"Third Young Master, according to the results of my investigation, Immortal Chen moved here three days ago."
"What about the original stall owner?"
"We don't know. He disappeared without a trace."
Hearing this, Xiao Yan felt he could be fairly certain of one thing.
The original stall owner had probably been murdered.
As for Suction Palm, barring any surprises, it had likely already fallen into the other man's hands.
Moreover, when Xiao Yan left the lakeside courtyard, the man had specifically told him to come back tomorrow. There was probably an ambush waiting for him.
Since he knows the plot of Battle Through the Heavens, he must know about Yao Lao's existence too. If he still dares to make a move against me under those circumstances, there's only one explanation: he must have a trump card.
Xiao Yan also had an estimate of how powerful that trump card might be: somewhere around the Dou Emperor level.
He had reached this conclusion because the strength Yao Lao could currently bring to bear was, at most, at the Dou Emperor level, and perhaps not even that.
If the man's trump card surpassed the Dou Emperor level, he probably would not have bothered with such elaborate measures. He could simply charge into the Xiao Clan and kill Xiao Yan.
Unfortunately for him, he had overlooked one crucial issue from beginning to end: Xiao Yan's own strength!
After delivering his report, Pain left the courtyard.
Setting aside his tangled thoughts for the moment, Xiao Yan strolled leisurely along the gravel path toward the Dou Technique Hall.
As he rounded a turn, a burst of girlish laughter drifted over from another path.
With the peaceful atmosphere disturbed, Xiao Yan frowned slightly and looked toward the sound, only to see a group of girls approaching with bright laughter.
Surrounded by several pretty girls, a girl with a somewhat alluring face was smiling with her lips pressed together. The seductive charm on her little face left the inexperienced girls beside her feeling deeply inferior.
Xiao Mei? His heart jolted in alarm. Remembering her devilish behavior a few days earlier, he felt a lingering wave of fear.
Pretending not to see her, he walked to the end of the path. Just as he expected her to put on a sweet voice and act cute, something entirely unexpected happened.
Xiao Mei's rather enticing laughter suddenly faded. Only after a long while did she call out, "Cousin."
Her tone was flat and distant, utterly unlike the seductive manner she had displayed a few days earlier.
Before he could think it through, the girl had already left without looking back.
With the hearing of a Dou Huang expert, he could clearly hear the girls' conversation.
Pretty girl one: "Sister Mei, you don't still have feelings for Young Master Xiao, do you?"
Pretty girl two: "Young Master Xiao isn't what he used to be. You mustn't hang yourself from a single tree."
Pretty girl three: "Exactly, exactly. The coming-of-age ceremony is next year. At his current rate of progress, he'll almost certainly be driven out of the Xiao Clan."
"Enough. Stop talking about it. We were just close as children. With his current cultivation, we're destined to belong to two different worlds."
Xiao Mei's voice carried no emotion, as though the person she was talking about had nothing to do with her.
As the girls walked farther and farther away, Xiao Yan glanced at the panel in bewilderment, then looked at Xiao Mei's retreating figure, his head filled with enormous question marks.
[Ding, no downloadable system detected. Please select another scan target!] [Today's attempts: 0/3]
No system?
She really doesn't have a system!
If last time was a system error, what does that make this time?
"Schizophrenia? Or did she damage her brain in that fall and end up with amnesia?" Thinking back on Xiao Mei's earlier actions, he found it hard to reconcile that girl with the one she was now.
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