An unexpected turn

"Your Xiao Clan certainly struck with the force of thunder..."

The Otto Family members' faces were as dark as the clouds before a storm. Their relaxed expressions, worn when they had expected merely to enjoy the show, had long since vanished.

Now, deep within the Xiao Clan's territory, they were like insects caught in an inescapable web. They had no way to send word to their family, much less take any action to stop the Xiao Clan from swallowing up the Jia Lie Family.

"Was inviting us here as witnesses part of your plan all along?"

The Otto Family head's voice was as low as muffled thunder, each word seemingly forced through clenched teeth. "What methods! What schemes! Xiao Zhan, you've truly made me see you in a new light!"

The corner of Xiao Zhan's mouth twitched, but he did not know how to respond and fell briefly silent.

In truth, the key to everything had been Xiao Qian's unexpected capabilities.

Somehow, through some miraculous means, he had taken control of Jia Lie Ao. Without that, how could disposing of Jia Lie Bi have been so easy?

Naturally, he would never reveal that to the Otto Family.

I knew their backgrounds were extraordinary, but I only feared the powers behind them, not the two children themselves...

Xiao Zhan sighed inwardly. So these are the children raised by those terrifying powers? Talent, strength, cunning-each one in ten thousand.

He glanced at Xiao Yan, silently compared him with Xiao Qian, and could not help shaking his head slightly.

His son Xiao Yan was indeed exceptionally talented, but that very talent had fostered an overly flamboyant disposition. If he did not change, he would likely suffer dearly for it someday.

Xiao Yan still had a long road ahead...

"You don't seem very happy."

Putting the clamor of fighting and killing in the front courtyard out of his mind, Xiao Qian returned to their Small Courtyard.

Xiao Xun'er sat beside him at the stone table. She gently picked up the kettle in the center of the table and poured him a cup of cool tea with slow, graceful movements.

Xiao Qian took the cup, tipped his head back, and drained it.

"Since they dared to plot against me, I naturally wasn't going to show mercy. The Jia Lie Family's fate was sealed long ago."

Xiao Qian set down the cup, his slender fingers slowly tracing its rim. He gazed into the distance, yet his eyes seemed unfocused.

"I'm in low spirits because this isn't the kind of revenge I like."

Xiao Qian clenched his fist tightly and said in a low voice, "Scheming is only a lesser path, after all. If something displeases me, the best solution is to smash it with a punch-to shatter everything standing in my way!"

Xiao Xun'er lowered her head without speaking.

Will everyone who plots against you come to a bad end...?

Father, what should I do?

The girl's heart was a tangle of knotted threads.

No matter how dissatisfied Xiao Qian himself was, news of what had happened at the Xiao Clan that day swept through the city like a gale. Everywhere, in every street and alley, people were discussing it.

"The Xiao Clan really outdid themselves this time. They dealt with the Jia Lie Family in one fell swoop! Those bastards were always sucking the mercenaries' blood. What a satisfying end!"

"Have you heard? The one who killed Jia Lie Bi was actually Xiao Qian, the boy who tested at three-stage dou qi. Isn't that unbelievable?"

"Tch! He's obviously playing the pig to eat the tiger! Only an idiot would believe he really has just three-stage dou qi!"

"Word is that a Dou Shi from the Jia Lie Family died at his hands, too. He's hidden his strength awfully well."

"They're not to be trifled with. With a youngster like that, the Xiao Clan will probably become the king of Wutan City. They might even push into the Imperial Capital."

In just a few days, the story grew ever more heady like fermenting wine, stirring up a louder and louder uproar.

The Xiao Clan suddenly became the hottest name in town, already Wutan City's undisputed, uncrowned ruler.

Xiao Qian could finally throw himself wholeheartedly back into his feverish cultivation. No one dared disturb him anymore; after all, people outside were now saying he was a Da Dou Shi...

Only Xiao Yan and Xiao Yu still played their usual games of pursuit and counter-pursuit in front of him from time to time. No one else dared behave so freely in his presence.

Between roughhousing with Xiao Yan and kissing and cuddling Xun'er, a year flowed swiftly past like running water.

Those carefree days of youth would settle in their hearts like radiant pearls, becoming an everlasting warmth that lent splendor to the long river of years.

"Something's been off with you lately."

On the grass beside a cliff on the Xiao Clan's Back Mountain, Xiao Qian and Xiao Yan lay comfortably with their hands behind their heads, each holding a blade of wild grass between his lips as they leisurely watched the drifting white clouds.

A gentle breeze brushed their still somewhat youthful faces, bringing a pleasant coolness.

Yet only Xiao Qian seemed comfortable. Xiao Yan remained silent, as though he had not heard him.

"Tomorrow... it's time for the dou qi test again." After an unknown stretch of time, Xiao Yan suddenly murmured. Had their surroundings not been utterly silent, even Xiao Qian lying beside him would not have heard.

"So let them test us. I'll still have three-stage dou qi, anyway. How you plan to shock everyone is none of my business."

Xiao Qian spoke carelessly. He had already cultivated his seventh dantian to ninth stage dou qi, while only his original dantian remained at three-stage dou qi.

To his surprise, Xiao Yan merely gave a bitter chuckle. "You'll know tomorrow. I hope you won't be too shocked."

With that, he got up and headed straight down the mountain path, without even brushing off the grass clinging to him.

Xiao Qian frowned at his retreating back, filled with bewilderment and unable to make sense of it.

"Next, Xiao Yan!"

The next day, the Xiao Clan's testing square was packed with a sea of people.

Besides those who needed to undergo the test, quite a few representatives of Wutan City's various powers had come to observe.

The Xiao Clan now blazed like the midday sun, and most people were willing to show them due respect. Besides, this was an excellent opportunity to glimpse the clan's future strength. Many had long been curious about Xiao Qian and Xiao Yan.

How would they perform today?

Some in the crowd watched with cold eyes, while others' gazes burned with anticipation.

"With Cousin Xiao Yan's talent for cultivation, he must be at least a Three-Star Dou Practitioner this time!" Xiao Mei, his little admirer, flushed bright red and raised both hands high, ready to cheer.

"Can you sense Cousin Xiao Yan's dou qi?" In a corner at one side of the square, Xiao Xun'er watched Xiao Yan's back with an odd look in her eyes. She leaned closer to Xiao Qian and lowered her voice.

"Almost none." A bad feeling rose in Xiao Qian's heart. "I thought he'd cultivated some technique to hide his dou qi, but if even you sense the same thing..."

Under everyone's expectant gaze, Xiao Yan finally extended his hand slowly. Beneath the hair veiling them, his gray eyes were dull and lifeless, as though all their light had faded.

From this day onward, the legend of the past would fall...

Hum.

The Testing Stone shone with a burst of light.

"Dou qi, third stage!"

The result left everyone dumbstruck-everyone except Xiao Yan.

"Are my eyes playing tricks on me? Is that... third-stage dou qi?"

"You're seeing it right. It really is third-stage dou qi. Xiao Yan's dou qi actually fell from the Dou Zhe realm?"

"Can someone's dou qi cultivation really drop by such a huge realm? I've never heard of anything like that."

Gradually, murmurs rose like a tide. Astonished, peculiar gazes converged on the boy who was only twelve years old, and he could clearly feel the malice that had suddenly emerged.

When someone others once had to look up to fell from his pedestal, people never seemed reluctant to give him another kick.

"Hehehe, so this is the clan's genius? The clan's hope? The brilliant young man supposedly destined to lead them into the Imperial Capital?" someone said, his face full of gloating delight.

"Now this is interesting. If the Xiao Clan's genius vanishes just like that, they won't be able to maintain their current blazing prestige." Some were already considering how the balance of power in Wutan City might change.

"Yan'er, w-what happened? Could the Testing Stone be broken?!" Xiao Zhan was the first to lose his composure. He rushed to Xiao Yan's side, his face filled with disbelief.

"I've disappointed you, Father."

Xiao Yan, on the contrary, was the calmest of them all. Perhaps he had already accepted the result, or perhaps he had already given up on himself.

"Over the past year, my dou qi cultivation has been steadily falling. Now... it really is..."

"Third-stage dou qi."

The entire square erupted in an uproar.