—————
The first theft was almost disappointingly easy.
I had tracked Tang Hao for three weeks before identifying the optimal moment. The former Clear Sky Sect heir—now a broken man drowning his sorrows in alcohol across the Star Luo Empire's remote villages—carried treasures that should have been protected by one of the cultivation world's most formidable powers.
Instead, they were guarded by a drunk who rarely achieved sobriety long enough to perceive threats that didn't announce themselves with obvious hostility.
The soul bone was stored in a spatial ring on his finger. The ring itself was protected by formations that would have detected any Spirit Master below Title Douluo attempting access. But the formations were designed to detect Spirit Masters.
They were not designed to detect something that no longer registered as anything at all.
My concealment had evolved beyond what my original serpent form had ever achieved. The eight rings of accumulated power, the hundred-thousand-year head bone's mental enhancement, the decades of systematic development—all had combined into something that transcended normal stealth capability.
I was not merely hidden. I was absent. A gap in reality's fabric that spiritual perception could not acknowledge because there was nothing to perceive.
Tang Hao slept in a corner of a filthy tavern, his once-legendary form reduced to sodden wreckage. The Clear Sky Hammer that had challenged Spirit Hall itself lay dormant within a spirit too saturated with alcohol to properly manifest. The spatial ring containing his accumulated treasures glinted on a finger that had once wielded power sufficient to shake the continent.
I removed the ring without his awareness.
The formations guarding the spatial storage flickered in confusion as I bypassed them—not triggering because there was no intruder to detect, merely registering anomalous absence that their design could not process. The contents materialized in my hand: cultivation resources, Clear Sky Sect techniques that might prove valuable for study, and the soul bone I had specifically targeted.
A left arm bone from a creature whose origins I could not immediately identify. The spiritual essence it contained suggested extreme age—perhaps eighty thousand years, possibly more. The bone's abilities, based on preliminary analysis, appeared to involve strength enhancement and defensive capability.
Perfect for addressing gaps in my physical development.
I replaced the spatial ring on Tang Hao's finger—now empty of its most valuable contents—and withdrew without leaving any trace that intrusion had occurred.
When the fallen Title Douluo eventually sobered enough to check his treasures, he would find them missing. But he would find no evidence of how the theft had occurred, no trail to follow, no enemy to pursue. The mystery would compound his existing despair, his confusion adding another layer to the self-destruction that was already consuming him.
I felt no guilt. The serpent's nature did not accommodate guilt for successful predation.
And the exhilaration that flooded through me as I departed—the pure satisfaction of stealing from one of the continent's most powerful cultivators without his awareness—confirmed that my human development had not entirely suppressed my predatory instincts.
The hunt had evolved. The prey had changed. But the fundamental joy of successful predation remained.
—————
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan presented a more sophisticated challenge.
Unlike Tang Hao's solitary vulnerability, the clan maintained institutional security that reflected centuries of accumulated wealth protection. Their vault occupied the deepest level of their ancestral compound, surrounded by formations, guards, and detection arrays that represented the pinnacle of what mortal cultivation could devise.
I spent two months analyzing their defenses before attempting entry.
The outer formations were designed to detect spiritual intrusion—any manifestation of soul power that approached the compound would trigger alerts that would summon the clan's considerable defensive capabilities. Multiple Title Douluo called this place home. A direct assault would be suicidal regardless of my accumulated power.
But the formations had a fundamental flaw that their designers had not anticipated.
They detected Spirit Masters. They detected soul beasts. They detected spiritual constructs and formation intrusions and the various threats that cultivation-world security was designed to address.
They did not detect absence.
My concealment suite, operating at the level my eight rings and hundred-thousand-year head bone enabled, created not presence that was hidden but genuine non-presence. The formations swept through the space I occupied and found nothing to register—not because I was concealed but because there was, as far as their perception could determine, nothing there to conceal.
The guards never saw me pass their positions. The detection arrays never triggered. The locked doors that should have required proper authorization opened to manipulation so subtle that their mechanisms could not distinguish my actions from normal settling of ancient materials.
The vault itself was magnificent.
Shelves lined with cultivation resources that represented centuries of accumulation. Spirit herbs of varieties I had not previously encountered. Beast cores from creatures whose power exceeded what I had ever personally harvested. Formation materials, weapon components, technique manuals—a treasury that reflected the clan's status as one of the continental powers.
And spirit bones.
Four complete bones rested in positions of honor within the vault's central display. The clan's most precious treasures, preserved for distribution to the next generation of exceptional cultivators, each representing power that most Spirit Masters would never personally encounter.
I selected two that aligned with my development needs.
A right leg bone from what appeared to be a speed-attribute beast—the spiritual essence suggested approximately seventy-five thousand years of age, with abilities focused on movement enhancement. The bone would complement my existing speed capabilities while potentially unlocking new evasion techniques.
A torso bone from a beast whose attributes I could not immediately classify. The essence was unusual—defensive, certainly, but with something else underlying the primary function. The age suggested ninety thousand years or more, making it among the most valuable bones in the collection.
I took both, leaving no evidence of their removal.
The display cases remained intact—I had developed techniques for bypassing their protections without triggering the alarms their opening would normally produce. The inventory records remained unchanged—the clan's accounting systems would not register discrepancy until physical inspection occurred. The guards continued their patrols without awareness that anything had transpired.
When the theft was eventually discovered, the clan would face an impossible mystery. Their most secure vault, protected by the finest defenses their resources could devise, had been penetrated by something that left no trace of its passage.
The investigation would consume resources. The suspicion would fall on internal betrayal, on rival clans, on Spirit Hall machinations. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan's attention would be directed toward threats that did not exist while the actual thief continued operations elsewhere.
Chaos served my purposes. Distracted powers were powers not examining shadows where serpents hid.
—————
The dragon clan vault required different methodology entirely.
The clan I targeted maintained its holdings in the Star Luo Empire's eastern territories—a collection of families whose dragon-attribute spirits granted them formidable combat capability and considerable political influence. Their security was less sophisticated than the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan's but compensated through sheer power density.
Twelve Spirit Douluo-level cultivators called this compound home. Four Title Douluo served as the clan's ultimate defenders. Penetrating their defenses through stealth alone would require perfection that even my capabilities could not guarantee.
So I created distraction.
The intelligence networks I had developed over decades of operation included assets positioned across the continental powers. Merchant contacts who carried information between regions. Servants who observed their masters' conversations. Minor cultivators who supplemented inadequate income through discreet reporting.
I activated several of these assets with carefully crafted instructions.
Rumors began circulating through cultivation-world channels. Whispers that the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan's recent security failure had been orchestrated by the dragon clan—ancient grudges finally being addressed through unconventional means. Counter-rumors that the dragon clan was planning aggressive expansion, that their recent military buildups were preparation for territorial acquisition.
The flames I fanned were subtle enough to avoid obvious manipulation but persistent enough to generate genuine tension.
Within weeks, the relationship between the two powers had deteriorated from cordial distance to active suspicion. Diplomatic communications became accusatory. Border patrols increased. The attention of both clans' leadership focused on the perceived threat from the other rather than on more mundane security concerns.
The dragon clan's vault security weakened as their defensive resources redirected toward external threats.
I penetrated their compound during a night when three of their four Title Douluo were positioned at border installations, responding to supposed intelligence about imminent Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan movements. The remaining Title Douluo was occupied with diplomatic crisis management that my rumors had manufactured.
Their vault was smaller than the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan's but contained treasures of comparable value. Dragon-type spirits were inherently powerful—the soul bones their cultivators produced reflected that power through enhanced attributes.
I selected a single bone from their collection: a skull bone from what the preservation records identified as a ninety-three-thousand-year Storm Dragon. The spiritual essence confirmed the documentation—the bone's abilities appeared to involve perception enhancement, spiritual attack capability, and something that my analysis suggested might be related to domain manifestation.
Three skull bones. The redundancy with my existing head bone from the Shadow Leopard would need to be addressed through careful integration methodology. But skull bones from different sources could potentially be merged, their capabilities combining into something exceeding what either individually provided.
The theory would require testing. The stolen bone provided the opportunity.
I withdrew from the dragon clan compound as cleanly as I had entered, leaving no trace of my passage, no evidence of the theft that had occurred.
Behind me, the flames continued spreading. The two clans' mutual suspicion deepened as each blamed the other for security failures they could not explain. Resources that might have been directed toward discovering the actual thief were instead consumed by manufactured conflict.
The serpent had learned that the best concealment was not hiding from observers but ensuring observers looked elsewhere.
—————
The soul bone absorptions occurred across the three months following the thefts.
I had not previously integrated multiple bones in rapid succession. The process required careful management—each bone's essence needed full integration before the next absorption could safely proceed, and rushing the timeline risked complications that might permanently damage my spiritual structure.
Tang Hao's arm bone came first.
The integration was surprisingly smooth—the bone's essence aligned well with my existing development, its strength-enhancement attributes complementing rather than conflicting with my physical cultivation. The abilities it provided exceeded my projections: raw physical power that increased by approximately forty percent, defensive capability that could absorb impacts previously beyond my tolerance, and something unexpected—a regeneration enhancement that accelerated my already-substantial healing.
The unknown source beast had apparently possessed restoration abilities that the bone's spiritual essence had preserved.
My physical parameters now approached what Title Douluo typically achieved through decades of body tempering. The gap between my combat capability and the cultivation world's pinnacle had narrowed substantially.
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan's leg bone followed two weeks later.
Speed enhancement manifested exactly as my analysis had predicted—movement velocity increased by margins that approached my theoretical maximum for non-divine cultivation. The evasion techniques the bone provided were sophisticated, suggesting the source beast had evolved specifically for escape rather than confrontation.
But the most significant enhancement was unexpected.
The bone's essence included something that interacted with my existing spatial awareness from the Shadow Leopard head bone. The combination produced capability that neither bone alone could have provided—not merely enhanced speed but something approaching spatial stepping, the ability to traverse short distances through something other than normal movement.
The technique was not true teleportation. But within perhaps ten feet, I could now move from position to position without crossing the intervening space in any conventional sense.
The assassination implications were immediately obvious.
The torso bone integration required the longest duration—six weeks of careful absorption, the ninety-thousand-year essence demanding respect that lesser bones had not required.
The defensive enhancement was substantial: physical resilience that approached immunity to attacks below Spirit Douluo level, spiritual defenses that could contest techniques from cultivators significantly above my apparent rank, and a passive regeneration field that accelerated healing for myself and, unexpectedly, for nearby allies.
But the underlying ability I had detected proved even more valuable.
The bone granted something I could only describe as essence concealment—the ability to mask not merely my spiritual signature but my fundamental nature. Where my previous concealment had hidden what I was doing, this enhancement could hide what I actually was.
A Spirit Master examining me with their most sophisticated perception would now register… a Spirit Master. A human cultivator with unusual capabilities, certainly, but nothing that suggested soul beast origin or hundred-thousand-year existence.
The serpent had become truly invisible.
The final integration—merging the dragon clan's skull bone with my existing Shadow Leopard head bone—required techniques I had to develop specifically for the procedure. Skull bones normally replaced each other rather than combining, but I theorized that careful essence management might permit fusion rather than replacement.
The theory proved correct, though the process was agonizing.
Two skull bone essences merged within my cranial structure, their capabilities interweaving rather than competing. The Storm Dragon's perception enhancement amplified my Absolute Perception toward ranges approaching two hundred feet. Its spiritual attack capability provided offensive options my skillset had previously lacked. And its domain contribution…
My existing domains expanded. Darkness, silence, temperature, chemical manipulation—all gained approximately thirty percent additional range and intensity. More significantly, I gained the ability to manifest multiple domains simultaneously without the power consumption that had previously limited such combinations.
Within my maximum domain range, I could now create conditions of absolute darkness, complete silence, arbitrary temperature, and poisoned atmosphere simultaneously.
Any opponent caught within that overlapping effect would face sensory deprivation across every dimension while being exposed to toxins that could threaten Spirit Douluo-level cultivators.
The serpent's hunting ground had become a death zone that nothing below Title Douluo could survive.
—————
The cultivation breakthrough occurred seventeen days after the final bone integration.
I had been approaching the Title Douluo threshold—rank ninety—throughout the bone absorption period, the enhanced spiritual structure accelerating my power accumulation beyond already-exceptional rates. The soul bones' essence had provided cultivation benefits alongside their specific abilities, their integrated power feeding my advancement like concentrated nutrition.
The breakthrough itself was anticlimactic.
I crossed from rank eighty-nine to rank ninety during morning meditation, the transition occurring with a sensation of completion rather than dramatic transformation. The power that had been building within my spiritual structure finally achieved the configuration that the Title Douluo rank represented.
I was now among the cultivation world's pinnacle powers.
The realization required time to fully process. From desperate transformed beast, through years of careful accumulation, through systematic development and calculated risk-taking, I had achieved what most cultivators could not even imagine.
Title Douluo. Rank ninety. One of perhaps a few dozen individuals on the entire continent who had reached this level of power.
And my concealment ensured that no one—absolutely no one—knew.
To the world, I remained Lin Xiao, the mysterious restaurant owner whose Spirit Grandmaster cultivation had apparently stalled decades ago. The intelligence networks that tracked significant cultivators had no file on my true capabilities. The powers that monitored threats to continental stability had no awareness of what moved among them.
A Title Douluo walked the streets of Heaven Dou City, and the city's considerable surveillance saw only an unremarkable middle-aged man going about unremarkable business.
The serpent's patience had achieved its ultimate expression.
—————
I tested the new capabilities extensively before emerging from the cultivation retreat I had announced to explain my extended absence.
The domain enhancements functioned as my integration analysis had predicted. Within approximately fifty feet—my comfortable operational range—I could establish conditions that would defeat almost any opponent regardless of their cultivation level. Darkness that suppressed even spiritual perception. Silence that prevented communication or coordinated response. Temperature extremes that degraded physical and spiritual capability. Atmospheric toxins that attacked through every exposure vector simultaneously.
A Title Douluo caught within my combined domain effect would face challenges that their cultivation alone could not address. Even if their raw power exceeded mine—and at rank ninety, few would—the environmental disadvantages would negate substantial portions of their capability.
But the most significant enhancement was the essence concealment the torso bone had provided.
I examined myself through every perception method I could simulate—spiritual sense, formation detection, beast instinct, even the divine-adjacent awareness that hundred-thousand-year cultivation sometimes developed. Through every lens, I appeared as what my surface suggested: a human Spirit Master of modest apparent cultivation, unremarkable in every dimension that detection methods could assess.
The soul beast nature that had defined my existence for over a hundred thousand years was now completely invisible.
Not merely hidden. Genuinely undetectable.
A being with divine-level perception might still pierce the disguise through sheer overwhelming awareness. But anything below that threshold—Title Douluo, hundred-thousand-year beasts, even transcendent beings who had not achieved godhood—would perceive only the human mask I chose to display.
I had become, in every functional sense, indistinguishable from the humanity I had spent two decades pretending to be.
The serpent had finally completed its transformation into something that could walk among humans without any possibility of detection.
—————
The return to normal operations proceeded with adjustments that my enhanced capabilities demanded.
The restaurant continued functioning as the hub of my various enterprises. The intelligence networks maintained their observation of continental developments. The technology investments produced ongoing benefits that my long-term planning required.
But my strategic positioning had fundamentally changed.
At Title Douluo level, I was no longer merely a hidden observer of events that exceeded my capability to influence. I was now a potential participant—a power that could shape outcomes if I chose to involve myself.
The question became whether such involvement served my purposes.
Tang San's journey through Shrek Academy was progressing according to the timeline I remembered. The Seven Devils were assembling. Spirit Hall's machinations were developing toward their eventual eruption. The forces that would eventually clash in continental conflict were positioning themselves for confrontations that grew increasingly inevitable.
I could continue avoiding these developments, maintaining the non-interference policy that had guided my existence since transformation. The timeline's outcome, while costly, was generally favorable. The protagonist would ultimately succeed. Spirit Hall would ultimately fall. The continental order would ultimately stabilize into something that permitted continued existence for beings like myself.
But the stolen soul bones had taught me something about my own nature that policy-level analysis had not fully captured.
I enjoyed the hunt.
The exhilaration of stealing from Tang Hao, from the great clans, from powers that should have been beyond my capability to threaten—that joy was not merely satisfying but necessary. Some part of me that transformation had not eliminated, that human development had not suppressed, required the challenge of predation to feel fully alive.
I had spent two decades hiding. Two decades accumulating power that I never used for anything beyond continued accumulation. Two decades watching events unfold from shadows so deep that I had begun to question whether existence within them was living or merely persisting.
The thefts had reminded me that I was a predator. That hiding was means, not end. That the power I had gathered served purposes beyond mere possession.
The serpent had grown strong enough to hunt anything on the continent.
Perhaps it was time to consider what prey was actually worth pursuing.
—————
The team gathered at my summons for a meeting whose purpose I did not initially disclose.
They had developed substantially during the months of my cultivation retreat. Wang Tao's rank had reached sixty, his combat capability now matching what veteran Spirit Emperors typically possessed. Xiao Mei had achieved rank sixty-three, her speed and assassination methodology approaching the level where she could threaten opponents significantly above her apparent rank. Chen Wei's fifty-six reflected continued support specialization. Huang Mei's sixty-two marked her as genuinely formidable among healing cultivators.
They were, collectively, a force that could influence regional outcomes.
"I have reached Title Douluo," I announced without preamble.
The silence that followed was absolute.
"What?" Xiao Mei's voice was barely a whisper. "That's… that's impossible. You were Spirit Douluo six months ago. The advancement rates you'd need…"
"Are approximately what I achieved. Rank ninety, confirmed through internal assessment and external consultation with trusted sources."
"External consultation." Wang Tao's eyes had widened to degrees I had not previously observed. "You actually told someone? Who on the continent would you trust with that information?"
"No one alive. I utilized archived formation-based assessment tools that provide results without observer involvement."
"Of course you did." Xiao Mei's expression mixed shock with something I recognized as vindication. "You're actually telling us what you are. Finally. After all these years of secrets and evasions."
"I am providing information that changed circumstances now permit. My Title Douluo advancement creates operational possibilities that did not previously exist. Those possibilities require team involvement for optimal exploitation."
"Operational possibilities." Chen Wei's analytical mind was already processing implications. "What kind of operations require Title Douluo capability?"
"The kind that influence continental events rather than merely observing them."
The statement hung in the air, its implications gradually registering with team members whose experience had not prepared them for such scope.
"You want to… what? Involve us in cultivation-world politics? The Spirit Hall conflicts everyone keeps warning about?" Wang Tao's voice carried uncertainty I rarely heard from him.
"I want to position us for outcomes that serve our collective interests regardless of how those conflicts resolve. The forces currently maneuvering for advantage believe they understand the relevant players. None of them suspect that an unaligned Title Douluo operates beneath their perception."
"An unaligned Title Douluo with a Spirit King-level team." Xiao Mei's observation was pointed. "We'd be… what? Your support force? Your intelligence network? Your expendable assets?"
"My partners." The word felt strange to speak, but accurate. "The power I possess means nothing without infrastructure to support its application. You provide that infrastructure. Your continued development serves my interests, which is why I have invested in it so substantially. But partnership involves mutual benefit—and the opportunities approaching will provide benefits substantial enough to interest everyone present."
"What kind of opportunities?"
"Spirit bones. Cultivation resources. Political influence that translates into territorial security. The conflicts ahead will destroy some powers and elevate others. I intend to be among those elevated, and I intend to bring you with me."
The offer was genuine, even if my motivations included elements I did not fully disclose. The team's loyalty had been proven through years of cooperation. Their capabilities had developed to levels that made them genuinely useful rather than merely decorative. And the approaching timeline events would require assets that I could not personally provide.
"We need time to consider," Huang Mei said, her voice carrying the thoughtful weight that had developed through years of our deepening relationship. "What you're proposing is… substantial. Life-changing. Possibly life-ending if events unfold poorly."
"Take whatever time you require. The timeline I anticipate provides approximately five to seven years before major conflict eruption. Decisions need not be immediate."
"Five to seven years." Chen Wei was already calculating. "Spirit Hall's expansion patterns, the academy conflicts, the succession issues in Star Luo… you're projecting based on those indicators?"
"Among others. The analysis is complex, but the conclusion is consistent—significant conflict approaches, and those positioned to benefit will acquire advantages that decades of normal development could not match."
The team exchanged glances that communicated volumes without words. Years of cooperation had created understanding that exceeded verbal exchange.
"We'll discuss," Wang Tao said finally. "Privately. And then we'll give you our answer."
"That is all I ask."
—————
I departed the meeting to allow their deliberation, confident that the outcome would favor my proposals.
They had followed me for too long, trusted me through too many challenges, to abandon the relationship now that its ultimate purposes were becoming clear. The offer I had made was generous by any reasonable assessment—partnership with a Title Douluo whose advancement trajectory suggested eventual divine cultivation was not opportunity that sensible cultivators refused.
But their deliberation served purposes beyond simple decision-making.
They needed to feel that the choice was theirs. That their participation was consent rather than coercion. That the relationship remained partnership rather than subordination.
The serpent had learned that the most loyal followers were those who believed they chose to follow.
I spent the waiting period reviewing the continental situation through the intelligence networks that continued providing comprehensive awareness.
Tang San's Shrek Academy journey was approaching critical developments. The Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Elite Tournament was perhaps two years away—the event that, in my fragmentary memories, had marked his emergence as a figure of continental significance.
Spirit Hall's machinations were advancing toward more aggressive postures. Their Supreme Pontiff's ambitions exceeded what the current continental order could accommodate. Conflict with the great clans, with the empire, with the protagonist's eventual resistance, grew increasingly inevitable.
The shadows that had concealed me for two decades were about to be tested against forces that approached divine intervention.
I would be ready when that testing came.
—————
The team's response came three days later.
"We're in," Wang Tao announced, speaking for the group. "All of us. Whatever you're planning, whatever you actually are, we're in."
"Your reasoning?"
"You could have abandoned us at any point. Could have used us and discarded us when our utility was exhausted. Instead, you invested in our development, protected us from dangers we didn't even perceive, built us into something that could actually help rather than just follow." He met my eyes with directness that years of friendship had earned. "That's not the behavior of someone who sees us as expendable. That's the behavior of someone who actually gives a damn."
"Practical calculation supports that investment—"
"Stop." Xiao Mei's voice cut through my deflection. "I've watched you for years. Questioned everything. Looked for the deception, the manipulation, the hidden agenda that would reveal you as the threat my instincts initially suggested." She paused, something approaching respect entering her expression. "What I found instead was someone who didn't know how to care about people but was learning anyway. Someone whose every secret seemed designed to protect rather than exploit."
"I remain dangerous—"
"Everything powerful is dangerous. That's not an argument against association—it's an argument for being on the right side of that power." Her smile carried edges that her personality had developed. "And I'd rather be on the side of the hidden Title Douluo than on the side of whatever's coming that scared you enough to spend two decades preparing."
The assessment was more accurate than comfortable. The timeline events I anticipated did frighten me, at some level that my cultivated composure could not entirely suppress. The forces that would eventually clash included beings whose power approached the divine, whose conflicts could reshape continental geography, whose attention could annihilate anything below their level with casual effort.
I had spent decades preparing because I was, beneath all my accumulated power, still something that could be destroyed by forces I could not match directly.
But I was no longer something that had to face those forces alone.
"Then we proceed as partners," I said. "The planning begins immediately. The execution commences when circumstances favor action."
"And when will that be?"
I considered the question carefully before responding.
"When Tang San becomes too significant to ignore. When Spirit Hall overreaches in ways that create opportunity. When the careful balance currently maintaining continental stability begins its inevitable collapse."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only answer available until the variables clarify. We watch. We prepare. We position for advantages that circumstances will eventually provide."
I met each of their eyes in turn, the team whose loyalty I had cultivated, whose development I had invested in, whose trust I had earned through decades of consistent behavior.
"And when the moment comes—when action becomes necessary—we will be ready."
The serpent had gathered its allies. The hunt was about to begin.
And the prey that awaited was nothing less than the forces shaping the continent's destiny.
—————
End of Chapter 17
—————