Breakthrough to Battle Master!

In the deep mountains, a distance away from Wutan City, Old Man Yao held Xiao Han's greatsword and slashed heavily towards a nearby waterfall.

A crimson arc of sword energy flew from the sword body, charging forward with an unstoppable force!

"Han'er, watch closely! This move is called Flame Splitting Wave Ruler!!!"

Boom, boom, boom!!!

The sound of thunderclaps echoed continuously in the valley, countless shattered stones fell from the rock walls, and water mist splashed everywhere.

A gust of wind blew out from the lake, and the moisture in the valley quickly dissipated. The great waterfall behind the water mist finally revealed its true appearance.

Staring at the revealed waterfall with wide eyes, Xiao Han gasped, deeply shocked by the scene before him.

At this moment, the massive water flow of the waterfall had actually been cut off. On the huge rock behind the waterfall, a gully more than forty meters long and fifteen to sixteen meters wide had been carved out by Old Man Yao's casual strike.

At the edge of the gully, countless tiny cracks spread across the entire stone wall, looking like creeping ivy.

The waterfall's flow from the cliff paused for a full twenty seconds before it slowly began to flow down again. The massive scar on the rock was gradually concealed.

"How was it? What are your thoughts?"

Old Man Yao asked his shocked disciple with a smile.

"To be honest, it's very powerful, truly living up to the name of an Earth-Tier Dou Skill." Xiao Han swallowed, looking around at the destruction caused by the activation of Flame Splitting Wave Ruler, and couldn't help but feel a little excited.

"Heh heh, I'm glad you're satisfied. You major in Sword Dao, but I don't understand Sword Skills. If you hadn't shown me this greatsword, I wouldn't have remembered this Dou Skill," Old Man Yao chuckled and winked at Xiao Han.

"Although this Dou Skill uses a ruler as a weapon, your greatsword is no different from a ruler. That's why you can learn it.

If your weapon were still that small longsword, then I would have no choice," Old Man Yao said playfully.

"There's no helping it, sometimes things are just coincidental."

Taking the greatsword handed over by Old Man Yao, Xiao Han held it in his hand: "Tell me, teacher, how should I cultivate this Dou Skill?"

"Don't rush."

Old Man Yao smiled and pointed to the ten wooden stakes he had set up by cutting down trees earlier near the waterfall: "From today onwards, you need to cultivate under the torrent of the waterfall. As soon as you can persist in chopping the water flow three hundred times at the tenth wooden stake, you will be able to initially master 'Flame Splitting Wave Ruler'."

The surging waterfall crashed heavily onto the rocks, immediately echoing with thunderous muffled sounds in the small valley.

Xiao Han glanced at it, and his calves felt a little weak.

"Withstanding the immense impact of the waterfall while holding a greatsword weighing over a thousand pounds, it's impossible to even stand steady, right?"

"Heh heh, I don't care. If you want to learn a powerful Earth-Tier Dou Skill, you have to pay some price, don't you?" Old Man Yao smiled faintly. He had gone through the same process back then.

"Fine, no pain, no gain! I'll do it!"

With gritted teeth, Xiao Han gripped his greatsword and leaped towards the first wooden stake not far away.

Boom!

His feet had barely touched the stake when, before he could even activate his Dou Qi to protect himself, a massive surge of water slammed into his body. Xiao Han felt a pain in his back, and the fierce impact unceremoniously kicked him into the lake.

Crawling out of the lake, Xiao Han said nothing and continued to charge towards the wooden stakes.

Thanks to his excellent physical fitness, after failing multiple times, he finally managed to reach the third wooden stake.

"Very good! Keep up the good work!"

Old Man Yao floated nearby. Besides watching Xiao Han train, he also had other tasks.

Since Old Man Yao couldn't stray too far from the ring, Xiao Han had to borrow the ring from Xiao Yan.

"Qing Shen Grass, Qingling Flower, Ziyang Root, Liuli Grass, Lingyin Fruit, Spirit Gathering Leaf, Nine-Leaf Soul Flower. I didn't expect Xiao Zhan's banquet for all sides to yield so many Heavenly Treasures that can nourish the soul.

Although these items are precious, they were not rare for me in the past. To think that today I have to rack my brains for these medicinal ingredients is truly a sigh. "Thinking of his current predicament, Old Man Yao shook his head helplessly.

"Forget it, now is not the time to think about these things. Since there are so many Soul Treasure Medicines, I might as well refine them and mix them with other harmonizing medicinal ingredients to concoct a great tonic beneficial to the soul!"

Taking out the Black Demon Cauldron from his Storage Ring, Old Man Yao beckoned Xiao Han over to observe his alchemy. Whenever Old Man Yao was about to personally refine pills, he would always thoughtfully remind Xiao Han to watch.

Xiao Han never refused, as observing Old Man Yao refine different pills would provide him with varying degrees of proficiency.

Thus, the old man and the young man cultivated and refined pills in the deep mountains and old forests, seemingly forgetting time.

A month later, Xiao Han had successfully cultivated the Flame Splitting Wave Ruler to the Great Accomplishment stage. During this month, he wasn't just blindly training. After being exhausted, he would immediately meditate to recover his Dou Qi. Then, with the Spiritual Medicine refined by Old Man Yao, his cultivation would soar.

Therefore, after a month, he was already a cultivator at the peak of the Nine-Star Dou Practitioner realm.

During this period, Old Man Yao roamed the mountains and forests collecting herbs, bringing back a large pile of medicinal ingredients whose names Xiao Han didn't know, allowing Xiao Han to learn the medicinal properties of various herbs.

Through deliberate study and practice, Xiao Han quickly refined a large batch of First and Second-Grade pills that he hadn't refined before. These were items he planned to hand over to the Xiao Family Market for sale, so he naturally couldn't be careless.

Otherwise, if any problems arose, the Xiao Family Market's business would be ruined.

When Xiao Han returned to the Xiao family with Old Man Yao, Xiao Yan had already cultivated to the Fourth Stage Dou Disciple. Xiao Han inquired about Xiao Yan's cultivation progress and then returned the ring to him.

Regardless of anything else, even with the help of the Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid, cultivating one stage of Dou Qi in a month was an incredibly terrifying speed. This was mainly due to Xiao Yan's unshakeable foundation and his past experience cultivating to the Dou Practitioner realm, which provided considerable assistance.

Upon returning to the separate courtyard, two gusts of fragrant wind swept over. Xiao Han felt two soft bodies embrace his arms from behind, one on each side.

Without even thinking, he knew it had to be Xiao Xun'er and Qinglin. He didn't know what agreement they had reached during his absence, but seeing them chatting and laughing, Xiao Han breathed a sigh of relief.

In Xiao Han's heart, if there was only one person who could be considered a wife, it was Qinglin.

Regarding Xiao Xun'er's brave and direct feelings, Xiao Han really hadn't planned on turning his younger sister into a wife. It felt too awkward for him.

So, whenever Xiao Xun'er sulked because of it, he could only offer a wry smile.

After returning home, he handed over the various pills from the storage ring in his hand to Xiao Zhan. Seeing the nearly depleted pill inventory, Xiao Han smiled apologetically and told Xiao Zhan not to be stingy with pill resources for the family disciples, as he would handle everything.

Then, he left amidst Xiao Zhan's exclamations of shock at the quantity of pills in the storage ring.

Just two weeks ago, the Ao Ba and Jia Lie families were uprooted by Xiao Zhan with thunderous methods.

With the two troublesome families annexed, it was imaginable that Wutan City would become a place dominated solely by the Xiao family in the future.

As for the brothers Xiao Ding and Xiao Li, although they knew the family had risen, they were focused on making their own way outside and had no intention of returning, planning instead to forge their own path.

Since that was the case, Xiao Han personally provided them and the entire Mo Tie Mercenary Group with a large number of pills and funds, urging them to quickly improve their cultivation and strengthen the Mo Tie Mercenary Group.

Furthermore, they could use certain methods to eliminate other mercenary groups in Shimo City and establish another stronghold for the Xiao family.

Xiao Han had gone to great lengths for the development of the Xiao family. Anything that could benefit the Xiao family's future development, he would mention to Xiao Zhan, and Xiao Zhan always unconditionally supported Xiao Han's suggestions.

Thus, after dealing with a pile of trivial matters, Xiao Han found Old Man Yao and asked him to refine a pill that could help break through the bottleneck of becoming a Dou Master.

After receiving the pill, Xiao Han continuously refined the Dou Qi within his body, repeatedly using the Demonic Flame to purify the Dou Qi inside him, making it increasingly pure.

This kind of cultivation continued for more than a week.

Just a week later, Xiao Han felt the abundant Dou Qi within him and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

After taking the pill refined by Old Man Yao, it felt as if there was no bottleneck at all. Xiao Han successfully broke through to Dou Master.

Everything flowed smoothly.

To go from Dou Practitioner to Dou Master in three months, such a terrifying speed would likely be mistaken for a monster if spoken aloud.

Feeling the surging Dou Qi within his body, Xiao Han was satisfied and threw a punch forward, creating a wave of air. Feeling the unprecedented power, Xiao Han grinned.

After advancing to Dou Master, he could finally open the Traversal Template that had been put aside. He hadn't opened it earlier for fear of distraction, but now that he had advanced to Dou Master, coupled with his recent hard training and the Demonic Armor within him, he even had the strength to contend with a Dou Grandmaster!