Watching the black-robed youth who stood with hands clasped behind his back there at the center of the field, a slightly hushed silence settled over the grounds.
Up on the high platform, the smile upon Xiao Zhan's lips slowly broadened, until at last he could hold it in no longer and burst into hearty laughter.
Hearing that triumphant laughter ringing in their ears, the Three Elders exchanged a glance and heaved a quiet sigh within their hearts. This time, though, they offered no objection. The potential displayed by the youth upon the field had dealt no small blow to their own pride. Four ranks in a single year — a speed enough to daunt anyone, and one that their own grandsons, in all likelihood, would never again be able to catch up with.
Rising to his feet, his spirits brimming with delight, Xiao Zhan clapped his hands and announced with a beaming smile: "Cousin Xiao Ke has failed his challenge — I trust you will train all the harder in the days to come!"
In the field, Xiao Ke, his face gone pale, listened to this verdict and his spirit sank another notch. With a complicated look in his eyes, he gazed at the black-robed youth not far before him. This was the one who, but a year ago, had been jeered at as a good-for-nothing — and yet, a year later, he had already once more vaulted to the very top of the clan. Though still a mere youth, he had nonetheless grown mature... At the sight, Xiao Yan found a touch of amusement stealing over him. Reaching out, he fondly tousled Xun'er's head, and teased her in jest.
At that, Xun'er shot Xiao Yan a coquettish glare, a hint of reproach flitting across her exquisitely refined little face. However broad-minded a maiden might be, she still had no wish to be called an ancient crone.
A maiden's pout is ever the most winsome of things, and this little coy air that Xun'er had let slip unbidden not only made those distant youths across the ground goggle wide-eyed, but set even a few of the maidens to staring with envy and jealousy.
"That little brat — far too cocky, he is..." Xiao Ning, too, found his eyeballs nearly popping at Xun'er's charmingly naive manner. Watching how close and intimate Xun'er was with Xiao Yan, the flame of envy within him seared until it almost smothered his reason. In this clan, he regarded himself as the only one worthy of matching Xun'er — yet no matter how he fawned and flattered, he could scarcely coax a smile from her. And yet this Xiao Yan, a mere good-for-nothing of former days, could always make the girl of his desires laugh and beam with joy. The searing contrast set Xiao Ning's teeth grinding audibly.
"You little brat, go on and be smug while you can. The day of the coming-of-age ceremony, I'll beat you flat on the ground, and before Xun'er's very eyes!" Clenching his fists tightly, Xiao Ning shot at a dark, venomous glance toward Xiao Yan who sat cross-legged in the distance.
Ambitious as Xiao Ning felt, he could not help being shaken by the speed of Xiao Yan's cultivation over the past year. Yet the habit of looking down upon him from on high was not so easily cast aside, and the label of "good-for-nothing" clung stubbornly to Xiao Yan in Xiao Ning's mind. What was more, as the one who stood, among all the youths of the clan, second only to Xun'er, Xiao Ning could already feel a threat creeping toward him from Xiao Yan's sudden meteoric rise.
Strike him down before he could fully grow — hand him a crippling defeat, and best of all, smash him so hard he would never rise again!
These sinister thoughts churned within him, and the corner of his mouth slowly curled into a malevolent grin. Though Xiao Yan now possessed a Dou Qi of the seventh rank, Xiao Ning was quite confident of his own eighth rank — after all, once one passed the seventh rank, every single leap in rank meant a vast gulf of difference!
Chatting in low, laughing tones with Xun'er, Xiao Yan let his eyes drift idly toward the edge of the training grounds, and happened to catch that malevolent grin curling at Xiao Ning's lips. He blinked in slight surprise, then gave a faint, indifferent smile. A man who could not even hide his own joy and anger — how far could such a fellow ever hope to go?
...
After Xiao Ke's defeat in challenging Xiao Yan, no one else dared step forward to try their hand. The other failed clansmen were left to cast about for fresh targets, and after several rounds of dueling, only two of them, relying on practiced Dou Techniques and a stroke or two of luck, managed to defeat their opponents and step, in the end, into the region of the qualified.
Watching the training grounds gradually settle back into calm, a beaming Xiao Zhan rose to his feet and announced in a loud voice the close of the test, along with certain points to bear in mind for the coming-of-age ceremony a month hence.
Slowly rising to his feet, Xiao Yan smiled at his father, who fairly glowed with springtime pride up upon the platform, and Xiao Zhan, not stinting his praise for the son who had cut such a brilliant figure that day, gave him a big thumbs-up.
Xiao Yan patted the dust from his robes, and a gust of fragrant perfume came wafting over to meet him.
His brow puckered in a faint, imperceptible frown. Lifting his head, Xiao Yan fixed his gaze upon Xiao Mei, who stood before him, and said coolly, with a slight smile: "Something I can help you with?"
Catching that veiled coldness upon Xiao Yan's slender, handsome face, Xiao Mei's heart gave a lurch, and a forced smile stole onto her cheeks as she said softly: "Congratulations, cousin Xiao Yan."
"Thank you." Giving a slight nod, Xiao Yan cast a glance toward Xun'er at his side.
"Cousin Xiao Yan, tomorrow in the Dou Technique Hall, my father will be teaching a Yellow-rank high-level Dou Technique. Will you come along?" Xiao Mei smiled. The contradiction on her face — at once winsome and pure — was truly a sight to set one's heart stirring.
At this, a corner of Xiao Yan's brow lifted quietly.
Just as Xiao Yan was casting about for an excuse to decline, a pair of long, slender, fair young wrists reached out from one side and wound themselves about his arm.
Startled for a moment, Xiao Yan turned his head to see a clear, elegant little face wreathed in a smiling, radiant glow.
"My sincere apologies, cousin Xiao Mei, but Xun'er has already asked Xiao Yan-gege to accompany her around Wutan City tomorrow, so I'm afraid he won't be free to go to the Dou Technique Hall with you." As countless stunned gazes gathered around them, Xun'er linked her arm fondly through Xiao Yan's, a trace of apology resting upon her exquisitely refined little face.