After the Garden Incident
Xiao Ranyu still didn't quite understand why he got yeeted out of the courtyard like a sack of overripe potatoes.
He scratched his head for a few days, puzzled. Thought about writing that essay his mother had demanded.
Eventually, he gave up.
> "Must've been girl logic," he muttered. "The unknowable mystery of tea, side-eyes, and emotional landmines."
---
But something had changed.
Gu Xun'er, who used to appear at, now arrived late. Or left early. Or didn't come at all—with only a servant delivering her polite apologies and medicinal excuses.
When she was there, her smile had thinned. Her words grew shorter. Her gaze… distant.
Xiao Ranyu noticed.
> "She's probably just busy," he told himself.
But even he didn't believe it.
---
In truth, Xun'er didn't know what was wrong either.
She'd gone home that day restless. Agitated. Xiao Ranyu's words had echoed in her mind over and over:
> "I'll just marry multiple wives."
"Leave it to fate."
"Liking someone can't be controlled."
She tried to laugh it off. She always laughed it off.
But this time… it stuck.
It made her chest feel tight. Like she couldn't breathe right. And no amount of reasoning made it go away.
So she chose the one thing she could do: distance.
Because seeing him made her feel strange.
And she didn't yet know if it was love… or heartbreak… or both.
---
Meanwhile, Xiao Yan continued to walk under a much heavier shadow.
Two years had passed.
Two years of disappointment.
Two years of training that led nowhere.
Two years of being laughed at, whispered about, and silently pitied.
He pushed himself to the brink of collapse. Tried forbidden manuals. Rare herbs. Everything short of burning his own bones for fuel.
> But the results never changed.
3-star Dou Qi.
---
At the Xiao Clan's annual Strength Test, he stood tall on the stone platform—his name called like a bell toll.
The crowd of disciples and elders watched, judgment thick in the air.
> "Still stuck?"
"Xiao Li and Xiao Diao are both out training, breaking through Dou Shi stages..."
"Only Xiao Ranyu hasn't surpassed him, and that's saying something."
"The prodigy has become the clan's greatest disappointment."
But Xiao Yan didn't react.
His gaze was steady. His shoulders squared.
Because every year, without fail—Nalan Yanran comes to Xiao clan and stood nearby, arms folded, chin high, her expression saying: Dare you to mock him louder.
She didn't speak.
She didn't need to.
Her presence alone silenced more than a dozen insults.
---
But inside, Xiao Yan was burning.
Because if he didn't reach 7-star Dou Qi by his sixteenth birthday…
He'd be kicked out of the clan , managing stores like a failed merchant son.
"A waste of resources," the elders muttered.
"Let him handle accounts. At least paper won't laugh at him."
Even his older brothers—Xiao Li and Xiao Diao—had quietly left. "To train," they said.
But Xiao Yan knew the truth:
> They left because they couldn't bear to see him like this.
Only his parents, Xiao Ranyu and Yanran, still stood beside him.
And he didn't realize just how close he was—
> To either breaking completely,
Or breaking through everything.
When he wasn't training, Xiao Yan wandered.
Every alley. Every rooftop. Every corner of Wu Tan. Even places he wasn't supposed to go.
He searched not for treasure—but for something real. Something to make him feel like he hadn't vanished.
---
And elsewhere...
Under the glaring midday sun, the city buzzed.
Merchants shouted prices. Horses clattered over stone roads. The air shimmered with heat and sweat and life.
Near the shaded outer yard of a store, a group of ornately dressed youths stood sneering at a figure passing by in plain Xiao Clan robes.
> "Isn't that Xiao Ranyu?"
"Still didn't breakthrough to Dou Fighter—or is he really incapable of cultivation?"
"Tch. What a disgrace."
The group bore the Jia Lie Clan crest—serpent emblems coiled in gold thread. Bitter rivals of the Xiao Clan.
At the center was Jia Lie Ao, a 3-star Dou Fighter with a smirk that could curdle milk.
"Well, well," Jia Lie Ao stepped forward. "The little flame demon. What's it like being Wu Tan's most famous waste?"
Behind him, Ao Ba Li from the Ao Clan chuckled. " You are worse than Xiao Yan aren't you? Al least he has 3 stage of dou qi cultivation, while you have none"
Laughter echoed.
Xiao Ranyu's steps slowed.
He turned. Slowly. Calmly.
Inside him, Dou Qi moved like coals warming beneath ash. Quiet. Hidden. But there.
> "Since I'm leaving soon anyway," he thought,
"no harm in stirring the pot a little."
He met their gazes. "You all seem unusually loud today. Is that your method of masking fear?"
Jia Lie Ao's grin stiffened. "Fear? Of you?"
"You mock before a storm," Ranyu said softly. "Let's see who laughs when the wind howls."
Mo Cheng of the Mo Clan sneered. "Acting like a main character, huh? You're nothing here. Wu Tan City runs on Dou Qi. And you—have none."
At that moment, the staff in Ao Ba Li's hand sparked. Just a flicker of heat.
But the air shifted.
Around Xiao Ranyu, a faint shimmer pulsed. The barest scent of burning air.
Jia Lie Ao's eyes narrowed.
"Let's go," he muttered. "No point wasting energy on a waste."
They walked away.
But the laughter was quieter now. Uncertain.
Xiao Ranyu didn't move until they'd gone.
Then he exhaled—and let the heat in his veins settle.
> "They're lucky," he thought.
"I'm in a good mood today."
He turned his gaze back to the street.
The wind smelled of fried dumplings, ink, and stone dust. Somewhere nearby, a new merchant had set up shop. A masked performer danced on a rooftop. Something unusual was in the air.
> "Now then..."
"Let's find something interesting before I leave the city."
And with that, he vanished into the crowd.
---
Wu Tan City bustled as usual—smells of spice and incense drifting through the market lanes, voices overlapping in waves of chatter, bartering, and the occasional goat bleating for no clear reason.
Xiao Ranyu strolled casually through the midday crowd, weaving between carts and stands, face relaxed, hands tucked in his sleeves like a bored noble's cat.
His first stop was a street vendor selling decorative pendants.
> "Ah, young master Xiao," the vendor cooed. "This piece right here has the blessing of a minor wind spirit. Only ten gold coins!"
Xiao Ranyu raised an eyebrow. "Ten? For something that looks like a bird sneezed on it?"
The vendor gasped. "This was carved from the horn of a lightning beast!"
Xiao Ranyu held it up, squinting. "Feels more like fried chicken bone to me."
The vendor sputtered. "Aren't you from a noble clan? Don't you have taste?"
"I do," Xiao Ranyu said, placing it back down. "That's why I'm not buying it."
Next, he passed by a stall filled with strange instruments. He paused to poke a box-shaped zither, which made a sound like a dying duck. He poked it again. And again.
> "Sir, please stop harassing the zither," the shopkeeper grumbled.
"I'm just testing its emotional range," Xiao Ranyu replied solemnly.
---
Half an hour later, Xiao Ranyu could be found standing triumphantly with a stick of grilled meat in one hand and a tiny, overpriced jade turtle in the other.
> "Three coins for a good-luck turtle… I've been robbed," he muttered—but he still tucked it into his sleeve like it was a treasure.
---
Eventually, his wandering brought him to a broad avenue lined with ornate buildings and glittering signage.
He stopped.
There it was.
The Miteer Auction House.
Polished white stone. Gold-trimmed banners fluttering lightly in the breeze. Guards in black uniform flanking the wide entrance. Everything about it screamed wealth, mystery, and secrets waiting to be pried open.
Xiao Ranyu crossed his arms, staring up at the building.
> "The place where fortunes shift... and gossip is free w
ith admission."
A slow smirk tugged at his lips.
> "Let's go and say hello to sister Ya Fei"
And with that, he dusted off his sleeves, tossed the last bite of grilled meat into his mouth, and walked toward the gates—uninvited, unbothered, and dangerously curious.