Dou Technique

Biodata

Classification

Dou Techniques are graded from Yellow Tier through Profound (also called Mysterious or Black), Earth, and Heaven Tier. The documented tiers include low-, mid-, and high-grade skills; individual techniques may also be described as peak-grade 4 9 21 31 691 845.

• Intermediate assessments: Star-Stepping Steps is formally a Profound Tier High-grade movement technique, but its performance barely reaches Quasi-Earth Tier. Creation Fist has the potential to reach Quasi-Heaven Tier 21 764.
• Grade and effective power are distinct: The Five Rounds Leaving Fire Method ordinarily has Earth Tier Peak-grade power. When Lin Ming uses five Heavenly Flames and pushes it to its utmost, its power can rival a Heaven Tier Mid-grade Dou Technique 691 716.
• Interaction with the environment: Earth Tier Dou Techniques draw upon Heaven and Earth Energy. This greatly increases their might, but interactions between released techniques and surrounding energy can also produce unforeseen phenomena 9 165.

Power Progression

The following records notable developments in the acquisition, mastery, and demonstrated performance of Dou Techniques, rather than a cultivation realm belonging to the techniques themselves.

Learning and Use

• Selection: Lin Ming searches separately categorized palm, leg, fist, movement, sword, spear, and blade skills. He chooses Explosive Thunder Fist partly for its potential with his unusual Dou Qi 4.
• Circulation and practice: Dou Technique manuals can specify meridian routes. Lin Ming completes the Startling Swan Saber Technique's circulation in thirteen days, then practices its accompanying footwork alongside saber and fist attacks 9.
• Mastery matters: Lin Ming's first execution of Explosive Thunder Fist follows its meridian diagram but lacks its soul-shaking effect. Further practice produces the true explosive sound and greater striking power 6.
• Conditions and costs vary: Blazing Sun Heavenly Saber gains speed and power beneath the blazing sun. Great Heaven Creation Palm consumes vast Dou Qi and risks destructive backlash 31 762 763.
• Inheritance can extend beyond a manual: Lin Ming learns Blazing Sun Heavenly Saber from a creator's Spiritual Strength imprint and receives Great Heaven Creation Palm's circulation route through an inheritance imprint 31 763.
• Basic skills support advanced techniques: The Startling Swan Saber Technique's instructions emphasize learning fundamental saber actions, including cleaving, chopping, thrusting, and slashing, to improve the efficiency of subsequent technique cultivation 9.
• Learning competes with cultivation time: Mastering multiple powerful techniques requires time that might otherwise be spent increasing Dou Qi cultivation. Lin Ming notes that learning even one Profound Tier High-grade trump card is already a substantial achievement for young practitioners 37.
• Shared principles aid comprehension: By the time he studies the Vajra Glazed Body, Lin Ming's experience with Heaven Tier techniques, advanced soul cultivation, and understanding of energy and the body allow him to grasp common principles across different skills. Understanding those principles does not, however, replace the actual work of cultivation 854.

Suitability and Execution

• Attributes and physique: Setting Sun Fist receives a slight enhancement from Fire Attribute Dou Qi. Iron Fist places substantial demands on the body but can rival a Black Tier Low-grade technique when used by someone with an extraordinary physique 4.
• Mastery can narrow a grading gap: Years of practice allow Dragon Grasping Claw, a Profound Tier Mid-grade technique, to faintly rival Profound Tier High-grade power 91.
• Alternative methods involve trade-offs: Roaring Lion's Chant can be executed through weapons or other objects by condensing a lion-shaped manifestation. This accommodates lower cultivation, but sacrifices surprise and reduces its power to seventy to eighty percent of the original 226.
• Some techniques injure their users: Blood Explosion Fist attains Black Tier Low-grade power through self-mutilation, making it a desperate measure rather than an ordinary attack 27.
• Flame compatibility can limit replication: Lin Ming cannot reproduce Xiao Yan's explosive fire-lotus method with his tamed Heavenly Flames because they no longer possess the mutual hostility needed for that reaction 378.
• Preparation creates vulnerabilities: Xiao Yan needs Lin Ming to hold off Yun Shan while he condenses his three-colored fire lotus. He must also resolve instability during its formation and retain enough Dou Qi to direct the finished attack 419.

Body-Refining Techniques

The Adamantine Glazed Body, also called Vajra Glazed Body, uses special applications of Dou Qi to strengthen the physical body and temper it into a weapon. Its method incorporates complex circulation routes, body-tempering formulas, and precise control over the body's minute structures. It was created by Saint Glazed, a practitioner famed for physical strength a thousand years earlier 845 854.

Lin Ming seeks the Heavenly Demon Blood Pool specifically to improve this technique. During tempering, his strange fire removes toxins, baleful energy, and impurities while preserving useful essence. Absorbing that essence strengthens his skin, muscles, and bones and advances the technique beyond its nine-zhang level 869 874.

Its combat applications include meeting the Ancient Heavenly Demon Python's tail head-on and cracking the skull of a Half-Saint Puppet. The latter encounter also demonstrates that bodily reinforcement does not eliminate danger: Lin Ming suffers a heavy counterblow to his shoulder after striking the puppet 870 893.

Creation and Availability

• Origins vary greatly: Low-grade techniques can arise from ordinary observations or practical needs. Slapping Water Palm originates from striking river water, Surging Wave Palm from observing waves, and Emptying Palm from an attempt to close a door without getting up 4.
• Low-grade techniques are abundant: Yellow Tier Low-grade skills are extremely common, and several can be purchased for a single Gold Coin. Their creators are generally Dou Masters, with some created by high-level Dou Practitioners 4.
• Creation becomes more demanding with grade: Yellow Tier Mid-grade skills are generally created by high-level Dou Masters or Da Dou Shi, while Yellow Tier High-grade techniques generally require a Dou Ling creator. Creating powerful techniques also requires opportunity and insight, not merely a large reserve of Dou Qi 4 363.
• Earth Tier techniques are strategic treasures: An ordinary second-rate faction may regard a single Earth Tier Dou Technique as its sect-protecting treasure. Even a Seventh Order Magical Beast's Beast Flame is insufficient to exchange for one 333 363.
• Heaven Tier techniques attract exceptional competition: Earth Tier Peak-grade techniques are rare treasures reserved for core members or those with great merit, but Heaven Tier techniques possess a greater attraction capable of drawing out powerful secluded experts 698.

Institutional Access

• Mittel Family: At the Dou Qi stage, family members can select two Yellow Tier Dou Techniques from the Scripture Pavilion. After becoming a Dou Zhe, they can select one Profound Tier technique and one Profound Tier cultivation method, with the available grade dependent on their strength. Higher-tier collections are protected by energy barriers that reveal when an item is taken 5.
• Blazing Flame Valley: The Heavenly Fire Three Xuan Transformations is a guarded secret art. After refining the Fire Bodhi Pill and saving Tang Huo'er, Lin Ming requests permission to study it, requiring consideration by Tang Zhen and the elders 505.
• Five Elements Sect preparations: Lin Ming distributes suitable high-grade inheritances to senior allies. For Elder Hai, he provides the Earth Tier High-grade Ice Venerate Strength cultivation method together with matching techniques such as Profound Nether Ice Dragon and Ice River Century, all Earth Tier Mid-grade or above 831.