"By the way, Yu Er, how are Mei'er and the others doing?"
"They are really heartbroken now. They've been hiding in the Xu Sect and not coming out for the past few days." Han Yue and Xin Lan and the Xiao Family Sisters all got along very well, since they were all from Canaan Academy, they had more to talk about.
The news of the Xiao Family's downfall has already spread here, so Xiao Mei and the others have been feeling very down these past few days.
Xu Ran didn't have much of a connection to the Xiao Family, but after all, it was still Xiao Mei and Xiao Yu's family.
In his heart, Xu Ran actually felt somewhat guilty, always feeling that he had let them down. But just like when he originally destroyed the Hao Tian Clan and owed Tang Yuehua, Xu Ran was a big baddie, acting on his whims and never caring about whether it was right or just.
To be honest, the Xiao Family hadn't really offended him.
If there were people in this world more monstrous than him, then he would definitely be a super big villain.
"I'll go see them first. You guys carry on with your tasks."
"Remember to come find me after you've bathed tonight," Xu Ran whispered cheekily in their ears.
Han Yue and Xin Lan both felt quite embarrassed, it would have been okay if it were just one of them, but Xu Ran was clearly expecting both of them. Although they got along well, they hadn't reached the point where they could be completely open with each other.
"How could you... how could you agree to his request?" Once Xu Ran had left, Han Yue was indignant, staring at Xin Lan with dissatisfaction.
"Do you think I wanted this? It's all because you were too eager. He had just come back, and you were already like that." Xin Lan retorted without holding back.
However, the two women were not in the mood to continue their argument. Instead, they worried about what they should do when the time came.
In fact, what concerned them the most was not embarrassment.
Rather, it was the thought of standing in front of Xu Ran together, when inevitably, there would be comparisons. Nobody wants to perform worse than another.
What could they do to impress Xu Ran?
Xu Ran was very familiar with the layout of the Xu Sect; it was almost a replica of the set-up over there, and he quickly found Xiao Yu and Xiao Mei. Both women were dressed in white, burning paper money outside the spacious courtyard.
The two women looked much more haggard than when Xu Ran had left, with their eyes swollen from crying.
Seeing his beloveds in such sorrow, Xu Ran still couldn't help feeling some regret and a heavy sense of guilt, and his heart couldn't help but feel some regret as well.
But since it was done, he could only push all the blame onto Xiao Yan.
The fact that Xiao Yan led the Hun Clan's experts to attack the Jia Ma Empire was no longer news, and everyone who was following the matter knew about it. And Xu Ran, on his own, had saved the Snake-People Tribe and Yunlan Sect, annihilating those Hun Clan experts completely.
"Hoo." Xu Ran gathered his thoughts, the indecent ideas that had surged with Han Yue and Xin Lan's presence had now vanished.
Looking at the two haggard women, he truly couldn't bring himself to think of anything else.
"Xu Ran." Hearing the footsteps, the two women lifted their heads and only showed a hint of vitality in their faces after seeing Xu Ran's haggard complexion.
"I'm sorry, I failed to protect the Xiao Family."
"We don't blame you." The two women, seeing Xu Ran's self-reproaching expression, threw themselves into his embrace, crying. They didn't blame Xu Ran at all; they were just saddened by the annihilation of their clan. The colossal family, with hundreds of members, not one survived. To them, it was absolutely devastating news.
Upon seeing Xu Ran, they couldn't hold back the sorrow in their hearts and continued to weep.
"Can you tell us what exactly happened?" Xiao Yu asked, wiping the tears from her eyes and speaking in a hoarse voice.
"Xiao Yan knew he was no match for me and in order to defeat me completely, he wanted to use you as leverage against me. So he went to the Jia Ma Empire, taking strong members of the Hun Clan with him. The Snake-People Tribe, Yunlan Sect, and the imperial capital of the Jia Ma Empire all saw the emergence of powerful members of the Hun Clan."
"After I arrived at the Snake-People Tribe, I used a secret technique to control Hun Miesheng—who intended to wipe out the Snake-People Tribe—making him go to Gama Holy City to protect the people there, while I myself went to the Yunlan Sect."
"The places Xiao Yan attacked were all forces closely associated with me, and I never imagined that Xiao Yan would become so heartless and demented as to kill his own family members who raised him. By the time I got to the Xiao Family, it had already been leveled, and everyone had died." Xu Ran sighed.
"That madman Xiao Yan, did he even kill Uncle Xiao Zhan?"
"A fratricide and a patricide, he's scum. Unfortunately, Uncle Xiao Zhan had always protected him. Even if we did him wrong in the past, why wouldn't he spare Uncle Xiao Zhan and the others?"
Xiao Yu and Xiao Mei gritted their teeth with hatred for Xiao Yan. If they ever got their hands on Xiao Yan one day, they would certainly make sure he didn't die a peaceful death.
"Perhaps it's because the Xiao Family expelled Xiao Yan from the clan, causing him to harbor resentment," Xu Ran offered a reasonable explanation.
Xiao Yu and Xiao Mei accepted this explanation.
However, just being expelled from the clan led Xiao Yan to become such an inhumane demon; he must have been rotten from the beginning.
"What about Xiao Yan? Is he dead in the end?"
Xiao Yu and Xiao Mei had absolute confidence in Xu Ran's strength. Especially after learning that Xu Ran was a Dou Di, they understood that Xu Ran was a peerless powerhouse unlike any other in this world.
"No. Xiao Yan had a Dou Di powerhouse by his side, so..." Xu Ran narrated the issue with the Tuo She Ancient Emperor, and immediately, the two women's attention was successfully shifted.
After all, the Xiao Family had already passed on; overthinking it was useless. It was better to think about how they would seek revenge.
Knowing that another Dou Di powerhouse was Xu Ran's enemy made them worry. Xu Ran might be a formidable Dou Di, but the other was also a Dou Di who lived a thousand years ago.
All these years, the Tuo She Ancient Emperor must have grown even more powerful than before.
"Don't worry about me. Even the Tuo She Ancient Emperor is no match for me. And who knows, maybe by then he'll have to fight ten at once," Xu Ran said with an amused expression. Within a year, Gu Yuena and the others would likely break through to Dou Di. Then, combined with Rongrong's aberrant amplifying abilities, even one of them would probably be enough to give the Tuo She Ancient Emperor a hard time. That's why Xu Ran wasn't concerned about the Tuo She Ancient Emperor; the longer things dragged on, the easier it would be for him.
"Alright, alright, you should smile more and not be so sad. The past is past, and Uncle Xiao in heaven definitely doesn't want to see you so heartbroken. They would want you to live happily; that would let them rest in peace," Xu Ran comforted the two women as he brought them close together.
Xu Ran knew that if Xiao Zhan and the others truly saw how gentle Xiao Yu and Xiao Mei were in front of him, doing whatever he asked, there was no way they could rest in peace.