The rumors made him a Dou Ling? A letter from the Misty Cloud Sect!

After the two families were wiped out, Wutan City changed completely.

The marketplaces that had belonged to the Jia Lie Family and the Ao Ba Family gradually put up the Xiao Clan's signboards. As merchant caravans left the city and street patrols changed shifts, the emblem people saw most often was the Xiao Clan's.

Xiao Zhan was so busy that he had to pick his moments just to drink tea.

Fortunately, the two families had left behind more than storefronts and warehouses.

There were people, too.

That night, Xiao Yan had killed the leaders and cut down the Death Warriors who fought back desperately, but he had not slaughtered everyone to the last.

Some of the remaining members of the two families were willing to submit to the Xiao Clan. Even among the guards who had laid down their weapons that night, some were allowed to stay.

Xiao Zhan selected those who could be useful and assigned them to the caravans, Marketplaces, and various shops. The Stewards who already knew the business continued handling affairs as before; only the master above them had changed.

With that, the newly acquired businesses were soon running again.

And as these people traveled about, word of what had happened at the West City Gate that night gradually spread.

"You're saying Young Master Xiao Yan killed Jia Lie Bi with a single palm strike?"

Inside a tavern, a traveling merchant held his bowl, disbelief written all over his face.

The guard seated opposite him still had a faint scar on his face. Back then, he had stood behind Oba Pa outside the West City Gate. Now he was escorting goods with a Xiao Clan caravan.

"I saw it with my own eyes. How could it be false?"

He lowered his voice and lightly swept his chopsticks across the table.

"Jia Lie Bi brought his saber down, and the young master just reached out and caught it. Then his palm flashed like this..."

At this point, the guard's Adam's apple bobbed involuntarily. Even after all these days, he still could not forget that Golden Thunderbolt.

"And the man was gone."

The people at several nearby tables all pricked up their ears.

"He was a Four-Star Great Dou Master!"

"Exactly! Oba Pa turned and ran, but he couldn't escape either. One sword strike, and he fell."

Someone could not help asking:

"Didn't Young Master Xiao Yan only become a Dou Zhe recently?"

The guard glanced at him.

"Have you ever seen a Dou Zhe catch a Da Dou Shi's weapon barehanded?"

The man immediately fell silent.

The speaker had witnessed it firsthand, while the listeners each drew their own conclusions.

At first, people merely said that the Xiao Clan's third young master had hidden his strength and had long since become a Da Dou Shi.

Later, someone remembered that even Han Kui, an Eight-Star Great Dou Master, had died at his hands, and began to think that calling him a Da Dou Shi might not be enough.

And so the news spread farther and farther, growing more outrageous with every telling.

By the time it reached the caravans outside the city, it had already become—

Xiao Yan of the Xiao Clan had reached Dou Ling!

"Dou Ling?"

On the mountain behind the estate, Xiao Yan had just finished his sword practice. Hearing this, he almost thought he had misheard.

Xun'er stood beneath a tree with a food basket in her hand, her eyes brimming with amusement.

"Everyone in the Marketplaces is saying it."

"Some even say that when Brother Xiao Yan raised his hand, thunder filled the entire street, and those two families' people didn't even have time to run."

Xiao Yan looked down at his palm and laughed. "Their imaginations are even bolder than mine."

Xun'er set down the food basket and said with a soft laugh:

"If the rumors keep spreading like this, next time you go out, Brother Xiao Yan, you might have to ask around first to find out what cultivation realm you've reached."

Xiao Yan could not help laughing either.

"If a few words from them really could make me break through, I'd hire people to sit outside the gates tomorrow and shout my realm higher for me."

The girl covered her lips and giggled.

Jokes aside, Xiao Yan did not go out of his way to clear things up.

The Xiao Clan now had more businesses, and naturally, more people were watching them. Keeping outsiders from gauging his true strength would save his father some trouble in handling affairs.

Besides, he really did need to keep cultivating.

Over the following months, Xiao Yan's days became much quieter than before.

His father and the elders handled the clan's affairs.

There were people to purchase medicinal ingredients, and several nimble-handed helpers had been added to the medicine room. He only needed to refine the pills that were required, and spent almost all his remaining time on the mountain behind the estate.

At dawn, he practiced Nine Breaths of Qi.

During the day, he honed the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts, practiced his swordplay, and condensed thunder.

At night, the Grandmaster guided him through the aspects of his Divine Abilities that he did not understand.

Foresee the Future remained unreliable. Sometimes, even after sitting quietly for a long while, he saw only a few blurred shadows, without even being able to make out where the events were taking place.

Bodhi was in no hurry. He simply told him to steady his mind and not force it.

Command the Five Thunders, however, grew smoother with practice.

At first, that wisp of golden thunder had been difficult to rein in once condensed. Now, as it wound around his fingers, it could move at his will before flowing along the Taiji Liangyi Sword and gathering at its tip.

Before a mountain boulder, Xiao Yan raised his wrist and thrust.

Thunderlight flashed past.

A thumb-wide hole appeared in the stone's surface, without even a single stray crack around it.

Holding his teacup, Bodhi nodded slightly.

"At last, it no longer runs wild."

Xiao Yan withdrew his sword and flexed his wrist with a smile.

Over these past days, the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts' tempering of his muscles and bones had also become increasingly apparent. Thunder power flowed through his meridians far more smoothly than before, and even after a full day of practice, his arms no longer ached and swelled as they had at the beginning.

One morning several months later, the Heaven and Earth Qi above the Stone Ledge on the mountain slowly dispersed.

Xiao Yan opened his eyes. Feeling the abundant power within his body, he gradually broke into a smile and said:

"That was fast. I'm a Six-Star Dou Shi!"

Outside, the rumors painted such dazzling pictures that flowers might rain from the heavens, but he knew perfectly well that this was his actual cultivation realm.

Over these months, Xiao Zhan had changed considerably as well.

His old injuries had long since healed, and the two great families that had weighed on his heart were gone. He no longer had to interrupt his cultivation every few days over trivial matters.

On top of that, his son delivered a bottle of pills to him every so often.

Profound Origin Pill, Third Grade.

Bodhi had adjusted the formula to suit Xiao Zhan's condition. Their medicinal potency was gentle and lasting, helping nourish his meridians and accumulate dou qi.

With all the medicinal ingredients now available, Xiao Yan could refine them with greater ease than before.

Every time he finished a batch, he kept the finest pills and delivered them to his father.

At first, Xiao Zhan had been reluctant to use them.

"Pills this good would fetch plenty of Gold Coins at auction, wouldn't they?"

Xiao Yan pressed the stopper back in and pushed the bottle straight into his hand. "Dad, our family isn't short of that little bit of money now. Making you stronger is more useful than selling a few extra bottles of pills."

Xiao Zhan looked at the Jade Bottle in his hand, then finally shook his head with a smile and accepted it.

After that, whenever he took a pill, Xiao Zhan would spend a long time in his quiet chamber, refining its gentle medicinal potency into his dou qi bit by bit. Over several months, his aura grew increasingly powerful.

On this day, when the quiet chamber's door opened, the guards waiting in the courtyard all turned their heads.

Xiao Zhan stepped across the threshold, raised his hand, and clenched his fist. A solid layer of Dou Qi Armor covered his arm, its sheen richer than before.

An aura he had yet to fully rein in followed close behind.

The Grand Elder stared, startled.

"Clan leader, you've broken through?"

Xiao Zhan nodded slowly, unable to suppress the smile on his face.

"I'm a Nine-Star Great Dou Master."

"Only the final hurdle remains before Dou Ling!"

The people in the courtyard fell silent for a moment, then their faces lit up with joy.

Standing beneath the corridor, Xiao Yan looked at his father's relaxed brow and smiling eyes, and smiled along with him.

When he had first transmigrated here, he had been plotting to slip the ring to his father so that his father could shoulder the burden for him for a few years.

Now look how things had turned out.

He had never given away the ring. Instead, he had fed his old man all the way up to Nine-Star Great Dou Master.

That afternoon, in the front hall.

Xiao Zhan had just finished reviewing several account books sent back by the caravans when a guard strode quickly through the door.

"Clan leader, a letter for you."

He took it without giving it much thought.

But once he saw the Cloud Pattern Seal on the flap, his hands suddenly stopped.

"The Misty Cloud Sect?"

Xiao Zhan sat up straight, opened the envelope, and slowly unfolded the letter inside. Its opening lines first praised the Xiao Clan's steadily rising reputation.

Only then did it mention Xiao Yan.

Having condensed a dou qi vortex and advanced to Dou Zhe at just eleven years old, he possessed exceptional talent and was truly a rare young prodigy.

Reading farther down, Xiao Zhan's gaze sharpened slightly.

Nalan Yanran.

The letter mentioned that the marriage agreement their two families had made years ago still stood. Since Yanran was now cultivating in the Misty Cloud Sect, they wished to invite Xiao Yan to visit the sect for a talk, meet its elders, and see Yanran as well.

The wording was courteous, and the Misty Cloud Sect's seal appeared at the end.

Xiao Zhan read the letter twice before slowly setting it down.

A moment later, he raised his head and gave an order:

"Go fetch Yan'er."

When Xiao Yan entered the front hall, Xiao Zhan was holding the letter.

"Dad, you wanted to see me?"

"A letter came from the Misty Cloud Sect."

Xiao Zhan held it out to him.

"They've invited you up the mountain for a talk."

Xiao Yan took it, his gaze traveling down the page until it finally stopped on a name.

Nalan Yanran.

His brow lifted slightly. He was clearly surprised that the Misty Cloud Sect had chosen this moment to bring up the marriage agreement that had been set aside for the time being.