“Watch out!” Someone nearby couldn’t help crying out in surprise.
Behind Su Yong’an, the thin boy saw his lifeless eyes suddenly shrink, instinctively wanting to raise his hand to block, but his movement was sluggish due to his previous fall.
However, facing this fierce slap, not only was there no fear on Su Yong’an’s pretty face, but a flash of craftiness and… disdain?
Only his small figure advanced instead of retreating, his footsteps shifting in an arcane manner, resembling a slippery swimming fish.
He narrowly dodged the palm that carried the sound of the wind, his movement so fast that it left only a blurred afterimage.
“Huh?” The young man in gorgeous clothes missed with his palm, lost his balance, and stumbled forward a step.
Now is the chance!
A sharp light flashed in Su Yong’an’s eyes, and his small hands moved as fast as lightning, precisely grabbing the wide cuffs that the gorgeous-dressed youth had raised while swinging his palm!
Then, utilizing the momentum of the opponent’s forward charge, he fiercely twisted his waist, executing an extremely beautiful small capture technique imbued with the meaning of deflecting a thousand pounds with four ounces!
“Off you go!”
“Hey ouch!” The gorgeous youth only felt a completely irresistible, clever force coming from his cuff, and his entire body suddenly spun head over heels!
“Thud!” With a dull sound!
Amidst the sudden outburst of exclamations and laughter from the surrounding crowd, the youth who had just been acting so aggressively.
Was actually given a clean and neat shoulder throw by a pretty toddler who looked only half his size, landing solidly and sprawled flat on his back on the hard white jade floor!
He was thrown seeing stars, every bone in his body feeling like it was falling apart, unable to even let out a whimper.
“Wow!”
“Oh my god!”
“Wh… Whose child is this?! So fierce!”
The crowd completely exploded! Countless shocked, curious, and probing gazes converged sharply onto the moon-white little figure standing with hands on hips beside the fallen “big guy.”
Sunlight fell upon him, and that impossibly pretty little face carried a trace of small smugness mixed with a sense of justice that said, “that’s what you get for bullying people,” looking simply like a glowing little god of war.
The little white mink on his shoulder also opportunistically jumped onto the chest of the gorgeous youth, stepping on it arrogantly with its little paws and making a victorious “squeak” sound.
Su Yong’an patted his little hands as if dusting off some dirt, and then turned around to look at the thin boy still sitting on the ground behind him.
The boy was also looking at him. Those deep, pool-like eyes now clearly reflected Su Yong’an’s small, spirited figure.
That dormant ice surface, seemingly frozen for a millennium, was seemingly struck fiercely by something, splitting a tiny crack and emitting a faint, almost bewildered light.
Su Yong’an didn’t notice the change in the other’s expression at all. He took a few steps to the front of the boy and squatted down, his small face still flushed with the lingering warmth of the fight, fine beads of sweat seeping from his temples.
Yet, he bloomed into a smile even more brilliant and warm than the sunlight.
He reached out his tender, clean little hand toward the boy, his voice crisp, carrying the unique clarity and untainted purity of a youth:
“Hey! Are you okay? Get up quickly! Don’t sit on the ground, it’s cold!”
That outstretched hand, in the boy’s eyes, seemed to tear apart all the darkness and clamor surrounding him.
Carrying a scorching temperature he had never experienced before, it crashed unexpectedly into his cold, lifeless world.
The boy’s body trembled imperceptibly, his pitch-black pupils contracting sharply.
He instinctively wanted to dodge, but his body felt as if it were nailed to the spot. He looked at that hand, and then slowly raised his eyes.
He met Su Yong’an’s peach blossom eyes, which were filled with pure care, kindness, and sparkling light.
That gaze was too clean and too warm, resembling a flame unexpectedly breaking into a cold night, burning a sharp pain and… panic in his chest.
His lips moved, his throat too dry to make any sound. In the end, he only did so very slowly, with a nearly stiff sense of defense.
Avoiding the hand Su Yong’an extended, he propped himself up against the ground, standing up silently and laboriously.
He lowered his head, avoiding Su Yong’an’s gaze, and bent down to pick up the scattered, trampled clothes and dry food crumbs on the ground, his movements silent and stubborn, carrying a sense of absolute isolation that kept others a thousand miles away.
Su Yong’an’s outstretched hand hovered awkwardly in mid-air. A trace of bewilderment and incomprehension flashed across his pretty face.
Huh? He… does he seem to not want to talk to me? I helped him, hey! Could he have been dropped on his head?
He scratched his head, feeling a bit depressed. But looking at the boy’s thin back and his silent picking up movements.
The slight depression in his heart was suppressed by an even stronger heroic sentiment of “championing the weak and helping the bullied.”
It doesn’t matter! He must have been bullied to the point of fear! I, Su Yong’an, want to be a righteous hero!
“Hey! What’s your name?” Su Yong’an persevered, crowding up to the boy’s side like a little tail, trying to strike up a conversation again.
He even fished out a jade bottle exuding a refined medicinal fragrance from his exquisite little storage pouch, offering it like a treasure.
“Here, take this! The top-quality Huichun powder refined by my mother, it’s super effective for bruises! Just smear a bit and it won’t hurt anymore!”
The boy’s movements of picking things up paused for a moment. Still not raising his head nor responding, he only tightly clenched those few tattered clothes and dry food crumbs in his palm.
His knuckles turned white from the exertion. The bottle of pills, which looked expensive at first glance, was completely ignored.
Su Yong’an watched the other party’s impervious attitude, his pretty eyebrows furrowing, and his small mouth pouting slightly.
Why is this person like this! He’s even more difficult to coax than those most difficult cranes in the back mountain!
Just at this moment, the loud voice of the deacon disciple sounded again, carrying a trace of impatience: “Next! What are you dawdling for!”
It was the thin boy’s turn.
The boy’s body tightened imperceptibly. He ignored the chattering little sun beside him any longer.
He hastily tied up his tattered bundle, slung it over his back, and lowered his head, walking silently toward the spirit-testing stele that emitted a majestic spiritual light.
Su Yong’an’s curiosity was immediately diverted. Temporarily forgetting the awkwardness of being rebuffed, he stood on tiptoes and widened his eyes.
He wanted to see what kind of aptitude this eccentric yet stubborn boy actually had. Xiao Bai also hopped back onto his shoulder, its black bean eyes likewise filled with curiosity.
Under the gaze of countless curious, indifferent, or still disdainful eyes.
The boy silently pressed his well-defined hand, bearing calluses and slight abrasions, onto the cold spirit-testing stele.
The stele remained dormant for a brief moment.
Just when everyone thought it would be another pronouncement of “spiritual rootless”—
Hum!
The stele vibrated violently! Several heterogeneous beams of light in various colors suddenly lit up!
Gold, green, blue, red, yellow… The five elements of light manifested simultaneously!
However, these lights were extremely dim, like candles in the wind, entangling, conflicting, and repelling each other. Instead of merging into a powerful might.
They formed a chaotic, faint, and cheap paint-splattered sort of chaotic halo on the surface of the stele.
That halo barely lasted for less than a breath before it popped like a punctured bubble.
With a “poof” sound, it completely vanished, leaving only a circle of extremely faint, almost imperceptible turbid mixed light at the bottom of the stele.
The entire plaza fell into an eerie silence.
Immediately following that, louder and completely unmasked uproarious laughter erupted than when Su Yong’an had thrown someone just now!
“Pfft hahaha! Five elements mixed spiritual root?! And still this weak?!”
“Oh my god! I thought he had some backing to be so arrogant! Turns out he’s the trash of all trash!”
“All five attributes are present, but they’re each so weak they can practically be ignored, and they even conflict with each other… This aptitude isn’t even as good as the lowest-tier chores!”
“The little toddler just now even stood up for him, what a waste! Such trash deserves to be bullied!”
Mockery, ridicule, and gloating sounds poured in like a tide, even more naked and cruel than the previous disdain.
In front of the spirit-testing stele, that thin figure appeared even more minuscule and isolated amidst the massive roar of laughter.
The hand he pressed against the stele had knuckles turning pale white from the exertion, trembling slightly.
Beneath his deeply lowered head, his expression was obscured; only his overly clear jawline could be seen, tensing like a bowstring about to snap.
The silence and coldness emanating from his entire body were almost on the verge of turning tangible.
The deacon disciple looked at the faint, turbid mixed light at the bottom of the stele, his brow tightly furrowed, the last shred of bureaucratic patience in his eyes vanishing.
Only naked contempt and annoyance remained. He cleared his throat and pronounced in a cold, rigid tone loud enough for the entire plaza to hear:
“Five elements mixed spiritual root, impure and mottled, minuscule aptitude, conflicting spiritual roots, no hope of the Great Dao in this lifetime! Not admitted! Next!”
“No hope of the Great Dao in this lifetime!”
These five words fell heavily like cold iron hammers, carrying the weight of a judgment!
The boy abruptly withdrew the hand he had pressed against the stele, moving so fast as if burned by a branding iron.
He clenched his fists tightly, his nails digging deeply into his palms without feeling the slightest bit of pain.
There was only a crushing, icy sense of suffocation drowning him completely from head to toe.
The massive roars of laughter and those gazes treating him like garbage pierced through his final, crumbling dignity like countless red-hot needles.
He abruptly raised his head!
This time, Su Yong’an finally saw his eyes clearly.
In those deep, pool-like eyes, all the bewilderment, helplessness, and even the previous cold silence had vanished.
Only a kind of… madness driven to a dead end, on the verge of collapse, laced with bloodshot veins and boundless, unmelting despair remained!
Like a young beast cornered into a dead end, about to choose someone to devour!
That gaze was too terrifying, causing several nearby mockers to instantly feel as if their throats had been choked, their laughter cutting off abruptly as they instinctively took a step back.
The boy stared dead at the cold spirit-testing stele, then swept a fierce glance across the surrounding mocking faces.
His chest heaved violently, as if he would recklessly erupt the next second, or… shatter completely.
Just at this moment.
“Hey! Wait!”
A crisp, childish voice filled with obvious dissatisfaction and urgency rang out again, breaking this suffocating silence.
Su Yong’an squeezed out from the crowd like a little cannonball, once more blocking in front of the boy who radiated an atmosphere of despair!
His small face was flushed red, and his pretty peach blossom eyes burned with a fire even fiercer than before—not directed at the boy, but at the deacon disciple on the high platform and the mocking people around them!
“By what right do you say someone has no hope of the Great Dao in this lifetime?!”
With hands on hips and his small chest puffed high, his voice was crisp and bright, carrying the unyielding righteousness of a newborn calf unafraid of tigers.
“Can testing spiritual roots decide everything? My dad said, on the path of seeking immortality, mindset and perseverance are more important than talent! By what right do you look at someone once and write them off?!”
Su Yong’an wouldn’t admit that he thought this older brother was too good-looking and wanted to keep him by his side—that would be too lowering of his status, humph.
His small figure blocked in front of the boy like a thin yet exceptionally firm wall, attempting to isolate the cold malice and judging gazes.
The deacon disciple on the high platform obviously recognized this little ancestor who dared to make a move in the plaza and wore extraordinary clothes, instantly showing a dilemma and terrified expression on his face:
“Th… This little immortal lord… Sect rules dictate so… Th… This aptitude really…”
“Sect rules are dead, people are alive!”
Su Yong’an didn’t care about any sect rules; he only knew this person had been bullied miserably and was publicly sentenced to a
“death penalty” this wasn’t right! Extremely wrong! “If you don’t take him, I will!”
As soon as he said this, the entire audience fell into an uproar again!
Even high above on the platform, seated amidst rolling clouds, Sect Master Ye Xuan and several peak masters and elders couldn’t help raising their eyebrows slightly, revealing an intrigued expression.
Su Lan and Wen Qingzhi exchanged glances, shaking their heads helplessly yet amusedly. This kid is at it again!
The stiff-bodied boy was also shaken to the core by Su Yong’an’s earth-shattering declaration.
He abruptly raised his head, meeting those bloodshot eyes on the verge of madness.
He crashed straight into Su Yong’an’s crystal-clear peach blossom eyes, which were filled with pure chivalrous indignation and a certain… “protective urge” he couldn’t understand.
Su Yong’an didn’t notice the complex-to-the-extreme look in the boy’s eyes behind him at all.
He only felt a surging heroic spirit in his chest, as if he had transformed into a great hero upholding justice in a storybook!
He turned around again to face the silent and desperate boy, a warm and radiant smile of “I’ve got you covered” plastered on his small face.
“Hey! What’s your name?”
He reached out his hand toward the boy—this time, it wasn’t to pull him up, but carried an attitude close to “recruitment.”
“Yuxu Peak’s Su Yong’an! I like the look of you! From now on, I’ve got you covered!”
The sunlight happened to land upon him, plating a layer of dazzling gold over his small figure.
He smiled with curved eyes and brows, resembling a little sun that had suddenly lit up this dark corner.
Carrying an air of carefree yet sincere warmth, he barged without reason into the boy’s cold, lifeless world.
The boy stared fixedly at the fair little hand extended toward him once more.
Then he slowly raised his eyes to look at that dazzlingly pretty face, which currently read “you won’t go wrong following me” alongside that warm smile.
Like a piece of red-hot branding iron, it burned fiercely into his heart frozen by despair, bringing a near-spasmodic sharp pain and… even deeper panic.
His lips moved a few times, a broken, sandpaper-like hoarse sound emitting from his throat, yet still failing to spit out a single word.
In the end, he only did so very slowly and laboriously, wiping his hand hard against his tattered clothes.
As if wiping away all the filth and ominousness attached to it, he then carried a stiff and hesitant posture close to a sacrificial offering.
Extremely slightly, he touched Su Yong’an’s warm palm with his fingertips.
Something was about to sprout inside Yan Xiu’s heart. Why help me? So cute; since you helped me, let me accompany you for a lifetime then. 15-year-old Yan Xiu’s face quietly flushed red.
That touch was as light as a feather brushing past.
Su Yong’an instantly beamed with joy!
He grabbed the boy’s calloused, cold, and slightly rough hand in reverse, shaking it vigorously as if completing an important ritual.
“Great! It’s a deal then!”
He smiled so broadly his eyes disappeared, entirely disregarding the shocked, uncomprehending, and even schadenfreude gazes around him as he pulled the still stiff and silent boy resembling a puppet on strings—
Walking proudly like a victorious little general toward the position where his parents sat on the high platform under the focus of countless lines of sight.
The little white mink on his shoulder also let out a “squeak,” tilting its head curiously to appraise this new partner “picked up” by its little master, who radiated an aura of keeping strangers away.
The sunlight elongated the two figures one big, one small, one lively, one lifeless. The boy who was being forcibly dragged by the hand by Su Yong’an had deep pool-like eyes.
Deep within that unmelting despair and madness, something seemed to have been torn open by this unreasonably intruding, scorching light, leaving an imperceptible slit.
Yan Xiu’s fate track, at this moment, was completely knocked off its predetermined trajectory by an eight-year-old toddler’s offhand declaration of “I’ve got you covered.”