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

"Xiao Yan, don't..." Startled by Xiao Yan's actions, Hong Yuan instinctively tried to grab the map flying in the air. However, her reaction was too slow, and the map scrolls grazed her fingertips before continuing to hurtle towards Hai Bodong.

However, just as the map was about to touch Hai Bodong's body, it was frozen into a hard block of ice by a sudden surge of cold air, and then fell limply to his side.

Before Hong Yuan apologized "on behalf" of Xiao Yan, Hai Bodong's gaze finally shifted from the map to Xiao Yan, and a slight smile appeared on his withered face.

"Hehe, little brother, you're finally back. I've been waiting for you for so long." Hai Bodong gently put down his ink brush and glanced at Xiao Yan. A look of surprise flashed in his eyes. It had only been a few months since he last saw Xiao Yan, and Xiao Yan had already become a Dou Ling. This was something Hai Bodong could never have imagined.

However, that's all. Anyway, when Xiao Yan was still a Great Dou Master, he was no match for Xiao Yan. Now that Xiao Yan has become a Dou Spirit, it has only widened the gap between them.

"There's nothing I can do. You have what I want, sir," Xiao Yan said with a smile under Hong Yuan's incredulous gaze. "Besides, if it weren't for your map, sir, I would have had a hard time achieving my goal even if I spent a year wandering in the desert."

"Hehe, it's just a matter of each having their own needs," Hai Dongbo said with a smile, waving his hand. His nose twitched slightly, and then his dry face changed slightly. He stared at Xiao Yan in astonishment and asked in shock, "You...you've had contact with Queen Medusa?"

"That's it."

Xiao Yan shrugged and said, while his gaze fell strangely on Hai Bodong—

Although he had come into contact with Queen Medusa's true form yesterday, those scents should have completely disappeared after being devoured by the Wind Fury Dragon Flame. Even so, Hai Bodong could still smell them.

Was Hai Bodong too afraid of Queen Medusa, or was the scent of the seven-colored serpent on his body exactly the same as that of Queen Medusa?

"Alright, you can go back now. You don't need to come again..."

While Xiao Yan was pondering this question, Hai Bodong's gaze fell on Hong Yuan. "Go back and tell your father that his schemes are really quite rotten..."

"Hongyuan, your father shouldn't be going out tonight, right?"

Upon hearing Hai Bodong's blunt words of expulsion, Hong Yuan's eyes suddenly reddened. Noticing this, Xiao Yan sighed helplessly and immediately interrupted Hai Bodong.

"Huh?" Still reeling from the sadness of being expelled by Hai Bodong, Hong Yuan looked at Xiao Yan with some confusion.

This somewhat foolish reaction left Xiao Yan rather helpless. "Go back and tell the city lord that I will pay him a visit if I have time in the meantime!"

Although he was saying this to Hong Yuan, Xiao Yan's gaze remained fixed on Hai Bodong.

Hong Yuan still hadn't reacted, but Hai Bodong, who had been stared at by Xiao Yan, did. He smiled silently, then gently stroked the storage ring on his index finger, and a scroll appeared.

After flicking the scroll toward Hong Yuan, Hai Bodong said helplessly, "This is a low-level Xuan-rank combat technique. Since you've helped me for so long, I'll give it to you. I know you want me to take you as my student, but I really don't have that intention. Consider this my compensation."

After blankly accepting the scroll, Hong Yuan's gaze fell on Xiao Yan. No matter how stupid she was, she understood at this moment that without Xiao Yan's words, Hai Bodong would not have given her a Xuan-rank fighting technique.

A moment later, Hong Yuan bowed slightly to Xiao Yan and then quietly left the shop.

"You know the city lord of Mo City?" After Hong Yuan and the others left, Hai Bodong looked at Xiao Yan with some curiosity.

"I've been invited a few times and received some rare medicinal herbs, so I guess I owe them a favor." Xiao Yan said softly as he flicked his finger, letting the pale yellow plant fall onto the counter.

Hai Bodong, who was just about to complain about Xiao Yan using his own things to repay a favor, swallowed back all his words when he saw the pale yellow medicinal herb, which looked like a coiled yellow snake.

"Haha, I knew I hadn't misjudged you, little brother!" After chuckling twice, Hai Bodong prepared to reach for the Sand Datura.

"I've given you the item, but where's the incomplete map I asked for?" After stopping Hai Bodong's outstretched hand, Xiao Yan looked at Hai Bodong with a half-smile.

"Uh..." Upon hearing this, Hai Bodong chuckled dryly, withdrew his outstretched hand, rubbed his hands together somewhat awkwardly, and then said with a sheepish smile, "Young brother, we had an agreement back then. You would help me refine the pill to break the seal, and I would give you the last fragment of the map. In return, I would owe you a favor, and I would also give you half of the Mittel Auction House..."

"Alright," Xiao Yan shrugged, looking at Hai Bodong's sheepish grin. "I just hope that after you get the pills, you won't come up with any other excuses. My temper isn't exactly mild, you know?"

"Of course, of course," Hai Bodong chuckled dryly, "As long as you refine the pills I need, I will definitely keep my word!"

"That would be best," Xiao Yan nodded with a smile, then chuckled, "What about the prescription and herbs?"

"You alchemists are truly enviable... Alas, this prescription for breaking the seal was obtained after countless hardships, and now that you've seen it, it naturally has to be renamed and rebranded..."

After reluctantly taking out numerous alchemy materials from his storage ring, Hai Bodong reluctantly retrieved a yellowed, ancient parchment from it.

Xiao Yan, who still maintained a warm smile on his face, was secretly delighted. Even a famous alchemist like Yao Lao did not have a sixth-grade pill that could break the seal. This time, not only would he get the fragment of the Pure Lotus Demon Flame map, but he would also obtain a pill formula he had never seen before... It was truly a huge profit!

After carefully examining the prescription for the "Breaking Calamity Pill" handed to him by Hai Bodong, Xiao Yan's gaze fell on the medicinal herbs on the table. After roughly estimating and discovering that Hai Bodong had indeed prepared about three portions of herbs other than the Sand Mandrake, Xiao Yan's smile became even brighter.

"Please come in," Xiao Yan said with a smile after pointing to the door.

"Uh...do we really intend to refine pills right here?" Hai Bodong glanced around at the countless maps and bookshelves. "Isn't that a bit inappropriate?"

Although these maps were made in his spare time, if Xiao Yan were to refine pills here, they would probably be lost forever!

"It's just a sixth-grade pill, it won't cause any damage," Xiao Yan waved his hand, "You have to trust my skills!"

Seeing the confident smile on Xiao Yan's face, Hai Bodong's face twitched violently. In the end, he could only sigh helplessly, get up and leave his shop.

"Don't forget to find the remaining map!"

After Hai Bodong walked out of the shop, Xiao Yan's last words reached his ears, and then the shop door slammed shut.

Upon hearing this, Hai Bodong's lips twitched slightly. Now he understood why Xiao Yan insisted on refining pills in the shop and asked him to leave. It was obvious that Xiao Yan was worried that Hai Bodong would renege on the deal after the pills were finished!

Although he really wanted to yell and curse, Hai Bodong knew his own character. If given the chance, after obtaining and consuming the elixir, he might indeed choose not to hand over the incomplete map.

"I've been completely seen through!" Hai Bodong sighed after rubbing his face vigorously, but he didn't move his body at all. After all, the last half of the map had always been kept in his storage ring!

After closing the door, Xiao Yan kept his soul power locked on Hai Bodong. When he found that Hai Bodong made no move to leave, he sighed helplessly, "So he's in his storage ring? That makes sense. Besides his personal storage ring, where else could a former Dou Huang feel safe?"

Shaking his head, he lightly flicked his fingertip to awaken the Flame Ring, and Xiao Yan's own Grade 5 medicine cauldron landed on the table. After snapping his fingers, deep green flames began to swirl inside the cauldron.

Although the Breaking Calamity Pill was only a sixth-grade pill, Xiao Yan made a mistake during the pill-forming stage when he was slightly careless during the first attempt at refining it, resulting in the waste of medicinal materials.

However, neither Xiao Yan nor Yao Lao showed any unusual expression on their faces regarding the failure of the first attempt. After all, failure was nothing new for Xiao Yan. After a little thought, Xiao Yan lit a fire and tried to refine the pill again. With the experience of the first failure, Xiao Yan became more and more adept at it the second time.

Outside the shop, Hai Bodong leaned against the wall. His aged face appeared quite calm, but the constant tapping of his fingers on the wall revealed the tension and anxiety in his heart.

As time slowly passed, Hai Bodong glanced back at the closed shop, his brows furrowing involuntarily. After a moment, he sighed. The materials for refining the Breaking Calamity Pill were not easy to find; it had taken him nearly several years to gather them all. If Xiao Yan failed to refine it, his desire to regain his strength would likely have to be postponed again.

"Let's go in and take a look!"

Time ticked by, and finally, unable to bear the torment of waiting any longer, Hai Bodong took a deep breath, turned around abruptly, and prepared to push open the door to enter the shop.

The moment he turned around, Hai Bodong froze, staring in astonishment at the black-clad youth leaning against the doorframe, leisurely watching him.

After a moment, Hai Bodong swallowed hard and asked dryly, "Young man... did you succeed?"

Xiao Yan shrugged. "I managed to complete it by luck. This Breakthrough Pill is a bit difficult to make."

Despite saying it was a stroke of luck, Xiao Yan showed no sign of panic and held the jade bottle containing the Breaking Calamity Pill in his hand with extreme relaxation.

"Where's the remaining map?"

Before handing the jade bottle to Hai Bodong, who was leaning close, Xiao Yan looked at him with a half-smile, "You wouldn't be planning to hand over the incomplete map to me only after you've used the Breaking Calamity Pill, would you?"

Hai Bodong, who was about to say that he wanted to try the effects of the pills refined by Xiao Yan, froze on the spot.

"Please think carefully before you speak, sir," Xiao Yan said with a faint smile, holding the jade bottle in his hand. "I gave you time to search for the hidden fragments of the map, but you didn't leave..."

"You're not saying you didn't understand what I meant and that's why you didn't leave, are you?"

Xiao Yan's smile was very sunny and bright, but it was this sunny and bright smile that made Hai Bodong feel a little cold.

Chapter 174 Invitation

Looking at Xiao Yan's bright smile, Hai Bodong's lips twitched slightly. After struggling for a long time, he finally sighed with a wry smile under Xiao Yan's ambiguous gaze. He touched his storage ring with his fingers, and a small piece of extremely ancient-looking yellowed parchment appeared in his palm.

Hai Bodong sighed, “I have been making maps for decades, but I have never seen such a complex map. After I got it, I tried to make a copy based on this incomplete map, but the map I drew was very strange and very different from the original. I tried this several times, but I had to give up. I think this may be because the map is only incomplete.”

Xiao Yan swept his soul power over the incomplete map in Hai Bodong's hand, confirming that it was the one he wanted. He glanced at Hai Bodong's expression. Although he could roughly deduce some possibilities, he had no intention of resolving Hai Bodong's doubts.

When the first fragment of the map was discovered in the Monster Mountain Range, Yao Lao found that it contained an extremely vast soul power. This soul power was extremely subtle, and even though Xiao Yan's soul power had reached the Spirit Realm level, he only gradually saw some clues after Yao Lao pointed it out.

These soul energies do not cause any harm to people, but if someone wants to copy a map, they will create a completely different map.

Of course, the soul power on the fragmented map is not the key. Apart from the information about the Pure Lotus Demon Flame indicated by the fragmented map itself, what is most important to Xiao Yan is the "array" that may exist on the fragmented map.

After reluctantly touching the fragmented map for a while, Hai Bodong handed it to Xiao Yan with a wry smile: "Sigh, take it. In my experience, these fragments should have been divided into four or five parts. Holding only one part is not very useful. Moreover, finding other fragments on such a vast continent is undoubtedly more difficult than finding a needle in a haystack."

After a casual smile, Xiao Yan took the incomplete map from Hai Bodong and tossed him the Breaking Calamity Pill.

After completing the exchange, Xiao Yan took out another map from Hai Bodong's hands from his storage ring. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found that there were no gaps at the joints.

After putting the Breakthrough Pill into his storage ring, Hai Bodong kept a close eye on Xiao Yan's every move. After Xiao Yan put away both small maps, Hai Bodong's eyes darted around, and he chuckled, "Little brother Xiao Yan, you seem quite interested in these incomplete maps?"

"I suppose so. I'm interested in all sorts of strange and unusual things," Xiao Yan smiled slightly and answered vaguely. "Besides, this kind of map that can't be copied... as long as I keep a copy, even if someone knows what they can get after collecting all the maps, they still won't be able to collect the whole set!"

Hearing Xiao Yan's self-defeating remark in the latter half, Hai Bodong chuckled twice in agreement, but inwardly he couldn't help but mutter, 'You'd be a fool not to know! If you really didn't know what you could find once you collected all the items on this map, who would risk their life to enter the desert?'

"Alright, Mr. Hai, why don't you try the effects of the Breakthrough Pill now?" Xiao Yan, not intending to continue the topic, looked at Hai Bodong. "What if the Breakthrough Pill you've been searching for for so long actually can't remove the seal on your body?"

Upon hearing this, Hai Bodong's smile froze. Indeed, he had finally obtained the recipe for the Breaking Calamity Pill, but apart from him, it seemed that no one else had considered using this pill to break Queen Medusa's seal... Of course, the main reason was that after being sealed by Queen Medusa, very few people could escape the Tagor Desert.

Therefore, although he felt that the Breaking Calamity Pill could remove the seal on his body, no one had ever tried it before, and what if something unexpected happened?

"Uh... well, Brother Xiao Yan, why don't you come with me to the basement?" After hesitating for a moment, Hai Bodong looked at Xiao Yan and chuckled, "If the Breaking Calamity Pill doesn't work, you can also help me see if the strange fire in your hand can directly devour the seal on my body?"

Xiao Yan smiled and nodded. Hai Bodong's invitation was exactly what he wanted. In fact, even if Hai Bodong hadn't extended the invitation, Xiao Yan would have said he wanted to see the effects of the Breaking Calamity Pill and then followed Hai Bodong.

After all, for the Xiao family... and for Xiao Yan's two older brothers, having a Dou Huang as a protector would allow him to act more freely once he enters the Yunlan Sect.

A few minutes later, Xiao Yan, following behind Hai Bodong, arrived at the basement of the map shop. However, compared to the basement, the underground ice cave was the most fitting name for this room whose six walls were covered with thick ice.

"The fighting spirit technique I cultivate leans towards yin and cold, so this kind of environment is more suitable for my cultivation. Moreover, being some distance from the ground makes it easier to conceal my aura." Noticing the somewhat surprised expression on Xiao Yan's face, Hai Bodong explained with a smile.

“Yes, I understand,” Xiao Yan nodded slightly and sat down on a chair in the basement without any hesitation. “Hurry up, I don’t really like this kind of environment.”

"it is good."

Hai Bodong nodded, then took out the Breaking Calamity Pill from his storage ring, carefully examining it in his palm. His meticulous manner made Xiao Yan raise an eyebrow.

After checking for a while and finding nothing unusual about the pill, Hai Bodong breathed a sigh of relief. Then, without looking at Xiao Yan's reaction, he lightly touched the ground with his toes and flashed to a platform made entirely of ice. As he sat down cross-legged, he also put the Breaking Calamity Pill into his mouth.

Xiao Yan wasn't particularly interested in Hai Bodong's reaction after taking the Breaking Pill. If he hadn't planned to make another deal after Hai Bodong's seal was broken, Xiao Yan would have left long ago.

About half an hour later, Hai Bodong's body suddenly tensed up. Then, a strange, dark blue energy rapidly condensed on his forehead, and after a moment, it formed a small, dark blue snake in the center of Hai Bodong's forehead.

After a while, the dark blue snake was squeezed out of Hai Bodong's body by the purple energy generated by the Breaking Calamity Pill.

As soon as the snake pattern detached from Hai Bodong's body, it trembled violently, then turned into a wisp of green smoke and slowly dissipated.

The instant the snake pattern left his body, Hai Bodong's tightly closed eyes snapped open, a sharp light bursting forth from them, and a fierce aura surged forth from within his body, which had been deeply suppressed for nearly decades.

Sensing the Dou Qi emanating from Hai Bodong, Xiao Yan clapped his hands, "Congratulations to the Ice Emperor on returning to his peak!"

Although it was a congratulatory message, Xiao Yan's expression showed no joy. After all, the moment Hai Bodong's Dou Qi recovered, his fierce aura pressed down on Xiao Yan without any hesitation.

After staring at Xiao Yan for a long time, Hai Bodong's excitement after his Dou Qi recovered finally subsided. Just thinking about the deep purple flames that Xiao Yan used to freeze him still made Hai Bodong feel a little apprehensive after his Dou Qi recovered.

'Furthermore, a sixth-grade alchemist... wouldn't an alchemist of that level be surrounded by Dou Huang-level guards?'

A thought flashed through his mind, and a gentle smile appeared on Hai Bodong's aged face. He smiled and nodded at Xiao Yan in a seemingly kind manner, and the chilling aura surrounding him slowly receded into his body.

Seeing Hai Bodong's renewed goodwill, Xiao Yan smiled amusedly: "Mr. Hai, I thought that after you recovered your strength, you were going to attack me, a mere Dou Ling level kid. Your appearance just now was truly frightening."