Breakthrough

To Xiao Yan's surprise, Hun Ruoruo did not expose his stubborn bravado this time.

The girl swept her gaze around. Profound, unfathomable Soul fluctuations continuously spread outward from her, eventually enveloping everything within several miles.

Then she let out a soft breath, and her entire aura suddenly surged forth.

Her once gentle and mild Water Attribute Dou Qi no longer possessed the slightest clarity. It roared like towering waves, while an incomparably violent Dou Qi storm flickered. In the next instant, the girl vanished from where she stood like lightning.

"Do not come near for the next three days." Her calm voice drifted over, carrying a faint trace of suppression.

Before long, the oppressive aura in the air gradually weakened, and the feeling of being a lone boat adrift in a storm faded away as well.

Xiao Yan looked in the direction where the girl had disappeared, somewhat puzzled, then called toward his ring, "Teacher!"

"..."

"Teacher?"

"..."

Xiao Yan glanced around. Not to mention living people, there were probably not even many living creatures nearby.

Helpless, he knocked on the ring again.

"...That girl has gone into seclusion." Old Man Yao's voice finally came, though he did not reveal himself.

"Back in Wutan City, she had suppressed her cultivation for far too long. That was why she chose to break through the moment she arrived here."

"With Ruoruo's strength, there should have been no need for her to suppress her cultivation. Could it be because of Xun'er again?"

"Yes. The identities of those two girls are practically like fire and water. Heh, now that I think about it, their Dou Qi attributes suit that description perfectly."

Old Man Yao seemed to have recovered from his earlier state of rest and returned to his usual irreverent self.

Xun'er possessed the purest Fire attribute, while Hun Ruoruo cultivated Pure Water Dou Qi. The two restrained and countered one another; calling them like fire and water was indeed fitting.

Hearing this, Xiao Yan deeply agreed. The strange scene during the previous Dou Qi test remained vivid in his mind. If Hun Ruoruo had not concealed her strength and yielded somewhat, the two might have caused quite a mess.

But according to his Teacher, their identities should have been roughly equal. Why, then, had Ruoruo yielded?

Unable to find an answer, he suppressed the distracting thoughts in his heart and asked quietly, "Teacher, what should I do now?"

"Ruoruo has already absorbed and refined more than half the surrounding Dou Qi. What you need to do is try to refine the compressed Dou Qi that spills out during her breakthrough. Even absorbing a little of it will be of great benefit to you right now."

"Simply put, go mooch off her."

Xiao Yan nodded. Recalling Hun Ruoruo's warning just now, he chose a spot farther away, set up the tent he had prepared earlier, and waited for her breakthrough.

At the same time, inside the cave—

Hun Ruoruo sat cross-legged atop a meditation cushion. Dense Water waves surrounded her, their azure blue radiance flickering between bright and dim, revealing the instability of her current state.

With her cultivation speed, there was naturally no way she could have made no progress during nearly a year in Wutan City.

The only thing preventing her from breaking through was those irritating fleas from the Ancient Clan.

After all, while breaking through, she had no mind to activate her Disguise Dou Technique. A few barriers alone might not be enough to conceal the unique Dou Qi fluctuations leaking out during her breakthrough.

She and Gu Xun'er had played the part of fake sisters for so long. It would clearly not be worth ruining everything over this matter.

With that thought, Hun Ruoruo closed her eyes and examined the meridians and Dantian within her body—

Muddy dark-blue Dou Qi flickered continuously, roaming wildly through her meridians and bringing waves of pain.

This dark-blue Dou Qi had clearly been formed from the Dou Qi energy of Heaven and Earth she had drawn in earlier. It was violent and impure, making it exceptionally difficult to refine.

Being able to borrow so much Heaven and Earth Energy for her own use showed that Hun Ruoruo's mastery over Dou Qi was now nearly comparable to that of a Dou Emperor.

Of course, even a Dou Emperor would never dare directly absorb such impure Heaven and Earth Energy into their body.

Unlike ordinary cultivators, who cultivated step by step according to convention, since she had chosen to suppress her cultivation, she would never raise it by merely one star upon breaking through.

Soul Sea Spirit Crossing.

The girl silently recited the name in her heart and formed a hand seal. Pale-purple Soul Force emerged.

In the next instant, ribbons formed from Soul Force seemed to turn tangible as they slowly yet irresistibly wrapped around the violent Heaven and Earth Dou Qi within her meridians.

The Soul Force gradually resonated with the Water Attribute Dou Qi within her body, then miraculously fused with it, emitting an eerie blue-violet glow.

"Soul Sea Spirit Crossing," a Heaven-tier low-grade cultivation method, was also the strongest among the Water Attribute cultivation methods treasured by the Soul Clan. Once mastered, it could even completely fuse Dou Qi and Soul Force, creating an exceptionally special type of energy.

With the support of this special energy, Hun Ruoruo could use Soul Force to attack Dou Qi, or use Dou Qi to attack the soul. It was incredibly strange and difficult to guard against.

Under the operation of "Soul Sea Spirit Crossing," the chaotic Heaven and Earth Energy Hun Ruoruo had forcibly devoured gradually transformed into pure Dou Qi, which then gathered within her Dantian.

As a Dou Wang-level cultivator, she no longer possessed a vortex within her body. Instead, she stored Dou Qi throughout her Four Limbs and Hundred Bones. Yet although those parts could likewise contain Dou Qi, the amount stored within the Dantian was still far greater than in any other part of the body.

As a storage place for newly absorbed Dou Qi, it was naturally the most suitable choice.

The moment the absorbed Heaven and Earth Dou Qi fully entered her Dantian, the breakthrough officially began.

Two days later—

The suction force erupting from the cave seemed to have slowed. Sensing this, Xiao Yan hurriedly set down the alchemy scroll in his hand and rushed toward where Hun Ruoruo was.

Knowing he could not get too close, Xiao Yan simply chose a spot neither too near nor too far away, plopped down beside a boulder, crossed his legs, and formed hand seals.

Time passed second by second. Suddenly, an extremely faint Buzzing Sound came from the cave. In the next instant, Dou Qi abruptly flooded into the area as though seawater were rushing backward.

"Now!" Xiao Yan focused his mind and drew threads of the leaking compressed Dou Qi into his body, attempting to refine and absorb them.

A blue-violet gleam flashed through Xiao Yan's pupils before swiftly burrowing into the Dou Qi Vortex within his body.

After receiving that strand of blue-violet Dou Qi, the nebula-like Dou Qi Vortex slowed briefly. Then it began spinning at an unprecedented speed, so fast that he could barely control it.

Helpless, he could only grit his teeth and desperately urge the Dou Qi Vortex within his body, trying to refine it.

At the same time, Hun Ruoruo walked out of the cave with light steps.

"Two stars in a row. Barely acceptable."

Suddenly, the girl's eyes shifted. Seeing Xiao Yan meditating and cultivating in the distance, she casually said, "Oh, no. I should say... it was merely luck?"