What happened today would probably not end peacefully...
"Father!"
Hearing Xiao Yan's cry, Xiao Zhan stiffened. The Dou Qi around his body slowly receded until it vanished completely.
He sank back into his chair and gazed impassively at Nalan Yan, his voice somewhat hoarse.
"My nephew Nalan, what nerve you have. Nalan Su truly has an enviable son!"
"Uncle Xiao..."
"Do not call me uncle. I cannot bear that title." Xiao Zhan sneered.
"You are the head disciple of the Misty Cloud Sect, while my Yan'er is merely a girl of mediocre talent. Indeed, she is not worthy of you..."
Only after Xiao Zhan's cold words fell did Xiao Yan turn toward Nalan Yan. She was about to speak when an elder interrupted her.
"Xiao Yan, step back. I know you are upset, but we will handle this ourselves!" an elderly man said blandly.
Xiao Yan sneered, ignoring the barking behind her. An old geezer without a shred of clan pride did not deserve her respect.
Seeing Xiao Yan behave so disrespectfully, the elder frowned and was about to rebuke her when a clear, lilting voice rang out beside them.
"Elders, Big Sister Xiao Yan is the person involved. You should stay out of this."
At the girl's soft words, the three elders' bluster instantly deflated. They exchanged helpless looks, then nodded.
Looking at the three subdued elders, Xiao Yan turned back and gave the smiling Xiao Xun'er a long, searching look.
Just who was this girl? Why were the three elders so wary of her...?
Several years ago, after meeting this little girl in the Xiao Clan who "had no parents to look after her," Xiao Yan had taken good care of Xun'er.
That was precisely why the two were so close.
Later, after Xiao Yan broke through to Dou Zhe, something had gone wrong. Her Dou Qi vanished, and her cultivation plummeted.
Her former relationships with the other youngsters of the Xiao Clan lasted another half year or so before mostly falling apart. Only Xiao Xun'er remained, never caring about her strength.
Thus, in Xiao Yan's heart, Xiao Xun'er held a place equal to her father and her two older brothers.
Xiao Yan had even brought it up to Xiao Zhan, urging her father to adopt Xiao Xun'er, whose "parents had gone somewhere far away," as his daughter.
Although that never happened, Xiao Yan had learned enough to understand that Xun'er's background was far from simple.
I wonder how the power behind Xun'er compares to the Misty Cloud Sect, with its Dou Huang expert...
Suppressing her questions, Xiao Yan turned to face Nalan Yan, exhaled deeply, and asked calmly:
"Young Master Nalan, may I ask whether Old Master Nalan agreed to your coming here today to break off the engagement?"
Although she truly wanted to end the engagement deep down, she absolutely did not want to do it in such a humiliating fashion.
Nalan Yan had arrived with a female cultivator from his sect, stared at Xun'er for no reason, and spoken of breaking off the engagement with undisguised contempt.
If Nalan Yan were allowed to end the engagement so easily, the Xiao Clan's dignity would truly be trampled into the dirt.
The Three Great Elders were still watching the spectacle from the sidelines. Xiao Yan was utterly speechless.
Even if she could go without steamed buns, she could not go without her pride. There were things she had to make clear to Nalan Yan today.
Hearing Xiao Yan's "challenge," Nalan Yan frowned slightly.
What, did this nominal fiancée of his not understand the gulf between them?
Or was she trying to use this so-called engagement to cling to the Nalan Family or the Misty Cloud Sect?
As the head disciple of the Misty Cloud Sect, he had no shortage of admirers, including women eager to throw themselves at him.
Thus, Nalan Yan unconsciously slapped a few labels on Xiao Yan.
Although Xiao Yan was undeniably beautiful, she had become a cripple. The gap between their futures would only grow wider.
A "genius" like Nalan Yan would never marry a decorative vase who would only drag him down.
Rising to his feet, he stared at the girl who should have become his wife and spoke in an exceptionally flat tone.
"Grandfather has not agreed, but this is my business. It has nothing to do with him."
"Since the old master has not spoken, please forgive us, but my father will not agree to your demand either."
"The engagement was personally arranged by the old masters of both families. Since they have not declared it dissolved, no one may dare dissolve it. Otherwise, that would be desecrating a deceased elder!"
"I assume no one in our clan would commit such an act of defiance?"
Xiao Yan's calm words made the expressions of the Xiao Clan's three elders and Nalan Yan change.
With such a weighty accusation pressed down upon them, the three elders immediately fell silent. In a clan with strict rules, that charge alone could cost them their positions.
"You..." Cut off by Xiao Yan's barrage, Nalan Yan froze, unable to find a rebuttal. Irritation rose within him.
Taking a deep breath, Nalan Yan laughed in anger. "What, are you determined to marry me no matter what?"
"Xiao Yan, what will it take for you to agree to dissolve the engagement? Is the compensation insufficient? Fine, I can give you three more portions of Qi Gathering Powder. Furthermore, if you wish, I can arrange for you to enter the Misty Cloud Sect and study advanced Dou Qi cultivation methods. Is that enough?"
As one enticing offer after another spilled from Nalan Yan's mouth, the three elders' breathing quickened. The youngsters in the hall audibly swallowed.
Studying at the Misty Cloud Sect, with guaranteed admission at that-that was something countless people dreamed of...
"...Young Master Nalan, how impressive you are..."
Contrary to Nalan Yan's expectations, the girl before him fell briefly silent after his words, then slowly raised her head.
A fierce, chilling gleam now shone in her eyes.
"Young Master Nalan, do you think I am begging to throw myself at you?"
"...Xiao Yan, you... should just dissolve the engagement!" Exhaling softly, Nalan Yan tilted his head slightly and spoke with a trace of helplessness.
"You may consider this coercion, but you should also understand that this is reality. Nothing is absolutely fair."
"Although I do not mean to imply anything, you understand the gap between us. We... have practically no hope..."
Hearing Nalan Yan's indifferent words, Xiao Yan could not keep a cold smile from curling her lips.
"Young Master Nalan, there is nothing wrong with wanting to end the engagement, but do you truly not think you have gone too far today?"
"In doing what you have done today, have you shown any regard for the elders of our two families? Have you shown any regard for the Xiao Clan?"
Looking at the girl's anger-filled face, Nalan Yan frowned slightly. His gaze flicked toward Xiao Zhan in the seat of honor, who suddenly seemed to have aged considerably, and a faint pang of guilt stirred in his heart.
After pondering for a moment, Nalan Yan suddenly said softly, "I did act somewhat rashly today. For now, I can withdraw my request to dissolve the engagement, but you must agree to a pact!"
"What pact?" Xiao Yan asked with a frown.
"I can postpone today's demand for three years. Three years from now, you will come to the Misty Cloud Sect and challenge me. If you lose, I will publicly dissolve the engagement."
"By then, you should have undergone your clan's coming-of-age ceremony. Thus, even if you lose, Uncle Xiao will not suffer too much embarrassment. Do you dare accept?" Nalan Yan said blandly.
Xiao Yan: "..."
Seriously, are you sick in the head?
I give up. Coming to my door and trampling our dignity is not enough? You want to use the Misty Cloud Sect's influence to publicize this broken engagement for three years, then beat your former fiancée senseless on your sect's home turf and humiliate her to the utmost?
As far as I know, I am your former fiancée, not your sworn enemy, right?
Hardly anyone even knows about your damned engagement. Would it kill you to let the two families end it privately?
This was clearly just a matter of preserving everyone's dignity, yet you insist on blowing the conflict up and dragging the Misty Cloud Sect into it. Is your male chauvinism terminal?
"Young Master Nalan, you know perfectly well what condition Yan'er is in. What is she supposed to use to challenge you? Is humiliating her like this amusing?" Xiao Zhan slapped the table and rose furiously.
"Uncle Xiao, someone must take responsibility for breaking an engagement. If I were not trying to preserve your dignity, I would forcibly dissolve it right now! Then announce it to the public!"
Having been repeatedly thwarted in breaking off an engagement with a "good-for-nothing," Nalan Yan was growing impatient. He turned toward the silent Xiao Yan and snapped coldly:
"If you do not wish to damage Uncle Xiao's dignity, accept the pact! Three years from now or right now-which do you choose?"
"...Heh, Nalan Yan, frankly, there is absolutely nothing about you worthy of my respect."
Faced with Nalan Yan's relentless aggression, Xiao Yan sighed softly, then replied coldly.
"You need not put on such an overbearing display. You want to end the engagement simply because you think a good-for-nothing like me is unworthy of a favored son of heaven like you."
"Yes, the Misty Cloud Sect is powerful. But I am still young, and I have plenty of time. I became a Dou Zhe at twelve. And you, Nalan Yan-what stage of Dou Qi had you reached when you were twelve?"
"Yes, I am indeed a good-for-nothing now. But since I created a miracle three years ago, what makes you think I cannot rise again in the years to come?"
"Without your title as the Misty Cloud Sect's head disciple, what the hell are you?"
When she first transmigrated into this world, Xiao Yan had felt little sense of belonging.
To her newly arrived self, every extra day she lived on this continent was a gain.
After all, in her previous life, she had been just another utterly ordinary member of the struggling masses, even... a somewhat lowly one.
After transmigrating to the Dou Qi Continent, however, the strength of her soul had made her a genius within the clan.
Then, at twelve, she suffered the first Waterloo of her life, falling from genius to good-for-nothing and enduring cold looks and mockery for the next three years.
That period had dealt Xiao Yan no small blow.
Naturally, she had little affection for those cruel, snobbish "relatives" in this world.
Although she knew this was only human nature.
The Xiao Clan was just an ordinary clan, only one of three dominant powers in a single city, with extremely limited resources.
When Xiao Yan displayed her talent, the entire clan pooled its resources to nurture her, hoping that she would give back to the clan once she matured.
In that process, other "geniuses" inevitably lost resources that would otherwise have belonged to them because of her emergence.
After Xiao Yan lost her talent, Xiao Zhan, both clan leader and her father, naturally wanted to keep concentrating resources on restoring it.
The other elders initially held out hope, but as time passed, they naturally grew unwilling. That could hardly have been more normal.
Thus, although she remained optimistic after losing her talent, Xiao Yan's days had not actually been easy.
It was her father Xiao Zhan, her brothers Xiao Ding and Xiao Li, Xun'er, and a few others who had warmed her heart during those years.
That was when she had accepted this Xiao Clan and truly begun to regard herself as one of its members.
She could call the clan's youngsters snobbish and its old men cruel, but she would not allow outsiders to speak a single ill word of the Xiao Clan.
Thus, faced with Nalan Yan's humiliation of her father, the Xiao Clan's leader, and the entire clan itself, Xiao Yan finally could not hold back her eruption.
Her impassioned words stunned everyone in the hall.
Who could have imagined that the usually quiet, reserved girl could be so formidable?
Although Xiao Yan's assessment of him turned Nalan Yan's face livid with anger, he could not refute it.
After all, what Xiao Yan said was true. No matter how useless she was now, her becoming a Dou Zhe at twelve was an undeniable fact.
At that age, Nalan Yan had only reached eighth stage Dou Qi...
"Young Master Nalan, out of respect for Old Master Nalan, allow Xiao Yan to offer you a few words of advice-"
"Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west-never bully a girl for being poor!"
"Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west-never bully a girl for being poor!"
With that, Xiao Yan ignored the livid Nalan Yan, spun around, strode to the table, and wrote furiously!
The ink fell; the brush stopped!
Xiao Yan abruptly drew the short sword from the table with her right hand. Its sharp blade slashed a bloody gash across her left palm...
Her bloodstained palm left a glaring crimson print on the white paper!
Lightly picking up the document, Xiao Yan gave a cold laugh. As she passed Nalan Yan, she slammed it down on the table.
"Since Young Master Nalan came here to break off the engagement without informing Old Master Nalan, I shall also dare to defy my elders this once-"
"Young Master Nalan, do not think I care so much about some genius fiancé. This document is not an agreement to dissolve our engagement. It is proof that I am breaking off my engagement to you!"
"From this moment on, you, Nalan Yan, have nothing whatsoever to do with my Xiao Clan!"
"You... you dare break off our engagement?"
Staring at the blood-marked document on the table, Nalan Yan's eyes widened as he spoke in disbelief.
On the Dou Qi Continent, being rejected by the woman in an engagement was an immense humiliation for a man.
Nalan Yan had never imagined that, with his looks, talent, and background, a good-for-nothing from a small clan would actually break off her engagement to him.
This sudden turn of events felt utterly unreal to him.
Gazing coldly at Nalan Yan's stunned expression, Xiao Yan suddenly turned, bent her knees, and knelt before Xiao Zhan. She kowtowed heavily, biting her lip tightly, yet stubbornly refusing to utter a word...
Although, within the clan, she was nominally the one who had broken off her engagement to Nalan Yan, outsiders would not see it that way once word spread.
Those who did not understand the circumstances would only believe that Nalan Yan had used his powerful background to force the Xiao Clan to cancel the engagement.
And thus, as Xiao Yan's father, Xiao Zhan would surely suffer endless ridicule...
But that was unavoidable.
Without sufficient strength, taking the initiative to end this engagement was already the most Xiao Yan could do.
As for that Three-Year Agreement... heh, if her talent could not be restored, it would merely give him another opportunity to humiliate the Xiao Clan.
But...
"Father, three years from now, Yan'er will go to the Misty Cloud Sect and personally wash away today's humiliation for you!"
Her eyes somewhat moist, Xiao Yan kowtowed heavily to Xiao Zhan in the seat of honor, then rose and headed straight out of the hall without hesitation.
As she passed Nalan Yan, Xiao Yan paused and uttered a few quiet, icy words.
"Young Master Nalan, three years from now, I will come for you!"
Somewhat dazed, Nalan Yan stared at the figure gradually disappearing through the doorway. The document in his hand suddenly felt as heavy as a thousand pounds...
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