As Xiao Zhan watched the boy, a silent, complex thought process ran through the Patriarch's mind.
'He is so incredibly calm,' Xiao Zhan thought, observing Yoriichi's expressionless face. 'I have heard the rumors. He became Grandmaster Tie Shan's apprentice—a man I don't even dare to casually anger. He resolves street brawls without drawing his sword. He is proud, but he possesses a terrifying, unnatural maturity.'
As the Clan Leader, Xiao Zhan bore the crushing weight of the entire Xiao family on his shoulders. A new genius was a blessing, but it was also a variable. He had to think about the political balance, how the Jia Lie clan would react, and how to utilize this boy for the maximum benefit of the clan without stifling his growth. He sighed heavily inward, accepting the endless burdens of leadership.
Yoriichi brought his hands together and bowed slightly.
"Patriarch," Yoriichi said smoothly, his voice lacking any of the greedy excitement typical of a teenager offered free reign of a treasury. "I thank you mostly, and also the other elders, for granting these resources and opportunities. I hope that I can support the Xiao Clan for its prosperity and bright future."
He paused, looking up, his crimson eyes sincere. "I also hope to stand shoulder to shoulder with the clan, and help in any dire situations that may come."
The elders, and even Xiao Zhan, were taken aback.
Normally, a disciple granted such honors would be practically trembling with thrill. They would fall to their knees, beat their chests, and loudly pledge eternal, undying loyalty, rattling off grandiose oaths about dying for the clan.
But this boy? He was as calm as still water. He didn't promise the impossible. He spoke with a grounded, minimalistic realism. He hoped to stand with them. It was a vow made not out of blind fanaticism, but out of a measured, mature understanding of duty.
'He is very much like Xiao Yan,' Xiao Zhan thought, a flicker of bittersweet pain crossing his heart as he remembered his own son's past glory. 'That same calm, unshakeable focus. Eh, maybe my son's stoic temperament rubbed off on him after their duel in the arena. It is a good thing.'
Xiao Zhan nodded, his appreciation for the boy multiplying.
However, as the Clan Leader relaxed, his seasoned eyes noticed something peculiar about the faint aura still lingering around Yoriichi's body, coupled with the Second Elder's lingering doubts.
"Xiao Ning," Xiao Zhan said, his brow furrowing slightly in confusion. "If possible... can I check your cyclone internally? Just asking. You have the right to say no."
The request caused a ripple of sudden, sharp tension in the hall.
In the cultivation world, allowing another person to pass their Dou Qi into your body was an incredibly intimate and highly dangerous act. A single malicious thought from the prober could shred the host's Dantian and cripple them for life.
But Xiao Zhan had to ask. As Clan Leader, he needed to verify the boy's elemental affinity to guide his path, and unequivocally prove to the council that the boy's foundation was pure and untainted by forbidden pills. Before Xiao Ning's "accident," the boy had shown Wood attribute—a common trait, occasionally hinting at alchemical potential. But now?
The aura Yoriichi was radiating was pure, blindingly milky-white. It was completely attribute-less. While a new Dou Zhe's Qi was naturally neutral before practicing a Qi Method, there was usually some latent elemental hue bleeding through. Yoriichi's energy was a total, absolute void. What had happened to his foundation?
Yoriichi didn't hesitate. He nodded.
"Sure, you may," Yoriichi replied easily.
He didn't have anything to hide. In fact, he was intensely curious to see the Clan Leader's reaction to his absurdly compressed, sun-forged foundation. Furthermore, receiving guidance from a veteran Da Dou Shi regarding his strange, attribute-less state might provide the answers he needed to perfect his future Qi Method.
Xiao Zhan stood up from his throne and stepped down the short flight of stairs, approaching the center of the hall slowly.
As the Patriarch closed the distance, the physical reality of the boy hit him. Xiao Zhan was a tall, imposing man, but as he stopped in front of Yoriichi, he realized he had to tilt his head up slightly.
Yoriichi stood at a solid six feet, naturally taller than the Patriarch.
But it wasn't just the height. Being in the boy's immediate personal space, Xiao Zhan felt a profound, unsettling shift in the atmosphere.
The boy's expressionless face seemed carved from stone. His aura didn't just feel calm; it felt like a supreme, god-tier blade that had been sharpened to its absolute finest edge, quietly waiting in the dark to strike.
And then, Xiao Zhan looked into Yoriichi's crimson eyes.
For a terrifying, fleeting second, the Patriarch didn't see a sixteen-year-old boy. The grand walls of the assembly hall vanished. Xiao Zhan smelled the distinct, sickening scent of charred flesh and coppery blood. He saw an endless, burning abyss. He saw mountains of grotesque corpses and a solitary, imposing swordsman standing perfectly still beneath a blood-red sun.
Xiao Zhan visibly flinched, his breath hitching as a cold sweat broke out across his back. He grew completely dazed, his instincts as a Da Dou Shi screaming at him that he was standing before a primordial apex predator.
He forced himself to blink, violently shaking off the phantom illusion. 'What in the world was that? A Genjutsu? No... that was pure, concentrated killing intent born from a lifetime of slaughter... but from where?!'
Stabilizing his reeling mind, Xiao Zhan swallowed hard and pushed the anomaly aside. He raised his right hand, coating it in a gentle, highly controlled layer of dense, fire-hot Da Dou Shi energy, and placed it firmly onto Yoriichi's left shoulder.
On the dais, the atmosphere instantly morphed into a political powder keg.
First Elder Xiao Lu leaned forward, his hands gripping his knees like a tiger preparing to pounce. Beside him, Xiao Yu's breath caught in her throat, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the fabric of her skirt.
Xiao Lu was fiercely protective of his grandson. The Xiao Clan was currently united against outside threats, but internal politics were always a knife's edge. Xiao Zhan's own son, Xiao Yan, was considered a crippled laughingstock. Now, the First Elder's grandson had just emerged as the clan's brightest, most terrifying star. Jealousy was a poison that destroyed even the noblest of men.
'If he tries to sabotage the boy's meridians,' Xiao Lu thought, his own Dou Qi beginning to secretly boil beneath his robes, his eyes locked dead onto Xiao Zhan's hand. 'If he even bruises a single thread of the boy's cyclone out of fear for his own Patriarch seat... I will tear this hall down with my bare hands.'
Ignorant of the First Elder's surging killing intent, Xiao Zhan closed his eyes, focusing entirely on the task at hand.
He channeled a thin, needle-like thread of his Dou Qi, carefully inserting it through Yoriichi's shoulder.
The energy snaked downward, passing smoothly through the impossibly wide, reinforced meridians of the youth, diving deeper into the dark expanse of his body, and finally reaching the gateway of the Dantian.