Breaking Through to Dou Practitioner

The next day, as the sky was just beginning to brighten.

Xiao Ling had already opened his eyes. After a night of settling down, he could be considered to have regained his composure, and he rose to stretch his limbs a few times.

A hint of anticipation appeared on Xiao Ling's face, and he subsequently pushed the door open to leave.

Every Xiao Clan disciple he encountered along the way greeted him with a bow: "Good morning, Big Brother Xiao Ling..."

"Mm."

Xiao Ling maintained the personality of his original self and responded indifferently, though he felt a secret thrill inside.

His expression remained unchanged as he walked all the way to a high platform in front of the Martial Arts Arena, looking down at the group of Xiao Clan juniors aged four to eight.

Suddenly, he felt like those ancient generals from his past life deploying troops.

It was just that the soldiers he was commanding were a group of toddlers...

Thinking this, Xiao Ling looked at the pairs of eyes gazing at him and forced himself to project an air of authority.

"Today's morning lesson will proceed as usual."

"Yes, Big Brother Xiao Ling."

As soon as his voice fell, a synchronized response rang out from below.

Watching this scene, Xiao Ling waved his hand casually and sat cross-legged on the high platform, assuming a meditative posture, while in reality, he was exploring his cheat.

As his thoughts stirred, a page invisible to others appeared before his eyes, its overall layout very concise.

It was divided into the Cultivation Technique Area, Battle Skill Area, Pill Area, Artifact Area, and Material Area.

Looking at the five square areas before him, Xiao Ling felt a surge of excitement: "It's truly a case of someone bringing a pillow just as I'm feeling sleepy. With these, I will never have to worry about cultivation techniques or pills again."

He immediately clicked on the Cultivation Technique Area, but the scene that appeared before him left him completely shocked.

[Flame Mantra, Yellow-tier low-grade, growth-type, created by Ancestor Tian Can in the Great Thousand World... improved by the system. Due to its unique nature, the trade requires ten years of lifespan.]

[Zi Wu Body Tempering Technique, Profound-tier low-grade, auxiliary technique, created by an alien race in the Feng Tian World... improved by the system. The trade requires nine months of lifespan.]

[Yan Huang Canon First Layer, Profound-tier high-grade, created by the Yan Huang during his lifetime in the Yan Huang Great World... improved by the system. The trade requires nine months of lifespan.]

"This..."

Xiao Ling stared at the dense list of techniques, the descriptions of their origins, and their prices, and he was completely stunned.

After a long while, he finally came back to his senses, a touch of disappointment in his heart.

He hadn't expected the system's "Trading Heavens" to work in this manner.

He had thought he would be trading directly with other transmigrators who also held systems.

After he finished reviewing everything, he didn't see any Earth-tier techniques or pills above the sixth grade, but he did find what he currently needed...

After careful consideration, Xiao Ling decided to choose the "Yan Huang Canon" for his cultivation technique. As for why he didn't choose the "Flame Mantra," there was a reason for that.

It was mainly because the difficulty and starting point of the "Flame Mantra" were completely disproportionate to its trade price.

He didn't dare to gamble; after all, he only had twenty-some years of lifespan.

The "Yan Huang Canon," however, was different. Not only was the cultivation difficulty lower, but it also came with three techniques of the same grade, making it a more cost-effective choice compared to the "Flame Mantra."

Thinking of this, Xiao Ling gritted his teeth and selected the "Yan Huang Canon," "Zi Wu Body Tempering Technique," "Swallow Return Strike," "Eight Extremities Collapse," "Foundation Establishment Powder," and other techniques and pills required for his breakthrough.

[Ding, the items selected by the host require four years of lifespan to trade. Confirm?]

Xiao Ling: "Confirm!"

[Ding, the host's remaining lifespan is nineteen years and eleven months.]

"Wait... what is going on?"

"Didn't he only trade for four techniques equivalent to Profound-tier high-grade, plus six portions of Foundation Establishment Powder? That should only total four years of lifespan, right?"

Xiao Ling's expression turned ugly.

"System, come out! Are you skimming off the top?"

[Ding, the Trading Mall is fair and just. It will never deduct the host's lifespan without authorization. Please rest assured, host!]

Hearing this, various thoughts flashed through Xiao Ling's mind, and suddenly his eyes lit up.

"This... could it be an issue with the original body's constitution?!"

"But, he had never heard of such a constitution existing! Not even in the original story."

"If it really is a constitution issue... then he will just have to collect some interest on behalf of the original body first..."

Xiao Ling opened his eyes, thinking this to himself, a flash of ruthlessness in his gaze as he stood up.

"That's all for today's morning lesson. Don't slack off on your cultivation when you go back."

Saying this, he walked toward his residence, completely ignoring the responses of the clan disciples behind him.

When he returned to his small courtyard, he was carrying a simple wooden cage in his hand; it was a nest of mice he had caught on the way.

He planned to test the waters with them first, then reached into the cage and grabbed a large rat about two feet long.

"System, plunder lifespan."

As soon as the words left his mouth, he felt a wisp of vital energy flow through his arm and into his mind, where it vanished.

"This..."

Xiao Ling looked at the dried-up rat in his hand with a look of astonishment; he hadn't expected the system to be so fast.

[Ding, the host's remaining lifespan is currently nineteen years, eleven months, and one hour.]

Xiao Ling was thoughtful: "A single large rat is equivalent to one hour of lifespan? If that's the case, doesn't that mean he could truly achieve a form of disguised immortality?"

Thinking this, Xiao Ling cast his gaze toward the cage in front of him, and perhaps sensing danger, shrill shrieks erupted from within.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak..."

However, Xiao Ling paid no heed and followed the same procedure. Before long, dozens of dried rats lay under the fruit tree by the entrance. Xiao Ling clapped his hands and smiled with satisfaction.

Over the next month, aside from his cultivation and morning lessons, Xiao Ling spent almost every day catching rats in the back mountain. His frantic behavior was like a different person compared to his usual self.

It reached a point where the younger generation of the Xiao Clan didn't dare to go near him.

Yet, there was one girl with long legs who followed behind Xiao Ling every few days, which made the other Xiao Clan juniors quite envious of her...

"Xiao Yu, it's getting late today. Hurry back and practice. Make sure you cultivate the Zi Wu Body Tempering Technique I taught you, understand? Once some time passes, I'll teach it to the other younger cousins, and you'll be the one leading their training."

In a clearing on the back mountain, Xiao Ling picked up the wooden cage with a satisfied smile and spoke with a stern face to the little girl beside him.

Hearing this, a look of reluctance appeared on Xiao Yu's small face: "Brother Xiao Ling, remember that you have to take Yu Er out to play when the time comes..."

"Play, play... all you ever think about is playing." Xiao Ling made a gesture to strike. Seeing this, Xiao Yu scurried away, made a face at him, and ran down the mountain path.

Watching those long legs run into the distance, Xiao Ling shook his head and began to walk down the mountain.

Inside the small courtyard, after Xiao Ling buried another hundred dried rats at the base of the tree, he clapped his hands and sat on a lounge chair nearby to soak up the sun, sorting through his gains from this period in his mind.

First, his lifespan had returned to twenty years, and his cultivation had reached the peak of the ninth stage of Dou Power, a level where he could attempt to break through to a Dou Practitioner at any moment—it was undeniably strong.

Second, three days ago, Xiao Yan was born... As the supervisor of the Xiao Clan juniors, he had even personally gone over to take a look...

As he pondered, Xiao Ling drifted off into a deep sleep. At this moment, the Dou Power within his body began to stir, gathering toward his dantian in his lower abdomen.

Under the pull of this force, a Dou energy funnel a zhang high condensed above his head. All the Dou energy within the entire courtyard was frantically dragged into the funnel, and the other end of the funnel connected to Xiao Ling's crown point, pouring continuously into his body and rushing along his meridians straight into his dantian.

As the endless stream of Dou energy poured in, the space within his dantian grew smaller and smaller, until finally, the dantian was completely filled to capacity.

If Xiao Ling had been conscious, he would have long since begun compressing the Dou energy to form a Dou energy vortex.

Unfortunately, Xiao Ling was not conscious.

His dantian was stretched larger and larger, like a balloon filled to the brim, ready to burst at any moment.

Yet, at this critical juncture, a mysterious surge of vitality was suddenly injected into his dantian. Under the influence of this vitality, the Dou energy in his dantian began to compress slowly, eventually forming a palm-sized, milky-white vortex.

With the appearance of this vortex, a powerful suction force erupted from it. The external Dou energy funnel began to shrink continuously until it finally vanished entirely into Xiao Ling's body, and the surroundings returned to calm.

"Eh."

A voice filled with surprise echoed from a space somewhere above the small courtyard.

"Unexpectedly... this Xiao Clan with its severed bloodline actually has such a genius. Xiao Xuan, so this is your scheme..."

At this moment, Xiao Ling below dazedly opened his eyes. He glanced at the sun dipping below the horizon and muttered.

"I didn't expect to have slept for the entire afternoon..."

Suddenly, he sat up, a look of astonishment appearing on his youthful face, for when he tried to mobilize his Dou energy just now, he discovered he was channeling Dou energy—something only those above the level of a Dou Practitioner possessed.

"Could it be... that he broke through silently without taking any medicinal pills?"

A sharp glint flashed in Xiao Ling's eyes, and he looked toward his dantian. A milky-white vortex the size of a basketball was floating within, which truly gave him a fright.

"This... how could it be so big?"

Back then, Xiao Yan's was only the size of a palm; his was ten times that of Xiao Yan's. And he wasn't even a one-star Dou Practitioner yet, which meant his future achievements would also be ten times that of Xiao Yan's?

Just as Xiao Ling was lost in his inner fantasies, a single sentence from the system hit him like a bucket of cold water, leaving him frozen in place.