Xiao Baichuan froze.
"What? Wait-"
Before he could finish, he felt a tremendous force shove his consciousness aside.
It was as though someone had kicked him out of the main seat, sending him huddling into a corner.
Ling Xi took over his body.
Now that she had finally gotten a chance to come out and play, of course she wanted to do as she pleased.
The instant Ling Xi took over, Xiao Baichuan's entire presence abruptly changed.
The handsome youth standing in the hall suddenly exuded an indescribable majesty.
That pressure came from deep within the bloodline, from the soul itself-a presence that only long years in a position of power could cultivate.
Controlling Xiao Baichuan's body, Ling Xi lifted his chin slightly and swept her gaze over everyone in the hall.
Just that single glance.
Everyone in the hall felt their hearts give a violent tremor.
That oppressive sensation burrowed straight out of their genes, making their scalps prickle and sending chills down their spines.
It was as though what stood before them was not an adopted son of the Xiao Clan, but an ancient colossal beast.
Some younger Xiao Clan members felt their legs weaken and nearly dropped to their knees.
Even Ge Ye, the strongest person present, a Seven-Star Great Dou Master, felt every hair on his body stand on end beneath that glance.
He instinctively retreated half a step, his knees bending slightly, and nearly knelt in greeting.
Gu Xun'er, the cool and aloof pearl in the Gu Clan's palm, suddenly felt waves surge in her heart after noticing the abrupt change in Xiao Baichuan's presence.
That sense of majesty reminded her of her father, yet it absolutely should not have belonged to a young man only two years older than her!
Just where had things gone wrong?
Could Xiao Baichuan be an ordinary disciple on the surface, but secretly an old monster hidden within the Xiao Clan?
Ge Ye forced himself to steady his body, cold sweat beading on his forehead as shock filled his heart.
This presence... what was going on?
Looking at Ge Ye's expression, as though he were facing a formidable enemy, Ling Xi curled her lips slightly.
Then she spoke in Xiao Baichuan's voice, but with the languor and disdain of an empress.
"You said just now that you wanted to call off the engagement?"
Controlling Xiao Baichuan's body, Ling Xi rested her gaze on Nalan Yanran.
As that gaze swept over her, Nalan Yanran fell into a momentary daze.
Those eyes were clearly still Xiao Baichuan's, yet the light within them was completely different.
That cold, majestic, lofty air.
He seemed to be looking at an ant.
Nalan Yanran instinctively wanted to shake her head.
She had clearly come to call off the engagement, yet beneath those eyes, she suddenly felt the words lodge in her throat, unable to come out no matter what.
Just then, Ling Xi suddenly spoke.
"Fine, this... I agree."
The entire hall fell silent!
In the corner of his sea of consciousness, Xiao Baichuan's eyes widened. He had never imagined Ling Xi would play it like this.
He still tried to seize control of his body.
But Ling Xi held him down so firmly that he could not move even a finger.
Controlling his body, Ling Xi turned toward Xiao Zhan and held out a hand.
"Clan Leader Xiao, the marriage contract."
Xiao Zhan froze for a moment.
Then, like an obedient child, he instinctively took a yellowed marriage contract out of his Storage Ring and placed it in Xiao Baichuan's hand.
The crucial thing was that no one present felt anything was wrong.
It was as though the current Xiao Baichuan was not that Xiao Clan adopted son with mediocre talent at all.
And Nalan Yanran had not come to break off an engagement.
She had come to have her engagement broken off.
Ling Xi took the marriage contract, raised her hand with her fingers pressed together, and wrote the word "dissolved" across it with strokes like flying dragons and dancing phoenixes.
The strokes were sharp, their force penetrating the back of the paper.
Then she turned to face everyone in the hall, her voice clear.
"Since you are all here, you may as well bear witness."
"Today, I, Xiao Baichuan, hereby formally dissolve my engagement to Miss Nalan Yanran of the Nalan Family."
With that, she thrust the marriage contract into Nalan Yanran's hands.
Then she turned with effortless flair and strode toward the exit.
There were no red robes, no silver hair, yet that stride, that bearing, unmistakably carried an alluring fierceness that did not belong to Xiao Baichuan.
Everyone simply watched her leave the front hall. From beginning to end, not a single person spoke up to stop her.
Only after Xiao Baichuan's figure disappeared into the night did the hall erupt into an uproar.
"Just now... was that really Bai Chuan?"
"What was that presence... even a Da Dou Shi doesn't have that, right?"
"Just who is he?"
Ge Ye stood rooted to the spot, his face alternating between ashen and pale, his fingers trembling slightly.
He, a Seven-Star Great Dou Master, had nearly knelt before a junior at the Eighth Stage of Dou Qi.
If word of this got out, where would he put his old face?
Nalan Yanran lowered her head and looked at the marriage contract in her hands, its engagement already dissolved.
She had clearly come to call off the engagement.
Now the marriage contract was dissolved, and her goal had been achieved.
But why did she feel empty inside instead?
The sight of Xiao Baichuan turning and leaving, along with those cold, indifferent eyes, replayed over and over in her mind.
From beginning to end, those eyes had never spared her an extra glance.
It was as though she, Nalan Yanran, was not worth taking to heart at all.
Nalan Yanran tightened her grip on the marriage contract and bit her lip.
Sitting in the seat of honor, Xiao Zhan only came back to his senses after a long while and let out a long breath.
He glanced at Xiao Yan beside him, then at Nalan Yanran, who stood with her head lowered in silence. His lips moved, but in the end, he said nothing.
Gu Xun'er sat in her seat, her fingers gently rubbing the rim of her teacup, her delicate brows slightly furrowed.
That feeling just now was absolutely unmistakable.
That pressure, that presence, clearly belonged only to someone who had long occupied a lofty position.
Yet Xiao Baichuan was clearly just an ordinary person at the Eighth Stage of Dou Qi.
What on earth was going on?
The viewpoint shifted to Xiao Baichuan.
He walked all the way back to his room, pushed the door open, entered, and closed it behind him.
Only once he sat on the edge of the bed did Ling Xi withdraw from his sea of consciousness and return control of his body to him.
The first thing Xiao Baichuan did upon regaining control was let out a long breath.
Then Ling Xi spoke smugly.
"Well? Wasn't this empress cool?"
"Did you see the way they looked at you? This empress reckons none of them will sleep tonight!"
Leaning against the headboard, Xiao Baichuan looked at Ling Xi's expression, which practically begged for praise, and could only offer a helpless compliment.
"Cool."
Ling Xi was immediately dissatisfied.
"This empress helped you out of kindness, and this is how you brush me off?"
Xiao Baichuan sighed, his tone helpless.
"That isn't how the plot goes."
"Wasn't I supposed to be publicly humiliated and have my engagement broken off, then shout, 'Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river'?"
Upon hearing this, Ling Xi immediately retorted.
"That doesn't suit this empress's bearing."
"This empress is a Dou Di. A mere little Dou Zhe like her wouldn't even have qualified to meet me ten thousand years ago."
"Where did she get the nerve to break off an engagement with this empress?"
Xiao Baichuan smiled helplessly.
Things had already come to this, and the engagement was dissolved. There was no point arguing about it anymore.
What he was more curious about, though, was how he had come to have an engagement with Nalan Yanran.
While Xiao Baichuan was still pondering this, Ling Xi suddenly stopped talking.
Xiao Baichuan was just about to call out to her when Ling Xi suddenly spoke, a measure of wariness in her voice.
"Lecher, there's someone inside the Twin Fish Jade Pendant!"
Before you continue