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

Perhaps some of them were filled with jealousy, but unsurprisingly, no one had any regrets. After all... that was a Golden Core! The first Golden Core to be properly refined in thousands of years, even since the disappearance of the ancient Dou Di!

The elders of the Medicine Clan had left the high platform at some point, their old faces filled with dejection. They had put on a brave face, believing they had set up many obstacles, but they had failed to stop anything—the appearance of the Golden Core had changed hands, the position of the continent's number one alchemist had changed hands, and even the reputation of the Medicine Clan over thousands of years had been almost completely ruined by them.

Unable to face this outcome, they had no choice but to leave, even though their departure wouldn't solve anything.

As the last spectator left the Medicine Realm, only a handful of people remained on the vast suspended plaza. Only the lingering fragrance of medicinal pills reminded everyone of what had just happened.

Five figures stood on the high platform.

Soul Emperor, Gu Yuan, Lei Ying, Yan Jin, and Yao Dan—the five patriarchs of ancient races—had different expressions on their faces, but their gazes all fell on Xiao Yan, who was slowly walking towards them.

Behind Xiao Yan, Yao Lao followed calmly, his gaze sweeping over the empty seats. Previously, these seats had been occupied by the elders of the Yao Clan, but now, none of them were occupied.

"They escaped," Yao Lao murmured to himself, whether in mockery or a sigh, it was unclear.

Xiao Yan walked to the front of the platform, bowed slightly to the five clan leaders, and then sat down with the five clan leaders of the ancient races at the round table that had been prepared on the platform.

"Now that everyone is here, let's begin," the Soul Emperor said first. His voice was neither warm nor cold as his gaze swept across everyone's faces before finally settling on Xiao Yan. "I believe everyone is already aware of the reasons behind the changes in the Pharmacopoeia's timeline."

No one responded.

The Soul Emperor didn't care and continued, "The survival of the continent hangs by a thread. The Spirit Clan and the Stone Clan have been destroyed. Who will be next is anyone's guess. The reason I invited you all here today is to discuss a countermeasure."

His tone was flat, showing no sign that the Spirit Race and the Stone Race had been wiped out by the Soul Race.

"A countermeasure?" Lei Ying snorted coldly, his gaze like two bolts of lightning shooting straight at Xiao Yan. "Before that, I have a question for my young friend Xiao Yan."

Xiao Yan's expression remained unchanged as he calmly said, "Please speak."

"The Devouring Spirit Clan," Lei Ying said, enunciating each word clearly, his gaze fixed on Xiao Yan, "Are the Devouring Spirit Clan members of the so-called 'Evil Clan'?"

The atmosphere on the platform froze instantly upon hearing this.

Gu Yuan frowned slightly, Yao Dan's expression changed slightly, Yan Jin crossed his arms and remained silent, and Hun Tiandi still maintained his calm and composed demeanor, as if all of this had nothing to do with him.

Xiao Yan was silent for a moment. Of course, he knew about the Devouring Spirit Clan—

A race that once wreaked havoc on the continent, they could delay the depletion of their own bloodline by devouring the bloodline power of other ancient races. In the end, they were wiped out by a joint effort of the ancient races, and since then, there has been no trace of the Devouring Spirit Clan on the Dou Qi Continent.

Just then, a familiar, clear, and cool voice rang in his heart.

"Before the great war began, the Dou Di of the Devouring Spirit Clan obtained a wisp of evil energy from outside the Great Thousand World. He studied that evil energy and integrated its properties into his own bloodline. That's why the Devouring Spirit Clan later possessed that ability."

Cang Qiong's voice was calm and indifferent. She couldn't understand what those former Dou Di had done, but she had to accept it.

'But to call them an evil race... ha, they don't qualify. The characteristics derived from evil energy only altered their bloodline, not their essence. The Devouring Spirit Clan, in the end, is merely one of the most peculiar races among the countless races born on the Dou Qi Continent.'

Xiao Yan understood. He raised his head, met Lei Ying's aggressive gaze, and calmly said, "The Devouring Spirit Clan is not an evil clan."

Lei Ying frowned: "What evidence do you have?"

“That Dou Di of the Devouring Spirit Clan did indeed come into contact with evil energy,” Xiao Yan said slowly and calmly, but his words were earth-shattering. “He integrated the characteristics of that evil energy into the bloodline of the Devouring Spirit Clan, which is why the Devouring Spirit Clan later had such strange abilities. But that was just a modification, not assimilation. The Devouring Spirit Clan is still a race of the Dou Qi Continent, and is fundamentally different from the evil race.”

Lei Ying's expression changed slightly, and Yan Jin also lowered his hands that were clasped in front of his chest and leaned forward slightly.

"How did you know?" Yan Jin's voice was deep, with a hint of scrutiny.

Xiao Yan did not answer, but simply met his gaze calmly.

After a moment of silence, Yan Jin withdrew his gaze and leaned back in his chair. He didn't press for an answer, because he knew Xiao Yan wouldn't, and he had no right to force Xiao Yan to answer.

A nine-star Dou Sheng who can refine golden pills—in the current Dou Qi Continent, no one has the right to force him.

Lei Ying's expression changed several times, but in the end he didn't say anything more.

It was Gu Yuan who spoke up. His voice was soft, but he asked a question that everyone wanted to know the answer to.

"How many more years can the seal on the Heavenly Tomb hold?"

Xiao Yan's gaze swept across Gu Yuan's face, then landed on Soul Emperor's face, and finally looked around before slowly speaking.

"One hundred and forty-three years."

Those six words struck the hearts of everyone present like a heavy hammer.

One hundred and forty-three years.

For ordinary people, that's the time span of several generations; for powerful warriors, that's also a considerable amount of time, enough for them to do many things. But for the life and death of an entire continent, 143 years is far too short, so short that it seems to pass in the blink of an eye.

A deathly silence fell over the high platform.

Lei Ying clenched his fists tightly, his knuckles turning white.

Yan Jin's face was ashen, and he remained silent.

Yao Dan closed her eyes, seemingly lost in thought.

Gu Yuan lowered his eyes, his face expressionless.

Only the Soul Emperor remained calm and composed, even with a slight upturn at the corners of his mouth, as if the number 143 was just an insignificant number to him.

Lei Ying took a deep breath, as if he wanted to ask something else.

But just as he was about to speak, something unexpected happened.

A shrill scream came from the depths of the Medicine Realm. The sound was sharp and piercing, like a blade scraping against glass, sending chills down one's spine.

Then came the second sound, the third sound...

Screams rose and fell from all directions, quickly becoming a continuous chorus within a few breaths. The sounds were incredibly shrill, as if the victims were suffering the most terrifying torture in the world.

Chapter 508 The Demise of the Medicine Clan

"What's going on?!" Yao Dan suddenly stood up, his expression changing drastically.

His voice had barely faded when three figures shot out from the depths of the Medicine Realm. They were Yao Wanhuo, Yao Tian, ​​and Yao Ling, their faces filled with terror, as if they had witnessed the most horrific thing.

"Clan leader, something terrible has happened! The disciples of the clan...they..."

"What's wrong with them?!" Yao Dan shouted sharply.

Yao Wanhuo opened his mouth, but couldn't fully describe what had happened, so he simply stopped talking, waved his hand, and a spatial mirror unfolded before everyone—

The mirror image shows the area where the disciples of the Medicine Clan live.

Those young disciples of the Medicine Clan, who were usually pampered and full of vigor, were now curled up on the ground, their bodies convulsing violently, their skin covered with black lines.

The lines seemed to move across their bodies like living things, leaving behind withered flesh and a strange grayish-white color in their wake.

After their skin had completely withered away, they staggered to their feet again—their pupils were pitch black, devoid of any light, but anyone could see the endless emptiness and madness within them. They walked step by step into the still struggling members of their race, mercilessly piercing their hearts before slowly moving on to the next member of their race.

Those of their own kind, whose hearts had been pierced, slowly rose again after a moment, walking towards their still-living kin like zombies...

“This…this is…” Lei Ying suddenly stood up, his face filled with horror.

Yan Jin, Yao Dan, Gu Yuan, Xiao Yan, and the Soul Emperor all changed their expressions drastically; they all recognized what the black patterns were—

Evil energy, the evil energy they were just discussing!

“Evil energy,” Yan Jin’s gaze was like a knife as he scanned back and forth between the mirror image and the Soul Emperor. “Why is there evil energy within the Medicine Clan?!”

No one could answer his question.

"Quickly, seal off that area! Don't let anyone get close!" Yao Dan snapped back to reality and shouted sharply.

“It’s too late…” Yao Wanhu shook his head heavily. “Evil energy is rampant in all areas, including the areas inhabited by the Yi people. Apart from the three of us… there are no more survivors!”

Yao Dan's expression froze instantly.

"What exactly did you do?" Xiao Yan turned his head and looked at the Soul Emperor, whose face was full of astonishment, and asked in a deep voice.

"I didn't do anything," the Soul Emperor said calmly, his expression hardening. "Even without me saying it, you should be able to recognize that it's evil energy... the same power as the evil race sealed in the fifth level of the Heavenly Tomb."

"Moreover..." The Soul Emperor revealed a contemptuous smile, a look of disdain for the Medicine Clan, the Thunder Clan, and the Flame Clan, "If I wanted to take action against them, I wouldn't need any other power at all... would I?"

Sensing the aura of the Void Devouring Flame so close at hand, Xiao Yan fell silent—

Indeed, if it were the Soul Clan making a move, they wouldn't need to use evil energy at all, since the Soul Clan has two nine-star Dou Sheng, the Soul Emperor and the Void Devouring Flame...

'It was the Soul Emperor who did it.'

Cang Qiong's voice resonated in Xiao Yan's heart. She stated the facts in a calm tone, 'That evil energy, if nothing unexpected happens, was extracted and cultivated by him from the corpses of those two Soul Clan members in the Heavenly Tomb. He arranged for the evil energy to be injected into the Medicine Realm as early as when the Pure Lotus Demon Flame was born; it's just that it hasn't detonated until now.'

Xiao Yan's heart sank.

'He wants to use evil energy to break through to the Dou Di realm?'

'No, he has exhausted all the evil energy he cultivated. The so-called spatial passage to the fourth level of the Heavenly Tomb, and the destruction of the Medicine Realm, have depleted all his reserves.'

Why didn't you stop him?

Cang Qiong was silent for a moment, then replied, "As the will of a plane, I couldn't interfere with anything that happened on the Dou Qi Continent. But now, as your spirit of different flames, no longer bound by rules and regulations, I can't be bothered with things that have already occurred!"

The matter-of-fact tone left Xiao Yan speechless for a moment.

However, Xiao Yan was still somewhat puzzled—

Did the Soul Emperor go to such lengths to alter the timeline of the Pharmacopoeia just to annihilate the Medicine Clan? Was it solely to destroy the Medicine Clan during their grandest celebration? Wasn't he worried that the Tuoshe Ancient Emperor Jade, kept by the Medicine Clan, would be corrupted by evil energy and ultimately become unusable?

Yao Dan's fist was clenched tightly, his knuckles turned white, and his bones cracked.

He was the patriarch of the Medicine Clan, one of the most prominent figures on the Dou Qi Continent, but at this moment, he could only watch helplessly as his clansmen turned into monsters one by one.

"Chief of the Medicine Pill Clan."

The Soul Emperor's voice rang out unhurriedly. He slowly stood up, patted non-existent dust off his sleeves, and a faint smile appeared on his lips. "Do you need me to take action and purify these clansmen who have been corrupted by evil energy?"

The word "purification" came out of his mouth with a strange gentleness, as if he were talking about something utterly ordinary, but everyone present could hear what lay beneath that gentleness—

The so-called purification is simply to completely annihilate those members of the Medicine Clan who have been corrupted by evil energy and are beyond saving.

The moment the Soul Emperor finished speaking, the space around him slightly distorted, and a figure appeared beside him. Void Devouring Flame, he no longer needed to hide, so he released his aura without reservation.

Yao Dan's face turned deathly pale instantly.

Long before Soul Void Prince summoned that sub-flame of the Void Devouring Flame, he had vaguely guessed that the Void Devouring Flame was very strong, but he never imagined that it could be this powerful—

A nine-star Dou Sheng! His Medicine Clan hasn't seen such a powerful figure in thousands of years!

Lei Ying and Yan Jin's expressions also changed, their fighting spirits surging wildly as they adopted a defensive posture. However, when their gazes swept over the other people on the platform, the defensiveness on their faces gradually turned into bitterness.

Gu Yuan sat motionless, his expression calm, but his aura was also released in that instant—a peak nine-star Dou Sheng, even stronger than a thousand years ago. That aura was like a towering mountain, completely blocking the pressure brought by the Void Devouring Flame.

Xiao Yan sat on the stone chair as if nothing had happened, not even lifting his eyelids, but his aura was also revealed at that moment—a nine-star Dou Sheng, an Emperor-level soul, which was the same level of strength as the Void Devouring Flame.

Furthermore, the Soul Emperor himself was also at the peak of the Nine-Star Dou Sheng realm...