This Thing Called Family

After confirming that his father, Xiao Zhan, was unhurt, Xiao Yan finally left the hall with his mind at ease. The cleanup afterward did not require his involvement. Professional matters were best left to professionals.

As for this high-grade Xuan-tier Dou Technique, "Earth Flame"...

Xiao Yan took the jade slip from his robes. His eyes were as still as an ancient well, giving no hint of his thoughts. A moment later, he put the jade slip into his Storage Ring.

So far, no one else knew that he possessed a Storage Ring.

"So, now I need to sort out my relationships." Xiao Yan sighed helplessly. Wherever he went now, he could feel his clansmen looking at him with respect tinged with fear. Occasionally, he tried to strike up a conversation, but the other person would become so incoherent that it was impossible to keep talking.

"Yao Lao, sorry for the trouble, but I still need you to refine a healing pill for me."

"Refining something that can heal an injury of that severity will take some time. There are also a few ingredients we need that aren't among the medicinal materials Hun Tiandi left behind," Yao Chen reminded him.

"Then, Teacher, sorry for the trouble, but please make me a list. I'll go gather them. You can also use this time to teach Hun Xian'er some beginner-level alchemy." Xiao Yan did not mind. While searching for the ingredients, he could sell some of the pills he had refined for practice to earn money.

At the training grounds.

"Xiao Ning, you'd better keep your distance from us. If Xiao Yan sees us being so close, there's no telling whether he'll take revenge on us. I know this is a little hypocritical, but you can understand, right?"

Understand...

"Heh." Xiao Ning sneered, his mocking gaze sweeping over the familiar faces before him.

These people must have abandoned Xiao Yan the same way four years ago, right? In the end, flocking to the powerful was simply their instinct.

"What's with that look?!" One of them was clearly enraged by Xiao Ning's gaze and grabbed him by the collar.

"A look of contempt. You bootlicking bastards. Do you think Xiao Yan will accept you again just because you draw a line between yourselves and me? Do you think he'll forget how you abandoned him back then? He won't want any of you." Xiao Ning held his head high, his face full of defiance as he mocked them.

"Fuck you!" Enraged once more, the man gripping his collar drove his free left fist straight into Xiao Ning's face.

"Pfft!" Two teeth flew from Xiao Ning's mouth. He froze for a moment, then flew into a rage.

"You! I..." Before Xiao Ning could finish, a second punch and a third followed, until his entire face was a riot of colors, like a dyehouse.

His attacker released his collar. Xiao Ning crumpled to his knees, his eyes vacant. In that moment, his confidence and pride were utterly shattered by those who had betrayed him.

I might as well die...

The crazed thought took root in Xiao Ning's mind. With his heart reduced to dead ashes, he could hardly imagine what had sustained Xiao Yan through those four utterly bleak years.

"What do you think you are now? Your right arm is crippled, your meridians are blocked, and you'll never become a Dou Zhe in your entire life! Do you understand?! If I were you, I'd just die!" His attacker ground the sole of his foot against Xiao Ning's face, his words stabbing into his heart like blades.

That's right. Rather than live like a dead dog for the rest of my life, I might as well die. Xiao Ning's thoughts began to unravel. The crazed notion from before was about to consume his entire mind.

But just then...

"What are you doing?" a puzzled voice called out.

A flicker of clarity returned to Xiao Ning. Past his attacker's foot, he saw a white-robed youth standing nearby with a jade box in his hand.

The white-robed youth was none other than Xiao Yan.

Xiao Yan had never expected that, after only a few days apart, Xiao Ning's life would have become so miserable. The betrayal he had suffered was even worse than what Xiao Yan had endured back then.

It sent his fury blazing three feet high.

"Is this how you treat a fellow clansman? Have the adults been so busy cleaning things up these past few days that they haven't had time to keep you in line? You're utterly lawless!" Xiao Yan strode straight toward the attacker, who stood rooted to the spot in terror. Only when Xiao Yan raised his foot and kicked him away did he understand what Xiao Yan had come to do.

"Wait, that's not it, Young Master Xiao Yan! We were just sparring..." The Xiao Clan youths panicked completely. They could not understand why Xiao Yan was standing up for Xiao Ning, whom he had personally crippled only a few days earlier. But they understood one thing: if they offended Xiao Yan, their future in the clan would become very difficult.

"Get lost before I decide to give every last one of you a beating!" Xiao Yan's voice was icy, his sharp gaze sweeping over them.

"Yes, yes!" The clansmen fled as though their feet had sprouted wings, abandoning the attacker who had been kicked away.

"You get lost too!" Xiao Yan sounded impatient.

"Th-thank you." As though granted a pardon, the attacker scrambled out of the training grounds.

Xiao Yan walked over to Xiao Ning and pulled him up. Unfortunately, Xiao Ning was already somewhat delirious.

With a soft sigh, Xiao Yan took a mind-clearing pill from his Storage Ring and fed it to him along with the healing medicine in the jade box. Then he began treating his injuries right there.

There were quite a few people at the training grounds. Seeing Xiao Yan treating Xiao Ning, they could not help gathering around, and many began whispering among themselves.

"Xiao Yan is treating Xiao Ning? Wasn't he the one who crippled him?"

"Did you see that just now? Xiao Yan actually stood up for Xiao Ning."

"I thought those guys were acting on Xiao Yan's orders, but now it looks like that wasn't the case."

"Wasn't there a rumor that Xiao Yan was going to take revenge on everyone who bullied him over the years, one by one? So it was fake?"

"Of course it was fake. There are so many of them. How could he get revenge on everyone?"

Although Xiao Yan was busy treating Xiao Ning, he caught every word spoken around him. Clearly, his actions had more or less dispelled his fellow clansmen's fear that he would take revenge.

The treatment did not last long, and Xiao Ning gradually regained his senses. To his delighted surprise, the blocked meridians in his arm had been cleared, and the wounds that had yet to close began healing rapidly.

"Xiao Yan, thank you." Tears poured down Xiao Ning's face like rain.

"No need to thank me." Xiao Yan shook his head and gave a cold laugh. Withdrawing the hands through which he had been steadily channeling Dou Qi, he rose and left.

He had little interest in listening to Xiao Ning's remorseful confession. He had only come to make it clear that he had no intention of taking revenge on everyone.

The surrounding clansmen stepped aside to make a path for Xiao Yan. This time, however, the fear in their eyes had greatly diminished, and admiration began taking root and spreading.

"Now that's how a true man carries himself!"

"Young Master Xiao Yan looked so handsome, wiping away grudges with a smile..."

"Cousin, put some underwear on, would you?"

"Why did I feel like Young Master Xiao Yan was laughing coldly just now?"

"Impossible."

Listening to the praise behind him, Xiao Yan was filled with mixed feelings.

When Xiao Ning had been beaten, these people had all stood aloof, acting as though it had nothing to do with them, as though the blood flowing through their veins were entirely different from his. Yet once Xiao Yan stood up for Xiao Ning, they showered him with praise, as though they were immensely proud that the two shared the same blood.

"That's what this thing called family is like. They seem to share the same roots and origins, but when they start scheming against one another, they're even more ruthless than outsiders." Yao Lao's dry voice echoed in Xiao Yan's mind. From his tone, he seemed to understand this all too well.