Hanyuan watched from the shadows for several minutes as the matches continued. Then, a thirteen year-old girl stepped onto the stage with an air of supreme arrogance. She wore the expensive robes of the Heavenly Frost Sect, looking down on the local youths as if they were insects beneath her boots.
"Which of you trash dares to fight me?" Bai Xueling shouted, her voice shrill and filled with disdain.
Hanyuan's lips curled into a thin, cold smile. Bai Xueling... she really hasn't changed a bit, he thought, his senses sweeping over her. And she's only reached the 8th Layer of the Qi Refining Realm despite all those sect resources.
Slowly, Hanyuan stepped out of the shadows. The rhythmic thud thud thud of his boots on the stone floor attracted the attention of every person in the arena. The crowd parted instinctively as he approached the stage.
Hanyuan stepped onto the reinforced stone of the arena. With a fluid movement, he reached up and pulled back the hood of his disciple robes, revealing his long, raven black hair and eyes that sparkled like obsidian. He drew the Cold Cloud Spear from his back, the blue steel humming with a low vibration.
CRUNCH!
On the Elder Platform, the sound of stone being pulverized echoed through the silent plaza. Bai Feng had stood up with such force and excitement that his hand had completely crushed the solid stone armrest of his patriarch's chair.
"My son!" he whispered, his eyes wide with shock and paternal pride.
Elder Wei and Elder Ling both broke into wide, surprised grins, while Elder Zhang merely narrowed his eyes and frowned slightly, sensing the dangerous aura coming from the boy.
Bai Xueling stared at Hanyuan, her eyes flickering with recognition before a sneer distorted her face. "Oh, look who it is. So the loser from three years ago finally decided to crawl out of his hole and come back? Hahaha!"
She didn't wait for a reply. She unsheathed her shimmering steel sword, the water Qi around her swirling into a frantic vortex. "Water Crushing Sword!"
She lunged, her arrogant voice ringing out as the blade hissed toward Hanyuan's throat.
Hanyuan's smile didn't reach his eyes. In a heartbeat, he stopped suppressing his Qi.
BOOM!
The 9th layer aura erupted from his body like a sudden storm, the sheer pressure causing the stone tiles beneath his feet to spider web. Xueling's eyes bulged as the Crushing weight of Hanyuan's cultivation hit her, slowing her movement to a crawl.
"Silver Crescent Horizon."
Hanyuan didn't even move his feet. He simply swept his spear in a sharp horizontal arc. A massive, razor edged blade of freezing white Qi erupted from the Cold Cloud Spear. It was so fast it didn't just destroy her water technique,it bypassed her guard entirely.
SQUELCH!
A horrific, frozen wound opened across Xueling's torso, stretching from her left shoulder all the way down to her right waist. The force of the frost wave launched her through the air like a broken doll. She flew off the stage, crashing into the dirt in a heap, and fainted instantly from the mental shock and the pain.
The entire plaza fell into a deathly silence
Hanyuan lowered his spear, looking at the unconscious girl with a gaze of indifference. "Talent is a gift, Xueling," he said, his voice carrying clearly across the arena. "But hard work is a choice. If you had only worked a little bit harder, you wouldn't have lost this pathetically."
Without a backward glance at his fallen rival, Hanyuan turned and began walking toward the Elder Platform, his steps as calm as if he had just finished a morning stroll.
As Hanyuan's boots touched the wood of the Elder Platform, the stoic mask of the Patriarch shattered completely. Bai Feng couldn't wait a second longer; he surged forward, his robes fluttering with the force of his movement, and hauled his son into a crushing embrace.
"My son! Hahaha! My son has returned!" Bai Feng's laughter boomed across the silent arena, filled with a raw, infectious joy.
Hanyuan felt the solid, familiar warmth of his father's chest.A lump formed in his throat, and despite his Composure, hot tears began to well in his obsidian eyes.in this moment, he was just a child who had come home.
Bai Feng pulled back, his hands gripping Hanyuan's shoulders as if checking to see if he was real. He turned to the stunned crowd and the other Elders, who were still staring at the unconscious Xueling in the dirt.
With a sharp clap of his hands, he announced, "The Annual Clan Gathering is over! Disperse! We shall celebrate the return of Hanyuan tonight!"
He didn't give the Elders a chance to protest or question Hanyuan's staggering growth. He grabbed Hanyuan's arm and practically marched him through the estate toward their private residence.
Crack.
The heavy doors of the main house opened. Inside, the air smelled of sandalwood and dried herbs. Lin Ruo was seated by the window, her fingers moving rhythmically as she worked on a loom, weaving a new silk robe. She looked up at the sound of the door, and the shuttle fell from her hand.
Her eyes widened, fixed on the tall, long haired youth standing beside her husband. She stood up instantly, her face pale with shock before she let out a sob and sprinted across the room.
"Hanyuan!" she cried, burying her face in his neck and embracing him so tightly he could barely breathe. She wept openly, her tears soaking into his white robes.
They sat together in the main hall for hours. Hanyuan recounted his life at the Sect,the trials, the Myriad Herb Forest, the searing heat of Elder Huo's forge, and the grueling isolation of his Selucsion. His parents listened with rapt attention, Lin Ruo gasping at every danger and Bai Feng nodding with grim approval at every breakthrough.
Finally, Hanyuan reached into his Storage Ring and pulled out a small, exquisitely carved jade bottle. He handed it to his mother with a soft smile.
"What is this, Hanyuan?" Lin Ruo asked, her eyes still red and puffy from crying.
"This is a Skin Rejuvenate Pill," Hanyuan said. "I bought it at the Sect Shop. If you consume it, it will cleanse your skin of impurities and make you look a decade younger."
Lin Ruo's eyes sparkled with a sudden, feminine light. Every woman, no matter her cultivation, valued her youth. She looked at the pearl like pill through the glass, her grief instantly replaced by excitement. Without even waiting to hear more, she clutched the bottle to her chest and vanished into her bedroom, eager to begin the refinement.
"Haha! Good lad," Bai Feng laughed, watching his wife disappear. "Your mother has missed you dearly. Now that you've brought her such a gift, she'll probably be crying tears of joy in her mirror for the rest of the night."
Hanyuan turned to his father. His expression became more serious as he reached into his sleeve and pulled out a heavy silk pouch. He tossed it across the table, the weight of it letting out a sharp clink as it landed.
"And this is for you, Old Man," Hanyuan smiled.
Bai Feng caught the pouch, his eyebrows lifting at the weight. He loosened the drawstring and poured the contents out onto the table. His jaw dropped, and he sat frozen, gaping at the pile of shimmering spirit stones.
"This... Hanyuan, these are spirit stones! There must be... seventy of them!" Bai Feng's voice was filled with disbelief.
In the small place of Spirit Springs City, the Bai Clan's total monthly income was roughly one hundred spirit stones. But that was gross profit. Once the stones were distributed to the branch elders, paid to the guards, and used to buy essential herbs and weapons, the clan was lucky to have five or ten stones left over for the treasury.
"Hanyuan... did you rob the Mystic Sky Sects treasury?" Bai Feng joked, though his hands trembled slightly as he touched the stones.
Hanyuan chuckled and shook his head. "It's honest pay, Father. My monthly allowance as a high ranked Outer Disciple is thirty spirit stones. And for placing 3rd in this year's competition, the Sect awarded me 250 stones as a bonus."
Bai Feng's eyebrows twitched violently. "Thirty stones a month? Just for your allowance?" He looked at his son with a newfound sense of awe. "And 250 as a prize? That's... that's more than our entire clan's liquid assets for a whole year."
He leaned back in his chair, looking at the spirit stones and then at the young man sitting across from him. A proud, humble smile touched his lips.