While in Battle Through the Heavens, one can pre-appoint oneself as an emperor.

Inside the inn room.

Chen Xiao sat cross-legged on the bed, his hands forming cultivation hand seals.

As the Ice Emperor Scripture circulated within his body, the surrounding天地能量 (heaven and earth energy) subtly surged, like a sudden gust of wind, constantly gathering towards him.

This state lasted for an unknown period of time. Suddenly, the seated body trembled slightly, followed by an even more powerful aura spreading out.

After maintaining the cultivation technique for several more cycles, Chen Xiao slowly opened his eyes, his excitement evident.

"Finally, I've reached the Nine-Star Great Dou Master level! Those two pills saved me at least several months of arduous cultivation!"

Elixirs are not for collecting, but for enhancing one's strength.

After returning from Hai Bodong's place, Chen Xiao suppressed his urge to research the advance and instead took the Purple Heart Breakthrough Pill to improve his cultivation level.

After swallowing one, I successfully reached eight stars.

After digesting the second one, he finally became a Nine-Star Grand Dou Master!

This was Chen Xiao's first experience with a pill that could enhance his strength. Overjoyed, he couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

Alchemy, it smells so good!

I must bring one of them to stay by my side from now on!

"Can I borrow fire attribute in advance?"

Putting aside all distractions, Chen Xiao couldn't wait to begin studying the advance in his mind.

He vividly remembered that the last time he received an advance on the Ice Emperor's Codex, he was just a lowly fighter.

And now, he is only one step away from becoming a Dou Ling!

With a significant improvement in strength, the mental projections can't remain unchanged, can they?

Otherwise, he can only advance the cultivation techniques and fighting skills below the Earth Rank, and the pills below the Sixth Rank. When he reaches the Dou Huang level or even higher, wouldn't this advance become useless?

With anticipation, Chen Xiaojing waited for the feedback from the pre-received information in his mind.

[Fire attribute: Currently unavailable.]

Chen Xiao wasn't particularly surprised by the answer.

The world's great wonders.

There may be rare and precious materials and extraordinary techniques in the world that can change attributes, but with Chen Xiao's current strength, he himself cannot think of any way to obtain them.

It's understandable that it can't be paid in advance.

Without dwelling on it too much, Chen Xiao took out a piece of paper and crossed out the first line of text on it.

"Can one pre-emptively draw upon Bodhicitta?"

[Bodhi Mind: A substance that can help one attain sainthood instantly, comparable to a ninth-grade elixir, and cannot be obtained in advance.]

Chen Xiao nodded slightly; this result was not unexpected.

Continue crossing out the second line of text on the paper.

"A life-saving jade slip?"

[Space Jade Slip: Created by a Dou Zun or higher level expert; cannot be used in advance.]

"A human-level celestial demon puppet?"

[Celestial Demon Puppet: A painless killing machine, requiring certain materials to withstand its ferocious power. Even the lowest-grade demon puppet is comparable to a Dou Zong expert, and its power cannot be predicted.]

"..."

After spending the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, most of the inspirations Chen Xiao had jotted down on paper had been verified.

Most things cannot be pre-funded; only a very small number of creations below the Dou Zong level can be pre-funded.

For example, a certain elder of the Mo family transplanted the Mountain-Breaking Arm from a fifth-tier magical beast, the Mountain-Breaking Rhinoceros.

Of course, Chen Xiao had no intention of turning himself into something neither human nor ghost; he was simply trying to verify his ideas before giving it a shot.

"Just like cultivation, the Dou Zong level seems to be a watershed moment for pre-emptive use. Even Han Feng's Heavenly Cold Qi can be pre-emptively used, but things like the Earth Core Jade Mother and the Thousand-Year Earth Yellow Essence, which can be effective against Dou Zong experts, cannot."

In addition, Chen Xiao was surprised to discover that he could pre-draw three different types of different flames ranked after 20th on the Different Flame Ranking.

Yin and Yang Twin Flames, Myriad Beast Spirit Fire, Xuanhuang Flame!

However, the follow-up to using these three strange flames in advance was extremely troublesome, and the places he needed to go were places he had never even heard of.

For example, the Yin-Yang Twin Flames would then need to travel to the Star Dou Empire on the shores of the East Sea.

Just thinking about it is enough to cause a lot of trouble.

Although Chen Xiao had no particular thoughts about it, he still kept the details of the advance payment for these three different flames in mind, as this was valuable information that might come in handy in the future.

At the same time, it was the aftermath of these three strange flames that made Chen Xiao realize that the advance payment in his mind actually had another use.

It can be used to gather information!

Unfortunately, this effect cannot be maintained indefinitely. It only works before a new advance payment is initiated. Once a new advance payment is initiated, it disappears until the subsequent payments are completed.

"Let's take a look at the fighting techniques, cultivation methods, and elixirs."

We'll start with the classic Great Creation Palm technique again.

[Great Creation Palm: A Heaven-Rank Battle Technique, unpredictable.]

"The Imperial Seal Technique?"

[High-level Earth-rank combat skill, cannot be used in advance.]

...

"Thunder Mirror?"

[Mid-level Earth Rank Combat Skill, cannot be used in advance.]

...

"Three thousand thunderbolts?"

【Three Thousand Thunderclaps: A low-level Earth-rank movement technique, available in advance.】

[Pre-payment follow-up: Complete the "Thousand Kills" achievement within the Black Corner Region.]

[Current number of advance payments available: 1!]

【Do you want to advance payment? 】

?

A question mark popped into Chen Xiao's mind.

The Black Corner Region Thousand Kills achievement, what is this thing?

Is it related to the Three Thousand Thunderclaps?

After careful consideration, Chen Xiao could only think of one possibility.

Those three thousand thunderbolts flowed into the Black Corner Region, and were originally supposed to end up in an auction house some years later.

At this point in time, the person who possesses the three thousand Thunderclaps may have already arrived in the Black Corner Region, but has not yet considered putting them up for auction.

Under these circumstances, if Chen Xiao were to wander through the Black Corner Region, he might indeed happen to encounter this person.

"no!"

Chen Xiao shook his head slightly, restraining himself for the time being.

Then, belatedly, I realized that my Alipay credit limit seemed to have actually increased.

Unable to hide his joy, Chen Xiao quickly tried again.

"Nine-winged Sky Goose?"

[Low-level Earth Rank flying combat skill, available for advance payment!]

Chen Xiao racked his brains and continued to try the low-level Earth-rank Flame Dividing Wave Ruler and the Ninefold Phoenix Fire Technique.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, you can get an advance!

At this point, Chen Xiao finally realized that as his strength increased, the restrictions on advance payment had also changed, from high-level Xuan rank to low-level Di rank!

"Life-Devouring Pill?"

[Seventh-grade elixir, cannot be obtained in advance.]

...

"Transformation Pill?"

[Seventh-grade elixir, cannot be obtained in advance.]

...

"Breakthrough Pill?"

[Breakthrough Pill: A sixth-grade pill, available for advance payment.]

[Follow-up to the advance payment: Using Yao Chen's whereabouts as leverage, a deal was struck with Han Feng; using the strange fire as leverage, another deal was struck with Han Feng; Yao Chen's whereabouts were revealed to the Pill Tower; and Yao Chen's whereabouts were also revealed to the Starfall Pavilion...]

In short, this advance payment information listed more than a dozen options to choose from.

But without exception, they were all quite troublesome.

Fortunately, Chen Xiao was only trying it out and currently had no intention of obtaining the Breakthrough Pill.

Setting aside distracting thoughts, Chen Xiao continued to verify.

Imperial Extreme Pill, Fighting Spirit Pill, Azure Nether Longevity Pill, and all other sixth-grade pills can be purchased in advance!

"Excellent! Although the upper limit has only increased slightly, it's enough for me!"

More importantly, the changes to the advance payment restrictions today prove that Chen Xiao's idea was correct.

Anything is possible if we just improve our strength!

"So, what's next..."

"We're not in a rush to learn cultivation techniques and combat skills. It won't be long before we can go to Canaan Academy."

"Earth Core Tempering Milk?"