The humiliation of a broken engagement? A heart as still as water

The wooden door creaked open, and the afternoon sunlight slanted inside, casting dappled light and shadow across the floor. Xiao Yan sat on the edge of the bed, his fingertips unconsciously tracing the rough grain of the wood. The faint murmurs of clansmen outside the courtyard still lingered in his ears.

"Did you hear? Miss Nalan threw the letter breaking off the engagement right onto the floor..."

"That Xiao Yan had some backbone, too. He actually dared to challenge the Misty Cloud Sect. Who knows what'll become of him..."

"Become of him? With Dou Qi Third Stage, what future could he possibly have?"

Those words were like tiny grains of sand falling into the original owner's memories, once stirring countless ripples of pain. Yet now, they failed to raise even the slightest ripple in Xiao Yan's heart. His consciousness was like a hawk suspended high in the sky, calmly looking down on this farce surrounding the "broken engagement."

His emperor realm soul spread silently, enveloping the entire Xiao Clan Residence. He could clearly "see" Xiao Zhan sighing over the torn half of the Marriage Contract Document in the Front Courtyard's main hall, while Xiao Ding stood beside him, glaring in helpless fury. He could "hear" the clansmen whispering in the side courtyard, firmly tying his name to "trash" and "not knowing his own limits."

He could even detect a Soul Mark that the Misty Cloud Sect Steward had quietly left at a street corner after leaving the Xiao Clan. Clearly, the man still felt uneasy and intended to keep monitoring the clan's movements this way.

"Cautious, aren't you?" The corner of Xiao Yan's mouth lifted almost imperceptibly.

The technique behind this Soul Mark was hardly sophisticated. At most, it could transmit vague fluctuations of aura, making it little more than an empty ornament to a true expert. Still, it was more than sufficient to monitor a youth with "Dou Qi Third Stage."

He did not immediately erase the mark. Revealing too soon that he could detect and interfere with Soul Marks would only invite suspicion. Better to leave it for now. He could use it to trace information back from the Misty Cloud Sect.

[System notification: Target individuals Nalan Yanran and the Misty Cloud Sect Steward have left the Wutan City area. The central conflict of the broken engagement incident has ended.]

[Temporary mission progress: 70%. Remaining requirement: Maintain your persona until the incident settles, without anyone noticing anything unusual.]

Xiao Yan nodded slightly and turned his attention back to himself.

During his confrontation with Nalan Yanran in the main hall, he had deliberately mobilized the meager Dou Qi within the original owner's body, making it crash violently through his meridians to sustain the anger and resentment on his face. This was extremely damaging to the body. The original owner had always fallen seriously ill after becoming emotionally agitated, which provided the perfect excuse for him to "seclude himself to recover" next.

He needed a stretch of quiet time to thoroughly sort out his situation.

First came control over his strength. The power of a Peak Nine-Star Dou Saint was like a sleeping volcano; the slightest carelessness could trigger a catastrophe. He had to wield it with perfect restraint, ensuring even the smallest circulation of Dou Qi precisely matched the standard of "third-stage Dou Qi." This required not only tremendous control, but also the utmost patience.

Next came the accumulation of resources. Alchemy was a promising direction, but it required medicinal ingredients and a pill furnace. The Xiao Clan's medicinal storehouse had long since been emptied. Perhaps his only hopes were the Basic Herbal Compendium hidden beneath the bed in the original owner's memories, and the Magical Beast Mountain Range outside the city.

Finally, there were the system's missions. So far, the system seemed to revolve around "concealment" and "advancing the plot," with rewards tied to key elements of the original story, such as heavenly flames and Dou Techniques. This meant he could not completely abandon the original course of events. Instead, he had to become a hidden "plot corrector," ensuring the key milestones unfolded in order while removing any "accidents" that might disrupt the worldline.

Knock, knock, knock.

Someone knocked again. This time, it was Xiao Zhan's voice, unmistakably weary. "Yan'er, is this a good time? Your father would like a word with you."

Xiao Yan adjusted his breathing, making his voice sound a little weaker. "Father, please come in."

Xiao Zhan pushed open the door, carrying a steaming bowl of medicinal broth. A faint bitterness mingled with its herbal fragrance. He placed the bowl on the table and sat beside Xiao Yan, remaining silent for a long while before speaking. "Drink that medicine while it's hot. Your Uncle Zhang just brewed it. It'll help smooth out your Dou Qi."

Xiao Yan glanced at the bowl. With the analytical ability of his emperor realm soul, he instantly identified its ingredients: Iron-Bark Dendrobium, Qi-Gathering Grass, Three-Leaf Green... They were all ordinary healing herbs, their effects so weak as to be almost negligible. Yet that bowl held a father's weighty concern.

"Thank you, Father." He picked up the bowl, tipped back his head, and drained it. The bitter liquid slid down his throat, yet he tasted a trace of barely perceptible warmth.

Only after watching him finish the medicine did Xiao Zhan slowly say, "Yan'er, you suffered an injustice today."

Xiao Yan set down the bowl and lowered his head, his voice muffled. "I'm fine."

He knew that what he most needed to show now was a young boy's stubborn attempt to appear strong.

Xiao Zhan sighed. "Your father knows you're hurting. The Nalan Family pushed us so aggressively. They wronged our Xiao Clan, and they wronged you even more. But you must understand, the Misty Cloud Sect is powerful. For now, we can't afford to provoke them..."

"I understand," Xiao Yan interrupted, raising his head, his eyes bearing the bloodshot traces he had deliberately preserved. "Father, I won't act rashly."

He paused, then abruptly strengthened his tone, as though swearing an oath. "But I, Xiao Yan, promise you that I will repay today's humiliation a hundredfold! I will attend the Misty Cloud Sect's grand tournament three years from now! When that time comes, I'll show everyone that I, Xiao Yan, am no worthless trash!"

Those words were half true and half false.

The "three-year agreement" was a key milestone in the original story. He had to bring it up to perfectly fit "Xiao Yan's" persona. Yet his true targets had never been Nalan Yanran, but the forces lurking in the shadows, seeking to control everything—such as the Soul Hall, and the Hun Clan, which remained far beyond his sight for now.

Xiao Zhan gazed at the light flickering in his son's eyes. There was anger in it, and resentment, but also a flame that had never gone out. His heart stirred, as though he had caught a glimpse of that spirited youth from three years ago.

"Good! Good! Good!" he exclaimed three times, tears glimmering in his eyes. "That's my son! Yan'er, remember this: whether you can accomplish it in the future or not, your father believes in you! The Xiao Clan will always stand behind you, too!"

Father and son chatted a little longer, mostly with Xiao Zhan urging him to recover in peace and not rush back into cultivation. Xiao Yan agreed to everything, behaving like a child who had just suffered an injustice and needed comfort.

Only after Xiao Zhan left and silence returned to the room did Xiao Yan's expression become completely calm.

He walked to the bed, bent down, and dragged a dust-covered wooden chest from underneath it. The chest was old, its clasp long since rusted, and it opened with a gentle tug. Aside from a few old clothes, it contained only a yellowed, thread-bound book: the Basic Herbal Compendium.

He picked up the compendium and casually opened it. Its pages recorded the common low-grade medicinal herbs of the Dou Qi Continent, with detailed descriptions of their appearance and medicinal properties, and even a few simple warnings about incompatible combinations. To the original owner, this might have been a precious introductory text. But to Xiao Yan, who possessed an emperor realm soul, this knowledge was as rudimentary as child's play.

Yet he did not dismiss it.

Even a towering building rose from level ground. Though he grasped the ultimate secrets of the Flame Mantra and understood how to fuse heavenly flames, if he could not even identify basic herbs properly, flaws would inevitably appear when he later tried to conceal his strength behind the identity of an "alchemist."

He patiently read through it page by page. The flawless recall of his emperor realm soul revealed itself to the fullest. In barely an hour, the entire compendium had been branded into his mind. He could even extrapolate from its principles, devising several simple medicinal formulas that the book had never recorded.

With Qi-Gathering Grass as the main ingredient, supplemented by Iron-Bark Dendrobium and Three-Leaf Green, I can refine the most basic Qi-Gathering Powder. Its effects may be weak, but it's already a decent aid for cultivators at the Dou Qi stage.

And this Purple-Leaf Orchid may look ordinary, but it actually contains a faint trace of fire-aspected energy. Mixed with residual Earth Core Milk, it can neutralize conflicting medicinal properties...

Xiao Yan's fingers tapped lightly across the pages as his thoughts raced. He began to understand why the original story's Xiao Yan had possessed such extraordinary talent for alchemy. It was not merely his powerful soul, but also his almost instinctively keen perception of medicinal ingredients. Now, with a soul realm far beyond that of the original Xiao Yan, his own perception had naturally reached an inconceivable level.

Just then, a trace of something unusual appeared within his soul perception.

The Misty Cloud Sect's Soul Mark at the street corner suddenly fluctuated slightly. Then an extremely concealed strand of soul power seeped from it, slowly extending toward the Xiao Clan Residence like a probing tentacle. Its target was the very room he occupied!

Xiao Yan's gaze sharpened slightly.

Apparently, that Misty Cloud Sect Steward was still uneasy and wanted to confirm his condition through a soul probe.

This was a good opportunity for a test.

He did not evade it. Instead, he maintained his "Dou Qi Third Stage" aura, even deliberately making his soul fluctuations seem somewhat disordered—the normal manifestation of surging blood and energy after emotional agitation. At the same time, he firmly guarded the core of his emperor realm soul, keeping it as still as the deepest frigid pool.

The probing soul tentacle cautiously passed through the wall, entered the room, and circled his body. It could "sense" the weak Dou Qi within Xiao Yan, "catch" his slightly irregular breathing, and even "see" him with his head lowered, leafing through a herbal compendium.

Everything fit the image of a "worthless youth trying to find hope for a breakthrough in medicinal herbs after suffering humiliation."

A moment later, as though it had confirmed its target was harmless, the soul tentacle slowly withdrew into the mark at the street corner and fell silent.

A cold smile curled Xiao Yan's lips.

The probing was over.

The other party had clearly believed his disguise.

[System notification: External soul probing detected. Host successfully concealed his true soul realm without being noticed. Disguise level remains at 100%.]

[Temporary mission progress: 80%.]

He closed the compendium, returned it to the wooden chest, and pushed the chest back beneath the bed.

Now, he needed an opening—an opportunity to leave Wutan City and head for the Magical Beast Mountain Range.

The Magical Beast Mountain Range held not only medicinal herbs and resources, but also the original story's first key milestone: his encounter with Xiao Yi Xian, and clues to the Green Lotus Earth Core Flame.

More importantly, few people ventured there. It was the ideal place for him to stretch his limbs and clear away certain "accidents."

For example, any "Otherworlders" who might exist there and did not belong to this worldline.

The system had mentioned "correcting anomalies," and Otherworlders were undoubtedly the greatest anomalies of all.

Xiao Yan walked to the window and pushed it open. The afternoon breeze blew inside, carrying the fresh scent of vegetation and stirring the stray hair over his forehead. His gaze passed over the courtyard walls of the Xiao Clan's ancestral grounds toward the undulating, miasma-shrouded mountains outside the city.

That was a place where danger and opportunity coexisted.

For Xiao Yan with "Dou Qi Third Stage," it was perilous ground where only one in ten survived.

But for him, a Peak Nine-Star Dou Saint, it was merely a hunting ground where he could cast his net at will.

"The Magical Beast Mountain Range..." he murmured, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes. "It's time to take a look."

He needed a reasonable excuse to leave.

An injury? A cultivation bottleneck? A search for medicinal herbs?

Perhaps combining all three would make the perfect excuse.

Xiao Yan closed the window, turned, and walked to the table, picking up the empty medicine bowl. He circulated a faint strand of Dou Qi, deliberately letting it stagnate in his palm before gently pressing it against the bottom of the bowl.

Crack.

With a faint sound, a hairline crack appeared in the bowl's base.

The crack was inconspicuous, impossible to notice without close inspection. Yet it was enough to prove that the person holding the bowl had not fully calmed down, and had even suffered a slight loss of control due to unstable Dou Qi.

That was precisely the effect he wanted.

Next, all he needed to do was wait.

Wait for the uproar over the broken engagement to settle a little, wait for the clansmen's attention to fade, and wait for the right moment to "naturally" propose going to the Magical Beast Mountain Range in search of herbs to "heal his injuries" and "achieve a breakthrough."

He had patience enough.

Because he knew that his hunting game had only just raised its curtain.

And the prey lurking in the shadows knew nothing of it.

[System notification: Host's behavior conforms to the logic of his persona and has aroused no suspicion. Temporary mission progress: 85%.]

[Hint: Host is advised to devise a reasonable motive for "traveling to the Magical Beast Mountain Range" in the near future, advancing the plot into its next stage.]

Xiao Yan nodded slightly, walked to the bed, lay down, and closed his eyes. He appeared to be resting, but his emperor realm soul had already sunk into his body, beginning to exert finer control over that power as vast as a sea of stars.

Every breath made his Dou Qi disguise more convincing.

Every heartbeat measured the next move in his plans.

The humiliation of a broken engagement?

It was merely an insignificant piece on his chessboard.

The true contest began now.