[Everyone, please be sure to read the earlier chapter explaining the alternate-setting changes, or some parts might not make sense. Of course, if you don't, you'll just be kicking cotton-this pigeon of an author can't do anything about it. Coo, coo, coo~]
"Dou power, third stage!"
The announcement seemed devoid of emotion, yet the faint mockery in the speaker's gaze changed that.
As the voice fell, whispers rose around them once again.
For the final participant in this test, a result of "three-stage Dou Qi" was undoubtedly a little too "outstanding."
Xiao Yan, however, remained unmoved by all the voices around her.
Hah, you're just jealous that I was born into a good family. Now that I've fallen on hard times, you're all mocking me. Do I look like I care?
I've got a Da Dou Shi father to support me anyway, and two extraordinarily talented older brothers watching my back. They'll at least become Da Dou Shi someday, and might even reach Dou Ling. What do you have?
What can a few jabs at me change? Won't you still have to watch my face before you act in the future?
The girl in the purple dress standing before the Black Stone Stele gave herself a little pep talk, quickly regained her composure, then turned and left the testing platform at a leisurely pace.
As for why she wore a purple dress, it was because her little sister said purple... ahem, that wasn't important.
Among the spectators, another graceful girl in a blue-green dress stood waiting for Xiao Yan, her little hands clasped behind her back as she put on the air of a miniature adult.
"You've already reached ninth-stage Dou Qi. I bet you'll break through to Dou Zhe by next year's Coming-of-Age Ceremony!" Xiao Yan teased, patting Xiao Xun'er's little head.
"I can't compare to you, Sister Xiao Yan. You broke through to Dou Zhe three years ago, when you were only eleven! If you regained your talent, making your name resound throughout the Jia Ma Empire would be a breeze!"
Xun'er answered with a radiant smile, and the two walked away arm in arm, leaving behind a whole crowd of craning "husband-watching stones."
After fooling around for a while, Xiao Yan said goodbye to Xun'er.
Once she returned to her room, Xiao Yan couldn't help sinking into her memories.
In truth, Xiao Yan had always harbored a secret-she wasn't from this world.
She had been in this world for more than ten years now.
Still, Xiao Yan actually liked this world very much.
After all, in her previous life, she had borne a rather unpleasant name-"Zhaodi," meaning "bring a younger brother."
In this world, she had neither a father who valued sons over daughters nor a hopeless younger brother.
As the Xiao Clan's third young lady, she was doted on by her two older brothers, while her father lavished her with care, paying even more attention to her than to those two.
She herself also possessed considerable talent for cultivation and could take her fate into her own hands.
Even when something inexplicably went wrong with her cultivation, her father hadn't given up on her.
Such "simple, certain happiness" was something she had never experienced in her previous life.
Precisely because of that, she had come to regard herself wholeheartedly as a member of the Xiao Clan.
As for that so-called "previous life," she would just treat it as a less-than-pleasant dream.
For Xiao Yan, her sole regret was that she hadn't been able to save her mother, who had died of illness when this body was four years old...
As for her Dou Qi cultivation, although no one knew what had gone wrong, Xiao Zhan had once spent a huge sum to invite a Second-Rank Alchemist from the Mittel Auction House to examine her, but even he had failed to identify the problem.
Xiao Yan had also tried doubling her efforts at cultivation, only for her cultivation level to keep falling.
So she stopped trying to force it.
Well, I've got a Da Dou Shi father, two older brothers who'll become Da Dou Shi sooner or later, and a little best friend who might well reach Dou Emperor in the future.
Even if I just lie flat, I'll never have to worry about food or drink.
In the future, my brothers can make their way in the world while I handle clan affairs at home and look after Father. That sounds pretty good, doesn't it?
Thus, Xiao Yan simply treated herself as incapable of cultivating Dou Qi. She stopped worrying about her cultivation level and turned instead to tempering her body-
Even a Dou Zhe could really only snap a tree two or three meters thick with a punch or shatter incredibly hard bluestone with a kick.
Strong as that certainly was, it wasn't all that much stronger than an ordinary person.
With the nourishment of the energy of heaven and earth, as long as she trained diligently, matching a low-level Dou Zhe in combat probably wouldn't be difficult, even if her cultivation level didn't rise.
After all, before becoming a Dou Zhe, the amount of Dou Qi a person could store within their body was actually quite small and could easily be "squandered" away.
Even mercenaries who often licked blood off the edges of blades, but had yet to reach Dou Zhe, relied primarily on weapons in battle, using Dou Techniques only as support.
Most of the Xiao Clan's Dou Techniques were Yellow Tier, and their power wasn't particularly great.
So, as long as her opponent couldn't take her down instantly with a Dou Technique, what followed would be a physical brawl, where the gap between the younger clan members was even smaller.
For instance, although Xiao Yan currently possessed only three-stage Dou Qi, she could defeat someone with fifth-stage Dou Qi in a fight and hold her own against someone with sixth-stage Dou Qi.
At the Coming-of-Age Ceremony a year from now, she was confident she could drag out someone with seventh-stage Dou Qi and beat them flat without using Dou Qi herself.
Of course, if she trained this way, she would need to keep one thing in mind: defined abs and some smooth muscle contours were fine, but she absolutely mustn't turn herself into a protein queen...
She removed the bracelets and weighted bracers from both wrists and set them on her dressing table, then slipped off her high heels with their solid metal soles. Xiao Yan immediately felt a little lighter.
Xiao Yan with her shoes off was her strongest form!... ahem.
"This weight barely affects me anymore. I'll have to find a way to add some more..."
Xiao Yan pondered as she massaged the soles of her feet with her long, slender, jade-white fingers.
It wasn't as though she couldn't strap weights to her calves, but it was summer, and she was wearing a dress, after all. That would look rather unsightly.
What if... I strapped the weights to my thighs?
Mm, that's an option too.
Once she stopped growing, she could also wear a layer of metal armor beneath her clothes, giving her some extra protection while she trained her body.
After all, she was the Xiao Clan's third young lady. Her status was plain for all to see, yet she had little strength, making her the perfect "soft persimmon" to squeeze.
The other two clans in Wutan City might well be considering taking a shot at her just to disgust the Xiao Clan.
Still, she wasn't in any hurry to dwell on that right now.
After massaging her calves a little more to ease their slight fatigue, Xiao Yan sat cross-legged on her bed and began drawing in the energy of heaven and earth to cultivate Dou Qi.
Although her cultivation level wouldn't rise, cultivating Dou Qi could replace medicinal herbs that replenished vitality and blood, greatly benefiting her body.
After roughly an hour of cultivation, faint white currents of energy flowed slowly through her fragile meridians.
Once she finished cultivating, her Dou Qi still seemed to have been fed to the dogs, but Xiao Yan felt as though her strength had... increased just a little.
"... Was that my imagination?"
Xiao Yan carefully checked again, but found nothing unusual. She couldn't perceive her body's condition down to the finest detail, either, so she could only let it go.
In any case, it wasn't doing her any harm.
Just then, a familiar figure entered Xiao Yan's awareness, both suddenly and not so suddenly.
Xiao Yan climbed off the bed and opened her door. "Father, did you need me?"
Seeing his confident, sunny youngest daughter, Xiao Zhan gave a gentle smile. "Yan'er..."
Before you continue