Three Years Later!

Time was like a swift horse flashing past a gap, gone in the blink of an eye.

In the blink of an eye, three years had passed.

In a world of endless yellow sand, the blazing sun hung high overhead, continuously radiating scorching heat. Its fervor seemed capable of evaporating all the moisture from a human body, making the heat unbearable.

Yet a red-haired snake person of around fourteen or fifteen sat bare-chested atop a burning sand dune, cultivating beneath the blazing sun.

Dense fire-attributed energy was continuously drawn into his body through the pores all over him and through his breathing. It circulated along the meridians of his Dantian, and his aura steadily rose.

Only when the sun began to slant did the red-haired snake person open his tightly shut eyes and withdraw from cultivation. With practiced ease, he checked the attribute panel visible only to himself.

[Host: Yan Lin]

[Age: Fourteen]

[Realm: Nine-star Peak Dou Spirit (2% energy accumulated; 98% more energy required to break through to the Dou Wang realm)]

[Cultivation Talent: Genius]

[Alchemist Grade: Fourth-Grade Alchemist]

[Alchemy Talent: Mortal Grade Four (Upgradeable)]

[Bloodline: Seven-Colored Sky-Swallowing Python.]

[Special Physique: Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils]

[Technique: Crimson Refining Sky Burning Art]

[Dou Techniques: Purple Nether Secret Tome, Snake Secret Technique, Myriad Spirit Snake Burst, Dragon Swimming Steps, Eight Trigrams Seal, Dual Sword Style...]

"Two percent? This progress is too slow. I really have entered a bottleneck. To break through to Dou Wang, I'll still need some time to accumulate energy."

Looking at the "Realm" entry on his status panel, Yan Lin knew that it would be difficult for him to cross the threshold into Dou Wang anytime soon.

Over the course of three years, Yan Lin had already advanced from a Dou Master to the peak Dou Ling level. However, breaking through from Dou Ling to Dou Wang was not something that could be accomplished in a short time.

Dou Wang was a stage of energy accumulation. Only after building up a vast reserve of energy could one make a breakthrough.

This period was often quite long.

Some people might even remain stuck at this realm for the rest of their lives.

Although Yan Lin would not be held back by the Dou Wang threshold, he still had to go through this stage of accumulating energy.

According to the original timeline, even Xiao Yan had needed a year to reach the Dou Wang level after devouring and refining the Falling Heart Flame, along with numerous high-grade pills and medicinal ingredients he had collected.

This was an unavoidable stage of energy accumulation.

It was not limited to Dou Wang. The thresholds for Dou Huang, Dou Zong, and the realms beyond were the same. The further one advanced, the more energy and time would be required.

Yan Lin had now encountered such a bottleneck.

"A fourth-grade King Spirit Pill will be of some help in breaking through to Dou Wang. I'm only missing a few medicinal ingredients before I can refine it. I need to prepare them first."

Yan Lin began making preparations in his mind for overcoming the Dou Wang threshold.

The fourth-grade King Spirit Pill was one of them.

The King Spirit Pill was a mid-tier fourth-grade medicinal pill. Its effect was to forcefully raise a Dou Ling expert by one realm. Even if a peak Dou Ling expert could not directly break through to Dou Wang after taking it, it could still greatly speed up the breakthrough.

Ever since Yan Lin had obtained the pill formula from Deis, he had begun preparing to refine it.

The King Spirit Pill was extremely difficult to refine, but with Yan Lin's current alchemy skills, he still had a fairly high chance of success.

In three years, Yan Lin had gone from a complete novice in alchemy to a Fourth-Grade Alchemist on the same level as Deis.

Even Deis praised Yan Lin as an alchemy genius, saying that Yan Lin's alchemy talent far surpassed his own.

Although Yan Lin's alchemy talent had come from copying a "Mortal Grade Two" alchemist, what he had mainly copied was that person's trace of mutated wood-attributed energy.

He already possessed Soul Perception far beyond ordinary people, and after copying a "Mortal Grade Two" alchemist, his alchemy talent became more than the sum of its parts.

The upper limit of one's alchemy realm depended on talent, as well as one's opportunities and Soul Realm.

The stronger one's alchemy talent, the faster one could advance in alchemy.

The Soul Realm was also crucial to improving one's alchemy realm.

For example, refining an eighth-grade pill required a Spirit Realm soul; refining a ninth-grade pill required a Heaven Realm soul; and refining an Emperor-grade pill required an Emperor Realm soul.

The upper limit of one's alchemy realm was restricted by talent and Soul Realm.

Alchemy talent was innate and could not be changed.

Unless one was like Yan Lin and could copy other people's entries, in which case there was a way to alter it.

As for the Soul Realm, some were born with powerful souls, while others cultivated them later in life.

Generally, the stronger one became, the stronger one's soul became as well.

There were far more methods for improving one's Soul Realm.

Because Yan Lin possessed a Golden Finger and an exceptionally powerful soul, it was impossible to determine the upper limit of his alchemy talent.

Limited by his Soul Realm, Yan Lin's alchemy talent was classified according to his current grade, but Fourth-Grade Alchemist was far from his limit.

All of this was information conveyed by his entry Golden Finger.

"Having the King Spirit Pill alone isn't enough. If I can obtain treasures with pure fire-attributed energy, such as Purple Crystal Companion Source and Earth Fire Lotus Seeds, then breaking through to Dou Wang will be just around the corner."

Yan Lin knew full well that one King Spirit Pill would not be enough to help him break through to Dou Wang. If he wanted to overcome this bottleneck in one go, he had to accumulate even more energy.

Earth Fire Lotus Seeds and Companion Purple Crystal Source would both greatly help increase Yan Lin's strength.

"Unfortunately, my identity as a snake person means I'm destined to be unable to travel alone to the Monster Mountain Range. I'm afraid I won't be able to obtain the Companion Purple Crystal Source anytime soon. But the Earth Fire Lotus Seeds can be put on the agenda, and I can obtain the Green Lotus Core Flame while I'm at it." Yan Lin silently calculated.

The Purple Crystal Companion Source was in the Monster Mountain Range, but that was humanity's stronghold. If Yan Lin entered human territory as a snake person, he would likely provoke a campaign of extermination from human experts.

The conflict between snake people and humans was irreconcilable, and Yan Lin had no intention of courting death.

Queen Medusa and the Four Great Elders likely would not allow him to venture deep into the human world either.

Now that his strength had advanced by leaps and bounds and his alchemy level had reached the same level as Deis, Yan Lin's position within the Snake People Clan had become unshakable.

The entire Snake People Clan increasingly recognized him as their Saint King.

The Four Great Elders and Queen Medusa also valued him more and more, so naturally, they would not let Yan Lin easily take risks.

Yan Lin was aware of this as well, so he temporarily abandoned the idea of competing with the Purple Crystal Winged Lion King for the Companion Purple Crystal Source. Instead, he set his sights on the treasures surrounding the Green Lotus Core Flame.

"Come to think of it, in the magma world where the Green Lotus Core Flame is located, there's also a fourth-tier Two-Headed Fire Spirit Snake. My Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils should come in handy then."

Yan Lin touched his eyes. His light-purple irises shifted according to his will and turned jade-green, while three green dots emerged within them.

These were the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils Yan Lin possessed, taken from Qing Lin.

Over the past three years, Yan Lin had thoroughly won Qing Lin over and often sparred with her.

Hard work was always rewarded. In recent days, he had finally obtained the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils he had long dreamed of.

However, he did not want to use them in front of others, nor did he wish to use them against his own clansmen. Thus, he had kept them hidden and never had a chance to display their power.

Now, as he thought of the magma world where the Green Lotus Core Flame resided, an idea began to form in his mind.

Not long after that thought arose, a thunderous roar approached from afar without warning, completely shattering the desert's peace...