It was night.
In a secluded courtyard within Jia Nan Academy, a young man dressed in gray-blue robes sat cross-legged. His eyes were tightly shut, his hands forming seals as Dou Qi circulated around his body. A faint cyan Dou Qi veil fluttered around him.
At a certain moment
"Dou Grandmaster, break!"
With a low shout, a powerful aura erupted from the youth's body. As the aura surged outward, ripples of energy spread to the fluttering Dou Qi veil. The veil gradually came to a halt, and in the next instant, brilliant cyan light suddenly flared. It rapidly fused and condensed, merging together until, moments later, the cyan radiance transformed into a tightly fitted cyan flame-patterned Dou Qi armor that covered the young man's body.
The youth withdrew the hand seals. His closed eyes slowly opened as he glanced at the Dou Qi armor covering him, a trace of satisfaction appearing on his lips.
"One-star Dou Grandmaster. I've made it."
Suddenly, his gaze shifted. He stood up at once, turned toward the distance, and clasped his fists with a slight bow.
"I've disturbed the Dean. Lin Yuan feels deeply ashamed. Thank you, Dean, for watching over me. This student is immensely grateful!"
As his voice fell, a gray-robed figure appeared before him. It was Hu Gan, the Vice Dean of the Outer Academy of Jia Nan Academy. Hu Gan looked somewhat surprised as he said,
"Although I didn't deliberately conceal myself, you were still able to sense me. It seems that what that old fellow Huo said wasn't false—you truly are exceptionally gifted in terms of the soul."
After giving Lin Yuan a few more appraising looks, Hu Gan revealed a satisfied smile.
"Good, very good. A fifteen-year-old one-star Dou Grandmaster, with an extremely solid foundation. You truly deserve to be called a genius of Jia Nan Academy."
With that, Hu Gan took out a token from his storage ring and tossed it to Lin Yuan.
"Take this token. Tomorrow, go to the Technique Pavilion and select one high-tier Black-class Qi method and one high-tier Black-class Dou Technique. Also, you won't need to report to the Law Enforcement Team for the next few days. Focus on familiarizing yourself with the power of a Dou Grandmaster. I'll inform Elder Wu."
Lin Yuan caught the token, his voice carrying a hint of excitement.
"Thank you, Dean! This student will follow your instructions!"
Hu Gan laughed.
"No need for such formality—we're all on the same side. Cultivate diligently, and while you're at it, go give Hu Jia a bit of motivation. You're the same age, yet you're already a one-star Dou Grandmaster, while that little girl still hasn't even broken through to Dou Practitioner, and she's so careless with her cultivation. I really need to go lecture her."
With that, his figure faded away.
After Hu Gan had been gone for some time, Lin Yuan straightened his body and stored the token into his low-grade storage ring, pondering inwardly,
"Breaking through to Dou Grandmaster and immediately receiving a high-tier Black-class Qi method and Dou Technique as a reward—Jia Nan Academy really is generous toward its own people."
A soft chuckle escaped him.
"Rather than a reward, it's more like an investment in their direct-line genius. Choosing to come to Jia Nan Academy back then truly was the right decision!"
He lifted his head and looked at the bright moon hanging in the sky, his spirits rising slightly. Returning to his room, he took out a jug of wine and sat down at the stone table in the courtyard. Bathed in moonlight, his figure appeared especially clear and lonely. Holding an exquisite wine cup, he drank leisurely while facing the radiant moon.
The moonlight flowed like water, quietly cascading over his body and draping him in a layer of silvery gauze. As his thoughts drifted, his face appeared somewhat indistinct beneath the moonlight, yet the light in his eyes only grew firmer.
"It's been fifteen years since I came to this world. I've finally obtained the qualifications to enter the game."
That's right—Lin Yuan was a transmigrator.
Fifteen years ago, he had been born into this familiar yet unfamiliar world of the Dou Qi Continent, into an ordinary family. His father was a mercenary, a seven-star Dou Practitioner, while his mother was a minor apothecary who had never broken through to Dou Practitioner. Their life was modest, yet happy.
However, Lin Yuan's family life did not last long.
When he was nine years old, his father died during a mission, falling simply to the claws of a magical beast. His mother, devastated by her husband's death, became mentally distraught and later perished after accidentally coming into contact with a poisonous herb. Once again, Lin Yuan was reduced to an orphan.
The deaths of his parents allowed Lin Yuan to deeply comprehend the cruelty of the Dou Qi Continent. Without strength, the boundary between life and death could shift in the blink of an eye. From that moment on, he made a firm resolve to advance step by step and become a powerful expert.
Fortunately, although he possessed no special background and had yet to obtain the standard "Cheat" often granted to transmigrators, Lin Yuan himself seemed to possess remarkably outstanding talent in cultivation and soul strength.
His exceptional aptitude gave him the opportunity to pursue power. Combined with the maturity of an adult mindset guiding his actions, Lin Yuan had been diligent and unrelenting in his cultivation since childhood. Ultimately, at the age of ten, he passed the entrance examination of Jia Nan Academy—an institution that recruited students across the continent by reaching the Ninth Star Dou Disciple. Though there were some twists along the way, he successfully became a student of Jia Nan Academy.
During the five years following his arrival at Jia Nan Academy, Lin Yuan did not hesitate to display his formidable talent in order to gain greater investment from the academy.
He understood clearly that unless the information in his mind could be converted into tangible resources, his outstanding talent was his greatest asset. Demonstrating his value and attracting investment from the right people was the best way to survive the early stage of weakness and Jia Nan Academy was the ideal choice.
The development of events proceeded exactly as he had anticipated. His clean background as an orphan, coupled with his exceptional talent, earned the academy's recognition, allowing him to become part of Jia Nan Academy's direct-line successors.
Originally, Lin Yuan had assumed that he would take one of the academy's elders as his master. Only later did he learn that Jia Nan Academy had an implicit rule or rather, an unspoken understanding. For orphans like him, whose backgrounds were clean and whose talent was outstanding, once they became part of the academy's direct line, the upper echelons would nurture them in the name of the academy as a whole. This was done to prevent excessive individual influence in the future, which could damage the academy's organizational structure.
Lin Yuan was one of the participants in the academy's "Forging Excellence Plan," a program aimed at cultivating future core elders. Moreover, he was the most talented among them, worthy of being called a "reserve elder" of Jia Nan Academy. Because of this, Lin Yuan received considerable care within the academy. He was also well acquainted with Hu Jia, the granddaughter of Hu Gan, as well as Wu Hao, the adopted son of Elder Wu Tianlang of the Law Enforcement Team.
Over the five years at the academy, Lin Yuan spent most of his time in arduous cultivation. He cultivated Dou Qi relentlessly, accompanied the Law Enforcement Team on external missions to temper himself and accumulate combat experience, and simultaneously studied alchemy-related knowledge within the Alchemy Department. His life was extremely fulfilling.
His powerful soul strength made Lin Yuan exceptionally talented in alchemy. Whether it was the study of medicinal knowledge or the control of flames, he excelled far beyond his peers. He earned the deep appreciation of Elder Huo from the Alchemy Department, who even gifted him the flame seed of a fifth-tier beast flame—Green Spirit Flame—when Lin Yuan became a third-tier alchemist.
Under the moonlight, Lin Yuan reminisced about those five crucial years at Jia Nan Academy—the five years that laid an unshakable foundation for his future path. At the same time, he pondered the future course of history on the Dou Qi Continent, as well as the plans he had carefully devised for the years ahead.
As the wine jug ran dry, Lin Yuan's contemplation came to an end. He raised his wine cup, saluted the heavens and the earth from afar, and drank the final cup in one go.
"I do not know why I came to this Dou Qi Continent, but if there truly exists some exalted being watching me, then I ask you to bear witness to whether my life's performance will be magnificent."
"Dou Qi Continent, the tides of destiny—Lin Yuan has arrived."
Lin Yuan set down the wine cup, sat cross-legged upon the meditation cushion in the courtyard, and circulated his Dou Qi to dispel the lingering intoxication. Once again, he began his day-after-day cultivation.