Small Valley

After passing through a thick layer of dense fog, Gu He entered a picturesque valley. Just as he had sensed, it was indeed not large, covering only around a hundred hectares. The energy within was rich, and rare medicinal herbs scarcely seen outside were scattered haphazardly throughout the valley.

Seeing a slope over ten meters high nearby, Gu He flew over and stood atop it, giving the entire valley a rough survey. He found no traces of human habitation, let alone any houses. Gu He sighed, unsure whether he felt relieved or disappointed.

Before night fell, Gu He decided to find a patch of land and build a place to rest. After all, he would be staying here for a long time—at least a few months, perhaps over a year. He could not keep sleeping out in the open; he needed somewhere to shelter from the wind and rain.

After finding a relatively level clearing without too many precious herbs, Gu He cut down trees from the Monster Mountain Range and transported them to the Small Valley. Drawing on memories from his previous life, he laid the foundation, then used Dou Qi to shape the wood into forms suitable for construction. In just one afternoon, the house had largely taken shape.

"Whew, that really was tiring." Gu He wiped the sweat from his brow and sighed.

Building the house had mostly required physical strength, while shaping the wood demanded precise control of Dou Qi. Together, these tasks had greatly drained both Gu He's stamina and mental energy.

"The experts of Battle Through the Heavens aren't just incredibly destructive—their creative power is also immense! A Dou Wang built a house like this in one afternoon, and that was done by someone like me with no experience building houses."

Before him stood a three-story house spanning several hundred square meters and standing twenty meters tall. It looked rather ugly overall, but one could not expect someone who had never built a house before to make it beautiful. Its successful construction was largely thanks to the quality of the Monster Mountain Range's trees. Many of them had grown for centuries, and they had grown in an environment rich in energy.

The sun had already begun to set. After working up another sweat, Gu He decided to take a bath first, then go inside and test the idea he had had that morning.

After enjoying a refreshing bath not far from the valley and changing back into his own clothes, Gu He removed the Ice Silkworm Mask from his face and stored it in his Ring. In such an uninhabited place, there was no longer any need to conceal his identity.

"This body really is picky about everything." Feeling noticeably more comfortable in familiar clothes, Gu He sighed helplessly.

Sitting on the crude wooden bed, Gu He took out the First-tier Magic Core he had obtained from a magical beast during the day.

"Now let's see whether the Devouring Flame works on Magic Cores." Gu He muttered as he held the Magic Core in his hand and formed the intention to devour it. Pitch-black flames reappeared in his palm and quietly burned the Magic Core.

Perhaps because the First-tier Magic Core was too fragile and contained too little energy, the Devouring Flame quickly burned it colorless and absorbed it into the flames.

Gu He carefully sensed the faint energy returned by the Devouring Flame. He found that there was very little of it, and it was not pure at all. If he wanted to absorb it, he would need to refine it several times.

After circulating his cultivation technique for several cycles, he finally absorbed that trace of energy into his body. Comparing it to his usual cultivation, he found no difference. In other words, the energy from a First-tier Magic Core was of no use to him.

Gu He stopped cultivating and took out a Fourth-tier Magic Core from his Ring. This was the lowest-grade Magic Core in the Ring, roughly the core of a magical beast that had just entered the Dou Ling level.

He summoned the Devouring Flame again and used the same method to burn the Fourth-tier Magic Core. Compared with the First-tier Magic Core, the Fourth-tier Magic Core clearly held up much better. After burning for some time, only its outer shell had cracked, and the fragments had not completely vanished.

Thinking that he would need to cultivate immediately once the Devouring Flame brought in the Magic Core's energy, Gu He knew he needed to keep his Dou Qi fully replenished in order to absorb the energy as completely as possible. He took out several pills that restored Dou Qi and swallowed them.

After nearly half an hour of burning, the essence of the Magic Core finally completely merged into the flames. Gu He let out a breath of relief. This was only a Fourth-tier Magic Core—wouldn't a Fifth-tier Magic Core take even longer? As for a Sixth-tier Magic Core, he would not even consider it for now.

For Gu He, who had grown accustomed to the fast pace of modern life, staring at pitch-black flames and doing nothing for half an hour was still rather agonizing.

Retracting the Devouring Flame, Gu He circulated his cultivation technique at full force and absorbed the energy.

The next morning, Gu He awoke from cultivation and slowly exhaled. As he rose to his feet, a series of crackling sounds like popping beans rang out from his body.

Gu He clenched his fist and threw a hard punch, producing a burst of sonic booms.

He was now roughly at the middle stage of Two-star Dou Wang. That meant devouring three or four low-quality Fourth-tier Magic Cores would allow him to break through one star. Comparing the energy in Fourth-tier and Fifth-tier Magic Cores, devouring a single Fifth-tier Magic Core could likewise raise him by one star. Gu He calculated how the energy in Magic Cores improved his strength.

It seemed he needed to properly battle the magical beasts of the Monster Mountain Range to adapt to his rapidly increasing strength. Thinking that he could finally fight the powerful magical beasts from Battle Through the Heavens, Gu He could not help but feel a surge of heroic spirit.

For the next two months, Gu He flew out of the valley during the day to seek out Dou Wang-level magical beasts to fight. At night, he returned to refine Magic Cores and increase his strength. Whenever he found combat too monotonous, he refined pills as a change of pace.

"Whew, after two months of intense fighting, it looks like I can rest for a while. I've already fought all the nearby Dou Wang-level magical beasts. Aside from a few Peak Dou Wang magical beasts, I've killed the rest. Peak Dou Wang magical beasts possess combat power that can nearly contend with a Dou Emperor. For now, they aren't something a Dou Wang like me, who has only mastered two Earth-grade Dou Techniques, can fight against. Even if I fought them, I'd still end up running away." Gu He flew back to the house in exhaustion.

"Besides, my strength has been improving a little too quickly. I can only keep fighting magical beasts, but that puts a tremendous burden on my body, and I need to remain careful at all times not to leave behind hidden injuries."

"Now that there aren't any suitable opponents, I should stop for a while. From now on, I'll use pill refinement to continue stabilizing my strength while nursing my body back to health." Gu He sat on the crude bed and muttered to himself.

Feeling the Dou Qi within his body, a satisfied smile appeared on Gu He's face. He was already a Six-star Dou Wang. Compared with the One-star Dou Wang he had been when he first transmigrated, he had risen five stars in less than three months. Even if he told others, no one would be willing to believe it.

After all, once one reached the Dou Wang level, breaking through even a single star was extremely difficult. Sometimes, failing to break through one star after several years was nothing unusual. That was why the Spirit Dou Pill, which could raise a Dou Wang's strength by one star, was so sought after. But for Gu He, none of that was a problem now. As long as he refined a Fifth-tier Magic Core, he could rise one star. Over these two months, if Gu He had not remained clear-headed and refused to become someone with high cultivation but terrible combat ability, he might have already reached Peak Nine-star Dou Wang. He might even have broken through to the Dou Emperor level.