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

"Who is it?!"

Using his soul power, Xiao Yan accurately delivered those two words to the person's ears.

ten minutes ago

"Are you sure this is ahead?" After defeating a thousand-year-old fiery monkey, the young man in the blue robe looked up and thought to himself with some dissatisfaction, "Isn't this the territory of a ten-thousand-year-old soul beast?"

"Nonsense, would I lie to you?" A slightly disgruntled voice echoed in the boy's mind. "We're in this together now!"

"That's why I agreed to come and take a look," the boy sighed. "You should at least tell me what's up ahead, right?"

"There's a small fluctuation of spiritual energy ahead; it must be that a powerful expert has broken through."

"A strong person... above the Soul King level?" The young man frowned.

"Heh, what are Soul Kings on this continent? Let alone Soul Kings, even Soul Emperors can't withstand a single Spiral Wave from you!" The voice in his heart was full of sarcasm.

"So, the one ahead is a Title Douluo-level expert? In the outermost area of ​​the ten-thousand-year-old soul beasts?" The boy asked calmly, used to his companion's tone.

"It's not that I look down on Title Douluos..."

"Forget it, let me put it this way: it's absolutely impossible for someone from the Soul Master system to cause such a fluctuation of spiritual energy! Even if he's a Title Douluo, or even a legendary god!"

"You mean... the people ahead might be like me?" The boy's eyes brightened slightly as he extracted useful information from his companion's words.

"At least they're not from the Soul Master system!" His companion's voice was full of confidence.

"Okay, I understand!" The boy nodded, preparing to accelerate his approach—

"What do you understand?! Are you trying to make that person see you as an enemy by running over there?!" His companion's roar made the boy stop in his tracks.

"Fine……"

The boy pursed his lips and walked towards the location his companion had pointed out, almost step by step.

"Who is it?!"

When they were still three or four kilometers away from the location indicated by their companion, a shout accompanied by a mental shock entered the boy's ears.

"I need to hide for now, given your Heavenly Talisman Master level mental power. Be careful not to let them notice anything amiss!"

The mental shock wasn't too strong, and the boy easily withstood it. However, facing a Heavenly Talisman Master in his current state, the boy's companion was still somewhat flustered. After giving a brief instruction, he fell silent.

"A Celestial Talisman Master..." the young man muttered to himself, "If you convert it, he's at least a Title Douluo, right?"

"This junior, Lin Dong, entered this place unintentionally. If I have disturbed you, please forgive me!" The young man's eyes flashed as he clasped his hands in a respectful manner.

Chapter 12 Lin Dong

Child?!

When Lin Dong walked the three or four thousand meters and met the senior Heavenly Talisman Master, both Xiao Yan and Lin Dong were surprised.

"Friend, may I ask where you are now, senior?"

After glancing around briefly and finding no one else, Lin Dong cupped his hands in greeting to Xiao Yan and asked.

“I’ve been the only one here from beginning to end,” Xiao Yan replied. “I was the one who asked you to come here just now.”

Uh……

Lin Dong, who had assumed that this Heavenly Talisman Master level expert was at least in his twenties or thirties, fell silent for a moment.

"My name is Xiao Yan, what's yours?" Seeing Lin Dong's silence, Xiao Yan didn't mind and casually asked while tending to the Lightning Rabbit's fur.

"Under..."

"Oh, you just gave your name, I almost forgot."

Just as Lin Dong was about to give his name again, Xiao Yan shut him up with a single sentence.

"I forgot by accident, don't worry about it," Xiao Yan smiled casually at Lin Dong's speechless expression. "By the way, do you want some rabbit meat?"

"Aren't we going to absorb the spirit ring first?" Lin Dong asked, 'surprised,' glancing at the still-present purple spirit ring of the Lightning Rabbit.

"Oh, we don't need the Lightning Rabbit's spirit ring. Look, the Ice Flame Wolf, we just absorbed its spirit ring. This Lightning Rabbit was supposed to be its lunch, but it just happened to run into me. I guess it was just unlucky."

"This Iceflame Wolf..." On the corpse of this Iceflame Wolf, whose size was completely unlike that of a thousand-year-old level, Lin Dong couldn't find the mark that should have been there to represent its age. "It's a ten-thousand-year-old soul beast, isn't it?"

"It seems so?" Xiao Yan blinked, Lin Dong's little actions naturally did not escape his notice. "But since I can kill it, I can naturally absorb its soul ring as well."

"That's true."

Then, the two people who were testing each other suddenly fell silent. In this back-and-forth probing, neither of them got the information they wanted, and the already limited topics of conversation inexplicably ran out.

"Speaking of which, are you here to obtain a spirit ring?" Xiao Yan asked curiously as he placed the Lightning Rabbit by the campfire to roast. "Judging from your age... is this your second spirit ring?"

Or perhaps it's the fourth spirit ring?

Xiao Yan's soul power was able to reach the high level of the mortal realm at the age of ten with the help of the Dragon Technique and the Xuan Heavy Ruler. However, when he sensed Lin Dong before, he found that the soul power of this 'native' of Douluo Continent was actually close to the middle level of the mortal realm.

If we remove these two factors, his soul power at this moment might only be on par with Lin Dong's.

"...I wanted to try my luck and see if I could encounter a severely injured ten-thousand-year-old soul beast."

Upon hearing Xiao Yan's somewhat strange question, Lin Dong knew that Xiao Yan had completely seen through his spiritual power as a fourth-level talisman master, so he didn't hide anything and answered directly.

"A ten-thousand-year-old soul beast? With its fifth soul ring?"

"Which spirit ring does the Iceflame Wolf have for you?"

Faced with Xiao Yan's question, which was full of curiosity, Lin Dong asked in return.

"Hahaha--"

"Ha ha……"

They looked at each other and laughed at the same time.

"Let me reintroduce myself," Xiao Yan said, turning the Lightning Rabbit over and extending his right hand to Lin Dong. "Xiao Yan, Level 31 Battle Soul Venerable, Martial Soul: Profound Heavy Ruler."

Although he had spent most of the past two years in the Star Dou Great Forest, Xiao Yan still understood the basic introductions between Soul Masters.

"...Lin Dong, a level 30 Battle Soul Venerable, whose Martial Soul is the Ancient Vortex Seal."

When Lin Dong heard Xiao Yan introduce his level, his expression was very strange. He had reached the late stage of the Earth Origin Realm without restricting his Yuan Power cultivation. He only needed to absorb Yang Gang Qi to officially advance to the Heaven Origin Realm. This Heavenly Talisman Master was only at the early stage of the Heaven Origin Realm... Had he been restricting his cultivation all along? Or was he really not good at Yuan Power?

"Ancient Whirlpool Seal? What's that?"

"Natal talisman..." After uttering those words subconsciously, Lin Dong realized something was wrong—

Why isn't Xiao Yan's 'Martial Soul' his innate talisman? Could it be that Xiao Yan sensed something wrong, and that he's just a native of the Douluo Continent with an extraordinary talent for spiritual power?

"Your natal talisman? Is it your family's martial soul? I don't think any of the seven major sects have a martial soul with that name, right?"

Lin Dong's unnatural pause was noticed by Xiao Yan, who was momentarily filled with doubt and uncertainty. Could it be that this Ancient Vortex Talisman was some kind of particularly famous martial soul? Had his identity as a non-local been exposed just like that?

"No, I just didn't know how to explain it for a moment... How about I summon my martial soul to show you?" Lin Dong felt a little discouraged at the thought that he might have just been fighting against thin air, but he still explained calmly.

"If it's not too much trouble." Since he hadn't been exposed, Xiao Yan wouldn't mind seeing Lin Dong's martial soul.

“No trouble at all,” Lin Dong smiled and shook his head. Then, he flipped his right palm, and a rune about two fingers wide appeared in his right palm.

This rune is drawn from numerous fragments of spiritual energy. At first glance, it gives people a profound feeling, as if the world is encompassed within this seemingly simple rune.

Upon closer inspection, the rune resembles a mutated vortex, its flashing light resembling a quietly growing black hole.

“This martial soul…” Xiao Yan pursed his lips slightly. His knowledge was not as extensive as Yao Lao’s, but he could still understand the special features of this rune. If this martial soul was evaluated in terms of cultivation technique level, it was at least a Xuan-level or higher soul cultivation technique.

"Is this martial spirit linked to your soul power? Is it a manifestation of your soul power?"

Does "soul power" refer to "spiritual power"?

"You could say that the process of my martial spirit constantly growing is also the process of my soul power becoming stronger."

This was the first time anyone on this continent had pointed out the special nature of this natal talisman, so Lin Dong naturally assumed that the soul power Xiao Yan mentioned was the name for spiritual power on this continent.

"Is your martial soul's growth a split, or a change in the runes? Or perhaps both?" After receiving Lin Dong's affirmative answer, Xiao Yan's eyes lit up instantly, and he pressed for an answer.

"Uh……"

"Don't know how to describe it? Why don't you demonstrate it for me? You're level 30 now, what type of spirit ring do you need? Are you sure it's ten thousand years old? Are you confident you can absorb a ten-thousand-year spirit ring?"

Xiao Yan seemed completely oblivious to the boundaries between people, asking several questions in a row, as if he wouldn't give up until he got an answer from Lin Dong.

Is it because your soul power has stopped increasing that you're getting anxious?

Lin Dong had been on this continent for a long time. Although he couldn't guarantee that he knew everything about Soul Masters, he was aware that the cultivation system on this continent was not perfect, especially when it came to upgrading soul power.

Therefore, when Lin Dong heard Xiao Yan's question, his first reaction was that Xiao Yan was anxious because his spiritual power could not increase, and he "unscrupulously" asked about something as private as martial soul.

If this Ancient Vortex Rune Seal were truly a Martial Soul, Lin Dong might genuinely feel enraged. However, this Ancient Vortex Rune Seal is merely a basic seal-forming technique for Rune Masters—albeit a very advanced technique for forming a Natal Spirit Seal.

'Does it involve his family's legacy?'

Although Xiao Yan's series of questions just now were meant to confuse Lin Dong and make him answer in a daze, seeing Lin Dong's troubled expression, Xiao Yan still chose to change the subject.

"Have you decided on the source of your third spirit ring? Has your family helped you determine the time limit?"

"A fire-attribute soul beast will do," Lin Dong breathed a sigh of relief. He was genuinely worried that if Xiao Yan continued to ask, he would reveal the method of forming the Ancient Vortex Seal.

"I can absorb soul rings that are ten or twenty thousand years old, but I'm not so sure about those that are over thirty thousand years old."

Chapter 13 Azure Flame Dragon Beast (Part 1)

Is a 30,000-year-old soul beast considered a third- or fourth-tier magical beast?

Compared to the fact that Lin Dong's third soul ring could also absorb a ten-thousand-year soul ring, Xiao Yan was more concerned about the strength level of the thirty-thousand-year soul beast.

"A ten-thousand-year spirit ring? Are you sure there won't be any problems?"

Of course, the necessary care and concern are still essential.

"Isn't your third spirit ring a ten-thousand-year one?" Lin Dong blinked and asked curiously.

"Ha...that's true." Xiao Yan chuckled dryly.

'So, that supposedly optimal spirit ring combination was a lie, wasn't it? Any family with a decent lineage would have a better option, right?'

Seeing each other's reactions, the same thought flashed through their minds.

Lin Dong, who lives in a small city, and Xiao Yan, who hasn't left the Star Dou Great Forest much in two years, reached a subtle consensus on this unusual matter.

"Fire-attribute soul beasts... There should be quite a few Iceflame Wolves around here. Flames with ice attributes are quite good. Have you considered Iceflame Wolves?"