This Dou Skill Might Be a Bit Overpowered

"Mystic High-Level Dou Skill: Guardian Eight Trigrams Palm."

Xun'er read out the name in surprise. From the name alone, she could tell this Dou Skill was far from ordinary.

As she slowly opened it, lines of gleaming text came fully into view.

"Mystic High-Level Dou Skill: Guardian Eight Trigrams Palm. A group-targeting Dou Skill with extremely formidable attack power. Instantly unleashes eight palm seals, allowing one attack to strike eight enemies at once. Once the attack lands, it can destroy their defenses. When mastered, it can instantly shatter all the meridians within an enemy's body."

Xun'er stared blankly at the Dou Skill in her hands, her mind struggling to process it.

"Shatter... all the meridians inside the body... attack eight people at once..." Xun'er murmured.

After staring blankly for several seconds, her mind gradually cleared. Once she carefully considered the brief description on the bamboo scroll, Xun'er sucked in a sharp breath.

Not only was this Dou Skill immensely powerful, it could attack eight people at once and even turn someone into a complete cripple. Why was such a Dou Skill called Guardian? Shouldn't it be called Slaughter?

Seeing the confusion in Xun'er's eyes, Gu Yuan explained, "This Dou Skill was created by an old friend of mine. That day, when the enemy army was pressing in, she used this Dou Skill to protect her gravely wounded lover by her side. In the end, her Dou Qi was exhausted, so..." Before he could finish, Gu Yuan let out a deep sigh.

Hearing this, Xun'er was moved. So that was where the name Guardian came from?

"Xun'er, this was her signature skill. You must cultivate it well."

"Mm, I will."

Xun'er nodded, tightening her grip on the Dou Skill slightly.

"Alright, you have the Dou Skill now. Hurry and cultivate it. Your father is waiting for you to shine in the clan competition," Gu Yuan said with a smile.

"Don't worry, Father. I definitely will!" Her resolute tone made even Gu Yuan glance at her. "I'll be going, then. Father, get back to your work. I won't disturb you."

After closing the door, Xun'er happily ran toward the back mountain.

Listening to her footsteps fade into the distance, Gu Yuan's smile vanished. He then muttered in confusion, "That aura just now was truly strange. Though it only appeared for an instant, even with my strength, I couldn't detect where he was."

Gu Clan Back Mountain

Xun'er excitedly took the Dou Skill from her storage ring and laughed aloud.

"Yun Xi! Yun Xi! Look at this Dou Skill! Isn't it amazing?" Her excited voice made her joy obvious.

After setting up a barrier, Yun Xi slowly separated from Xun'er's body. Looking at the Dou Skill in her hands, he was quite pleased as well.

"First, familiarize yourself with the intricacies of this Dou Skill. I'll cultivate with you later." With that, Yun Xi drifted back to a large boulder not far away.

As Yun Xi left, Xun'er sat cross-legged, placed the Dou Skill on her lap, and immersed her mind in it, beginning to examine the detailed cultivation method.

"How strange..." Yun Xi said softly, only loud enough for himself to hear. "When she was choosing the Dou Skill just now, it seemed like a spiritual force swept over me. Luckily, I reacted quickly... But what exactly was he after?"

Both Yun Xi and Gu Yuan in the study had sensed each other's presence, yet neither had discovered the other. Yun Xi could guess that it was Gu Yuan, but Gu Yuan could not guess that it was Yun Xi.

No longer dwelling on it, Yun Xi turned his head to watch Xun'er strangely wave her arms in the distance, and he gradually calmed down.

One figure and one soul looked especially beautiful beneath the glow of the setting sun, like a jar of fine wine whose sweetness lingered on the tongue.

After an unknown amount of time, Xun'er opened her eyes and pressed her palms together. Then, her arms moved up and down in strange arcs—half-circles to the left and right that connected in the air, forming the phantom image of an Eight Trigrams diagram. Suddenly, Xun'er shook both hands, and two palm seals appeared in the empty space beside her.

Boom!

The enormous boulder beneath Xun'er exploded. Dust billowed up, sending shattered stones flying everywhere.

The moment those small stones approached Yun Xi's body, they mysteriously evaporated. Even the dust filling the sky could not touch him.

Yet Yun Xi paid no attention to any of that. His gaze remained fixed on the place where Xun'er had been sitting.

His spiritual force swept over the area. Once he confirmed that she was unharmed, his rigid posture finally relaxed.

With a sweep of his hand, the dust dispersed. Looking at Xun'er smiling amid the rubble, Yun Xi said irritably, "You little girl, you caused such a huge commotion. I thought something had happened to you."

Instead of getting angry at Yun Xi's rebuke, Xun'er smiled. "Hehehe, I just wasn't paying attention. This Dou Skill is really amazing! But with my current strength, I can only unleash four out of the eight palms. That's a little frustrating."

Yun Xi was stunned. This girl actually wanted to reach mastery on her first attempt at cultivation? Look at her! What outrageous arrogance!

With a wave of his hand, four clones appeared. Yun Xi looked at Xun'er and smiled teasingly. "Well? Want to give it a try? Let's see how powerful this Dou Skill really is."

"Alright!"

Before Xun'er could react, the four clones shot out and attacked from four directions.

However, Xun'er did not panic in the slightest before this assault. As her palm technique took shape, she shouted softly, "Guardian Eight Trigrams Palm!"

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Four dull impacts rang out. The clones were instantly scattered, leaving only Xun'er standing in place with an excited expression.

Yun Xi, standing nearby, was immediately dumbfounded. He had not expected this Dou Skill to be so overwhelmingly powerful. This was only the beginning of her training—what would it be like at mastery?

Lowering her hands, Xun'er glanced at the stunned Yun Xi beside her and said mischievously, "Hehehe, what do you think, Yun Xi? Are you satisfied with this Dou Skill? Those clones were so weak. None of them could withstand even one palm from me."

This was ridiculous! Xun'er did not know the strength of those clones, but he did!

The clones she had just instantly defeated all possessed the strength of Seven-Star Dou Zhes! Seven stars! What did that mean? She could challenge opponents above her level without fear! And what was Xun'er's current strength? A Three Star Dou Zhe! She had crossed four stars and instantly defeated them in one move. Although the clones had little defense, they were still Seven-Star Dou Zhes! That was why Yun Xi was so stunned.

He had intended to laugh at Xun'er, but who would have thought that Xun'er would end up laughing at him instead?

"Xun... Xun'er... I think this Dou Skill of yours is a little... well... how should I put it... too overpowered... The clones you just defeated in one move... all had the strength of Seven-Star Dou Zhes..."

After hearing Yun Xi's words, it was Xun'er's turn to be stunned. It had been so easy that she had assumed they were only one-star or perhaps two-star in strength.

Seeing that Yun Xi did not look like he was lying, the surprise on Xun'er's face gradually turned into delight.

With such a powerful Dou Skill, forget first place—even placing in the top three would be no problem.

After recovering from his shock, Yun Xi looked at the excited Xun'er and let out a soft sigh.

"This Dou Skill might be a bit overpowered."