Deep within a dense forest in the Magical Beast Mountain Range.
"Rise!"
Accompanied by a light shout, the alchemy furnace burst open. A dense aura of deathly silence poured out from within, and when the surrounding plants were tainted by this aura, they slowly lost their vitality.
With a wave of his hand, several black "pills" that radiated an ominous aura flew out of the furnace and landed in Lin Yuan's palm.
Lin Yuan examined the few "pills" in his hand and nodded in satisfaction.
"It seems my talent for refining poisons isn't bad either. That settles the 'gift' for Queen Medusa."
Suddenly, the Purple Jade Scale Snake on his wrist stirred slightly. Lin Yuan's brows relaxed as he smiled. "After so many days, you finally found a Fifth-Rank snake-type magical beast? In Zone Seventeen—pretty close."
Lin Yuan spread his wings and flew toward the northwest.
Boom! Boom! Boom!!!
Accompanied by three heavy sounds of fists colliding with flesh, a massive figure over ten zhang long collapsed to the ground.
"Done! You really knew how to hide." As he spoke, Lin Yuan condensed a giant Dou Qi hand, grabbed the Fifth-Rank magical beast, the Black Rock Demon Snake, and flew back toward the valley.
After returning to the valley, Lin Yuan delivered two more punches to the beast to ensure it remained unconscious. Then he beckoned to Qing Lin, who was already a six-star Dou Practitioner.
"Qing'er, come and give it a try. Use your Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils and see if you can subdue this fellow."
Hearing this, Qing Lin ran over and began activating her Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils, attempting to subdue it.
Before long—
"Young Master, I've already subdued this big fellow. But subduing another of this level would be my limit. To control more or stronger ones, I'll need to raise my cultivation first." Qing Lin looked at Lin Yuan, her eyes showing faint exhaustion as she spoke carefully.
"Really? I originally thought even this one would be beyond you. I didn't expect you could still subdue it. My Qing'er is truly amazing. With you guarding me when I go into seclusion in the future, I can finally be at ease." Lin Yuan looked at Qing Lin happily, gently patting her head, his words filled with pleasant surprise.
"Hehe, it's because Young Master is amazing. If it had been awake, it definitely wouldn't have gone this smoothly. I'll go cultivate now and strive to control even stronger magical beasts in the future." Hearing Lin Yuan's straightforward praise and expectations, Qing Lin grew delighted, deeply intoxicated by the feeling of being valued and trusted by him.
Watching Qing Lin sit down cross-legged to cultivate once more, Lin Yuan looked at her back and fell into thought.
"As expected, even the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils, have limits. The most important factor is undoubtedly the user's strength, followed by the specific techniques used to activate the pupils. I'll need to think of some solutions for this."
"The founder of the Sky Serpent Mansion was also a possessor of the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils. Their inheritance must be useful to Qing'er. It seems I'll need to find a way to obtain their legacy related to the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils."
As for sending Qing Lin to the Sky Serpent Mansion for cultivation, Lin Yuan had no such intention. Not to mention that the Heaven Network centered around Qing Lin was extremely important to him, the Sky Serpent Mansion's cultivation capabilities were also limited. In the original timeline, Qing Lin took ten years to grow into a Dou Ancestor. Lin Yuan was confident that by staying at his side, Qing Lin would only need a few years to reach Dou Ancestor.
"Then let the Sky Serpent Mansion become nourishment for Qing'er's growth."
"There isn't much time left until my appointment with Hai Bodong. It's time to help him deal with the seal. I've recently had a good idea regarding sealing techniques—perfect to test it on the Serpent Curse Seal on his body."
Several days later, Desert City.
In the desert, Hai Bodong sat cross-legged while Lin Yuan stood behind him, his right hand glowing with deep green light as it pressed against Hai Bodong's back.
"Begin!" Lin Yuan instructed.
Hai Bodong followed Lin Yuan's prior instructions and began circulating his Dou Qi with full force. His aura surged continuously, charging straight up to the peak of the Dou Spirit realm.
Suddenly, eerie dark-green energy rapidly condensed, and in moments, a strange, fine dark-green snake pattern formed on Hai Bodong's forehead. It was precisely the Serpent Curse Seal placed by Queen Medusa. The snake pattern coiled above his head like a small lock, firmly sealing his cultivation. Hai Bodong's rising aura abruptly halted, stagnating at the peak of the Dou Spirit realm.
"Maintain this state. Do not resist my Dou Qi," Lin Yuan instructed upon sensing the activation of the Serpent Curse Seal. Immediately afterward, the hand pressed against Hai Bodong's back released threads of extremely pure Dou Qi that seeped into his body. Under Lin Yuan's control, this exceedingly pure Dou Qi dispersed into countless fine strands. With exquisite precision, Lin Yuan guided these tiny threads of Dou Qi toward the snake pattern.
Upon reaching the vicinity of the snake pattern, Lin Yuan did not directly collide his Dou Qi with the seal's energy. Instead, relying on his exceptional control over Dou Qi, he continuously adjusted it so that it could merge with portions of the snake-pattern energy. Then, little by little, he peeled away and refined the fused energy.
As Lin Yuan gradually extracted and refined parts of the snake-pattern energy, the dark-green color of the snake mark above Hai Bodong's head faded slightly.
"Is this the limit?"
After half an hour, the remaining snake-pattern energy consisted only of the most refined core of the seal. This portion was extremely repulsive toward all other energies—even Lin Yuan's carefully controlled Dou Qi could no longer merge with it.
Sensing that further extraction was impossible, Lin Yuan decisively halted the process. The hand seals he formed changed instantly.
"Seal."
The Dou Qi injected into Hai Bodong's body transformed into a delicate and precise seal, accurately blocking the energy channel between the Serpent Curse Seal and Hai Bodong's internal Dou Qi. This prevented the curse seal from drawing energy from within Hai Bodong to maintain its strength.
As Lin Yuan completed the sealing of the Serpent Curse Seal, Hai Bodong's tightly shut eyes snapped open. A ferocious aura burst forth like a waking lion. The aura that had long been confined at the peak of the Dou Spirit realm surged upward in a straight climb, breaking through the boundary of the Dou King realm in short order and continuing to rise until it finally stopped at the Three-Star Dou King level.
Powerful icy Dou Qi swirled around his body, causing the surrounding air to freeze, as if a snowstorm were about to descend.
Hai Bodong shot into the sky, a pair of ice wings suddenly spreading open as he flew freely. His voice brimmed with exhilaration.
"Hahaha! This damned seal—this old man can finally soar through the skies again and enjoy this feeling of freedom once more. This sensation… it's truly been far too long."
Paying no attention to Hai Bodong's wild joy, Lin Yuan pondered the results of his experiment.
"As expected, most strange and sinister techniques ultimately come down to a contest of the quality and quantity of Dou Qi. As a Dou King cultivating a High-Tier Earth-Class technique and possessing a Heavenly Flame, the 'quality' of my Dou Qi surpasses that of Queen Medusa's. That's why I can erode the Serpent Curse Seal she set, and even seal the seal she left within Hai Bodong."
"No wonder Nihility Devouring Flame can come close to devouring everything. Aside from its devouring nature, its own 'quality' is already near the pinnacle. Coupled with its Nine-Star Dou Saint cultivation, which brings its 'quantity' close to the peak as well, it can naturally unleash its devouring power to the utmost."
"It seems that in future cultivation, I must find ways to enhance both the 'quality' and the 'quantity' of my Dou Qi."
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