Battle Through the Heavens: Starting with Cao Ying as an apprentice

"You did very well." Su Baichen put down his pen, and with a flick of his wrist, three small white jade bottles appeared in his palm. The bottles were warm and smooth, with a faint shimmering light.

"Take these pills and cultivate diligently, striving to break through to the Dou Huang realm as soon as possible."

A dazzling light flashed in Yun Yun's eyes. The Dou Huang realm was an insurmountable chasm that countless Dou Wangs could never cross in their entire lives.

Her hands trembled slightly as she accepted the jade bottle, bowing deeply: "Yunyun, thank you so much, Master!"

"Go down and cultivate diligently. Don't let me down."

"Yes."

Yun carefully tucked the jade bottle into her bosom, took three steps back, and then turned to leave. The door closed slightly, and the room returned to silence.

Su Baichen walked to the window. As dusk settled, lights began to twinkle in Wutan City. He looked towards the Xiao family's direction, his gaze seemingly piercing through the layers of houses, and saw the young man who was unaware that his fate had quietly taken a turn.

“Fellow villager…” he murmured to himself, tapping lightly on the window frame with his fingertips.

"In this life, just keep your path ordinary. Don't even think about Yao Chen, Xiao Xun'er, and Cai Lin."

Su Baichen flashed towards the Xiao family, thinking to himself with a smile, "Yaochen, my dear son, your father has come to save you."

Chapter 93 A skilled fellow villager!

In the dead of night, all was quiet, and Wutan City was shrouded in a deep darkness.

Most of the lights in the Xiao family compound had already been extinguished, with only the lanterns carried by the patrolling guards casting swaying shadows in the corridors, like fireflies moving in the darkness.

A furtive little dark figure was moving stealthily in one direction along the shadows at the base of the wall.

The shadowy figure moved with exceptional skill—first, the toes touched the ground lightly to test the solidity of the bluestone pavement, then the entire sole of the foot was slowly pressed down, and finally the heel touched the ground. The whole process was almost silent.

When passing a corner where fallen leaves had accumulated, he would even deliberately walk around it to avoid making a "rustling" sound under his feet.

Occasionally, a night patrol guard carrying a lantern would walk around the corner, and the shadowy figure would immediately shrink behind the pillars or in the crevices of the rockery, holding its breath until the footsteps faded away before reappearing.

This dark figure was none other than Xiao Yan, the third son of Xiao Zhan, the patriarch of the Xiao family.

A few rays of moonlight pierced through the clouds, illuminating his still somewhat youthful yet already striking profile. His obsidian-like eyes gleamed with a cunning and calculating shrewdness beyond his years.

"That little girl who came today is really something else..."

Xiao Yan thought to himself, as the scenes from the day replayed in his mind.

—Let's rewind to this morning.

As dawn broke, Xiao Yan rose as usual and began his morning practice in the courtyard. He had been in this world for some time now, and from initial discomfort to his current ease and comfort, he had rapidly cultivated thanks to his own talent.

He was undoubtedly the number one person of the Xiao family in this generation. His cultivation level, surpassing that of his peers, left other children far behind. Almost all the children in the clan, whether older or younger than him, looked up to him without question.

He knew how to use appropriate language to motivate his companions, and he also knew how to demonstrate his strength and establish authority when necessary—this wisdom from another world made him the undisputed "king of the kids" among the younger generation of the Xiao family.

Just as he was about to finish cultivating his battle qi and begin practicing the Xiao family's basic battle techniques, a maid's gentle call came from outside the door.

"Young master, the clan chief requests your presence, saying it is of great importance."

Xiao Yan stopped his attack, a hint of doubt flashing through his mind. His father rarely summoned him at this hour, unless…

Following the maid through numerous courtyards, Xiao Yan arrived at the Xiao family's council hall, where he immediately sensed something was amiss.

The usually spacious and solemn hall was now filled with all the high-ranking members of the Xiao family. The three elders sat solemnly on the left; the stewards of each department sat upright on the right. In the center of the hall, the father, Xiao Zhan, sat upright, his brows furrowed with an unusual solemnity.

The most striking sight was the little girl standing quietly beside her father.

She wore a light purple brocade dress, the fabric shimmering softly in the morning light, clearly not an ordinary fabric.

The girl's features were exquisitely sculpted like jade. Beneath her long eyelashes, a pair of clear eyes calmly surveyed her surroundings without the slightest hint of stage fright. What was most striking was the aura she exuded—a noble and aloof quality that seemed completely out of place with her environment, as if she were an elf who had strayed into the mortal world.

"Yan'er, come here."

Xiao Zhan's voice pulled Xiao Yan back to reality. He stepped forward to bow, but his gaze involuntarily drifted back to the girl.

"This is the daughter of an old friend of mine," Xiao Zhan began, his voice echoing in the hall.

"Due to some special reasons, my friend needs to have his daughter stay with our Xiao family for a period of time."

At this point, Xiao Zhan paused, his gaze sweeping across the room, and his tone became more serious: "From this day forward, she will be called Xiao Xun'er, and she will be a member of my Xiao family. I hope you will all treat her as family and not mistreat her."

As soon as he finished speaking, the three elders exchanged a meaningful glance, but none of them asked any questions.

The girl stepped forward at the right moment, bowed slightly to everyone, and said in a clear and melodious voice, "Xun'er greets all the elders. I hope you will forgive me if I disturb you in the future."

His manners are impeccable, and his etiquette is impeccable; he doesn't seem like a child his age at all.

The meeting was surprisingly brief. All the topics revolved around how to settle this "Xiao Xun'er"—to treat her even better than Xiao Yan.

With each announcement of an arrangement, the three elders frowned more deeply, but no one raised any objections.

At the end of the meeting, Xiao Zhan specifically called out to Xiao Yan: "Yan'er, Xun'er is new here and not familiar with the manor yet. Why don't you take her around the manor and let her get acquainted with the environment?"

As he spoke, his father's gaze met Xiao Yan's for a fleeting moment. In that look, besides the usual loving affection, there was also a certain implication—a meaning that Xiao Yan could understand, a meaning that only father and son could comprehend.

—As night deepens, memories fade away.

Xiao Yan had already silently arrived outside Xiao Xun'er's room, hiding behind a thicket of laurel trees. Through the gaps in the branches and leaves, he could see that the specially prepared guest room window was tightly closed, and the inside was pitch black.

"Father is lying," Xiao Yan thought to himself with a cold laugh.

“If it were just the daughter of an old friend, he would never have shown that kind of caution and…respect in his eyes.”

His observations during the day had confirmed many details for him: the three elders were full of questions but dared not ask too many; the treatment given to Xun'er was almost the same as that of the clan chief's direct descendants; when his father mentioned "that friend," his fingers unconsciously rubbed the armrest of the chair—a small gesture he made when he was nervous.

"This girl must have quite a background." Xiao Yan narrowed his eyes.

"Moreover, my father specifically asked me to show her around the environment, and he gave me that look in his eyes... clearly hoping that I would get close to her and win her favor."

A plan gradually took shape in Xiao Yan's mind.

A little girl arriving in an unfamiliar environment is at her most insecure.

If you can take this opportunity to show care, gain trust, and even... win her heart, the rewards you can get in the future are immeasurable.

He seemed to already see this scene: with the help of this mysterious girl, he would obtain resources that ordinary people could not imagine, his cultivation would advance by leaps and bounds, he would not only dominate Wutan City, but also be able to leave this remote place and see a wider world...

"Me, a transmigrator, can't even handle a little girl?" Xiao Yan's lips curled into a confident smile as he said, "If I can't even do this, I might as well find a block of tofu and smash my head against it!"

The moonlight shifted, casting a long shadow over him. Xiao Yan took a deep breath, preparing to take action.

His chosen method was simple and direct—to sneak into her boudoir at night. If she was awake, he would make an excuse that he was "worried that the new girl might not be used to it, so I came to check on her"; if she was asleep, he would quietly leave some small gifts on the table, and the next day he would approach her again under the pretext that he "didn't know who left them there."

In any case, he can always create the image of a "gentle and considerate older brother".

As for the risk of being discovered? Xiao Yan wasn't worried at all. Who would imagine that an adult's soul resided in a child's body? Even if they were caught, he could simply play dumb and fool them. Children always have privileges, don't they?

Xiao Yan held his breath and darted out from behind the laurel bushes like a nimble cat, quickly approaching the window. He listened intently, but there was no sound from inside the room.

Just as he reached out to poke a small hole in the window paper to peek inside—

Xiao Yan was unaware that when he regarded Xiao Xun'er as prey, he himself had become prey in the eyes of others.

The mantis catches the cicada, and the oriole is behind.

About ten feet above his head, a white figure had silently floated in mid-air.

The moonlight outlined his slender figure, his robes fluttering slightly in the night breeze without making a sound. A faint, golden halo enveloped him, perfectly concealing his presence and form.

Su Baichen looked down at the small, tiptoeing figure below, a playful expression on his handsome face.

"My fellow villager is quite skilled at it." He smiled silently, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.

"Climbing over walls, sneaking around, evading patrols... this set of movements is so smooth, it doesn't seem like the first time doing something like this."

His gaze followed Xiao Yan's every move—from scaling the low wall, to using the shadows of the artificial hill and trees to advance, and now crouching under the window to spy. Every action displayed a maturity beyond his years.

“Interesting.” Su Baichen stroked his chin and muttered to himself, “It seems that this ‘Emperor Yan’ wasn’t entirely innocent and naive when he was young.”

His gaze then swept across the courtyard, his brows furrowing slightly.

"Where did Ling Ying go?" Su Baichen muttered to himself. "How could he be such a guard when a stranger approached his young lady's room? He didn't even notice a grown man touching the window?"

Su Baichen was speechless at Ling Ying's "dereliction of duty".

Although Xiao Yan's cultivation level was low at the moment and he was difficult to detect, it was still unreasonable for Ling Ying, a Dou Huang-level expert who was specifically responsible for secretly protecting Xun'er, to allow a child to get so close.

While Su Baichen was observing his fellow villagers and complaining about Ling Ying, an uninvited guest arrived at his own hideout.

Chapter 94 Mutual Home Raids

Outside the courtyard where Cai Die and the others lived, a figure that almost blended into the darkness quietly appeared.

The black robe remained motionless in the night wind, as if the fabric itself could absorb the light.

Ling Ying stood in the shadow of an ancient tree, his black battle aura slowly flowing around him, forming a natural concealment barrier. Even experts of the same level would find it difficult to detect his presence without deliberately probing.

"This is it." Ling Ying's gaze locked onto the seemingly ordinary courtyard in front of her like a hawk, a sharp glint flashing in her eyes.

He began his search at dusk, traversing almost every corner of Wutan City. That morning at the Xiao family's residence, the faint, almost imperceptible sense of being watched, though extremely subtle, had not escaped his perception as a Dou Huang powerhouse.

It was a very peculiar feeling—not malicious, but it's never good to be spied on.

As soon as it got dark, Ling Ying reported the situation to Xun'er. He left a call token in the young lady's room and then left.

If danger were to approach, the young lady would activate the mark, and he could quickly return—at the speed of a Dou Huang, he could cover that distance in no time.

Moreover, the young lady also has a protective restriction personally placed on her by the clan leader, Gu Yuan.

That was a technique left behind by a peak Dou Sheng expert; probably no one in the entire Jia Ma Empire could break it.

After confirming that everything was in perfect order, Ling Ying began his "cleaning" work. The safety of the ancient clan's young lady was of utmost importance, and any potential threats had to be eliminated.

After several hours of investigation, he finally pinpointed the most likely source of the sight—this inconspicuous little courtyard.

There were very faint energy fluctuations around the courtyard, which was arranged quite cleverly. If he hadn't been highly skilled in cultivation and specialized in concealment and reconnaissance, he would have almost missed it.

"They certainly know how to pick a spot." Ling Ying sneered inwardly, her figure transforming into a wisp of black smoke, silently drifting towards the courtyard wall.

He had no idea that at the same moment he left the Xiao family, Su Baichen appeared outside Xiao Xun'er's window.

Little did they know that at that moment, the owner of the courtyard, Su Baichen, was watching the "night visit to the boudoir" show with great interest from above the Xiao family's residence.

Ling Ying drifted into the courtyard like a falling leaf, his toes lightly touching the ground without making a sound. He immediately disappeared into the shadows of the corner, his battle aura spreading outwards like a spiderweb.

The courtyard was very quiet, unusually quiet.

"No aura of a powerful expert?" Ling Ying frowned slightly. This was illogical. A concealment ability that even he could easily detect should belong to someone at least at the Dou Huang level. How could it leave no trace?