Xiao Yan looked at the Qi Gathering Powder Nalan Yanran had produced and recognized its quality.
After all, the resurrected Yao Lao had already taken Xiao Yan as his direct disciple. Now that Xiao Yan was studying alchemy under him, he had begun developing an eye for judging pills.
Yao Lao's standards for alchemy were extremely high, as were his expectations of Xiao Yan.
Gu He's pills were respectable in the Jia Ma Empire, but they fell far short of Yao Lao's standards. This Qi Gathering Powder probably would not even earn a passing grade from him.
This was the compensation Nalan Yanran intended to offer the Xiao Clan? Even Xiao Yan found it absurd.
Not only did the Xiao Clan fail to see it as compensation, they even regarded the Qi Gathering Powder as yet another insult from the Misty Cloud Sect.
Ge Ye was dumbfounded by the words of the Xiao Clan's Three Elders.
Wait, what was going on? Since when had the Xiao Clan's standards become so high?
This was Qi Gathering Powder! With the Xiao Clan's current strength and resources, they probably couldn't even afford one dose, could they? How could they turn their noses up at it?
This wasn't how the script was supposed to go!
Ge Ye said, "Xiao Clan Leader, elders, take a good look. This is Qi Gathering Powder, personally refined by Pill King Gu He! Anything produced by the Pill King is impossible to buy outside, even if you have the money!"
Ge Ye grew agitated. Did they understand anything at all? If they didn't, they shouldn't spout nonsense!
Nalan Yanran was puzzled too. By all rights, this pill should have been extremely precious to the Xiao Clan as it was now. Why did every one of them disdain it?
Xiao Zhan wanted to say more, but Xiao Xuan finally could not bear to watch any longer.
Xiao Xuan slapped the table and spoke.
"Enough! Have you finished making a scene?"
It was about time today's farce ended.
The moment Xiao Xuan spoke, Xiao Zhan and the three Xiao Clan elders fell silent and stepped aside without another word.
Ge Ye's gaze instantly shifted toward him as well.
He had not noticed an unfamiliar face sitting here until now. The Xiao Clan had only a handful of elders. Although Ge Ye could not claim to know them all, their faces were familiar to him. Yet he had never seen this man before.
But Ge Ye keenly noticed that the moment this man spoke, even Xiao Clan Leader Xiao Zhan fell silent and actually stepped aside.
Ge Ye asked, "Who are you? Could you be a newly appointed Xiao Clan elder?"
Ge Ye pondered inwardly. This Xiao Xuan looked quite young. A Dou Shi at such a young age?
Xiao Zhan spoke up then. "Ge Ye, do not be insolent! This is our Xiao Clan's ancestor, Lord Xiao Xuan."
Then Xiao Zhan bowed to Xiao Xuan and said, "Ancestor, I'm sorry you had to witness this disgrace. What happened today brought shame upon the Xiao Clan. The fault is mine."
Xiao Zhan's expression was ugly as well. He had never expected something like this to happen just after their ancestor returned, when the Xiao Clan had only just begun to recover.
Nalan Yanran coming to their door to break off the engagement would have been a deeply humiliating affair for any family on the Dou Qi Continent, bringing shame upon the entire clan.
For their ancestor to witness such a thing, he had failed terribly as clan leader.
Xiao Xuan raised a hand and said, "The Xiao Clan's decline to this state is not your fault alone. Why blame yourself? I already understand the full story. Go and sit to the side."
Xiao Xuan told Xiao Zhan to sit aside. This was not Xiao Zhan's problem alone; the Xiao Clan's current standing and strength were simply too low.
Nalan Yanran made it sound noble: she wanted control over her own marriage. There was nothing inherently wrong with that.
But if the Xiao Clan were still the Ancient Xiao Clan of old, vying for supremacy in the Central Plains, would the Misty Cloud Sect have agreed to let her break off the engagement? Would the Nalan Family have let her do as she pleased and turned a blind eye?
If the Xiao Clan were powerful, even if Nalan Yanran wanted to end the engagement, she would not have come straight to their door as she had today, behaving so rudely and trampling the Xiao Clan's dignity underfoot.
And now that humiliation had arrived at their doorstep, as their ancestor, alive and sitting right here, he naturally had to intervene.
Xiao Xuan looked at Ge Ye and Nalan Yanran.
At the same time, a system notification sounded in his ears.
"Ding! Detected: Nalan Yanran of the Misty Cloud Sect has come to break off her engagement, bringing shame upon the Xiao Clan. Deal with Nalan Yanran, who seeks to break off the engagement, to receive rewards: [Xiao Clan Ancient Emperor Flame-Searing Spear (Emperor-Grade Weapon)], [3,000 Dou Di Points]!"
The Xiao Clan Flame-Searing Spear was the Ancient Emperor of the Xiao Clan's bonded Emperor Weapon.
Before the Xiao Clan's Dou Di broke through the shackles of the plane and ascended to the Upper Realm, he had left this Emperor-Grade Weapon to the Xiao Clan. But as time wore on, the Emperor Weapon's core had suffered damage within the clan.
During Xiao Xuan's final battle with Hun Tiandi, the Emperor Weapon had shattered completely, perishing alongside Xiao Xuan.
Xiao Xuan had not expected the reward this time to be the Flame-Searing Spear! Had the Xiao Clan's ancestral Emperor Weapon returned as well?
The system had issued its mission too. What more was there to say?
Xiao Xuan swept his gaze over Ge Ye and Nalan Yanran.
At this moment, Ge Ye and Nalan Yanran had just learned Xiao Xuan's identity from Xiao Zhan. He was actually an ancestor of the Xiao Clan?
Hadn't that Xiao Clan ancestor, Xiao Zhan's father Xiao Lin, already died?
Which generation's ancestor was this Xiao Xuan who had suddenly appeared? They had never heard of him.
Yet for some reason, with just one glance from Xiao Xuan, Ge Ye and Nalan Yanran, along with Chu Hong, who had accompanied them, felt their hair stand on end. Deep in their bones, they felt as though a supreme prehistoric predator had fixed its gaze upon them.
Every hair on Ge Ye's body stood upright. Inexplicably, he could not even summon the courage to meet Xiao Xuan's eyes. His feet retreated involuntarily, and even after he realized it, he still could not control the fear in his heart.
Ge Ye thought, What the hell? This Xiao Clan ancestor only glanced at me. I'm a Seven-Star Great Dou Master, for crying out loud! How could I be so pathetic?
Stop backing away! Damn legs, stop shaking!
He forced himself to stand steady and bowed to Xiao Xuan. "Ge Ye pays his respects to Senior Xiao Xuan."
Xiao Xuan glanced at Ge Ye and saw that he was still standing as he paid his respects.
To meet an emperor without kneeling was to forfeit one's life.
Although Xiao Xuan was only a Half-Emperor now, a Half-Emperor was still an emperor.
But Xiao Xuan would not bully the weak with his superior strength, nor did he force Ge Ye to kneel before speaking. That would have been beneath him.
Xiao Xuan said, "Ordinarily, a Dou Zhe at your level would not be qualified to meet me, much less act insolently in the Xiao Clan.
"Ge Ye, was it? Today, you led this party here and brought shame upon my Xiao Clan, upon me, Xiao Xuan. I will remember this debt."
One matter was one matter, and another was another. Xiao Xuan would not use his strength to bully Ge Ye for being a mere Da Dou Shi, but he would remember the debt Ge Ye owed for offending the Xiao Clan.
It was no use saying that Ge Ye had only accompanied Nalan Yanran to break off the engagement. Since he had chosen to be the bird that stuck its head out, he would have to bear the consequences.
Xiao Xuan kept this debt firmly in mind.
At this moment, Ge Ye still had no idea what sort of man Xiao Xuan was or what cultivation he possessed. He merely assumed Xiao Xuan was trying to intimidate him.
But Ge Ye did not know that the last person whose debt Xiao Xuan had marked down was named Gu Yuan, the leader of the Gu Clan, one of the Ancient Eight Clans.
The one before that had been Hun Tiandi, the most ambitious and powerful leader of the Hun Clan.
Both of those men had been at the Peak Nine-Star Dou Saint level.
For Ge Ye, with his strength as a Seven-Star Great Dou Master, to be remembered by a Half-Emperor, he could certainly be considered somebody of note across the entire Dou Qi Continent.
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