Three Years Later

In the back mountains of the Xiao Clan in Wutan City, Xiao Jie sat cross-legged inside a cave. He slowly opened his eyes and muttered to himself:

"Finally, I have condensed the Dou Qi cyclone and become a Dou Practitioner."

Indeed, after three years of hard work, Xiao Jie had finally become a Dou Practitioner. At just over eight years old, an eight-year-old one-star Dou Practitioner would be enough to shock the entire Jia Ma Empire. After all, in the thousand-year history of the Jia Ma Empire, such a young Dou Practitioner had never appeared before.

Xiao Jie stood up and walked out of the cave to stretch. Watching the bright sun outside and listening to the symphony formed by the calls of animals and the rustling of trees, he felt incredibly at ease.

The reason he did not practice at home was that ever since his cultivation level was exposed over a year ago, he had been constantly pestered by a group of brats. It became so annoying that he started sneaking off to the back mountains to train. Plus, he could soak in the hot springs after training, which was quite a pleasant perk.

Ever since Xiao Jie's cultivation talent was revealed, his father, Xiao He, and mother, Lin Yue, had received special care from the clan. They were granted better and easier tasks, resources were tilted in their favor, and they were even assigned two maids. Life had become relaxed and comfortable.

As for Xiao Jie, he received the clan's primary focus, with resources heavily prioritized toward him. He was the son of the Xiao Clan head, and while Xiao Yan's performance wasn't as strong as his own, it was still impressive; by age six, Xiao Yan had already reached the sixth stage of Dou Qi, leaving other clansmen a tier behind. Currently, among the younger generation of the Xiao Clan, Xiao Jie stood at the forefront, while Xiao Yan and Xiao Xun'er stood in the second tier. However, Xiao Jie knew clearly that Xiao Xun'er, a proud daughter of heaven with the god-grade bloodline of the Ancient Clan, could not possibly have such a low cultivation level, though he wouldn't be bored enough to expose her.

Over the past two years, Xiao Jie had rarely interacted with Xiao Yan and Xiao Xun'er. All three had their own agendas, and Xiao Jie would not go out of his way to curry favor with anyone.

The simulations over these two years had finally allowed him to obtain the Flame Mantra. Now that he had advanced to a Dou Practitioner, he could begin practicing it, preparing for his future plans regarding Heavenly Flames.

Xiao Yan would never be able to snatch it away from him. In a few years, Yao Lao would begin absorbing Xiao Yan's Dou Qi, turning him into "trash" for three years. Xiao Jie intended to use those three years to widen the gap completely. He had to obtain the Heavenly Flames from his memories; the struggle for opportunities was a struggle for the Dao. He had to strive to be ahead at every step, not only to become a Dou Emperor but also to enter the Great Thousand World and witness its supreme scenery. For the sake of this pursuit in his heart, he had to fight.

As he pondered, Xiao Jie sat atop a tree, sorting through the items he had acquired via the Simulator over the past three years.

Among them were one Earth-tier high-grade cultivation technique, three Earth-tier mid-grade techniques, and four Earth-tier low-grade techniques. He looked down on Xuan-tier techniques—he had no choice; once one obtains enough good things, one naturally looks down on lower-tier techniques, with the exception of the Flame Mantra, a Huang-tier low-grade evolvable technique. This was the key to his collection of Heavenly Flames, the absorption of the world's origin power, and his destiny.

As for Dou Techniques, he possessed the Earth-tier low-grade movement technique Three Thousand Lightning Movement, the Earth-tier mid-grade flight technique Nine Wild Goose Sky Wings, the Earth-tier low-grade technique Flowing Cloud Palm, and the Xuan-tier high-grade technique Thunder Slash, among others.

Beyond these, the simulations over the past two years had also yielded over three million gold coins, various rare medicinal herbs, and pills of various grades. Sometimes, he would even get three options that were all useless, which left Xiao Jie feeling both amused and frustrated on those occasions.

After organizing his thoughts, Xiao Jie headed toward the hot spring, intending to soak for a while before returning. To his surprise, he ran into Xiao Yan as soon as he arrived.

"Xiao Jie? Why are you here?"

"I just finished training and planned to come for a soak."

"What about you? Are you here for the hot spring too?"

"I've already finished. I fell asleep while soaking earlier and just woke up. I was about to head back. You go ahead and soak; I'll be going now."

"Alright."

Xiao Jie nodded in response. Watching Xiao Yan's figure disappear rapidly, Xiao Jie shook his head. He knew Xiao Yan did not want to face him.

After all, before his own talent was exposed, Xiao Yan had been the number one genius of the Xiao Clan and even Wutan City. Because of Xiao Jie's emergence, all that glory had fallen onto him. Xiao Yan felt a sense of unwillingness and wanted to catch up and surpass Xiao Jie, but he simply couldn't.

Xiao Jie's cultivation speed was too fast. During the last test, when Xiao Yan was only at the fifth stage of Dou Qi, Xiao Jie was already at the ninth stage. This made Xiao Yan feel a sense of despair. Later, he stopped trying to chase him, but he didn't give up cultivation entirely. After all, he possessed the soul and mindset of an adult; he wouldn't abandon his training just because he couldn't keep up.