"Yan'er, Yan'er, what's wrong with you!"
Anxious shouts echoed in his ears. A sense of weakness, unfelt for tens of thousands of years, made Xiao Yan feel incredibly uncomfortable.
A dazzling white light swayed incessantly, and noisy sounds assaulted his ears. Xiao Yan struggled to open his eyes.
"Where am I?"
As his vision slowly returned, Xiao Yan urgently tried to mobilize his soul power to scan his surroundings, only to find that the soul power that could once cover the entire Great Thousand World could now only vaguely perceive a few meters around him.
This shocking change made him widen his eyes. What came into view were two faces, one large and one small, becoming increasingly clear.
The larger one had a square face with thick eyebrows and large eyes. His somewhat stern face was filled with worry. The cries of "Yan'er" were coming from this middle-aged man.
The smaller face was as white as jade. Though clearly still of a tender age, she already possessed the makings of a kingdom-toppling beauty, like an exquisite green lotus bud waiting to bloom.
However, her extremely beautiful and delicate face also bore anxiety, and there were even glistening tears at the corners of her pretty eyes.
These two faces were, of course, not unfamiliar to Xiao Yan, for they were his father and wife, Xiao Zhan and Xun'er.
However, after Xiao Zhan was brought into the Great Thousand World, even though his aptitude was very poor, after Xiao Yan entered the Sovereign Realm and continuously collected heavenly treasures to refine divine pills, Xiao Yan had forcibly fed him to the Heavenly Sovereign level.
As for Xun'er, she was one of the most beautiful women in the Great Thousand World. Her cultivation later reached the peak of the Saint Grade. But the childish appearance before him clearly belonged to a little girl of only eleven or twelve.
"What's going on?"
Xiao Yan was stunned for a moment, then struggled to sit up.
He clearly remembered that he was cultivating, trying to break through to the realm above the Sovereign Realm, and was battling a heavenly tribulation.
Weak! Xiao Yan's arm went limp. He felt as if his entire body had been drained, and he couldn't muster any strength. When he tried to mobilize the spiritual power within his body, he found that there was almost no power at all, only wisps of extremely weak airflow.
"This, this is Dou Qi?"
Xiao Yan's eyes widened further. Lying on the pillow, he laboriously turned his head. Familiar figures were now standing quietly in front of him, their faces displaying various emotions: nervousness, worry, anxiety, schadenfreude…
Different expressions flickered across their faces. Memories from tens of thousands of years ago flooded his mind. Xiao Yan slowly closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and finally accepted this reality.
"I've actually returned to the year I was twelve!"
Looking at the myriad expressions before him, even Xiao Yan felt a sense of disorientation, as if he had been swept back by the river of time.
Was this a rebirth or a dream? Xiao Yan tried various methods he knew to break through illusions, but they all failed.
After a while, he finally accepted reality.
He knew that he had once again become that dejected youth with only three Duan of Dou Qi. Yet, he showed no signs of worry.
Because now, he was not just that twelve-year-old boy; he was also Emperor Yan.
Emperor Yan, Xiao Yan!
"Brother Xiao Yan, are you alright!"
Xun'er, who was beside him, couldn't help but ask worriedly as she saw Xiao Yan's dazed and then suddenly calm expression.
"It's nothing. I just had a mishap during my cultivation. I'll recover after resting for a while."
Looking at Xun'er's worried expression, Xiao Yan smiled. No matter when, it was always his wife who treated him best.
Thinking this, he couldn't help but gently take Xun'er's small, fair hand and pat the back of it comfortingly. However, this gesture made the little girl's fair face instantly flush red.
"Brother Xiao Yan is still in this state, yet he still has the mind to be a hooligan."
Xun'er flusteredly pulled her small hand out of Xiao Yan's, leaving Xiao Yan somewhat愕然 (èr àn - astonished/stunned). He then couldn't help but laugh.
In his previous life (a convenient way to refer to the previous Xiao Yan, not truly a past life), he and Xun'er had been an old married couple for tens of thousands of years. Such an intimate gesture was naturally nothing.
But the current Xun'er was just a little girl who couldn't even be considered a young maiden yet. How could she handle such an interaction?
"Yan'er, are you really alright?"
Xiao Zhan was clearly relieved after seeing the smile on Xiao Yan's face. As a father, his first concern was naturally his child's safety, followed by things like talent.
"Father, don't worry. It won't take long for me to recover." Xiao Yan's smile was calm, as if he had merely tripped and fallen.
"Hmm, alright then. You should rest well first. I'll go out and discuss with the elders how to treat your injuries."
Xiao Zhan nodded, but the worry in his eyes was clearly seen by Xiao Yan.
He knew in his heart that the matter of his Dou Qi being drained to only the third Duan of Dou Qi naturally couldn't be hidden from the inspection of several Da Dou Shi.
How could Xiao Zhan not be worried about such a thing happening? In his previous life, when he encountered such a situation, he was so scared he almost cried.
"Elders, fellow clansmen, thank you all for coming to visit. However, I am a bit weak now and need to rest. Please return first."
Xiao Yan looked at the crowd.
"In that case, Xiao Yan, you should take good care of yourself. In the next two days, I will arrange for the younger generation of the clan to take turns coming to look after you, chat with you, and relieve your boredom."
The Great Elder nodded and, along with more than a dozen clansmen and Xiao Zhan, left Xiao Yan's small hut in a large group.
After everyone had left, Xiao Yan, relying on his soul power that far surpassed his peers, could faintly hear the sounds of discussion from outside the window.
"Xiao Yan's cultivation mishap this time is no small matter. His cultivation has actually fallen directly to the third Duan of Dou Qi. What a huge loss this is."
The Great Elder's voice sounded.
"The human body is most fragile during the Dou Qi cultivation stage. The cultivation time will likely be extremely long. Even if Xiao Yan recovers, it will probably take several years or even longer for him to re-cultivate to the Dou Zhe stage."
The Third Elder was even more direct: "Compared to this major drop in cultivation, I'm more worried that his future cultivation talent will be affected."
"No matter what, Yan'er's condition must be treated quickly. We must cure him even if it means exhausting the clan's resources."
Xiao Zhan's heavy voice sounded.
Listening to the discussion outside the window, a wry smile appeared on Xiao Yan's lips.
In his previous life, when he had just become a cripple, these three elders had still valued him considerably. After all, even from a purely utilitarian perspective, he was the future pillar of the family.
It was just a pity that in the following three years, as his Dou Qi remained stagnant, the expressions of these three became increasingly cold.
Xiao Yan didn't blame them. It could only be said that people were always like this. It was human nature to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages. Not everyone could treat others equally when they were down and out.
The sound of discussion outside the window gradually faded. Xiao Yan laboriously sat up. His delicate little face no longer showed the panic of his previous life, only endless calm.
It was a sense of composure that came from having the overall situation under control.
In his previous life, without any support, he could still rise from adversity and reach the pinnacle of the Dou Qi Continent and even this universe.
Now, reborn, although his cultivation had once again fallen to rock bottom, the valuable experience accumulated over tens of thousands of years and the heart of a strong man, tempered by countless hardships, had returned with him to the present.
Outside the window, the trees were lush and green, gradually blocking the scorching sunlight. The high temperatures of summer brought the chirping of cicadas from outside the window.
Dappled sunlight pierced through the window and scattered on the young man's face. Light and shadow were distinct yet blurred at this moment. Childishness and viciss vicissitude (cāngsāng - vicissitudes of life, great changes) were simultaneously intertwined on that delicate little face.
Xiao Yan gently caressed the ancient ring on his finger, a smile playing on his lips.
"It's just a bit of hardship."
The new book is still a harem story. Of course, this time, to make the female leads more three-dimensional, the number of female leads will be relatively small.
This book will focus more on emotional aspects in the harem, which is also a way for me to hone my character development. I hope all you readers will support it.
By the way, I'd like to recommend my old book, "Emperor's Son Xiao Yan," which has 2.2 million words. Interested readers can check it out.
Wishing everyone more and more money, and bigger and bigger... (euphemism for virility/luck).
(End of this chapter)