Advancing to Dou Zhe, Encountering a Little Pufferfish

That night.

Chen Guan sat cross-legged on his bed, sensing the abundant power within him. He opened his eyes in satisfaction and took out a jade-green, longan-sized pill from the storage ring on his finger. A rich medicinal fragrance wafted toward him, sufficient to explain that this was no ordinary pill.

"A Fourth Grade Medicinal Pill, Qi Gathering Powder. Sister Yaoye really is generous. If I fail to break through with this, I'll be too ashamed to face her."

Ordinarily, when someone at Dou Qi Stage Nine attempted to break through to Dou Zhe, the failure rate was fairly high. Once they failed, their strength would fall back to Dou Qi Stage Eight.

Yet the Qi Gathering Powder in Chen Guan's hand could perfectly avoid that problem.

Qi Gathering Powder was a Fourth Grade Medicinal Pill that could help someone at Dou Qi Stage Nine condense a Dou Qi Cyclone with a one hundred percent success rate. To date, there had never been a failed case!

Those three words, "one hundred percent," were enough to make countless people in the Dou Qi stage drool with envy and dream about it day and night, driving its value ever higher.

Chen Guan clearly remembered that in the Original Work, one of the gifts Nalan Yanran brought as compensation when she went to the Xiao Family to break off the engagement was a Qi Gathering Powder, causing quite a stir in the Xiao Family.

Without exaggeration, the final price of a Qi Gathering Powder at any Auction House would never be lower than One Hundred Thousand Gold Coins.

Compared to This, the low-grade storage ring on his hand was actually somewhat inferior.

And these two items had merely been the meeting gifts Yaoye had given him half a month ago.

Living off a rich woman really was sweet!

After joking with himself, Chen Guan committed the favor to heart. He cast aside all distracting thoughts and adjusted himself to peak condition. Once everything was ready, he swallowed the Qi Gathering Powder in one gulp, then deftly formed the hand seal for absorbing Dou Qi.

The Qi Gathering Powder dissolved as soon as it entered his mouth. Its immense medicinal power instantly spread from his mouth and surged through the meridians across his body, finally gathering in the location of his Dantian.

At this moment, his Dantian was like a jar filled to its utmost limit. Just as the surging Dou Qi could no longer be contained and was about to overflow, Chen Guan swiftly focused all his attention—his Soul Power—into his Dantian. As if packing soil, he repeatedly compressed, squeezed, and solidified the Dou Qi over and over without the slightest impatience.

The Dou Qi that had nearly overflowed steadily decreased in quantity, while its quality gradually improved. This was a process from quantitative change to qualitative change.

Finally, after repeating the process an unknown number of times, the mass of Dou Qi inside him transformed into a milky-white, swirling vortex that spun without cease.

The Dou Qi Cyclone had formed! Nine-year-old Chen Guan had advanced to Dou Zhe and taken a solid step forward! Having become a Dou Zhe, Chen Guan could feel the surging strength within his body. Beating up eight or ten versions of yesterday's self would not be a problem.

Moreover, he could now look inward and clearly see the condition inside his body.

Suppressing the urge to find Zhao Gang for a spar, Chen Guan forcibly calmed himself and began cultivating the technique he had long memorized, the Spirit Crossing Art. After several circulation cycles, he felt no pressure whatsoever.

"As expected, there's a reason Dou Zhe on the Dou Qi Continent only begin cultivating techniques at this stage. My body is far stronger now. When I get the chance, I should temper it more as well. A powerful physical body can offer quite an advantage in battle."

Overall, Chen Guan was very satisfied.

After getting up and washing himself again, Chen Guan changed into a new set of light green clothes. After advancing to Dou Zhe, he felt as though he had suddenly grown a few centimeters taller. His body had become more slender, and he looked around fourteen or fifteen years old, with less childishness about him.

A happy event put one in high spirits. Rarely, Chen Guan did not bury himself in cultivation again. He pushed open the door and headed to the Training Ground, relaxing in the night breeze.

Perhaps because the half-year assessment was drawing near, quite a few people were still sparring and making last-minute preparations in the Training Ground despite it already being nighttime. A sense of urgency hit him head-on.

Chen Guan was quite famous among this group of peers. Many people who saw him felt as though their eyes were playing tricks on them. They never could have imagined that this cultivation maniac would actually leave his room.

It was simply unbelievable!

They were curious, but none of those present had much of a relationship with him, so no one stepped forward to ask. A polite nod counted as greetings.

Chen Guan paid them no mind and wandered around the Training Ground by himself. Thinking about it, it was rather amusing. Over the past five years, their group no longer had to worry about food or clothing, but their range of activity had been limited to this nearby training area. It was terribly monotonous.

Other than Chen Guan, the others had probably already explored every corner of the place. Now, he was likely the only one who would think to take a proper look around.

He wandered all the way to the area near the entrance of the Training Ground before stopping and preparing to return.

But just then, Chen Guan saw a little girl sitting on the steps before the doorway. She looked Seven or Eight Years Old, propping up her small chin with both hands and puffing out her cheeks until she resembled an angry Little Pufferfish.

Judging by her clothing, then by the guards behind her who stared straight ahead as though they had noticed nothing, the little girl's identity was obvious.

She was most likely the Little Princess he had never met.

As he unconsciously revealed a faint smile and looked her over, the little girl noticed him as well.

"Hey, you there. Were you laughing at this Princess?"

"Ahem, no. You saw wrong."

"You're lying. I clearly saw you staring at me and smiling. Come here. This Princess is in a bad mood, so tell me a joke. If you do, I'll forgive you."

Chen Guan was in a very good mood. Though this Little Pufferfish could do nothing to him with Yaoye backing him, he still walked over and sat beside her.

At that moment, he did not notice that perhaps because of the royal family's kindness toward him, or perhaps because he called Yaoye his older sister, he already felt quite close to this Little Princess he was meeting for the first time. Subconsciously, he treated her like a younger sister.

For things to reach this point, the royal family had to be considered successful.

The Little Pufferfish did not mind his somewhat impolite act of sitting beside her. She asked, "Hey, what's your name?"

"Chu Yuxun," the young man blurted out.

"What an awkward name. You can tell your joke now. If this Princess is happy, I won't hold what happened earlier against you. But if I'm not happy after hearing it..."

"What happens if you're not happy?"

"Then I'll punish you by making you tell ten jokes. No, you'll keep telling them until this Princess is happy."

Chen Guan could not help laughing again. What a terrifying punishment. It almost scared me to death. So scary.

"Fine, you make the rules. But before that, you have to tell me why you're unhappy. Then I can prescribe the right remedy and choose an appropriate joke, so I don't hit a sore spot and make things worse."

Yaoyue lowered the arm supporting the left side of her face and looked over with a trace of suspicion. The Little Pufferfish instantly became asymmetrical, enough to drive a perfectionist mad.

"I have to tell you why I'm unhappy before you can tell a joke?"

"Of course. It's like seeing a doctor. If you want to be happy, you have to tell me the cause of the illness, right?"

"That seems to make a little sense. It's actually nothing much. I went to the Alchemist Guild today, and Grandpa Fama said that if I memorized medicinal principles without making mistakes, he would accept me as a Disciple. I had already practiced at home and could recite everything backward, but when I went to the Alchemist Guild, I failed twice in a row. And before going, I even told my sister and grandfather about it. How am I supposed to explain it to them when I go back now?"

It was such a tiny matter, yet Yaoyue pouted as she spoke, deeply troubled. A child's thoughts could be unbelievably simple.

Chen Guan was momentarily dazed, not because the Little Pufferfish's troubles had stumped him, but because he thought of the lucrative profession she had mentioned.

Alchemist!