Battle Through the Heavens

On the mountain cliff, Xiao Yan suddenly held his neck, and let out a couple of intense coughs. After which, he forcefully swallowed a few mouthfuls of saliva. Only then did the feeling, of a blaze burning in his throat, weakened slightly.

“A natural reaction, You need not be too concerned...” Yao Lao smiled and comforted when he saw the expression pasted on Xiao Yan’s face.

“Cough... teacher. Have I successfully inherited it?” Xiao Yan’s face may be flushed due to the intense coughing spell, but his face still contained an excitement as he asked eagerly.

“Ah, from the looks of it, you have indeed successfully obtained that strange dragon aura which possesses the ability to cause souls to tremble...” Yao Lao laughed. Gratification was present in his laughter.

The excitement on Xiao Yan’s face was much more dense when he heard this. Although the ‘Yin-Yang Mysterious Dragon Pill’ did not immediately raise his strength, this so called dragon aura caused him to have another attacking method that would take others by surprise. One can imagine how much help this ability would be to Xiao Yan in the future.

“Although the current you may have successfully inherited the dragon aura from the ‘Yin-Yang Mysterious Dragon Pill’, if you are to only rely on the dragon aura to emit that kind of sound wave, the damage it will create to your throat is extremely great. If you are not careful, you might end up turning yourself into a mute. That kind of loss would be too great.” Yao Lao voiced his thoughts.

“This so called dragon aura sound wave still needs to act in concert with those kind of sound wave Dou Techniques in order to be used?” Xiao Yan frowned slightly. After hearing Yao Lao’s acknowledgement, he could not help but smile bitterly, “Dou Techniques of that kind are quite rare. Obtaining it is easier said than done.”

“Take your time to look for it. Back then, I did indeed have a Xuan Class sound wave Dou Technique. However, due to some unforeseen events later on, I lost it. Therefore, you can only rely on yourself to go and search for one.” Yao Lao sighed.

Xiao Yan merely shrugged his shoulders when he heard Yao Lao’s words. It appeared that there was no hope of receiving a sound wave Dou Technique from Yao Lao.

Xiao Yan smoothly took out a bottle of clear water from his storage ring, and violently poured it into his mouth. He wiped the water stains at the corner of his mouth and suddenly asked in passing, “Teacher, you seem to understand this ‘Yin-Yang Mysterious Dragon Pill’ very well, no? You actually even know how to force out the dragon aura buried deep within the Dou Qi.”

Yao Lao suddenly descended into silence once Xiao Yan’s words left his mouth. When he saw Yao Lao’s action, Xiao Yan was also startled. He immediately recalled the initial reaction Yao Lao had when he saw the ‘Yin-Yang Mysterious Dragon Pill’ in the auction fair and could not help but feel a little embarrassed.

Yao Lao was silent for a long while before his faint voice once again sounded. However, the words that he said caused Xiao Yan to be a little stunned.

“Because the medicinal formula for the ‘Yin-Yang Mysterious Dragon Pill’ was created by me... Additionally, there are only two people on this continent who can refine this kind of medicinal pill. One of them is me. The other is...” When he spoke to this point, there was suddenly some additional faint, desolate feelings mixed with Yao Lao’s voice.

Xiao Yan clearly sensed the emotion within Yao Lao’s voice, causing him to wisely maintain his silence and did not interrupt.

“The other person is my student, whom I viewed as the most perfect inheritor back then... his talent in refining medicine was not any weaker than yours. Moreover, the amount of effort I put into grooming him is similarly not any less than you. When he was still just a baby, I carried him out of some icy, cold debris and viewed him like my own son. I even treated him as the perfect inheritor to groom.”

Yao Lao smiled. His voice was flat, “It is just that... finally, he chose to betray me, because of some small matters... Ke ke, perhaps, it is really because of his ‘blessing’ that I have turned into this current state.”

“He ought to die.”

Xiao Yan sensed the desolation in Yao Lao’s voice. That was a coldness that creeped out from deep within one’s heart after being betrayed and hurt by the person closest to you. Xiao Yan slowly exhaled. The fists in his sleeves were tightly clenched. He gazed forward. That soft voice of his appeared to be speaking to the senior (shi-xiong) whom he had never seen before.

“We should not have left the ‘Black Mark City’ so soon. Since those people from the ‘Eight Gate’ have auctioned out this thing, I think that they should have met him before. Moreover, I think that he would not randomly let anyone deliver such a valuable thing. He might have personally delivered it...”

“Ke ke, so what if we really managed to find him in ‘Black Mark City’?” Yao Lao said faintly, “I have already said that his medicine refining talent is not any weaker than yours. After being carefully groomed by me for so many years, the him back then was already the most dazzling, bright star in the alchemist world on the Dou Qi Continent. Now that so many years have passed, I’m afraid that he would be more outstanding than what he was before. Moreover, I am now being kept in check by the ‘Hall of Souls’ and don’t dare to carelessly appear. With just your current strength, you are most definitely not a match for him whether in terms of refining medicine or training of Dou Qi.”

Although Yao Lao’s voice was calm, Xiao Yan could still sense a thread of anger that was hidden very deeply, due to them sharing the same body. That thread of anger was like the volcano churning under the extremely hard crust, being suppressed for a long time, waiting for the day when it completely erupts.

Xiao Yan inhaled a deep breath of air. He was silent for a moment before he lifted his head to look at the blue sky. His voice had suddenly become a lot gentler: “Teacher, I will surpass him. Regardless of whether it is in terms of refining medicine or one’s Dou Qi strength. After which, I will clean the house... I will let you know that your eyes were not mistaken for a second time!”

TL: clean the house - to remove (usually kill) the traitors within an organization

“Ke ke, good, good... I, Yao Chen also believe that these old eyes of mine will not be mistaken a second time!” Xiao Yan’s soft voice suddenly caused the sourness, usually associated with tearing, to spread out from deep within Yao Lao’s spirit. The betrayal that he had suffered in the past really caused him too much trauma. It was fortunate that the heavens had not truly let him descend into that never ending darkness and hopelessness.

Xiao Yan’s hands forcefully wiped his somewhat reddened nose. He parted his mouth, smiled brightly and said, “Looks like it is time to hurry to the Jia Nan Academy in order to quickly raise my strength. However, I should also find some time to learn the ‘Three Thousand Lightning Movement’. That way, I can use it to flee if I were to meet any strong people whom I cannot defeat in the future.”

“The ‘Three Thousand Lightning Movement’ is a Di class Dou Technique. How is it going to be so easy to learn? Have you forgotten the hardship back then when you were practicing the ‘Flame Splitting Tsunami’? If you want to learn the ‘Three Thousand Lightning Movement’, the effort you need to put in will not be any less than that time.” Yao Lao temporarily put aside his emotions and smiled as he replied to this little fellow whom he had poured all his effort and expectations in.

“Do you think the hardship I have endured over these few years has been little?” Xiao Yan smiled gently and said. He smoothly took the map of the ‘Black-Corner Region’ out of his storage ring, the one which Duo Ma had given him back at the ‘Black Mark City’. He carefully observed it before keeping it and turning his gaze toward the northern direction. With a smile, he said, “Let’s go. we should be able to hurry over within three days’ time!”

“Ah, it is likely that the strange ‘Hall of Souls’ would not enter the region within the Jia Nan Academy. After all, those old fellows in that academy are not useless. However, you should also forget about borrowing my spiritual strength to cheat. The old fellows in there are very sharp. It is very easy for them to detect traces of me.” Yao Lao spoke with a smile.

“Uh... isn’t teacher greatly underestimating me? Although I have managed to repeatedly beat extremely strong people that I cannot hope to match during these few years because of you, do I need you to help me fight against people of my age?” Xiao Yan rolled his eyes when he heard this as he smacked his lips and replied.

“Hee hee, that may not be guaranteed. As the oldest academy on the Dou Qi Continent, the number of geniuses in Jia Nan Academy are uncountable. Moreover, I heard that there is an inner academy within the academy. The students there are truly the ones chosen out of ten thousand. If you, this little fellow, is placed inside, I’m afraid there will be quite a good show...” Yao Lao teased.

“In that case, I am looking forward to it...” Xiao Yan shrugged his shoulders. His back trembled slightly and the Purple Cloud Wings slowly extended from his shoulders. He flapped them lightly and his body rose abruptly before turning in midair. After which, they whizzed and he flew off into the northern horizon.

As Xiao Yan hurried through the journey this time around, he cautiously landed on the ground when he was passing through highly populated cities, as he was afraid that the movement by the Purple Cloud Wings would attract people’s attention. Other than that, he had used the Purple Cloud Wings to hurry through most of the journey. Although hurrying through the journey in this manner exhausted an extreme amount of Dou Qi, it was not too much of a problem for Xiao Yan, who carried more than ten bottles of ‘Energy Recovery Pills’ with him.

The three days flew by quickly as Xiao Yan travelled swiftly without stopping. The Jia Nan Academy on the map was also becoming closer to where Xiao Yan was.

Around the evening of the third day, Xiao Yan, whose entire face was tired, suddenly felt his spirit peak. This was because Yao Lao had suddenly opened his mouth to speak.

“Little fellow, we are approaching the Jia Nan Academy. Descend. No one is allowed to forcefully fly within fifty kilometers of the Jia Nan Academy. Otherwise, you will be attacked without question.”

Xiao Yan hurriedly nodded when he heard Yao Lao words. His flying speed was greatly reduced before he slowly descended. Finally, his feet landed on a small hill. He stood at the peak of the hill as his gaze wandered from afar and was coincidentally able to see a barely visible small town between two majestic huge mountains.

As Xiao Yan observed the small town, he no longer cared about his body being covered with dust. He swiftly rushed down the slope of the hill and converged with that yellow soil road, which led directly to the small town.

There were quite a number of people walking on this yellow soil road. These people had clearly come from the ‘Black-Corner Region’. However, what caused Xiao Yan to feel somewhat astonished was that although these people’s body had a fierce and brutal aura, there was not the slightest killing intent overflowing from their faces. However, this manner of theirs, where killing intent was hidden within their hearts, did not appear to be of the natural kind. Instead, it appeared to be forcefully made. Therefore, the expressions of these passersby were really somewhat weird.

Seemingly having sensed the fixed gaze of Xiao Yan, who was off to the side, these people also stared back ferociously, causing Xiao Yan to feel it was a little comical. If this were to happen in the ‘Black-Corner Region’, it was likely that these fellows would have already drawn their knives and attacked.

“Looks like it really is indeed as teacher had said. Anyone who walks until this point must withdraw the attitude that they have within the ‘Black-Corner Region’... Tsk tsk, that Jia Nan Academy is also quite strong to actually be able to suppress these people, who lick blood from their knives, until obdience has been instilled in them.” Seeing these people forcefully suppressing their fierceness and brutality, Xiao Yan could not help but shake his head and speak quietly in his heart.

Xiao Yan followed this yellow soil main road with lush green trees on both sides as he slowly approached the small town. That chaotic atmosphere within the ‘Black-Corner Region’ was indeed truly and completely isolated.

Ten minutes later, Xiao Yan stopped at the entrance of the small town and lifted his head to eye the horizontal sign board on the gate of the town. The words on it were very ordinary and very philistine. If it was placed in the ‘Black-Corner Region’, it would definitely be torn down the next day.

“Peace Town.” This was the first small town one would come across when one entered the area surrounding Jia Nan Academy from the ‘Black-Corner Region’.

Xiao Yan stood at the entrance of the small town. He was just about to step into this town when he suddenly felt that the voices around him had suddenly become much quieter. When he turned his head with some surprise, he realized that the faces of some of the people on the road, who had come from the ‘Black-Corner Region’ had become ghastly. Their ankles shivered as they eyed a large tree on the left, not far from the entrance to the small town.

The large tree was black in color with its tree top being spread in all directions, appearing to be displaying its claws. Under the shine of the setting sun, it emitted a faint, dark coldness. Xiao Yan’s gaze swept over the tree and his eyes abruptly shrunk. He saw that there were some corpses between the tree’s branches, which had been directly punctured and hung onto it. They swayed when the breeze blew over, emitting a creepy creaking sound.

“Is this that so called ‘Death Spirit Tree’....” Xiao Yan’s throat rolled slowly. Cold sweat quietly dripped from his forehead.