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

"What's wrong... what happened?" A hoarse voice, carrying a wild and fierce aura, came from the towering figure beside Lin Dong.

"The good thing we were hoping for has fallen through," Lin Dong sighed helplessly. "If nothing unexpected happens, we've been completely exposed."

The moment he stepped into the Ancient Palace, a map appeared in his mind. There were four flashing dots on the map. One of them was him, another was beside him, which was Xiao Yan if nothing unexpected happened, and the other two were in the central hall of the Ancient Palace.

"I was thinking of waiting until the ancient treasure was opened before finding a time to get the remaining two ancient keys," Xiao Yan stretched, his gaze fixed on the direction of the two flashing dots marked on the map. "Now that we've been exposed, let's just make our move!"

"This is the only way."

Although he said he was regretful, Lin Dong's face did not show any regret. On the contrary, he thought that directly going to someone else's door and snatching the ancient key from them was the way he wanted to do it.

As if to complement Lin Dong, a sinister smile appeared on Xiao Yan's somewhat wooden face beside him.

On the other side, Xiao Yuan kicked a pebble on the roadside out of boredom. Ever since Xiao Yan successfully survived her Nirvana Tribulation, she had been like this, lacking any enthusiasm for anything.

*

"It seems the last two have noticed as well." The woman in the purple-black dress, You Qian, the leader of the Youquan Dynasty, said softly as she sensed the light points moving towards them.

"And it seems those two are together," Hong Zong, the leader of the Primordial Dynasty, grinned. "If one of them is Lin Dong... then, could the other be Xiao Yan?"

"What do you two mean? What do you mean those two are together?" Shi Kun seemed to have thought of something, his face extremely gloomy as he asked.

“It’s just as you think,” Hong Zong looked at Shi Kun with a mocking smile. “The Great Yan Dynasty, a low-level dynasty, had two One-Seal Heavenly Talisman Masters who not only snatched the last Ancient Key from your Demon Rock Dynasty, but also treated you as prey and stole millions of Nirvana Pills.”

Even the ancient key you held was stolen!

The moment the words fell, the hall fell silent. Everyone knew that Shi Kun had no idea what had happened when the ancient key was lost. If what Hong Zong said was true, then the strength of the two people from the Great Yan Dynasty who stole the ancient key...

"Steal? You seem to be insulting me. However, considering that you have the ancient key, I will not pursue your responsibility for the time being."

Just as everyone fell silent, a soft laugh suddenly rang out from outside the main hall, then slowly echoed inside.

Instantly, a variety of gazes, each with a different expression, were cast toward the entrance of the main hall.

Shi Kun's face remained gloomy, but when that light laugh rang out, it became even more ferocious—for the past few months, he had been claiming that it was definitely a powerful figure from a super dynasty who had taken the ancient key from his possession!

"Xiao Yan!" Shi Kun gritted his teeth and looked at the entrance of the main hall.

Hong Zong and You Qian slowly turned their gazes toward the entrance of the main hall. They sensed that the two points of light had instantly moved from the entrance of the Ancient Palace to the entrance of the main hall. Because of this, the two failed to notice Xiao Yan and Lin Dong, who had already appeared outside the door.

'Can a Heavenly Talisman Master be this fast?' You Qian herself also cultivates spiritual power, but in her impression, talisman masters of the same level should be slower and less destructive than Yuan Power cultivators.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the sound of rustling footsteps came from the sunlight at the entrance of the main hall. The next moment, four figures slowly walked into the vast hall.

"So it was you who took the ancient key from my hands?" Shi Kun's gaze was fixed on Xiao Yan, and he said in an icy voice.

"To be precise, you gave it to me yourself!" Xiao Yan pointed out the error in Shi Kun's words.

"Bastard!"

To Shi Kun, Xiao Yan's words were no less insulting than calling him a cowardly rat. He immediately stomped his foot and flashed away.

Watching Shi Kun, his movements brimming with powerful energy, suddenly lunge towards him, Xiao Yan sighed listlessly, then—

Snapped!

With a crisp snap of his fingers, countless silver chains appeared in the air, binding Shi Kun, who had not yet approached Xiao Yan and the others, in mid-air, unable to move.

Of course, Shi Kun wasn't the only one enjoying this kind of restraint. Hong Zong, You Qian, and even all the people and monsters in this golden hall except for Lin Dong, Xiao Yan, and Xiao Yuan were all tightly controlled by silver chains at that moment.

"...A rune array?!"

Looking at the countless array nodes in the air, You Qian, who was completely unable to move, seemed to realize something. "No, that's not right. How could the array be set up in..."

Perhaps it was because she had a renowned teacher behind her, but Youqian vaguely sensed the locations of those array nodes.

"It's impossible to set it up in a spatial rift? That just means you don't know enough," Xiao Yan smiled casually, unknowingly "revealing his secret." "For a true master of rune arrays, let alone a spatial rift, even other people's bodies are just places to set up array nodes."

Xiao Yan wasn't lying. However, the only ones who could set up arrays in spatial rifts and on other people were array masters from the ancient Dou Qi Continent. As for array masters from the Tianxuan Continent, Xiao Yan had never seen them and didn't know if they could do it.

'A true master of formations...'

Hong Zong's eyes flickered slightly. Although he seemed like the kind of brute who would only solve problems with brute force, he was actually surprisingly shrewd. 'So, that rumor is true? Xiao Yan and Lin Dong were just ordinary people who got lucky and opened an ancient treasure related to talisman masters?'

Everyone, including Hong Zong, was thinking about this rumor. After all, two people from a low-level dynasty became First-Seal Heavenly Talisman Masters in less than a year since the start of the Hundred Dynasties War. The only possibility was that they had opened a treasure.

As for where this rumor came from...

Naturally, it was Mo Ling and the others who were instructed by Xiao Yan and Lin Dong to temporarily separate and reunite after the ancient secret treasure was fully opened that spread the word.

'You believe me?'

Sensing the thoughts of the people in the formation, Xiao Yan's lips curled up slightly. This was the moment he had Mo Ling and the other two spread rumors!

"Alright, hand over your Ancient Keys as well," Lin Dong said, after looting the storage bags from the powerful figures of several dynasties. He approached You Qian and Hong Zong. "You both possess Ancient Keys, so don't pretend you don't know anything now, okay?"

Looking at Hong Zong and You Qian's stiff, rolling eyes, Lin Dong chuckled softly.

On the map in his mind, four flashing dots were currently located in this hall, and there were two dots in front of the dot representing Lin Dong.

"Ahem... My friend, you two both have the Ancient Keys now, right?" Hong Zong coughed and subconsciously tried to scratch the back of his head, but after touching the chains again and getting a few marks from them, he chuckled dryly, "Besides, the Ancient Treasure will be opened in a few days. At this point, nobody knows if they can exchange keys with the holders, right?"

If something goes wrong during the exchange of holders, then no one will be able to enter that ancient treasure…

“But there has never been any evidence that it’s impossible to exchange, has there?” Xiao Yan, standing still, interrupted Hong Zong with a smile.

'You can't move while using this rune array?' Everyone remembered this 'weakness'.

“Actually, giving you the Ancient Keys isn’t a big deal,” You Qian, who had also noticed that Xiao Yan hadn’t moved, said. “It’s just that quite a few powerful dynasties have come this time for the Ancient Treasures, and some of them are difficult to deal with even for us. If they find out that all the Ancient Keys are in your hands…”

“Kill them all, then no one will know!” Xiao Yan stepped forward, his words still somewhat stuttering, but the terrifying murderous aura contained in his intermittent words could not leave anyone unaffected.

"Don't worry, all four of us siblings are equivalent to the First Nirvana Realm. No high-level dynasty would dare to provoke us." Lin Dong patted Hong Zong on the shoulder and said with a smile.

"Hmph!" Xiao Yuan snorted coldly, and his violent Yuan energy instantly swept through the hall.

Feeling the violent and powerful Yuan energy, Hong Zong and You Qian's throats became extremely dry. Both of them were capable of summoning the second Nirvana Tribulation at any time, and they were quite confident in their own strength. However, they didn't know if it was because of the influence of the talisman array that controlled them, but they actually felt that the girl who had only uttered a cold snort after entering the hall... seemed to be much stronger than them.

“We naturally believe in your strength,” Hong Zong chuckled dryly, “but Tian Zhen and his gang might not believe it…”

Tian Zhen, the Fiery Wolf, is one of the four overlords of the Northwest region. The other three are Liu Bai, the Demon Spear; Jiang Shan, the Mountain-Breaking Axe; and Mu Shou, the Beast Fist. All four of them have the strength to attempt the third Nirvana Tribulation and are considered formidable powerhouses in the Northwest region.

"Tian Zhen, the tyrant..." Xiao Yan murmured the name, as if he were frightened.

“That’s right, Tian Zhen, the Berserker!” Seeing Xiao Yan’s reaction, Hong Zong immediately perked up, ignoring the fact that he was completely immobilized. “If it were just one person, I believe the four of you could hold them off, but what if they find out that all the ancient keys are in your hands and think you’re not worthy…”

"Then you don't need to persuade me!" Xiao Yan interrupted Hong Zong in a very irritable manner.

"Xiao Yan!" Lin Dong shouted sternly.

It was this shout that made Xiao Yan, who was in a fit of rage and seemed about to grab Hong Zong by the neck, twist his face for a moment before finally squeezing out a cold sentence from his throat: "Take their ancient key!"

After Lin Dong took the ancient keys from You Qian and Hong Zong and disappeared with the other three, Xiao Yan's cold gaze fell on Hong Zong, "Watch your mouth next time!"

With a sudden wave of his hand, Shi Kun, who was in mid-air, was instantly torn to pieces by countless silver chains.

The moment Xiao Yan waved his hand, Hong Zong felt the silver chains loosen slightly. But the next moment, Shi Kun's body, torn to pieces, took Hong Zong's attention. When he came to his senses, Xiao Yan, who was in the center of the hall, had disappeared.

“His talisman array…” Youqian began slowly.

“It’s very powerful, but it also has many limitations,” Hong Zong nodded. “However, it seems that it will take quite a bit of time to set it up…”

As Xiao Yan stepped forward, they noticed that the one of the four points of light, which should have represented Xiao Yan, had subtly moved a little distance. However, the distance was very short, and if they hadn't been controlled and unable to move at all, they probably wouldn't have noticed the slight movement.

In other words, it seems that the talisman array that Xiao Yan had kept hidden was perhaps something he had secretly set up near this hall, and it took him quite a bit of time!

However, this is only a possibility. After all, they only learned that the holders of the four keys would know each other's locations after entering the Ancient Temple. Moreover, they were certain that they were among the first to enter the Ancient Temple. At least, they were already in the temple when Shi Kun's Ancient Key was taken away!

"That Shi Kun is truly a piece of trash!" You Qian glanced at Shi Kun's body, torn to pieces, on the floor with disgust. "He really doesn't know the circumstances under which the Ancient Key in his possession was taken away!"

Although the talisman array Xiao Yan used this time was very powerful, it wasn't the kind that could influence a person's will. In other words, when Xiao Yan took the Ancient Key from Shi Kun earlier, he didn't use this array, and Shi Kun had no recollection of it! He didn't even know that Xiao Yan possessed a talisman array!

"If we had known earlier that Xiao Yan possessed a talisman array, how could we have been so utterly powerless?!"

However, even if Shi Kun already knew that Xiao Yan possessed a rune array, they probably couldn't have imagined that such a powerful rune array would exist...

"Should we spread the news about the talisman array in Xiao Yan's possession?" Hong Zong's question rang out at the opportune moment.

“No, saying it now will do us no good, and might even invite Xiao Yan’s revenge,” You Qian refused without hesitation. “Aren’t Tian Zhen and the others already on their way? Let’s wait until they fight Xiao Yan and his group before deciding whether to tell them this information or take advantage of the situation!”

They were, after all, geniuses selected from various dynasties. A temporary setback could not defeat them. Finding an opportunity to retaliate was what they would do!

Chapter 255 begins

In the void somewhere within the Ancient Temple, a middle-aged man with slightly graying hair stood calmly, his gaze fixed on an extremely tall building in the center of the city, resembling an altar.

"...Isn't it time for the Heavenly Gang Alliance to open yet?"

After waiting for a while, the middle-aged man, still not sensing any fluctuations from the building that seemed about to activate, clicked his tongue in astonishment. "What secrets are hidden within that Azure Dragon Palace? It was one thing before I reached the Life Profound Realm, but now that I've already reached the Lesser Completion of the Life Profound Realm, I still can't get in..."

The middle-aged man was dressed in a white robe, upon which was a black sun. The alternation of black and white was like the rise and fall of yin and yang. This robe was the common attire of the Yuanmen stewards.

"Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise..." The middle-aged man glanced unwillingly at the building in the center of the Ancient Palace. "Among the four great sects, the Azure Dragon Palace is the strongest. Perhaps, there really is a Heavenly Martial Arts technique inside? If I could obtain the Heavenly Martial Arts technique from the Azure Dragon Palace..."

The Yuanmen Eight Divisions were established based on the Eight Heavenly Martial Arts. If a Heavenly Martial Arts could be found within the inheritance of these four Xuanzong sects, the Yuanmen might indeed open a new division based on the new Heavenly Martial Arts, and it could rise to the top!

"Sigh, never mind. The Heavenly Gang Alliance has been extinct for nearly ten thousand years. Even if there really was a legacy of Heavenly Martial Arts, it would have been taken long ago," the middle-aged man sighed after taking one last look at the building that could unlock the ancient secrets. "I just don't know why the Azure Dragon Palace is sealed off. Even a powerful expert like me, who is at the Lesser Completion of the Life Profound Realm, cannot enter..."

After shaking his head and sighing for a while, the middle-aged man moved, then his body gradually became ethereal, and a moment later, he completely disappeared from this space.

Staring at the spot where the figure disappeared, Xiao Yan and Lin Dong were speechless for a moment. When they sensed the aura of a Life Profound Realm cultivator earlier, they thought someone had noticed something was wrong, which was why they had specifically brought out something like a talisman array, but...

It turns out that this Yuanmen Shengxuan Realm expert was only trying to confirm whether the Tiangang Alliance... that ancient secret treasure, had been opened?

"Was that a Yuan Sect elder?" Lin Dong asked, gazing at the void where the middle-aged man had been.

“Just a steward of the Yuan Sect,” Xiao Yan shrugged. “The Yuan Sect is the most powerful super sect in the Eastern Xuan Region. After reaching a certain age, even if they have already reached the Life Profound Realm, they will still be demoted to stewards until they break through again and become Death Profound Realm.”

"Therefore, the Death Profound Realm cultivator must be an elder, but the Life Profound Realm cultivator is most likely a deacon?"

"I've heard that's how it is. At least most of the Shengxuan Realm cultivators I encountered that year were just ordinary stewards who needed to complete various tasks to obtain cultivation resources," Xiao Yan nodded. "However, shouldn't we be more concerned about the four major Xuan Sects and the Azure Dragon Hall that he mentioned earlier?"

If what that Yuan Sect steward said is true, then Xiao Yan might see his first Heaven-rank martial arts manual in that ancient secret treasure!

"There are still a few days until the opening of that ancient treasure," Lin Dong said, no longer so anxious about what he already had. "But... can you tell which one is the key to the Azure Dragon Palace?"

The four ancient keys were then displayed before Xiao Yan.

Looking at the four ancient keys that were identical in appearance and energy fluctuations, Xiao Yan pinched his chin, unsure of what to say.

"Then it's all down to luck!" Xiao Yan grabbed a handful of keys that looked most pleasing to the eye. "However, if possible, I hope that what I get is the key to the Vermilion Bird Palace." Looking at the ancient key in his hand, Xiao Yan shrugged and said.

"Because the Vermilion Bird is related to flames?" After handing the two keys to Xiao Yan and Xiao Yuan respectively, Lin Dong asked with some curiosity.

"Isn't that obvious?" Xiao Yan chuckled. "Even if there are no Heavenly Martial Arts in the Azure Dragon Palace, as long as there are powerful enough flames in the Vermilion Bird Palace, my martial arts have the potential to reach the level of Heavenly Martial Arts!"