The sun and moon alternated, and in the blink of an eye, three years had passed.
Three years later, Andrew was eleven. He stood 1.7 meters tall, and his face had matured considerably. His eyes in particular were calm and wise, making it impossible to believe that their owner was actually an eleven-year-old child.
"Three years. Time really flies."
Andrew lay on the mountaintop, his hands behind his head, gazing at the sky as his thoughts wandered. Over these three years, he had devoted most of his energy to cultivation and rarely even went home. Janice was always complaining, Ling'er was always angry, and even Howard had some objections. Andrew felt deeply apologetic toward them, but he had no choice. The Yulan Continent was simply too unsafe.
A little over ten years ago, there had been other continents in the Yulan Continent's plane, and the Yulan Continent itself had been much larger. But after an earth-shattering battle, only one continent remained in the entire plane. The others had all sunk into the ocean, and the once-vast Yulan Continent had shrunk considerably as well.
All of this had happened just a little over ten years ago!
After the first year of the Yulan Calendar, warfare on the continent gradually subsided, but conflicts continued to break out. From what Andrew remembered, the lands west of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts would be unified by the Pouant Empire in another two thousand years or so. Two thousand years after that, the Pouant Empire would in turn be destroyed by the Dark Church and the Radiant Church, with this state of affairs lasting until the protagonist's birth.
In the lands near the Yulan Empire, the north would be unified as the O'Brien Empire three thousand years later, after O'Brien became a god. To the northeast lay the most chaotic place on the continent, the Chaotic Territory. More importantly, the Chaotic Territory was not particularly far from Maple Forest Town. All of these were factors threatening the safety of Andrew's family.
Beyond that, ever since Beirut spread rumors that the Necropolis of the Gods contained Sovereign Sparks and Sovereign Artifacts, powerful experts from other planes had continually descended upon the Yulan Continent. Even the weakest of them were deity-level! They came to the Yulan Continent to seize treasures. If a battle broke out, they would hardly spare a thought for the continent's inhabitants.
At this thought, Andrew felt cold all over. The chance of being caught up in a battle between deity-level experts was quite high. Although the High Priest was a deity-level expert, he was only a Lowgod, nowhere near powerful enough to deter outsiders.
Thinking of this, Andrew recalled the information about the Necropolis of the Gods. He had no particular designs on it. The place sounded mysterious, but it was really just a trial ground where Beirut selected candidates to become Sovereigns. As long as he could gain Beirut's approval, there was no need to waste time there at all. Besides, he had no ambitions toward a Sovereign Spark.
"Beirut really went to extraordinary lengths to get his Sovereign clone out of the Yulan Continent as soon as possible. Still, he was lucky enough to encounter Linley, a protagonist with the potential to become a Controller."
Andrew sighed again as he thought of the outcome in the original story. Still, he did not particularly envy Linley. Everyone had their own opportunities; there was no need to keep his eyes fixed on someone else. His own opportunity was no small thing either. Transmigration and rebirth were also things that utterly defied common sense.
"Five thousand years from now, another wave of experts from other planes will descend, and another great battle will break out on the Yulan Continent. I hope I'll be strong enough to protect myself by then."
Andrew's eyes grew brighter and brighter. He was filled with confidence in the future.
That confidence did not come from nowhere!
After three years of arduous cultivation, Andrew had made remarkable progress. Though he was only eleven, both his lightning and fire element battle-qi had reached the peak of the sixth rank. He was just short of breaking through and becoming a high-level warrior.
Going from a fifth-level warrior to a sixth-level warrior in three years might not sound like much of an achievement, but there were other reasons behind it.
Before beginning his arduous cultivation, Andrew had indeed already been a fifth-level warrior, but that had only been in the lightning element. Later, when he realized that he could fuse the lightning and fire elements, he abandoned his cultivation of fire magic. He derived a method of cultivating fire element battle-qi from the Rushing Thunder Secret Manual and focused entirely on cultivating battle-qi.
At first, his fire element battle-qi did not progress very quickly, at least not as quickly as his lightning element battle-qi had initially. This was probably due to the battle-qi manual: the fire element manual he had derived himself was less effective than the Rushing Thunder Secret Manual. But Andrew did not give up. He devoted an enormous amount of effort to it and finally brought his fire element battle-qi up to the same level as his lightning element battle-qi. It was because of this that he had failed to break through to become a high-level warrior within three years.
Even so, Andrew did not regret it. On the contrary, he had every reason to cheer and celebrate.
Andrew had previously suspected that he had most likely undergone a soul mutation. A soul mutation offered many benefits, one of which was the ability to fuse Elemental Laws of different attributes. However, this fusion had certain requirements: the two elements had to be evenly matched and reach a balance before they could produce the greatest effect.
This conjecture was confirmed when he cultivated his fire element battle-qi to the sixth rank.
Half a year earlier, Andrew's lightning and fire element battle-qi had both reached the sixth rank. Overjoyed, he began trying to fuse the two types of battle-qi. He had attempted this fusion before and had succeeded, but his success rate had been low. Just like when he had cut off the Iron-Armored Boar's hind leg, such a performance depended heavily on luck and was difficult to control.
Andrew had previously suspected that this was because the two elements were out of balance. Afterward, he spent more than two years resolving this problem. This time, he finally succeeded.
His sixth-rank lightning element battle-qi and sixth-rank fire element battle-qi fused smoothly together. Their fusion increased the power of his battle-qi tenfold. An ordinary sword strike far surpassed an all-out strike using a single element's battle-qi. Andrew suspected that if he went all out, a warrior of the seventh rank would be absolutely no match for him!
Normally, it was impossible for a mid-level warrior to defeat a high-level warrior because the gap between them was too great. Yet now Andrew could do just that!
The lightning and fire elements already have strong offensive power. With two elements that excel at attacking fused together, this result isn't surprising, Andrew thought.
Once lightning and fire were balanced, Andrew's cultivation speed finally caught up. In just half a year, he reached the peak of the sixth rank. Breaking through again, however, would not be easy.
Whether cultivating battle-qi or magic, there were several bottlenecks: one between the third and fourth ranks, one between the sixth and seventh ranks, and one between the ninth rank and the Saint level. Each was harder to overcome than the last. The final one in particular, from the ninth rank to the Saint level, had stopped countless outstanding geniuses. Even among a thousand ninth-level warriors, there might not be a single one who could break through to the Saint level!
The threshold between the sixth and seventh ranks was not as high, but it was far from low. Sixth-level warriors were mid-level warriors, while warriors of the seventh rank were high-level warriors. For barbarians, becoming a high-level warrior only required comprehending the application of strength. For humans, however, not only did they need to accumulate enough battle-qi, they also had to comprehend the application of strength-the first level described in the Dragonblood Secret Manual, bringing the fundamentals to perfection.
Andrew's battle-qi cultivation had gone smoothly, and his reserves were deeper than those of an ordinary high-level warrior. What he lacked now was the latter requirement.
Bringing the fundamentals to perfection could not be achieved by shutting himself away. It required prolonged combat. Realizing this, Andrew decided to end his secluded cultivation and set out to gain experience.
His first stop would be the Mogan Forest, which he had visited before.
Before leaving, however, he had one troublesome matter to resolve: persuading his family.
With his long saber on his back, Andrew stepped into his family's courtyard. The flowers in the courtyard bloomed more luxuriantly with each passing year, and the scenery had grown more beautiful as well. The moment he entered, he saw Ling'er playing in the courtyard.
"Ling'er, your big brother's back!" Andrew greeted her with a smile.
Three years ago, Ling'er would have thrown herself at him before he even spoke, but things were very different now.
Ling'er looked up at him, gave a cold snort, and turned her head away to continue playing by herself. Andrew understood that he had spent these three years focused solely on cultivation and had rarely made time to keep her company. That was why Ling'er was so angry.
"Ling'er, look what I have!" Andrew set his long saber aside and took a stone carving from inside his clothes. The carving depicted none other than Ling'er at play.
Ling'er glanced at it with feigned indifference. Her gaze flickered, and then she lowered her head again, kicking hard at a pebble. Andrew walked over and offered her the carving. "Your big brother's carving skills are getting better and better. Look how cute this stone carving is!"
Ling'er's eyes were drawn to the stone carving, and she stood perfectly still. Andrew felt ashamed. It had been more than three full years since he had last given her a stone carving. Looking at his little sister, who was gradually growing up, he recalled how they had played together before he was five.
Without a word, Andrew picked Ling'er up. This time, she did not sulk. Just as Andrew breathed a sigh of relief, Ling'er suddenly began to cry.
"What's wrong?" Andrew wiped away her tears and asked gently.
Ling'er sniffled, clutching the stone carving in both hands. "You haven't given me a stone carving in so long," she said, aggrieved.
Andrew's heart ached. "It's my fault. Will you forgive me, Ling'er?" He pressed his forehead against hers and touched his nose to hers, hoping for her forgiveness.
Ling'er was very understanding too. "I don't blame you, Big Brother. But you have to play with me from now on."
"All right," Andrew said without hesitation. "I promise!"
Ling'er laughed happily, forgetting all her previous grievances. The unpleasantness between the siblings quickly passed, and the two began playing happily together again.