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

"One of the professions that was as revered as alchemists in ancient times, but has completely declined due to the loss of its traditions."

"The only requirement for this Dragon-like Technique is that the cultivator has the most basic ability to forge soul weapons," Yao Lao said calmly. "This 'soul weapon forging' is similar to the basics of a pharmacist's herbal extraction, except that one is universal, while the other needs to be controlled according to the medicinal properties of the herbs."

"Teacher, don't you know how to 'forge a soul weapon'?" Xiao Yan asked curiously.

"If I hadn't discovered that the martial spirits in this world are basically objects or animals bound to the soul, and that obtaining a spirit ring seems to strengthen the martial spirit, I wouldn't have even mentioned this spirit technique to you, which used to only have collectible value."

"So, as long as I cultivate this soul technique, I will be able to possess a martial soul like the soul masters of this world, and I can also strengthen my soul power by absorbing soul rings?"

Xiao Yan was pleasantly surprised, as if he could see his glorious future when he returned to Dou Qi Continent.

"Alright, stop dreaming," Yao Lao chuckled, having seen through Xiao Yan's thoughts. He stretched out his withered right hand, and after a slight shake, a scroll that looked like it was covered in rust appeared in his palm. "If your talent isn't enough, it might take you more than ten years to cultivate."

"How could such a thing happen?" Xiao Yan, whose hopes had been dashed by Yao Lao, confidently grabbed the scroll. "I'm, after all, a Heavenly Being..."

When his palm touched the scroll, it transformed into a stream of information that flowed directly into Xiao Yan's head, also causing him to retract the last few words.

"The key is absorbing the spirit ring..."

As Yao Lao watched Xiao Yan digest the information in the Soul Technique, he frowned slightly.

"Can the soul weapon created by this soul technique really absorb soul rings?"

Chapter 2 Choice

The difficulty and threshold of cultivating soul power are far higher than those of cultivating battle qi, which leads to the fact that the prerequisite for most soul technique cultivation is at least the completion of the mortal realm.

After all, a person with a soul power at the level of perfection in the mortal realm, even if they cannot use their soul power as easily as their own, will not faint or suffer a backlash because they cannot fully withstand the large amount of information flow brought by the soul technique.

Although the Dragon's Decree is a soul technique that has no restrictions on cultivation, what Yao Lao obtained was, after all, a inherited soul technique engraved on a soul scroll that had lost the original owner's introduction and explanation. Naturally, he was not familiar with the conditions for reading this soul scroll.

However, since the Soul Scroll had already been read once, the limitations on its inherent soul power had been greatly weakened. But the remaining limitations, along with the information flow of this complete Soul Technique, still took Xiao Yan an entire night to digest.

Xiao Yan slowly opened his eyes as the sun fully rose in the east the next day.

Although it took him a whole night to digest the information flow brought by the Dragon's Decree, Xiao Yan looked much more energetic than before, and an irrepressible smile appeared on his young face.

"Did you succeed?" asked the old medicine master who had been waiting by the side with a smile.

"Ok!"

Xiao Yan nodded excitedly, stretched out his fair palm, and mobilized his soul power to gather in his palm according to the instructions in the Dragon Technique.

Without any ripples, a yellow light emanated from that fair palm. Although the color was so faint as to be almost invisible, it was clearly present, like an outward-released battle aura.

"Yellow?" The old apothecary blinked. "That's about level three?"

Having read this special soul technique before, Yao Lao naturally knew that this yellow light, which was completely different from the external attribute battle qi and soul power, actually existed. It was the light that came with the Dragon Technique, used to test the level of soul power.

This light, used to test soul power level, has seven colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. These colors correspond to the minimum soul power requirements for alchemists of grades one through seven. When the violet gradually deepens until it turns completely black, it means that the soul power has reached the Spirit Realm.

“That’s right, level three soul power!” Xiao Yan withdrew his hand and said expectantly, “Teacher, does that mean I can be considered a third-grade alchemist?”

"What kind of third-grade alchemist are you?" The old alchemist shook his head, somewhat amused and exasperated.

"Although you have basically memorized all the refining techniques and steps for all the fifth-grade and lower-grade pills that your teacher has collected, you are just a brat at the third level of Dou Qi. You can't even ignite a flame with Dou Qi, can you?"

"That's true..." Xiao Yan's mood recovered from the excitement of learning that his soul power was basically equivalent to that of a third-grade alchemist, and he smiled awkwardly.

"Now that you've mastered the identification of soul power, you must have basically mastered the weapon crafting chapter as well, right?"

After shaking his head helplessly, the old doctor asked.

The first chapter of the Dragon's Decree is weapon crafting, which is the foundation for cultivating this soul technique. The second chapter is relatively unimportant and requires a certain foundation to master in a short time: appraisal. After all, as a inherited soul technique, as long as the master can appraise, this chapter is not a necessary part to master.

"I have basically mastered and understood the method..." When he mentioned this, Xiao Yan suddenly didn't know how to express his feelings.

According to the description in "Like a Dragon's Decree", the summoning and use of Soul Weapons are basically no different from the Martial Souls of this world, but the problem lies in the initial selection and subsequent enhancement.

There are no specific requirements for the initial selection of a Soul Weapon. After all, the purpose of this Soul Weapon is to cultivate soul power. In the end, this Soul Weapon will become nourishment for the improvement of soul power. Then, it can be manifested again or a new Soul Weapon can be selected based on soul power, and then it can be further strengthened by soul forging.

Therefore, the choice of initial soul weapon has no impact on subsequent cultivation.

However, Xiao Yan's reason for wanting a martial soul similar to that of this world is simply because it looks cool, which makes choosing ordinary items as soul weapons in the beginning pointless...

"Um, does the teacher have any weapon recommendations?" After hesitating, Xiao Yan decided to ask Yao Lao for help.

"I thought you would actually choose to find a machete or something."

The old doctor chuckled briefly, then flicked his finger, and a pure black medicine cauldron, large enough to hold three or four Xiao Yans, suddenly appeared.

The black medicine cauldron was quite robust, and a calm aura lingered around it. The surface of the cauldron was painted with lifelike flame totems, and Xiao Yan could even vaguely sense that faint flame energy was gathering around the cauldron.

"This cauldron... is it for me?"

This black medicine cauldron was indeed extraordinary. Xiao Yan had seen several medicine cauldrons at auctions, but compared to this one, they were nothing more than shabby and broken.

However, the medicine cauldron was still a bit lacking compared to the cool weapon Xiao Yan had imagined.

"Um, teacher, is there nothing else?"

"You brat, I wouldn't give this medicine cauldron to anyone else who wanted it," Xiao Yan said with a slightly disdainful tone, which amused Yao Lao. "Besides, are you sure you don't want it? This is the Black Demon Cauldron, ranked eighth on the Heavenly Cauldron Ranking, you know?"

"Dark Lord..."

Although he has never personally engaged in the extraction of medicinal herbs due to the limitations of the medicinal herbs available in this world, as well as Xiao Yan's current age and strength, he has learned a great deal about the deeds of alchemists through the oral accounts of the old alchemist and the books in his collection, including the Heavenly Cauldron Ranking, which lists the thirteen most outstanding alchemy cauldrons.

“That…” Xiao Yan struggled with his thoughts.

"Moreover, according to the ranking system, the Black Demon is at least at the ninth rank. You, who have already read the Dragon's Decree, must know the extent to which a ninth-rank artifact can enhance the soul power of those below the Spirit Realm, right?"

"Just like luring a child to eat candy," the old doctor said with a smile.

"Well……"

After a brief struggle, Xiao Yan realized that good looks were nothing compared to power.

"Teacher, I understand!" After nodding resolutely, Xiao Yan reached out his right hand towards the Black Demon.

"You understand? What do you understand?"

The old apothecary, realizing that his foolish apprentice seemed to have been fooled, was both amused and exasperated. He waved his hand and put the black demon on the ground back into his ring.

"You have level three soul power, so how long would it take at least for level three soul power to refine a ninth-order artifact?" Yao Lao asked, looking at Xiao Yan's bewildered expression.

"The basic ninth-tier artifact has a quantification value of over five thousand, and the refinement of third-level soul power takes about three or four years... Three or four years isn't a very long time, is it?"

Xiao Yan, who is only five years old at the time, doesn't quite understand why his teacher is stopping him.

"So, how do you plan to pass the Spirit Awakening Ceremony a year from now?" Yao Lao sighed. "Given that the Spirit Hall issues identity certificates, how do you plan to get one without a Spirit?"

"But aren't all those who awaken their martial souls great soul masters like Uncle Zhang? The teacher used illusion magic and stuff..."

Zhang San, the only Soul Master in the village, is also the person who occasionally checks on Xiao Yan's living conditions after the old woman who found him passed away.

“If you’re planning to spend those ten years in this small village, then it’s fine,” Yao Lao shook his head. “But once you go out, given your personality, you’re bound to attract attention. In that case, the whole village and the people who awakened your ‘Martial Soul’ will be under scrutiny.”

"Leaving such a huge loophole without knowing the limits of this world or its strange methods..."

"I understand, it was my oversight..."

"But why did the teacher use the Dark Magic to tempt me in the first place?" Xiao Yan asked with a bitter face.

"I mainly wanted to see if you still had a sense of crisis under the temptation of power," the old doctor said calmly. "As it turns out, I'm quite disappointed!"

"Uh……"

"As the price for failing this quiz, I need to think carefully about what would be a good Soul Weapon for you..."

Boom!

After a very brief moment of thought, the enormous black object suddenly flew out of the ancient ring and crashed heavily to the ground with a loud thud, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Uh... what is this?" Xiao Yan swallowed hard as he looked at the 'black giant sword' that was about two meters long and asked.

However, rather than being a giant sword, it is more like a thick, black iron ruler without any edge or blade. Moreover, this giant sword has no tip; at the end, it is as if it has been cut off by something, revealing a smooth, mirror-like cross-section.

“I usually call this the Xuan Tie Sword,” Yao Lao stroked his beard. “Its forging material is Flame Meteorite Xuan Tie. There is probably only one weapon in the entire Dou Qi Continent made entirely of Flame Meteorite Xuan Tie. You can only say that the forger was really extravagant.”

"Flame Meteorite Black Iron?"

Xiao Yan looked at the strange, somewhat blurry pattern on the surface of the black giant sword with some surprise and doubt. The pattern went all the way to the hilt and covered almost the entire blade. Combined with the ancient black color, it looked quite mysterious.

"But isn't Flamefall Black Iron dark red?" Xiao Yan asked curiously. "And... isn't Flamefall Black Iron a ninth-grade material?"

“That’s why we say the blacksmith is a spendthrift,” Yao Lao shook his head and sighed. “The material properties of the Flamefall Profound Iron are almost completely destroyed, only retaining the effect of suppressing battle qi. The Flamefall Profound Iron material has been wasted. According to the classification of the Dragon-like Technique, it is at most an eighth-grade material.”

"However, the materials are grade nine, and the finished product is a low-grade eighth-level weapon, which is just right, isn't it?"

"Indeed, the refining difficulty is low, and the subsequent difficulty in upgrading its grade is even lower than that of a high-grade eighth rank..."

For example, the second stage of the Dragon Technique is called "Dragon Transformation," which requires shattering the Soul Weapon and having it absorbed by the soul as nourishment. It is generally used to break through to the next soul stage, and after achieving the new stage, the Soul Weapon is reforged with the soul. After reforging, the Soul Weapon is only the same as the lowest-grade material before it was shattered.

An eighth-grade weapon forged entirely from ninth-grade materials is undoubtedly the most suitable soul weapon for Xiao Yan. In fact, based solely on this, even if he can't find a way to improve his soul weapon later, he can still advance to the Dragon Transformation stage multiple times.

"Then let's begin the refining process!"

After gradually understanding everything, Xiao Yan's eyes lit up as he gripped the hilt of the giant sword, wanting to lift this heavy sword that was twice his height.

"Teacher..." After trying a few times, Xiao Yan looked at Yao Lao with a dry laugh.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" The old doctor returned a bright smile.

"I can't lift it..."

Although his Dou Qi is only at the third level, Xiao Yan has been training his physical body very well over the past few years. With his strong physique and extremely high Dou Qi for his age, Xiao Yan can even wield 300 kilograms of objects with great force!

However, the heavy sword seemed to suppress Dou Qi too much. Xiao Yan, who was holding the hilt, could hardly feel his pitiful third-level Dou Qi. He could only rely on his physical strength. However, the strength he usually had to lift 100 kilograms did not even make the heavy sword tremble in the slightest.

"If you can't lift it, there's nothing I can do," the old medicine doctor said with a smile. "You can only train harder, right?"

"Gulp," Xiao Yan swallowed, "May I ask how much this thing weighs?"

"Weight?"

"Probably over a thousand kilograms?"

"A thousand kilograms?!" Xiao Yan stared in disbelief at the smiling Yao Lao. "Teacher... you have to wield it for a year, refine it into a soul weapon, and even cultivate Dou Qi..."

"It's completely too late, isn't it?"

“Then we can put the cultivation of battle qi on hold for now,” Yao Lao stroked his beard. “Three stages of battle qi in a year… Although there might be a bonus from the second cultivation session, something still feels off…”

This situation is actually quite common, but on this land called 'Douluo Continent', the concentration of heaven and earth energy is not comparable to those small worlds, the Central Continent... or even the most remote Northwest Continent.

Achieving the third level of Dou Qi in a year under such circumstances cannot be explained simply by the word "talent".