

"What right do you have to lecture me? I could not match your talent in the past, but now you are nothing but trash at the third stage of Dou Qi! Fine, I, Nalan Yanran, will wait for you. I will wait for the day you surpass me!"

"I can put the matter of breaking off the engagement aside for now. I will give you three years. If you can defeat me, I, Nalan Yanran, will become your servant, and you may do as you please. But if you lose, you must apologize to me and hand over the agreement to dissolve the engagement."

Looking at the girl's livid little face, Xiao Yan felt apologetic.

As for what came next, divorcing his wife, Xiao Yan had no interest in doing that.

Thus, he said blandly, "Nalan Yanran, three years from now, I will personally go to the Misty Cloud Sect and defeat you, teaching you a lesson."

"I will make you understand that you must think thrice before acting."

This time, he spoke as Xiao Yan.

Xiao Yan stepped forward, bent his knees before Xiao Zhan, and knelt down, knocking his head heavily against the floor.

Xiao Yan respected Xiao Zhan, this father, from the bottom of his heart.

When Nalan Yanran broke off the engagement, it was not only Xiao Yan who had been humiliated, but Xiao Zhan as well.

Xiao Yan did not care, but as clan leader, Xiao Zhan had endured even more ridicule and gossip.

Since he was now Xiao Yan, he naturally had to shoulder the responsibilities of being a son.

"Father, three years from now, your son will ascend the Misty Cloud Sect and wipe away the humiliation you suffered today!"

Looking at his kneeling son, Xiao Zhan smiled calmly. "Yan'er, if you want to do it, then go. Your father will support you."

"My, Xiao Zhan's, son must have this kind of courage and determination—to fear no hardship and face challenges with confidence."

Xiao Yan threw back his head and laughed. "Father, I will not disappoint you."

After saying that, Xiao Yan knocked his head heavily against the ground once more, then rose and looked at the displeased Nalan Yanran.

"Nalan Yanran, now that this matter is settled, please leave!"

Nalan Yanran's fingers clenched the contract until her knuckles turned white. She turned and bowed to Xiao Zhan.

"Uncle Xiao, Yanran apologizes to you for what happened today. If you have time in the future, please visit the Nalan Family. I will personally serve you tea and beg your forgiveness."

After saying that, she walked out of the hall, with Ge Ye and Mo Li hurriedly following behind her.

After saluting Xiao Zhan, Xiao Yan also chose to leave the hall.

[Ding! The host stood up for Xiao Yan. Xiao Yan did not write a letter of divorce. This has been judged as weakening Xiao Yan's level by 4 stars.]

[Reward: One use of the Dou Qi Horse Transformation divine ability.]

[Dou Qi Horse Transformation: After activating this divine ability, summon a Dou Qi horse. Once mounted, you can escape even the pursuit of a Dou Di.]

At the back mountain, the system's reward arrived belatedly.

Xiao Yan's eyes lit up. He had not expected that refraining from cutting his palm and divorcing his wife would have such an unexpected effect.

The weakening of Xiao Yan's level had actually reached 4 stars.

When Xiao Yan read the description of "Dou Qi Horse Transformation," his expression became strange.

There was actually such a divine ability.

However, with the divine ability "Dou Qi Horse Transformation," it was equivalent to possessing a life-saving trump card. Even if Hun Tiandi himself arrived at Wu Tan City now, he could still preserve his life. Truly, never mock a young man for being poor.