Chapter 5: Spirit Net Ring

  More than 4,000 years? Originally, Xia Yan thought that a history of more than 400 years was already very long. But now, San Ye told him that the Xia family had a history of over 4,000 years, how could he not be surprised?

  "Don't be surprised! Actually, our Xia family's earliest ancestor was a holy emperor! Since that ancestor passed away, our Xia family has been declining day by day. The current Xia family is far from being as powerful as it used to be!" Xia Changhe sighed and said wistfully.

  Xia Yan was shocked! He had never known this information before. The earliest ancestor of the Xia family was actually a Holy Emperor? As for the Holy Emperor, Xia Yan knew that they were the strongest in the Dragon Continent! The Holy Emperor controlled the Sacred Land, the Sacred Land governed the Sacred Temple, and the Sacred Temple controlled the Sacred Hall!

  And the highest authority of a county like Yushui City is the Holy Temple! And there are thousands of holy temples throughout the Dragon Continent. From this, it can be seen that the power of the Holy Emperor is so great that it can be said that the Holy Emperor controls the entire Dragon Continent!

  "This ring was left by our ancestor, and it's called the Ling Luo Ring. Actually, this Ling Luo Ring has always been passed down to the next head of the family within our clan. However, the previous head of the Xia family passed it down to me instead." Xia Changhe said with a slight bitter smile.

  The former head of the Xia family was actually Xia Changhe's father. He passed this ring to Xia Changhe, naturally with ulterior motives.

  After Xia Yan's shock, he took the black lacquered ring from Xia Changhe's hand and put it on his own, carefully stroking it. On the ring, there were many fine textures that had not been worn away by the passage of time, and the material was very solid. Although it had been passed down for four thousand years, these textures still remained clear.

  "Summer words, never lose this Ling Luo ring." Summer Changhe's expression was solemn, and he immediately continued: "Actually, our Summer family has a legend about this ring. This Ling Luo ring is not an ordinary ring. If you can open it, you can get the power inside the ring and become a peerless strongman. Alas... In these 4,000 years, our Summer family has had hundreds of generations of patriarchs, but no one has been able to open this ring. Now, even our own people have gradually forgotten about this legend. However, Summer words, I still hope that this ring will bring you good luck!" Summer Changhe patted Summer words' shoulder again, and Summer words felt the weight on his shoulder, with a bright light flashing in his eyes.

  "Third Grandfather, I want to participate in next year's Family Excellent Youth Selection! I want to go to Violet Leaf Academy to study. Only by going to Violet Leaf Academy can I challenge the Saint Hall Master as soon as possible!" Xia Yan said firmly.

  "Zǐyè College? Shèngtáng Temple Master?" Xia Changhe was slightly taken aback, and smiled wryly: "Xia Yan, you currently have not a single meridian open, next year's selection, what do you think..."

  "Never mind, Xia Yan, good luck, I hope you can make it through the selection!" Xia Changhe suddenly smiled again and looked at Xia Yan with a kind expression. Apparently, Xia Changhe was not quite convinced, he didn't quite believe that Xia Yan could do it.

  Xia Yan nodded solemnly, no matter how difficult it was, he had to work hard to reach his goal. Among the family members under the age of 15, Xia Liu and a few others, who had achieved the highest accomplishments, had already opened up 87 out of the 108 meridians!

  Watching Xia Changhe leave, Xia Yan slowly digested the information he had just heard. From morning to afternoon, from afternoon to evening, and from evening to dawn, Xia Yan carefully examined the ring on his hand hundreds of times, even forgetting about hunger, but couldn't find anything unusual about this black ring.

  The sun rises, and the bright sunlight shines through the large leaves of the purple tung tree onto the courtyard. Xia Yan sits cross-legged under the purple tung tree, his eyes tightly closed, a faint flush on his face, as he concentrates on circulating his internal energy to unblock the meridians in his body.

  Time and time again, he made an effort, time and time again, he failed. The sun slowly moved to the top of his head, Xia Yan had no idea how many times he had tried, but not once was he successful. That first meridian still showed no signs of being unblocked. However, on Xia Yan's handsome face, there wasn't a hint of despair. For these ten years, he had never given up on cultivating.

  Suddenly, at this moment, a faint and delicate footsteps came from outside the courtyard. Listening to the sound, Xia Yan knew it was a woman's footsteps.

  "Could it be that little Cui again?" Xia Yan furrowed his brow, knowing someone was about to enter the courtyard. He reluctantly opened his eyes and stood up from the ground. With a hint of resentment in his heart, he gazed at the courtyard gate with a tinge of dissatisfaction, for he had always disliked the clan leader's servant girl, Little Cui.

  A figure flashed by, and a tall woman appeared in Xia Yan's line of sight. The woman who entered Xia Yan's humble courtyard was not the tribe leader's maid, Xiao Cui.

  "Are you Young Master Xia Yan?" The woman, seeing the simply dressed Xia Yan in the courtyard, was taken aback for a moment, clearly having never seen him before, and then opened her small mouth to ask with an uncertain tone.

  Xia Yan nodded slightly, he didn't recognize this woman, but judging from her clothes, she should also be a maid of the Xia family.

  "Master Xia Yan, I'm Xiao Yu. My mistress is Xia Zixing! Mistress instructed me to deliver a book to you!" As Xiao Yu spoke, she glanced around cautiously and didn't see anyone else before carefully pulling out a blue-covered ancient book from the pink collar of her dress. The way she looked, it was clear that Xia Zixing had warned her not to let others see it. On the blue cover were several golden characters, which read "The Sword of Fallen Petals and Broken Jade".

  Xia Yan's eyes stared straight at Xiaoyu, her slender body didn't move.

  Xiao Yu's face turned pink with anger, and she thought to herself, "Although I haven't been at the Xia family for long, following Miss Xia around has taught me about your position in the Xia household. Miss was kind enough to have me deliver this secret manual to you for cultivation, yet you're giving me a look like that."

  Although Xiao Yu was unhappy in her heart, she had to continue saying: "The young lady asked me to bring this book and let Mr. Xia Yan take a closer look. She said that she hoped the book would be helpful to Mr. Xia."

  Xia Yan saw this secret book and knew it was Xia Zixing's personal cultivation secret book. Although this secret book is not considered top-notch, it is a high-quality product among the non-top-notch secret books. The younger generation of the Xia family generally cannot get the opportunity to cultivate this secret book.

  It was audible that Xiaoyu's tone was slightly unpleasant, but Xia Yan's face didn't change at all. The secret recipe that Xia Yan had cultivated was secretly taken by Xia Changhe, although it wasn't a top-notch one, but the difference with this "Broken Jade Sword" wasn't much. So, Xia Yan simply didn't need to take this recipe.

  Xia Yan said calmly: "Thank your young lady for me, but I don't need this secret book anymore. Please take it back!"

  As she spoke, Xia Yan slightly waved her hand and made a gesture of seeing someone off.

  Xiao Yu obviously didn't expect Xia Yan to have such an attitude, and he wouldn't even accept the secret recipe. After a slight daze, a hint of anger appeared on her pink face.

  After a few breaths, Xiaoyu finally stomped her foot and muttered in discontent, then quickly turned around and left. If it were another young master, Xiaoyu would not have dared to show such dissatisfaction.

  Xia Yan's bitter smile shook his head, muttering to himself: "Thank you for your kindness, you just let the maid send over the secret book, is it determined that I am just a waste? Walking with me makes you feel embarrassed? Since so, why bother sending someone to deliver this secret book? Is it uneasy in heart?"

  A person stood quietly in the courtyard for a while, then Xiaoyan returned to her own room, skillfully packing several clothes of similar styles into a floral cloth bag, turned around and left the courtyard, closing the old wooden door with one hand.

  "Didn't he even take a look?" In the exquisite small courtyard of Xia's family backyard, a woman in white dress narrowed her eyes and asked with a hint of resentment.

  Standing respectfully in front of her was Xiaoyu, the maid who had just returned from Summer Words' residence. Xiaoyu held a blue-covered manual, "The Sword of Fallen Petals and Broken Jade".

  "Yes, miss, he was smiling carelessly when he saw this book, as if looking down on the book you gave him! However, that young master Xia Yan is really good-looking. I think among all the young masters of the Xia family, only young master Xia Yan is the most handsome." Little Jade pouted, remembering Xia Yan's smile at the time, and felt a surge of anger in her heart. But thinking of Xia Yan's elegant appearance, she couldn't help but praise him again.

  "Never mind, since he doesn't need it, I'll just consider myself a good person for nothing. Let him be!" Xia Zixin waved her pale, smooth and delicate arm, and let out a faint sigh.

  In her opinion, Xia Yan was overestimating himself and still trying to save face at this time. She sighed softly: "Forget it, whatever path you take in the future is your business. However, the fraternal bond between us will be forever etched in my heart."

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