Battle Through the Heavens, Reborn as Xiao Yan's Sister

Chapter 1 Xiao Family
Gama Empire - Imperial Capital
Xiao Family Mansion

As one of the top families in the Jia Ma Empire, the Xiao family's mansion is naturally magnificent and can be called a landmark building in the capital.

However, the Xiao family was shrouded in a thick gloom at this time. The huge mansion was covered with white mourning cloths, and a sad atmosphere permeated the air in a silent mourning hall.

Before the pitch-black coffin, everyone was dressed in white mourning clothes, silent and heavy-hearted. The outside world's hustle and bustle was completely isolated from the Xiao family mansion, forming two distinct worlds.

Inside the quiet mourning hall, white elegiac couplets hung high.
A beautifully crafted silver-haired girl with red eyes stood quietly beside her mother. Gazing at the familiar figure in the coffin, a hint of sadness flickered in her clear, crimson pupils. Inside the dark coffin, Old Master Xiao lay peacefully, as if he had fallen into eternal slumber.

The patriarch of the Xiao family has died…

Upon hearing this sudden and devastating news, all members of the Xiao family were struck dumb. The fall of Xiao Lin, the only Dou Wang expert in the Xiao family, was undoubtedly an extremely heavy blow to the family.

Overnight,
The sky has fallen for all members of the Xiao family.

Moreover, it wasn't just the old man's passing that caused the loss of more than half of the Xiao family's young elites and older pillars of the family to perish almost overnight. The hearts of everyone in the entire mansion sank into despair, their eyes filled with sorrow and despair...

Xiao Yue watched all this in silence. She had been in this world for five years, from initial confusion to eventual acceptance. The old man lying in the coffin was one of the few relatives she had recognized since being born into this world. Now that he had passed away, it would be a lie to say that she wasn't sad.

I won't have to hear that old rascal's incessant chatter in my ear anymore...

"Xiaoyue, put the flowers up there."

I heard my mother's slightly trembling voice.
Without looking up, Xiao Yue could sense through her mother's tightly held hand that the other woman was sobbing softly, and the expressions of all the elders in the room were filled with sadness and heaviness.

The mother was also holding a two-and-a-half-year-old boy in her arms. He was her adopted brother in this world. However, no one in the room noticed that a deep and mature look, beyond his years, flashed in the boy's bright eyes.

Xiao Yue silently placed the white flowers in her hand in front of the coffin, and then quietly retreated to her mother's side.

"Whoosh!"

A handsome middle-aged man in his thirties stepped forward and used a torch to ignite the coffin for cremation.

He was Xiao Yue's father in this world. Although she couldn't see his expression at the moment, Xiao Yue could clearly see that his fists were clenched tightly, his nails were almost digging into his palms, and his body was trembling uncontrollably.

At this moment, the entire family was undoubtedly in an unprecedented crisis. Father Xiao had no time to grieve, and even the old man's body was simply cremated in the clan and could not be buried in time.

evening,

The Xiao family also cremated the bodies of the remaining wounded clansmen and collected their ashes.

……the next day,
As the new clan leader, Xiao's father suppressed his grief and began to negotiate and communicate with other families in the capital. He knew that the Xiao family was surrounded by wolves, and when the time came, those wolves would pounce and devour the Xiao family.

After a night of deliberation, Xiao's father made a choice: to relinquish all of the family's businesses in the capital, withdraw the entire clan from the capital, and voluntarily withdraw from this cruel game.

"Gentlemen, we need to evacuate the capital..."

In the main hall,
Xiao's father stood before the many clansmen and announced the decision. At this moment, his eyes were red, his once handsome face was haggard, and his voice was hoarse.

These words immediately caused an uproar within the clan, and the clansmen started arguing amongst themselves.

Many people in the clan questioned Xiao Zhan, the new clan leader. Clearly, he was still unable to win people's hearts. After all, just a few days ago, he was just a good-for-nothing second-generation heir. However, with the help and support of several respected elders in the clan, Xiao's father managed to stabilize the family, which was on the verge of collapse.

Xiao Yue used to dislike her father because he always did things that hurt her mother, but now she has a different opinion of him. The tall and upright man in front of her seems to have aged a lot overnight...

Before his family suffered a tragic misfortune, even though Xiao Zhan was already in his thirties, he was still just a rich second-generation young master who idled away his days. He was a well-known playboy in the capital, doing nothing all day.

If we were to say who is under the most pressure in the clan right now, it would undoubtedly be him. Just yesterday, he not only lost his father, but also his three older brothers and sisters who had always doted on him.

Perhaps her father never dreamed that overnight, the fate of the entire family would be his responsibility. Weren't his older brothers and sisters all stronger and more outstanding than him? However, those who were supposed to shoulder this heavy responsibility suddenly brought bad news.

The sudden and immense pressure was almost suffocating, and it also caused this once idle playboy to undergo a transformation and growth in just one day. However, the price of this growth and transformation was terrifyingly high.

……

In the following days, the entire Xiao family began to work busily on the matter of withdrawing from the capital.

Xiao Yue really wanted to step forward and help, but she was only five years old and couldn't do anything. The young girl could only stand calmly at the door and watch the clansmen busy themselves. The only thing she could do was probably to help take care of her two-and-a-half-year-old younger brother.

Her younger brother was named Xiao Yan. Like her, unlike the other crying and fussy children in the clan, the two siblings were considered precocious. They always squatted in the corner, silently watching the clansmen come and go, saving others a lot of trouble. The Xiao family members had long been used to this, after all, this brother and sister had been different from others since birth...

These days,
Representatives from other powerful families in the capital came to offer their condolences, seemingly very concerned about Old Master Xiao's death. However, their main purpose was naturally to verify whether the news was true.

The news came true and was confirmed by many powerful families in the capital. The outside world was in an uproar, with some gloating, some sympathizing, and many more harboring ill intentions...

The once-glorious Xiao Mansion is now deserted, with few visitors; the enthusiasm of many has turned into indifference.

With the passing of Old Master Xiao, the splendor faded, leaving only desolation and the chill of autumn. The coldness of human relationships and the fickleness of the world were starkly revealed; everything was so real, surrounded by wolves and tigers, who waited with hungry anticipation…

(End of this chapter)