The Xiao Family Main Battle Arena stood in splendid grandeur at the center of the residence complex. Stone pillars carved with dragons supported the magnificent red-tiled roof, while the floor was made of special black marble capable of withstanding the impact of cultivation energy.
Dozens of young Xiao clan disciples in gold-embroidered uniforms were practicing sword movements and punches. The sounds of slicing wind and surging Qi thundered through the morning air.
Yet in one corner of the arena, the atmosphere was completely different.
Xiao Chen knelt on the cold marble with a dull cleaning cloth in his hand. From sunrise until noon, he scrubbed the marble floor without pause. His palms, accustomed to holding firewood, were now blistered and bleeding slightly, yet his expression remained calm, as though numb to the mocking looks of the passing disciples.
"Look at that concubine's son," a female disciple in a green dress whispered to her companion. "Isn't he our cousin? How pitiful. He has to clean the floor where we practice."
"Pitiful?" her companion replied sarcastically. "Why waste pity on a trash worm who can't cultivate? At fifteen, we've all reached Body Refining, Third Level or Fourth Level. He can't even gather the slightest trace of Qi. He only stains the good name of our clan."
Soft laughter came from the group of disciples. Xiao Chen heard every word they said, but his fingers did not stop scrubbing the marble. Years of experience had taught him one thing: anger without strength would only become a joke to one's enemies.
*Thud!*
A gold-embroidered shoe stepped directly onto Xiao Chen's hand as it gripped the cleaning cloth. The crushing pressure immediately made the bones in his fingers groan with pain.
Xiao Chen stopped moving and slowly raised his head.
Standing before him was a handsome young man with an arrogant face, dressed in a dark-blue silk robe—the uniform of the clan's top core disciple. His features bore a resemblance to the Great Elder. He was Xiao Yiran, the youngest prodigy of the Xiao Family, who had reached the peak of Body Refining, Sixth Level.
"Oops, forgive me," Xiao Yiran said with a faint smile that radiated cruelty. "I didn't see a worm crawling beneath my feet."
Xiao Yiran did not move his foot. Instead, he pressed it harder against Xiao Chen's fingers. Sharp pain shot up Xiao Chen's arm, but the young man did not cry out even once. He merely stared at Xiao Yiran with his deep, cold black eyes—a gaze that always made Xiao Yiran feel uncomfortable.
"What kind of look is that?" Xiao Yiran's smile disappeared, replaced by a flash of displeasure. "A good-for-nothing has no right to look at me like that!"
Xiao Yiran lifted his foot and kicked Xiao Chen in the chest, sending the young man skidding two meters across the marble. Coughing, Xiao Chen clutched his chest, which felt deeply bruised.
"Yiran, enough. Don't dirty your hands before the Clan Annual Trial," a deep, authoritative voice echoed from the arena's main pavilion.
A middle-aged man with a long beard and a luxurious robe stepped out. His oppressive aura was so powerful that the young disciples around the arena immediately bowed respectfully in terror. He was Xiao Tianhai, the Great Elder of the Xiao Family and Xiao Yiran's father.
"Father." Xiao Yiran gave a brief bow, then sneered at Xiao Chen.
Xiao Tianhai walked closer. His sharp, eagle-like eyes stared at Xiao Chen, who was still struggling to sit up on the floor. There was not the slightest trace of an uncle's affection in his eyes—only tightly concealed hatred and contempt.
"Xiao Chen," Xiao Tianhai said in a cold voice amplified by Qi, his words echoing throughout the arena. "The Clan Annual Trial will be held in two days. All the city's elders and representatives of outside sects will attend as witnesses. Do you know what that means?"
Xiao Chen wiped the blood from the corner of his lips and looked at the man who had been the mastermind behind his suffering all these years. "Great Elder, there's no need to beat around the bush."
"Good." Xiao Tianhai smiled coldly. "According to the ancestral rules, anyone who turns fifteen and does not possess the minimum cultivation of Body Refining, First Level, will be struck from the family genealogy and expelled from the Xiao Residence."
The disciples around the arena began whispering among themselves. Everyone knew this was an indirect death sentence for Xiao Chen. Without the clan's protection or the ability to fight, a mortal youth would not survive outside Fengyun City.
Yet Xiao Tianhai was not finished. He stepped closer, lowered his head, and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear:
"Your foolish mother once refused to hand over the secret key left behind by your ancestors. And you... you inherited her foolish stubbornness. But don't worry. After the Clan Annual Trial, I'll make sure you join your mother in the afterlife, in the place most fitting for the two of you... Shenmo Death Valley."
Xiao Chen's eyes widened. "A secret key? My mother... did she die because of that key?"
Before Xiao Chen could respond, Xiao Tianhai had already straightened up and said loudly, "Finish your cleaning, then return to your hut. Don't disgrace the clan before the trial begins!"
Xiao Tianhai and Xiao Yiran turned and left amid the clan disciples' admiring gazes.
On the cold marble floor, Xiao Chen clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white. The truth that had just been revealed set his entire soul and body ablaze. His mother's death three years ago had not been caused by illness—it had been a murder planned by the Great Elder himself to seize his mother's heirloom!
"Xiao Tianhai... Xiao Yiran..." Xiao Chen whispered, his voice trembling as he restrained his immense fury.
Blood dripped from his palms, staining the white marble beneath him. Within his chest, which had remained calm all this time, an inextinguishable flame of vengeance began to blaze. The Clan Annual Trial in two days was no longer merely a formality before his expulsion... it was the beginning of the bloody trap that had been prepared for him.