As time passed, Wang Ming had been wandering around for quite a while. By then, his room had been tidied up, so he took Xiao Li there.
"Li'er, you have now reached the Ninth Stage Dou Disciple. I took a look just now, and your condition is excellent. You just fought your clansmen, so your body, energy, and spirit are all at their peak. First, cultivate your Dou Qi where you are for half an hour to recover.
"Then take the Gathering Qi Powder, condense your Dou Qi Vortex, and become a Dou Zhe."
Wang Ming took a Jade Bottle from his Storage Ring. It contained Gathering Qi Powder.
Xiao Li cupped his hands toward Wang Ming, then sat cross-legged on the floor and began cultivating his Dou Qi, adjusting himself to peak condition.
Half an hour later,
Xiao Li slowly opened his eyes. Wang Ming had sat in his chair watching Xiao Li cultivate for half an hour. Seeing that Xiao Li had finished, he handed him the Jade Bottle.
Xiao Li accepted the Jade Bottle. "Thank you, Teacher."
Wang Ming stroked his beard. "Why say such things between master and disciple? Wouldn't that make us strangers?"
"This disciple was being overly sentimental. Teacher, I'll begin breaking through to Dou Zhe now." Xiao Li scratched his cheek somewhat awkwardly.
"Mm."
Xiao Li opened the Jade Bottle and tilted its mouth slightly. A pill the size of a longan, blue and green alternating across its surface, rolled out.
Looking at the round, plump Gathering Qi Powder, Xiao Li felt delighted. He was finally getting to eat a medicinal pill—and it was even a Fourth Grade Pill.
Breathing in its refreshing, exotic fragrance, Xiao Li licked his lips. Without the slightest hesitation, he popped it into his mouth.
The instant the Gathering Qi Powder entered his mouth, a faint coolness spread across his tongue. Moments later, a warm, pure energy surged directly from his mouth into his body, making Xiao Li shudder violently.
Xiao Li immediately formed a hand seal with both hands to absorb Dou Qi. His breathing gradually steadied, and the faint Dou Qi within his body moved at his command, swiftly tangling around that powerful, pure Medicinal Power before beginning a frenzied refinement.
Inside the room, the still air suddenly rippled violently. Threads of pale white Dou Qi seeped out of the air and continuously burrowed into Xiao Li's body.
The collision between the two energies within his body sent waves of stabbing pain through Xiao Li's meridians. Fortunately, his meridians were much tougher than those of ordinary people, and he had trained since childhood, so he could endure this kind of pain.
Within Xiao Li's body, Dou Qi wrapped around clumps of pure green energy. As he refined them madly, the green energy was continuously assimilated into pale white Dou Qi. With this additional support, the amount of Dou Qi in Xiao Li's body expanded at a visibly rapid rate.
Although the pure Medicinal Power was constantly being refined, it seemed inexhaustible. Whenever the Dou Qi refined one clump of medicinal energy, an even larger clump of green energy would rush over.
"Quick! Condense the Dou Qi Vortex! If it expands any further, you'll explode!"
Wang Ming's voice rang out, jolting Xiao Li's spirits.
Xiao Li's hand seal abruptly changed. His index fingers and thumbs joined in an Index-Thumb Seal, his middle fingers touched in a Middle-Finger Tap, and all ten fingers formed a strange hand seal.
Although Xiao Li had never condensed a Dou Qi Vortex himself, he had seen members of his clan do it before. At least he had seen the pig run.
As Xiao Li's hand seal changed, the surging Dou Qi within his body seemed to be seized by a savage suction force and rapidly contracted toward his lower abdomen.
The pale white Dou Qi throughout the meridians of his body began retreating as though by prior agreement. By the time all the Dou Qi had gathered in his lower abdomen, it had already turned milky white.
"Good! That's it! Use your Soul Perception to compress it! Compress the Dou Qi and form a Dou Qi Vortex!"
Wang Ming's voice came again. After who knew how many years, he was once more experiencing that tense, thrilling feeling.
Xiao Li nodded slightly, then focused his mind. Relying on his exceptional Soul Perception, he instantly gained control of the Dou Qi within his body and began compressing it madly.
Driven by Soul Perception, that mass of milky white Dou Qi began resisting, churning violently without end.
"Still struggling? Compress!"
Xiao Li sensed the Dou Qi's resistance and used his Soul Force to forcefully compress the unruly Dou Qi.
In the end, when the Dou Qi had shrunk to only the size of a palm, it solidified once more and ceased moving.
Xiao Li prepared to go even harder. The Soul Perception surrounding that mass of milky white Dou Qi suddenly flared to its limit, then crushed down fiercely!
Bang—
Whoosh—
Xiao Li let out a breath. Even the exhaustion in his body could not suppress the joy on his face!
"It worked! I did it! I've become a One-Star Dou Practitioner!"
Watching Xiao Li like this, Wang Ming smiled as he stroked his beard. Seeing how brutally Xiao Li had compressed the Dou Qi at the end, he did not know what to say.
Wang Ming stroked his beard and said, "Li'er, you can now use Internal Vision. Take a look at the Dou Qi Vortex inside your body. You are now a One-Star Dou Practitioner."
"Yes, Teacher." Xiao Li continued sitting cross-legged on the floor, his eyes half-closed as his mind gradually sank into his body.
Internal Vision was an auxiliary skill that could only be mastered at the Dou Zhe level. The stronger one became, the more thoroughly one could examine the state of one's body.
Xiao Li's mind entered the area of his lower abdomen. A palm-sized, milky white Qi Cyclone slowly rotated there, wrapped in a layer of milky white energy resembling a nebula.
Xiao Li's mind gazed at the tiny Qi Cyclone with considerable satisfaction. Though it was small now, the energy it contained was unquestionably far stronger than his previous Ninth Stage Dou Qi.
You could never go wrong with crazily compressing Dou Qi—Xiao Yan used it and gave it his approval!
A Dou Zhe and Ninth Stage Dou Qi were fundamentally different. The energy absorbed before becoming a Dou Zhe was called Dou Qi, while only the energy absorbed after becoming a Dou Zhe was true Dou Qi!
Though the two differed by only one word, the gap between them was as vast as heaven and earth, utterly incomparable.
Xiao Li controlled the Qi Cyclone with his mind. A strand of milky white Dou Qi swiftly separated from it, then surged along the direction indicated by his mind.
His mind continuously controlled the Qi Cyclone's intake and release. Once he grew increasingly proficient, Xiao Li finally stopped in satisfaction, and his mind slowly withdrew from his body.
His tightly shut eyes suddenly flew open. The milky white gleam in his dark pupils lingered for over ten seconds before gradually fading.
Xiao Li rose to his feet. Dou Qi truly felt different from Dou Qi. If he used the Fiery Cloud Palm now, he might accidentally slap three of his clan brothers to death.
Wang Ming simply watched his disciple toy with his Dou Qi and shook his head helplessly. Nearly every child acted this way after becoming a Dou Zhe. He had been the same in his youth.
"Li'er, well done. You have condensed your Dou Qi Vortex and officially become a Dou Zhe."
Xiao Li cupped his hands toward Wang Ming and said gratefully, "I still have to thank Teacher for the Gathering Qi Powder. Otherwise, I could not have succeeded in one attempt."
Wang Ming smiled as he stroked his beard. "It's a small matter. It won't be too late to thank me after I pass all my Alchemy to you. Come, Li'er. Choose a Cultivation Method."
As Wang Ming spoke, his right hand flickered, and three scrolls of indiscernible material appeared the next instant.
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