A moment later, Xun'er reluctantly released her embrace, then turned and left immediately.
Xun'er knew that now was not the time.
Her father was waiting outside, and it would be bad if he noticed anything unusual.
Furthermore, if she didn't leave now, she might not want to go back at all.
After all, one could roughly infer the situation within the Ancient Clan just by observing that Deputy Commander Ling Quan.
A single straw shows which way the wind blows.
Xun'er speculated that her life after returning to the clan might be rather bleak.
But even for the sake of Elder Sister Xue'er, she had to return to the Ancient Clan and cultivate diligently.
Otherwise, if Elder Sister Xue'er came to the Ancient Clan to find her a few years later, disregarding worldly opinions, but she lacked the necessary cultivation and status,
that absolutely wouldn't do.
"Elder Sister Xue'er, wait for me..."
———
On the other side, before coming to find Xiao Xue, Xun'er had already bid farewell to everyone else.
For example, the Little Doctor Fairy had guided Xun'er in alchemy. Although Xun'er hadn't formally taken her as a master, she was considered her half-teacher.
Also, Qing Lin, who also had a decent relationship with Xun'er.
It would naturally be inappropriate to leave without saying goodbye.
Furthermore, Xun'er even asked Gu Yuan to take her to the Xiao Clan in the Jia Ma Empire to bid farewell to Uncle Xiao and the others.
Gu Yuan naturally did not refuse these small requests from his daughter.
When he saw Xiao Zhan, the current patriarch of the Xiao Clan, had already reached the high-level Dou Ling rank, he felt slightly comforted.
Gu Yuan remembered that when he first came to the Xiao Clan, Xiao Zhan was only a Da Dou Shi.
And for Xiao Zhan, whose cultivation wasn't high, he was already quite old.
Xiao Zhan, in his forties or fifties, looked older than Gu Yuan, who was thousands of years old.
Reaching the Da Dou Shi level at that age indicated that his talent or potential was essentially limited.
Coupled with the busy affairs of managing the clan, he didn't have much time to cultivate, making the improvement of his cultivation even harder.
But now, Xiao Zhan had surprisingly advanced from Da Dou Shi to Dou Ling, rising by more than one major rank.
His wife died early, and he had three sons and one daughter, yet none were by his side—
Xiao Yan and Xiao Xue were at the Canaan Academy, while Xiao Ding and Xiao Li were busy managing the Northwest Alliance.
Although their cultivation was only at the Da Dou Shi level, they were considered minor high-ranking officials within the Alliance.
Experts at the Dou Ling, and even Dou Wang, ranks treated the two of them with respect.
Since all four children were busy, Xiao Zhan had no one accompanying him.
However, it was a good thing that the children all had things to do.
Therefore, being unaccompanied didn't matter. Xiao Zhan was happy to have the peace and used his free time for cultivation.
Furthermore, combat power wasn't important; after all, he didn't need to go to the battlefield to fight.
As long as his cultivation increased and his lifespan extended, that was enough.
In the original work, in the end, even Ya Fei, who had little cultivation talent, was piled up with resources until she reached the Dou Huang rank.
It was just that this method of advancement was relatively "expensive" compared to those with talent.
With the Alliance's resources, Xiao Zhan could use countless methods to advance to Dou Huang, or even higher ranks, without side effects.
Under the allocation of Alliance resources, Xiao Zhan was now a high-level Dou Ling, much stronger than in the original work.
Seeing Xun'er return to the Xiao Clan, Xiao Zhan was naturally very happy and pulled her aside to ask many questions about the Canaan Academy.
During this process, Gu Yuan did not appear, as Xun'er had requested.
Because if Gu Yuan appeared, "Uncle Xiao might feel uncomfortable."
Gu Yuan was helpless against his 'little cotton jacket' (daughter) favoring an outsider and could only reluctantly compromise.
After chatting with Xiao Zhan about the Canaan Academy and matters concerning Xiao Yan and Xiao Xue, Xun'er bid farewell to Xiao Zhan, stating she had to leave.
Xiao Zhan naturally couldn't influence Xun'er's decision. He could only caution her to be careful on the journey and welcome her to visit the Xiao Clan anytime she had the chance.
Then, Xiao Zhan personally escorted Xun'er outside the door.
In fact, Xiao Zhan still wanted Xun'er to be his daughter-in-law, just like in the original work.
But for one thing, the engagement between Xiao Yan and Nalan Yanran had not yet been dissolved.
Although the Dou Qi Continent did not necessarily adhere to monogamy;
given Nalan Yanran's personality, it would likely not be easy for Xiao Yan to take a concubine.
Moreover, even if Nalan Yanran could agree, the matter would still be difficult to handle.
Xun'er's background was far stronger than Nalan Yanran's.
Xiao Zhan had seen Xun'er's father more than ten years ago when Xun'er first arrived at the Xiao Clan.
Xun'er's father was definitely a super expert, vastly stronger than Elder Jia of the Jia Ma Imperial Family.
A favored daughter of heaven like Xun'er would probably not be willing to share a partner with someone else, let alone become a concubine.
Making Nalan Yanran a concubine was also inappropriate; the two families had decades of friendship, and things weren't handled that way.
Furthermore, although Little Yanzi had some talent, he might not truly be worthy of Xun'er; she might not even fancy him.
Therefore, upon realizing that Xun'er and Xiao Yan had no sparks between them, Xiao Zhan stopped pressing the issue.
As for Xun'er being close to Xue'er... what's the big deal? It was perfectly normal for two young girls.
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