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

'Looking at me is useless; from beginning to end, I'm the only one he's completely focused on, unable to make any small moves!'

Hunzi remained expressionless, but inwardly he was cursing. From the moment Xiao Yan appeared, he had been completely locked onto by Xiao Yan's soul power. Even when Xiao Yan mobilized the energy of heaven and earth to forcibly pull a... half-saint of an ancient clan out of the spatial tunnel, he did not relax for a moment. If it weren't for that, he would have had Gu You and the others self-destruct to give him a chance to escape.

Now, let's not even talk about whether he can successfully self-destruct under Xiao Yan's "eyes". Even if he does succeed, he can't save Gu You and the other three. Besides, he would never self-destruct for the sake of Gu You and the other three!

"...Surrender."

After realizing that he had no chance of survival if he resisted, Hunzi let out a long sigh and said as if he had no other choice, "The soul power of the Great Perfection of the Heavenly Realm combined with the battle qi level of a Seven-Star Dou Zun... perhaps only the Palace Master can fight him."

The Lord of the Soul Hall, a five-star Dou Sheng in the early stage, is right at the edge of the power limit for those who can take action on the Dou Qi Continent, which is restricted by ancient families. Under the circumstances that those above the five-star Dou Sheng level cannot take action, he can be said to be the strongest person on the entire continent.

The Lord of the Soul Palace? While Gu You and the others were horrified, Xiao Yan's eyes flickered slightly.

"Does the ancient clan have any information about the Soul Palace Master?" This question reached the ears of the unknown ancient clan Battle Saint hidden in the spatial gap.

"The ancient races had an agreement that experts above the five-star Dou Sheng level could not act arbitrarily on the continent. The Soul Hall Master happens to be positioned on this boundary line," Gu Muyun, who had almost been dragged away by Xiao Yan earlier, replied, "Late-stage four-star Dou Sheng."

Is it a late-stage four-star Dou Sheng?

Hearing this answer, Xiao Yan felt confident, so before Hun Zi and the others could surrender, he calmly said, "Of course, you can try to contact the Hall Master of the Soul Palace."

As soon as he finished speaking, Xiao Yan made a gesture of invitation under the incredulous gazes of Huo Yun Patriarch and Gu Tongxuan.

“Boy…” Old Ancestor Huoyun’s lips twitched slightly.

"I'm confident I can handle him!" Xiao Yan said with a light laugh, knowing what Old Ancestor Huoyun was worried about.

"...Are you sure?" Old Ancestor Huoyun looked at Xiao Yan with suspicion, then glanced at Gu Tongxuan, who looked anxious beside him.

"Don't worry." Xiao Yan still had a smile on his face.

When Xiao Yan fought the Ghost King to the death, Xiao Yan was roughly equivalent to a late-stage four-star Dou Sheng. If it were then, he might have needed the help of the Refining Heaven Ancient Formation to capture the Soul Palace Master, who was a late-stage four-star Dou Sheng.

Not to mention that Xiao Yan's soul power has now reached the Great Perfection of the Heavenly Realm, and he has also obtained the complete Three Transformations of Heavenly Flame. Under these circumstances, Xiao Yan is confident that he can defeat or even capture the Lord of the Soul Palace without using the Refining Heaven Ancient Formation!

However, Xiao Yan was somewhat worried that the Soul Hall Master wouldn't come in person, since the Soul Hall Master had a history of possessing other people and then defeating the three giants of the Pill Tower.

While Xiao Yan was worried that the Soul Palace Master wouldn't come in person, Gu Muyun, who was in the spatial gap, had already contacted an elder of the Gu Clan who was a late-stage four-star Dou Sheng. If the Soul Palace Master really came, Gu Muyun would be no match for him.

On the other side, Hunzi also clearly felt that after Xiao Yan said, "You can try to contact the Lord of the Soul Palace," the soul power locked on him was truly released. Although he could still feel its presence, he was no longer as restricted and unable to do anything as before.

but……

Hunzi's gaze fell on Gu Tongxuan behind Xiao Yan. He recognized this person... or rather, he recognized the cultivation technique this person practiced.

'Ancient Clan...'

Recalling the brief silence when Xiao Yan dragged this person out of the spatial tunnel, Hun Zi suddenly understood: 'Were the ancient clans already lying in ambush here? Was it because of Xiao Yan or something else?'

"What are you doing?" Suddenly, Hunzi turned around and looked at Guyou.

"Uh... contact the Palace Master..." Gu You, holding the Soul Jade Token in his hand, looked somewhat bewildered.

"No, wait a minute..." Hunzi slowly shook his head, his gaze passing over Gu You and looking towards the back, while he shouted sternly, "Mu Gu, get over here!"

"Yes Yes!"

Panicked by Xiao Yan's strength, Mu Gu finally snapped out of his daze at Hun Zi's reprimand and hurriedly stepped forward to Hun Zi's side.

"grown ups--"

The moment Mu Gu opened his mouth, Hun Zi's right hand pierced his heart without mercy. Then, a soul body wrapped in deep red flames was extracted by Hun Zi.

Red Lotus Karmic Fire.

Xiao Yan, who had been calmly watching Mu Gu being killed by Hun Zi, saw through the flame the moment he did so and without hesitation mobilized the energy of heaven and earth to send the Red Lotus Karmic Flame that was enveloping Mu Gu to his own face.

Looking at the Red Lotus Karmic Flame that Xiao Yan had taken away, Hunzi smiled.

A dark-colored soul entity emerged from Mu Gu's body, which had been completely extracted. Then, a somewhat surprised voice came from Mu Gu's mouth: "Soul Z? How could it be you?"

The Soul Palace Master, who had assumed it was his junior who was in danger, frowned and looked at Soul Zi beside him with a puzzled expression.

Chapter 435 Provocation

Xiao Yan never considered himself a good person. He had intercepted buyers at auctions many times to obtain the cultivation resources he needed. However, he believed he had a clear conscience towards his family and friends, except for one thing—

When he was wiping out a branch of the Soul Palace in the Northwest Continent, he deliberately revealed to the branch's master that he possessed a Heaven-Rank cultivation technique, and even allowed him to relay the news back to the Soul Palace.

After learning that the ancient jade passed down in the Xiao family was the key to opening the legendary cave of the ancient emperor Tuoshe, Xiao Yan understood that the Soul Hall attacked the Xiao family and captured his father in order to steal that ancient jade. The fact that his father's soul imprint in the ancient jade had not disappeared meant that his father had not been harmed and that he could even vaguely sense that his father had become much stronger.

However, even knowing his father was still alive, Xiao Yan deliberately revealed the fact that he possessed a Heaven-Rank cultivation technique of "unknown origin." If the Soul Palace knew that Gu Yuan had visited the Northwest Continent, they would essentially assume that Xiao Yan had used that ancient jade to exchange for a Heaven-Rank cultivation technique from the ancient clan—

Unless the Soul Palace and the Soul Clan had absolutely no interest in Gu Yuan's undisguised whereabouts as a Nine-Star Dou Sheng!

...but that's clearly impossible.

After learning that the Xiao family's ancient jade had fallen into the hands of the ancient clan, Xiao Yan knew very well that the Soul Palace was likely to target his father. However, for the safety of the remaining members of the Xiao family who were related to him by blood, or at most, with varying degrees of closeness, Xiao Yan still did it. Although it was somewhat presumptuous, Xiao Yan felt that it was his responsibility as the young patriarch of the Xiao family...

Although Xiao Yan regretted it after doing it, he began to pray that the Soul Clan had not noticed that Gu Yuan had been to the Northwest Continent, or that even if they knew that Gu Yuan had been there, they did not believe that he would hand over the Xiao Family Ancient Jade, and focused their attention entirely on him personally, rather than on the Xiao Family members who had hidden their identities and were scattered among the various forces of the Flame Alliance.

Whether it was Xiao Yan's prayers that worked or not, the soul imprint symbolizing his father in the ancient jade of the Xiao family still exists to this day. The survivors of the Xiao family have not been threatened in any way. Even he, who became a Dou Zun in just a few years, has not been particularly noticed by the experts of the Soul Hall.

Although he didn't know why the Soul Palace and the Soul Clan weren't pursuing the matter, Xiao Yan still decided to "communicate" with them as soon as possible, using hostages or even the ancient jade to exchange for his father.

Therefore, when he saw Hunzi appear, Xiao Yan's first reaction was to capture him alive. Even after learning that they could contact the Hall Master of the Soul Palace and that the Hall Master was only a five-star Dou Sheng in the early stage, he still allowed them to contact the Hall Master of the Soul Palace, and preferred that the Hall Master of the Soul Palace come in person.

Unfortunately, when he saw that the black soul completely cover Mu Gu's corpse and finally turn into an unrecognizable middle-aged man, Xiao Yan knew that the Soul Palace Master would not be present in person.

As Xiao Yan sighed inwardly, Hun Zi bluntly told the Soul Hall Master about Xiao Yan's soul power level. Upon learning this, the Soul Hall Master looked at Xiao Yan with slight surprise: "Soul power at the Great Perfection of the Heaven Realm? I never expected that the declining Xiao family could still produce a genius like you!"

"...Aren't you going to come and rescue your capable lieutenant?" Looking at the Soul Hall Master opposite him, Xiao Yan asked after a moment of silence.

"Why did you come?" The Lord of the Soul Palace chuckled. "To be captured alive by you and those powerful members of the ancient clan hiding in the shadows, and ultimately used as a tool in your negotiations with my clan leader?"

The Lord of the Soul Palace spoke nonchalantly about abandoning the four members of the Soul Palace, and the four members of the Soul Palace did not react excessively to the Lord of the Soul Palace's extremely cruel words. In fact, Hunzi's face showed an expression that he was ready to die at any moment.

"They're just two two-star Dou Sheng, how could they possibly do anything to you, a four-star Dou Sheng?" Since he had already contacted the four-star Dou Sheng in his clan and his existence had been made known, Gu Muyun was too lazy to hide anymore. He walked out of the spatial rift from which Gu Tongxuan had been dragged earlier and looked at the Soul Palace Master, "Isn't that right? Soul Extinction."

As for the look in Gu Tongxuan's eyes as he stood behind Xiao Yan... Gu Muyun naturally ignored it completely.

"Gu Muyun? It's actually you, you coward, who came," Hun Miesheng looked at Gu Muyun with some surprise. "Tsk tsk, if it were anyone else, I would have said no and they would have come, but it's you... What a pity, isn't it?" He looked at Xiao Yan again and raised an eyebrow.

"...What do you mean?" Xiao Yan frowned slightly and asked.

"Although I don't know where you got that Heavenly Rank cultivation technique... oh, it must have been given to you by Yao Chen, right?" Hun Miesheng said while looking at Xiao Yan's face, but after finding that Xiao Yan's expression remained completely unchanged, he shrugged and continued, "Anyway, the Xiao family's ancient jade is still in your hands, isn't it?"

"Don't even think about returning your father to him ahead of time. It's most reassuring to have the ancient jade in your hands. Besides, the ancient clan might not even dare to take it over," Hun Miesheng said with a smile. "That's exactly what the clan leader said. By the way... your father is already a Dou Huang, which is pretty good, isn't it?"

Swish!

Almost the instant Hun Miesheng finished speaking, Xiao Yan grabbed the neck of Mu Gu's corpse, which was possessed by Hun Miesheng. However, as if he had anticipated Xiao Yan's irrational behavior, the moment he finished speaking, the wisp of Hun Miesheng's soul vanished into thin air.

"Heavenly Realm..." Xiao Yan murmured softly, sensing the dissipating wisp of soul.

“The Heavenly Realm?” Gu Muyun came to Xiao Yan’s side and said, “Then, if Hun Miesheng unleashes his full power, he should be able to escape from a six-star Dou Sheng… and maybe even kill an ordinary six-star Dou Sheng.”

"What ordinary six-star Dou Sheng is there?" While completely destroying Mu Gu's corpse, Xiao Yan also extracted the souls of the captured Hun Zi and the others, sealing them into several small jade bottles. "Thank you for your help, senior."

After putting away the jade bottle and the Red Lotus Karmic Flame, Xiao Yan looked at Gu Muyun.

"What help is there..." Gu Muyun, who was almost dragged out of the spatial tunnel by Xiao Yan, looked embarrassed. "Since the Soul Hall forces have all been dealt with, then I..."

"Where's Xiao Yan? Get out here!"

Before Gu Muyun could finish speaking, the exit of a spatial tunnel appeared in the sky. A chilling shout accompanied the space shuttle that broke through the air.

The weakest among everyone present was a Dou Zong, so everyone could hear the disdain and provocation in Yin Li's shout, especially Gu Muyun and Gu Tongxuan, who could immediately tell which ancient clan elder was the one who shouted angrily.

“…Xiao Yan, he is a young talent of our Gu clan, at least an eighth-grade bloodline.” After a brief hesitation, Gu Muyun smiled helplessly.

"So?" Xiao Yan asked back, already in a bad mood because of Hun Miesheng.

“Let him live,” Gu Muyun sighed. “Just being alive is enough.”

Gu Tongxuan had no objection to Gu Muyun's assessment. Aside from Gu Yao's overconfident provocation, the most crucial factor was that Gu Muyun, who made this assessment, was a two-star Dou Sheng, and also—

It's clear that Gu Yao broke away from the Black Annihilation Army's fleet and came alone, intending to "deal with" Xiao Yan before Xun'er could.

Chapter 436 Xun'er Arrives

Gu Qingyang, the most talented and powerful member of the Gu Clan's younger generation besides Xun'er, now stared with a livid face at the Black Annihilation Army soldiers standing before him.

"The ancient demon has left?"

"After the Third Commander left the spaceship alone, he piloted the space shuttle past the spaceship and then disappeared without a trace," the Black Annihilation Army soldier reported in detail.

"...Increase the spaceship's speed to the maximum, then report the whereabouts of the ancient demon to Miss!" After suppressing the urge to curse, Gu Qingyang stood up and walked outside.

"I'm going to chase after the ancient demon!"

After leaving these words, Gu Qingyang entered the space shuttle he had taken out of his storage ring. Then, the space shuttle transformed into a stream of light and flew out towards the front of the space tunnel.

"This idiot..." Inside the space shuttle, Gu Qingyang finally couldn't help but curse, "Does he really think there are no geniuses or prodigies outside?"

As one of the four commanders of the Black Annihilation Army, Gu Yao's strength ranks among the top five of the younger generation of the Ancient Clan. With the other three commanders of the Black Annihilation Army, including Gu Qingyang, having no interest in Xun'er, the number one among the younger generation, more and more elders in the clan hope that Gu Yao and Xun'er can become a couple.

And then, seemingly because of this, the ancient demon, who was always ignored by Xun'er, began to treat her as his own possession...

"You're the fourth commander of the Black Annihilation Army, haven't you paid any attention to Xiao Yan's intelligence? Or do you think you can suppress him with just your bloodline power?"

The thought of Gu Yao's temper gave Gu Qingyang a headache, and the thought that Xiao Yan was already a Seven-Star Dou Zun, with his soul power even reaching the Heavenly Realm, made Gu Qingyang's headache even worse.

When Gu Qingyang heard that he and Gu Yao were to "escort" Xun'er to Burning Flame Valley, he could vaguely guess that the clan leader or Black Annihilation King wanted him to act as a mediator between Gu Yao and Xiao Yan. To be more precise, he wanted Xiao Yan to persuade Gu Yao when he was about to crush Gu Yao to death. After all, Gu Yao had an eighth-grade bloodline, and there weren't many people of that level among the younger generation.

But he really didn't expect that Gu Yao would dare to jump off the carriage alone and rush to Burning Flame Valley to find Xiao Yan!

'I don't even know when he jumped off the train...' Gu Qingyang sighed as he increased the speed of the space shuttle. 'I was thinking of finding him to talk to, to persuade him, with only half an hour left, but...'

Driven by the Black Annihilation Army soldiers, the journey from the Ancient Clan to Burning Flame Valley would take no more than an hour. So, after traveling halfway, Gu Qingyang wanted to give Gu Yao one last piece of advice. However, the soldier returned shortly after being sent out, bringing back news that Gu Yao had disappeared. Judging from the soldier's expression, it was clear that Gu Yao had told his men not to reveal the exact time of his departure. Now, Gu Qingyang could only pray that he could catch up with Gu Yao.

'It's over, we didn't catch up...'

A moment later, looking at the exit of the spatial tunnel ahead, Gu Qingyang sighed, increased the speed of the spatial shuttle once more, and then rushed out of the spatial tunnel—

"Xiao Yan, let him live... wait?"

The moment Gu Qingyang burst out of the spatial tunnel, he shouted loudly. But before he could finish shouting, he saw Gu Yao standing blankly in front of him like a puppet, with no light in his eyes. There were also two people who seemed to be disciples of Burning Flame Valley, flapping their battle qi wings and flying beside him.

"Excuse me... are you a Dou Zun from an ancient clan?"

When Gu Qingyang saw them, the two Burning Flame Valley disciples, who were only at the Dou Wang level, also saw this powerful figure who came out of the spatial tunnel and walked through the air. After a slight hesitation, one of them asked.

"...Yes, leave him to me." After confirming that the ancient demon was not dead, Gu Qingyang breathed a sigh of relief and then said gently.