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

A Soul Master certificate and a ring inlaid with a flame-like gem were handed to Xiao Yan by Mirko.

"?" Xiao Yan raised his head in surprise.

The soul power emanating from that ring practically screamed "I am a soul tool!"

“This is a soul tool, it can probably fit a small house inside, consider it my personal compensation to you,” Mirko sighed. “It was our fault for not being able to protect your family, I hope you won’t blame the Spirit Hall for it.”

"No, I can't accept it..."

"Alright, it's just a soul tool. Which Soul Master doesn't have a few?"

Mirko interrupted Xiao Yan, forcefully shoving the item into Xiao Yan's hands, "If you change your mind, you must go to the Spirit Hall!"

Leaving behind a message, Mirko removed the soundproof barrier around him, then turned and vanished in a flash.

Chapter 22 Demon Core?

Xiao Yan looked at the ring in his hand, then at the direction where Mirko had disappeared. For a moment, his conscience ached slightly.

"Would you dare to do it again next time?" the old medicine doctor's teasing voice rang out.

"We'll continue next time..."

As Xiao Yan muttered to himself, he slipped the ring onto his left wrist.

'Four thousand eight hundred gold soul coins… This is a direct payment of four years' worth of Soul Master subsidies? And this was prepared in advance, wasn't it?'

After scanning with his mental energy, Xiao Yan determined the number of gold soul coins in the approximately one thousand square soul tool.

'That makes sense, though. A Soul Saint wouldn't need that long to come from the city center. He probably specifically sought out this soul tool and also took the opportunity to count a sufficient amount of gold soul coins, right?'

After storing the Soul Master certificate in his Soul Tool, Xiao Yan stared at the flame-colored gem on the ring for a while.

'Aren't you going to take it off? That person should be prepared to be discovered by you... no, they should be preparing for you to discover it, right?' Yao Lao's voice echoed in Xiao Yan's mind.

Both Yao Lao and Xiao Yan knew there was something wrong with the flame-colored gem when they saw the ring. After all, the obvious aura of soul power was equivalent to a stone emitting a dazzling light in their soul power perception.

'Alright, let's keep it for now. It'll be good to see what the Spirit Hall is up to.'

Xiao Yan pursed his lips. Another reason was that he wanted to learn more about the 'Angel God'. Since the believers had come directly to his door, he had no intention of turning them away.

'So, should we give it a name?'

'What name should I give it? It's something someone uses to monitor me!'

'Awaken the Flame Ring. Whatever the Spirit Hall's intentions, I must remind myself to keep an eye on their movements.'

Is that all?

'If things go wrong, it'll be a good memento, so I'll be more careful not to accept other people's kindness in the future.'

After exchanging a few words of internal debate with Yao Lao, Xiao Yan strode towards the city.

·

"That person went in, can we go in now?"

Among the crowd stopped by soldiers outside the city, a girl in a simple light yellow dress noticed a boy going into the city gate in the distance and asked a question.

"It's ready..."

The soldier turned around and, after seeing that Mirko and Xiao Yan had both left, responded.

"Then why don't you put your weapon away?!"

The young girl with short, ear-length hair spoke urgently. Without waiting for the soldiers to raise their weapons, she bent down and crawled under the crossed spears.

"Anyone who didn't know better would think you were chasing after your husband..."

The soldier, slowly putting away his weapon, glanced back at the girl running towards the city gate and muttered to himself.

"Shut up! How dare you speak ill of Soul Masters behind their backs?" The sergeant glared at the man.

What do you think?

The soldier rolled his eyes.

·

Upon returning to the main hall of the Spirit Hall, Mirko retrieved a special instrument from his soul tool, on which was inscribed with the words: Due South, 999 meters.

As time went on, the numbers above gradually shrank, and then at some point, due south became southwest.

"The soul power tracker wasn't cut off... Did they just not detect it?"

"No, how could such obvious soul power fluctuations go unnoticed? If a Great Soul Master could detect it, a Soul Venerable would certainly not be able to..."

The words that came out subconsciously might be denied in the next moment. A smile appeared on Mirko's face. "So you do have a good impression of the Spirit Hall after all?"

Of course, it's also possible that the soul tool was given to someone else, or that the decorative gem was removed separately, but Mirko didn't want to think about such complicated things at the moment.

Those complicated matters can be left to you to handle when you need to hand over the tracking soul tool.

"That scar... He doesn't think it looks realistic, does he?"

Finally, a sentence was faintly heard coming from Mirko's room.

·

'...A magic core?'

As soon as he entered the inner city, Xiao Yan sensed a very familiar energy fluctuation. 'Teacher, can you sense it? Northwest direction…'

"It does look somewhat like it... but how could that be? We've already confirmed that the soul beasts on the Douluo Continent don't have magic cores, haven't we?" Yao Lao's voice was also filled with obvious doubt.

During their two years living in the Star Dou Great Forest, Xiao Yan hunted hundreds of soul beasts of dozens of species. With the help of Yao Lao, the soul beasts ranged in level from first to fourth. After analyzing these soul beasts, the two determined that soul beasts did not possess the conditions to develop a magic core.

At least, soul beasts below 100,000 years old cannot possess a magic core.

"This is it..."

After sensing the energy fluctuations that resembled those emanating from a demonic core, Xiao Yan increased his speed until he stopped in front of a shop.

This is a very ordinary little shop, but the sign hanging above the shop is very strange and eye-catching.

The sign features a circular mark with several unique symbols inside: one resembling a sword, another a hammer, and yet another a dragon-shaped monster.

Several years ago, when Xiao Yan went to the Soul Hunting Forest, he learned from Mu Chen that these three marks were usually used to represent the level of the Soul Hunting Token. The primary level only had a longsword, the intermediate level had a longsword and a hammer, and the highest level had all three. Most idle soul masters and academy soul masters could only receive the intermediate level Soul Hunting Token.

Mu Chen only learned what the highest-level Soul Hunter's Token looked like because he had a good relationship with a captain from the Spirit Hall of Shanchui City.

So, this shop is owned by the Spirit Hall?

The shop was located in a very remote area, which was not the kind of location that the Spirit Hall would choose. Therefore, Xiao Yan was filled with doubt. Thus, with suspicion, Xiao Yan walked into the small shop.

Stepping through the open shop door, the view suddenly dims. It's unclear whether this is the shop owner's quirk or an attempt to confuse customers with the dim lighting.

Xiao Yan looked around, behaving like a tourist who had wandered into this place by mistake, but his eyes swept across the entire shop in an instant—

There was only one person in the shop, and no counter. There were some things hanging on the three walls, including a deep red crystal that Xiao Yan was after, as well as many tools that emitted energy fluctuations.

'They're all soul tools...'

The person sitting in the recliner must be the shop owner; he has his eyes closed and is swaying with the chair.

'What a distinctive appearance...'

Xiao Yan didn't really care about other people's appearances, but this boss... was too distinctive. He had a protruding chin, wide cheekbones, a flat face—a typical long, narrow face—but a very prominent hooked nose, coupled with a pair of square-rimmed black glasses.

'A typical shrewd businessman; be careful.'

Muttering to himself, Xiao Yan's gaze fell upon a crystal hanging closest to the door.

This crystal is about the size of a human head and is completely transparent, but it contains large areas of dark yellow impurities. As far as crystals are concerned, its quality is undoubtedly the lowest.

After deliberately remaining silent for a long time, Xiao Yan pretended not to care and turned his gaze to another hanging item, and then quickly moved on to the next one.

Soon, Xiao Yan finished looking at the items hanging on the wall.

"Tsk..." Xiao Yan deliberately made a slight clicking sound, then glanced at the boss lying on the recliner.

Before Xiao Yan reached the next wall, a short-haired girl hurriedly walked into the store.

After glancing at the shop owner on the recliner and then at Xiao Yan, who was pretending to select items, the short-haired girl began to examine the items on the wall, just like Xiao Yan.

"Tsk, what a pile of junk..."

However, the short-haired girl didn't seem to have Xiao Yan's magnanimity; she couldn't help but mutter a curse under her breath after only looking at two items.

Xiao Yan glanced at the girl, muttered a curse under his breath, and then continued to examine the items on the wall, pursing his lips as he continued his performance.

The second and third walls had fewer interesting items than Xiao Yan had imagined. After 'subconsciously' glancing again at the crystal he had been staring at for a long time, Xiao Yan casually scanned the items on the third wall.

Xiao Yan casually picked up the deep red crystal that he had actually been eyeing from the beginning and looked towards the recliner.

"Boss, how much is this?"

"Not expensive, one hundred gold soul coins." A lazy, slightly magnetic, husky voice rang out.

"This broken crystal? One hundred gold soul coins?" The short-haired girl had somehow gotten close to Xiao Yan and couldn't help but complain after hearing the merchant's price.

The middle-aged shrewd merchant on the recliner opened his eyes but did not leave his seat. "One hundred gold soul coins is the lowest price. Pay up if you want to buy, otherwise please leave."

After saying that, as if she had exhausted all her strength, she lazily closed her eyes again.

"Are you sure you want one hundred gold soul coins? You're not changing your mind?"

Holding the deep red crystal, Xiao Yan looked at the middle-aged man lying there with a half-smile. He could tell at a glance that the middle-aged man was a shrewd businessman, so Xiao Yan had no intention of paying him directly.

"Well, since you've said so, it's now worth two hundred gold soul coins," the middle-aged man said in his indistinct voice.

Xiao Yan glanced around casually and grabbed the dark yellow crystal, about the size of a human head, closest to the gate.

Xiao Yan originally intended to use the dark yellow crystal as a smokescreen, but when his right hand touched the crystal, an expression of surprise involuntarily appeared on his face.

"What if we add this?"

"One thousand gold soul coins." The unscrupulous merchant didn't even look up before casually offering the price.

"The dark yellow one is eight hundred, and the deep red one is two hundred?"

"The dark yellow one is eight hundred, the deep red one is seven hundred." The unscrupulous merchant immediately changed the price.

"Can't you make it cheaper?"

"Small business, no bargaining. Either pay up or walk away," the middle-aged man said lazily.