Six Years Later

After the New Year.

Lord Si An arrived at Snow Stone Castle once again.

"It is a complete success," Lord Si An said with a smile. "The alchemy master at the Dongxiang Lake Alchemy Workshop has accepted the one hundred thousand gold coins. According to our investigations, your father, Dongbo Lie, has been summoned into the mage tower to perform some labor. Although it remains somewhat strenuous, your father is a Heaven-Rank Knight and can easily endure it. After all, the Moyang Clan's decree is for a century of hard labor; the alchemy master is only ensuring his survival, and has no desire to defy the decree by making your father's life too easy."

"No problem, as long as his life is preserved, that is the best outcome," Dongbo Xueying could not help but say immediately. "Is my father safe inside the mage tower? Could there be any accidents?"

"You may rest assured regarding that," Lord Si An said. "A mage tower belonging to an alchemy master is an absolute forbidden zone! Even if the Moyang Clan's so-called pseudo-Transcendence... wanted to enter the mage tower, they would have to obtain the alchemy master's consent and show the master sufficient respect. Furthermore, the mage tower is filled with countless mechanisms and dangers; it houses the alchemy master's life's research, and no one would dare to go in and cause trouble. What status does Moyang Chenbai hold? Never mind the people he sends, even he himself would not dare to enter! Your father is absolutely safe!"

"Thank you, Lord Si An." A heavy stone in Dongbo Xueying's heart fell, and he said with great gratitude.

To him, gold coins were merely worldly possessions.

His father being able to keep his life was what mattered most.

"Thanks to Lord Si An, otherwise the Dongbo family would have been in trouble this time," Zong Ling also sighed, and both he and Tong San let out a slight sigh of relief.

"Haha, it was just a small effort," Lord Si An said. "Dongbo Lie is, after all, a man of our Yi Water City. If I can save him, I will naturally do my utmost."

Dongbo Xueying felt a little more at ease.

Yet, he remained unable to be satisfied with the current situation of his parents.

His mother was forever locked in solitary confinement in one place; this was equivalent to a long-term prison sentence. Usually, prisoners have companions to relieve their boredom, but this confinement... was one of absolute solitude!

His father was also constantly performing strenuous, exhausting labor.

My strength is still too weak.

I am not even a Title-Rank!

There is no hope of securing an honorary marquis title for my father; I must hurry. After my Primordial Bloodline awakened, my body improved significantly. But further cultivation will also allow my body to improve even faster, Dongbo Xueying thought to himself.

It was just like the legendary dragons.

They were all Transcendence lifeforms; these dragons were Transcendence the moment they reached adulthood! And among the dragons, those who understood how to study and cultivate possessed strength far greater than other dragons.

The principle was the same!

For those who awakened the 'Strength Bloodline', there was naturally a vast difference in strength between those who cultivated diligently and those who slept all day.

Dongbo Xueying wanted to raise his strength as high as possible!

On an open space beside the bamboo building behind the mountain, two alchemy dummies were fixed in place. These were alchemy dummies worth five thousand gold coins each; those below the Title-Rank could not damage them in the slightest! Even if a Title-Rank managed to inflict some slight damage, the alchemy dummies' self-recovery ability would restore them! Therefore, they were common tools used by Archmages for various experiments.

These had been specially purchased in Yi Water City and fixed in place by mages! It was very difficult to move them; one only had to consider that even the power of Dongbo Xueying's spear techniques could not shake them to know how stable they were.

"Bang."

"Bang."

The long spear moved like a thunderbolt. Sweeping, striking, cleaving, and crushing—as Dongbo Xueying moved, every move and stance possessed immense power.

Although he had already reached the realm of a spear master, practicing spear techniques provided almost negligible improvements to his realm, but it was highly beneficial for pushing his body to its limits. On one hand, after the Strength Bloodline awakened, his body's recovery ability was astonishing; every recovery was a tiny evolution of his muscles and bones. Countless accumulations of this evolution resulted in a massive increase in strength. On the other hand, because the body's recovery consumed so much energy, he could absorb more fire energy from the outside world into his body when practicing the Flame Three-Stage Method.

Furthermore...

The insights he gained from contemplating the natural world could also be tested while practicing his spear.

"Hoo, hoo, hoo..." Sweat soaked his clothes. Dongbo Xueying's strength was perfectly rounded and unified; he could feel the level of fatigue in every muscle and bone of his body, and areas that were not sufficiently trained would naturally be strengthened.

Under this pressure, the potential of his Strength Bloodline was being continuously unearthed.

******

The grass on Snow Stone Mountain withered and flourished, marking the passage of a year, time and time again...

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

The once green and youthful Kong Youyue, the mischievous Dongbo Qingshi, and the young Dongbo Xueying who had just begun to show his edge... had all grown up!

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~~~"

Mountain spring water fell into the pool, the sound echoing, making the surroundings seem even more tranquil.

A young man in black was sitting cross-legged on a large rock with his eyes closed. His face looked as if it had been carved by a knife and axe; he inherited his father's looks, and his appearance was quite ordinary, not exactly handsome! Yet, a temperament as restrained as a mountain made him clearly extraordinary. At this moment, his breathing was so slow it was imperceptible, and his heartbeat was also abnormally slow—perhaps beating only once a minute—while his blood flow was also extremely sluggish.

"Inhale~~~ Exhale~~~"

He suddenly opened his eyes. His breathing caused his spine to undulate like a great dragon; as he inhaled, his abdomen swelled slightly, as if countless amounts of air were being drawn into his body.

Whoosh!

As he exhaled, a violent blast of energy rushed from his mouth, striking directly onto the surface of the pool in front of him. The previously calm pool erupted with a roar; the water surface suddenly caved in, and a massive spray of water shot into the sky and splashed everywhere.

With that single breath, the energy and blood throughout his body began to surge, accelerating from their previous state of extreme calm and slowness, and his heartbeat quickly returned to its normal rhythm.

He stood up, and battle-qi surged across his body. The fire-red battle-qi condensed into a protective layer on his skin, making him look like a god of war wreathed in flames. He began practicing the Flame Three-Stage Method, which he had practiced countless times over the years. Even though it was only a mid-grade battle-qi technique, under his execution, it possessed a strange charm that combined hardness with softness.

Sometimes his moves were slow, but at other times, his speed would erupt suddenly.

"Boom!" His palm suddenly swung out, the edge of his palm crushing the air to form a high-pressure current. This white, arc-shaped current whistled across the sky and struck a mountain rock in the distance. Crackle—a huge crack immediately appeared on the large rock, and a large amount of debris flew and tumbled down into the mountain stream in the distance.

Dongbo Xueying practiced his fist techniques.

Every move and every stance.

The high-pressure air currents generated merely by the explosive force of his fists and palms could easily tear apart large boulders.

"Withdraw." As he finished the movement, all his aura slowly calmed, and the battle qi on the surface of his body retracted completely.

My growth in strength has begun to slow down, Dongbo Xueying thought to himself. Only when my battle qi breaks through to the Silver Moon Rank will my body be able to improve rapidly once again.

"But this is already enough!"

Diligent cultivation and the constant excavation of the potential within his Strength Bloodline had granted Dongbo Xueying incredible power today.

Because his strength was perfectly unified, he had encountered no bottlenecks when his battle qi crossed from the Heaven Rank into the Meteor Rank; once he had accumulated enough, the breakthrough occurred naturally! Liquid battle qi was even more helpful for the evolution of his body, and over the past half-year, Dongbo Xueying's physique had been constantly improving, though it had begun to slow down in recent times.

"Although my battle qi is only at the Meteor Rank, what is truly stronger is my body, ever since I awakened my Strength Bloodline."

Six years ago, when I first awakened, my strength was already at the peak of the Meteor Rank. Now, according to the tests on the Alchemy Dummy, my physical strength should reach the peak of the Title Rank under normal circumstances, Dongbo Xueying mused. Although I have yet to achieve the Unity of Heaven and Man—which is the difference between me and a Title Knight—my body is strong enough, and once my Strength Bloodline erupts, my power can double once more.

Relying on absolute strength.

Among those of the Title Rank, he could definitely rank near the top; it was just a pity that he had never been able to reach the realm of the 'Unity of Heaven and Man.'

It is time to take on a mission, Dongbo Xueying knew.

"Brother Xueying, Brother Xueying."

Suddenly, a warm and pleasant girl's voice drifted over from afar.