The Strange Flame Rekindles in Battle Through the Heavens

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Chapter 18 Black Iron Sheet

Seeing his father, Xiao Zhan, fighting two Great Dou Masters alone, Xiao Yan grew increasingly anxious. With Xiao Zhan's strength, he could manage for a short time, but in a prolonged battle, his Dou Qi would eventually be depleted. After all, two against one offered no advantage.

"Why haven't the two elders of the Xiao family made their move yet? Are they asleep?" Xiao Yan looked around at both sides of the street, sweating profusely with anxiety.

"Haha!" Xiao Zhan, this day next year will be your death anniversary. Your Xiao family is finished. Seeing that Xiao Zhan was gradually struggling to cope, Jia Liebi was smug and intensified his attack.

"Hmph! You're celebrating too soon!" Xiao Zhan sneered, then shouted, "Elders, make your move!"

Suddenly, two figures appeared on either side of the street, attacking Jialiebi and Jialienu from behind. Xiao Zhan let out a long roar, quickly mobilizing his internal fighting spirit and channeling it into his fists, unleashing attacks on Jialienu and Jialiebi respectively.

The situation suddenly reversed, and they were now surrounded instead. Jialiebi and Jialienu were shocked. However, Xiao Zhan's sudden and powerful attack forced them to focus all their efforts on blocking, leaving them no time to defend themselves from the attack from behind.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Three violent explosions rang out. The combined efforts of the five Great Dou Masters finally caused the surrounding houses to collapse. The resulting shockwave sent Xiao Yan and Xiao Xun'er, who were watching from afar, flying backward once again. In the instant they were thrown forward, Xiao Yan quickly pulled Xun'er in front of him, and their bodies crashed into a wall, which cracked open upon impact.

"Damn it! We're so far away and we still get caught in the crossfire." Xiao Yan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and said helplessly.

"Brother Xiao Yan, are you alright?" Xun'er quickly helped Xiao Yan up and asked with concern.

"Hehe, your brother is tough and thick-skinned, I'm fine." Xiao Yan stretched his back, which was a little sore from the impact.

"You're alright! You're bleeding." Xun'er said with concern.

"This little injury is nothing! By the way, quickly check how Father and the others are doing." Xiao Yan wiped the blood from his mouth and hurriedly changed the subject.

"Haha! We're fine! It was all thanks to Yan'er that we were able to severely injure those two old guys, Jialiebi and Jialienu. They'll probably need to recuperate for a long time." Xiao Zhan led the two elders to Xiao Yan and Xiao Xun'er and said with a smile.

"Didn't you manage to keep them completely?" Xiao Yan asked.

"It's not that easy. Jia Lie fought back desperately, allowing Jia Liebi to escape with his son. We wouldn't dare to be careless if a Great Dou Master disregards his own life, but he was seriously injured by the combined attack of the three of us, and I estimate he won't pose a threat anymore." Xiao Zhan's lips twitched. Achieving this much was already quite good. As for completely eliminating them, that was far from easy.

"Hehe, family feuds don't necessarily have to involve killing each other. If you have to resort to killing, the opponent will fight back desperately, and the price they pay will be high. Now it's different. With two powerful figures in the Jialie family seriously injured, our Xiao family can rapidly grow stronger during this period and eventually completely swallow up the Jialie family," the Second Elder explained with a smile.

"Yes! Yan'er, family feuds aren't just about force; economics is also very important." Xiao Zhan patted Xiao Yan's shoulder with a smile, clearly in a very good mood today. He then shouted loudly towards the street, "All losses suffered by everyone today will be borne by my Xiao family. The Xiao family will send people to assess everyone's losses and then compensate them accordingly."

Upon hearing Xiao Zhan's words, a large number of merchants and mercenaries surged out from the street, rushing forward to express their gratitude. Even if the Xiao family didn't compensate them, they were powerless to do anything about it; after all, the Jia Lie family had also taken action, so why should the Xiao family bear all the responsibility for compensation?

Just then, a fat man trotted up to Xiao Yan and respectfully handed him the magic cores and black iron pieces that Xiao Yan had bought, as well as all the gold coins that Xiao Yan had given him and the gold coins that Jia Liebi had given him.

"What's going on?" Xiao Yan looked at the fat man in front of him, somewhat puzzled by his behavior.

"Hehe, consider these magic cores and black iron pieces a gift for Young Master Xiao Yan. As for these gold coins, they originally belonged to him. I dare not accept Young Master Galeo's bag of gold coins; consider them as Young Master Xiao Yan's winnings from the martial arts competition," the fat merchant explained with a beaming smile.

"Hehe, take these six hundred-plus gold coins. How can you buy things without paying? As for the gold coins Galeo gave you, I'll keep them, because even if I gave them to you, you wouldn't dare to take them," Xiao Yan said with a faint smile.

"Thank you for your understanding, Young Master Xiao Yan." The merchant left with a smile, taking the gold coins with him.

Upon returning to his clan, Xiao Yan couldn't wait to part ways with Xun'er and the elders before quickly entering his small house and closing the door.

After placing the purchased medicinal herbs on the table, he picked up the black iron piece and asked the old herbalist, "Teacher, what is this?"

Xiao Yan naturally guessed what it was, but he wasn't quite sure. What if it wasn't a palm strike?

The old apothecary took the iron piece and said with a smile, "There seems to be a fighting technique inside this. However, the person who made this iron piece may have been an alchemist, so only those with strong soul perception can sense it."

"Battle Technique? What Battle Technique?" Xiao Yan asked hurriedly. He really wanted to obtain the Absorb Palm Battle Technique because it could not only be used in conjunction with his own Cloud Dispelling Palm, but it was also very similar to a unique technique of a hero he greatly admired. That hero looked incredibly cool when using this technique.

"It's a low-level Xuan-rank fighting skill: Absorption Palm!" Seeing Xiao Yan's anxious look, Yao Lao smiled and said.

"Suction Palm: When fully refined, it can absorb boulders weighing thousands of pounds. If encountering an enemy, its fierce suction force can forcibly pull out the blood from a human body!"

"It really is a palm-absorbing technique. Now I can study this fighting skill properly again." Xiao Yan thought to himself.

Seeing Xiao Yan's excited expression, Yao Lao said with a smile, "Are you planning to combine the Absorption Palm with your Cloud Dispelling Palm? If so, then the Absorption Palm would be very suitable for you."

"Hehe, so the teacher knew what I was thinking!" Xiao Yan said with a smile.

He casually tossed the black iron sheet to Xiao Yan, saying helplessly, "You can study it yourself! I still need to refine the Foundation Establishment Elixir. Sigh! Poor old bones of mine, still having to do hard labor!"

Ignoring Yao Lao's complaints, Xiao Yan picked up the black iron plate, immersing his soul perception into it, and began to slowly study this fighting technique. At the same time, he bent his palm into a claw, circulating his fighting energy along the acupoints and meridians of the Absorbing Palm technique.

Xiao Yan raised his right palm towards the door, his hand curled into a claw. He channeled his Dou Qi into the acupoints and meridians of his palm, and soon a suction force emanated from his palm, causing the door to creak open. A smile appeared on Xiao Yan's lips as he chuckled and said, "Teacher, you go ahead with your work. I'll go play in the courtyard."

Seeing Xiao Yan go back to studying fighting techniques, Yao Lao shook his head helplessly. This disciple just loves studying fighting techniques; who knows what kind of tricks he'll come up with this Absorbing Palm technique this time.

Xiao Yan stepped out of the room, gently closed the door, and walked into the spacious courtyard. There was a weapon rack in the courtyard, filled with various weapons.

What boy doesn't dream of being a martial arts hero? When Xiao Yan was ten years old, he begged his father to forge him a set of weapons, including swords, spears, halberds, axes, hooks, and forks. At first, Xiao Yan was very interested in these weapons, but after losing his talent, he lost interest in playing with them and just left them outside to be exposed to the wind and rain, so they became covered in rust.

Xiao Yan crossed his arms, curled his palms into claws, and aimed at a large sword on the weapon rack. He then shouted out a martial arts move that had been buried in his heart for a long time.

"Dragon-Capturing Hand!"

He used both hands simultaneously to generate a powerful suction force in his palms. However, the large sword did not fly into Xiao Yan's palms as he had intended.

With a loud bang, the weapon rack was pulled down by the suction force generated by Xiao Yan's palm, and the weapons scattered all over the ground.

Hearing the noise, the old alchemist inside shook his head helplessly. Luckily, he was a professional alchemist; otherwise, the noise would have likely caused his alchemy to fail. However, when he heard Xiao Yan call out the name of the fighting technique, a playful smile appeared on his lips: "Dragon-Capturing Hand? If those guys knew, they'd skin you alive! Luckily, this is in the remote Jia Ma Empire; if it were in Zhongzhou…"

Xiao Yan glanced guiltily into the room, and only relaxed when he saw no movement. Little did he know the trouble his name would cause. He gently straightened the weapon rack, took out a large sword from the scattered weapons, and placed it in the center of the courtyard. The sword was made of fine wrought iron, four feet long, and weighed about forty or fifty pounds.

Extending his right hand, he curled his palm and used the Dragon-Capturing Hand technique, which Xiao Yan had renamed, on the broadsword once again. The broadsword instantly seemed to be pulled by a rope, and was directly grabbed by Xiao Yan's Dragon-Capturing Hand.

Looking at the broadsword in his hand, Xiao Yan nodded in satisfaction. This fighting skill, which allowed him to retrieve objects from a distance, was indeed very convenient. However, it could only be used in a straight line and not in a curved one, which was a problem. After rolling his eyes, he gently released his grip on the sword. The sword did not fall to the ground but hovered in the air, bobbing up and down.

"Let's practice for now! Sooner or later I'll be able to use a sword from a distance like Xiao Feng," Xiao Yan murmured.

(End of this chapter)