The quiet corridor of the Xiao manor suddenly felt charged, the air thick with unspoken challenges. Xiao Yan's question, low and intense, hung between us, a verbal dagger aimed directly at the heart of our carefully constructed mystery. He wasn't guessing; he knew. His dark eyes, now stripped of their earlier dejection, burned with a sharp, piercing intelligence that demanded an answer.
For a heartbeat, my carefully maintained composure threatened to crack. The sheer audacity of the direct confrontation caught me off guard. A simple denial would be a transparent lie, making us seem weak and deceitful. An open admission would be a foolishly arrogant confession, confirming us as his direct antagonists. My mind, supercharged by the fractional influence of Taigong Wang's strategic genius, raced through a thousand possible replies, discarding each one.
I settled on a third option. Deflection. Re-framing.
A small, enigmatic smile touched my lips. I met his fiery gaze with a placid calm that I did not truly feel. "The world is full of treasures, Young Master Xiao," I said, my voice smooth as silk. "They do not belong to any single person by right of destiny. They belong to those who have the means and the will to claim them. Are you upset that someone else claimed a prize that you merely wanted?"
My response sidestepped the question of who entirely and shifted the focus to the philosophy of why. It was a subtle assertion of power, a reframing of the event not as a personal slight, but as a simple transaction of strength.
Xiao Yan was visibly taken aback. He had expected a denial or an admission, not a philosophical lecture. The anger in his eyes was momentarily replaced by confusion. "I... I just want to know why," he stammered, his momentum broken.
"Why does any cultivator seek resources?" I pressed gently, my voice still soft but carrying an undeniable edge of superiority. "We seek them to grow stronger. The same reason you sought that elixir. Our goals, in that regard, are identical." I took a small step closer, lowering my voice so only he and Ming could hear. "Perhaps the more interesting question is not why we wanted it, but why you, the famed former genius of the Xiao Clan, were unable to secure it for yourself."
It was a deliberate barb, a carefully aimed dart meant not to wound, but to provoke. It was a challenge. I was holding up a mirror to his current weakness, not out of malice, but out of a cold, strategic desire to define our relationship on my own terms. We were not bullies who had stolen his toy; we were higher-level players in a game he had yet to master.
Throughout the exchange, Ming remained a silent statue at my side. He didn't need to speak. He shifted his weight almost imperceptibly, a minute adjustment that somehow made his presence feel ten times heavier. It was a non-verbal affirmation of my words, a silent warning of the unfathomable power Xiao Yan was confronting.
The boy stared at me, his mind clearly reeling as he tried to process our bizarre interaction. He looked from my calm, smiling face to Ming's terrifyingly impassive form. The anger, confusion, and frustration warred in his expression, finally settling into a look of grim, reluctant understanding. He had not received the answers he wanted, but he had received the one that mattered: we were on a different level.
Without another word, he turned and walked away, his back ramrod straight. The confrontation was over. A truce had not been called, but the rules of engagement had been irrevocably set. We were rivals.
The walk back to our pavilion was quiet, the setting sun casting long, dramatic shadows that mirrored the new complexities of our situation. The bustling sounds of Wu Tan City seemed distant, muted by the roaring thoughts in my own head.
"That was gutsy, Qing-er," Ming finally said as we passed through the grand gates of our estate, a low chuckle in his voice. "Poking the baby protagonist with a stick just to see if he'd bite. I wholeheartedly approve."
"It was a calculated risk," I replied, my mind still analyzing the encounter. "A flat denial would have confirmed our guilt and made us look like liars. Admitting it would have been pointlessly antagonistic. By turning it back on him, I've framed our actions as a lesson in strength. We haven't made him a mortal enemy; we've made him a some what motivated rival."
A strange sense of irony washed over me. "In a twisted way, we might actually be helping him. Yao Lao's entire philosophy is built on tempering him through hardship. We've just become a new, very personal source of hardship for him to overcome."
"So, we're the 'mysterious, high-level antagonists who are secretly helping the hero grow'?" Ming grinned. "I can live with that. It's a classic trope."
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," I cautioned, though I couldn't suppress a small smile. "The immediate consequences are more pressing. We now have a formal business arrangement with the Xiao Clan. That gives us a legitimate reason for access and a steady source of information. However, it also solidifies our position in the city. The Galeo Clan will see this new alliance as a threat. Our little intimidation act in the alley bought us time, but they'll be back, and they'll be more cautious next time."
We had stepped out of the shadows and onto the local stage. Our enigmatic reputation was a double-edged sword; it afforded us respect and mystery, but it also painted a much larger target on our backs. The ripples we had created at the auction were already turning into waves, and we were standing right at the shore.
From across the city, in a small, desolate courtyard within the Xiao Clan manor, another conversation was taking place. Xiao Yan paced his room like a caged tiger, his fists clenched so tightly his knuckles were white. The day's events had been a series of profound and public humiliations.
"Teacher! Who are they?" he finally burst out, his voice a furious whisper directed at the plain black ring on his finger. "They appear from nowhere, outbid me for the elixir, and then that woman… that woman shows me up in my own home! She looks at me like… like I'm a child! And the man with her… he just stands there, but it feels like a mountain is about to fall on you!"
A faint, ancient, and weary voice echoed in his mind, carrying the weight of ages. "I do not know, little one."
Yao Lao's voice was weaker than ever. The failure to acquire the Foundation Elixir had been a significant blow. "I must confess, they are an anomaly unlike any I have encountered. My spiritual senses are still weak, but when I try to perceive the man, it is like staring into a void. It is not that he is empty; it is that the space around him is… wrong. It is a power I do not recognize. As for the woman, her soul feels young, yet her knowledge and composure are that of someone who has lived a hundred years. They are not simple people."
"So what do I do?" Xiao Yan demanded, slumping onto his bed in frustration. "They have the elixir. They have the respect of the elders. They have me completely figured out."
"You are angry because they bested you," Yao Lao's voice was sharp, cutting through the boy's self-pity. "You are angry because they took what you felt was yours. Good. Let that anger burn. This is the first, and most important, lesson of this continent, Xiao Yan: the world is not fair. Treasures do not belong to the deserving. They belong to the strong. They had the resources, the knowledge, and the will to act. You did not. It is as simple as that."
The old master's words were harsh, but they were the truth.
"Let this failure be the fire that tempers your will. Do not waste your energy trying to understand them. It is irrelevant. Your only concern must be yourself. You must become so powerful that no one, no matter how mysterious, can stand in your way. You must become strong enough to take back what you feel you have lost, and more."
A new, cold determination began to replace the hot anger in Xiao Yan's eyes. His teacher was right.
"But what about your recovery, Teacher?" Xiao Yan asked, his concern for his master overriding his own frustration.
"The Foundation Elixirs are gone," Yao Lao sighed. "It is a setback, but not a final defeat. I have existed in this state for many years. I can endure. But it means we must alter our plans. There are other ways to gather the spiritual energy I need to manifest fully… but they are far more dangerous, and they will require you to be much stronger. The time for gentle lessons is over. Your true training begins at dawn."
The old alchemist's plan, once derailed, was now being rebuilt, forged anew in the fires of necessity. The path ahead for Xiao Yan would be steeper, rockier, and stained with more blood than the one he was 'supposed' to walk.
Back in the candlelit tranquility of our pavilion, the night felt alive with potential. We had faced the protagonist, we had established a foothold, and we had weathered the initial storm. Now, it was time for our next move.
"Our new arrangement with the Xiao Clan is the perfect opportunity," I said, my mind already piecing together a new strategy. "My 'Soul-Guiding Hand' is getting stronger, but practicing on the Valeflora leaf is like learning to lift a feather. I need something with more resistance, more texture, if I want to truly master it."
"And you think the Xiao Clan's marketplace has what you need?" Ming asked, catching on immediately.
"The alchemist's journal has extensive notes on refining spiritual energy from Monster Cores," I explained, my excitement growing. "He writes that most alchemists discard the trace spiritual remnants within the cores after extracting their elemental energy. But with the 'Soul-Guiding Hand,' it's possible to carefully extract and refine that soul-energy for one's own use. It's a slow, painstaking process, but it's a direct way to fuel my cultivation and my synchronization."
Ming's grin was predatory. "So we're going back to the lion's den to buy up their 'junk' monster cores?"
"We're going back as official business partners to procure 'alchemical materials'," I corrected him with a smile. "We can buy a large number of low-level Monster Cores without arousing any suspicion. It's the perfect cover for a power-leveling grind."
A new plan, more ambitious than the last, settled between us. The auction had been about acquiring key assets. This new phase was about converting those assets and our newfound status into tangible, rapid growth. The ripple we had created was still spreading, and the storm it was building was coming. We had every intention of being strong enough to ride its crest when it finally broke.