"A snake? It’s pretty big."

After scouring the entirety of Celestial Pillar Mountain, the collected bone fragments were pieced together into a giant white snake skeleton.

Its estimated length was nearly a hundred meters.

"I can understand the other bits and pieces. After all, the Celestial Traveler Venerable was the same way."

"But this thing... where does it go?" Qi Suian wondered, looking at the round Bone Bead in his hand.

At first, he thought it was an eye, but on closer inspection, it didn’t look like one.

[If I’m not mistaken, its previous form was likely a snake. But following your line of thought, it should be a dragon.]

"So you’re saying this thing is a Dragon Ball?" Qi Suian said, speechless.

[No, I mean that this is likely the core of the snake. Of course, if you see it as a dragon, you can also consider this its Dragon Ball.]

Qi Suian listened and thought it sounded quite reasonable.

"Then what the hell is the use of it?" Qi Suian grumbled.

It was hard, sure, but it didn’t seem to have any function. It was just a pile of calcified bone.

[You can keep the calcified core. The next time a module slot is free, you can install it as a module.]

[As for the rest of the skeleton, it can be used as fuel. Although its value cannot be estimated, it’s definitely no worse than the Celestial Traveler Venerable.]

"If it’s this hard, how did it shatter into pieces?" Qi Suian didn’t ask why it had decayed; it had been dead for who knows how many years, so decay was perfectly normal.

The problem was the fragmentation.

[Calculating data...]

[Calculation complete.]

[Preliminary estimate suggests it was caused by a disruption in the energy environment. As you know, Cold Energy Monsters are extremely dependent on a cold energy environment.]

[The skeleton was originally at the bottom of Longling Lake, preserved by the environment’s water pressure, temperature, and other factors.]

[The drastic environmental change that occurred in a short time after being dislodged from its original environment by an explosion caused it to shatter.]

"Got it. It couldn’t handle the thermal expansion and contraction, so it exploded," Qi Suian summarized succinctly.

[Yes.]

The AI Brain’s reply was very concise, but Qi Suian was sizing up the Snakebone.

"But I still feel like there’s more to this thing."

’My protagonist halo wouldn’t just send me a batch of fuel, would it?’

[Actually, this isn’t fuel. It’s more intuitive to see it as an accessory to the Celestial Traveler Venerable.]

"No, no, no. For the Celestial Traveler Venerable to choose Longling Lake, there must be a secret involved. It’s highly likely related to this Snakebone."

Qi Suian rejected the AI Brain’s explanation and began to examine it more closely.

’If it were really just an accessory, it should have been taken when I captured the Celestial Traveler Venerable.’

’It wouldn’t have been left for me to discover afterward.’

Moreover, Qi Suian was certain of one thing: it probably didn’t look like this originally.

After scrutinizing it for a while, Qi Suian felt a strange sense of familiarity.

Not because he was related to the Snakebone, but it was the feeling of knowing a text you’ve memorized by heart but having forgotten the opening line.

As soon as you remember that first line, the rest of the text flows out naturally.

"Like viewing flowers in a fog..." Qi Suian muttered, then began to take stock of his gains from the Cold Winter World.

In truth, he hadn’t gained much. Or rather, the things that could possibly be related to this Snakebone were extremely limited.

"I remember now!" Qi Suian said suddenly. "Do you remember how the Celestial Traveler Venerable was unwilling to reveal which Cold Energy Monster the Taiyin Refining Technique was based on?"

[Yes, I remember.]

"Well, as it happens, I know what it is now."

"The original model for the Taiyin Refining Technique was this very snake. No, I should say, this dragon."

Qi Suian pointed to a term mentioned in the Taiyin section of the annotations.

"The Red Dragon. That’s it."

"The Taiyin Celestial Monarch never pointed out the Red Dragon in the Taiyin Refining Technique."

"But it was mentioned in the Taiyin section of the annotated *Blood Sacrifice Demon Sutra*."

"I thought it was just a symbolic term, but it turns out it wasn’t just symbolic—the dragon actually existed."

"Of course, the Red Dragon’s original form was just a snake. It simply interfered with its own evolution using cold energy, eventually becoming the so-called Red Dragon."

Qi Suian couldn’t help but have a moment of epiphany.

’My protagonist halo knew I’d need to research my own Cultivation Technique later, so it sent the original model straight to me.’

"But the question is... what use is it?" Qi Suian voiced his doubt.

Just a Snakebone, even with a calcified core, was nothing more than a pile of bones to Qi Suian.

[Perhaps... you could try studying the Snakebone from the perspective of the Taiyin Refining Technique. You might gain some benefits.]

Even the AI Brain believed the Snakebone’s greatest use to Qi Suian was as fuel for the Melting Furnace.

’If you want to create a Qi Cultivation Method by observing a Cold Energy Monster and imitating its divine abilities, even if it’s not alive, you can’t work with just a pile of bones, can you?’

"Should I try boiling it into a soup and drinking it?" Qi Suian had a sudden, strange idea.

[With your digestive abilities, you could indeed consume it as food. However, your bite force and absorption capacity do not support such an action.]

[Furthermore, according to my calculations, even if you boiled it into a soup, it would be no different from boiling a rock.]

[If you can’t think of a solution and are reluctant to use it as fuel, you could try arranging the Snakebone and core to be installed as a module.]

The AI Brain offered a new solution.

"This... could it work?" Qi Suian checked the Tai Sui God’s evolution. As expected, a new module slot was indeed about to open up.

"Wait, can this even count as a single entity?" Qi Suian realized.

’It’s been shattered so badly, how could it possibly count?’

[I can help you repair it. Since they share the same origin, they can barely be considered a single entity.]

"What if I stick the Jade Vein Lotus to the core, then repair it onto the Snakebone? Do you think that would work?" Qi Suian was always thinking about exploiting glitches.

[That would not work. The nature of the Jade Vein Lotus is completely different from the Snakebone. Forcing them together would only result in them being judged as two separate entities.]

"Then what if I fuse the Dragon and Tiger Primordial Force with the Jade Vein Lotus?" Qi Suian found another blind spot.

[Unable to deduce. You can try it yourself.]

The AI Brain wasn’t omnipotent. Faced with the Jade Vein Lotus, which had once been SSS-rank like itself—even if it was now only S-rank—it couldn’t produce a deduction in a short amount of time.

Given the time and cost involved, it was better to just let Qi Suian try it himself.

"Theoretically, it can be done," Qi Suian said suddenly.

"As long as I can fuse the Qi Cultivation Method and the Ancient Martial Technique into one, and then use the new form of energy created by fusing the Dragon and Tiger Primordial Force and the blood sacrifice ability..."

"Using that as a base to bond them, there’s a high probability the Jade Vein Lotus and the Red Dragon can become a single module."

[Your idea is indeed feasible, but doing so would waste the potential of the Dragon and Tiger Primordial Force, the Jade Vein Lotus, and the Red Dragon.]

[Without fusing them, you could obtain three SSS-rank modules. By doing this, you will only get one SSS-rank module.]

[Fundamentally, you would be losing out on the boosts from three modules.]

[And we are talking about a direct amplification of your power.]

The AI Brain was indicating that a quantitative change can sometimes truly become a qualitative one.

Hearing this, an expression that screamed ’holy shit’ gradually appeared on Qi Suian’s face.

He was just thinking about saving module slots, but the problem was that module slots could be increased indefinitely as long as he had the resources.

At first glance, it seemed like one module with three functions, but the upper limit for a module was still SSS-rank.

The boost from one module and the boost from three modules were naturally different.

"You really have a point."

"I almost tied myself in knots over this." Qi Suian was short on modules, but he couldn’t deliberately sacrifice his own potential just because of that.

[It is good that you understand. After all, the number and synergy of its modules are the Tai Sui God’s greatest advantages.]

"That’s about the only advantage the Tai Sui God has left, and it still requires me to pay-to-win with both money and my life to enhance it." Qi Suian sighed. "What a shame. I can’t burn the Red Keel now."

Qi Suian’s gaze fell upon the Snakebone.

"Let’s put a temporary stop to the hunt. I need to study the Red Keel."

He thought he could earn some more fuel for the Tai Sui God, but because of this, his plans had fallen apart midway.

Because it turned out to be useful, he’d even lost out on a huge amount of potential fuel.

But it didn’t matter. As long as the gains were sufficient, it was fine.

Anyway, he was already getting used to the Tai Sui God being such a Gold-devouring Beast.

Thankfully, the intensity of the Doomsday World was increasing, and the fuel from the resources he could obtain was able to keep up with the Tai Sui God’s demands.

If he were still in the Profound World and hadn’t come into contact with the cosmic level, there’s no way the Tai Sui God could have achieved its current number of evolutions.

***

"Boy, in all my years of cultivation, this is the first time I’ve had my grave robbed."

An ancient voice rang out, giving Tang Qing, who was in the middle of looting, a huge fright.

Then, he saw a middle-aged man climbing out of the coffin. At first, he looked like a dried corpse.

But as he breathed in a large amount of cold energy, his flesh gradually plumped up, his originally hideous appearance transforming into one of kind-eyed benevolence.

"I was wondering who it was. So, a successor of the Taiyin Celestial Monarch. No wonder you could so accurately find your way to my tomb." The middle-aged man identified the origin of the Qi Cultivation Method Tang Qing was using with a single glance.

This made Tang Qing’s heart skip a beat. The Taiyin Celestial Monarch had actually recorded the resting place of some ancient Cultivator in his manuscript as if it were a treasure trove.

"Which of his manuscripts do you have?" the middle-aged man asked casually. "The Taiyin Celestial Monarch distributed many manuscripts, and he secretly included the tombs of many of his peers in them."

"Replying to Senior, it is..." Tang Qing answered respectfully. This was not the time for petty tricks.

Judging from the man’s attitude, he wasn’t an enemy, or he would have attacked at the first opportunity.

"What year is it now? Tell me about the state of the world." The middle-aged man sat down cross-legged, gesturing for Tang Qing to sit and speak slowly.

"It is now the era of the Doomsday Game, and we are experiencing the Cold Winter apocalypse..." Tang Qing didn’t hide anything and began to summarize.

"Hold on, what is this ’Doomsday Game’ era?" The middle-aged man’s expression was filled with confusion. He didn’t quite understand, so he interrupted to ask.

"Senior, you haven’t become a survivor of the Doomsday Game?!" Tang Qing’s face was a mask of shock.