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

"Let's get ready and set off."

After saying that, the girl returned to the tavern. A while later, when the members of the Soul Hunting Group were ready, the girl came out again. This time, however, she was accompanied by an old woman with a cane, a slightly hunched back, and gray hair.

Upon seeing the old woman, Xiao Yan was slightly taken aback, but before the old woman could turn her gaze towards him, Xiao Yan's eyes returned to Lu Yun.

After confirming that everyone had arrived, Lu Yun said nothing more and led the group toward Sunset Forest.

Three battle spirit masters, including Xiao Yan, walked at the front, followed by two support-type spirit masters and two employers. Lu Yun and Zhou Ke, the strongest among them, were at the rear.

Everything was relatively peaceful in the outermost area of ​​Sunset Forest, where only a few ten-year-old soul beasts roamed. However, shortly after entering the area where hundred-year-old soul beasts gathered, they encountered a small-scale attack by soul beasts.

The attacker was a small snake-like spirit beast called the Jade Serpent. Although it was a highly venomous spirit beast, normally, this small snake-like spirit beast was not particularly aggressive. In fact, the textbooks of the spirit master academy even had a small tip: "Unless you hold it in your hand and tease it, it will never hurt you."

"Commander, I have an antidote for the venom of the Jade Snake."

After throwing the dead jade snakes into the bushes, Xiao Yan took out an antidote from his bag and handed it to Lu Yun, who was frowning and treating the wound on his leg. Although it was somewhat unbelievable, Lu Yun, who had the highest cultivation level among everyone present, was the only one who had been bitten by the jade snake.

"Jade Serpent?" Lu Yun frowned. "Yao Yan, have you ever heard of this kind of soul beast?"

"...I've heard of it. It's said to be a relatively gentle soul beast that attacked us in a panic. There should be thousand-year-old bird soul beasts nearby."

Upon noticing the blank expressions on everyone's faces, including the young girl who had been the client, Xiao Yan silently revised the description of the Jade Serpent slightly, but his gaze towards the old woman became increasingly wary—

Xiao Yan was quite certain that the old woman was behind the attack by the jade snakes, but what puzzled him was that the old woman seemed to have no regard for her granddaughter at all? If it weren't for Xiao Yan's intervention, the girl would have been the second person to be poisoned by this snake venom.

"Gentle? Where did you hear that false information?" After applying the medicine Xiao Yan handed him, Lu Yun curled his lip and stood up. "Alright, let's continue on our way and try to reach the vicinity of the central river before evening!"

The group had traveled less than 500 meters when they were attacked again. This time, the attack was still carried out by the old woman, but this time Zhou Ke and the old woman's granddaughter were among the injured.

During the third attack, all the Soul Masters, including Xiao Yan, suffered minor injuries. The one who struck was still the old woman with a cane and a Soul Power level of only seventy-something.

Xiao Yan had expected a fourth or fifth attack, but to his surprise, after all the combat-capable Soul Masters had wounds, the old woman stopped controlling the Soul Beasts to attack them.

"Teacher, do you know what that old woman is up to?"

Upon reaching the central riverbank, as they began setting up tents and a campfire according to Lu Yun's instructions, Xiao Yan asked himself a question.

'Perhaps... it's to teach her granddaughter a lesson, so she won't hire Soul Hunters outside?' Old Yao was also a little unsure.

When Xiao Yan noticed something was wrong with the old woman, he also took a look at her and came to the same conclusion as Xiao Yan: she was just an ordinary Soul Saint.

But why would a Soul Saint control a bunch of low-level Soul Beasts to attack a Soul Hunting Group whose highest level is only around level 50?

Was it really just to teach her granddaughter a lesson?

"Lin Fei, has it been because I've always seemed too gentle to you that you've started to think you could challenge my decisions?"

Just as Xiao Yan and Yao Lao were brainstorming, Lu Yun's suppressed anger reached Xiao Yan's ears from afar.

"I...I just feel a little tired."

Lin Fei's tone softened immediately after uttering the second word, even though the first word was quite assertive.

"Humph……"

Upon hearing Lu Yun's soft hum, Lin Fei shuddered: "Okay, don't worry, Captain, leave the night watch to me!"

After giving Lin Fei a "you know what's good for you" look, Lu Yun returned to his own tent. Perhaps to protect his employers, Lu Yun's tent was the closest to the two employers' tents.

"Alright, stop watching, everyone go do what you're supposed to do."

After Lu Yun returned to his tent, Zhou Ke, the deputy commander, took charge of the overall situation. "Lin Fei, you will keep watch tonight. You don't need to help with the preparation of dinner. Lu Chen and Lu Mu, you two don't need to prepare the portion for me and the commander. The commander and I will just eat some dry rations."

"Zhang Yu, Yao Yan, you two clear out the low-level soul beasts around here."

After assigning tasks to everyone, Zhou Ke sat cross-legged outside his own tent, looking every bit the part of a supervisor.

Hearing Zhou Ke say that he and Lu Yun weren't planning to eat the dinner prepared by the Lu sisters, Xiao Yan felt a headache coming on.

Because he didn't know what the old woman was planning to do, he deliberately added some medicine to her dinner—a liquid used to cleanse the body of harmful drugs. This way, unless the old woman took direct action, her goal would definitely fail.

However, if the old woman truly intended to use drugs to control their soul-hunting team after the two strongest individuals decided not to eat dinner, she had succeeded.

"Dugu... Hmph..."

Just as Xiao Yan was having a headache, the old woman, who seemed to think everything was ready, couldn't help but let out a soft murmur.

'Dugu? Dugu Bo? Does a Soul Saint in her seventies or eighties have a grudge against that Azure Douluo?'

Although he had some clues, Xiao Yan felt that things were even stranger. It wasn't that he looked down on Soul Saints, but what qualifications did a Soul Saint of this age have to make an enemy of a Title Douluo?

'Ah, no, that's not right either. If it were a one-star or seven-star Dou Ling, it seems there wouldn't be much of a problem...'

Indeed, there is a difference of more than twenty levels between a Soul Saint and a Title Douluo, but if it is a Dou Ling One-Star and a Dou Ling Seven-Star, there is only a six-star difference, so it seems that it is not impossible for them to become enemies.

'Forget it, let's just take it one step at a time.' Xiao Yan rolled his eyes.

Chapter 93 Snakes and Scorpions

As dawn broke, Xiao Yan's ears twitched slightly, and then he opened his eyes alertly—

In his perception, Lu Yun and Zhou Ke, who had been sitting in their respective tents all night, suddenly stood up and walked out of their tents stiffly, like lifeless zombies.

"Commander, Deputy Commander, you're awake too."

As Lu Yun and Zhou Ke silently approached Lin Fei, who was on night watch, Xiao Yan also emerged from the tent, pretending to be half-asleep as he greeted the two of them, rubbing his eyes as he did so.

Hearing Xiao Yan's voice, Lin Fei noticed that Lu Yun and Zhou Ke were standing behind him. Startled, Lin Fei jumped to his feet.

"Good morning, Commander and Deputy Commander!"

He greeted the two stiff-looking captains with great enthusiasm. At the same time, under Xiao Yan's control, the voice accurately entered the ears of the Lu sisters and Zhang Yu, who were fast asleep in their respective tents.

Having already lost all life force and being no different from the dead, Lu Yun and Zhou Ke naturally couldn't respond to Lin Fei's greeting. During the brief standoff, the Lu sisters and Zhang Yu also emerged from their tents.

For a moment, four pairs of sleepy eyes stared blankly at Lin Fei and the two regimental commanders opposite him.

"Sigh, so she really does have some kind of special constitution?" A few seconds later, an old voice rang out, with a hint of helplessness in its tone, "She can actually be immune to the control of my vampire puppet's martial soul... Or is it because my level is not high enough?"

Everyone had heard that aged voice before; it was the voice of "Grandma," the person who issued the commissions for their Soul Hunting Group.

Although it was the employer's voice, the word "control" in it put everyone on alert. Lin Fei, who already felt that Lu Yun and Zhou Ke were acting strangely and making people uneasy, decisively distanced himself from the two of them. He only relaxed a little after getting close to Xiao Yan and the other three.

The approach of the highest-ranking person besides Lu Yun and Zhou Ke brought a sigh of relief to the group. Then, they stared intently at the tent located in the very center—

As if deliberately letting the group prepare, the tent flap was lifted after Lin Fei and the others met up, and then an old woman with a full head of white hair slowly walked out, leaning on her cane.

"My name is Zhou Wei," the old woman introduced herself, glancing at the group. "You... probably don't recognize me, do you?"

"What did you do to the commander and the others?!"

Lin Fei ignored Zhou Wei's words, summoned his martial spirit with a backhand, pointed a long spear at her, and questioned her sharply.

As Lin Fei summoned his martial soul, Xiao Yan, Zhang Yu, and the Lu sisters also summoned their own martial souls. Then, Xiao Yan and Zhang Yu stepped forward and stood beside Lin Fei, while the Lu sisters directly activated their soul skills, and six beams of light fell on Xiao Yan and Lin Fei respectively.

Unlike most support-type martial souls, the Lu sisters' martial souls can only support one person at a time. Yesterday, the ones who were able to enjoy this service were Lu Yun and Zhou Ke, who are now standing respectfully behind Zhou Wei.

Zhou Wei didn't answer Lin Fei's question, and didn't even look at him directly.

Even after the Lu sisters' three soul skills landed on him, Zhou Wei's attention was only on the flowers and plants at Lin Fei's feet.

All of this was under Xiao Yan's observation.

“I knew it…” Zhou Wei’s face showed an ugly smile. “Alright, you two, move forward.” Under Zhou Wei’s command, Lu Yun and Zhou Ke slowly took a few steps in one direction.

"You six...follow behind those two."

Even though Lin Fei's hand, gripping his martial spirit, trembled incessantly, as if angered by Zhou Wei's attitude, Zhou Wei still didn't glance at him. She simply calmly directed her "granddaughter," who had just emerged from the tent, and the five people she considered prisoners.

"Damn it... Lightning Arc Blast!"

Unable to bear such humiliation, Lin Fei suddenly leaped up, his purple soul ring flashing, and a golden arc of lightning shot out from the tip of his spear as he swung it violently.

"Foolish behavior." Zhou Wei glanced at Lin Fei, then twitched her right index finger slightly, and an invisible thin line shot out, shattering the golden lightning arc and piercing Lin Fei's shoulder at the same time.

Bang!

Lin Fei, who was in mid-air, fell straight to the ground, kicking up countless grains of sand.

Amidst the swirling sandstorm, Zhang Yu pushed off the ground with both feet and charged towards Zhou Wei's granddaughter.

Noticing Zhang Yu's movements, Lu Chen turned the spirit orb in his hand, and the beams of light that had originally landed on Lin Fei all drifted onto Zhang Yu.

Before Zhou Wei could "react," Zhang Yu, whose speed had increased dramatically, grabbed her granddaughter and extended his claws, pressing them against the girl's fair neck.

Noticing this, Xiao Yan waved his hand, using a fake wind-attribute offensive martial soul to disperse the sand and dust. Then, Zhang Yu shouted angrily, "Don't move!"

Unperturbed by the sandstorm, Zhou Wei calmly watched Zhang Yu, who had caught her "granddaughter."

"I said, don't move!"

Noticing the subtle movement of Zhou Wei's right index finger, Zhang Yu roared and his sharp claws decisively pierced the girl's skin, causing bright red blood to drip onto the ground.

"You said you weren't allowed to move..." Zhou Wei's voice came from the mouth of the girl controlled by Zhang Yu.

Which one are you referring to?

Are you talking about me?

"Or are you talking about me?"

Subsequently, Lu Yun, Zhou Ke, and even Lin Fei, who had just landed on the ground, all uttered Zhou Wei's voice. Furthermore, before Zhang Yu could lose control and completely pierce the girl's neck with his claws, the thin thread controlled Zhang Yu's claws.

Xiao Yan and the Lu sisters watched in horror as Zhang Yu slowly raised his claws, and then plunged them viciously into his own neck.

Zhang Yu's face was filled with terror, but his hand was so firm, as if it had its own thoughts.

"So, where are the three of you?"

Watching Zhang Yu tending to the massive wound on his neck, trying to stop the blood from gushing out, Zhou Wei's calm voice rang out again, "No, it should be... So what about you? Yao Yan."

Zhou Wei slowly turned her head and looked directly at Xiao Yan. The achievement that Lin Fei had been unable to achieve was accomplished by Xiao Yan at this moment.

"Why...it's me?" Xiao Yan's lips twitched, and he raised his hands as if giving up.

“You are a young Soul Master who has just graduated from the academy,” Zhou Wei narrowed her eyes, “unlike the four of them, who have too much of a bandit mentality and don’t know how to write the word ‘give up’ at all.” Her voice was calm, as if killing the Jaguar Soul Hunters without mercy was not her intention.

Xiao Yan wasn't surprised by the words "just graduated from the academy." He had already prepared himself for being guessed when he mentioned the names of the first wave of soul beasts that attacked them yesterday. But Zhou Wei's next sentence—

"You don't seem to have given the commander and the others a chance to give up, do you?"

Protecting the Lu sisters, who had prepared dinner for him the night before, behind him, Xiao Yan watched Zhou Wei warily.

'Not to mention, you targeted me from the very beginning, didn't you?'

“Of course I gave them a chance,” Zhou Wei said slowly. “When I found Lu Yun and Zhou Ke, they were bullying a Soul Master who had just graduated from the academy… just like you, an academy-trained Soul Master. When I told them I had a request, they asked me to wait a moment. While I was waiting, they chose to kill that Soul Master. They rejected the chance I gave them.”