Qing Lin (Please Keep Reading, Please Vote with Monthly Tickets)

Douluo Continent, Balak Kingdom, Suotuo City.

The blazing sun hung high in the sky as a group of three arrived at Suotuo City's western gate.

Leading them was a tall boy, a full 1.95 meters in height, dressed in black fitted clothes. Slung across his back was a black spear one or two heads taller than he was.

He was called a boy because anyone with a discerning eye could tell that he was still quite young.

The other two members of the group were girls.

One had a scorpion braid that hung down to her calves and skipped about with boundless energy. She wore a pink top and skirt, and her slightly round, delicate little face, paired with large watery eyes, made her seem youthful, lively, and adorably charming.

The other girl wore an elegant pale-green outfit and appeared quieter and more innocent. Her lovely, delicate oval face made her resemble a beautiful porcelain doll, stirring feelings of tenderness in anyone who saw her.

If someone examined the girl's jade-green eyes closely, they might discover three tiny jade-green dots deep within her pupils.

"Wow, there are so many people in Suotuo City! It's so much more prosperous and lively than Nuoding City!" the girl in pink exclaimed, darting through the streets from time to time and returning with an armful of snacks.

"Gu Yi, Qing Lin, come over here! These flatbreads are so tasty!"

The girl in pink waved at the boy and the girl in green behind her, signaling for them to hurry over.

The two exchanged a smile and followed after the girl in pink.

These three were none other than Gu Yi, Xiao Wu, and Qing Lin, who had come from the Dou Qi Continent!

As for why Qing Lin had appeared on the Douluo Continent...

As early as four years ago, when Gu Yi had first crossed over to the Dou Qi Continent, he had mapped out a plan to obtain all manner of opportunities.

Among them, the nineteenth-ranked Heavenly Flame, the Green Lotus Core Flame, was something Gu Yi was determined to acquire.

The first obstacle to obtaining the Green Lotus Core Flame was defeating the fourth-tier magical beast that lived within the magma—the Two-headed Fire Spirit Snake.

With Gu Yi's strength at the time, he definitely could not kill the Two-headed Fire Spirit Snake. He even estimated that not even a low-star Dou King would be able to do much against it.

After all, magma was the Two-headed Fire Spirit Snake's home ground. It could freely mobilize the scorching magma energy for its own use, and if it could not win, it could simply dive into the magma to avoid the enemy's edge.

Faced with such a situation, Gu Yi, who knew the plot's development well, naturally would not choose to force his way through it. He decisively chose to recreate Xiao Yan's experience.

At that time, Gu Yi was only nine years old, while Xiao Yan was twelve and had begun his "three years as a good-for-nothing."

Qing Lin was younger than Xiao Yan and about the same age as Gu Yi—also nine years old.

Thus, relying on his status as a genius martial artist and the disciple of Fa Ma, the president of the Alchemist Guild, Gu Yi successfully found Qing Lin in Shimo City, where she had been hated and discriminated against by others.

In the days that followed, Gu Yi brought Qing Lin, whom he had taken in as his younger sister, back to the Jia Ma Imperial Capital. He taught her to cultivate Dou Qi and raise her cultivation.

Although Qing Lin possessed the Jade-Green Snake Three-Flower Pupils and was naturally able to suppress all kinds of snake-type magical beasts, she still needed sufficient spiritual power if she wanted to subdue them more easily and smoothly.

Besides, nurturing Qing Lin would also give Gu Yi a powerful helper in the future.

As for why Qing Lin had appeared on the Douluo Continent...

Naturally, Gu Yi had brought her here using the Myriad Worlds Gate.

Over the past few years of research, Gu Yi had discovered another ability of the Myriad Worlds Gate.

—He could bring other living beings with him as he traveled freely between worlds.

Of course, there was a major restriction on using this ability.

Other living beings had to be completely on guard against Gu Yi, willing to open their hearts to him and allow him to leave an imprint belonging to Gu Yi and the Myriad Worlds Gate within their souls.

This imprint was equivalent to a "travel permit" or an "express pass." Only those who possessed it could be brought through worlds by Gu Yi.

After all, the Myriad Worlds Gate resided within Gu Yi's soul. If he wanted to bring others across worlds, they naturally had to establish a connection with his soul.

Once the imprint was left behind, Gu Yi would also have a safeguard. He could place restrictions upon their souls to prevent them from revealing matters concerning the Myriad Worlds Gate and traveling between worlds to outsiders.

The moment they tried to reveal it, the restriction would stop them from speaking.

Gu Yi would also sense it.

For this very reason, it was difficult to make other living beings completely lower their guard and open their hearts.

For beings with limited intelligence, such as Thousand-Mile Snow and the Crimson Blood Steed, as long as they acknowledged Gu Yi as their master, they naturally would not be overly guarded against him. Therefore, Gu Yi could easily leave an imprint on them.

But humans, high-level demonic beasts, and magical beasts with great intelligence were different. They generally found it difficult to completely lower their guard and open their hearts and souls to others.

They could not do so even for relatives or close friends.

Because that was equivalent to handing their lives and deaths over to someone else's control.

However, Qing Lin was clearly not among them.

To Gu Yi, who had pulled her out of the "mire" and had never looked down on her because of her mixed Snake-people Race and human heritage, Qing Lin was deeply attached and willing to do anything for him.

In everyday life, she also regarded herself as a maid and addressed Gu Yi as "Young Master Yi."

After spending several months together, Gu Yi noticed Qing Lin's feelings. He told her that he needed to cultivate a certain secret art and required her to open her heart and cooperate with him.

Qing Lin obeyed Gu Yi's every word and had long since accepted him in her heart, so she naturally complied without hesitation.

Thus, Qing Lin became the first person able to travel between worlds alongside Gu Yi.

After graduating from Nuoding Academy and leaving for Maple Leaf Village, Gu Yi brought Qing Lin to the Douluo Continent.

Afterward, he used some source power to alter Qing Lin's body, making it compatible with the Laws of Heaven and Earth of the Douluo Continent.

Qing Lin had thus awakened a snake-type Beast Martial Soul, and with Gu Yi's help, her special physique—the Jade-Green Snake Three-Flower Pupils—had also been activated ahead of time.

Over the past few years, while focusing on the Dou Qi System, Qing Lin had also been able to cultivate the Soul Ring System alongside it.

—Everything had two sides. One could not look only at the bad side of things; one also had to recognize the good.

Although the Soul Ring System had little potential, it still had its merits.

At the very least, in the early stages of cultivation, those soul rings could serve as a source of energy, accelerating Qing Lin's growth and saving her a great deal of cultivation time.

During the day, Gu Yi, Xiao Wu, and Qing Lin wandered around Suotuo City.

That evening, they went to take a look at Suotuo City's Great Soul Arena, but Gu Yi quickly lost interest.

After all, the strongest soul masters fighting in the Great Soul Arena were only Soul Ancestors.

Gu Yi could kill a whole group of soul masters like that in a single move.

Moreover, soul masters only used a handful of soul skills in battle. To him, their fights were exceedingly dull.

He might as well spend the time practicing his spear techniques.

Thus, after casually watching one soul fight, Gu Yi and the other two left and booked rooms at a nearby hotel for the night.

The night passed without incident.

The next day, the refreshed trio left the hotel and headed toward Shrek Academy beyond the southern gate.