Stepping over the last bluestone stair, the slender young man stood at the gates of the Mist Cloud Sect. He drew the Heavy Xuan Ruler from his back and slammed it into the ground, leaving a small crater in the solid stone, then called out in a low, icy voice, "Fortunes rise and fall! Xiao Yan of the Xiao Family has come to answer your challenge!"
The young man's cold voice echoed across the Mist Cloud Sect's plaza. More than a thousand pairs of eyes sized him up at once, filled with amusement, mockery, disgust, curiosity, amazement...
Those gazes, laden with all manner of emotions, did not make the young man flinch or retreat. Instead, he stood proudly before the gates, staring expressionlessly at the distant figure, both strange and familiar-the slender girl who had left such deep scars on his heart.
Jia Xingtian crossed one leg over the other and studied Xiao Yan, scoffing, "A good-for-nothing who can't cultivate Dou Qi? His aura is restrained, and his movements are practiced. He hardly looks like a good-for-nothing. It seems the Mist Cloud Sect has thrown away a prospective husband with boundless potential!"
Fa Ma, president of the Alchemist Guild, frowned slightly and said with a puzzled expression, "For some reason, this Xiao Yan feels very familiar to me, as though I met him not long ago."
Nalan Jie watched Xiao Yan with a complicated expression. This handsome young man had nearly become his grandson-in-law. Although he, too, had been furious that Nalan Yanran had gone to break off the engagement without his permission, what was done was done, and there was no undoing it. He could only hope that after this duel, Xiao Yan would forgive Nalan Yanran for what she had done.
"Nalan Yanran of the Nalan Family."
Seated