Heavenly Snake Mansion Mobilizes?

Stone Desert City!

Inside a spacious room at the Sand Mercenary Group's headquarters, Lu Bu sat cross-legged atop a green lotus platform. Before him floated a colorless, transparent flame, within which a golden pill slowly rotated.

Countless patterns spread across the ground in every direction, crisscrossing one another. At the center of the patterns, Qing Lin and the Fire Spirit Snake held the formation.

This was a relatively large defensive formation. Of course, its current purpose was actually to conceal their aura. Lu Bu was refining pills, and in a backwater like Stone Desert City, it would be easy to draw the authorities' attention.

On the rooftop outside, Hai Bodong stared at the pill floating before Lu Bu. His Adam's apple bobbed involuntarily, and his clouded eyes brimmed with desire.

Huang Ji Pill!

A sixth-grade Pill capable of allowing a Dou Emperor to swiftly and harmlessly advance by one star. Back then, relying on his extraordinary talent, Hai Bodong had reached the Dou Emperor level at the mere age of thirty-four. His talent had been no less than Yun Yun's, the current Sect Master of the Misty Cloud Sect.

Thus, he had disdained the power of such pills, believing that even without them, he would not be inferior to anyone. But now...

It smelled so good!!

Even separated by the formation, able only to look and unable to smell a thing, Hai Bodong still felt that it smelled so good!

He had suffered enough from the pain of having his strength suppressed. More than twenty years without the slightest advancement had left him frustrated beyond measure.

Buzz!

The golden pill had become perfectly round. Pale golden energy ripples suddenly erupted from it, slamming into the defensive formation with a bang and making the energy barrier tremble violently.

At the formation core, Qing Lin and the Two-headed Fire Spirit Snake's bodies quivered slightly. However, the energy ripples came quickly and vanished just as quickly. Before long, they disappeared, and the defensive formation remained intact.

"The pill has formed successfully..." Hai Bodong muttered. This fellow had refined two pills over the past few days: one Dou Ling Pill for a Dou Wang's breakthrough, and the Huang Ji Pill before his eyes.

Hai Bodong was glad that he had not thoroughly offended Lu Bu back then. He truly was a Sixth Grade Alchemist, and his alchemy skills were the strongest Hai Bodong had ever seen in his life.

If he had previously submitted only because of Lu Bu's strength, then now Hai Bodong was genuinely convinced. He no longer had any objections whatsoever.

"It doesn't seem... that difficult..." Lu Bu smacked his lips. Two Huang Ji Pills and one Dou Ling Pill—three pills in total—and he had spent ten days on them. Overall, it was acceptable.

The medicinal ingredients had been gathered from the Magical Beast Mountain Range... Well, some had also come from Gute's collection in Black Stone City. It had to be said, that old fellow was really loaded.

Outside, Hai Bodong was about to speak when the green lotus platform beneath Lu Bu suddenly lit up. A vast amount of energy began pouring into his body.

Lu Bu raised a brow, surprise flashing across his face. He then put away the pill, closed his eyes, formed seals, and began cultivating.

"Is he breaking through to the six-star Dou Shi realm?" Hai Bodong's eyes widened. Wasn't a Sixth Grade Alchemist a bona fide Dou Emperor? Why was he only a mere Dou Shi?

"This fellow really is impossible to figure out..." Hai Bodong sighed, rubbing his brow.

Half an hour later, Lu Bu slowly opened his eyes within the formation. Feeling the Dou Qi circulating through his body, the corners of his lips rose uncontrollably.

"Not bad. I leveled up again." Lu Bu nodded in satisfaction. In truth, he had many ways to improve his Dou Qi cultivation. He could simply use the Devouring Ancestral Talisman to devour the Earth Fire Lotus Seed and Purple Crystal Source, or even devour the lotus platform beneath him.

But he had uses for all those things, so Lu Bu could only cultivate properly for the time being. The lotus platform in particular was key to taking away the Green Lotus Core Flame, so nothing could go wrong with it.

"Young Master... are you done?" Qing Lin asked in a clear voice. Maintaining the formation core did not consume Dou Qi, and the Fire Spirit Snake had absorbed the impact just now, but it was still quite taxing on someone like her, who had not even reached the Dou Zhe level.

Lu Bu chuckled and lightly tapped the ground with his foot. The formation instantly vanished.

Qing Lin let out a breath of relief and tucked the Fire Spirit Snake back into her sleeve. Her little face was slightly pale.

"Elder Hai, take care of the Sand Mercenary Group's affairs. Qing Lin and I will head back first."

After calling out to Hai Bodong, Lu Bu spread his Purple Cloud Wings and flew back to the house he had purchased.

"Got... it."

Hai Bodong was about to agree when he saw Lu Bu shoot into the sky. He could not help curling his lips. He summoned Captain Rob, casually tossed him several pills, and ordered him to strictly keep everything from the past few days confidential. If he refused, he would bear the consequences himself.

After intimidating Rob, Hai Bodong also returned to Lu Bu's house.

"Young Master, can Qing Lin cultivate too?" Lying in Lu Bu's arms, Qing Lin asked timidly in a soft voice. The past few times, she could only watch Lu Bu fight and do nothing. She could not even hold the formation core.

Hearing this, Lu Bu paused as he held Qing Lin's petite body, then smiled faintly.

"Of course you can. But I'll be leaving for the Snake People Tribe tomorrow, so I'll ask Elder Hai to teach you."

"Mm, thank you, Young Master." Qing Lin nodded happily. Young Master truly treated her far too well.

The next day.

By the time Qing Lin got up, Lu Bu had already left. Qing Lin felt a little disappointed, but when Hai Bodong called her, she immediately jolted and ran downstairs.

"Lu Bu has already told me everything." Hai Bodong wore a stern expression. "You're only at the seventh stage of Dou Qi right now. The most important thing is for you to reach the Dou Zhe level as soon as possible."

At fifteen, with only seventh-stage Dou Qi, she would probably never amount to much in cultivation for the rest of her life... Hai Bodong thought to himself.

As he spoke, Hai Bodong took out a bottle of pale green medicinal liquid from his Ring and handed it to her. "Your Young Master left this for you. It's specifically for cultivating Dou Qi. The instructions are on the paper, so read them yourself."

"You need to reach the Dou Zhe level before you can cultivate techniques and the like. For now, you just need to reach the Dou Zhe level as quickly as possible."

"Yes, sir."

"Go on." Hai Bodong waved his hand.

In the southeastern region of the Northwest Continent, within a mountain range bordering the Black Corner Region yet not belonging to it.

Countless enormous building complexes had been densely constructed throughout the mountains. One could not see their end at a glance.

At the center, a streak of light shot out and landed in a building to the north. A moment later, one green and one black streak of light swiftly flew toward the central area. Yet less than a few minutes later, the green and black lights shot into the sky and headed northwest.

"Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils? That thing really exists?" The Eight-Winged Black Snake Emperor swayed its enormous head and spoke in a muffled voice. "The boss couldn't have sensed it wrong, could he?"

"Why didn't you say that just now?" a woman in green asked flatly, casting it a glance.

"Hehe... Tagor Desert. I haven't seen my wife Medusa in a long time. I'm going to see her!" The Eight-Winged Black Snake Emperor immediately changed the subject.

"Hehe... Be careful she doesn't beat you to death."

As soon as she finished speaking, the Eight-Winged Black Snake Emperor swung its body and sped into the distance with Lü Man.

Tagor Desert, atop a sand dune.

Shouts and battle cries rang out without pause, accompanied by the endless clash of weapons and sounds of fierce combat.

"Snake People Tribe, we're from the Golden Goose Sect! You can't..."

"Hehe! We're killing you Luoyan Empire people!"

A burst of crackling sounds followed. Before long, the sounds of fighting began to weaken and fade.

In a corner, Lu Bu poked his head out and watched, smacking his lips.

"What a hassle..."