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

Wang Cheng glanced at Zhang San.

It was at this moment that Xiao Yan understood why Zhang San dared not face Wang Cheng directly, and why Wang Cheng treated Zhang San so badly.

"So, Uncle Wang Cheng, you found the organization you're in now?" Xiao Yan asked after learning about the past.

“No, it’s not that we found it, it’s that we gathered a team of people and created this organization,” Wang Cheng shook his head, looking nonchalant. “If my son’s thing hadn’t fallen on my head, I wouldn’t have bothered with this stuff.”

He spoke nonchalantly, but his bloodshot eyes proved that Wang Cheng was not indifferent at all.

"That Uncle Zhang..."

"This guy surnamed Zhang has gone soft and is useless. There's no point in bringing him in."

After a brief silence, Wang Cheng did not reveal the fact that Zhang San had run away back then. Zhang San, who was standing to the side, opened his mouth, but in the end, he lowered his head and did not say a word.

“Oh, right, there’s no point in just saying all this,” Wang Cheng changed the subject. “As long as you join us, you won’t have to put in any effort for the first three spirit rings. We’ll just deliver the spirit beasts of the right age that you want to you.”

"There's not much to do. You just need to come to us to have your physical fitness tested when you reach levels 10, 20, and 30. How about that? Pretty good deal, right?"

A somewhat mercenary smile appeared on Wang Cheng's round face. Although it wasn't attractive, it suited him much better than his previous sorrowful smile.

"Is that all you need to do?"

Hearing Wang Cheng's simple request, and recalling his serious demeanor when he invited him earlier, Xiao Yan found it hard to believe.

“This is just the beginning. After you become a Soul Master, you will become someone who captures Soul Beasts for others.” Wang Cheng did not expect Xiao Yan to trust him directly. “However, there are currently less than a hundred people in total. When you reach level 30, there will be at most two hundred people.”

"So, you'll help me get the first three spirit rings, and I'll have to work hard for the rest myself?"

“It’s ‘us’ working together,” Wang Cheng said, immediately treating Xiao Yan as one of his own after hearing his words.

"Among the group I recruited, I have the highest soul power level, level 44. I can directly deal with soul beasts that are a little over a thousand years old, but I heard that the maximum age for the fourth soul ring is five thousand years..."

"If I went alone, I might have to leave something like an arm for it to have for dinner," Wang Cheng grinned.

"What about the fifth spirit ring?"

Although he didn't know the maximum age limit for the fifth spirit ring, Xiao Yan did know that a black spirit ring represented a ten-thousand-year-old spirit beast.

"At that time... we had no choice but to ask others for help."

Wang Cheng was very clear about the limitations of his group. Even if everyone attacked together, they would most likely just become food for the ten-thousand-year-old soul beast.

Upon hearing Wang Cheng's explanation, Xiao Yan's expression shifted slightly.

Wang Cheng's strength is roughly at the level of a seven-star Dou Shi. He can easily handle soul beasts that are a little over a thousand years old, but he is weaker than soul beasts that are around five thousand years old, and far inferior to ten-thousand-year-old soul beasts. In other words, barring any unforeseen circumstances, a five-thousand-year-old soul beast is equivalent to one of the stronger second-tier magical beasts, while a ten-thousand-year-old soul beast is equivalent to a third-tier or higher soul beast.

"Okay, I'll join you."

After thinking for a moment, Xiao Yan nodded.

He was just an "ordinary person" with innate level 5 soul power. Whether he joined Wang Cheng's forces or followed the path of a commoner soul master and entered a junior soul master academy, it wouldn't make much of a difference.

"Haha, that's great! It doesn't feel like this guy surnamed Zhang raised you at all!"

Xiao Yan's answer made Wang Cheng burst into laughter, and he didn't forget to continue mocking Zhang San.

"I wasn't the one who raised him..." Zhang San complained.

"Heh," Wang Cheng sneered at Zhang San, "So, shall we leave now?"

"Is Uncle Zhang San coming along too?"

"It's just supporting one more person, and this kid probably has a lot of savings of his own, right?"

Xiao Yan and Wang Cheng made arrangements for Zhang San's future with just a few words. Zhang San opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing.

For the rest of the day, Wang Cheng took Xiao Yan to the Spirit Hall in Shanchui City to obtain an identity certificate, and then stuffed a thin book with the words "Meditation Method" written on the cover into Xiao Yan's hands.

“There are no shortcuts to cultivating soul power; you can only increase it by meditating and circulating your own soul power.”

Faced with Xiao Yan's curious gaze, Wang Cheng smiled helplessly, "Only a few powerful forces have better meditation methods. The one I'm giving you, while not as good as those powerful forces', is still much better than what is taught at the Soul Master Academy in Shanchui City."

Xiao Yan blinked. Before receiving the meditation manual from Wang Cheng, he thought that the increase in soul power among soul masters in this world depended entirely on luck. He never expected that there would be a formal cultivation method.

"Teacher, could you take a look and tell me if this book is really a meditation method?"

At night, Xiao Yan, who had been arranged by Wang Cheng to enter the primary soul master academy in Shanchui City and had his own private room, couldn't wait to open the meditation manual. However, after a cursory glance, the expression on his face froze.

"From the perspective of a low-level Yellow Rank cultivator, this meditation technique is being overrated..."

While Xiao Yan was flipping through the book, Yao Lao also roughly skimmed through the entire meditation technique using his soul power. "However... if it can also be effective for the Dou Qi stage..."

"What?" Xiao Yan looked at Yao Lao, who had appeared in the room.

"It's still not enough to be rated as a low-level Yellow Rank, and the speed of cultivation using this meditation method is even slower than the speed of your body tempering cultivation."

"Isn't that completely useless?" Xiao Yan buried his head in the blankets and muttered, "If I really cultivate according to this meditation method, it will take me more than four years to break through to the tenth level of Dou Qi, right?"

At this point, Xiao Yan threw back the covers, his expression somewhat strange: "Was Wang Cheng tricked, or did he take the wrong one?"

"The slow speed is only in comparison to your cultivation speed," Yao Lao shook his head. "For ordinary people... like that little guy whose martial soul is a short spear and whose innate soul power is half a level, the effect of this meditation method should not be weaker than a low-level Yellow Rank technique."

"So...this meditation method is actually quite good?"

"For those who are not naturally gifted."

"But Wang Cheng was over thirty years old when he became a Seven-Star Dou Master."

"Ah."

"Uncle Zhang is over thirty years old but not even a six-star Dou Zhe..."

"……Um."

Both master and apprentice fell silent.

Back in Baiyun Village, because they hadn't been exposed to the cultivation practices of this world, the master and apprentice thought Zhang San's strength was simply due to a lack of talent.

However, after seeing this "technique" that could accelerate the development of someone with poor talent to the Battle Qi stage, both of them were at a loss. With innate soul power and this "technique", under normal circumstances, one should be able to become a Battle Warrior by the age of eleven at most, right?

Given that the person is an eleven-year-old fighter, why would someone in their thirties still be a fighter master?

Surely this meditation method, which is not even at the low level of the Yellow Rank, is the cultivation method used by most people after the eleventh level of the Fighter class, and the cultivation method they use for their entire lives?

Chapter 5 Soul Rings

Xiao Yan's life at the Mountain Blowing City Primary Soul Master Academy was quite good. Although he was just a commoner, Wang Cheng, who recommended him, was at least one of the top ten soul masters in Mountain Blowing City. So, in most cases, Xiao Yan was free.

Thanks to this, Xiao Yan was not disturbed except for his usual studies, and had enough time to train his body, with the goal of being able to wield the Xuan Heavy Ruler as soon as possible.

"Is this a spirit ring?"

Two years later, in the Soul Hunting Forest of the Star Luo Empire, Xiao Yan looked with curiosity at the pale yellow halo floating above the corpse of a fallen Netherworld Wolf.

"Hmm, not bad, a two-hundred-year-old Netherworld Wolf soul ring," Mu Chen, the dean of teaching at the Mountain Blowing City Primary Soul Master Academy who brought Xiao Yan to "broaden his horizons," nodded.

"If my soul power just reaches the standard for advancement, I can absorb this soul ring to achieve the goal of advancement. The specific method is to use my soul power to draw the soul ring to myself, and then start meditating to absorb the energy of the soul ring."

"Wood Tiger, what are you standing there for? Are you planning to wait until the spirit ring disappears?"

After explaining a few things to Xiao Yan, Mu Chen scolded his son, who was standing blankly beside the Netherworld Wolf, clutching a bloodstained dagger.

"oh oh!"

After killing the Ghost Wolf who was on its last breath, Mu Hu stood there in a daze until he was scolded by his father, which brought him back to his senses.

Mu Hu's soul power slowly condensed into his palm, and accompanied by a dark halo, the dagger he had been holding floated on his right palm.

Similarly, drawn by the dim light, the soul ring of the Hundred-Year Nether Wolf slowly flew towards the wooden tiger.

Mu Chen stared at the pale yellow spirit ring: "Sit cross-legged and focus your mind on your martial spirit!"

Mu Hu sat down cross-legged as instructed, focusing his attention on the martial spirit in his right hand.

"No matter how much the power of the spirit ring impacts your body, remember to stay clear-headed. Only in this way can you make better use of the power of the spirit ring in the future."

As soon as Mu Chen finished speaking, Mu Hu closed his eyes and entered the process of absorbing the spirit ring.

"After absorbing the spirit ring, Mu Hu will be an eleventh-level spirit master?" Xiao Yan glanced at Mu Hu, who was absorbing the spirit ring, with some curiosity, before turning his gaze back to Mu Chen.

“That’s right,” Mu Chen nodded, “You insisted on coming with us just to see this scene?”

Mu Chen looked at Xiao Yan curiously. A dozen days ago, when Xiao Yan learned that he was going to bring Mu Hu to the Soul Hunting Forest, he approached him and asked to take him to "see the world". Thinking that his level 42 soul power should be enough to protect two children among some level 100 soul beasts, Mu Chen agreed without much thought.

Now that he thinks about it, Mu Chen feels that something is not right. He is, after all, a dean of students. How could he be so careless as to bring a level nine soul master to the Soul Hunting Forest?

Although there might not be any thousand-year-old spirit beasts here, if they were to encounter a large herd of beasts, it would still be very difficult for him, a weapon spirit master with a dagger spirit, to ensure that the two children would not get hurt!

"After all, I'm already level nine, and I'll probably reach level ten in the next two months. I need to see what my spirit rings look like first, just in case something goes wrong."

Xiao Yan chuckled sheepishly.

The real purpose was to let Yao Lao observe the specific details of the spirit rings from the spirit beasts, and to determine whether he could absorb spirit rings normally when he reached level ten.

Before Mu Hu absorbed the spirit ring, Xiao Yan also received a positive answer from Yao Lao—

"From all aspects, this spirit ring is somewhat like a magical beast's magic core, except that it is in a completely energy state, so absorbing it is no problem at all."

"What about the enhancement of the Xuanzhong Ruler?"

After glancing furtively at Mu Chen, who was waiting for Mu Hu to absorb the soul ring, Xiao Yan asked himself a question.

"A hundred-year-old soul beast is about the same as a first-tier magical beast. How much do you think a first-tier magical core can enhance an eighth-tier weapon?"

Okay, I knew it...

Xiao Yan sighed helplessly.

"Hmm? What's wrong?"

Since it was his own son absorbing the soul ring, Mu Chen was constantly on guard about the surrounding movements. Upon hearing Xiao Yan's sigh, he immediately looked at Xiao Yan.

"I'm wondering if it's possible that my first spirit ring will be a hundred thousand years old." Xiao Yan scratched his head.

During this year, Xiao Yan and Yao Lao accompanied Wang Cheng to meet the city lord of Shanchui City—a level 63 Soul Emperor, which, if converted to the levels of the Dou Qi Continent, is roughly equivalent to a six-star Great Dou Master.

Therefore, the two guessed that the 'Title Douluo' on the Douluo Continent was roughly at the level of Dou Wang, and the legendary 100,000-year-old soul beast was probably just a fifth-order magical beast.

For an eighth-tier weapon, at least fifth-tier materials are needed to affect it. If a magic core is chosen, the effect of a fifth-tier magic core will be 100% negative.

"A first spirit ring of 100,000 years?" Mu Chen smiled helplessly. "Even in storybooks, they wouldn't dare write it like that. Besides, encountering a 100,000-year spirit beast, it's a miracle that the few of us were able to escape. You actually think about killing it and obtaining its spirit ring?"

"No matter what, you still have to have dreams!"

“Only dreams have a chance of coming true. A 100,000-year soul ring… even if it were placed right in front of you, would you dare to absorb it?” Mu Chen shook his head. “You know about Wang Cheng’s eldest son, right?”