A Great Start! Zi Yan's Proposal!

All of a sudden, after an unknown amount of time had passed, at the instant his soul completely finished merging, his entire soul seemed to undergo a complete transformation.

His soul, which had originally reached the pinnacle of the Mortal Realm, instantly transformed and entered the Spirit Realm.

A terrifying soul storm instantly swept outward in all directions with Qin Hao at its center.

When Zi Yan, who was in midair, sensed that terrifying aura, her expression changed drastically. She immediately retreated, unable to conceal the shock in her eyes as she looked at Qin Hao.

"Whew..."

The moment the transformation was complete, Qin Hao slowly opened his eyes. A sharp light flickered within them as he exhaled a breath of stale air.

"A Spirit Realm soul! This feeling... it's simply too powerful!"

Sensing the changes in his soul, Qin Hao's eyes flashed with excitement. Clearly, he had not expected killing this Azure Shadow Eagle to bring such tremendous benefits.

Soul realm was extremely important to an alchemist—indeed, it was one of the most crucial factors.

On the Dou Qi Continent, more than ninety-nine percent of alchemists possessed Mortal Realm souls, and the limit for a Mortal Realm soul was becoming a seventh-tier alchemist.

A Spirit Realm soul, meanwhile, was an essential prerequisite for entering the ranks of eighth-tier alchemists. If one's soul realm did not meet the standard, then no matter how extensive one's theoretical knowledge or how skilled one's techniques were, one still could not become an eighth-tier alchemist.

Likewise, a powerful soul realm was of enormous help to one's combat strength.

Just look at Xiao Yan in the original novel. After he used Ghost Possession, a technique surpassing Heaven-tier Dou Techniques, his strength had soared as though he were riding a rocket.

After his soul completed its transformation, Qin Hao felt that his strength had crossed another enormous threshold.

The only regret was that Qin Hao possessed only the soul realm itself, without any soul cultivation techniques or Dou Techniques. If he had corresponding soul cultivation techniques and Dou Techniques, he could truly unleash the full power of a Spirit Realm soul.

By then, not to mention a Dou Wang—even a Dou Emperor would not be enough to make him afraid.

Unfortunately, soul cultivation techniques and Dou Techniques were simply too rare. Even in the original novel, they appeared only a few times.

The most famous among them were the Grand Unity Soul Art obtained by Xiao Yan and the inherited Dou Technique, Yellow Springs Heavenly Fury, of the Yellow Springs Demon Saint.

However, unfortunately for the current Qin Hao, neither the Grand Unity Soul Art nor Yellow Springs Heavenly Fury was something he could lay his hands on.

The Grand Unity Soul Art was the reward for the Pill Convention champion in the original novel, and was currently in the hands of the Pill Tower. Though he was now a peak fourth-tier alchemist and considered exceptionally gifted in a place like Jia Nan Academy—

—he was clearly still lacking when compared to the top young alchemists of the Pill Tower. Trying to obtain that thing from the Pill Tower in advance was practically impossible.

As for Yellow Springs Heavenly Fury, it was the inherited Dou Technique of the Yellow Springs Demon Saint, located in the deepest part of the Nine Serene Yellow Springs. That place was the forbidden ground of the Nine Serene Nether Python Clan, one of the three top Magic Beast clans. It was even further beyond his current reach.

Qin Hao soon shook his head, suppressing these stray thoughts. No matter what, his soul's transformation this time was already an enormous and unexpected pleasant surprise.

Then his gaze fell upon Zi Yan, who descended from the sky.

"Zi Yan, thanks!"

A smile appeared on Qin Hao's face when he saw Zi Yan.

The process of soul fusion and transformation was extremely dangerous. If he had been disturbed, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

"Qin Hao, what... what is going on with you?"

Zi Yan had now recovered from the shock of that terrifying soul storm. Her gaze settled on Qin Hao as she stared at him with a doubtful, uncertain expression.

"Nothing much. I simply had a sudden flash of insight, and my soul realm made a breakthrough!"

Qin Hao said.

"A breakthrough in your soul realm? Isn't that a little too monstrous? Huh, wait—if your soul realm has broken through, doesn't that mean your alchemy skills will improve greatly too? Then you can refine even higher-grade pills, right?"

Zi Yan was initially full of shock, but then she seemed to realize something. Her eyes lit up as she looked at Qin Hao expectantly.

"Alchemy... if nothing unexpected happens, I should now be capable of refining fifth-tier pills!"

After thinking for a moment, Qin Hao nodded.

His alchemy had already reached the peak of the fourth tier, just a step away from becoming a fifth-tier alchemist.

Now, his soul realm had directly leaped from the late Mortal Realm, past the pinnacle of the Mortal Realm, and straight into the early Spirit Realm. From the Mortal Realm to the Spirit Realm was a qualitative leap.

For an alchemist, a powerful soul realm meant better control over the heat of the flame, more precise timing during the refinement process, and finer control over every aspect of alchemy.

A Great Start! Zi Yan's Proposal!

It was absolutely an immense improvement to his alchemy. Thus, Qin Hao had complete confidence that he could now refine fifth-tier pills. In fact, if he had sufficiently complete guidance from an inheritance, even refining sixth-tier pills was not impossible.

After all, this transformation of his soul was simply too astounding. Using a Spirit Realm soul to refine fifth- or sixth-tier pills was, to some extent, practically like cheating.

"This is wonderful! I can finally eat higher-grade pills!"

Zi Yan said excitedly.

"Also, your strength has improved so much. In that case, we can be a little bolder. I know several places with good things, but the Magic Beasts guarding them are not easy to deal with!

"I had originally planned to wait until our strength improved before causing them trouble. But now, with the strength the two of us have when working together, there should be no problem!"

Zi Yan continued.

"Oh? Good things? What kind of good things?"

Qin Hao asked curiously. He knew about Zi Yan's treasure-hunting talent. Anything Zi Yan called a good thing was certainly far from ordinary.

"Azure Origin Fruit, Jade Marrow Ganoderma, Profound Ice Grass... and Blood Spirit Ginseng!"

Zi Yan immediately rattled off a long list of medicinal ingredients.

The instant Qin Hao heard the names of those medicinal ingredients, his eyes lit up.

That was because the worst of the items Zi Yan had mentioned were all ingredients required for refining fifth-tier pills.

Among them, the Azure Origin Fruit and Jade Marrow Ganoderma were two of the three main ingredients for refining the fifth-tier Fighting Spirit Pill.

As for the last one, it was none other than the Purple Spirit Fruit guarded by this Azure Shadow Eagle.

In other words, if they could obtain those things, they would have gathered all the main ingredients for refining the Fighting Spirit Pill. As for the other auxiliary ingredients, they were much easier to obtain and could readily be exchanged for at the academy.

Furthermore, the Blood Spirit Ginseng Zi Yan had mentioned last was one of the main ingredients for refining the sixth-tier Emperor's Extreme Pill. Its value was anything but ordinary.

"Are you certain the Magic Beasts guarding those medicinal ingredients are all opponents we can handle? Especially that Blood Spirit Ginseng—there won't be a sixth-tier Magic Beast, will there?"

Qin Hao asked for confirmation one last time.

"How could that be? Don't worry. The Magic Beasts guarding those medicinal ingredients are all fifth-tier Magic Beasts. There definitely aren't any sixth-tier Magic Beasts. If there were sixth-tier Magic Beasts, I certainly wouldn't provoke them!"

Zi Yan patted her chest and assured him.

"Is that so? In that case, let's give it a try!"

After hearing Zi Yan's assurance that there were no sixth-tier Magic Beasts, Qin Hao nodded and agreed to her proposal.

Zi Yan might have had a somewhat childish temperament, but Qin Hao knew very well that she was certainly not someone who failed to understand the gravity of things. She would not joke about something like this.

Before that, however, they obviously needed to collect the spoils from the battle they had just fought.

Qin Hao first walked over to the Purple Spirit Fruit Tree, plucked the nine ripe Purple Spirit Fruits, and placed them into jade boxes he had prepared beforehand.

He then began to deal with the Azure Shadow Eagle's corpse.

The Azure Shadow Eagle was a fifth-tier Magic Beast. Although calling it a treasure from head to toe would be a bit exaggerated, as a fifth-tier Magic Beast, it still had quite a few valuable materials besides its Magic Core.

After dealing with the Azure Shadow Eagle's corpse, the two of them directly found its nest.

Less than ten minutes later, Qin Hao and Zi Yan emerged from the Azure Shadow Eagle's nest, both wearing satisfied smiles.

As a fifth-tier Magic Beast, the Azure Shadow Eagle had collected quite a few good things in its nest.

There were dozens of Magic Cores alone. Though the highest were only fourth-tier Magic Cores, there were plenty of them.

They also found two storage rings in its nest, likely left behind by cultivators who had died at the Azure Shadow Eagle's claws.

However, much of what had been inside those storage rings had clearly been ruined by the Azure Shadow Eagle.

What remained were things useless to the Azure Shadow Eagle, such as clothing and various daily necessities.

Among them, however, Qin Hao obtained two gold cards and several scrolls of Dou Qi cultivation techniques and Dou Techniques.

Though the highest among them was only mid Xuan-tier, and their attributes clearly did not suit Qin Hao very well, they were still decent gains for him. He could completely exchange them at the academy for things he needed later.

Their first battle after entering the Magic Beast Forest had gotten off to a great start. Not only had Qin Hao avenged the previous owner of this body, settled the karma, and cleared his mind—

—his soul had also completed its transformation, and he had gained quite a bit of loot. Naturally, Qin Hao was immensely satisfied.

"Where is the next target?"

Qin Hao turned his gaze toward Zi Yan. When it came to familiarity with the Magic Beast Forest in the back mountains of the Inner Academy, no one in the entire academy could compare to Zi Yan.

"Let me see!"

With that, Zi Yan directly took out a map from her storage ring. It was a simple map of the Magic Beast Forest near the Inner Academy, marked with numerous symbols by Zi Yan—clearly the results of her explorations.

In a sense, it could be considered a treasure map, though this treasure map was rather dangerous.

"This one. The nearest place from here is the territory of this great ape! I originally did not want to provoke this fellow for the time being, but now that your strength has improved so much, we'll use him as our first target!

"There is an extremely rare natural treasure in that great ape's nest!"

After examining it for a while, Zi Yan pointed at a location on the map and spoke.

"A natural treasure? What is it?"

Hearing that, Qin Hao immediately asked with some curiosity.

"If I'm not mistaken, it should be the legendary Earth Core Body-Tempering Milk!"

Zi Yan said. As she spoke, a trace of drool even escaped from the corner of her mouth. Clearly, she greatly desired the Earth Core Body-Tempering Milk.

"Earth Core Body-Tempering Milk? So it is such a treasure. What Magic Beast guards it?"

Upon hearing the name, Qin Hao's heart stirred slightly, and he asked directly.

Naturally, Qin Hao knew about this item. It had even been mentioned in the original novel. For cultivators at the Dou Ling and even Dou Wang levels, it counted as a rare heavenly treasure.

"It's a white great ape, seemingly called a Snow Demon Sky Ape. It possesses a trace of an ancient Magic Beast bloodline, so it isn't easy to deal with!"

After thinking for a moment, Zi Yan replied.

Zi Yan's bloodline was extremely noble. Among all the Magic Beasts of the Dou Qi Continent, aside from Zhukun, who was trapped in the Ancient Emperor's Cave-Dwelling, none could compare to her.

However, because she had accidentally consumed a Transformation Herb, she had become somewhat "underdeveloped," and her bloodline had not fully awakened. Thus, her cultivation was currently about the same as Qin Hao's, and she had only recently reached the Dou Wang realm.

Her current strength clearly had not yet reached the level she possessed when Xiao Yan arrived at the Inner Academy in the original story. She relied more on the Ancient Void Dragon Clan's mysterious spatial methods, which left her opponents helpless against her.