Battle Through the Heavens: Top Talent

Chapter 2 The Seven-Year-Old Fighter

Behind the Xiao family mountain, beneath a secluded cliff, Xiao Yun sat cross-legged in a cave. This cliff was a training ground that Xiao Yun had carefully chosen, where he would come to cultivate his battle qi.

Across the cliff, clouds and mist swirl, concealing the treacherous Monster Mountain Range. Below the cliff lies an abyss that stretches to the horizon. The only path leading here has been buried by Xiao Yun with weeds and pebbles.

Therefore, Xiao Yun doesn't need to worry too much about being disturbed by others when he is cultivating and breaking through.

"I remember Xiao Yan used pills to assist his breakthrough when he first broke through to the Dou Zhe level. I have the panel to help me, so I should be fine, right?"

Breaking through to the Dou Zhe level is no small matter. If the breakthrough fails, one's cultivation level will drop. Although Xiao Yun's previous breakthroughs were all smooth sailing, the so-called semi-datafication was just his internal conjecture. Now, facing a breakthrough, he inevitably feels nervous.

Taking a slow breath, Xiao Yun closed his eyes and quickly formed hand seals to absorb the battle qi. His breathing gradually became steady, and the faint battle qi within his body moved at will, flowing rapidly through his meridians.

Inside the small cave, the calm air suddenly trembled violently, and wisps of pale white fighting energy seeped out from the air and continuously entered Xiao Yun's body.

Within Xiao Yun's body, the fighting energy had gradually filled most of his meridians. Taking a deep breath, Xiao Yun changed his hand seals, forming a strange hand seal with his ten fingers.

As the hand seals changed, the surging fighting energy within his body seemed to be subjected to a powerful suction force, rapidly contracting to his lower abdomen.

When all the fighting energy gathered in his lower abdomen, Xiao Yun used his soul perception to compress the fighting energy in his body, turning it into a liquid state. Driven by his soul power, the fighting energy, like soldiers receiving orders, quickly compressed together without any resistance.

Soon, the battle qi was compressed to the size of a palm. With Xiao Yun's soul power further driving it, the battle qi turned into a vortex with a "bang" and hovered in Xiao Yun's lower abdomen.

"Hmm? It's done. It seems my guess was right. Breaking through to the Dou Zhe level was no problem at all."

Xiao Yun opened his eyes, scratching his head in confusion. The whole process was very simple.

He simply absorbed the fighting spirit in the air and then used his soul power to compress the fighting spirit within his body. He didn't even feel like he was exerting any effort before he broke through.

If it weren't for the vortex of energy coiled around his lower abdomen, Xiao Yun would have doubted that he had failed.

This was completely different from what he had heard from his clan elders. In their words, breaking through to the Dou Zhe level was extremely dangerous, a long process, and impossible for anyone without great perseverance.

When Xiao Yun broke through, he only needed to exert a little force to advance to the Dou Zhe level, and the whole process took less than ten minutes.

After a moment of thought, Xiao Yun closed his eyes and gradually sank his mind into his body. This was internal vision, an auxiliary skill that only those at the Dou Zhe level could master.

When you focus your mind on your lower abdomen, you will see a small, milky-white vortex, about the size of a palm, slowly rotating.

Although this vortex is much smaller in size than the previous battle qi, the energy contained in the two is worlds apart. After all, what was absorbed before was battle qi, while what is being absorbed now is battle qi!

"Now that I've broken through to the Dou Zhe level, I can go to the Dou Ji Hall to find a cultivation technique. It's a pity I don't have the chance to become Yao Lao's disciple now, otherwise I might be able to cultivate the Burning Technique."

Battle Qi techniques can only be practiced after breaking through to the level of a Battle Master. After practice, the Battle Qi will display a color similar to the attributes of the technique.

People like Xiao Yun, who have just broken through to the Dou Zhe level, have milky-white Dou Qi in their bodies, which is attribute-free Dou Qi.

The Burning Technique is most effective in the early stages of cultivation. Moreover, the Xiao family currently possesses fire-attribute cultivation techniques that are not much different from the low-level Yellow Rank Burning Technique.

Xiao Yun stood up, quickly walked out of the cave, climbed up the steep path, and looked around to make sure there were no signs of anyone passing by before he felt relieved and headed straight for the family.

Having just returned to his family home and walked to his own courtyard, he saw four people: a middle-aged man and three elderly men, standing at the gate of his house, glaring at each other, none of them giving way to the other.

Xiao Yun recognized them: Clan Chief Xiao Zhan and three Xiao Clan elders.

"Uncle, Elder, what's going on?" Xiao Yun was a little confused. He had been away from the courtyard for quite some time, going to the back mountain to break through, so why were these four people standing in front of his door waiting for him since they couldn't find him?

Upon seeing that the visitor was Xiao Yun, the hostility on the four people's faces immediately disappeared, replaced by extremely warm smiles.

"Xiaoyun, you're back? I just passed by your house and realized I hadn't visited you in many days. I thought I'd check on you, but you weren't home, so I waited for you for a little while."

Xiao Zhan spoke first. He was the one with the closest relationship to Xiao Yun among the four of them. He was Xiao Yun's uncle, and even his biological uncle!

The three elders nodded, indicating that they, like Xiao Zhan, were just passing through and stopped by to visit Xiao Yun.

Looking at the smiling faces, Xiao Yun remained calm. He knew their purpose in coming here was probably to win him over and recruit him into their camp.

After all, for the Xiao family, who could only hide in Wutan City, Xiao Yun, whose future was destined to be extraordinary, still had a lot of say in the Xiao family.

After Xiao Yun invited the group to sit down in the courtyard, Xiao Zhan couldn't help but say to Xiao Yun, "Little Yun, you kept saying you wouldn't go to the Demon Stone Tablet for cultivation, but this time you went and made a stunning debut! The whole family was shocked. And judging from your aura, you've already broken through to the Dou Zhe level, haven't you?"

"Yes, Uncle, after the test I went to the back mountain to break through, and I didn't expect to break through to the Dou Zhe level directly."

"Hiss, a seven-year-old Dou Zhe! Heaven blesses my Xiao family! My Xiao family will surely rise again and return to the Holy City of Jia Ma!" Several elders gasped, contributing to the future global warming of the Dou Qi Continent.

……

Seeing that the group was hesitant to reveal their purpose, Xiao Yun took the initiative to ask his own question.

"Uncle and the elders, is there something you need from me?"

Xiao Zhan glanced at the Grand Elder and, seeing that the Grand Elder had no intention of speaking, took the initiative to speak.

"It's nothing really, I just wanted to ask about your plans for the future."

"As you know, our Xiao family is not a big family. For a genius like you, staying in the family would bury your talent."

"Our family can't offer you any rare or precious treasures, so we wanted to ask about your plans for the future."

After Xiao Zhan finished speaking, the Grand Elder beside him smiled and said, "Currently, we can only think of two places. One is the Yunlan Sect. The Yunlan Sect is the number one sect in our Jia Ma Empire. There are countless experts in the sect. With your talent, you might be accepted as a personal disciple by the sect leader if you join the Yunlan Sect."

Another option is Canaan Academy, which gathers talented disciples from all over. I believe that in that environment, your progress will be faster than in Yunlan Sect. Moreover, I've heard that there are even Dou Zong level experts stationed there.

However, Canaan Academy is far away, located in the Black Corner Region. If you encounter any problems, your family won't be able to offer you much help.

"Of course, the decision is still yours. We old guys are just giving you advice."

Hearing this, Xiao Zhan looked at the Grand Elder with some dissatisfaction. What old man? I'm still in my prime. You guys are the old men!

What? Yunlan Sect? No way, not even a dog would go.

Without much hesitation, Xiao Yun said directly to Xiao Zhan and the three elders, "I want to go to Canaan Academy to cultivate."

Xiao Yun wasn't stupid. He knew that the Yunlan Sect had a Soul Hall protector. By joining the Yunlan Sect as a genius of the Xiao family, wasn't he just throwing himself into the lion's den? Wouldn't the Soul Hall protector dissect him for research?

Of course, this was useless to Xiao Zhan and the others, as they had no idea about the dealings between Yunlan Sect's former sect leader Yun Shan and the Soul Palace. It would be pointless to say anything to them.

"I prefer places with pressure. Canaan Academy is a gathering place for talented people, and I believe I will improve faster there." Xiao Yun said that anyone who wants to go to Yunlan Sect can go, but he will not go in.

"Well, with your talent, I believe that even if you go to Canaan Academy, few can compare to you. In a while, Canaan Academy will come to Wutan City to recruit students, and we will inform you then."

"Actually, Yunlan Sect is not bad either, but since you have already made up your mind, then go to Canaan Academy. That way, it will save you the trouble of having the elders escort you."

"Xiao Zhan said. Actually, he would prefer Xiao Yun to join the Yunlan Sect. Joining the Yunlan Sect would be extremely beneficial to the Xiao family, at least providing them with a powerful backer, since the Yunlan Sect has Dou Huang level experts!"

Xiao Zhan sighed and took out a black card from his pocket. "It's definitely inconvenient to be out in the world without money. This card contains 100,000 gold coins. It's not much, but it's a small token of support from your family."

Xiao Yun hesitated upon seeing this, glancing at the other elders. After all, he was no real child. Ten thousand gold coins might not seem like much, but for the Xiao family, it was a significant financial burden.

Seeing Xiao Yun's hesitant movement, the First Elder stroked his gray beard and explained with a smile:

"Please accept this. This 100,000 gold coins is something we pooled together after discussing it. It's just a small token of our appreciation."

Upon hearing the elder's words, Xiao Yun quickly stepped forward and took the black card from Xiao Zhan's hand.

"Thank you, Uncle and the elders."

"No need to thank me right away, there are still some things I haven't taken..."

(End of this chapter)