"How had she come here?"
A flicker of confusion passed through Gu Han's eyes.
A girl of around fifteen approached from ahead. She looked cold and beautiful, with delicate features. Dressed in a moon-white robe, her exquisite figure was curvaceous and graceful. Green jade pendants hung from her tender earlobes, chiming crisply with each sway of her body.
She was Nalan Yanran, disciple of Yun Yun, the Sect Leader of the Misty Cloud Sect.
But as the Sect Leader's personal disciple, why had she come to train at the Outer Sect Training Hall?
Even if she could not yet enter the Back Mountain, she could certainly use the Core Disciple Training Rooms.
Though puzzled, Gu Han moved quickly and stepped aside.
"Hm?"
Nalan Yanran, who had been walking with her head lowered in thought, also noticed someone suddenly appearing before her. Just as she was about to dodge, she saw that he had already moved aside, so she continued onward.
Her gaze lingered on Gu Han's face for a moment, and a trace of astonishment flashed through her eyes. After nodding to him in greeting, she quickened her pace and continued outside, soon vanishing through the doorway.
Gu Han did not watch her further. After passing Nalan Yanran, he headed straight to the Registration Office.
"Steward."
Gu Han took out his Identity Token and handed it over.
The person in charge of the Outer Sect Training Hall was a dignified middle-aged man who looked thoroughly upright.
"A probationary disciple?"
The middle-aged man accepted the token, surprise flickering in his eyes.
Probationary disciples had yet to become Dou Zhe. Coming to the Cultivation Hall to cultivate Dou Qi was too wasteful of Merit Points unless they were here to break through.
"You're Gu Han?" A friendly smile appeared on the middle-aged man's face.
"That is this disciple." Gu Han answered neither humbly nor arrogantly.
"I have heard of you. You took first place in yesterday's Preliminary Disciple Competition, and you had already reached the Ninth Stage Dou Qi half a year ago." The middle-aged man began writing, then picked up a Token from the desk and handed it over. "Since you came here, you must be preparing to break through to Dou Zhe."
"This is No. A1. It may give you a slightly better chance of succeeding."
Hearing that, Gu Han immediately cupped his fists in gratitude. "Thank you for looking after this disciple, Steward."
The Outer Sect Training Hall had eighteen Training Rooms, divided into three grades—A, B, and C—with six rooms in each grade.
No. A1 possessed the richest Heaven and Earth Energy. Normally, only highly ranked Outer Sect disciples could apply to use it.
This was no small favor.
"Go on. Cultivate diligently. When you are finished, bring back this Token to exchange for your Identity Token." The middle-aged man smiled kindly and waved a hand. "Your token contains a total of fifteen hundred Merit Points. You can cultivate for at most fifteen days. Adjust your condition before condensing your Dou Qi Vortex; your chances of success will be greater."
"Yes." Gu Han had the Jade Spirit Fruit and was not worried about failing to break through, but there was no need to say so. He only needed to accept this goodwill.
Holding the Token, Gu Han continued inward. At the corner, he showed it to two guards before proceeding farther inside.
Only after he disappeared did the middle-aged man withdraw his gaze, his eyes gaining a touch of desolation. "For a disciple from a poor family, making something of himself is not easy. I wonder whether Gu Han can go farther than I did."
Bang!
At the deepest part of the Outer Sect Training Hall, Gu Han took out the Token and placed it into the slot on the door marked No. A1.
The mechanism activated, and the Training Room door opened.
Gu Han entered, shut the door from within, and the Token appeared in a slot inside.
As long as he pressed the Token down, he could lock the chamber door. During that time, no one outside could open it and enter.
Room A1 was fairly spacious, around twenty-five square meters, with a ceiling five meters high. Its roof had a special design that could be opened for ventilation.
A cushion sat at the very center. Along one side stood a desk, along with writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones.
Gu Han walked over to the cushion, sat down, and closed his eyes to begin regulating his breathing.
Yet a faint orchid fragrance drifted into his nose, making him open his eyes.
"Nalan Yanran."
After thinking it over, Gu Han immediately understood why the scent had felt familiar.
When he had passed Nalan Yanran at the entrance of the Cultivation Hall earlier, this had been the fragrance she carried.
"So she had been using No. A1 before this."
Understanding flashed through Gu Han's eyes. He did not dwell on it and once again entered a meditative state.
About fifteen minutes later, he took out a faintly glowing fruit from his Storage Ring and swallowed it in one bite.
A strange sensation spread through his mouth, but before Gu Han could savor it, warmth rose from his lower abdomen, as though a flame had been ignited there.
"What enormous energy."
The fire in his dantian did not harm him. Instead, it allowed Gu Han to perform Internal Vision ahead of time. He clearly sensed a gentle yet pure energy flowing into every limb and bone, beginning to strengthen all his meridians.
He immediately formed the hand seal for absorbing Dou Qi, drawing in Heaven and Earth Energy and transforming it into Dou Qi within his body. It merged with the immense energy in his meridians and gathered in the dantian of his lower abdomen.
"Hah."
The calm air inside the chamber began to ripple with currents. Gu Han did not experience the piercing, tearing pain in his meridians that others felt when breaking through to Dou Zhe. Instead, he felt utterly comfortable.
Every Meridian in his body was being nourished and strengthened, while his cultivation steadily and rapidly rose alongside them. It felt so pleasant that he nearly moaned.
Under the combined effects of the Jade Spirit Fruit's medicinal power and Dou Qi, his meridians had already been filled to the brim with energy.
The Dou Qi within all the meridians in his body had reached its limit.
It had arrived at a critical point beyond which it could no longer increase.
Yet Gu Han did not hurry to gather the Dou Qi into his dantian. Instead, he continued absorbing without pause.
Only when the Jade Spirit Fruit's medicinal power faded, his meridians stopped expanding and becoming tougher, and the excessive Dou Qi began to cause a faint stinging pain did Gu Han change his hand seal, pressing his index fingers against his thumbs while touching his middle fingers together.
In an instant, the surging Dou Qi within his body seemed to come alive. It all rushed toward the dantian in his lower abdomen, where it began to spin and condense, changing from pale white to pure white, and finally to milky white.
"Condense!"
The entire process lasted nearly an hour. Gu Han suddenly opened his eyes, and pure white energy flashed through his ink-black pupils.
A strange muffled sound came from within his body. He felt that he had gained a new ability: Internal Vision.
It was an auxiliary ability only Dou Zhe could master. The stronger one became, the more thoroughly one could examine the inside of one's body.
Gu Han sank his consciousness into his dantian and "saw" a palm-sized milky-white Qi Vortex slowly turning there. Its outermost layer was wrapped in a nebula-like cloud of milky-white energy, more than ten times stronger than his previous Ninth Stage Dou Qi.
If he faced Mo Qing again now, he could directly suppress him with Dou Qi.
From this point onward, the energy he transformed by absorbing Heaven and Earth Energy would finally be Dou Qi!
At this point, he could choose a cultivation technique to learn. Otherwise, he could only use the most primitive method, controlling the Qi Vortex to inhale and exhale Heaven and Earth Energy in order to grow stronger.
"Hah."
Having successfully condensed his Dou Qi Vortex in one attempt and become a One-star Dou Practitioner, Gu Han finally qualified as a cultivator, and his body and mind relaxed slightly.
But this was merely the first step of a long journey. He was not overly delighted and closed his eyes to continue cultivating.
The Jade Spirit Fruit had strengthened his meridians, bringing many benefits, and its medicinal power had not yet been fully absorbed.
Cultivating now would yield twice the results with half the effort, allowing him to stabilize his cultivation as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile, Mo Yu returned to Mo Qing with a gloomy face.
"Brother, where is the Jade Spirit Fruit?" Mo Qing looked expectant, not even noticing that Mo Yu's expression was wrong.
"It's gone." Mo Yu clenched his hands, his gaze icy. "Some petty thief took it and ate it."
Mo Qing: ?
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