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

Even though Xue Ke is the youngest daughter of Emperor Xue Ye and the most beloved younger sister of the Crown Prince of the Heaven Dou Empire, she still knows the most basic and simple things. While enjoying the convenience brought by her status as an imperial princess, it is her duty to win over useful people for the empire.

“Xiao Yan is my teacher’s daughter’s friend…” After a pause, Qian Renxue continued, “Or rather, he must be the son-in-law of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School.”

"When the Star Luo Empire and the Spirit Hall are eyeing us covetously, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School is our Heaven Dou Empire's best friend and our most loyal ally. But what if the Star Luo Empire and the Spirit Hall both disappear?"

"Disappeared?" Xue Ke raised her head and looked at Qian Renxue blankly.

Xue Ke was, after all, just a fifteen-year-old girl. Even though she was raised by the royal family and had the belief that she would give everything for the Heaven Dou Empire, the “disappearance” of the Star Luo Empire and the Spirit Hall, as told by Qian Renxue, was still beyond her comprehension.

"Above the Title Douluo, there is a realm called God."

Qian Renxue sighed softly. If she hadn't taken on the task of playing the Crown Prince of the Heavenly Dou Empire, she might have already inherited the position of Angel God at the age of twenty-four.

"An eleven-year-old Soul King—if anyone in this world could reach that legendary level, perhaps only Xiao Yan and Lin Dong could," Qian Renxue continued, concealing her melancholy thoughts. "If that day truly comes, and we haven't won Lin Dong over, would Xiao Yan, as the son-in-law of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, really allow the Heaven Dou Empire to continue existing after destroying the Star Luo Empire and the Spirit Hall?"

Even though it was just an almost impossible conjecture, Xue Ke's face turned pale, as if she had really seen Xiao Yan become a god, destroy the Star Luo Empire and the Spirit Hall, and then come after her older brother Xue Qinghe.

"I...I understand." Xue Ke nodded silently.

"Good that you understand," Qian Renxue sighed. As a woman herself, she really didn't want to force Xue Ke, but she had no choice but to carry out the death order from Emperor Xue Ye...

After persuading Xue Ke, the two women's expressions returned to normal, and they resumed their usual conversations. After all, this brief period of peace was invaluable to both of them.

Not long after, the screen was pulled open again, and this time, it was Xiao Yan and Lin Dong, whom the two of them had been talking about earlier, who entered.

*

After Xiao Yan pulled back the screen and gestured for him to enter, Lin Dong looked a little puzzled but didn't say anything, simply striding inside.

Then he saw a girl turn around and look at him, and opposite her, another girl was smiling and looking at him...

A woman dressed as a man?!

Lin Dong's eyes widened slightly. At this moment, he finally understood why Xiao Yan had specifically reminded him in the rest area of ​​the Great Soul Arena, "No matter what you discover, stay calm and just pretend you didn't find anything."

Therefore, Lin Dong quickly recovered and restrained his barely noticeable reaction. He cupped his hands and respectfully said, "Greetings, Your Highness the Crown Prince."

"No need to be so polite," Qian Renxue waved her hand, using her soul power to lift Lin Dong's arms. She then stood up and walked to Lin Dong's side. "Just call me Brother Xue, like Xiao Yan does."

"Xiao Yan, aren't you going to introduce your friend to me?"

While giving instructions to Lin Dong, Qian Renxue looked somewhat "angrily" at Xiao Yan, who had closed the screen again and was now standing to the side smiling.

"Brother Xue, don't you know him?" Xiao Yan said with a smile. After their last meeting, he had figured out the personality of this girl disguised as a boy. At least, she would never get angry when facing him and Lin Dong, who were eleven-year-old Soul Kings.

'But... a level 59 Soul King? Isn't that a bit outrageous?'

When they met last time, Qian Renxue did not use her soul power, so Xiao Yan, who did not specifically sense Qian Renxue's soul power, naturally assumed that she was a level 46 Soul Master.

A level 46 Soul Master at the age of 24 is obviously a bit low for a Crown Prince, but considering that the Heaven Dou royal family's inherited martial soul is just an ordinary swan, everything makes sense. However, a level 59 Soul King at the age of 24, and a Soul King with a swan martial soul...

Is something wrong with this?

So, under Lin Dong's strange gaze, Xiao Yan casually placed his right hand on the shoulder of the woman disguised as a man—

"Brother Xue, you're already a Soul King?"

“Yes,” Qian Renxue said with a look of surprise, “The Soul Master Pill you gave me before raised my Soul Power by four levels, bringing me to level 50. During this time, I went to Sunset Forest to hunt Soul Beasts and obtained my fifth Soul Ring. Now I am a Soul King, just like the two of you…”

At this point, Qian Renxue smiled awkwardly, "Although I'm already twenty-four years old, you two are only eleven..."

"We both benefited from the Soul Master Pill," Xiao Yan said casually with a smile. "If you, Brother Xue, had obtained the Soul Master Pill earlier, you wouldn't have only become a Soul King now."

After touching Xue Qinghe's body, Xiao Yan confirmed two things: First, the person in front of him was indeed level 59, and did not become level 51 after consuming a Soul Master Pill. Second, the person's martial soul... was not a swan, but the legendary Angel, which belonged to the martial soul inherited by the Spirit Hall!

'There's no scent of Crimson Grass, so he really didn't take the Soul Master Pill... But he definitely took the Martial Soul Pill...' Xiao Yan could sense that the Martial Soul of the person in front of him had a strong scent of the Martial Soul Pill.

'However, did Xue Qinghe join forces with the Spirit Hall to prevent the Spirit Hall from breaking their agreement, thus holding their heir hostage and making him impersonate the crown prince? Or did the Spirit Hall's heir kill Xue Qinghe and then impersonate him?'

Even though he kept trying not to think about why the Crown Prince was a woman, Xiao Yan couldn't help but start pondering these questions after realizing that the person in front of him was definitely not the Crown Prince.

"Why make so many 'what ifs'?" Qian Renxue smiled nonchalantly. "Besides, this Soul Master Pill was created by you, Xiao Yan. No matter what, I couldn't possibly have obtained it earlier, could I?"

"That's true," Xiao Yan shrugged, remaining calm and composed even after learning a huge secret. "However, let me still introduce it to you, Brother Xue—"

"This is Lin Dong, the top student of Canghui Academy, a level 53 Power Attack-type Soul King, and also my good friend," Xiao Yan said with a mysterious laugh. "Speaking of which, Brother Xue, you probably didn't watch the previous matches, did you?"

Qian Renxue nodded, somewhat puzzled.

"Lin Dong also has twin martial souls, right?"

Although he didn't know the true identity of the person in front of him, Xiao Yan was still very happy to see a shocked expression on the face of this unknown person, especially since the person in front of him thought that he had concealed his identity very well!

"Twin Martial Souls..." Xue Ke, whose gaze had been fixed on Xiao Yan's face ever since he entered, finally looked at Lin Dong after hearing this.

Chapter 114 Magical Reality

Lin Dong made a strange expression after seeing Xiao Yan casually put his hand on the shoulder of the "Crown Prince" in front of him.

He didn't believe Xiao Yan couldn't see through the crown prince's true form, but such overly intimate actions...

Before Lin Dong could begin to doubt the relationship between Xiao Yan and the Crown Prince, Xiao Yan's question, "Brother Xue, you are already a Soul King?" silenced Lin Dong.

Next came the "Crown Prince's" skillful acting, and Xiao Yan's equally adept acting, which was in no way inferior to that of the Crown Prince before him.

The naive boy from Qingshan Town watched blankly as Xiao Yan and Qian Renxue put on an acting show in front of him. The only thing he could think of was that Xiao Yan was testing Qian Renxue's true identity as the Crown Prince.

'But why not the previous test?' Lin Dong's eyes were filled with deep doubt.

While Lin Dong looked bewildered, Xiao Yan obtained all the information he wanted and then directly shifted the topic to Lin Dong. The mention of twin martial souls even drew Princess Xue Ke's attention to Lin Dong.

Just as Lin Dong was awkwardly trying to avoid the two women's gaze, the "Crown Prince" spoke up with a surprised expression.

*

"Twin Martial Souls?"

This time, Qian Renxue's surprise was genuine. "So, you two, besides being the same age and having similar soul power, even have the same number of martial souls?"

"What's so special about this?" Xiao Yan laughed and pressed Lin Dong into a chair. "If we have to say something, our martial souls can be said to be extremely similar."

"Oh? What do you mean?"

After Xiao Yan sat down opposite Lin Dong, Qian Renxue returned to her seat.

"I wonder if Brother Xue knows about spirit-type martial souls?" Xiao Yan did not directly answer Qian Renxue's question, but instead raised a seemingly unrelated question.

"A spirit-type martial soul..."

Xue Ke looked confused, but Qian Renxue seemed to be deep in thought.

"Are you referring to the Black Demon Martial Soul of the Dream God Machine Education Committee, which cannot be roughly divided into beast Martial Soul or weapon Martial Soul, and has powerful spiritual power?" While speaking, Qian Renxue also glanced at Lin Dong, "That Teacher Shi Nian from Canghui Academy... should also be one of the spiritual type Martial Souls that you two classified, right?"

The current classification of martial souls in the soul master world is extremely crude. If Qian Renxue hadn't happened to know about Lin Dong's life and hadn't read the information about the Remnant Dream of the Year, and hadn't recently asked Meng Shenji, one of the three teaching committee members of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy, she might not have understood what Xiao Yan was talking about.

Xiao Yan was taken aback, not expecting that this "Crown Prince" could find a precedent for any mental-type martial soul he had just made up. "Ahem, that's right, it's the same martial soul as the Black Demon Martial Soul and the Remnant Dream Martial Soul."

Under Lin Dong's helpless gaze, Xiao Yan raised his left hand, and the Fire Refining Talisman appeared on his palm.

"It's your turn, don't be shy." As he showed the Fire Refining Talisman, Xiao Yan had an expression on his face that suggested he was trying to get someone involved.

Unwilling to continue being subjected to the gazes of the two girls, Lin Dong hurriedly raised his right hand, and an ancient vortex-like talisman appeared above his palm.

As her gaze lingered on the martial spirits in the two people's hands, Qian Renxue grew increasingly suspicious. In her perception, these two martial spirits... were in no way weaker than her Six-Winged Angel martial spirit!

“…If it weren’t for the obvious differences between your two martial souls,” Qian Renxue withdrew her gaze, and at the same time, very smoothly transformed the slight, imperceptible panic on her face into a relaxed expression, “I might have thought that you two were actually twins.”

'Panic? Didn't you kill Xue Qinghe and take his place?'

In Xiao Yan's estimation, if the woman in front of him was the successor of the Spirit Hall who killed Xue Qinghe and then took his place, her first reaction upon seeing how similar she was to Lin Dong, as if they shared the same source of spirit, would be one of relief.

After all, Emperor Xueye's purpose in trying to win over Lin Dong was naturally to avoid seeing the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School dominate the world in the future. Unless the girl with the Angel Martial Soul in front of him was a member of the Heaven Dou Royal Family, she would not have shown any panic after discovering that Xiao Yan and Lin Dong might be related by blood and that Xiao Yan was someone the Heaven Dou Royal Family would find difficult to win over.

As long as this girl is a member of the Spirit Hall and is wholeheartedly devoted to the Spirit Hall, there's no reason for her to panic. After all, Xiao Yan is the person 'appointed' by the divine decree of the Angel God whom the Spirit Hall worships.

'Could it be that my mental perception is wrong?' Xiao Yan couldn't understand why the girl was reacting this way. Her disguise as a man, her angelic martial soul, and even the two titled Douluo lurking around her were all real.

“Indeed, the similarity between these two martial souls is ridiculously high. In fact, both of our other martial souls are weapon martial souls.” Although he didn’t understand why Qian Renxue seemed flustered, Xiao Yan, who had put away the Fire Refining Talisman, still persistently probed.

"Let's put martial spirits aside for now."

However, after sensing that the Fire Refining Talisman and the Ancient Vortex Talisman were no weaker than her own Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul, Qian Renxue did not intend to continue the topic. She was not a good-for-nothing like Yu Xiaogang who only read half of the book. The premise for the existence of twin martial souls is that the strength of the parents' martial souls is extremely close. In other words, the other martial soul of two people who have such a martial soul that is almost equivalent to a god-level martial soul is also of the same level.

'Four divine-level martial souls…' Qian Renxue wanted to curse. Although it was because of the Soul Master Pill, these two people's natural talents were no weaker than hers. Now that she discovered that two of their martial souls might be divine-level, she felt more and more that she shouldn't have agreed to this so-called "usurpation" plan.

'Fortunately, they might be related by blood, so it's unlikely they're enemies, and Xiao Yan has a certain degree of goodwill towards the Spirit Hall...'

But time cannot be reversed, and at this moment, Qian Renxue can only be thankful that neither Xiao Yan nor Lin Dong is likely to stand on the opposite side of the Spirit Hall.

"This is my younger sister," Qian Renxue introduced Xue Ke to Xiao Yan and Lin Dong while her mind was filled with all sorts of random thoughts. "She is the youngest princess of the Heaven Dou Empire and my father's most beloved little princess."

"Greetings, Your Highness."

Unable to understand what Qian Renxue's reaction meant, Xiao Yan and Lin Dong greeted Xue Ke together.

"Princess, please..." Xue Ke smiled faintly. "Just call me Xue Ke. Although I'm a bit older than you, I still want to ask... may I call you brothers?"

Upon hearing the word "brother," both Xiao Yan and Lin Dong showed obvious signs of rejection.

"Your Highness Xueke is too kind," Xiao Yan said, cupping his hands in greeting. "I am not worthy of being called your elder brother."

“Me too,” Lin Dong said, making the same gesture, even with a wry smile on his face. “Lin Dong is just a commoner and doesn’t deserve such a title.”

The two women's expressions, as if they had seen a ghost, stunned Xue Ke, who then looked directly at Qian Renxue sitting opposite her for help.

'Did I step on a landmine?'

Qian Renxue was somewhat bewildered. Based on her "experience," men shouldn't dislike women calling them "brother," right? Could it be an age issue? Surely not?

"It's just a matter of how you address her, there's no need to be so concerned, is there?" Faced with Xue Ke's request for help, Qian Renxue smiled awkwardly, "My sister just lacks a sense of security... If you don't like it, just let her call you by your names, just like I do."

Only after Qian Renxue spoke did Xiao Yan and Lin Dong reluctantly withdraw their clasped hands.

“However, just like my younger sister said, you two shouldn’t address her as ‘Your Highness’ anymore,” Qian Renxue continued. “Using ‘Princess’ or ‘Princess Xueke’ all the time just makes it feel like there’s too much distance between us…”

"How about this, you can just call her Xiao...Xiao Xue!" After a moment's hesitation, Qian Renxue said.

'However, I always feel that I will react faster than Xueke...' Qian Renxue muttered to herself, feeling slightly sad. Since taking on this mission, the only person who would call her that was her grandfather, and she hadn't seen her grandfather in a long time.

After hearing the second half of Qian Renxue's sentence, Xiao Yan and Lin Dong exchanged a glance. They naturally knew that this meeting was actually to introduce Xue Ke to Lin Dong in order to win him over. Although they didn't know why she rejected the title of "brother," simply refusing would be a bit embarrassing.

"Then, I shall respectfully comply."

The two chuckled awkwardly, but their overly obvious reaction made Xue Ke so angry that she almost wanted to slam her fist on the table. She felt that these two people were looking down on her!

After confirming the forms of address and ceasing the discussion about martial souls, Qian Renxue took control of the conversation. After all, Xiao Yan, who was essentially an add-on to Lin Dong's meeting, knew that Lin Dong, as the person truly invited to this meeting, was resisting the Heaven Dou Empire's attempts to win him over. Therefore, both of them were eager to end the meeting as soon as possible. Let alone finding topics to talk about, it was already their limit not to use dry interjections like "oh," "right," or "yes" as their answers.