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

"Soul Guides cannot leave the Soul Palace for long," Elder Yao said softly. "Since Soul Guides have captured souls on the Black Domain Plains, it means that at least one branch of the Soul Palace exists in the Black Corner Region."

When we encountered the Soul Hall's branch some time ago, when we met that Soul Hall protector who was taken down before he could even say his name, Yao Lao mentioned this term. This also indicates that each Soul Hall branch is likely to have a Soul Hall member at the Dou Zun level in charge.

Although Xiao Yan could hold his own against someone who had just entered the Dou Zun realm when he was at full strength, he felt that if he encountered a true Dou Zun, especially one from the Soul Palace who had a special attack on soul power, he would probably not be able to last long.

"Han Feng's cultivation talent is no weaker than yours, but if it were just him alone, he would never be able to hurt me back then..." Yao Lao said somewhat forlornly.

'He's allied with the Soul Palace?' Xiao Yan instantly understood what Yao Lao was trying to say.

"That's right. Back then, I never imagined that he, the most dazzling and brilliant star in the entire continent's alchemy world, would actually join forces with the villains of the Soul Hall," Yao Lao said calmly, his tone softening with melancholy. "And that's precisely why I..."

The old doctor didn't finish his sentence, but his current state spoke volumes.

"...I want to see the sect leader of the Eight Doors." After a brief silence, Xiao Yan said softly, "Since those people from the Eight Doors auctioned off this Yin-Yang Dragon Profound Pill for him, it means they've seen him, or at least know his current hideout."

'Moreover, such a valuable item might have been personally escorted by him,' Xiao Yan's gaze shifted to the towering building of the Black Seal Auction House. 'If he's lucky, he might not have left Black Seal City yet.'

After standing on the street for only a short while, the onlookers in the surrounding taverns and inns had already uncovered the true nature of the Black Seal Auction House. Even though Xiao Yan had only entered Black Seal City that morning, he now knew the backing of the Black Seal Auction House... or rather, that the Black Seal Auction House was held by the sect called "Eight Doors" in the Black Corner Region!

Yao Lao remained silent. He understood Xiao Yan's character and knew that Xiao Yan wanted to take a gamble, hoping that the elders of the Soul Hall who were cooperating with Han Feng wouldn't be able to arrive at the scene before he killed Han Feng, although all of this was based on the premise that Han Feng was in Black Seal City...

"Go ahead," the old apothecary chuckled, "If Han Feng is still in Black Seal City, then your teacher will have to rely on you to save face!"

"Of course!"

Beneath his black robe, Xiao Yan's lips curled slightly, and his sharp gaze pierced through the layers of buildings, locking onto a burly middle-aged man in the Black Seal Auction House.

At this moment, Yuan Yi, the leader of the Eight Doors, had just finished completing the handover procedures for the Yin-Yang Dragon Profound Pill for the people of the Heavenly Serpent Mansion. His smiling face instantly turned gloomy after the people from the Heavenly Serpent Mansion left his sight.

He obtained the Yin-Yang Dragon Profound Pill after trading with Han Feng. If it weren't for the ridiculously powerful background of the Heavenly Serpent Mansion, he would never have intended to hand it over!

After standing there for a moment with a gloomy expression, Yuan Yi's ears twitched slightly, and he immediately turned around to look at his right rear.

As if in sync with his movement, the moment Yuan Yi turned around, a mysterious figure shrouded in a black robe appeared in Yuan Yi's field of vision.

"The auction is over," Yuan Yi said indifferently after glancing at the man in black robes. "The Yin-Yang Dragon Profound Pill has been taken by the people of the Heavenly Serpent Mansion. If you want it, go find the people of the Heavenly Serpent Mansion yourself." He casually revealed the buyer's information, which was not something a proper businessman would do.

“Of course I know,” Xiao Yan said calmly, his voice dry as he forced it out, “but what I want to know isn’t the whereabouts of the Yin-Yang Dragon Profound Pill…”

"The person who refined it is named Han Feng, third on the Black Corner Region's Black List, with strength at the peak of the Dou Huang realm. If you want to find him, go to Maple City. Everyone in the entire Black Corner Region knows where Maple City is; just stop anyone on the road and ask."

Yuan Yi said casually. He couldn't see through the strength of the person in front of him at all. He guessed that the person had deliberately held back when he sensed his presence, or was showing goodwill in some way. Since the other party had shown his goodwill in this way, he didn't need to deliberately hide information that anyone on the street could know.

Most importantly, no one in the Black Corner Region was engaging in normal transactions. The fact that the people from the Heavenly Serpent Mansion, the Blood Sect, and the Black Skull Tomb knew so early on that Yuan Yi had obtained the Yin-Yang Dragon Profound Pill was probably because Han Feng had spread the word. Being tricked and not getting revenge is not Yuan Yi's style!

The news came so easily that Xiao Yan was almost caught off guard.

"Han Feng? Isn't he a sixth-grade alchemist?" Xiao Yan asked after frowning.

"He's been a sixth-grade alchemist for decades," Yuan Yi scoffed. "Who knows if that guy is actually sixth or seventh grade? If you ask me, he just doesn't want to refine seventh-grade pills in the Black Corner Region. After all, there aren't many kind-hearted people in our Black Corner Region, and refining seventh-grade pills consumes a lot of soul power..."

"Hey, isn't this the perfect opportunity to strike a dirty trick?" Yuan Yi said nonchalantly, uttering words that were most taboo in the alchemist world of the continent.

After giving Yuan Yi a deep look, Xiao Yan vanished from the spot in a flash.

Dou Zong?

Yuan Yi's expression changed slightly. After all, he was a veteran powerhouse on the Black List. He could still detect the subtle spatial fluctuations the moment Xiao Yan disappeared. Of course, as a Dou Huang, all he could do was detect those subtle spatial fluctuations.

“That’s right, after all, he’s the kind of person who dares to cause trouble for Han Feng,” Yuan Yi said loudly to himself after glancing around, “Be careful, don’t go out and cause trouble during this time. If someone comes knocking on your door, I won’t be responsible!”

Then, Yuan Yi pushed open the door and shouted loudly at the staff in the auction hall, as if he was really worried about the members of the Eight Gates.

However, just because he couldn't take the Yin-Yang Dragon Profound Pill obtained through a normal transaction, he was willing to trick Han Feng. Could Yuan Yi tolerate Xiao Yan's one-sided threat, which involved no exchange of benefits?

'Looks like this guy wasn't lying.'

While Yuan Yi was shouting into the hall, Xiao Yan was standing beside him. After hearing Yuan Yi's words, Yao Lao's voice, whether of relief or helplessness, echoed in Xiao Yan's mind.

'Perhaps.' Xiao Yan nodded, and in a flash, he completely left the Black Seal Auction House.

"However, they are, after all, local residents of the Black Corner Region. No matter how harmless they may seem on the surface, they are still capable of petty theft and thievery." Xiao Yan chuckled as he casually found an inn near the Heavenly Serpent Mansion.

"so?"

"They robbed the Heavenly Serpent Mansion and then pinned the blame on Yuan Yi," Xiao Yan said calmly. "Given the cheap honesty of these guys in the Black Corner Region, I doubt the people from the Heavenly Serpent Mansion would have any suspicions, right?"

Under Xiao Yan's soul power, every move of the Heavenly Serpent Mansion personnel was clearly visible.

It wasn't until noon the next day that the group from the Heavenly Serpent Mansion left Black Seal City in batches. Only after Elder Qing, the strongest member of the Heavenly Serpent Mansion group, left did Xiao Yan quietly follow them.

Although Elder Qing was not strong, nor was his soul power, and he could not detect Xiao Yan's presence at all, he seemed to have an amazing intuition, constantly circling in the bushes. However, the sound of the horses beneath them was too obvious, and even without Xiao Yan deliberately using his soul power, he could still keep up with them from a distance.

While passing through a small valley, Xiao Yan suddenly paused. In his perception of his soul power, there were many powerful figures hidden in front of the valley. The strongest one's aura was even similar to that of Yuan Yi from the Eight Doors. Moreover, that cold aura seemed to be extremely similar to the aura of Fan Ling, the young sect master of the Blood Sect whom Xiao Yan had met yesterday.

'Looks like I'm not the only one eyeing these people from the Heavenly Serpent Mansion,' Xiao Yan chuckled.

'That's true. After all, everyone wants something like the Yin-Yang Dragon Profound Pill, which is practically a second life,' Xiao Yan said with a strange expression as he quietly slipped into a grove of trees with good visibility, looking down at the Blood Sect experts hiding below. 'However, this is fine too. It allows us to better fish in troubled waters amidst the struggle between the two sides…'

Not far away, the group from the Heavenly Serpent Mansion also arrived near the forest where the Blood Sect was hiding. After glancing at the quiet forest, Elder Qing, who was in charge, waved her slender hand, and a small emerald green energy snake fell into the grass and then quickly swam towards the forest.

The energy snake was pierced by a sharp arrow before it even reached the forest.

"Be careful, there's an ambush ahead!" Elder Qing shouted sharply the moment the little snake disappeared.

"Haha, as expected of an elder of the Heavenly Serpent Palace, your skill in condensing battle qi into a serpent is truly divine."

As soon as Elder Qing's shout fell, a loud laugh, like that of a night owl, rang out from the forest. Immediately afterward, a powerful aura soared into the sky, and a blood-red shadow shot out from the forest, finally landing steadily on a large tree.

"Fan Lao?!" Upon seeing the blood-red figure, Elder Qing's expression changed drastically, and he shouted sharply, "Are you preparing to wage war against my Heavenly Serpent Palace?!"

"Declare war? My Blood Sect doesn't have that kind of ability," Fan Lao chuckled. "However, Elder Qing, I am quite interested in the Yin-Yang Dragon Profound Pill you possess..."

Watching the two sides below start fighting to the death without a word, Xiao Yan curled his lips. Although the Heavenly Serpent Mansion side was incredibly brave, the Blood Sect side had the upper hand in terms of both numbers and quality. If no one intervened, the Heavenly Serpent Mansion side probably wouldn't last long.

Sure enough, the cold jade box containing the Yin-Yang Dragon Profound Pill soon fell into Fan Lao's hands.

After quickly opening the jade box and confirming that it contained the Yin-Yang Dragon Profound Pill, Fan Lao's face showed even greater pride and elation. He quickly closed the lid and threw it to Fan Ling beside him, "Ling'er, take it and retreat first. Blood Sect Blood Guards, escort the young sect master back to the city. I, the sect master, will hold them off here!"

Upon hearing the shout, Fan Ling hurriedly leaped up. Just as his outstretched hand was about to touch the Cold Jade Box, a beam of battle qi pierced through his heart. Without any power, Fan Ling's body fell straight down.

"Sigh, so why did you Heavenly Serpent Mansion do this? Didn't you say back then that the Yin-Yang Dragon Profound Pill was not for sale?" A hand reached out and caught the Cold Jade Box in place of the dead Fan Ling. Then, with a flick of the wrist, the Cold Jade Box was stored in the storage ring.

"Yuan Yi? How dare you..." Looking at the suddenly appearing figure, Fan Lao slowly released his right hand, which had crushed Elder Qing's neck in the Heavenly Serpent Mansion, and a terrifyingly venomous look appeared on his pale face.

"If you weren't bold enough, how would you dare to snatch food from someone as powerful as you, the fifth-ranked expert on the Black List?" Yuan Yi, a burly man, revealed a bloodthirsty smile. "Those guys from the Black Skull Tomb are already dead. Now, I invite you, the Blood Sect Master, to join them!"

"Black Skull Tomb?" Fan Lao was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter. "You dare to mention those trash from Black Skull Tomb? But since you've already killed those trash, then we'll take over the three thousand Thunder Strike Forces and your Eight Doors that they bought before, without any hesitation!"

The moment the words fell, Fan Lao slightly bent his hands, and a long sword that looked like it was made of solidified blood appeared in his palms. Gripping the blood-red sword tightly, Fan Lao transformed into a blood-red shadow, bringing with him a surge of blood energy as he attacked Yuan Yi.

"This terrifying blood battle aura..." Looking at the overwhelming sea of ​​blood, Yuan Yi clicked his tongue in amazement, "As expected of the fifth strongest on the Black List, I just wonder how long you can remain arrogant after encountering the strange fire in the hands of the Medicine Emperor?"

Fan Lao was not surprised that the Medicine King possessed a strange fire, but he also did not believe that Yuan Yi could impress the Medicine King and obtain his assistance. Therefore, without any hesitation, he attacked Yuan Yi, who was slowly gathering his battle qi, with the blood-red aura filling the sky.

"Die!" Fan Lao roared, his voice filled with boundless madness.

As the sea of ​​blood drew ever closer, Yuan Yi's lips slowly curled into a smile. In terms of pure strength, he was not much different from Fan Lao. However, Fan Lao's blood battle aura was too sharp, and apart from the extreme fire attribute, it was not weaker than any other attribute. Because of this, he had always been at a disadvantage when he fought Fan Lao in the past.

But this time it's different...

Just as the sea of ​​blood was almost touching his face, Yuan Yi suddenly crushed a jade bottle that he had been hiding in his hand.

The moment the jade bottle shattered, a deep blue flame suddenly shot out, and almost instantly, the sea of ​​blood was burned away, and even the blood-red longsword in Fan Lao's hand disappeared in an instant.

"Damn it, why?!" Fan Lao was all too familiar with that deep blue flame, and that's why he retreated dozens of meters the moment the sea of ​​blood disappeared.

"Because I have what the Medicine King needs, you idiot!"

The Blood Sect's techniques were severely suppressed by the Strange Fire. Even though Yuan Yi only had a small amount of the Strange Fire's seed, it was enough to suppress Fan Lao's strength to seventy or eighty percent.

And Fan Lao at this level...

He was no match for Yuan Yi, who was of the same level!

Chapter 209 Harvest

The Blood Sect's techniques take an unorthodox approach, focusing on the path of yin and cold. Therefore, they are inherently incompatible with fire-attribute battle qi. Of course, this incompatibility only applies to ordinary fire-attribute battle qi. If it encounters a different kind of fire, it will be completely suppressed, like a mouse encountering a cat, and will have no ability to resist.

When fighting against powerful individuals who possess different flames, the Blood Sect members could hardly unleash even 50-60% of their strength. Even with only a wisp of the flame given to them by Han Feng, Yuan Yi was able to suppress Fan Lao's strength to 70-80%.

Looking at the faint flames on Yuan Yi's body, who was suppressing Fan Lao not far away, Xiao Yan fell silent for a moment. The twenty-three kinds of strange fires on the Strange Fire Ranking may not represent all the kinds of strange fires in the world, but they are the ones that most people can recognize and understand.

The deep blue flames also correspond perfectly to a certain flame on the list of strange flames—

“Deep blue flames…” Looking at the deep blue flames that rose like clear seawater, Xiao Yan murmured, “Could it be the Sea Heart Flame, ranked fifteenth on the Strange Flame Ranking?”

The Sea Heart Flame is said to be a flame born from the depths of the ocean, capable of harnessing the power of the sea and even dissolving in water. Even on the list of strange flames, this kind of strange flame, which possesses both fire and water attributes, is an extremely special existence.

'My senior brother isn't bad luck either, but he's only a peak Dou Huang...?' After shaking his head, Xiao Yan suddenly remembered what Yuan Yi said yesterday: Han Feng's strength was only at the peak of Dou Huang.

"Perhaps... he scattered his cultivation and had to start over," Yao Lao said softly, as if knowing Xiao Yan's doubts. "Back then, before he betrayed us, he stole the Burning Flame Manual when I wasn't looking. However, I discovered him while he was looking through it. In that haste, he probably only memorized part of the Burning Flame Manual's cultivation path."

'And that might be the reason he betrayed me later…' Yao Lao's voice was somewhat hoarse.

With Han Feng's talent, it's impossible that he's still only at the peak of Dou Huang after all these decades. The only possibility is that he dispersed his Dou Qi and chose to cultivate the Burning Technique, which he only remembered part of the operation route of.

'However, since he switched to cultivating the incomplete scroll of the Burning Flame Technique and even obtained the Sea Heart Flame, he should have understood the unique aspect of the Burning Flame Technique's evolution through devouring different flames,' Yao Lao, having quickly composed himself, looked with interest at Yuan Yi, who had already reduced Fan Lao to barely a breath. 'Since he has remained in this Black Corner Region, perhaps that proves that the Fallen Heart Flame truly exists within Canaan Academy!'

"If that's the case, then he's given me quite a gift," Xiao Yan smiled, but his eyes were filled with endless killing intent towards Han Feng. "It would be best if he were in front of me when I see that gift!"

Just as Xiao Yan was talking with Yao Lao, Fan Lao below also faced a life-or-death situation—

"Great Blood Devouring!"

With a roar, Fan Lao's arm jerked violently, and the blood spear, which contained his last bit of strength, flew out of his hand. As Fan Lao's trump card, this move had brought him victory many times, and all the strongmen in the Black Corner Region knew how terrifying this move was.

However, because most of the powerful figures knew about Fan Lao's move, Yuan Yi was not surprised at all when he faced the blood-red lightning that streaked across the sky. In fact, he was even relieved. After all, all his preparations were based on the fact that Fan Lao had not made much progress over the years. If Fan Lao had used a different fighting technique when he fought to the death, he might have been a little nervous.

"You've never made any progress, that's why your Blood Sect was destroyed!"

With a cold laugh, the deep blue flames surrounding Yuan Yi coalesced, finally transforming into a fierce falcon that swooped down on the blood spear.

The nauseating stench of blood completely dissipated under the intense heat of the flames, along with Fan Lao's tall body, which turned to ashes. Of course, as the owner of the Black Seal Auction House, Yuan Yi still managed to catch the storage ring on Fan Lao's finger.

Landing on the ground, Yuan Yi looked around at the forest littered with corpses and curled his lips. He hadn't come out just to retrieve his pills. If the corpses of the Blood Sect members were discovered, his plan to frame them would have completely failed!

"Frame someone? Who are you planning to frame?" A strange voice rang out behind Yuan Yi.

"Who else could it be? Of course, it's that Dou Zong from yesterday..." After answering the question subconsciously, Yuan Yi finally realized what was happening. He broke out in a cold sweat and stiffly turned around, seeing the figure of the Dou Zong from yesterday, who was completely wrapped in a black robe.

"My lord, you..." Yuan Yi chuckled dryly, preparing to offer a few more excuses.

"I've never tried to bewitch someone with my soul power before, and I thought I'd fail," Xiao Yan said with a half-smile, looking at Yuan Yi's trembling body. "But you actually managed to get me to say what was on my mind in one go? Is it because you were too badly injured?"

Despite the help of the Sea Heart Flame, there was still a significant gap between Fan Lao and Yuan Yi. Even though Yuan Yi was the final winner, he was still seriously injured. At least, Yuan Yi was able to remain calm when facing Xiao Yan yesterday, but now Yuan Yi was practically begging Xiao Yan to spare him.