Chapter 80: Xiao Clan Gathering

At this moment, Xiao Zhan and his group happened to see a small group in the distance, at the center of which was Xiao Yan, whose injuries had just fully healed.

It must be said that Xiao Yan's popularity among the children was quite high; his talent was formidable, and having only been in contact with Dou Qi cultivation for half a year, he had already reached the second stage of Dou Qi.

Furthermore, he was the third son of the Clan Leader, and his two older brothers were equally talented. With his delicate and pretty features, he was quite the little cutie.

With talent, looks, and a good family background, he was a quintessential high-quality male, often surrounded by many little girls.

This made many of the Xiao Clan's young boys very unhappy. "This guy, what is he acting so cocky for! Isn't it just that his talent is a bit better, he looks a bit more handsome, and his family conditions are a bit better..." But this voice grew quieter and quieter.

Damn! This guy is actually so outstanding.

But perhaps because he often heard the praise of his elders and the flattery of his peers, this kid Xiao Yan had become a bit conceited.

Consequently, Xiao Zhan and the rest of the Xiao Clan saw Xiao Yan's arrogant appearance, with his nostrils pointed at the sky and looking down on everyone, ignoring others when they spoke to him—it could only be said that he was extremely asking for a beating!

The crowd looked directly at the now somewhat awkward Xiao Zhan, their faces expressionless.

From the scattered remarks of others, these people had also learned that Xiao Yan was the Clan Leader's son and possessed excellent talent. So, having a bit of arrogance was very normal, but Xiao Yan's behavior was somewhat offensive!

"Clan Leader, the Third Young Master's personality is somewhat unique!" Finally, a member of the Xiao Clan spoke up. He was relatively polite, merely hinting tactfully at Xiao Yan's current problem.

Having spent so many years training in the Central Plains, their discernment had improved significantly. In the past, a junior with such excellent talent as Xiao Yan would naturally have been held up to the heavens, and minor flaws would not have been taken to heart at all.

But having experienced the cruelty of the Central Plains, they all understood. If... Xiao Yan could not change such an annoying temperament, even if his talent were better, he could at most become a flower in a greenhouse under the wings of the Xiao Clan.

Once he went out alone, not to mention a place like the Central Plains where hidden dragons and crouching tigers reside, even in the Black-Corner Region, where the power level was more than a notch lower, he would find it hard to survive for a year. Offending people everywhere, he wouldn't even know how he died, let alone become a powerhouse.

At this time, Xiao Zhan's expression was also not very good. Without the need for his clansmen's reminder, Xiao Zhan had also realized the impropriety in Xiao Yan's personality.

Because he had been busy with clan affairs, Xiao Zhan had no spare time to pay attention to Xiao Yan's life; being able to check on his cultivation progress was already considered decent.

And because of Xiao Long's presence at home, Xiao Yan had been well-behaved, so he had never discovered this problem. But now that he knew, Xiao Zhan naturally would not ignore it.

"Everyone, rest assured, I will give Yan'er a talking-to."

Since that was the case, the others in the Xiao Clan did not say anything more. After all, Xiao Yan's affairs belonged to the Clan Leader's family business; for them to point it out slightly was already going too far, and meddling recklessly was not a good thing, as that would risk overstepping their bounds.

Just like that, the Xiao Clan members followed Xiao Zhan to the front of the plaza, and after saying a few words to everyone, Xiao Zhan began to preside over this Adult Ceremony.

Although this clan gathering was grand, it belonged entirely to the Xiao Clan; they had not invited any forces or individuals as they had in the past. After all, the current Xiao Clan was the hegemon of Wutan City and had no need to manifest its power through any such actions.

But there was still one very tedious ritual segment that made everyone extremely broken. According to incomplete statistics, over ninety percent of the Xiao Clan members loathed the rituals before the clan gathering.

The ideal process would be: measure strength, challenge, eat and drink, end.

However, the current process was: leadership speeches, rituals,......

Regarding this, the feedback from the Xiao Clan's leadership was: life must have a sense of ritual.

That is truly damn right!

For the younger generation of the Xiao Clan, the most popular parts were the strength testing and the challenge segments.

The current Xiao Clan no longer had any members sent out to manage industries. Strength not up to standard?

No problem, we will just hand you over to the clan's teams heading into the Magical Beast Mountain Range.

Not up to standard? Death? Which do you choose?

Because of this, the younger generation of the Xiao Clan had extremely high enthusiasm for cultivation, and with the addition of sufficient resources, their cultivation levels were not bad at all.

The challenge segment had completely evolved into a place to display strength and resolve grudges. On the battle stage, you could achieve the following goals: showing off, finding a mate, taking revenge, sparring......

However, what the younger generation of the Xiao Clan currently understood the least was why the elders would shed tears. Especially when they were conducting their cultivation tests, they seemed unusually excited.

Is this strength not normal? Sixteen years old and still haven't cultivated to a Dou Zhe; isn't that shameful?

Clearly, the joys of different people are not shared. Even back when they were in the Imperial Capital, the strength requirement for the Xiao Clan's Adult Ceremony was only the ninth stage of Dou Qi.

But if you said you were sixteen years old and at the ninth stage of Dou Qi now, what you would get in return would definitely be the mockery of others.

Not to mention the two thirteen or fourteen-year-old Great Dou Masters from the Clan Leader's family, the general strength of the Xiao Clan's younger generation was now five-star Dou Zhe and above. There were even quite a few Dou Masters; there were few Great Dou Masters, but with Xiao Ding and his brother holding things down, it was fine.

As for Dou Qi, are you joking? Sixteen years old and still stuck at the Dou Qi stage?

But what this group of juniors, who had become accustomed to this, did not know was that behind this "ordinary" strength was a massive expenditure of resources.

Dou Qi cultivation cannot use any external force to assist; otherwise, that surging Dou Qi would instantly destroy all the meridians in the human body, causing the person to completely become a cripple.

However, there are very few things in the world that money cannot solve. Isn't the meridian fragile? The clan spends money, smashing all kinds of resources into it, medicinal baths, body tempering......

Therefore, the strengthening speed of the Xiao Clan juniors' meridians far exceeded that of ordinary people, and their corresponding cultivation speed was naturally not just for show. The average time to reach Dou Zhe was advanced by several years, and coupled with the subsequent assistance of Cultivation Methods, having such results was perfectly normal.

However, it was precisely this kind of "spendthrift" behavior that caused the cost the Xiao Clan paid during the Dou Qi stage to reach the sum of the resource expenditures for the three major realms of Dou Zhe, Dou Master, and Great Dou Master. It was a proper gold-swallowing beast.

Even some of the more precious and hard-to-find Medicinal Herbs had to rely on Xiao Han's supply.

Also, in a place where no one could see, there was a group of iron-willed men with teary eyes watching this place intently.

"The clan gathering is over!"

Accompanied by Xiao Zhan's announcement, the Xiao Clan members began to disperse gradually. The people who had been staying in the shadows also left one by one, returning home.

"The current Xiao Clan is not bad!" Xiao Han appeared silently behind Xiao Zhan, his calm tone making Xiao Zhan extremely pleasantly surprised.

"This is all thanks to the help of the Great-Uncle." Xiao Zhan was very humble, but the smile at the corner of his mouth could not be hidden no matter what.

"The clan's Cultivation Methods and Dou Techniques should be enough, right?" Xiao Han asked.

"More than enough." Thinking about it, Xiao Zhan felt a burst of envy; where could he have cultivated such good Cultivation Methods and Dou Techniques back then! A single Mysterious-tier Intermediate Cultivation Method was a treasure kept at the bottom of the box.

"Then in the future, just scrap those deceptive Yellow-tier Cultivation Methods and Dou Techniques; our Xiao Clan no longer needs them." Xiao Han said.

"Great-Uncle, I have already done that in advance." At this, Xiao Zhan's answer surprised him a little.

"Oh? Why?" Xiao Han's expression did not change as he asked indifferently.

"Great-Uncle, I considered it this way..." Seeing that Xiao Han had no intention of reprimanding him, Xiao Zhan began to explain.

"The reason we hid these high-tier Cultivation Methods back then was to prevent those juniors from taking them out to show off casually and attracting attention.

However, after so many years, that first batch of people has already grown up. And the current younger generation has long been accustomed to such superior conditions and does not think these have anything special, so they won't go around talking about them, and naturally, there is no need to hide them.

Moreover, the Xiao Clan's strength is no longer a secret among the upper echelons of the Jia Ma Empire; any clan that possesses a Dou Wang powerhouse vaguely understands that we have a Dou Zong Ancestor, and no one dares to make a move against us because of these things......"

Xiao Han knew this was a fact; it was almost impossible to completely hide the Xiao Clan's strength, and there was no need to hide or tuck it away.

Xiao Zhan's series of explanations were well-reasoned and well-founded.

"Very good..." Xiao Han praised, "You are already a mature Clan Leader."

Xiao Zhan's reasoning was very sufficient, and raising the grade of the Cultivation Method for the younger generation in advance was also beneficial to the improvement of the Xiao Clan juniors' strength, which was exactly to his liking.