Timeline Issues Regarding Xiao Yan's Advancement to Dou Venerate

Recently, comments have mentioned that the protagonist had taken many of Xiao Yan's resources, yet Xiao Yan still "easily" advanced to Dou Venerate. This involved a misunderstanding—the issue of the timeline.

When writing, the author had not deliberately specified the timing, merely using the rather vague news of Starfall Pavilion going to war with Soul Hall, leading readers to mistakenly believe that Xiao Yan had advanced to Dou Venerate shortly after the Pill Convention.

However, looking at the later plot, not long after the protagonist's conversation with Cao Ying came the trip to the Flower Sect. In the original novel, only a few months passed between the Flower Sect arc and the Gu Clan's Coming-of-Age Ceremony, while several years passed between the Gu Clan's Coming-of-Age Ceremony and the Pill Convention.

In the original novel, Xiao Yan spent at least eight months absorbing the Three Thousand Burning Flame. Including his trip to the Mountain Range of Departed Souls to rescue Old Ya, more than a year had passed. After returning from the Mountain Range of Departed Souls to Starfall Pavilion, he remained unconscious for another half year or so. Altogether, that period amounted to two or three years.

For reference, in the original Battle Through the Heavens novel, Chapter 1207, "Time Flies," Medusa recalled that Xiao Yan had been gone for five or six years. From leaving the Jia Ma Empire and heading to the Central Plains to participate in the Pill Convention, the plot had been relatively compact, taking at most a little over a year.

Therefore, in the original novel, Xiao Yan advanced to Dou Venerate around three years after the Pill Convention.

After Xiao Yan advanced to Dou Venerate in the original novel, there were still plots involving his trip to the Ancient Ruins in the Beast Region,