Nine-Star Peak!

Chapter 16: Nine-Star Peak!

Mittal Auction House.

After hosting an auction, Ya Fei returned to her room with weary steps.

She took off her fur coat. In the lamplight, her expression was hard to read.

"I still can't forget that little fellow."

Ya Fei murmured to herself. Her encounter in the alley that night had left a deep impression on her.

She had often read stories like that in "adventure tales," but experiencing one herself had left her truly shaken.

"That little fellow said we'd met before, and that he lives in Wutan City too. There'll be more chances for us to meet."

Ya Fei furrowed her pretty brows. She hosted so many auctions every day and had met countless people.

Even if some young man had once watched her from the audience, she probably wouldn't have noticed.

As she looked at the invitation on her desk, Ya Fei suddenly froze.

She seemed to have been trapped in a dead end in her thinking. She usually spent most of her time at the Mittal Auction House.

So she'd subconsciously assumed that she had met the young man there.

But the Mittal Auction House wasn't the only place she went!

As one of Wutan City's foremost powers, the Mittal Auction House often received invitations from the various clans.

Whenever one of the clans held a grand celebration, they would generally invite the other powers, showing off their prosperity and strength.

"Now that I think about it, that does seem likely. That young man is so young, yet strong enough to kill a One-Star Dou Master instantly. He must be a top-tier genius!"

"If we didn't meet at an auction, then it must have been at one of the clans' gatherings. In other words, that young man must come from one of the three major clans!"

"That young man watched Young Master Aoba get killed and didn't step in to stop it. So he probably wasn't from the Aoba Clan. That leaves the Xiao Clan and the Jialie Clan."

Following this line of thought, Ya Fei considered one step after another, her eyes growing brighter.

She felt she was on the right track and would soon be able to uncover the young man's identity.

"In recent years, no prodigy from the Jialie Clan has made a name for himself. The Xiao Clan, on the other hand, had a genius youth last year who was hailed as the youngest Dou Zhe in the clan's hundred-year history!"

At that thought, Ya Fei hurried to a cabinet and rummaged through the records. Before long, she found the name of that youngest Dou Zhe.

"Xiao Yan, son of the Xiao Clan Leader, third in the family. Come to think of it, I did attend the Xiao Clan's family ceremony last year!"

"Could it be him? Perhaps I should look into the Xiao Clan's affairs and see if anything major has happened recently."

Ya Fei had been busy with other matters last year, so she'd left in a hurry and never met Xiao Yan in person.

She summoned her trusted aide and instructed her to investigate whether anything major had happened in the Xiao Clan recently.

After what had happened before, she had insisted that her guards be replaced with women.

She didn't want to go through anything like that a second time.

While Ya Fei worked hard to investigate Xiao Ze's identity, Xiao Ze stayed in the Xiao Clan and didn't go out again.

At the peak of the back mountain, beneath the trees' shade, a figure sat cross-legged on a stone that had been deliberately smoothed flat.

The figure cultivated with eyes closed. The Dou Qi around him surged toward him like swallows returning to their nest.

A small vortex of energy formed around his body.

At that moment, Xiao Ze had slightly loosened the pull of his Dou Qi Vortex.

A great amount of energy flowed through his meridians and was eventually channeled into the Dou Qi Vortex.

Xiao Ze felt his meridians swelling, accompanied by a faint, almost imperceptible stinging sensation.

Ever since the first time he'd circulated the Dou Qi Vortex at full power, he'd known his body couldn't handle the thing yet!

The Dou Qi Vortex granted by the system didn't match the strength of his body.

If he circulated it at full power for too long, his meridians would rupture one by one, bursting under the immense pressure of his Dou Qi!

But as he continued cultivating, Xiao Ze had also discovered the benefit of the Dou Qi Vortex.

He could control its absorption, keeping it within the limits his meridians could withstand!

Once his meridians adapted, he could loosen the restrictions and let them absorb more!

That way, the strength of his meridians would gradually improve!

In the future, when he absorbed energy at full power, his meridians would be able to bear the strain completely.

Then Xiao Ze's cultivation speed would increase several times over!

The shade of the trees gradually stretched longer, and the vortex of Dou Qi around Xiao Ze slowly dissipated.

Xiao Ze opened his eyes and breathed out a wisp of stale air, which vanished into the sky.

"My Dou Qi has reached its limit. Now I'm just one step away from turning it into liquid and officially becoming a Dou Master!"

Xiao Ze looked inward at his Dou Qi Vortex. The pale-blue vortex turned slowly, as if waves were crashing against the shore.

Vast!

That wasn't a word one would normally use to describe a cultivator at the Dou Zhe level.

But if other cultivators of the same rank saw the sheer depth of Xiao Ze's Dou Qi,

they would surely wonder if all their years of cultivation had gone to the dogs.

"I can call myself a peak Nine-Star Dou Zhe now, can't I?"

Xiao Ze laughed and muttered to himself, remembering the ridiculous realm classifications he'd seen before.

Just then, Xiao Ze turned to look down the mountain.

A graceful figure flitted through the trees like a nimble butterfly, soon arriving at Xiao Ze's side.

"Has Brother Xiao Ze finished cultivating?"

Xiao Xun'er asked with a smile.

This was what she admired most about Xiao Ze. His talent and intelligence were peerless, and he worked harder than almost anyone.

"Yeah! I feel like I've made a little progress."

Xiao Ze nodded and patted Xiao Xun'er's head.

"What about you? How's your cultivation going?"

"What do you think? It's slow, steady work. I'm still a ways off from breaking through from the Ninth Stage of Dou Qi."

"Don't rush. Cultivation at the Dou Qi stage is always slow and steady. Once you reach the Dou Zhe level, you'll be able to make rapid progress."

Xiao Ze offered a few words of comfort, and Xiao Xun'er nodded in understanding.

"I know. I'm pretty happy with my progress. Not everyone can be compared to a freak like you, Brother Xiao Ze~"

"You little brat! I was trying to comfort you, and you call me a freak!"

Xiao Ze ruffled Xiao Xun'er's head even harder, ignoring her reproachful look.

"Are you going to keep talking about your Brother Xiao Ze like that?"

"I won't anymore."

After escaping Xiao Ze's clutches, Xiao Xun'er stuck out her tongue at him and grinned.

"Freak!"

As soon as she said it, Xun Er ran off, dodging Xiao Ze's reaching hand.

"You little brat! Looks like you haven't been practicing your Dou Techniques enough, huh? Let's have a proper fight!"

Xiao Ze dashed forward, suppressing his strength to the Ninth Stage of Dou Qi as he fought Xiao Xun'er.

The two traded blows, and the waves of air from their clashes swept away the fallen leaves, clearing a wide patch of ground.

Seizing the chance, Xiao Ze shot out an arm like a nimble serpent and gently patted Xiao Xun'er's pert bottom.