A misunderstanding

Chaos spread through the entire Jia Ma Sacred City from the spot where the elderly prime minister had been assassinated. Although the assassin had been subdued immediately, the city guards still rushed out to seal every exit.

Soldiers also questioned passersby in the streets, keeping a strict watch for any accomplices the assassin might have.

A quarter of an hour later, Xiao Yan sensed several powerful auras erupt above the sacred city. Looking up, he saw several experts cutting through the sky on Dou Qi Wings. They moved swiftly, and the man leading them had a particularly imposing presence.

"To think I'd run into something this big just out shopping." Xiao Yan shook his head. He knew little about this elderly prime minister, but this was his first time witnessing the assassination of an important imperial figure, whether in his previous life or this one.

Xiao Yan tugged at Xiao Yi Xian's sleeve, intending to leave this trouble spot. The officials of the Jia Ma Empire would undoubtedly investigate everyone near the scene soon. Although the two of them had nothing to fear from an investigation, it was better not to get involved-one less complication was always preferable to one more.

An international incident. Who knew how many factions would get dragged into this...

Xiao Yan had undoubtedly made the right choice, but what he had not expected was that someone had noticed them anyway.

A white-haired old man in a plain hemp robe blocked their path. His scrutinizing gaze swept over the two of them before finally settling on the ancient-looking Storage Ring on Xiao Yan's finger.

"You two young friends have considerable strength, yet your faces are unfamiliar. I presume you aren't from our Jia Ma Empire. What brings you here?" The white-haired old man spoke evenly, but his eyes were dark. Jia Jin's death had enraged him beyond measure, yet he could not let that anger show freely on his face.

For he was the Jia Ma Empire's strongest publicly known expert, the guardian of its Imperial Family-Jia Xingtian, a Peak Nine-Star Dou Emperor!

Xiao Yan suddenly felt an immense pressure descend on him. The Dou Qi inside him circulated automatically to resist it, fully exposing his strength as a one-star Dou Ling.

"A one-star Dou Ling?! A boy this young?" The Jia Ma Empire's experts, who had been questioning passersby nearby, instantly paled in shock. Their gazes turned toward Xiao Yan, whose Dou Qi had been automatically stirred into action.

Xiao Yan looked extremely young. His youthful face was rather handsome, and although his dark eyes held a composure far beyond that of his peers, anyone could tell at a glance that he was not yet twenty.

Most people only became Dou Zhe around the age of twenty. Anyone who reached the Dou Shi realm by twenty was already a genius found only once in ten thousand. A twenty-year-old Dou Ling? That was unheard of.

No, I remember a genius named Xiao Yan from a small clan in Wutan City. He became a Dou Zhe at eleven. If he hadn't fallen along the way, he would probably be a Dou Ling by now as well. What a pity... Jia Xingtian sighed inwardly as he looked at the boy before him.

"We're both from the Jia Ma Empire, not foreigners." Xiao Yan sighed softly and took a travel permit from his Storage Ring.

A travel permit was something most people needed when traveling away from home. Naturally, the Xiao Clan had prepared one for Xiao Yan when he left to train.

After Xiao Yan tossed him the permit, the hemp-robed elder carefully examined it to confirm that it was not forged. Then he turned his gaze toward Xiao Yi Xian and held out his hand.

"Where's your travel permit?"

"I don't have one." Xiao Yi Xian's expression remained composed.

Xiao Yan helplessly pressed a hand to his forehead. As Hun Tiandi's adopted daughter, how could Xiao Yi Xian possibly have a travel permit from the tiny Jia Ma Empire?

He meant no disrespect toward the Jia Ma Empire. It was simply that the Hun Clan stood far above these empires. Xiao Yi Xian had lost her family as a child and might not even know what a travel permit was, while Hun Tiandi would never obtain one from some little empire on the Northwest Continent.

And so they had ended up in this awkward situation...

"Isn't one person's permit enough?" If possible, Xiao Yan did not want to clash with the strongest expert in the Jia Ma Empire standing before him.

Still, he was not particularly afraid. Hun Tiandi and Yao Chen were both within Jia Ma Sacred City. If Jia Xingtian attacked, it was obvious which side would be annihilated.

"No." Jia Xingtian shook his head and raised his hand.

Suddenly, the ground around Xiao Yan cracked open. Several earthen spikes shot skyward, trapping him and Xiao Yi Xian inside.

"I don't know which faction you belong to, but with an incident this serious in the Jia Ma Empire, you must submit to an investigation before you can leave. If it turns out that you truly have nothing to do with this affair, I will personally visit your elders to apologize." Jia Xingtian flicked his sleeve, and a Dou Wang of the Jia Ma Imperial Family approached with a chain in his hands.

All manner of strange symbols were engraved on the chain. They resembled the symbols on the formation Xiao Yi Xian had laid out in the Magical Beast Forest, but these were clearly cruder and lacked the profundity of the Hun Clan's.

"Senior Sister, can you contact our two masters?" Xiao Yan rubbed his nose. Clearly, their own strength was no longer enough to resolve the situation easily.

"I already did." Xiao Yi Xian paused, then continued with an odd expression, "He said he's nearby, keeping an eye on that Jia Xingtian. He wants you to deal with the Dou Wang in front of you alone, and he won't let me help."

"He also said to consider it a test..."

"..."

Resigned, Xiao Yan took the Heavy Xuan Ruler out of his Storage Ring and swung it fiercely at the earthen spikes before him. Sea-blue Dou Qi surged like a tide, destroying everything that dared block his path.

"Water-attribute Dou Qi?" The Dou Wang from the Jia Ma Imperial Family was an old man in black robes. His aged face was now filled with anger. This boy, a suspected culprit, might be a genius, but he actually dared attack a Dou Wang with the strength of a Dou Ling?

He truly had no idea how high the heavens were or how deep the earth ran!

The black-robed elder turned to glance at Jia Xingtian. After receiving an approving nod, his aura climbed steadily as he prepared to subdue Xiao Yan and Xiao Yi Xian through brute force.

What the black-robed elder failed to notice, however, was that Jia Xingtian's face had gone rigid. Strange milky-white flames burned in his pupils, and he had suddenly become no different from a puppet.

Rather than discard the chain, the black-robed elder freed his right hand, coated his fist in Dou Qi, and hurled a Black-tier High-grade Dou Technique straight at Xiao Yan. He clearly thought nothing of this junior who was merely a one-star Dou Ling.

The elder did indeed have grounds for his confidence. Even an ordinary Dou Wang could utterly overwhelm and kill a Nine-Star Dou Ling. How much easier would it be for a veteran Dou Wang like him to face a newcomer who was only a one-star Dou Ling?

He had this boy in the palm of his hand!

Very soon, however, the black-robed elder would pay for his arrogance.

"It isn't water-attribute Dou Qi." Xiao Yan watched the black-robed elder charging rapidly toward him with the hint of a smile. Behind him, sea-blue flames soared into the sky.

Fifteenth on the heavenly flame ranking: Sea Heart Flame!