Is Breaking Off Engagements All the Rage on the Dou Qi Continent?

"Lu Yuan, let's break off our engagement."

"The way you are now, you're trash who will never break through to Dou Zhe in your lifetime, or even reach Seventh Stage Dou Qi. You're about to be sent away by your clan."

"As for me, I'll soon be going to the Misty Cloud Sect to further my training. Given my Mo Clan's relationship with the Misty Cloud Sect, I have a chance to serve at Young Sect Leader Nalan Yanran's side."

"Dragons and snakes cannot dwell together. You're not worthy of me."

Mo Shuang'er wore an arrogant expression, but her eyes lingered greedily on Lu Yuan's handsome face, and her heart twisted with pain.

If Lu Yuan's cultivation talent hadn't been crippled, she would have been willing to lower herself to marry him, even if he only had a chance of reaching Da Dou Shi in the future.

Unfortunately, strength reigned supreme on the Dou Qi Continent. Her future husband could be ugly, but he absolutely could not be weak.

"I understand." Lu Yuan nodded, his face ashen, looking utterly dejected.

Where no one could see, he secretly pinched his thigh, making sure he didn't laugh out loud.

You damn fatty, it's wonderful that I don't have to marry you-no, that I don't have to marry into your family.

It's the only good news I've heard in all this time.

"In the end, we were fated to meet but not to be together. Don't be too disheartened."

Lu Yuan's reaction put Mo Shuang'er in a very good mood, and she turned and left with a spring in her step.

As soon as she disappeared through the doorway, a wave of discussion erupted around him.

"That piece of trash actually had his engagement broken off. How embarrassing."

"He's single-handedly dragged the Lu Clan's name through the mud."

"The coming-of-age ceremony is already over, and he's still at Sixth-Stage Dou Qi. He'll be sent away any day now."

"Heh, heh. The clan leader's own son, and he's being sent away. How embarrassing."

"Don't say that. He used to be a genius, you know."

"A genius? Does a fallen genius still count as a genius?"

"..."

Lu Yuan's heart had long since ceased to ripple at these familiar words.

But he still couldn't help asking himself: was breaking off engagements all the rage on the Dou Qi Continent?

Did every transmigrator have to become a fallen genius?

But Xiao Yan's situation was because of Yao Lao.

As for him...

"I'm afraid I really have become good-for-nothing trash." Lu Yuan felt a bitter taste in his mouth.

Like Xiao Yan, he was a transmigrator who had come from Earth.

Before transmigrating, he had been an utterly ordinary beneficiary of a property demolition payout. With money and a home and no wife, he had lived better than an immortal. After staying up late for several days in a row playing Black Myth: Wukong, he had suddenly kicked the bucket.

When he woke again, he was the clan leader's son in the Lu Clan, one of the four great clans of Salt City in the Jia Ma Empire, in the Northwest Region of the Dou Qi Continent.

Before he turned fourteen, he had been a genius, on the verge of breaking through to Dou Zhe at a young age.

His good looks and high status had caught the eye of the daughter of the third elder of the Mo Clan, Salt City's foremost clan, and she had forced an engagement upon him.

But not long after the engagement was arranged, something had suddenly gone wrong with his body. His cultivation had fallen back to Sixth-Stage Dou Qi, and he had been unable to cultivate any further.

Unlike Xiao Yan, whose problem had no discernible cause, his condition had been identified as poisoning after his father, the clan leader, brought in a third-tier alchemist to examine him.

His father had flown into a rage and investigated the matter thoroughly. In the end, the trail had led to the Wu Clan, which was at odds with the Lu Clan, before going cold.

The Lu Clan and the Wu Clan had fought over the matter, and both sides had suffered losses. The conflict had finally ended through the Mo Clan's mediation.

Two years had now passed since he had been reduced to a cripple, and he had just completed his coming-of-age ceremony.

The poison in his body remained, and he had no future, so Mo Shuang'er had come to break off the engagement.

"Father."

Ignoring the discussions all around him, Lu Yuan returned alone to the clan leader's study in the rear courtyard and cupped his fists in greeting.

"Yuan'er." Lu Tong Xuan, the Lu Clan's leader and a very handsome middle-aged man, put down the book in his hands. Doting affection and imposing authority lay hidden in his eyes as he sighed softly. "Although I am the clan leader and you are my only son, the clan rules cannot be set aside."

"You have completed your coming-of-age ceremony, and your cultivation has not recovered to the minimum requirement of Seventh Stage Dou Qi. You must leave the clan and be sent to work at one of its businesses."

"I understand." Lu Yuan smiled open-heartedly. "I was already prepared for this after Master Gu examined me two years ago. I won't make things difficult for you, Father."

Lu Tong Xuan clenched his fists involuntarily, Dou Qi circulating through his body, but he ultimately restrained himself. He pushed the old volume in his hands forward. "Have a look for yourself. Where do you want to go?"

The rules could not be set aside, but within the limits of his authority, he would give his son as much help as he could.

The places here had the best living conditions by comparison, the management duties assigned there were easy, the risk of encountering danger was low, and the benefits were comparatively the greatest.

"Father, I want to go to Qingshan Town." Lu Yuan took the old volume and, after looking it over, quickly settled on his choice.

"Qingshan Town?" Hearing the unfamiliar name, Lu Tong Xuan looked puzzled. "Yuan'er, why not choose one of the places listed earlier?"

"You needn't worry about outsiders' gossip. I still have the final say in this Lu Clan."

Lu Tong Xuan thought Lu Yuan had chosen a harsher place out of consideration for his reputation.

"Father, I want to go to Qingshan Town myself." Lu Yuan spoke earnestly. "I'm afraid this is all my life will ever amount to. Rather than go somewhere better to manage a business, I'd rather find a place without wind and sand, with clear waters and beautiful mountains, where even the strongest person is no more than a Dou Shi, and live there."

"Please grant me this, Father!"

As things stood, he no longer had a future.

But if he could find a way to make Xiao Yan, the future Flame Emperor, owe him a favor, then he might yet have a chance to defy the heavens and change his fate.

People had different opinions about what kind of person Xiao Yan was.

But one thing was certain: he was absolutely loyal to those who had helped him.

A third-tier alchemist couldn't cure the poison in his body, but that didn't mean the future Flame Emperor of the Endless Fire Domain would be unable to do so.

If their relationship became a little closer and Xiao Yan took him to the Great Thousand World, then he too could say those words: "Don't bully a youth for being poor."

Besides, Xiao Yi Xian was also in Qingshan Town. She possessed the Woeful Poison Body and would become a Poison Dou Qi Dou Sheng Expert in the future. Perhaps she could help him too.

"All right, we'll do as you wish."

Seeing Lu Yuan's clear gaze, which seemed to hold plans of his own, Lu Tong Xuan pressed him no further.

He handed Lu Tong Xuan a Storage Ring and said, "If you manage to break through to Dou Zhe, examine what's inside. Until then, keep it hidden on your person. I'll have Uncle Zhang go with you, so your safety won't be a problem."

Uncle Zhang had been Lu Yuan's grandfather's playmate since childhood. With the cultivation of a Nine-Star Dou Shi, he was more than capable of ensuring Lu Yuan could swagger through Qingshan Town unchallenged.

Lu Yuan did not refuse. After chatting with Lu Tong Xuan for a while, he left.

"Clan Leader, are you really going to let the young master go and endure hardship like this?"

A dark figure flashed into view where Lu Yuan had just been standing.

"Hmph." Dou Qi surged from Lu Tong Xuan's body, faintly gathering into the illusory form of a spear in his hand before quickly dispersing.

"Naturally, I will avenge my son."

"Some people really take me for a blind man."

"When the time comes, I'll settle every account at once!"

Meanwhile, Lu Yuan returned to his private courtyard and had his maid pack his belongings.

There was no need for a father and son to put on such sentimental airs. He planned to leave that very day.

Once everything was packed, he went straight to the rear gate of the Lu residence's back courtyard and waited for Uncle Zhang to bring the carriage around.

As he waited, a handsome youth in a brocade robe approached from the direction of the core training grounds, followed by a young girl.

Seeing the two of them, Lu Yuan frowned slightly. "What rotten luck."