Female Protagonist Assistance System

Chapter 82 : . Settling In

Estimating that Xiao Mei had not yet calmed down, Hun Jin sat in the main hall for several hours, her mind in turmoil, not saying a word, just sitting there lost in thought. This caused the coming and going Xiao family disciples and outside helpers to cast strange glances at her.

When the sky outside began to darken slightly, Hun Jin finally exhaled a turbid breath, stood up, and walked towards Xiao Mei's courtyard with some trepidation.

After pacing around Xiao Mei's courtyard, Hun Jin took a deep breath, raised her hand, and gently knocked on Xiao Mei's door.

A faint rustling sound came from inside. Hun Jin heard slightly hurried footsteps coming towards the door, finally stopping at the entrance. Just when Hun Jin thought Xiao Mei would open the door, the sound at the door suddenly stopped.

Then there was silence inside.

Hun Jin was somewhat stunned. She waited for a moment but didn't hear any sound. However, she knew that Xiao Mei was by the door and hadn't left.

In that instant, Hun Jin felt a pang in her heart.

She stepped forward, raised her hand to rest on the door, but didn't knock again. Instead, after a moment of silence, she said directly, "Mei'er, I need to go home for a while tomorrow."

There was no response from inside.

The hand on the door tightened slightly, as if giving herself encouragement. Hun Jin swallowed and continued, "I know this matter... has hit you hard. As a member of the Soul Clan, I can't say I bear no responsibility at all... I'm going back this time to get to the bottom of this, to seek justice for your Xiao family..."

Her voice grew softer and softer until, at the end, even she couldn't hear clearly what she was saying.

After finishing, Hun Jin waited for a moment. There was still no movement from inside. She lowered her eyelids slightly and let out a soft sigh.

Just as she was about to turn and leave, she heard a faint "creak," and the door opened a crack. Through the gap, Hun Jin saw Xiao Mei's pale little face.

Hun Jin waited for a while. Xiao Mei, as if having made some decision, lightly moved her finger and opened the door.

A faint joy welled up in her heart. Hun Jin suppressed the happiness in her heart and waited for Xiao Mei's next action.

After a moment of silence, Xiao Mei's eyelashes trembled slightly, and she moved aside a bit: "Come in."

This was the first time Hun Jin had entered Xiao Mei's private room. Of course, the room in the Inner Court pavilion didn't count; that was just a dormitory. However, to prevent Xiao Mei from angrily driving her out, after entering, she behaved properly and didn't dare to look around.

At Xiao Mei's indication, she sat on a chair. Xiao Mei also sat down, opposite her, with a table between them. The two sat in silence for a while. Finally, Xiao Mei spoke first.

"About today, I'm sorry," Xiao Mei paused, then said, her eyes filled with weariness, "I misdirected my anger at you."

Her appearance made Hun Jin's heart ache. In Hun Jin's memory, Xiao Mei had always been bright and proud. When had she ever shown such vulnerability?

"You... really want to go back?" After hesitating, Xiao Mei asked again.

Hun Jin was stunned for a moment, then nodded and said, "No matter what, I'm still a member of the Soul Clan. This matter... I will definitely give you an explanation."

Xiao Mei pressed her lips together, seeming unwilling for Hun Jin to leave: "Will it be dangerous?"

Should I say, as expected of cousins? They ask the same questions. Hun Jin smiled and said, "How could it be? After all, I'm a member of the Soul Clan, just going home for a while. Besides, my grandfather is the Fourth Elder of the Soul Clan, and I'm his only granddaughter. How could he watch me come to harm? Not to mention coming to harm within the clan."

Hearing this, Xiao Mei was still very worried, but had to admit that Hun Jin was right.

Seeing that Xiao Mei still seemed uneasy, Hun Jin thought for a moment, took out a jade tablet from her storage ring, placed it on the table, and handed it to Xiao Mei.

Xiao Mei hesitated for a moment before taking it. It was a palm-sized warm jade, light cyan in color, with the character "Jin" carved on the front, and on the back was a formation that Xiao Mei couldn't understand and had never seen before. The jade carried a faint warmth, and it felt comfortable to hold.

"This is..." Xiao Mei asked hesitantly.

"This is a Soul Tablet," Hun Jin explained seriously. "From birth, every Soul Clan member has a strand of their soul separated and sealed in a jade tablet made of special jade stone. Look, this is the sealing formation."

As she spoke, Hun Jin pointed to the complex formation on the Soul Tablet and said, "The Soul Tablet doesn't have any special use, nor can it assist in cultivation. The only use of the Soul Tablet is to detect the condition of the corresponding Soul Clan disciple. If the disciple dies, the Soul Tablet will shatter."

Hun Jin smiled and continued, "Originally, the Soul Tablets of Soul Clan members should be stored in the Destiny Hall, but at that time, I had a little conflict with my father. In a fit of anger, I stole my own Soul Tablet and left the Soul Clan to come to Jia Nan Academy."

Xiao Mei suddenly felt the Soul Tablet in her hand burning: "This thing... it's very important to you, isn't it? Are you really giving it to me just like this?"

"It's alright, the Soul Tablet can only detect my survival status. Even if it's shattered by external force, it won't have any negative impact on me," Hun Jin reassured her.

In fact, it wasn't just that. No matter what, a strand of her soul was sealed in the Soul Tablet. If the Soul Tablet was shattered by external force, it would certainly cause some harm to her. But Hun Jin naturally trusted Xiao Mei, and besides, if she told the truth, Xiao Mei definitely wouldn't be willing to accept it.

Gripping the Soul Tablet tightly, Xiao Mei lowered her eyelids, pressed her lips together, and slowly nodded.

Looking at Xiao Mei in this state, Hun Jin felt somewhat uneasy, so she tentatively said, "It's getting late now, and I haven't found a place to stay yet. Xiao Han is probably still busy and doesn't have time to arrange accommodation for me. Why don't... I rest here in your place tonight?"

Seeing Xiao Mei hesitate, Hun Jin quickly added, "I just need a place to rest, I can sleep on the floor... uh, or if there's no bedding, I can sit on a chair or something."

Seeing Hun Jin like this, Xiao Mei bit her lower lip and said, "Do as you please."

With that, she turned and walked towards the inner room.

Hun Jin was stunned for a moment, then let out a soft chuckle. She wasn't frustrated by Xiao Mei's attitude of turning and leaving, but rather felt happy.

At least Mei'er hadn't rejected her request.

So, the pampered young miss of the Soul Clan contentedly spent a night on a chair, looking quite happy about it.

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Early the next morning, as soon as Xiao Mei got up, she found that Hun Jin had already left. She sighed softly and walked out.

She couldn't continue to be dejected like this. She had to become strong to avenge her father, grandfather, and those clan members who died unjustly.

Their leave wasn't long, only three days. Within these three days, they had to settle all the clan members. However, this was no longer a big problem. The Cloud Mist Sect had already extended an olive branch to them, expressing that they could allow the remaining Xiao family members to relocate to the Cloud Mist Sect and temporarily reside there.

When Xiao Han took out the cultivation techniques, battle skills, and medicinal pills she had sorted out yesterday and handed them to the Third Elder and several Xiao family members who had considerable prestige and fair characters in the Xiao family, the Third Elder almost knelt down before Xiao Han.

"Heaven bless our Xiao family, heaven bless our Xiao family!" The Third Elder trembled as he wiped his tears, too excited to speak coherently.

Those Xiao family members were also extremely excited. They never imagined that in the end, the one who would save the family would be this Fourth Young Miss who had been neglected and bullied in the Xiao family.

Xiao Han accepted their gratitude with a clear conscience. After the Third Elder and others expressed their gratitude, Xiao Han asked them to count and organize the remaining clan members, pack up the usable things in the Xiao family, and then immediately head to the Cloud Mist Sect.

The Xiao family was very far from the Cloud Mist Sect. Given the pace of the Xiao family members, it would probably take five or six days, and that was considering full-speed travel. Fortunately, Su Qian had already agreed to lend them four flying magical beasts for transportation, in exchange for four fifth-grade pills. Xiao Han felt that walking was too troublesome, so she readily agreed. After all, she had many fifth-grade pills in her system space, might as well use them.

Packing didn't take much time. When the remaining disciples of the Xiao family arrived at the back mountain, they saw four large flying magical beasts and the beast tamers standing beside them.

Upon seeing these terrifying magical beasts, the Third Elder and others felt even more that handing over the position of acting clan leader to Xiao Han was the right decision.

"Everyone, please come up, ten people in a group," the lead beast tamer said with a smile to the Xiao family members after a brief exchange with Xiao Han. "There are ladders here. We will transport you safely to your destination, but please refrain from any intense movements during the flight to avoid startling the Blue Feather Flying Kites."

None of the Xiao family members had ever ridden such flying magical beasts before. They immediately swallowed and nodded repeatedly. Even without the beast tamer's reminder, they wouldn't dare to move recklessly on these magical beasts that were probably at the Dou Wang level.

Seeing no troublemakers, the beast tamer nodded with satisfaction and immediately called for the Xiao family disciples to come up.

Almost everyone climbed onto the magical beasts' backs with trepidation. After everyone was on board, the beast tamer gave a deep shout. They did something, and the Blue Feather Flying Kites let out a clear cry, their wings suddenly shaking, and they soared straight up.

Blue Feather Flying Kites are considered very stable among flying magical beasts. At least the Xiao family disciples on their backs didn't feel much turbulence, and because of this, their originally anxious hearts settled down.

It took only about half a day for them to reach their destination - the foot of the Cloud Mist Sect mountain.

Having already received the message sent back by Nalan Yanran, Yun Shan had informed the Jia Ma Empire soldiers stationed at the foot of the mountain in advance. So when the four large Blue Feather Flying Kites slowly landed on the ground, those people only marveled for a moment and took no other action.

After greeting the commander of the stationed soldiers, Nalan Yanran led everyone up the mountain.

The disciples of the Cloud Mist Sect were somewhat curious about these Xiao family members who had come to stay, but they didn't dare to show any arrogant emotions towards the Xiao family people. After all, these were personally brought back by the Young Sect Master and had the tacit support of the former Sect Master.

After settling all the clan members, Xiao Han was about to leave when she was stopped by the Third Elder, who insisted that she say a few words to the whole clan to boost morale.

Xiao Han originally didn't want to bother with this, but Xiao Yu and others also expressed hope that Xiao Han could stand out and comfort the remaining clan members.

Rubbing her brow, Xiao Han agreed and allowed Xiao Yu and others to gather all the clan members in the Cloud Mist Sect square.

The Xiao family only had about thirty people left, mostly teenagers and young adults in their teens and twenties. The older, higher-ranked elders had mostly died in the incident a few days ago. It was precisely because the core strength of the family had almost all died that the remaining younger generation felt very uneasy, with an undercurrent of despondency and despair.

Looking at the young and inexperienced faces before her, Xiao Han's mind wandered slightly, inevitably thinking of the young disciples from Qishan in her previous life.

She lowered her eyelids slightly, then her gaze suddenly became sharp: "I believe everyone knows that a few days ago, the Xiao family experienced a catastrophe."

"The dead cannot be brought back to life, and those who survive should live on well and revitalize the family. Otherwise, those loved ones who died protecting the family will have died in vain."

She paused, her piercing gaze sweeping over everyone present. Those who had originally thought Xiao Han was talking big and being unsympathetic unconsciously lowered their heads when they met her gaze.

"The younger generation is the most important layer of a family. As long as the young are still here, a family can never truly perish. Now is the critical moment of life and death for the Xiao family. Each of you should focus all your thoughts on cultivation and family revitalization, rather than harboring ulterior motives, indulging in romance, and internal strife as before. And after this, if anyone dares to persecute clan members again......"

She paused, then continued slowly, her voice carrying a hint of bone-chilling killing intent.

"Then don't blame my battle skills for being indiscriminate."