Although Hun Xiu didn't understand why Hun Tiandi was treating him this coldly, he still respectfully said,"Father, your son has something to report."
"Hm?""What is it?" Hun Tiandi glanced at him, his tone indifferent.
Seeing Hun Xiu, Hun Tiandi couldn't help but recall what he had witnessed earlier that day—his most gifted, most cherished son had willingly humbled himself to entertain a little girl. The rage he felt was indescribable.
Had he known this would happen, he would never have healed Hun Xiu yesterday.He should've let the boy lie in bed longer, reflect and wake up.
A son with so much promise, yet he stooped to being a servant? Was this the child he had personally nurtured and raised?
A trace of disappointment flickered through Hun Tiandi's heart.His son, it seemed, wasn't as extraordinary as he once believed.
Withdrawn, antisocial, always alone—apart from his god-tier bloodline, Hun Xiu had little to show for it.
Not sensing his father's growing coldness, Hun Xiu continued respectfully,"Father, I wish to leave the Hun Clan and travel the outside world."
"Hm?"
Hun Tiandi narrowed his eyes and stared at him for a long time, silent.The room was dead quiet, with only the sound of their breathing filling the space.
But inside Hun Tiandi's mind, a storm was raging.Why? Why did Hun Xiu want to leave the clan?Was training here not enough?
He wanted to hear the boy's reasoning.
Eventually, Hun Tiandi broke the silence with a sharp, piercing gaze."Why do you want to leave the Hun Clan?"
Hun Xiu knew that to ask this meant he had to be fully prepared. He met Hun Tiandi's eyes without hesitation and firmly said,"The continent is vast… I want to see it."
Of course, his decision to leave the clan had another reason—Gu Xun'er.
He knew there was no way to stop her from going to the Xiao Clan as a spy.
He wasn't foolish enough to plead with Gu Yuan to keep her home—that would only raise suspicion in the mind of a top-tier powerhouse. And being suspected by someone like Gu Yuan, when Hun Xiu had no power to defend himself yet, would be suicidal.
So before coming here, Hun Xiu had thought long and hard.He decided to pretend to forget what Gu Xun'er had confided in him today.
Since she was going to the Xiao Clan to spy… why couldn't he go too?
Of course, he would go secretly. No one from the Hun Clan—or even Gu Xun'er herself—could know.
This decision went against everything he had planned. Originally, his goal was to survive quietly, to cultivate safely within the Hun Clan until he reached the Dou Saint level. Then, he would roam freely across the continent, unrivaled and carefree.
But Gu Xun'er's appearance had upended everything.
She was still just a child. She was his fiancée, his betrothed. If anything happened to her while she was undercover in the Xiao Clan… Hun Xiu would be filled with regret.
For her sake—and his own—he was willing to throw away everything he had planned.
He wouldn't wait until he'd reached the Dou Saint realm, only to find her hand in another man's, smiling and saying:"Hun Xiu-gege, this is Brother Xiao Yan. He's the one I truly love."
Hun Xiu: "…"
No. He refused to let something like that happen.
As long as their engagement existed, he would not allow the story to repeat itself.
She belonged to him.Only to him.
"You want to go out and explore?" Hun Tiandi murmured his words back to him. His tone revealed little. After a pause, he spoke coldly:"You should know that to leave the Hun Clan, you must be an adult."
"You're only nine. You won't come of age for another seven years."
"I understand," Hun Xiu said, still meeting his gaze. "But I don't want to wait seven years."
Seven years?If he waited that long, the opportunity would be long gone.Would Gu Xun'er even still be his by then?
She was already going to the Xiao Clan. And if he recalled correctly, the protagonist Xiao Yan was about four years old now.
Seven years later, that boy would be eleven. And he would only just be leaving the clan to visit his childhood fiancée? What kind of joke was that?
Seven years was more than enough time for people, feelings, and circumstances to change. An engagement meant little if hearts didn't align.
When Nalan Yanran broke off her engagement with Xiao Yan, was it really because he was a "waste" unworthy of her?
No—it was because she simply didn't like a fiancé she had never met.She wanted her own happiness. It was just unfortunate that she chose the worst possible moment—three years after Xiao Yan lost his cultivation.
If she had come when he was still a genius, the outcome might've been completely different. But going to break off the engagement during his darkest days? That was seen as insult added to injury.
So what did this teach Hun Xiu?
Time waits for no one.Opportunities don't return.
Once missed, there may never be a second chance.
If he didn't secure Gu Xun'er's heart now, there might be no "next time."
Seven years later, whatever he did might already be meaningless.
…
Hun Tiandi stared at him for a long time, then finally said calmly,"You want to leave the clan? Fine."
"This year's clan competition—if you place first, you'll earn the opportunity to leave."
"Opportunity?" Hun Xiu repeated the word, not with joy but indifference. His father had not agreed—he had only offered a chance.
But Hun Xiu didn't care about chances.He wanted permission.He wanted his father's approval.
And that… was still out of reach.