"You reckless brat, listen up! My surname is Xue, I carry the blood of the Heaven Dou Imperial Family, and I work directly for Prince Xue Xing. Let me go now if you're smart, or the entire Heaven Dou Empire will hunt you down."
A day later, while Yu Yan was having a Spirit Ancestor help with an experiment, he heard an arrogant voice behind him.
The loudmouth was the head of this slave-trading caravan; only because the Star Luo Empire had produced a special piece of cargo—Zhu Xiaomiao—had he come personally to escort her.
Zhu Xiaomiao was the name of the cat-eared girl. She said her family was a side branch many times removed of the Star Luo Zhu Family—distant enough to need eight poles to reach, yet still technically connected.
"Threats? You already made them yesterday. No need to repeat yourself; I don't want to hear it." Yu Yan turned to the noble surnamed Xue and drove the needle deeper: "If you were half as important as you claim, would you be stuck doing dirty work and rattling on about your pedigree?"
Yu Yan's retort left the nobleman surnamed Xue speechless.
Lies don't cut; truth is the blade that bleeds.
Just as Yu Yan said, the man was only a fringe member of the Heaven Dou Imperial Family—otherwise he wouldn't be here doing filthy jobs.
"Hmph—so what? My veins still run with imperial blood. Touch me and wait for the royal wrath."
Stung to the quick, the noble kept silent a moment, then again used the imperial name to save Face and threaten, counting on the golden signboard of the Heaven Dou Imperial Family to keep him alive.
Yu Yan summoned the Ice Fish, circulated his spirit power, and exhaled a stream of frost at the shouting youth; the cold swept over the man's fingers, leaving them completely numb.
"Keep talking and I'll happily leave your whole body senseless."
Yu Yan's voice stayed calm; the noble youth dared not speak again—he sensed murder in Yu Yan's eyes.
Once the noble surnamed Xue shut up, Yu Yan turned back to observe the changes in the Spirit Ancestor.
Time flashed by; Yu Yan, having ruled out every wrong path, found a possible correct route among the discarded options.
Ironically, this apparently viable route had been confirmed through experiments on the very noble youth surnamed Xue.
After these villains—by Yu Yan's definition—fulfilled their purpose, he sent them to the places they deserved.
On the fourth day near the Black Scorpion Band, Wu Chen returned with four Spirit Ancestors and a squad of guards. After hearing their report, Yu Yan told him to go back and guard the village with You Shang.
Half a month later, having swept the mountain range clean of its notorious criminal powers, Yu Yan and Xiao Wu set out for Exotic Beast Academy. "Yu Yan, Yu Yan, you really know how to give me headaches. You dump a huge mob of unknown people straight into my lap. If I didn't have some Face in Ice Soul City, this would've been a nightmare."
"And those guards—don't think I missed their background. Couldn't you be more careful? If I hadn't cleaned up, once the royal-affiliated caravan investigates, you'd be in for it."
"Remember, Yu Yan, a Genius who hasn't matured is nothing. Be more cautious next time."
Inside the vice dean's office of Exotic Beast Academy, Yu Yan sat in a chair while Vice Dean Jiang Jing scolded him.
Jiang Jing settled the refugees in a good spot and had them found a new village.
She had solved the problem and mopped up the loose ends; sitting through her lecture was fair. The only thing Yu Yan couldn't grasp was why Vice Dean Jiang Jing was scolding him instead of Xiao Wu—clearly the two of them had done it together.
Watching Yu Yan get scolded and occasionally glance at her, Xiao Wu felt splendid.
Luckily Jiang Jing didn't know Yu Yan had also offhandedly killed a noble surnamed Xue with Heaven Dou imperial blood, or she'd have even more to say about this reckless kid.
Leaving the office, Yu Yan showed no anger as he looked at Xiao Wu: "I don't get why Dean Jiang Jing didn't say a word to you."
"Maybe she thinks all these ideas came from you?"
Xiao Wu's answer made Yu Yan realize he was paying the price for usually being too clever and full of ideas.
Life back at Exotic Beast Academy returned to calm.
With the experimental data gathered near Star Dou Great Forest, Yu Yan began searching the academy's collection for references and devouring new knowledge.
Gradually unsatisfied with the library, he used caravans in Ice Soul City to amass books on Cultivation experience, insights, and spirit power theory.
As his knowledge grew, Yu Yan's spirit power compression method steadily improved.
Back at the academy, Xiao Wu, besides daily tasks, often visited the Newborn Village outside Ice Soul City to check that the people they'd rescued were settling in.
Newborn Village—named by those who had been saved and given new lives—was guarded by two Spirit Kings and eight Spirit Ancestors, so life there ran smoothly.
The rescued girl Zhu Xiaomiao, under Xiao Wu's arrangement, became the one tending to Yu Yan and Xiao Wu's daily needs.
Grateful for having her life saved, the girl carried out every task diligently, and her attitude pleased Yu Yan.
Day after day of friendly contact finally raised Yu Yan's fondness for Dugu Yan; at least now when they were together neither of them sat in boring silence.
The taciturn Ye Lingling spent most of her time following Dugu Yan and Xiao Wu.
The essence of residual traits is a "stutter" in Spirit Law: at the moment of failure Spirit energy coagulates into a hybrid of living and non-living matter (Luo San Pao is the classic case).
Inability to Cultivate does not equal harmless: villagers on the edge of Star Dou Great Forest developed plant-like palms after failed Awakening, attracting herbivorous Spirit Beasts to raid the settlement (Chapter 192), proving the trait itself can upset the ecology.
Below Divine Rank the change is irreversible: Tang San confirmed even Seagod's Light cannot purify Su Yuntao's wolf eyes (Chapter 1103), hinting this is a World-level flaw in the Law.
Such people in Douluo society are "failed Awakenings"; their tragedy is that their Physical Bodies become historic specimens of Spirit Awakening gone wrong.