Breaking Through to Dou Shi

After flying down to the valley floor, Xiao Se immediately sat cross-legged before the wooden hut, formed the hand seals for cultivation, and sank his mind into his body.

As Xiao Se entered his cultivation state, the dense natural energy within the valley grew ever more majestic. At that moment, Xiao Se resembled a vortex, immersed in an ocean formed by natural energy, as tides of energy surged wildly and endlessly into his body.

With such immense energy, the difficulty of suppressing it was self-evident. Unable to endure it any longer, Xiao Se had no choice but to swallow a Meridian Protecting Pill first, then guide it bit by bit.

He allowed the rest of the energy to rampage through his body. With the energy formed by the Meridian Protecting Pill protecting his meridians, the stray energy could not inflict too much harm on Xiao Se, but the pain it caused was still not something an ordinary person could endure.

Gritting his teeth, Xiao Se endured the agony caused by the rampant energy and continued carefully guiding the natural energy within his body. It first flowed into his meridians, where it was refined by the Burning Art into the purest Dou Qi energy, before finally being drawn into the Dou Qi Cyclone.

As the vigorous Dou Qi flowed in, the Dou Qi Cyclone revolving around the Purple Flame seed spun faster and faster. Its color also grew darker, until tiny droplets of liquid began to form within the cyclone.

Outside in the valley, as the cyclone within Xiao Se accelerated, his body's suction force grew stronger and stronger. Eventually, the invisible natural energy transformed into wisps of pale green mist, circling around Xiao Se's body and forming an energy curtain several zhang long. It was dazzling and magnificent.

His mind continuously wandered through his body, and Xiao Se could clearly sense that the Dou Qi Cyclone was shrinking, yet the energy it contained was becoming increasingly vigorous. At the same time, his ** was undergoing ascension, and that feeling of blissful comfort nearly made Xiao Se moan aloud.

After quite a while, when the Dou Qi Cyclone had shrunk to the size of a palm, the entire cyclone stopped rotating. It was filled with droplets of bluish-white liquid.

Looking at the motionless cyclone within his body, Xiao Se's lips curled into an unconcealable smile of delight. His eyes suddenly snapped open, and an aura several times more powerful than before erupted from his body. His black hair fluttered without wind, while the long hair before his forehead and his clothes rose with it.

Ding, congratulations to the host for breaking through to Dou Shi. One System Patch has been awarded. Install it?

"Install the patch for me." Hearing the System prompt in his mind, Xiao Se froze for a moment before immediately replying.

Ding, patch loading... Estimated time: one hour...

Feeling the surging aura erupt from Xiao Se's body, Long Kui, who had been waiting attentively at the side, finally relaxed her tense pretty face. She smiled and said brightly, "Brother, congratulations on breaking through to Dou Shi."

"Mm." Xiao Se smiled and nodded, withdrawing his erupting aura back into his body. He slowly rose to his feet and gently stroked Long Kui's fair, tender cheek. The path of cultivation was lonely and tedious. How fortunate was he to have someone who loved him by his side?

In nearly seven months, he had risen from a Dou Zhe to a Dou Shi. It was impossible for Xiao Se not to feel excited. He smiled faintly at Long Kui, then impatiently walked over to a huge boulder. Clenching his fist, he felt an unprecedented sense of abundant strength surge through him.

The cyclone within his body spun rapidly, and the tiny liquid particles inside flowed through his meridians to every part of his body. Bluish-white Dou Qi surfaced around Xiao Se's body, vaguely forming a thin gauze garment. Specks of bluish-white flame drifted upward from it, flickering in and out of sight.

Liquefied Dou Qi and a Dou Qi gauze garment—these were the marks unique to a Dou Shi expert. Xiao Se's Dou Qi gauze garment was a special one derived from the Beast Flame devoured by the Burning Art. It contained the Beast Flame of the fifth-tier Fire Devouring Flood Dragon and was far stronger than an ordinary Dou Qi gauze garment.

Standing where he was, Xiao Se suddenly raised his right fist. Bluish-white flames coiled around it as he fiercely punched toward the boulder.

"Exploding Fist."

As Xiao Se's fierce shout rang out in his heart, the veins in his right arm bulged. Carrying sharp, scorching force that tore through the air, his fist smashed fiercely into the boulder.

When fist met stone, a deep fist imprint was blasted into the boulder. After half a second of stillness, a sharp crack sounded. Spiderweb-like fissures emerged from the point of impact, spreading continuously until they covered the entire boulder. With a thunderous boom, the boulder, wider in diameter than Xiao Se was tall, shattered into thousands of pieces.

Exploding Fist was a Low-Level Mysterious Dou Skill containing two layers of force, one overt and one hidden. The overt force attacked the exterior, while the hidden force struck the interior, and it also possessed an explosive effect. Xiao Se had bought it at the Mite Auction House. It was somewhat like a simplified version of the Mysterious High Rank Dou Skill, Eight Extremities Collapse. However, Xiao Se had long since cultivated it to perfection. When combined with Beast Flame, its power was sufficient to surpass ordinary Profound Middle-Rank Dou Skills.

"Wow, Brother, you've become so much stronger." Seeing Xiao Se shatter the boulder with a single punch, worship filled Long Kui's beautiful eyes. She leaped over and threw herself at him, wrapping her jade-like arms around his neck and hanging from him entirely.

"Mm. Whether it's attack power, speed, strength, or explosive force, they've all increased by quite a lot." Xiao Se chuckled as he wrapped an arm around Long Kui's waist, spun her around a few times, then gently set her down.

"Then, Brother, are you going to devour the Purple Flame now?" Long Kui carefully straightened Xiao Se's slightly rumpled clothes and asked with a smile.

Xiao Se shook his head. "The flame seed is still too weak. I'm afraid it isn't enough to raise my cultivation art to Yellow High Grade. Now that I've advanced to Dou Shi, my body's endurance has strengthened considerably. I can nurture it for a while longer before devouring it."

An hour was neither long nor short. As Xiao Se experienced the increase in strength brought by becoming a Dou Shi, time quietly passed.

Ding, System Patch loading complete.

Ding, System personal panel automatically opening...

Host: Xiao Se

Gender: Male

Age: Twelve

Cultivation: One-Star Dou Shi.

Dou Qi Attribute: Fire (mixed with a trace of wood attribute)

Cultivation Arts: "Burning Art" Yellow Middle Grade, "Returning Origin Soul Art" rank unknown

Dou Skills: "Crimson Flame Sword" Mysterious High Rank, "Ethereal Smoke Step" Mysterious High Rank, "Mad Lion's Roar" Mysterious High Rank, "Aura Concealing Art" rank unknown, "Sky Rending Leg"...

Exchange Attempts: 0

System Warehouse: Palm Heaven Bottle, Burning Art, Returning Origin Soul Art, Crimson Flame Sword, Ethereal Smoke Step, Aura Concealing Art...

"System, the panel doesn't look updated at all. Isn't it almost the same as last time? What function was added?" Xiao Se asked in confusion within his mind.

Ding, the System has added the X-Ray Vision function.

"X-Ray Vision?" Xiao Se's eyes lit up at those words, and an unhealthy thought inexplicably arose in his mind.

Ding, activating X-Ray Vision...

The instant the System prompt fell silent, a faint flash of white light flickered through Xiao Se's eyes.

Xiao Se took a deep breath and quietly swept his gaze across the valley. The bed inside the wooden hut, the mercenaries fighting Magical Beasts above the valley, and...

When his gaze turned toward Long Kui, a stream of blood ran from Xiao Se's nose against his will.

Xiao Se decided that he would bury this ability in his heart forever, even if it killed him.

P.S. Thanks to reader *** for the reward of 1,500 Qidian coins.

Thanks to Mu Yu for the reward of 100 Qidian coins.