Several days passed in succession.
Xiao Yan never went out again, spending all his time cultivating.
In the mornings, he practiced controlling fire and exchanged insights on fire control with Xiao Huo, who had once been the Fire Dragon King. He integrated his Martial Soul more thoroughly, reaching the point where he could wield it with ease and truly making it an indispensable part of his body.
The more he did so, the more Xiao Yan understood.
Unlike cultivating Dou Qi, Soul Power depended more on the Martial Soul. All of a Soul Master's power came from their Martial Soul.
No wonder that guy had placed so much importance on his Martial Soul and Innate Soul Power during his Martial Soul Awakening.
This was practically a world where talent decided everything!
At noon, Yu Xin would make a special trip to bring him a packed lunch. After going back and forth like that, the two had gotten to know each other and could more or less be considered friends.
"Word that you defeated Dugu Yan has spread all over Heaven Dou Royal Academy. Now plenty of her protectors want to challenge you!" Yu Xin looked Xiao Yan over again and again, her face full of amazement.
The guy standing before her had actually defeated the academy's goddess!
Yu Xin even knew more than that.
This guy wasn't twelve years old at all. He was clearly an eight-year-old child!
Such an age, such strength, such a record.
Even Yu Xin, who was usually somewhat aloof, couldn't help being curious about Xiao Yan. Every noon, she could draw him into a good long conversation, even going so far as to ask him plenty of questions.
Xiao Yan didn't hoard his knowledge, sharing all his experience without holding anything back.
"There's word that Yu Tianheng fought you in the preparation hall too, and that he nearly suppressed you. Is it true!?"
Xiao Yan ate his boxed lunch without looking up. "No."
"That's what I thought. If Yu Tianheng had really fought you, you definitely wouldn't be sitting on the rooftop eating a boxed lunch right now. You'd be checking in at the hospital's pediatrics department for sure." Yu Xin burst out laughing, much of her aloofness falling away.
Xiao Yan rolled his eyes. This grandfather and granddaughter really were two peas in a pod.
"Right, do you know that Dai Mubai? Is he from Heaven Dou Royal Academy too?" Xiao Yan picked at his rice, suddenly remembering that blond-haired, odd-eyed nonconformist.
"You mean that second-generation rich kid who's a stud horse?" Yu Xin gave him a nickname that left Xiao Yan utterly gobsmacked.
"That guy comes from an intermediate academy in Suotuo City. What was it called again? Shrek, I think." Yu Xin thought about it carefully.
Xiao Yan put down his chopsticks. "What do you mean, a second-generation rich kid who's a stud horse!?"
"That guy with the colored contacts and dyed blond hair is no good. He clearly comes from an academy in the countryside, yet he spends money lavishly. Relying on the reputation he's built up at the intermediate Soul Master arena these past few days, he's hooked up with quite a few naive girls."
Yu Xin spoke with pained indignation. "When that guy left Heaven Dou Imperial City, he even took a pair of beautiful twins with him!"
Someone else's life at twelve.
Colored contacts, dyed hair, and twins!
Xiao Yan suddenly felt a little admiration for this second-generation rich kid who was a stud horse.
"Right, how did his challenge go?" Xiao Yan asked.
The intermediate Soul Master arena had five-pass challenges tailored to Soul Masters of different levels. A few days ago, Dai Mubai had defeated Qing Keke and passed the fourth pass, breaking Yu Tianheng's previous record.
Yu Xin shook her head. "He lost."
"Was the Fifth Pass guarded by a Four-Ring Soul Ancestor?"
Yu Xin nodded and said softly, "It was a blond woman. She wore a veil, but you could still tell she was beautiful."
"The most terrifying part is, Grandpa told me that when that woman defeated Dai Mubai, she did it easily without even releasing her Martial Soul."
"She didn't even release her Martial Soul!?"
Yu Xin said, "It was precisely because he suffered such a crushing defeat that Dai Mubai left in dejection."
He left with twin sisters and was still dejected? Xiao Yan grumbled inwardly, but he couldn't say it to Yu Xin.
At the same time,
Xiao Yan was a little curious about who this formidable person was.
She was a Soul Ancestor, but just how strong did she have to be to defeat Dai Mubai without even releasing her Martial Soul!?
"I could do it, but it definitely wouldn't be easy. I'd need to use a Dou Technique! That's what people call a Self-Created Soul Skill," Xiao Yan analyzed, thinking that the mysterious blond girl might also possess a similar Self-Created Soul Skill.
Finally, Yu Xin left.
The scorching sun hung high in the sky. It was just past noon.
"Time to start learning alchemy." Yao Lao's illusory figure appeared, bringing out an ancient, massive alchemy cauldron. Even without anything inside, a faint medicinal fragrance still wafted from it.
Xiao Yan picked up an alchemy scroll and began studying.
At present, he had nothing else, but he had plenty of medicinal ingredients!
Xiao Yan had every reason to be confident.
Thanks to the addition of Xiao Huo's Heavenly Flames, Yao Lao had been in excellent condition lately. His complexion had grown much rosier, and even his soul had grown a size larger. He was full of vigor.
As his soul fully awakened, Yao Lao grew increasingly dissatisfied with Douluo Continent.
"This world is so weak!" Yao Lao said this more than once.
In Yao Lao's estimation,
a Dou Emperor on Dou Qi Continent was roughly equivalent to a Soul Saint on Douluo Continent.
And a Dou Zong was practically a Titled Douluo.
A Dou Zun was practically a god, and a peak Dou Zun had nearly the same strength as a First-Level God like Xiao Huo.
That was how strong Yao Lao had been before!
The peak of the First-Level Gods, or rather,
a Half-Step God King!
"And a Dou Sheng, the realm I nearly reached, a realm where one could almost steal the heavens and replace the sun, cleave heaven and earth apart with one's own power, is most likely the God King Realm."
Yao Lao deduced that a Low-Level Dou Sheng was practically equivalent to a God King!
As for a High-Level Dou Sheng,
Yao Lao gave a look that said, You know.
At first, Xiao Huo refused to accept it. Sparks flew from all seven of the little loli's orifices as she snapped and bit wildly, declaring that she would eat Yao Lao and use him as material for the Dragon God's rise.
Xiao Huo shut her mouth.
A primordial power appeared, as though it could cleave heaven and earth apart, as though it had emerged from chaos. It reminded Xiao Huo of the past. He had only ever seen power of this level from those few God Kings!
Although it had not reached the God King Realm,
it far surpassed that of an ordinary First-Level God!
If Yao Lao hadn't deliberately contained it, the entire Heaven Dou Imperial City might have collapsed.
"Don't worry, little sister. You helped my soul recover. No matter what, I couldn't possibly harm you." Yao Lao laughed cheerfully.
Xiao Huo's dual powers as the Fire Dragon King and Ice Dragon King, combined with the baptism of the Heavenly Flames, had restored so much of him that he showed almost no signs of weakness, regaining his former glory and strength.
Yao Lao estimated that if five kinds of Heavenly Flames were brought together and his body was reforged,
with body and soul united, he could even charge straight into the Dou Sheng Realm in one go!
That was to say, the God King Realm!
"Just how powerful must the world you two came from be!?" Xiao Huo exclaimed.
By now, she had long since learned Xiao Yan and Yao Lao's secret, and the two had not kept it from her. Xiao Huo and Xiao Yan now lived in symbiosis, companions whose lives depended on each other. They were family.
Xiao Yan stared blankly into space, then finally summed it up in one sentence.
"Douluo Continent really is the floor tile of the fantasy world!"
(Brothers, please vote, favorite, and comment!)
(Let's leave the realms like this. I really put thought into adjusting them this way, though I know you brothers will still say I've toned Battle Through the Heavens down, boo-hoo.)
(End of chapter)