163: The arrival of the saint, a polite humiliation.

The Xiao Family's once-a-decade Grand Family Competition was in full swing on the training grounds.

On the arena, young Disciples of the Xiao Family engaged in fierce battles, pouring out their sweat and blood for meager Cultivation resources and the Family's honor.

Meanwhile, in the most inconspicuous corner below the arena, Shi Yi sat quietly.

He was like an outsider, a transparent person forgotten by the world, completely out of place with the fervent atmosphere of shouts and cheers around him. No one noticed him, nor did anyone pay him any attention, as if he were merely a stone in the corner.

He simply waited calmly.

Waiting for that appointment, which he neither wanted to see nor could avoid.

Just then, a sudden change occurred!

Buzz—!

A prolonged Phoenix cry, as if from the Nine Heavens Immortal Realm, resounded through the entire Qingyang City without warning!

Immediately after, a dazzling seven-colored glow, like a miracle, tore through the clouds and shone down!

At the center of that seven-colored glow, a magnificent floating boat, entirely crafted from an unknown white divine jade, shaped like a Phoenix spreading its wings, and even surrounded by countless ethereal cranes, slowly descended from above the clouds amidst gasps of astonishment!

It finally settled steadily above the Xiao Family's training grounds. The invisible Qi field, originating from a Holy Land and filled with nobility and majesty, instantly suppressed all the clamor in the entire venue!

"Oh my God... that's... that's the 'Seven-Colored Luan Phoenix Boat' of the 'Mystic Maiden Holy Land'!"

"It's her! It must be her!"

The entire city was in an uproar!

Under the reverent and fervent gazes of everyone, the cabin door of the 'Seven-Colored Luan Phoenix Boat' slowly opened.

A young woman, dressed in a moon-white gown, with an ethereal temperament like a Fairy from the Moon Palace who doesn't partake in worldly affairs, slowly descended from the floating boat, surrounded by a group of female Disciples also emanating powerful Qi and wearing Holy Land attire, like stars orbiting the moon.

It was Shi Yi's fiancée, Liu Ruyan, who was now the most outstanding Disciple of the 'Mystic Maiden Holy Land' and had even been exceptionally conferred the title of 'Saintess'!

Her appearance caused all the young men present to lose themselves in a daze. It was a beauty so stunning it could make heaven and earth lose their color, making one feel inferior.

She paid no attention to the admiring and adoring gazes around her. Her eyes, as clear as autumn waters yet carrying a hint of coldness that kept people at a distance, simply swept calmly across the entire venue.

Finally, they precisely landed on Shi Yi, who sat in the corner, dressed in simple clothes, completely out of place with the entire surroundings.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, she moved with light steps, walked through the crowd, and came before Shi Yi.

Looking at this 'former fiancé' who was once spirited but now had a withered Qi and had become a cripple, a profoundly complex emotion flashed in Liu Ruyan's clear, cold eyes – a mix of apology, pity, and an undeniable sense of superiority.

She showed no trace of disdain or contempt. In fact, she even bowed slightly to Shi Yi and spoke softly in an apologetic, gentle, yet distant tone:

"Shi Yi, long time no see."

"I have come this time to... annul our engagement."

Annulment!

Although everyone had anticipated this outcome, when these words were spoken by Liu Ruyan herself, so 'courteously' and in front of everyone, it still caused a massive stir throughout the entire Xiao Family!

Shi Yi did not speak. He simply looked at her quietly, his dark eyes like two bottomless ancient wells, revealing no emotion.

Facing Shi Yi's silence, Liu Ruyan thought he was unwilling, that he was still fantasizing about clinging to her, a high branch.

A hint of disappointment flashed in her heart.

She sighed softly, as if lamenting for an deluded Mortal.

She took out a jade bottle from her bosom, crafted from ten-thousand-year-old warm jade and exuding a rich Medicinal Pill fragrance, and held it out to Shi Yi. She spoke softly in a tone almost of 'charity' and filled with pity:

"I know I broke the promise we made back then. I was the one who delayed you."

"Inside this is a 'Breakthrough Pill'. Its value, I presume, needs no further explanation from me. Even for a Martial Ancestor level expert, it is enough to help him Breakthrough a Bottleneck and advance another level."

"Although your Meridians are severed and you cannot Cultivate, this Medicinal Pill can at least cleanse your marrow and Meridians, allowing you to prolong your life and live a life of wealth without worries."

She paused, her voice like a Fairy enlightening a Mortal.

"Consider it my... small compensation for your three years of youth."

Compensation!

These two words, like the sharpest, most poisoned daggers, fiercely pierced Shi Yi's already numb heart!

How was this compensation?

This was the cruelest, most heart-wrenching, most 'courteous'... humiliation!

She used a Medicinal Pill, enough to drive everyone present, including the Xiao Family Patriarch, into a frenzy, to clearly and nakedly display to him, and to the entire world, the insurmountable class chasm between them, like a natural barrier!

Watching the undisguised greed and desire in the eyes of the surrounding Xiao Family members, listening to their suppressed, heavy breathing urging him to "take it quickly."

Shi Yi smiled.

That laugh was filled with unspeakable sorrow, unwillingness, and... towering rage!

He did not take the Medicinal Pill.

He simply slowly raised his head, and with an unprecedented gaze, as if his Soul was about to completely ignite, filled with blazing flames, he stared fixedly at the high and mighty 'Saintess' before him!

He spoke, word by word, with all his strength, uttering the unyielding vow that belonged to Shi Yi, a vow that would shake the entire East Wasteland Domain!

"—Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river!"

"—Do not bully a young man for being poor!"

"Keep this Medicinal Pill! I, Shi Yi, do not need your... charity!"

"The humiliation of today, one day, I will personally visit your Mystic Maiden Holy Land and let you, and the entire Place of Abandonment, see—"

"—Whether I, Shi Yi, am... a good-for-nothing!!!"