Five Years

Lin Qing still believed Xiao Xun'er's words. It was clear from the original story that she was not someone who broke her promises. He sighed in relief, then added another reminder:

"Also, don't overdo your training in the future. The Alchemist was right. Things will improve once you're older and your cultivation rises. There's no need to rush too much."

"Mm!" Faced with Lin Qing's concern, Xiao Xun'er lowered her head somewhat guiltily.

Ling Ying, hidden in the shadows, also breathed a sigh of relief. He had been even more nervous than Lin Qing just now.

Fortunately, nothing unexpected had happened.

But had that brat noticed him? What did that brat mean by those words just now, and by glancing in his direction? And here he had thought favorably of him! Should he scare him tonight?

In the end, Ling Ying gave up on the idea. He was, after all, a Dou Emperor. Not to mention the unspoken rule of the Dou Qi Continent: high-level experts could not attack young children. Of course, the Soul Clan was an exception!

As someone from the Ancient Clan, he could not bring himself to bully a six-year-old child.

As for reporting it? Lin Qing had nothing to do with the key and was also the young lady's new friend. There was no reason for him to report anything.

From then on, Lin Qing had a little tagalong behind him, wearing a small dress and with snot running from her nose. At first, Xiao Yu and Xiao Mei were rather resistant to Xiao Xun'er, but they gradually accepted her as a friend. After all, if they wanted to call Lin Qing out to play, the chances of success were higher with the three of them together.

The other children of the Xiao Clan were less willing to play with Xiao Xun'er. First, she had once been mildly socially anxious, and combined with the influence of her bloodline, she was not very talkative. Second, she was quite smart and often killed a conversation with a single sentence, making it impossible for others even to brag.

In the days that followed, Lin Qing took her fruit picking, took her and Xiao Yu's group to the Back Mountain for barbecues, brought her to stroll through the market, read books and drink tea with her, told her stories, and used the Ancestral Stone every few days to absorb the overflowing Heavenly Flame energy...

Xiao Xun'er's health gradually improved, and her cheeks began to fill out. The intelligent, rational, aloof heroine from the original story also gradually emerged. Of course, her aloofness was directed at other people. The little girl slowly grew into a young maiden, her temperament becoming as elegant as a green lotus. Only the way she addressed Lin Qing had changed from Cousin to Brother.

Lin Qing also seemed to be slowly making up for the childhood he had lacked in both lives. Yet he knew that after a few more years, such happy days would likely be difficult to come by. His future enemies would be Hun Tiandi, the Soul Clan, and the Soul Hall, so peaceful days like these would become exceedingly rare. As for the Extraterritorial Evil Clan, one was not qualified to face them without becoming a Dou Emperor. Even without those enemies, they would grow up and venture into the world like young eagles soaring into the sky. Xiao Xun'er's background also meant that she could not remain in the Xiao Clan forever.

If he wanted to stay with her forever, he was destined to walk the path of the strong—and he would have to reach its end.

Thus, during this time, Lin Qing gradually revealed certain secrets that could be revealed, such as his true cultivation level and the fact that he had once obtained the "inheritance of a Seventh-Grade Alchemist."

As for everything else, he kept his mouth tightly shut. Some things were not meant to be spoken of yet.

Time flew by, and five years passed quietly. Lin Qing was now eleven years old, while Xiao Xun'er was nine. The pet Lin Qing had long been looking forward to had finally hatched. It possessed the strength of a Tier 4 creature from the moment it was born. Since it was a Rainbow Crane, he named it Lin Qi. Because it had been born in the newly acquired Pocket World, no one knew of its existence.

Five years could change many things, such as habits.

Influenced by Lin Qing, Xiao Xun'er had also developed a mild case of obsessive-compulsive disorder. She had grown fond of reading, gradually begun drinking tea, taken a liking to reclining chairs, started eating regularly, and fallen in love with spicy rabbit heads and barbecue...

Because they had become so familiar with each other, the two were more intimate and casual in their interactions, though it went no further than patting heads, pinching cheeks, and holding hands.

After five years of absorption by the Ancestral Stone, the Golden Emperor Burning Heaven Flame had stopped causing trouble. With the Foundation Establishment Spiritual Liquid and Ancestral Stone Spirit Liquid Lin Qing had given her, the little girl had also reached the Ninth Duan of Dou Force. However, concealed by treasures, she only appeared to possess the Sixth Duan of Dou Force.

Xiao Yan had already reached the Ninth Duan of Dou Force. In another half year, at the age of eleven, he would enter the Fighter realm, then begin falling back to the Third Duan of Dou Force. He would remain at that stage for three years until his engagement was annulled, after which he would rise with the wind.

Over these five years, Lin Qing's strength had risen from a Third-Star Fighter to a Fifth-Star Dou Spirit. Part of that was because he had consumed Medicinal Pills, but more importantly, it was due to his Cultivation Technique, the Ancestral Stone, and the Devouring Ancestral Talisman. The Swallowing Heaven Scripture, combined with the Devouring Ancestral Talisman, allowed him to directly absorb the energy within Medicinal Herbs and Monster Cores. However, he preferred using the Ancestral Stone to turn Medicinal Herbs into Medicinal Pellets before swallowing them.

As for Monster Cores, low-tier cores had been useful at first, but they could now barely provide him with much energy. To advance, he either had to accumulate energy continuously until quantity caused a qualitative change, or use Monster Cores of the same rank or higher. Using Monster Cores that way was somewhat wasteful, and the same was true of Medicinal Herbs.

Refining a batch of pills required at most two sets of Medicinal Herbs, while using them directly for a breakthrough required five sets. By comparison, Medicinal Pills were more cost-effective, so he gradually stopped this wasteful practice.

He had already used up the Medicinal Pills suited for the Dou Spirit stage, while he could not yet use the Medicinal Pills for the Dou King stage. For example, there was the Fifth-Grade Pill King-Breaking Pill, which could be used to break through to the Dou King realm; the peak Fifth-Grade Medicinal Pill, nearly Tier 6, Dou Spirit Pill, which could raise one star; and the peak Tier 6 Medicinal Pill Emerald King Pill, which could raise three stars. He decided to wait until he reached a Fifth-Star Dou King before using the latter two pills.

At the same time, his soul had reached Mortal Realm Grand Perfection. However, because of the limitations of his body and cultivation, the growth of his soul had already reached a bottleneck.

His alchemy had also reached the Fifth-Grade. As for Tier 6 and Seventh-Grade pills, he lacked the necessary Medicinal Herbs. To gather them all, he would likely need to go to the Imperial Capital. With the Medicinal Herbs and sufficient cultivation, he could even attempt Seventh-Grade pills.

Because he wanted to develop discreetly, he always refined pills in the mountains. Aside from Xiao Xun'er, no one in the clan knew his true cultivation. Even Xun'er, who knew his cultivation level, only knew him as an Alchemist who had just broken through to the Fourth-Grade.

Over the years, the system had granted him quite a few good things:

Three low-tier Storage Rings, one mid-tier Storage Ring, and eleven high-tier Storage Rings. He had sold all the low-tier Storage Rings, earning nearly one million gold coins.

One Yellow Tier low-grade Cultivation Technique, Flame Mantra, along with eighty other Yellow Tier Cultivation Techniques and Dou Techniques. Apart from the Flame Mantra, he sold them all and received one million gold coins.

Thirty-one Mystic Tier Cultivation Techniques and Dou Techniques, the most valuable of which was the Mystic Tier high-grade flying Dou Technique, Wings of the Eagle.

Six Earth Grade Cultivation Techniques: the wood-attributed High Earth Grade Evergreen Art, the wind-attributed High Earth Grade Clear Wind Art, the lightning-attributed High Earth Grade Thunderburst Art, the ice-attributed High Earth Grade Frozen Thousand Miles, the fire-attributed Earth-Mid Grade Fire Phoenix Art, and the water-attributed Earth-Mid Grade Jadewater Art.