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"Um, that! That was just an accident back then..."
Upon hearing Xiao Yu's way of addressing him, Xiao Yan immediately remembered what happened in the past.
He quickly climbed off Xiao Yu and frantically waved his hands, his face turning red as he tried to defend himself.
"But you did see everything back then, didn't you?"
Xiao Yu smiled and sat up, instantly extinguishing Xiao Yan's defense, the young man lowered his head, feeling dejected.
"I–I'm sorry—"
"Hahaha~"
Seeing Xiao Yan's expression, resembling a child who had done something wrong and was caught by his parents, Xiao Yu burst into laughter.
Although this boy before her had grown into a more mature and stable man over time, there was one aspect that hadn't changed at all since the past~
"Hmm?!"
Suddenly, Xiao Yu's expression changed drastically.
He grabbed Xiao Yan's shoulders tightly and stared at him with furrowed eyebrows, his burning gaze making Xiao Yan feel uneasy.
"Xiao Yan... you... you've regained your Dou Qi back? And you've reached the Dou Zhe realm?!"
"Yes, I just broke through a few days ago."
Xiao Yan nodded and admitted it.
Xiao Yu's face showed surprise at first, followed by deep joy.
Before coming here, Xiao Yu was worried about the matter regarding solving Xiao Yan's Dou Qi dilemma, but she didn't expect that she didn't need to worry about it at all!
Although she didn't know what had happened exactly, this outcome undoubtedly filled Xiao Yu with immense joy.
"That's great!"
Excited, Xiao Yu hugged Xiao Yan tightly, feeling the nearly mature and voluptuous body of Xiao Yu pressed right against his face.
Xiao Yan's face, which had just recovered from embarrassment, turned red again, and there was even faint white steam rising from his head.
"Um, um, Xiao Yu!"
On the verge of losing consciousness due to the lack of air, Xiao Yan tried his best to push Xiao Yu away and changed the subject, pointing his finger to the mountain.
"We happen to be having lunch up there. Xiao Yu, let's eat together."
"Hmm?" Xiao Yu was taken aback, tilting her head slightly. "Why are we having lunch on the mountain?"
"In the past few months, we have been busy doing a lot of intense training, so we can't just let everyone casually run down the mountain. Apart from me taking a few people down the mountain every few days to buy more food ingredients, we've been staying on the mountain for the last three months."
After saying that, Xiao Yan picked up the scattered firewood from the ground and led Xiao Yu through the thick bushes, slowly walking in a certain direction.
As Xiao Yu saw the direction where he was going, she blinked slightly.
Isn't this where we used to...
As Xiao Yu had guessed, Xiao Yan brought Xiao Yu to the hot spring they had discovered together as young children, the very place where Xiao Yu had called Xiao Yan a little pervert.
At the hot spring, the Xiao Clan members were busy with their own tasks, either cutting vegetables or boiling water, completely engrossed in their work, no one noticed Xiao Yu's arrival.
It was then that Xiao Yu noticed that although the Xiao Clan member's clothes were relatively clean, they were mostly torn and tattered. Xiao Yu also noticed that Xiao Yan's clothes were in a similar state.
Could it be that none of them have returned home even once in these three months?
Xiao Yu's eyebrows trembled, and at that moment, Xiao Yan approached everyone with the firewood and greeted them.
"Everyone! Look who's here!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the Xiao Clan members who were busy with their work turned their gazes towards Xiao Yan and saw Xiao Yu following behind him. Joy filled their faces.
"Big Sis, you're back?!"
Yes, Big Sis. That's the unanimous title the Xiao Clan member used for Xiao Yu because she was the oldest among them.
"Big Sis! It's been a long time!"
Xiao Ning walked up and raised his fist, and Xiao Yu bumped her fist against his.
"Ah~ It's been a while, little brother."
Then Xiao Yu blinked and scanned the others, her expression becoming slightly stunned.
"All of you... all of you have reached the Dou Zhe level?!"
"Ah~ it's all thanks to Xiao Yan, because of him, none of us had gone home in the last three months, and our training progress has improved a lot because of it."
Xiao Ning awkwardly scratched his face, a hint of bitterness appearing on his face. The others had similar expressions.
While their Dou Qi progress had accelerated, this training was not something an ordinary person could endure.
Several times, Xiao Ning and the others felt on the verge of collapse, but Xiao Yan mercilessly pulled them back using rather ruthless methods.
Everyone deeply admired themselves for being able to endure under Xiao Yan's guidance until today.
"Xiao Yu, long time no see."
Xiao Mei and Xiao Xun'er walked up to greet Xiao Yu as well.
Xiao Yu looked at the two of them, and although their faces had become more resolute compared to last year, their once smooth skin now appeared slightly rough.
The other Xiao Clan girls had the same condition, indicating the hardships they had endured during this period.
"You've all worked hard..." Xiao Yu touched the heads of the two little girls with a pained expression, then turned her head to glare at Xiao Yan. "I mean, it's fine for the boys, but these are girls. Can't you go a little easier on them?"
"We have to treat everyone equally in training. How can we differentiate?" Xiao Yan spread his hands and replied with a gentle smile.
Upon hearing this, Xiao Yu sighed helplessly.
She was only complaining verbally and not really blaming Xiao Yan.
Because Xiao Yu understood that everything Xiao Yan did was genuinely for the sake of their siblings' future.
"But every time you do something, it surprises me. Within three months of training on the mountain, everyone has become Dou Zhe. Grandfather and the clan patriarch will be ecstatic when they find out."
As Xiao Yu said this, Xiao Yan shrugged his shoulders without answering.
There was no way their Dou Qi progress could have accelerated so quickly in just three months of training.
The fact that all the Xiao Clan members had reached the Dou Zhe level was at least partly due to the Foundation Building Elixir. Whenever the Foundation Building Elixir in the hot spring was nearly depleted, Xiao Yan secretly went down the mountain in the middle of the night to the Miteer Auction House to obtain more medicinal ingredients.
Fortunately, Ya Fei provided the medicinal ingredients in a timely manner, allowing them to keep up with the consumption rate.
In addition, the cost of consumption far exceeded Xiao Yan's initial estimate of sixty portions. According to Xiao Yan's calculations, they had already consumed about a hundred portions of Foundation Building Elixir in these three months.
As a result, Xiao Yan's black gold card with a balance of 230,000 had already been deducted by 200,000. Just when he was starting to enjoy the joy of huge profits, it vanished before he could savor it.
However, Xiao Yan had no regrets.
Spending as much money as needed to help these siblings was worthwhile.
Inside the ring, Yao Chen, who had watched the entire three months of training, was speechless.
To be honest, Xiao Yan's training was indeed effective.
Although these Xiao Clan members had only advanced to the Dou Zhe level, their actual combat power would make even Da Dou Shi (Battle Grandmaster, 4th Level) wary to fight them!
But—!
Could a human really endure that hellish training?!
Yao Chen truly admired the tenacity of these Xiao Clan members.
If she were in their position, she would probably already give up on the very first day.
However, Yao Chen also understood that the premise of Xiao Yan's training for the past three months was based on the already outrageous training intensity the Xiao Clan member had been undergoing.
Without that foundation, these three months of pure training would have been impossible to endure with sheer determination alone.
"So, everyone, let's speed up and start cooking!" Xiao Yan raised his hand and shouted loudly. "After lunch, our training will officially be over! Let's go home and celebrate the New Year!"
"""Yes!!"""