Nine Stars

Nine Stars

Xiao Xun Er smiled sweetly and said, "Xiao Bai Gege, you don't need to stand on ceremony with Xun Er!"

One thing she liked very much was that Xiao Bai never pressed her about where these things came from. She still remembered the first time she gave him Qi Gathering Powder—she had been afraid he would question her and had thought up several excuses.

Unexpectedly, Xiao Bai simply did not ask. If he needed what she gave him, he accepted it; if he did not, he explained it clearly to her. That made her feel very relaxed around Xiao Bai, without having to worry about hiding this or concealing that.

And it was the same with Xiao Bai's affairs. If he did not say it, she did not ask. This was the tacit understanding between them.

Xiao Xun Er swept her little hand across her ring, and several scrolls appeared on the table.

Xiao Bai looked at the scrolls on the table. There were four in total. He casually picked one up, unrolled it, and began reading.

"Thunder Light Step," Black Rank advanced Dou Technique, Movement Technique type. It opened two meridians in the legs and was driven by Lightning Attribute Dou Qi, making one move like a streak of electric light. It was suitable for short-distance charges or shifting footwork in battle.

After reading it, he picked up another and opened it.

"Thunderclap Palm," Black Rank advanced Dou Technique, attack type. It opened one meridian in each hand and could compress the Lightning Attribute Dou Qi within the body into both palms. When struck out, it was as swift as rushing thunder, delivering a fatal blow to the enemy.

Xiao Bai then went on to flip through the rest of the scrolls one by one, and in the end chose Thunder Light Step and Thunderclap Palm.

After making his choice, Xiao Bai handed the remaining two scrolls back to Xun Er.

"Xiao Bai Gege only wants these two? Why not take them all? They're useless sitting with Xun Er anyway!" Xiao Xun Er had originally intended to give them all to him, and had not expected Xiao Bai to return two.

"Biting off more than you can chew isn't good. These two are enough," Xiao Bai said, shaking his head.

Seeing him like this, Xiao Xun Er said no more and put away the remaining two scrolls.

Xiao Bai looked at the beautiful young girl before him, who was propping her cheeks in both hands and smiling at him. He sensed her realm and said with a smile, "8 Star Dou Zhi Qi. Looks like our Xun Er is about to break through too!"

"Mm, I only broke through recently. It'll still take some time before I reach Fighter. Xun Er's talent can't compare to Xiao Bai Gege's. You reached the ninth star at ten years old!"

The young girl's eyes rippled as she spoke with a hint of admiration.

Xiao Bai's breath caught. If he had not known she did not mean it that way, he might have thought for a moment that the girl was mocking him.

When it came to talent, on this continent, other than that Little Dragon Person from Jia Nan Academy, who could compare to you? Even with his cheat, before becoming a Dou Saint, he was not confident he could catch up.

He hurriedly changed the subject and said gently, "Has your body still been hurting during this time?"

As he spoke, Xiao Bai felt a little distressed. He had personally seen the girl before him suffer the pain of Heavenly Flames burning her body since she was little. How could Heavenly Flames be so easy to refine? Even with her father Gu Yuan's seal, it could only guarantee her safety; it could not completely solve the pain. After all, that was the Golden Emperor Burning Heaven Flame, ranked fourth.

"It doesn't really hurt anymore now. Xiao Bai Gege, you don't need to worry!" Xiao Xun Er shook her head. Seeing the pity in the young man's eyes, the corners of her mouth lifted slightly.

"That's good!"

"Right, Xiao Bai Gege, can you promise Xun Er one thing?" Xiao Xun Er's little face suddenly turned serious as she held Xiao Bai's hand and said.

"Don't say one thing—even a hundred or a thousand things. As long as Xiao Bai Gege can do it, I'll do as you say!" Xiao Bai gently squeezed the jade-like hand in his, his tone indulgent.

Hearing this, Xiao Xun Er's heart leaped with joy, but her face remained solemn as she said, "Promise Xun Er that from now on, you won't tell anyone yesterday's story, all right?"

"Yesterday's story?"

Xiao Bai frowned, puzzled. Yesterday, he had only told her about Perfect World. Why did Xun Er want him not to mention it to anyone?

Although he had smuggled in some of his own material, it should not have been enough to make this girl's expression so solemn. She was not that kind of person.

After carefully recalling the situation when he told the story yesterday, Xiao Bai seemed to understand something. Yesterday, Xun Er had indeed interrupted him when he mentioned the Supremes. He had not thought much of it at the time.

But combined with the fact that this world also had Supremes, could it be that Xun Er knew something else?

That made sense. This girl came from an imperial clan. It was not strange for there to be some records about the Great Thousand World within her clan. He just did not know how much she knew.

Although it had not been recorded in the original work, the original work only told the protagonist's experiences. It was not an encyclopedia of the Dou Qi Continent.

It seemed he had to be more cautious in the future. He could not assume everything was under his control just because he knew the plot. If he kept that mentality, he would suffer for it sooner or later.

"All right, I promise you. From now on, I won't tell anyone this story." Xiao Bai solemnly agreed. Having thought through the cause and effect, he knew Xun Er had made this request for his own good.

Hearing Xiao Bai agree, Xiao Xun Er relaxed. From childhood until now, this young man had always been true to his word. As long as he promised something, he would do it.

"Xiao Bai Gege, don't blame Xun Er for meddling. The waters of the Dou Qi Continent are too deep. If it's really as I guessed, I'm afraid even Xun Er won't be able to protect you then!" Xiao Xun Er gazed at the young man and murmured inwardly.

Half a year passed in the blink of an eye.

Xiao Family Back Mountain, inside a cave.

Xiao Bai sat cross-legged on a giant boulder, his expression calm, his whole body emitting the aura of a Nine Star Fighter Peak.

His physical body brimmed with vigorous qi and blood, and his sense of strength was much greater than it had been half a year ago. He felt that now, without using Dou Qi, he could settle that Wang Offering from back then with a single punch.

"The progress of tempering my physical body with Yi Wood Positive Thunder is getting slower and slower. It's time to break through to Dou Shi!" Xiao Bai said in a low voice.

Over the past half year, he had practiced Dou Techniques every morning, used the Yi Wood Positive Thunder within his body to temper his physical body every afternoon, and cultivated his Dou Qi and divine soul at night. Not a single day had he slacked off.

The two Dou Techniques, Thunder Light Step and Thunderclap Palm, had already been cultivated to great success, and their power was quite impressive.

His Dou Qi had already reached Nine Star Fighter two months after his last breakthrough. If he had not wanted to increase the strength of his physical body a little more so it could accommodate a new Thunder Seed, he could have broken through to Dou Shi long ago.

As for his divine soul cultivation, ever since it had hazily risen by a small realm last time, his progress had not been as fast. However, that "not fast" was only relative to improving after a single nap last time. In reality, every time Xiao Bai finished cultivating the Heavenly Heart Induction Chapter, he felt that his divine soul had improved ever so slightly.

For the past half year, Xiao Bai had cultivated the Heavenly Heart Induction Chapter every day, and he had never again experienced that feeling of falling asleep in a daze. It felt similar to the soul formulas in the original work, absorbing strands of free-floating spiritual energy from heaven and earth to improve the soul.

The difference was that as he cultivated this method, he occasionally felt as if he had merged into heaven and earth. It seemed a little like the state called Unity of Heaven and Man in his previous life. That feeling was very profound—impossible to explain or describe.

He did not know what use this had, and sometimes he even suspected he was too tired from cultivation and had hallucinated.

Even now, Xiao Bai still believed that his improvement last time had come from taking a nap. He had no memory at all of what had happened in that void and assumed that improvement had been the beginner's benefit of cultivating the Heavenly Heart Induction Chapter.