The Gu Clan, Gu Yuan, and Xiao Yi Xian of Qingshan Town

A Peak Dou Sheng?!

Xiao Yan's pupils contracted sharply.

There were only two Peak Dou Shengs on the entire continent. One belonged to the Gu Clan, the other to the Soul Clan. If it was the latter, the entire Xiao Clan might face annihilation. As for the former...

"Xiao Yan?"

Amid the crowd, an utterly ordinary-looking middle-aged man stopped and studied the stunned youth before him with a smile.

"Uncle Gu..." Xiao Yan recognized Gu Yuan and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He remembered him because Gu Yuan had personally brought Xun'er to the Xiao Clan when they were children. They had met once then.

"Ling Ying tells me you've made great strides lately." Gu Yuan smiled, his hands clasped behind his back.

Though they stood in Wutan City's busiest, most crowded market, the people passing by seemed to overlook them both. They flowed around the pair without disturbing Gu Yuan in the slightest.

He seemed like an immortal walking among mortals.

Xiao Yan scratched his head, looking a little bashful. "I didn't expect even you to hear about it."

Inside, he was perfectly calm. Clearly, Ling Ying had reported that he had a venerable mentor. Perhaps Yao Lao had been too weak to draw Gu Yuan's attention in the original story, so Gu Yuan had never once come to ask about him.

But the one inside the Storage Ring now was the Old Lord. That was enough to bring Gu Yuan here to take a look for himself.

"Hum..."

The next instant, while Xiao Yan was still distracted, a pale-yellow ripple spread from the Storage Ring on his finger. Before he could grasp what had happened, the smile on Gu Yuan's face slowly turned grave.

After a long moment, Gu Yuan narrowed his eyes and bowed slightly. "May I ask which mighty Powerhouse from ancient times you are, senior? Forgive this junior's discourtesy."

The Storage Ring fell silent.

"My teacher has a rather peculiar temper. Please forgive him, Uncle Gu." Xiao Yan coughed twice, sounding a little awkward.

"Ha, no matter..." The shock in Gu Yuan's eyes gradually faded. When he looked at Xiao Yan again, there was a new intensity in his gaze.

"Mighty Powerhouses from ancient times are bound to have their quirks. I was the one who intruded."

"You're setting off on a journey? It's good for young people to see more of the world," Gu Yuan said with a smile.

"Once you reach Dou Zong—no, Dou Zun—come to the Ancient Realm. I expect that senior has told you about the Xiao Clan and the Eight Ancient Clans. By then, it will be time for you to reclaim some of what belongs to your clan..."

Gu Yuan looked at Xiao Yan, unable to hide his emotion.

At least then, he could offer some account to the old friend buried deep within the ancient tomb.

Back then, Xiao Xuan had failed to break through to Dou Di, and the Soul Clan had seized the chance to attack. The Xiao Clan had fallen into ruin. Though the Eight Ancient Clans had divided up its treasures, they had left some valuable things behind.

Gu Yuan had spent years cleaning up the aftermath for the Xiao Clan, intervening several times to keep the Soul Clan from hunting them down. Only after the clan moved to the desolate northwest, all the way to this godforsaken Wutan City, had the Soul Clan finally lost its trail and called off the pursuit.

The Gu Clan had indeed taken a share of the Xiao Clan's former treasures. But even if those treasures had been returned, could the Xiao Clan have protected them?

With its Dou Di Bloodline nearly exhausted, the clan could only grow weaker. The Xiao Clan of today was proof enough.

As Xiao Xuan's friend, Gu Yuan had done all he could.

If someone in the Xiao Clan proved capable of bearing its future, he would help. If not... perhaps it was better for them to remain here in obscurity, far from the wars of the Central Plains.

"Yes!" Xiao Yan nodded solemnly.

He had no complaints about his future father-in-law. Even setting the Gu Clan aside, Gu Yuan had done right by the Xiao Clan. He had even sent them his daughter, and... ahem.

In any case, Xiao Yan was deeply grateful.

"Well then, off you go. This old man will visit Xun'er." Gu Yuan stroked his beard with a smile and vanished in an instant.

"That old man really does dote on his daughter," Xiao Yan said with a chuckle.

"And you?" the Old Lord asked, a teasing note in his voice.

"Me..." Xiao Yan rubbed his nose. "Who knows?"

A young man had arrived in Qingshan Town.

His background was a mystery, but his strength was anything but. Despite his youthful, barely grown face, he had crippled a Seven-Star Dou Zhe with a single punch.

In just two days, his name had spread throughout Qingshan Town.

But...

"I only treat the injured, not healthy people."

Inside the Myriad Medicine Pavilion.

On the second floor of its small building.

A lovely woman with a slender waist sat behind the counter, her face veiled in gauze. She spoke to Xiao Yan coolly, keeping him firmly at a distance.

"You were born with a poison body, yet here you are treating the sick. That's... interesting." Xiao Yan's expression did not change as he studied the woman across from him with a smile.

"Xiao Yi Xian."

"W-what do you mean?!" Xiao Yi Xian's pupils contracted sharply. She looked up at Xiao Yan. She had learned only by chance that her body was the Woeful Poison Body, feared across the entire continent. She had wanted to heal people, yet she was compelled to consume poison. The contradiction tormented her.

She wanted to be a good person.

She wanted to be Xiao Yi Xian, a healer of the sick, not a poison master whose very name made people recoil.

But...

What frightened her even more was the power of the Woeful Poison Body. The continent had already seen what it could do. If her true identity came to light, countless Powerhouses would hunt her until nothing remained of her but ashes.

At the thought, her hand trembled beneath the counter. Whatever else happened, she had to subdue this man first and find out exactly how he knew.

The next instant, she thrust out her slender hand, several poison needles held between her long, pale fingers, ready to fire them at Xiao Yan.

But Xiao Yan had clearly been prepared. He casually caught her wrist in a grip like an iron clamp, leaving her fingers unable to move an inch.

"You..." Xiao Yi Xian stared at him in disbelief.

He was far stronger than she had expected!

"Put the poison away. If I meant you harm, I wouldn't have come alone. You'd be facing a band of assassins instead," Xiao Yan said lazily.

"Then let go of me first!"

Xiao Yi Xian's voice was cold.

"..."

Xiao Yan smiled and slowly released her.

Xiao Yi Xian's expression eased somewhat as she put away the poison needles. "What do you want from me?"

"I'm not interested in having poison treated. I am, however, very interested in the Woeful Poison Body," Xiao Yan said with a smile.

"I want to see whether it's as formidable as the rumors say. You grow stronger simply by consuming poison, yet you can't stop eating it. Truly, the Dou Qi Continent is full of wonders." Xiao Yan smiled.

"..."

Xiao Yi Xian was stunned, and a little helpless.

It felt as though he had stripped her bare and laid every secret out before him.

How did this man know everything?!