Chapter 18: My Expectations for You Are Very High
"I am not blowing smoke at you. I can tell you clearly that I have indeed taken a fancy to his potential.
I generally have a very good eye for people, and I believe he will unexpectedly become a generation's powerhouse one day."
Qin Yun nodded slightly, though he incidentally turned the question back to Feng Qing'er.
"How do you view Xiao Yan as a person, by the way? Don't you think he has infinite potential?"
Yet Feng Qing'er merely curled her lip. "I haven't seen the slightest bit of potential; I just feel more and more displeased the more I look at him, with a kind of urge to beat him up."
"..." Well, anyway, this could already be considered a relatively good way of getting along. In this way, Feng Qing'er's inner demons should be gone in the future,
and she would not impulsively graft the bone marrow of the Ancient Heavenly Phoenix, thereby completely cutting off her path to becoming a Dou Sheng.
"I want to ask you about something, and I hope you will answer me truthfully."
Feng Qing'er seemed to have thought of something important, gently prodding Qin Yun in the waist with her elbow.
"Since you said Xiao Yan has a lot of potential, what about me? From your current perspective, will my future achievements be very high?"
"You also have a lot of potential, and you will definitely break through to Dou Sheng in the future. Although I'm optimistic about Xiao Yan, in my heart I'm actually more optimistic about you. My expectations for you have always been very high." Qin Yun thought for a moment before uttering these words.
"This answer is not bad." Hearing this reply, the corners of Feng Qing'er's mouth curved up noticeably, and then she swaggered away like a proud phoenix.
What she did not know, however, was that Qin Yun indeed had high expectations for her, but these expectations might differ somewhat from what she imagined.
If a comparison had to be made, it probably looked like this:
Regarding Thunder Venerable, Qin Yun's expectation was: honestly retire in your old age hereafter, don't stir up trouble, just stay alive.
Xiao Yan's was: hunker down and develop as much as possible, helping out on the premise of staying alive.
As for the final protagonist, Feng Qing'er: when his own plan completely failed and no one could resist Hun Tiandi after he broke through to Dou Di, step up and slap the other party twice to buy some time.
Qin Yun was even plotting at this moment whether to let her do some jobs that might cost her her head to temper her temperament. Of course, these thoughts could not be said out loud to her.
Otherwise, if this young miss threw a tantrum, even he might not be able to hold her back.
Next, the few of them stayed in the Xiao Clan for about seven or eight days, and everything was moving in a good direction.
Even Qin Yun and Xiao Xun'er, two people harboring their own hidden agendas, could smile and greet each other when they met.
As for Xiao Yan's progress, it was also much faster than in the original text. Although Yao Lao could be said to have come out completely bare-handed, Qin Yun was born in the Wind and Lightning Pavilion after all and possessed some resources in his hands.
At least it was not like that time in the original trajectory where Yao Lao scrambled for several days just to procure a single portion of medicinal ingredients for the Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid.
Over these past few days, the quality of Dou Qi within Xiao Yan's Dantian could be distinctly felt gradually growing more robust.
Right now he had reached the fifth stage of Dou Qi. Although he had only improved by two stages, it was already quite a feat.
At the very least, it could be considered barely reaching the entry threshold for Yao Lao's special training.
"Teacher, are there any training tasks for tonight? I'm getting a bit impatient." Xiao Yan arrived at the backyard on time and excitedly stretched.
Yet unlike the two people in the original text, there were now a full four people helping Xiao Yan cultivate: Yao Lao, Qin Yun, Feng Qing'er, and even Fei Tian had come.
Training was still primarily led by Yao Lao, seeing as he was the most experienced among them,
while the remaining three provided minor assistance or occasionally supplied cultivation resources.
"Don't get too happy too early. You've only reached the threshold. The next few days might not be as relaxing as before." Yao Lao stroked his beard and smiled slightly.
Just like Xiao Yan, he was also in a good mood. Not only was Xiao Yan's cultivation speed much faster than he had anticipated,
even his own strength had barely recovered to the level of Peak Dou Emperor under the nourishment of some medicinal herbs.
"No problem, please train me to your heart's content, Teacher. If I let out a single cry, I'm no man."
Xiao Yan waved his hand unconcernedly. In his view, as long as he could improve his strength, what did it matter if he suffered a little hardship? However, he stopped smiling very soon.
"Teacher, do you really have to do this? I have a hunch you guys are snickering. Could this just be to satisfy your perverted tastes?"
Xiao Yan was currently wearing only a large pair of shorts over his entire body, constantly circulating the Dou Qi within his body in a horse stance to achieve the effect of purifying it bit by bit.
If it were merely this, it would still be fine, but Yao Lao had condensed a Dou Qi whip in his hand right now,
the kind that looked extremely painful. Just imagining what was about to happen made Xiao Yan shiver involuntarily.
"Are you ready? I'm going to start." Yao Lao wore a wicked smile while raising the whip in his hand, lashing down fiercely against Xiao Yan's back.
The next second brought a miserable scream, and a deep red mark immediately appeared across Xiao Yan's back.
The piercing pain made Xiao Yan draw a sharp breath, but it did not afford him a moment of relaxation. Constantly circulating the Dou Qi within his body amidst the agony was the most fundamental way to elevate physical fitness.
Coupled with the continuous external physical stimuli, it could achieve twice the result with half the effort.
"Come again." This time, Xiao Yan directly tore a scrap of cloth from his trousers, shoved it into his mouth, and readjusted his horse stance posture.
With each crack of Yao Lao's whip, the scars on Xiao Yan's body multiplied, but this also stirred up his fighting spirit.
"Did you see that? Although Xiao Yan's starting point isn't very high, he has a heart that desires to grow stronger.
He can endure any hardship as long as it makes him stronger. If it were you,
could you endure this kind of pain? Therefore, how do you see it now?" Qin Yun encouraged Xiao Yan while carving out time to guide Feng Qing'er.
This girl's personality was, to a certain extent, even more stubborn than Xiao Yan's, but her flaw was that she got hot-headed very easily.
Once her head got hot, she would lower it and charge right in regardless of any side effects, which was precisely what ultimately caused her to reach her lifelong ceiling back at Peak Dou Zun.
"I think I should look a little further ahead." Feng Qing'er touched her chin as she stared at Xiao Yan, deep in thought.
"Not bad, you finally-" Seeing Feng Qing'er display such rare insight, Qin Yun originally wanted to offer a bit more praise,
yet the other party made a move that exceeded his expectations.
She genuinely intended to walk forward a few steps to take a closer look. "Venerable Yao, can the job of using external stimuli on Xiao Yan be handed over to me? I feel I can do it better than you." Feng Qing'er approached Yao Lao and spoke.
"Uh, do you mean you want to try?" Yao Lao was somewhat taken aback, lowering his head to glance at the whip in his hand.
"That's right." Feng Qing'er nodded earnestly.
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