Battle Through the Heavens: Xiao Yan, who was kidnapped to another world

Otherwise, no way!

As Yu Xiaogang dreaded the passing of time, the day of the qualifying rounds arrived.

Following the main group to the qualifying round venue, a hunting ground fifty kilometers southwest of Tiandou City, and after settling their luggage at the military camp, two distinguished guests arrived at Shrek Academy's area—

"Uncle Ning, Brother Xue?"

After being called out of his room, Xiao Yan looked at the person who came with a blank expression.

"Xiao Yan, do you know this gentleman?" Flander's eyes lit up when he heard Xiao Yan's address to the stranger. Although he had a guess, he didn't dare to say it out loud.

"And this is...?"

"I am Xiao Yan's friend and also his disciple."

Before Xiao Yan could introduce the identity of this "Crown Prince," Qian Renxue took the initiative to introduce herself. However, this self-introduction was missing the most crucial part. As for the "teacher" in her words, everyone present immediately realized that she was referring to Ning Fengzhi.

Knowing this crucial part, Ning Fengzhi, Ning Rongrong, and Xiao Yan naturally couldn't expose it under Qian Renxue's watchful eye.

"Brother Xue, what brings you here to see me?"

Since this "crown prince" did not intend to reveal his identity, Xiao Yan did not say much. He was just a little curious about why this girl, whom he had not seen for a long time, had suddenly come to Shrek Academy.

"Among the contestants from the Spirit Hall this time, there are four Soul Kings. One of them is said to be the daughter of the previous Pope of the Spirit Hall, and I heard that she is already at level 59." Upon hearing Xiao Yan's question, Qian Renxue's expression turned serious, and she spoke this information in a somewhat heavy voice.

"Level 59?!"

Compared to the utterly shocked Flander and Ning Rongrong, Xiao Yan's expression was only slightly more serious, which Qian Renxue greatly admired. However, no matter how much she admired him, it couldn't change her determination to participate in this Soul Master Competition.

After revealing the crucial information, Qian Renxue stated the purpose of her visit—

I hope Xiao Yan can help me put pressure on some duchies and kingdoms that have secretly sided with the Spirit Hall. I don't have high expectations; I just need him to defeat seven enemies at once.

After saying this, Qian Renxue hurriedly led Ning Fengzhi out, seemingly heading towards Canghui Academy to find Lin Dong.

"That is...the Crown Prince?"

After Qian Renxue walked away, Flander came to Xiao Yan's side and asked in a low voice. For the worldly-wise Flander, he could roughly guess her identity just by Xiao Yan's way of addressing Qian Renxue, the splendor of her clothes and her temperament. However, seeing that she did not intend to reveal her identity, he did not ask her directly.

"Um……"

Xiao Yan nodded silently.

"It's a bit annoying to be able to defeat seven people at once, but you have to be confident. You're a peerless genius who became a Soul King at the age of eleven!" Seeing Xiao Yan's sullen appearance, Flander thought that Xiao Yan was worried that his future behavior would be too flamboyant.

“It’s not that…” Xiao Yan sighed, “It’s… never mind, you wouldn’t understand even if I told you, Dean. Let’s go, let’s go back.”

After saying something that infuriated Flander, Xiao Yan dusted himself off and went back to his room.

'The daughter of the previous Pope, a level 59 Soul King… You're directly revealing your identity, aren't you?'

Back in his room, Xiao Yan racked his brains but still couldn't understand what this "Xue Qinghe" wanted to do. She was clearly the daughter of the previous pope, yet she came to the Heaven Dou Empire to become the crown prince, and she was even thinking of the Heaven Dou Empire's interests. She was even planning to use the promotion competition to intimidate those duchies and kingdoms that had sided with the Spirit Hall...

"What exactly does this mean? Can you explain it more clearly?" Xiao Yan scratched his hair in frustration.

"It can't be that you've fallen out with the current pope and are planning to start your own faction, can it?"

Xiao Yan sighed deeply. He figured Lin Dong was probably reacting the same way he was.

I have absolutely no idea what this imposter prince is planning to do.

Chapter 116 Heading to Wuhun City

Aside from the "crown prince's" outrageous demands, the qualifying rounds didn't cause much of a stir.

Shrek Academy and Canghui Academy, both boasting Soul Kings, overwhelmed the competition, securing first and second place respectively in the qualifying rounds. All the academies were convinced of this achievement, except for a few academies that had been repeatedly defeated by Xiao Yan and Lin Dong, each taking turns defeating seven opponents.

After all, apart from those few academies, Xiao Yan had never participated in the competition. Although Lin Dong had participated, he was always ranked last among the participants, serving as a safety net. Only when facing those few academies were these two directly ranked first to participate!

The third to fifth places were taken by traditionally strong teams Tianshui Academy, Chihuo Academy, and Shenfeng Academy. Apart from all of them being defeated by Shrek Academy and Canghui Academy, Tianshui Academy defeated the other two academies, Chihuo Academy defeated Shenfeng Academy, and Shenfeng Academy only lost to the top four teams.

The remaining ten academies each had their own victories and defeats, and were collectively ranked from sixth to fifteenth, which can be considered Xue Qinghe's explanation to the various kingdoms and duchies.

That's right, Xue Qinghe, the Emperor Xue Ye who was supposed to be watching the match, did not come. He even handed over the subsequent elimination rounds entirely to Crown Prince Xue Qinghe. As for the reason why he didn't come...

It is said that the Third Prince suffered a tragedy of having all his meridians severed after taking a Soul Master Pill purchased from the black market, which even damaged his ability to reproduce. Upon learning this news, Emperor Xue Ye was so angry that he fainted on the spot. When he woke up, he seemed to be terminally ill and had no choice but to entrust the matter of watching the game to Xue Qinghe.

Rumors circulate that once the Soul Master Competition concludes, Emperor Xueye will hand over the dragon throne directly to the Crown Prince.

The source of this "rumor" is Ning Rongrong's father, Xue Qinghe's teacher, and the sect leader of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School—Ning Fengzhi.

According to him, even as the Crown Prince's teacher, he couldn't casually reveal such confidential information. However, during the battle between Shrek Academy and Shenfeng Academy, Tang San lost his temper because of Feng Xiaotian's question, "Are you sure you still want to fight? Your soul power isn't enough, is it?" and thus revealed that he possessed a second martial soul, the Clear Sky Hammer.

Although Ning Fengzhi didn't know why Xue Qinghe disliked Tang San, who possessed the Clear Sky Hammer martial soul and was clearly the son of the Clear Sky Douluo, he strongly agreed with Xue Qinghe's plan to "kick the Clear Sky Sect out of the Heaven Dou Empire."

Although he often talks about the close ties between the three upper sects, Ning Fengzhi still vividly remembers the story of Haotian Sect abandoning its four major families more than a decade ago. He is very happy to drive these people away.

The reason why Tang San would reveal his second spirit during his battle with Feng Xiaotian...

It's probably because his reputation has been low since the preliminaries. Although there were no ordinary spectators watching in the qualifying rounds, he could only defeat two of the most academies and exchange most of the third one's soul power. Even when facing the seven-person group from Canghui Academy, he could only defeat two of them. The fact that most other soul masters of the same level could defeat three opponents must have broken his defenses.

Before facing Shenfeng Academy, Yu Xiaogang used words like "cultivating Blue Silver Grass is so that the Clear Sky Hammer can absorb nine ten-thousand-year spirit rings" and "absorbing animal-type spirit beasts is to strengthen the body so that it can absorb spirit rings of higher age in the future" to stabilize Tang San's fluctuating heart.

However, when facing Shenfeng Academy, after being kindly reminded by Feng Xiaotian, Tang San ultimately failed to control his reason and forcibly used his remaining soul power to activate the Clear Sky Hammer, resulting in a "mutual destruction" fight with Feng Xiaotian, who had kindly tried to dissuade him.

As for why Xiao Yan knew...

It can only be said that both Yu Xiaogang and Tang San were far too confident in their "brains," wandering around the military camp at will. If Xue Qinghe hadn't instructed the soldiers beforehand that the guards on night duty would immediately notify Xiao Yan upon seeing them, they might have been captured and thrown into prison before they even took a few steps...

In short, after fifteen days of qualifying matches and fifteen days of rest, the fifteen academies, led by the Crown Prince of the Heaven Dou Empire, set off in a grand procession towards Spirit City, the holy land of all spirit masters, an independent city at the border of the two great empires, and the city where the Spirit Hall's papal palace is located.

On the day of departure, Dugu Bo, who was taking Zhu Zhuqing to obtain her fifth spirit ring, leisurely arrived at the Shrek Academy team. Afterwards, ignoring the trembling Xiao Wu, he sat directly opposite Xiao Yan.

"Zhu Qing, you're already a Soul King?"

Dugu Bo's title of Douluo was intimidating to others, but to Ning Rongrong, it was not as intimidating as Liu Erlong, who had become agitated because of Yu Xiaogang's disappearance. She pulled Zhu Zhuqing over and made her sit next to her, asking with shining eyes.

“Yes,” Zhu Zhuqing nodded, “Level 54.”

"Level 54?!"

Upon hearing this ranking, Ma Hongjun and Oscar momentarily forgot that Dugu Bo was still inside the carriage.

"Why? Zhu Qing, what kind of spirit ring did you absorb?!"

"That's right. Normally, absorbing a spirit ring should only increase your spirit power by one level, right?"

The two, whose soul power level was still struggling at level 45, looked on with envy. They had both taken Soul Master Pills, so how could Zhu Zhuqing's level be about ten levels higher than theirs in such a short time?

At the very beginning, Zhu Zhuqing's soul power level was only the same as Ma Hongjun's!

Let alone the two of them, even Xiao Yan was stunned for a moment when he heard this level, but he quickly realized, "The medicinal properties have been reactivated?"

"Mm." Zhu Zhuqing nodded.

Medicinal properties?

Although Xiao Yan had previously mentioned the high-grade sixth-rank pill that Zhu Zhuqing had taken in front of everyone, since it was none of their business, most people didn't react immediately even though Xiao Yan had now revealed the answer.

"So... Zhu Qing's martial soul has evolved again?" Among the others, Oscar was the first to react, and it was precisely because he was the first to react that he found it even more unbelievable. "Brother Xiao, when you said 'it can last until you become a Title Douluo,' you meant that it would evolve every time it absorbs a spirit ring?!"

With Oscar's reminder, the others finally remembered the black pill that Xiao Yan had given to Zhu Zhuqing before they came to Heaven Dou City.

What are you talking about?

At this moment, the only one in the carriage who was completely oblivious to the situation was Dugu Bo, who had just arrived.

“A pill refined under very special conditions,” Xiao Yan explained, “In terms of grade, your poison pill is only grade five, while the one Zhu Qing took is grade six… a grade six that is infinitely close to grade seven.”

"You might not understand this yet... The combined medicinal power of ten thousand pills you've taken is roughly comparable to that of a seventh-grade pill."

"hiss!"

After taking the poison pill developed by Xiao Yan, Dugu Bo's soul power level skyrocketed, currently reaching level 98. He looked at Zhu Zhuqing in shock. A single fifth-grade pill was enough to push him to this level. He couldn't imagine how terrifying a pill that was said to be 10,000 times more potent than the one he had taken would be.

"Wait a minute, I have a question!" Jing Ling asked curiously, "Will the medicinal power equivalent to ten thousand pills taken by His Majesty Dugu really only last until Junior Sister Zhu becomes a Title Douluo?"

I used to think that Xiao Yan's words "can last until he becomes a Title Douluo" were just a joke or a word of encouragement. But now Xiao Yan has admitted it in front of a real Title Douluo, and even said that the pill that this Title Douluo took was far inferior to the one that Zhu Zhuqing took. So, can the pill that Zhu Zhuqing took really only last until that time?

As everyone gradually came to their senses, they all looked at Xiao Yan, including Zhu Zhuqing, who had taken the pill.

"Oh, did I not explain that?" Xiao Yan scratched the back of his head. "The pill that Zhu Qing took... was slightly different from ordinary pills."

"What I meant by 'it can last until becoming a Title Douluo' was that before becoming a Title Douluo, Zhu Qing could draw power from that pill, but after becoming a Title Douluo, it basically all depends on luck," Xiao Yan explained. "It can only be said that it's a problem with the pill... Without absorbing a spirit ring, the medicinal properties of this pill cannot be activated."

Actually, it's because the physical condition of the people on the Douluo Continent is... slightly weak. These bloodline-improving pills should have been effective at all times, but inexplicably, they could only be activated slightly after absorbing a soul ring.

“Even so, it’s still much better than us,” Ma Hongjun said, slumping in his seat. “We have to cultivate our soul power little by little on our own!”

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Ning Rongrong rolled her eyes in annoyance. "The Soul Master Pill only upgraded you a few levels? If it weren't for the Origin Fire Pill that Xiao Yan gave you, would your soul power be able to catch up with Oscar?"

“Uh…” Ma Hongjun blinked, realizing that besides Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing, he had taken the most pills of everyone. He laughed awkwardly.

The journey from Tiandou City to Wuhun City takes about twenty days. With hundreds of members of the Royal Knights as escorts, the cities along the way are all treated with the highest level of hospitality, and there are no problems encountered on the road.

Ten days passed, and half of the journey was completed.

Today is the eleventh day of their journey. They have spent most of the last ten days in the carriage, and everyone is lazily basking in the sun outside. Only Xiao Wu, who is not yet a Soul Master, remains in the carriage. It is said that she may break through in the next few days.

'Um? '

At one point, Xiao Yan frowned. In his senses, there were many bandits in the valley ahead, and even two Title Douluo who had "become outlaws".

Noticing Xiao Yan's expression, Dugu Bo glanced around and, finding no one paying attention, straightened up slightly and transmitted his voice, "Has anyone noticed anything amiss?"

"There are a large number of Soul Masters in the valley ahead," Xiao Yan said lazily, "and two Title Douluos as well."

For the past ten days, their team has been traveling on the main roads, occasionally taking shortcuts and going down secluded paths. The valley ahead is one such shortcut, which is said to save them dozens of miles of travel. The only problem is that the hills on both sides are perfect for ambushes.

'Title Douluo?'

Dugu Bo paused for a moment, then leaned back indifferently. "It's probably an old friend of mine. He's probably on some mission, most likely looking for the son of that Haotian Douluo from your academy."

Because of his miraculous adventure a year ago, Dugu Bo already knew that Tang San, the son of Tang Hao, a country boy from Shrek Academy, was the third person with twin martial souls to be revealed recently, although his talent was much worse than the other two twin martial souls...

Thinking of this, Dugu Bo glanced at Xiao Yan. It was only because of Xiao Yan and Lin Dong that he realized there were geniuses in this world who could beat a Title Douluo to the ground at the age of ten.

"Looking for Tang San?" Xiao Yan was taken aback. "Does Tang Hao have a grudge against the Spirit Hall?"

"That's a deep-seated hatred," Dugu Bo laughed gleefully. "It's said that his wife was killed by the Spirit Hall, and to avenge her, he beat the previous Pope to the point of near death... oh, not near death, but dead."

In the past, even knowing Tang Hao's exploits, Dugu Bo wouldn't have mocked him like this in private, given his strength...

All I can say is that those who know, know.

But things are different now. Putting aside his level 98 soul power, the poison from his martial soul alone could easily defeat his old rival, not to mention the crippled Tang Hao.