Yoriichi let out a soft, ancient sigh, shaking his head in mock resignation. "But what can I possibly do about it? Carrying that burden became a habit since we were little children. And unfortunately, it seems this is a habit that is impossible for me to quit."
The sheer, dry absurdity of his joke cut straight through her sorrow. Xiao Yu let out a wet, genuine laugh, rapidly wiping the tears from her face with the back of her sleeves.
"You absolute jerk!" she laughed, her profound relief washing away the last of her despair.
Without a shred of warning or dignified grace, Xiao Yu launched herself forward. She practically jumped onto him, throwing her arms tightly around his neck and burying her face into his chest in a fierce, bone-crushing hug.
"I won't leave you either!" Xiao Yu declared enthusiastically, her voice muffled against his dark robes. "If you ever need any help from your big sister, do not dare hesitate to ask! I will fight side-by-side with you until the end!"
Yoriichi nodded slowly, his large hands awkwardly hovering for a moment before gently patting her back. He cast a swift, highly vigilant glance around the secluded garden. His Transparent World vision confirmed that no other students were within a hundred yards.
He let out a quiet sigh of relief. 'If any of the academy seniors saw this sight, it would result in something like an inappropriate misunderstanding and endless gossip,' Yoriichi reasoned practically.
"Alright, that is enough," Yoriichi said calmly, his voice gentle but firm. He placed his hands on her shoulders, preparing to delicately detach her from his body before a night patrol wandered past.
As he pushed her back slightly, Xiao Yu suddenly tilted her head up.
Before he could react, she planted a massive, emotionally charged, and highly undignified kiss directly onto his left cheek.
SMACK.
It was a loud, affectionate smooch, leaving a distinct, wet patch of saliva sticking to his skin.
Yoriichi instantly stiffened, freezing entirely in place like a statue. In his two lifetimes, he had faced the progenitors of demons, arrogant alchemists, and terrifying beast hordes without blinking. But this sudden, aggressive display of familial affection completely short-circuited his stoic brain.
Xiao Yu quickly dismantled herself from his grip, her face flushing a brilliant, embarrassed scarlet. Realizing exactly how childish she had just acted, she spun on her heel and sprinted down the cobblestone path as fast as her long legs could carry her.
"You idiot brother!" her voice echoed back through the lantern-lit garden, fading into the night. "Good night! And don't you dare make this lady sad later either! See you tomorrow!"
Yoriichi stood perfectly still in the empty garden for several long seconds, his eyebrows raised almost to his hairline in sheer, unadulterated surprise.
Slowly, his brain rebooted. He raised a hand and calmly wiped his left cheek. To his practical mind, there was practically nothing to wipe away; the moisture had mostly absorbed into his skin or evaporated in the night air.
He simply shrugged, dropping his hand back to his side. The brief shock faded, seamlessly replaced by his usual, bottomless tranquility.
As he turned and began the casual, leisurely walk back toward Courtyard 404, his tactical mind was already shifting gears. He completely discarded the emotional interaction, his thoughts rapidly plunging into the complex mechanics of Dou Qi circulation.
'She relies heavily on her leg strength and whip techniques,' Yoriichi calculated, structuring a brutal, highly efficient blueprint for Xiao Yu's future training. 'I will need to synthesize a customized breathing Style that maximizes oxygen flow to her lower meridians while maintaining the fluidity of the Water attribute...'
While the siblings shared their peaceful, emotional reunion under the moonlight, a vastly different, suffocatingly tense atmosphere gripped the very heart of the Outer Academy.
Miles away from the freshmen dormitories, standing at the absolute center of the city, was the Central Administrative Building. It was a towering fortress of black stone and reinforced glass, heavily guarded by elite, silver-armored sentinels.
Deep within the highest floor of the building lay the Grand Meeting Hall.
The air inside this room was incredibly heavy. It was not the oppressive, chaotic malice of the Black-Corner Region, but a refined, absolute pressure that could force a standard Dou Shi to their knees just by crossing the threshold.
Sitting around a massive, circular table carved from a single piece of profound obsidian were the absolute titans of the Outer Academy.
These were the Core Elders. Every single figure seated at the table radiated the terrifying, deeply condensed aura of a Mid to High-level Dou Huang. They were ancient men and women who possessed the power to flatten cities, their eyes glowing with decades of martial wisdom and lethal experience.
At the very head of the table, sitting with his eyes half-closed as if he were taking a nap, was a white-haired old man wearing simple, unadorned grey robes. Despite his cozy appearance, the ambient worldly energy in the room seemed to actively bend and swirl around him in absolute reverence.
This was Deputy Headmaster Hu Gan. A Peak Dou Huang. A man whose name alone was enough to make the most bloodthirsty mercenary companies in the surrounding wastelands tremble in fear.
The heavy oak doors of the meeting hall slowly creaked open.
Stepping into the room, her head bowed in a posture of profound, absolute humility, was Teacher Ruo Lin.
Compared to the terrifying monsters seated at the table, her Da Dou Shi cultivation felt like a flickering candle in a hurricane. She kept her eyes glued to the polished obsidian floor, carefully navigating the suffocating spiritual pressure until she stood at the designated reporting circle near the foot of the table.
"Tutor Ruo Lin, reporting," she announced, her voice incredibly steady despite the immense pressure bearing down on her.
Elder Shu, the Dou Wang who had processed the recruits earlier that day, was standing near the wall. He offered her a subtle, encouraging nod.
At the head of the table, Hu Gan slowly opened his eyes. A profound, piercing light flashed within them, seeming to look straight through Ruo Lin's soul.
"Ah, little Ruo Lin," the Deputy Headmaster said, his voice raspy but carrying an underlying, warm amusement. "You have returned from the borders. Elder Shu has already forwarded the preliminary data on the Wu Tan City recruits to the council."
The Deputy Headmaster leaned forward slightly, resting his chin on his clasped hands. The playful amusement in his eyes vanished, replaced by a razor-sharp, analytical intensity that commanded the absolute attention of every Dou Huang in the room.
"An 'A' rank genius who jumped from the third stage of Dou Zhi Qi to a three-star Dou Zhe in fifteen months," Hu Gan murmured, reciting the impossible statistics. "An 'S' rank girl who has already reached the six-star Dou Zhe realm at a terrifyingly young age..."
The Deputy Headmaster paused, his gaze shifting directly to Ruo Lin.
"And yet," Hu Gan continued, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous whisper that chilled the room. "Elder Shu's specialized report, and my own localized perception arrays, suggest that the most terrifying monster you brought through my city gates today... is the boy you assigned a 'C' rank."
Ruo Lin swallowed hard, keeping her head bowed. The true interrogation had begun.