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

He had only uttered half a sentence when Xiao Yan suddenly realized something and looked at Xuan Yi with some surprise.

"I suppose so, but we still need to arrange for someone to find the exact location," Xuan Yi nodded, saying something that greatly surprised Xiao Yan. "So, let's tell you first what you want with us two old folks?"

"Um..." Xiao Yan suppressed his excitement and his desire to inquire about the whereabouts of the Soul Infant Fruit, and reorganized his words, "I have a pill formula that I would like to ask Aunt Xuan and the Grand Elder to take a look at."

"A pill formula? Yao Chen, you old codger, can't you even understand a pill formula?" Upon hearing Xiao Yan's words, Xuan Kongzi smiled and looked at Yao Lao, who had revealed himself. "You actually need the two of us to help you... Could it be a ninth-grade pill formula?"

Upon seeing the helpless smile on Yao Lao's face, Xuan Kongzi also put away his smile and asked solemnly.

“It’s not a ninth-grade pill formula,” the old medicine master said with a helpless smile. “Let’s not talk about the Profound Bodhi Foundation Building Pill and the Beginning Pill for now… Have you heard of the Snake Marrow Bone Removal Pill and the Heavenly Soul Blood Fusion Pill?”

"Snake Marrow Bone-Shedding Pill and Heavenly Soul Blood-Melting Pill...?" Xuan Yi hesitated for a moment. "Are they the same type of pills as the Profound Bodhi Foundation Building Pill and the Beginning Pill?"

After a brief moment of contemplation, Xuan Kongzi, confirming that he had never heard of these two elixirs, looked at Yao Lao with some curiosity.

Sensing the gazes of his two old friends, Yao Lao did not answer directly, but looked at Xiao Yan, waiting for Xiao Yan to clear up the doubts of Xuan Yi and Xuan Kongzi.

"I suppose so," Xiao Yan said, rubbing his nose somewhat awkwardly. "However, the Xuanpu Foundation Building Pill and the Yishi Pill are basically for newborns, as they are foundational pills. The Snake Marrow Bone Removal Pill and the Heavenly Soul Blood Fusion Pill... are used by the Snake-People clan to enhance the talent of infants still in the womb when they are newly pregnant."

Normally, Xiao Yan wouldn't need to explain the effects of the Xuanpu Foundation Building Pill and the Yishi Pill, but he knew how shocking his words would be, so he used these two pills to relax Xuan Yi and Xuan Kongzi's minds first.

"Oh, pills used exclusively by the snake-people?" Xuan Yi nodded, understanding the effects of the two pills. Then, she suddenly realized something, "Pills to enhance the talent of infants still in the womb?"

Although Xiao Yan hadn't specified who he was refining the pill for, or that it would require her and Xuan Kongzi's help to refine, Xuan Yi suddenly had a strange premonition after hearing Xiao Yan's words—

"Your child?"

While Xuan Kongzi was still wondering, "What kind of thing did the Snake People clan, who were driven out of Zhongzhou hundreds of years ago, bring out to persuade Xiao Yan to refine pills?" Xuan Yi slowly uttered four words.

“…Yes.” Xiao Yan, who hadn’t expected Xuan Yi to guess the truth so easily, was stunned for a moment, then nodded with a dry laugh.

"Wait, what's going on? What do you mean?" Xuan Kongzi, the only one who seemed a little out of the loop, was completely bewildered. "Your child? Your child with the snake-woman?"

Xuan Kongzi was completely stunned, never expecting things to develop this way.

“Yes,” Xiao Yan said with a helpless smile, “After the Snake People left Zhongzhou, they settled in the Northwest Continent. And the place they settled in was not far from the city where I was born. Then… for some reason, I had a child with Cai Lin, the leader of the Snake People. The pill formula I would like to ask you two to take a look at is a pill that has the same effect as the Snake Marrow Bone-Shedding Pill and the Heavenly Soul Blood Fusion Pill.”

“However, this pill was deduced by me during this period of time,” Xiao Yan continued after a slight pause, “referencing most of the pills used to enhance the talents of infants and young children, as well as all the pill formulas collected by my teacher from magical beast families… But, after all, this is the first time I have deduced this pill, so I would like to ask you two to take a look and see if there are any problems.”

Although Xiao Yan's explanation was somewhat vague, Xuan Yi and Xuan Kongzi nodded slightly, understanding what Xiao Yan meant.

"What grade of pills are the Snake Marrow Bone-Shedding Pill and the Heavenly Soul Blood Fusion Pill?" Xuan Yi asked before Xiao Yan took out the pill formulas he had derived himself.

"The Serpent Marrow Bone-Shedding Pill is a sixth-grade pill, and the Heavenly Soul Blood Fusion Pill is a seventh-grade pill. Although I can refine pills like the Beginning Pill after my child is born, I still want to provide better conditions for my child. So, the pill formula I derived myself should be able to attract six- or seven-colored pill lightning."

Xiao Yan was still a little awkward when he said the words "his own child," but he quickly finished speaking.

"It can attract six- or seven-colored pill lightning?" Xuan Kongzi raised an eyebrow slightly and looked at Yao Lao. "Really?"

Although Xiao Yan has proven that he can refine an eighth-grade nine-colored pill, that only proves his talent in alchemy. Although Yao Lao said that Xiao Yan had previously created a pill that could help a person in the Great Perfection of the Mortal Realm break through their soul power, it does not mean that Xiao Yan can create an eighth-grade seven-colored pill formula. Therefore, Xuan Kongzi should first seek verification from Yao Lao, who has proven countless times that he can create unique pill formulas.

"There are still some disagreements between Xiao Yanzi and me about a few of the ingredients in that pill formula," Yao Lao nodded, "but there's definitely no problem in attracting six- or seven-colored pill lightning."

'If we can thoroughly identify those medicinal herbs, we might be able to reach an even higher level,' Xiao Yan muttered to himself.

"Is that so?" Looking at the expression on Xiao Yan's face, Xuan Yi nodded thoughtfully, as if she had seen through what Xiao Yan was thinking. "That's perfect. Let's go to the Ye family first... Or are you planning to let the two of us appraise the pill formula you derived right here?" She looked at the eager Xiao Yan with some helplessness.

"Ha ha……"

Xiao Yan chuckled twice, then quickly stepped aside and led Xuan Yi and Xuan Kongzi toward the Ye family.

Looking at the somewhat impetuous Xiao Yan, Xuan Yi and Yao Lao exchanged a glance and shook their heads helplessly. Only at times like this could they see that Xiao Yan was just a naive young man who had just turned twenty.

"Xiao Yan?"

When they returned to the Ye family, Little Fairy Doctor looked at Xiao Yan with some curiosity, about to ask why he had returned so quickly. But after seeing Xuan Yi and Xuan Kongzi behind Xiao Yan, she understood. "Should Zi Yan and I leave first?"

“No need, let’s listen together,” Xuan Yi said before Xiao Yan could speak. “That ruin is also related to the Ancient Dragon of the Void.”

"What ruins?" Zi Yan curiously peeked out and looked at Xuan Yi.

"The ruins of a Dou Sheng." Xuan Yi smiled as he looked at the petite and adorable Zi Yan, then uttered a sentence that made everyone present gasp.

Soon, Xiao Yan set up a soundproof barrier around the house.

"You seem to have some knowledge of formations as well?" After Xiao Yan returned to his seat, Xuan Yi looked at him with a hint of surprise. "Considering the weapon-refining basics required for the Dragon-like Technique... you didn't master all the secondary professions from the ancient era, did you?"

"Besides alchemy, there are only formations and weapon crafting," Xiao Yan said with a wry smile. "That... Aunt Xuan, that ruin you mentioned before...?"

"Look how impatient you are," Xuan Yi shook his head. "Didn't we already say that we need some time to find the exact location of that ruin?"

"You need time to find the exact location?" Zi Yan blinked. "Then how do you know that the ruins are related to the Ancient Dragon of the Void..."

"Zi Yan!" Xiao Yan pulled Zi Yan along, even though he himself wanted to know how he could be sure that the Soul Infant Fruit might exist there without knowing the exact location of the Dou Sheng Ruins.

“About one or two hundred years ago, an elder of the Pill Tower saw this ruin in the Beast Domain,” Xuan Kongzi explained. “Although that elder was not particularly strong, he had cultivated a special fighting technique that could see through most seals… but that was all he could do.”

"However, it was precisely because of this that the elder saw the corpses of an ancient dragon and an ancient phoenix in the ruins," Xuan Yi continued, as Zi Yan was losing interest because the fighting technique could only see through the seal. "Besides the corpses of these two ancient beasts... the elder also saw a lot of medicinal herbs, including some that were suspected to be Soul Infant Fruits."

After Xuan Yi and Xuan Kongzi finished explaining the situation of the ruins, Xiao Yan, Zi Yan, and Xiao Yi Xian all fell into a brief silence.

"...Ancient Celestial Phoenix?"

Xiao Yan wasn't worried that the elders of the Pill Tower would mistake the appearance of the medicinal herbs, but the appearance of the magical beasts was another matter, especially when they mentioned that the other magical beast besides the Ancient Void Dragon was the Ancient Heavenly Phoenix, which had completely disappeared thousands of years ago.

"Could that elder have made a mistake?"

“Therefore, no one has believed the records left by that elder in the past,” Xuan Kongzi spread his hands. “This time, however, an elder said that he had seen the whereabouts of the Soul Infant Fruit in the ancient books of the Pill Tower and quickly found the record. Otherwise, we would not have noticed this matter.”

"Whatever happens, happens," Zi Yan said, losing interest in the ruins after learning that the Ancient Dragon and the Ancient Phoenix might not exist. "When will Xiao Yan be able to devour the Three Thousand Burning Flames?"

“If he wants, he can go now,” Xuan Yi said, unconcerned about Zi Yan’s somewhat impolite behavior. “After the Ye family raised this matter, the Cao and Dan families immediately voted in favor, and the Bai and Qiu families also agreed at the last minute. So if you want, you can try to subdue the Three Thousand Burning Flames now.”

“However… I think you should wait a while longer, right?” Xuan Kongzi looked at Xiao Yan with a smile.

Xiao Yan smiled helplessly. Ever since he finished refining the Nine Revolutions Nirvana Pill, he had discovered that his soul power was already infinitely close to the Heavenly Realm. As long as he released the suppression, he would definitely break through the final limit and enter the Heavenly Realm. He might even run wildly in the Heavenly Realm.

However, that was just a mad dash. According to Xiao Yan's calculations, under the current circumstances, if he were to use the Dragon Technique when advancing to the Heavenly Realm, he could at most push his soul power to the peak of the early Heavenly Realm, which would still be some distance from his goal of reaching the middle Heavenly Realm.

“It should take a month or two,” Xiao Yan nodded. “I should be able to break through in a month or two.”

“That’s perfect,” Xuan Yi said with a smile. “The Pill Tower has already sent someone to inform the Starfall Pavilion. Once it’s confirmed that the ruins are in the Beast Domain, the exact location can be pinpointed within half a month at most. Burning the remains of a Dou Sheng before your breakthrough should also bring you a lot of benefits.”

When Xuan Yi first learned about the ruins, he planned to directly arrange for the people from the Pill Tower to find the exact location. After all, the Pill Tower's status was such that even the magical beast families of the Beast Domain had to give it some face.

However, after being persuaded by Xuan Kongzi, he gave up the idea and simply arranged for someone to inform Venerable Feng, who was still in the Starfall Pavilion, about the situation of the ruins, so that Venerable Feng could arrange for people from the Starfall Pavilion to contact the Heavenly Phoenix Clan in the Beast Domain to search for them.

After all, that ruin is the ruin of a Dou Sheng. It would be too high-profile for the people from the Pill Tower to search for its exact location. If it attracts the attention of the Soul Palace, things could get messy.

"Alright, take out the pill formula you derived!"

After roughly arranging the situation, Xuan Kongzi extended his hand to Xiao Yan, "A brand new Rank 8 Seven-Colored Pill... Tsk tsk, Yao Chen, how come you're so lucky, old man?"

As Xuan Kongzi accepted the pill formula from Xiao Yan, he also glanced at Yao Lao with a hint of envy and jealousy.

"If you're envious, go look for yourself in the Northwest Continent," Yao Lao said with a smile, enjoying Xuan Kongzi's somewhat jealous gaze. "You might even find a disciple with even greater talent than Xiao Yanzi!"

"Then forget it," Xuan Kongzi curled his lips and focused his attention on the pill formula in his hand. "Ying'er is enough to keep me busy. If I take on another disciple... I'm afraid that by the time you, old man, can refine Xuan pills, I'll still be stuck at the eighth rank."

"That's hard to say."

After a brief exchange of banter, the four peak eighth-grade alchemists fell into a discussion about the pill formula derived by Xiao Yan.

"Will it take another month or two?" Zi Yan muttered softly as she watched Xiao Yan arguing with Xuan Kongzi and the others.

"Want to go back to Donglong Island?"

As soon as she finished speaking, she heard Xiao Yan's voice ring out in her ear.

"No, I was just calculating how much longer I can play outside!" Zi Yan denied it in a flash. "Hmm? Why did you come alone?" She looked up at Xiao Yan with some curiosity.

"Aunt Xuan asked me to go find President Tian Lei Zi," Xiao Yan said with a helpless smile. "With four people, well... it's not easy to confirm whether a certain medicinal herb is suitable."

In just three or four minutes, the four of them had already come up with four different opinions on the use of a certain medicinal herb. Although Xuan Yi said that finding the Heavenly Thunder Seed would resolve their differences, Xiao Yan felt that a fifth opinion might emerge...

Chapter 383 Ancient Ruins

Just as Xiao Yan had expected, after he invited Tian Leizi over, the five of them had a fifth opinion on the selection of medicinal materials for the pill formula, and the number of medicinal materials with differing opinions was constantly increasing.

In the end, apart from the six or seven medicinal herbs that were the most basic and the main ingredients, different opinions emerged for all of them.

"So, why are we being so careful with the use of medicinal herbs?" After a brief silence, Tian Leizi, who didn't know much about the whole situation, suddenly spoke up. "Using higher-grade medicinal herbs... could there be a problem with them not being able to adapt?" He looked at Xiao Yan with puzzlement. In the previous discussion, only Xiao Yan insisted on using as few potent medicinal herbs as possible.

“Because after it was refined, there was no opportunity to test it,” Xiao Yan said with a wry smile. “I think the limit is seven colors for an eighth-grade pill… If possible, I would even hope that this pill is five colors for an eighth-grade pill.”

“I understand what you mean,” Tian Leizi nodded. “Then, since there’s no chance of trial and error… why not use the Heavenly Soul Blood Fusion Pill that you’ve already refined as a catalyst?”

"Aphrodisiac?"

Xiao Yan, Xuan Kongzi, Xuan Yi, and Yao Lao all looked at Tian Leizi with some confusion... or rather, although they had some guesses after hearing this word, they were not sure and dared not say it outright.

"Although the ingredients for the Heavenly Soul Blood Fusion Pill are fixed," Tian Leizi said calmly, "it's acceptable for us to add a certain amount of ingredients to this formula without affecting its medicinal properties, right?"

Subconsciously, Xiao Yan and the others all nodded.

"If that's the case, then why limit your focus to refining a higher-level 'Heavenly Soul Blood Fusion Pill'?" Tian Leizi countered. "If there were enough time and multiple experiments, of course there would be no problem, but right now, not only is there no opportunity to experiment, but there's also not much time available..."

So why not choose to refine a higher-grade 'Primordial Pill,' more suitable for the snake-people? Using the Heavenly Soul Blood Fusion Pill as a catalyst, the Primordial Pill has a milder medicinal effect, yet is far more potent.

After Tian Leizi finished speaking, everyone present fell into deep thought.

“I think… we can give it a try,” Xiao Yan said after a while, raising his head first. “If it’s a higher-grade One Beginning Pill… there will be far fewer disagreements about the ingredients.”

After all, the First Pill is already an eighth-grade five-colored pill. If you want to further improve its efficacy, the number of medicinal materials you can choose will be drastically reduced. If you add the ones suitable for the snake people, then there will be even fewer.

"Then let's give it a try," the old apothecary said with a faint smile. "However, once this new pill is deduced... it might just be a ninth-grade pill."

"Just a ninth-grade pill," Xiao Yan sighed. "In a while, my soul power will be able to improve further. At that time, as long as I can devour the Three Thousand Burning Flames..."

In another month or two at most, his soul power will be able to break through to the mid-stage of the Heavenly Realm. After he devours the Three Thousand Burning Flames, his strength will at least reach the level of a five-star Dou Zun. If there is enough energy in the space where the Three Thousand Burning Flames are sealed, he may even be able to further improve to a seven-star or even eight-star Dou Zun...

By then, although I can't guarantee that I'll be able to refine Xuan Dan and Jin Dan, I should be able to refine basic Grade 9 treasure pills without much trouble.

Besides, even if he himself is not strong enough to refine the precious pill, by then Yao Lao will have regained his physical body, and may even have broken through to the Dou Sheng stage by relying on the Dou Sheng's bones attached to the new body.

A ninth-grade alchemist at the Dou Sheng level would have no problem refining a mere ninth-grade precious pill!

*

An ancient ruin, owned by a Dou Sheng, has appeared in the Beast Realm!

A few days later, the news spread like wildfire throughout Zhongzhou. In an instant, powerful figures and forces from all walks of life in Zhongzhou flocked to the Beast Domain from which the news had spread. Under these circumstances, even though the Beast Domain was the territory of magical beast families, and those magical beasts that had formed families had a strong xenophobic mentality, they had no choice but to temporarily back down.

"I'm sorry, it's my fault," Venerable Feng said with a guilty expression in the Ye family's conference room. "When we were searching for that ruin, we had a conflict with a group affiliated with the Heavenly Demon Phoenix Clan. After we learned about their relationship with the Heavenly Demon Phoenix, news of the ruin also spread..."

"Let the news spread," Xiao Yan said with a nonchalant smile. "The relics left by a Dou Sheng expert cannot be kept to oneself. Moreover, for the major forces in Zhongzhou, what attracts them more in the Dou Sheng relics are the possible Heaven-rank cultivation techniques and fighting skills. Medicinal materials like Soul Infant Fruit are not very eye-catching."