Wei Yang

Dou Qi Continent, northwest.

Jia Ma Empire, Wu Tan City.

"One-star Dou Practitioner!"

In a simple room in the western part of the city, the light was somewhat dim.

A handsome youth in black, around twelve or thirteen years old, slowly opened his eyes. A sharp glint flashed through them.

Huff—

He slowly exhaled a breath of stale air.

Wei Yang's gaze was somewhat unfocused.

In the blink of an eye, he had been in this world for a full six years...

He had begun cultivating Dou Zhi Qi at the age of six. Now, six years later, he had finally broken through to become a Dou Practitioner.

My talent shouldn't be inferior to Xiao Yan's. It might even be slightly better? Wei Yang thought.

Xiao Yan had started cultivating at the age of four and broken through to Dou Practitioner at eleven or twelve.

As for himself, he had begun at six and also broken through at roughly twelve.

Judging from that alone, he was slightly superior to Xiao Yan.

Of course, perhaps their mindsets had been different.

After all, Xiao Yan was the son of the Xiao Family patriarch. He had been pampered from childhood, surrounded by attendants, and raised amid constant praise. He had never possessed that sense of urgency.

Wei Yang was different. By the time he arrived in this world, the parents of his previous body—mercenaries—had already perished in the Magic Beast Mountain Range. As an orphan, especially after learning that this was the Dou Qi Continent...

The sense of crisis and urgency had forced him to cultivate diligently.

There was no system, no cheat.

His only advantage was knowing the plot and being aware of many places of opportunity.

But without strength, even if he knew of those opportunities, all he could do was stare helplessly.

Therefore.

Over these past six years, he had not dared slack off in the slightest.

At last, today, he had broken through and become a Dou Practitioner.

Xiao Yan was only nine years old now, at Eighth-Stage Dou Zhi Qi. His name as a genius had long since spread, and he was already somewhat famous.

Wei Yang, on the other hand, kept a low profile. Hardly anyone in Wu Tan City knew him. He was just another nobody.

"Xiao Yan, I'm three years older than you, and I'm already a Dou Practitioner."

"By the time you become a Dou Practitioner three years from now, I'll probably be a Dou Shi or above."

"Then your Dou Zhi Qi will disappear, your cultivation will fall, and you'll lie low for three years. Back and forth, that'll make a full six years of difference!"

"We're both transmigrators. This fellow countryman of yours isn't any less talented than you. Even if you turn on cheats and rise up afterward... you'll have plenty of time to slowly catch up on those six years. Heh heh heh~"

Wei Yang smiled inwardly.

Of course, he would never admit, even if beaten to death, that he had actually eaten eighty-two lemons. So sour~

Unfortunately, he wanted cheats too, but he did not have any.

"Dou Practitioner!"

Wei Yang immediately shook his head, no longer dwelling on it. Instead, he half-closed his eyes and gradually sank his consciousness into his body.

Internal inspection.

It was an auxiliary ability one could only grasp after stepping into the Dou Practitioner realm. The stronger one was, the more thoroughly one could examine the condition within one's body.

Wei Yang's consciousness sank toward his lower abdomen, and he immediately "saw" a milky-white Qi Cyclone the size of a palm slowly rotating there.

A layer of milky-white, nebula-like energy mist wrapped around the outer edge of the Qi Cyclone.

As his consciousness watched that palm-sized Qi Cyclone, irrepressible joy welled up in Wei Yang's heart. After all, this was the result of six years of hard work.

"So this is Dou Qi."

He could clearly sense that the energy contained within was more than ten times stronger than his previous Ninth-Stage Dou Zhi Qi.

A Dou Practitioner's Dou Qi was fundamentally different from Ninth-Stage Dou Zhi Qi.

The energy absorbed before becoming a Dou Practitioner was called Dou Zhi Qi. It was the stage for strengthening the body and laying a foundation.

Only the energy absorbed after becoming a Dou Practitioner could be called true Dou Qi.

Though the two differed by only one word, the gap between them was as vast as heaven and earth. Whether in quality or quantity, they were utterly incomparable.

As Wei Yang's consciousness continuously controlled the Qi Cyclone's inhalation and exhalation, strands of pale red energy from heaven and earth gathered toward it, refined and absorbed by the Qi Cyclone.

Time passed.

Only after becoming increasingly proficient at controlling the Qi Cyclone did Wei Yang stop and withdraw his consciousness from his body.

He opened his eyes. A milky-white gleam flashed within his dark pupils before gradually fading away.

"Next, I need to cultivate a suitable cultivation technique."

Wei Yang stood and slowly stretched. His bones crackled all over his body like frying beans.

Creak—

He opened the door. Outside lay a simple, tidy little courtyard.

Facing the rising morning sun, Wei Yang stood in the courtyard and quietly considered some plans for the future.

After breaking through to Dou Practitioner, if he wanted his cultivation speed to improve and grow quickly, he needed to cultivate a technique suited to his attributes.

Cultivation techniques and Dou Skills were divided into four tiers: Heaven, Earth, Black, and Yellow. Each tier was further divided into low, mid, and high grades.

Wei Yang's attribute was fire, with a trace of mutated Yang Attribute. This had been tested long ago.

But unfortunately, his attributes did not contain even a trace of Wood Attribute.

That was truly frustrating.

As a transmigrator, due to the fusion of souls, having powerful Soul Power was a given and needed no further explanation.

And powerful Soul Power meant he had the makings of a noble alchemist.

Unfortunately, although his attribute was fire, he lacked that trace of Wood Attribute. Instead, he possessed a mutated Yang Attribute.

What a waste of his powerful Soul Power.

Alchemists were in high demand!

Still, it was not entirely hopeless.

Wei Yang already had some ideas. If they worked...

After all, attributes could be acquired later through certain special heavenly treasures or cultivation techniques, allowing one to gain other attributes.

Of course, one's primary attribute could not be changed.

But one could acquire a trace of another attribute.

For example, in the original work, Xiao Yan cultivated the Earth Tier movement Dou Skill, Three Thousand Lightning Movement. It contained Thunder Force, and by drawing lightning to temper his body during thunderstorms, he later gained a trace of lightning attribute.

Green Lotus Core Flame!

The flame ranked nineteenth on the Heavenly Flame Ranking.

It was a flame that contained Wood Attribute.

Even setting aside the Green Lotus Core Flame itself, merely absorbing and refining the eleven Lotus Seeds that accompanied the Lotus Throne might allow him to gain a trace of Wood Attribute.

As for whether it would work, he would have to try it to know.

Of course, that was still too far away for now. It was a matter for the future, and the prerequisite was having sufficient strength.

At present, the most important issue was still cultivation techniques.

After washing up and casually eating something, Wei Yang returned to his room and sat down at the desk.

Many books lay on the desk.

Such as: Basic Knowledge of Medicinal Herbs, Properties of Common Medicinal Herbs, Fundamentals of Becoming a Physician, How to Become an Alchemist, Fundamentals of Alchemy, Basic Formulas for Stopping Bleeding and Healing Injuries, Record of Heavenly Wonders, and so on...

These were all books on the foundational knowledge of alchemy. Wei Yang had put considerable effort into collecting them and read through them every day. Even if he could not become an alchemist in the future, learning more knowledge was still a good thing.

After all, cultivation was always inseparable from medicinal pills, Spiritual Herbs, and the like. Having at least some understanding could never hurt.

His powerful soul, quick mind, keen comprehension, and strong memory made reading this foundational knowledge effortless. He could easily understand it thoroughly and remember it.

Wei Yang opened the drawer and took out a pale red book.

High-Grade Yellow Tier Cultivation Technique: Crimson Flame Art.

This was the cultivation technique left behind by the previous body's parents.

Wei Yang shook his head helplessly and set the book down.

A High-Grade Yellow Tier Cultivation Technique was far too low-grade.

Not only was a technique that could at most be cultivated to Peak Dou Shi slow to cultivate, but the quality of the Dou Qi it produced was also poor.

The Dou Qi cultivated through this technique offered no advantage in combat against opponents of the same level.

But Wei Yang currently had no other choice. He could only cultivate this Crimson Flame Art and switch to a better technique once he found one in the future.

It would be better to play it safe for two years first.

After all, he was only twelve years old, and his strength had only just reached the Dou Practitioner realm. If he left Wu Tan City, he would have no guarantee of safety outside.

He should not go wandering around recklessly just yet.

In this life, there was nothing else—only caution.

With that thought, Wei Yang picked up the book and opened it. He had read its contents so many times that it would not be an exaggeration to say he could recite them backward, yet he still read through it carefully once again.

Only after confirming that he had missed nothing did he stop.

"Begin!"

Wei Yang put down the book, rose, returned to the bed, and sat cross-legged with his eyes closed.

(PS: The protagonist and Xiao Yan are not enemies. Their relationship is more like friends and partners. But this is not groveling; everyone is cooperating for mutual benefit and taking what they need, so whether it counts as groveling is irrelevant. After all, knowing there will be a crisis decades later in which Soul Heavenly Emperor sacrifices all living beings, there is truly no need for internal conflict. Of course, if some readers believe that being friends with Xiao Yan and having a closer relationship with him means groveling, then fine, call it groveling. I have nothing to say. New readers, please proceed with caution.)

(Finally: Different people have different preferences and opinions. There is nothing wrong with that, and I respect it. But if you do not like it, simply click away. There is no need to hurl abuse, right? There are so many Battle Through the Heavens fanfics, and several others started around the same time as mine. You have plenty of choices, so there is no need to dwell on this. The reason I write Battle Through the Heavens fanfiction is that I like this book too. As for Xiao Yan, I cannot say that I like him very much, but at the very least, I do not dislike him. I started reading Battle Through the Heavens at the end of 2012, and it was my entry point into web novels. So subconsciously, I do not wish to become enemies with Xiao Yan, and I hope everyone can understand. When I write fanfiction, I never turn hostile toward the original protagonist. This was also true of my previous Swallowed Star fanfiction. It is a kind of respect for the books I like and for the original works.)

The new book is just a fledgling. Please show it some care and add it to your collection~