"Stop!"
"Boy, Xiao Yan, do you know that Xiaotian is the grandson of the Misty Cloud Sect's grand elder? Don't bring ruin upon yourself!"
Ge Ye paled at the sight of the weapon hovering a hair's breadth from Yun Xiaotian's neck and cried out in alarm.
"Yan'er, don't be disrespectful!" From the seat of honor, Xiao Zhan was startled by Xiao Yan's actions as well. He hurriedly rose and shouted.
Although the pills supplied by the mysterious teacher behind Xiao Yan had raised him to the Dou Ling level over the years, the Xiao Clan as it stood could never afford to offend a towering colossus like the Misty Cloud Sect!
"You lost."
"For the sake of this marriage agreement, two leading figures of the Misty Cloud Sect's younger generation actually came."
"Tell me, does that mean you hold my Xiao Clan in high regard, or were you trying to put me in my place?"
Xiao Yan's calm words turned the disbelief in Yun Xiaotian's eyes into bitter venom and defiance as he lay sprawled on the floor.
"How is this possible? A mere piece of trash like you..."
Feeling the waves of cold against his neck, Yun Xiaotian clenched his teeth as a deep sense of humiliation surged through him.
"If I were a Dou Shi and unleashed all Thirty-Six Consecutive Slashes, you would never be able to withstand them!"
"Dare to hurt me? Does your Xiao Clan want to be wiped out?"
Xiao Yan did not shrink back in fear as Yun Xiaotian had imagined. Instead, killing intent flashed in his eyes, his gaze growing sharper and colder as the ruler's edge drew ever closer to Yun Xiaotian's throat.
"Xiao Yan!"
Seeing this, Nalan Yanran had no time to consider anything else and darted forward.
Dense currents of wind elemental power, far surpassing Yun Xiaotian's, rapidly swirled through the surrounding space.
In an instant, Xiao Yan felt his body grow lighter. Even the strain on the arm holding the Heavy Xuan Ruler eased considerably.
"Put away your weapon. You should know that my teacher, the Misty Cloud Sect Master, personally approved my visit to the Xiao Clan!"
Pressing her lips together, Nalan Yanran knitted her delicate brows. Looking at Xiao Yan's cold, unmoved expression, she said somewhat helplessly:
"You may regard this as coercion, but you should also understand that even if you regain your former talent, what difference would it make? Between us... there is absolutely no possibility!"
"Why take your anger out on Senior Brother Yun?"
"Take my anger out on him?"
Listening to the girl pronounce judgment as though she were a god, Xiao Yan's lips curled into a cold smile.
"Miss Nalan... you should know how much humiliation a woman breaking off an engagement brings upon the other family on the Dou Qi Continent."
"Besides, wasn't this Senior Brother Yun the one who provoked me first? He just threatened to wipe out my Xiao Clan! If I really were a piece of trash now, what tone would you use to speak to me as I lay on the floor?"
Biting her cherry-red lip, Nalan Yanran glanced at Xiao Yan's scornful face and Xiao Zhan's shifting expression above. She pondered for a moment, her lively eyes turning slightly, before suddenly saying softly:
"Yanran and Senior Brother were indeed somewhat rash today. I can temporarily withdraw my demand to dissolve the engagement, but I need you to agree to a challenge!"
"What challenge?" Xiao Yan shifted the heavy ruler slightly and asked with a frown.
"Let Senior Brother Yun go first. I can postpone dissolving the engagement for three years. Consider this Qi Gathering Powder an apology for Senior Brother Yun's inappropriate words today."
"Three years from now, come to the Misty Cloud Sect and challenge me. If you lose, we will publicly dissolve our engagement."
Nalan Yanran regarded Xiao Yan with calm, indifferent eyes, as though she were describing an outcome already set in stone.
"I don't mind telling you that my inheritance came from a Thousand-Wind Spirit of a place called the Teyvat Continent."
"What I received wasn't merely Dou Techniques, but his cultivation method as well. Senior Brother Yun's inheritance falls far short of mine."
As she spoke of this, pride and confidence gradually emerged in Nalan Yanran's beautiful eyes. She raised her head, revealing her snow-white neck like a proud swan.
"As far as I know, this Sylph also held another identity. He was that continent's... god!"
"Now that you've regained your cultivation talent, surely you have the courage to accept? Otherwise, we can simply dissolve the engagement today!"
Nalan Yanran raised her eyes and stared straight at Xiao Yan, a hint of provocation in her bright gaze. She seemed to want him to retreat before the difficulty, yet also goaded him with her words, forcing him to choose one of the two.
"Inappropriate words? A god? Heh, is this how the eldest Miss Nalan conducts herself?"
Looking at the beautiful girl's overbearing manner, Xiao Yan put away the Heavy Xuan Ruler and gave a faint, self-mocking laugh.
"I accept your challenge! But as for the engagement..."
"There's no need to wait three years. I haven't the slightest interest in you!"
With that, he ignored Nalan Yanran's instantly frosty expression, abruptly turned, strode to the table, and wrote furiously!
A moment later, a sheet of white paper bearing a bright-red handprint fluttered toward the girl where she stood.
"This handwritten document isn't an agreement to dissolve our engagement. It's a Divorce Letter expelling you from the Xiao Clan!"
"From this day forward, you, Nalan Yanran, have absolutely nothing to do with my Xiao Clan!"
As Xiao Yan's cold, ringing words sounded and Nalan Yanran's beautiful eyes widened, Xiao Lin, who had been secretly watching the spectacle nearby, keenly sensed an inexplicable change suddenly occur within Xiao Yan!
It was as though something had returned to its proper course.
[Target: Xiao Yan] [Cultivation: Four-star Dou Zhe] [Fortuitous opportunities: Bone Flame Ring (soul of Venerable Yao, Yao Chen; lifetime collection); Holy Pill Ring (not activated)] [Fortune value: 161 → 319!]
Did experiencing a major turning point in his life cause his fortune value to surge...?
Through some unseen connection, Xiao Lin sensed that the recovery of his true body, the Plane Embryo, had actually accelerated slightly!
Is this the benefit of a Child of Fortune...? It seems I need to get the other high-fortune seeds I nurtured growing as soon as possible, too.
"Three years from now, I'll come looking for you!"
"Miss Nalan, out of respect for Old Master Nalan, allow me to offer you a few words of advice. Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river-never scorn a youth for being poor!"
Neither servile nor arrogant, Xiao Yan looked at Nalan Yanran and her companions' livid faces and spiritedly voiced the indignation in his heart.
"And as for that utterly unremarkable Qi Gathering Powder, Mr. Ge had best take it back. Don't use it to humiliate people."
"Good! Well said-never scorn a youth for being poor! As expected of my son. Truly extraordinary!"
In the seat of honor, Xiao Zhan's eyes lit up. He slammed both palms onto the table, sending tea splashing.
If this boy had remained a piece of trash, it would have been one thing. But now that he truly possesses power, he's already become a dangerous figure...
Ge Ye's feelings were a tangled mix as he looked at the delicate-featured youth below and thought grimly to himself.
Behind Ge Ye, Yun Xiaotian had only just climbed up from the floor, clutching his shoulder. Grinding his teeth, he could not resist sneering:
"You call it unremarkable, but have you ever taken Qi Gathering Powder? How dare you say such things? Do you even know who refined this pill?"
"I became a Dou Zhe at ten without needing Qi Gathering Powder! But of course I've seen it before!"
Xiao Yan spoke calmly, his tone carrying a trace of assured pride.
"Though it was somewhat different from the one you're holding."
He deliberately paused, his gaze sweeping over the longan-sized pill in Ge Ye's box as a mocking smile curled his lips:
"The pill Elder Ge brought has a greenish body and a muddled medicinal scent. Though its surface is glossy, faint dark spots lurk beneath-"
"Presumably, an outside disturbance distracted the alchemist during refinement, causing an error in controlling the heat and a loss of roughly thirty percent of its medicinal potency."
Xiao Yan turned his hand over, and a pale-blue pill suddenly appeared in his palm, crystalline as jade and entirely free of impurities, with even a few rippling lines coiling around it!
The pill gleamed with a warm, lustrous sheen in the light. Its medicinal fragrance grew richer still, actually condensing into a faint mist that lingered in the air without dispersing.
"This is truly perfect Qi Gathering Powder!"
A chorus of sharp gasps rang through the hall.
Although the Xiao Clan members knew nothing about alchemy, the Qi Gathering Powder in Xiao Yan's hand filled the air with its fragrance. Even someone who was not an alchemist could see the considerable difference in quality between the two.
What was more, it even bore pill patterns!
"As for that thing Mr. Ge brought... offering it as an apology-how lavish of the Misty Cloud Sect!"
Ge Ye's aged face instantly flushed crimson. The green ancient jade box in his hand suddenly seemed to burn his fingers.
Given the situation, he did not dare utter Gu He's name at all.
He even felt that this visit had all but stripped the Misty Cloud Sect of its dignity. He could only use anger and shouting to conceal his flushed old face.
"Presumably... presumably the disciples responsible for the sect's pills stored it improperly..."
"Those little brats in the sect! They should have handled it properly! What were they doing? How the hell did they handle this pill?"
Before you continue