Before the eyes of the gathered crowd, the girl sprang lightly onto the high platform, landing as gracefully as a swan upon still water. Her gaze, clear and flowing as an autumn stream, drifted slowly, and upon her lovely cheeks a smile lay soft and ready. She settled herself, unhurried, at Xiao Yan's side.
Xiao Yan blinked, taken aback. Then he rolled his eyes, feigning helplessness. "And just what do you think you're doing up here?"
Xiao Xun'er pressed her lips into a small smile and gave no answer. Instead she turned her gaze upon Xiao Yu, whose face had already begun to shift at the girl's sudden appearance. Her voice gentle, she said: "Cousin Xiao Yu, you are a good deal older than Xiao Yan, and you have entered the academy to further your training besides. This challenge of yours is asking rather too much of him. If what you truly seek is someone to vent your anger upon, then let Xun'er be the one to accompany you instead."
At those words, Xiao Yu's lovely face darkened. Her slender brows drew together, and she glared at Xiao Yan with venom. "So you can do nothing but hide behind a woman's skirts?"
Xiao Yan lifted a single brow, and a cold light glinted in the depths of his eyes. In that moment, there surged within him the primal urge to seize this woman by the hair and take her down to the ground, to teach her what manner of man it was she dared provoke. He swallowed the impulse down, though his jaw worked with the effort.
"Enough!" Before the three of them could tear at one another any further, the Second Elder's voice rang out from the seats, dark with fury, and silenced them all at once.
His old face thunderous, the Second Elder stormed over and rounded upon Xiao Yu: "You hold no authority to issue a challenge upon this platform any longer. Return to your seat at once! Should you disrupt the ceremony a second time, I shall confine you in seclusion for a full month!"
Thus having vented his fire upon Xiao Yu, the Second Elder drew a long breath to steady himself, then turned back rather wearily to regard Xiao Xun'er — who stood with head bowed, toying idly with a strand of her fine black hair between her fingers. He gave a rueful smile. "Young Lady Xun'er, you too had best withdraw. Your challenge, and hers, are both out of order."
Xiao Xun'er shrugged, unconcerned, and gave an airy nod of her delicate chin. As she turned to descend the platform, however, she shot Xiao Yan a mischievous wink — a playful little face that left him caught between laughter and exasperation.
Scolded before all by the Second Elder, Xiao Yu's cheeks flushed with wounded pride. Her white teeth bit at her red lips. For a long moment she stood rigid, then stamped her small foot in fury. As she turned to leave, she flung one final, mocking warning over her shoulder: "Little wretch — you just wait and see!"
The Second Elder heaved a genuine sigh of relief at last as this farcical episode wound to its close. He glanced aside at the boy who stood with such an innocent face upon the platform, the very picture of blamelessness, and could not keep from shaking his head with a wry chuckle. Then he drew his old features into severity and thundered down at the crowd: "For violating the rule of the challenge by consuming a forbidden pill, Xiao Ning is hereby confined to seclusion for a term of three months!" Paying no mind to the stirring murmurs below, he raised his voice once more: "The challenge is concluded. The victory belongs to Xiao Yan!"
As for this hollow and meaningless verdict, Xiao Yan remained utterly indifferent. This had never been the point of the day, and he treated the pronouncement exactly as it deserved — as little more than empty formality. The moment the declaration that the coming-of-age ceremony had drawn to its close fell upon his ears, he turned and walked straight down from the high platform.
Returning to his own place beneath the full gaze of the hall, Xiao Yan found himself ringed by the fearful, reverent stares of his kinsmen and kinswomen. He rubbed at his nose with a touch of amusement, and within his heart a faint, satisfied smile took shape somewhere in the shadow of his ribs.
. . .
After Xiao Yan's ceremony had concluded, one clansman after another took his place upon the platform in his turn. Yet beneath the shadow of the shock he had delivered, every achievement they displayed seemed to dim and lose its luster. Nothing they did could measure against what had come before.
It was not until Xiao Xun'er stepped forward at last that a ripple of genuine stir passed through the gathering once more. A Dou Warrior at the age of fifteen — such a feat fell but a hair's breadth short of what young Xiao Yan himself had accomplished in his prime. Though the girl's attainment was remarkable in its own right, most of those present had long since heard tell of the brilliant jewel that glowed at the heart of the Xiao clan, this most dazzling pearl of them all. And so, while the crowd marveled at her showing, it paled into insignificance beside the stunning, out-of-nowhere eruption that had marked Xiao Yan's own performance.
From early morning until afternoon, the coming-of-age ceremony dragged on, and at last, to the accompaniment of lingering exclamations, it slowly drew to its close. Even as the assembled crowd began to disperse, pair after pair of eyes could not help but drift, alive with admiration, toward the calm-faced youth in black who stood quietly at the edge of the field.
Xiao Yan, for his part, heaved an inward sigh of relief that it was finally over. All those stares upon him had grown more than he cared to bear. He shook his head, rose to his feet, and made to leave at once.
"A remarkable showing today, Xiao Yan brother — you surprised everyone." A waft of fragrant air swept past him, and Xun'er's silvery laughter came drifting to him like the chiming of bells.
Xiao Yan rubbed his nose and laughed.
"I had always supposed you knew nothing of Dou Techniques, yet it turns out you are hiding your light even from me." With her small hands clasped behind her back, Xun'er tilted her head a little to one side and smiled, full of hidden meaning.
"Heh — surely not so much as you, Xun'er. That Dou Technique you wielded in the Technique Hall the other day was no common feat either." A corner of Xiao Yan's mouth curved upward as he bantered back at her.
At this, Xun'er paused mid-step. Her eyes, clear as autumn pools, arched into beautiful crescents as she returned his smile, her voice lilting: "Sharp eyes, Xiao Yan brother. If those Dou Techniques interest you in the least, Xun'er would be happy to teach you..."
Xiao Yan shrugged and shook his head. "No need. Bite off more than you can chew, and you choke — I know that much, plain and simple."
Xun'er was slightly taken aback at his refusal. Her dark, lively eyes rolled in a clever little circle, and then she smiled suddenly, a coy, blooming smile: "Then... what of a Dou Qi cultivation method?"
His footsteps faltered for the barest instant. Xiao Yan narrowed his eyes and answered vaguely: "In five days' time, am I not to enter the Dou Qi Pavilion to search out a cultivation method?"
"The very finest method this clan has to offer is nothing more than what Uncle Xiao Zhan himself practices — the Raging Lion Whirlwind, a Mysterious-grade method of the mid tier. And even that, I fear, is not something a Xiao Yan of today holds the privilege to cultivate." She brushed a strand of hair from her brow, biting delicately at her lip as though weighing her words. After a moment, she said, in a softer voice: "But Xun'er could procure for you a Mysterious-grade method of the high tier. Would you... like that?"
That little girl... truly a small rich girl, in the true sense of the word. A Mysterious-grade high-tier method — that sort of treasure would cost at the very least several hundred thousand in gold. Xiao Yan sighed inwardly, and a trace of bitter amusement crossed his face. Had he not been so fortunate as to cross paths with Yao Lao, he feared the gulf between himself and Xiao Xun'er would have proved impossible to span. For all that his own aptitude was not lacking, the mysterious background that loomed behind the girl was, by any measure, absolutely vast.
His fingers stole, almost without his noticing, across the surface of the antique ring upon his hand, and a measure of reassurance settled into his heart. This, right here, was the foundation upon which he would become a master of true strength...
Under Xun'er's unwavering gaze, Xiao Yan offered a light smile and shook his head, gentle but unyielding. His voice was soft, yet it carried a quiet, stubborn edge of resolve: "No need. Your brother can rely upon his own strength to rise."
Xiao Xun'er's footsteps came to a halt. She blinked, her bright eyes fixed upon the back of the young man who had not once slowed his stride. For a long while she stood still, and then a smile stole across her lips. "It seems... that there truly is some mysterious person standing behind Xiao Yan brother. Hm. Ought we to look into it?"
Her slender finger tapped thoughtfully against her smooth brow. Then, at length, she shook her head in resignation: "Never mind. Xiao Yan brother hates nothing more than others prying into his affairs. And since that mysterious person has taught him so much, surely he has no wish to harm him."
She heaved a soft sigh and lifted her face to the sky. In the depths of her autumn-clear eyes, a pale, faint golden fire flickered gently to life: "I do hope that person harbors no ill intention... For if he does — why, even if you went so far as to hide yourself within Xiao Yan brother's very body, I would drag you out by the scruff of the neck..."