Chapter 1: Desolation

Chapter 1: Desolation

“Xiao Yan, one-star Fighter. Grade: Advanced.”

Silence. The entire square sank into deathly stillness.

Nearly everyone stared blankly at the Testing Magic Stone Tablet on the high platform, where four brilliant words shone brightly.

“Gulp.”

Once their shock subsided, they swallowed hard.

An eleven-year-old one-star Fighter—what did that mean?

He was the youngest Fighter the Xiao Clan, and indeed the entire Wu Tan City, had seen in a hundred years.

“With this child, the Xiao Clan is sure to soar to greatness.” In the VIP seats, the head of a certain powerful faction spoke with undisguised envy.

He had begun refining his Fighting Qi at four, reached the ninth stage of Fighting Qi at ten, broken through the tenth stage at eleven, condensed a Fighting Qi Vortex, and advanced to the Fighter level. With talent like that, why was he not that man’s son?

This was not merely the thought of that faction leader. It was the wish harbored by every middle-aged and elderly person present.

At the same time, the young men and women of the Xiao Clan in the square began discussing the matter among themselves.

“As expected of the greatest genius the Xiao Clan has produced in a hundred years. No—the greatest genius Wu Tan City has produced in a hundred years!”

“Tsk, tsk. No wonder he is regarded as the soul of the Xiao Clan. His reputation as a genius is thoroughly deserved. Xiao Yan will surely lead our clan toward glory.”

On the high platform, beside the Testing Magic Stone Tablet, Xiao Yan listened to the waves of envy and praise rising from below. The corners of his lips curled upward as his vanity was immensely gratified.

In his previous life, he had been an ordinary young man who had accomplished nothing. By a twist of fate, he had crossed into this vast and boundless continent of Fighting Qi.

Relying on the strength of a reincarnated soul, Xiao Yan had become a rising star within the Xiao Clan. That star had grown increasingly dazzling, even showing faint signs of replacing the sun itself.

Clearly, the sun was delighted by this.

Because that sun was his father—the head of the Xiao Clan, Xiao Zhan.

When one’s son brought glory, the father naturally gained face as well.

Staring at the four glowing words “One-Star Fighter” on the Testing Magic Stone Tablet, the middle-aged examiner remained dazed for a long while before finally recovering. He respectfully said to Xiao Yan, “Young Master Xiao Yan, congratulations on becoming a Fighter. In a few days, you may go to the Fighting Qi Pavilion and select a Fighting Qi cultivation technique.”

“Mm.”

Xiao Yan nodded slightly. He was clearly quite pleased by the examiner’s respectful attitude. With a faint smile on his face, he turned around and slowly walked toward the two girls amid the attention of the entire crowd.

Yet in the very last row of the square stood a solitary figure who seemed completely out of place.

He was a handsome young man dressed in the ordinary robes of a Xiao Clan disciple. He was about the same age as Xiao Yan.

While everyone’s attention was focused on Xiao Yan, only this young man remained calm and composed. He sat quietly against the tree trunk behind him, eyes half closed, seemingly lost in thought.

He glanced at Xiao Yan, who was surrounded by numerous Xiao Clan girls led by Xiao Mei and Xiao Xun Er, and curled his lips in disdain.

As the saying went, what goes around comes around.

Now that Xiao Yan’s prestige within the Xiao Clan had reached its peak, he carried himself with an air of superiority toward everyone except his father, Xiao Zhan.

It was no wonder that during the three years to come, when his Fighting Qi mysteriously disappeared, he would suffer the ridicule and derision of nearly everyone in the clan.

“Next, Xiao Se.”

The middle-aged examiner’s voice rang out from the high platform once more.

As expected, everyone’s eyes were still drawn to Xiao Yan’s radiance. No one paid attention to this nearly invisible young man from the Xiao Clan.

Hearing the examiner’s call, the young man raised his eyes and slowly walked toward the high platform.

He then placed his hand on the Testing Magic Stone Tablet with practiced ease. After channeling in only a small portion of the Fighting Qi within his body, he stopped.

The next second, five brilliant words appeared on the tablet:

Fifth Stage of Fighting Qi.

“Xiao Se, fifth stage of Fighting Qi. Grade: Intermediate.”

Compared with the attitude he had shown while testing Xiao Yan, the middle-aged examiner was clearly much more indifferent this time. Still, he did not show the slightest trace of mockery.

An eleven-year-old at the fifth stage of Fighting Qi could not be called an unparalleled genius, but within the Xiao Clan, he was still comfortably above average.

“Your talent is fairly good. In the five years remaining, as long as you can break through to the seventh stage of Fighting Qi before turning sixteen, you may remain in the clan and continue cultivating.”

Following the usual procedure, the examiner offered the young man some words of encouragement.

“Thank you.”

The young man nodded slightly. His calm face did not change in the slightest because of the examiner’s praise. He quietly turned around, descended from the testing platform, passed through the crowd surrounding Xiao Yan, and returned to the tree trunk where he had been sitting, waiting for the ceremony to end.

Yet no one knew that when he passed by a purple-robed girl standing beside Xiao Yan, she cast an appraising glance at him.

He was clearly at the ninth stage of Fighting Qi, yet the test had shown only the fifth stage. Had he concealed his true strength?

Sitting beside the tree trunk, the young man whom the middle-aged examiner had called Xiao Se snapped off a hanging branch and sighed inwardly.

“Ah, has it already been eleven years?”

Like Xiao Yan, Xiao Se possessed a secret that no one else knew: he was a transmigrator from Blue Star.

In his previous life, he had been a front-end programmer. After work, he had stayed up all night reading the fan novel Douluo: The World-Stealing System. He had then died suddenly from exhaustion.

When he awoke again, he discovered that he had transmigrated into the world of the novel he had read in his previous life, Battle Through the Heavens—and had even become a member of the Xiao Clan.

Most importantly, both of his parents had been powerful Great Dou Master-level experts.

Unfortunately, when he was three, the Xiao Clan’s former patriarch, Xiao Lin, died. From that moment on, the clan lost the protection of a Dou King-level powerhouse.

When a wall fell, everyone pushed it over. If one possessed enormous wealth but lacked the strength to protect it, the result was easy to imagine.

The Xiao Clan was forced to withdraw to Wu Tan City, a small frontier city of the Jia Ma Empire.

It had fallen from a clan protected by a Dou King to one of the so-called three great clans of Wu Tan City.

Xiao Se’s parents had died while escorting the clan’s women, children, elderly, and infirm during the evacuation, sacrificing themselves to cover the clan’s retreat.

Tragically, Xiao Se’s father had been in charge of the Xiao Clan’s laws during his lifetime. He had been utterly impartial and never shown anyone special consideration, thereby offending many people.

Thus, when a steward under Xiao Se’s parents fought desperately to protect the young Xiao Se and bring him back to the Xiao Clan in Wu Tan City, certain villains interfered, and the steward and child were refused entry.

With no other choice, the aging steward raised Xiao Se alone.

They remained outside for three years.

Those three years caused Xiao Se to miss his chance to seize Xiao Xun Er first.

Of course, he had never taken the matter particularly seriously.

A tool who had already been handled by Xiao Yan for two years was hardly worth pursuing.

As Xiao Se gradually grew older, the steward taught him how to cultivate Fighting Qi, and Xiao Se displayed extraordinary cultivation talent.

He began refining Fighting Qi at four and reached the third stage at six.

When several Xiao Clan elders who had always been at odds with Xiao Zhan learned of this, they were ecstatic and immediately welcomed Xiao Se back into the clan.

Xiao Zhan’s prestige had simply grown too great in recent years, pressing the clan’s elders so hard that they could barely breathe.

That was because he had fathered an exceptionally talented son, Xiao Yan. Like Xiao Se, Xiao Yan had begun refining Fighting Qi at four, but had already reached the fourth stage by six—one stage higher than Xiao Se.

Thus, when the elders learned that Xiao Se had reached the third stage of Fighting Qi at six despite receiving guidance from only a single Fighter-level servant and possessing no cultivation resources whatsoever, they knew their opportunity to strike back had arrived.

Under the united efforts of several elders, Xiao Se was pushed forward and compared with Xiao Yan, with the aim of undermining Xiao Zhan’s prestige within the clan.

As a transmigrator, Xiao Se naturally had no intention of sitting idly by and serving as the elders’ puppet.

Besides, he understood the principle that the tallest tree in the forest is the first to be felled by the wind.

Therefore, over the past five years, Xiao Se had concealed his talent.

He advanced one stage of Fighting Qi every two years—not especially gifted, but not especially mediocre either. This prevented him from being looked down upon while ensuring he would never be praised like Xiao Yan.

Precisely because Xiao Se had hidden his abilities, the elders’ plan to contend with Xiao Zhan ended in failure.

Now, Xiao Se’s Fighting Qi had reached the ninth stage. He was only one step away from breaking through to the tenth stage, condensing a Fighting Qi Vortex, and becoming a Fighter.

He casually waved the willow branch in his hand and glanced at Xiao Yan.

“That Xiao Yan really is lucky.”

Thinking back to how Xiao Zhan had secretly diverted clan funds a month earlier to buy his son a Gathering Qi Powder, Xiao Se felt a surge of envy.

And then there was the ring containing the greatest opportunity in Battle Through the Heavens—an object Xiao Se had long coveted.

Unfortunately, that boy Xiao Yan was not stupid.

He regarded the ring, a keepsake left behind by his mother, more dearly than anything else.

Xiao Se could hardly risk attacking him and stealing it.

Whether he could defeat Xiao Yan was beside the point. Xiao Xun Er—the greatest devoted admirer in Battle Through the Heavens—was circling Xiao Yan all day long.

Xiao Se thought wryly, Of course, if she were devoted to me, that would be quite pleasant!

If she discovered that he had attacked Xiao Yan, he would probably lose his life.

As for taking the ring during the three years when Xiao Yan was at his lowest, as other transmigrators before him had done, Xiao Se would not even consider it.

Yao Lao had already awakened. If Xiao Se still tried to deceive him and steal the ring, the old man might mistake him for a second Han Feng and kill him on the spot. Xiao Se knew how deeply suspicious the old man had become after Han Feng’s betrayal.

Even when accepting Xiao Yan as his disciple, he had observed him for three full years before making up his mind.

Over time, Xiao Se abandoned the idea of taking the ring.

“Very well. Even without Yao Lao, I can still become strong. With the advantage of foresight, I’ll simply seize the opportunities I know about first.”

Suddenly, a clear and melodious female voice rang out in Xiao Se’s mind.

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To be continued.