Battle Through the Heavens

Leaping across the valley, Xiao Yan leisurely headed towards the waterfall. His gaze cautiously scanned the surrounding area and only after finding that there were no Magic Beasts nearby, did he finally sigh in relief.

Arriving at the precipitous mountain wall, Xiao Yan took a long time in carefully selecting a cave that was four to five meters from him. Carefully climbing up the slippery rocks, Xiao Yan was just like an agile monkey and quickly spelunked into the cave he had previously selected.

It was somewhat cool within the cave and not too small: clearly more than enough for Xiao Yan to live here by himself.

Attentively sweeping his gaze over the floor inside the cave, Xiao Yan found no signs that a Magical Beast had ever been in the cave. With that he finally felt reassured. He gave the cave a quick cleaning before removing some camping supplies from his storage ring and building a soft and dry bed.

After setting up the essential items, Xiao Yan used a big rock to block the cave entrance such that only one person could pass through at a time. Since he would be spending many days here, safety concerns were of paramount importance..

Finishing these tasks, Xiao Yan clapped his hands together to remove the dirt on them. As he gazed at the somewhat dusky cave, he mused for a moment and then took out the three Moonstones that he had taken from the treasure cave and placed them in the grooves on the walls. Immediately the gentle light caused the cave to brighten up.

As he looked upon the completely new cave, Xiao Yan grinned and sat on the soft bed wit a long sigh. Soon after, he crossed his legs and formed a training seal with both hands, slowly recovering the Dou Qi he had used up and the mental plus physical fatigue from the two days of continuous and hurried journeying.

As Xiao Yan fell into silence, his breathing gradually steadied and a perfect cycle of his inhalation and exhalation was formed. Every time the breathing cycle alternated, faint threads of energy took shape in the air around Xiao Yan body and followed Xiao Yan’s breathing to flow into his body. And after his Qi Paths refined the energy, it was stored into the Qi Vortex in his lower abdomen.

As he silently trained, Xiao Yan’s thoughts sunk into his body. With the amazing Inner View, he was able to distinctly see the Dou Qi that was flowing in his body.

His thoughts passed through several core Qi Paths before finally arriving at the lower abdomen area. As the foundation of the Dou Qi, the Vortex slowly spun as it appeared in his sights.

Once again viewing this miraculous Qi Vortex, Xiao Yan felt slightly gratified. After almost a year of training, the thumb-sized milky white Qi Vortex from the time when he had just advanced to become a Dou Zhe had changed to a light yellow color due to the Qi Method. Furthermore, it was much wider than before. Xiao Yan could clearly feel that the concentration of Dou Qi in the Qi Vortex was more than ten times stronger than it originally was.

Gazing at the light yellow Dou Qi that continuously flowed from the Qi Paths into the Qi Vortex, Xiao Yan faintly smiled as his thoughts slowly withdrew from the inside of his body. Only when the Dou Qi within his body had completely recovered did Xiao Yan open his eyes.

Lazily twisting his body, Xiao Yan’s body once again felt refreshed. Tightly clenching his fist, Xiao Yan could sense that because of the recent bitter trainings, his current strength was slowly improving from its current state of a five star Dou Zhe towards that of a six star one. Perhaps in another month or two, he would be able to enter the six star level.

And when that time comes, if he removed the restrictions of the heavy sword and together with the few types of Xuan Level Dou Techniquess, it was possible for him to contend against an eight star Dou Zhe. Of course this was only if the classes of the Dou Techniques that the eight star Dou Zhe was proficient in were below that of Xiao Yan’s. After all, Xiao Yan’s Qi Method was that of the lowest level of Huang, this was his only weakness!

After recuperating his energy to normal levels, Xiao Yan flipped his palm and a black scroll appeared in his hand. This was the High Xuan flying Dou Techniques.

Soaring through the skies was every person’s dream, and with regards to the thought of freely flying through the skies, Xiao Yan was likewise extraordinarily interested. Flying was the best way to escape. If they did not have the Little Fairy Doctor’s blue eagle that night, the difficulty of the duo escaping from the heavily surrounded cliff would have risen sharply.

On the Dou Qi Continent, turning Dou Qi into wings was a right that only strong practitioners who were Dou Wang and above could have. For the rest, they could only gaze into the sky and sigh. Yet Xiao Yan had by chance obtained the rare flying Dou Techniques which could enable him to break away from the restrictions others had.

Grasping the scroll with both hands, Xiao Yan licked his lips and untied the string that bound the scroll before slowly unfolding it.

As the pitch-black scroll unfolded, two pitch-black eagle wings that caused him to slightly tremble appeared before his eyes. Since this pair of eagle wings were painted on the scroll, they were not too big. However they faintly emitted some warmth. Looking at this mysterious sight, it was obviously not just a simple picture.

The eagle wings were dark black in color with purple clouds faintly showing. If examined closely, the pair of wings was actually like black steel, possessing a special type of metal texture. The feathers on the eagle wings emitted a soft warmth and when Xiao Yan lightly blew on it, his expression could not help but become slightly alarmed. Under the light breeze, the feathers on the eagle wings unexpectedly swished up as if they were real. It was an extremely miraculous sight.

As his gaze swept across the eagle wings, Xiao Yan’s eyes suddenly stopped at a line of words to one side and blinking his eyes, he softly recited the words out loud.

“Purple Cloud Black Fire Eagle, a rank five flying type Magic Beast. According to legends, it possesses the bloodline from phoenixes of ancient times. It’s flying speed is the fastest among all of the flying type Magic Beasts. By nature, it is both cunning and cruel, extremely hard to capture and only lives in the misty mountain areas at the north of the continent.”

“Rank five Magic Beast?” Shocked, Xiao Yan swallowed drily; that was no less than a Dou Wang human practitioner.

“The name of this Dou Technique is Eagle Wings, also known as Purple Cloud Wings. It took three years for me, the author, and a few friends to successfully capture a Purple Cloud Black Fire Eagle. Then, using a secret method to obtain both wings, we finally managing to create this scroll that allows one to learn a flying Dou Technique. Towards the end of my life, I made this Dou Technique using Dou Qi. Remember this, it can only be learnt by one person!

“What an audacious person, to actually dare to capture a Dou Wang level flying Magic Beast……” Xiao Yan clicked his tongue twice as he exclaimed in surprise; somewhat curious at exactly what level of strength the person who had left behind these things was.

As his gaze moved away from the small words, Xiao Yan carefully stretched out a palm and lightly touched the pair of slightly violet, pitch-black eagle wings.

“Why does this feel…… as if it was the genuine article?”

The feel of feathers on his palm caused Xiao Yan to be greatly amazed. Once again gently caressed it with his palm when his expression suddenly changed. In a flash, he withdrew his hand and appalled, he hoarsely said, “There is a soul in these eagle wings?”

Xiao Yan’s spiritual perception was extremely outstanding and when he was touching the eagle wings, he could distinctly sense that a brutal and berserk soul was hidden within the eagle wings.

“Eh? There is indeed a hidden soul but it is a soul which lacks a conscious.” An aged and astonished voice suddenly sounded out from the ring on Xiao Yan’s finger.

“No conscious?” Dazed, Xiao Yan skeptically asked.

“I think that this was caused by the secret method used to make a flying type Dou Technique in the past. Oh, removing the flying type Magic Beast’s soul and wings from the beast before finally fusing them together, of course, this kind of fusion needs to be paired with a unique and secret method; only then can a true Dou Techniques be made…… No wonder flying Dou Techniques are no longer passed down now, the process of making the Dou Techniques requires you to know such an eccentric thing.” Yao Lao voiced out his thoughts as he laughed in a dull tone.

“Then…… there should be no negative effects from learning this thing right?” Xiao Yan asked somewhat apprehensively.

“The soul that you felt just now should belong to that Purple Cloud Eagle and after being worn down for so many years, all that’s left of it’s intelligence is the instincts of a wild beast. As long as one guards himself when using the scroll, there should be no problems.” Yao Lao laughed as he advised Xiao Yan.

Only after hearing Yao Lao’s words did Xiao Yan sigh in relief; he was indeed somewhat afraid that he would be controlled by the soul of the Purple Cloud Eagle if he practiced the Techniques, after all the intelligence of a rank five Magic Beast was not lower than that of a human’s.

Once again casting his gaze onto the black eagle wings on the scroll, Xiao Yan read through the instructions on the practice procedures a few times. Eyebrows slightly creasing, he softly said, “The scroll says that when practicing the Technique, the soul of the Purple Cloud Eagle within the wings will possibly attack the person who is practicing. If he is able to endure the attack of the soul, then he will be able to continue practicing. If not, that person should give up on practicing this technique.”

“Phew, looks like if I plan on practicing this flying Dou Technique, there will be some danger.” Xiao Yan spit out a breath before helplessly sighing.

“Naturally, to obtain something, one must pay the price.” Yao Lao said in a serious tone as he smiled and continued, “Given the strength of your soul, you don’t need to worry too much about being attacked by the soul of the Purple Cloud Eagle. Although it was once rank five, it is now just a damaged soul which cannot do much.”

At these words, Xiao Yan slightly inclined his head. Soon after, he gritted his teeth and finally made his resolution while slowly stretching forth his palms.

Both palms moved onto the scroll and lightly pressed on the soft wings, Xiao Yan took a deep breath and unhurriedly closed his eyes.

Shortly after Xiao Yan laid his palms on the wings, from within the eagle wings, the tyrannical eagle soul suddenly roared out with a piercing chirp that caused souls to tremble. The chirp penetrated through the scroll and followed the path through Xiao Yan’s palms and like a drill, it desperately hammered at his mind.

This was the first time Xiao Yan had experienced an attack by a soul; his body suddenly trembled as his complexion turned several shades whiter.

“Concentrate, shield your mind, let it attack!” From within the ring. Yao Lao shouted out.

Gritting his teeth as he nodded, Xiao Yan’s spiritual perception formed itself into a few layers of protection around his mind, allowing him to finally be able to resist the piercing attack on his soul.

As if it could see that the chirp of the soul had no effect, the soul of the Purple Cloud Eagle lapsed into silence for a moment before a brutal presence abruptly forced its way through the scroll burrowing straight into the depths of Xiao Yan’s thoughts.

“Steady your thoughts, do not let it control your emotion. Or else you will be reduced to a beast that only knows how to kill!” Yao Lao’s heavy voice sounded out at this appropriate moment.

Once again deeply sighing, Xiao Yan tightly guarded his thoughts, not daring to let that brutal presence invade to even the slightest degree.

This exchange between souls continued for over ten minutes before the Purple Cloud Eagle slowly withdrew in defeat. Though Xiao Yan’s strength was far from being able to match up to a grade five Magic Beast, after being suppressed for countless years, currently, there was already no difference between this Purple Cloud Eagle and a crippled wild beast.

When the wild beast like brutal presence finally withdrew from the tides of his thoughts, Xiao Yan’s aching body immediately collapsed. His pale face looked extremely tired. This kind of soul clashing was much more draining than a clash of physical bodies.

“Is this considered a success?” Xiao Yan asked as he wiped the sweat from his brow.

“Yes, you now possess the qualifications to practice this Technique.”

Xiao Yan felt gratified at these words, laughing, he once again placed both palms on the eagle wings. This time, he did not receive an soul attack and pursing his lips, the Dou Qi within Xiao Yan’s body followed the instructions on the scroll as it slowly started to flow. A moment later, the Dou Qi in Xiao Yan flowed into his arms and gradually entered into his palms.

When the Dou Qi appeared at the center of the palm, the eagle wings on the black scroll suddenly lit up; violet and black. They shined brighter and brighter before finally turning into two rays of tiny purplish black light as they entered into Xiao Yan’s palm.

After the two rays of tiny, purplish-black light entered into Xiao Yan’s body, they followed the Qi Paths and flowed until they reached the Qi Paths in Xiao Yan’s back before they abruptly stopped and turned around to unexpectedly force their way through to carve two tiny new paths.

These two new Qi Paths grew from the main Qi Paths and only when they reached out to create an exit at the back of the body, did they slowly stop their growth.

On the outside world, Xiao Yan was still distracted by the disappearance of the eagle wings, suddenly he let out an intense scream while sweat started pouring down his forehead as he gripped both fists tightly together. Heavily gasping, he hissed, cursing, “What is this damned thing doing?”

His body curled up as he lay on the bed, Xiao Yan bit his lip causing a stream of blood to flow out of his mouth. After enduring for a moment longer, Xiao Yan could finally no longer take the pain of his Qi Paths tearing themselves apart and thus he lost consciousness.