Advancing to Da Dou Shi

Within the Su Clan courtyard in Stone Desert City, inside Su Heng's room.

It had been five days since Qing Lin left. During those five days, aside from actively arranging the aftermath on the first day, Su Heng had kept himself shut inside his room, focusing wholeheartedly on secluded cultivation.

For Su Heng, the pain of longing after parting from Qing Lin was far worse than he had imagined. Now, he only wanted to finish the work in his plans as quickly as possible, then rush to the Heavenly Snake Mansion to see Qing Lin.

And today was the fifth day—the most critical day.

Inside the room, Su Heng sat cross-legged, surrounded by four-colored blazing flames. Surging heat waves repeatedly battered the surrounding stone walls. Even the bluestone bricks had been baked dry and cracked, sending clouds of bluish dust drifting through the heat.

At this moment, a powerful three-colored energy within Su Heng's body was wrapped in four-colored Beast Flames as it coursed through him.

The four-colored flames and the three-colored energy collided violently within Su Heng's meridians, while the endless crackling of his trembling bones rang out.

The intense pain turned Su Heng's face deathly pale and twisted his features. He had anticipated the ending but not the beginning. He had never expected the medicinal power of the Three-Stripe Green Spirit Pill to be this formidable.

The medicinal power he had refined to the utmost limit was truly unbearable when put to use!

Enduring the pain, Su Heng directed the four-colored Beast Flames to envelop the energy of the Three-Stripe Green Spirit Pill and guide it through his body along the circulation route of his cultivation technique.

After being continuously burned by the four Beast Flames, the three-colored energy gradually merged within the fire into a stream of pure azure liquid energy, which flowed through Su Heng's meridians and poured into his Dou Qi Whirlpool.

As the azure energy poured in, the liquid energy within Su Heng's Dou Qi Whirlpool suddenly surged, churning violently at several times its previous volume!

"So this is the effect of using pills to directly raise one's cultivation. It's truly terrifying!"

This was Su Heng's first time taking a pill that could directly increase cultivation. Only now did he finally understand how such pills worked.

The pills he had used before merely helped restore stamina or Dou Qi, whereas the Three-Stripe Green Spirit Pill directly poured a massive amount of Dou Qi energy into the Dou Qi Whirlpool. The Dou Qi energy contained within this single pill was equivalent to the total Dou Qi of a Three-Star Dou Master.

With such an enormous amount of energy, it was no wonder an Eight-Star Dou Master could use it to attempt a direct breakthrough into Da Dou Shi.

At this point, Su Heng had only absorbed roughly thirty percent of the Three-Stripe Green Spirit Pill's medicinal power, yet he had already reached the Nine-Star Dou Master realm. For the first time, he truly felt just how powerful the pills he had refined were.

Eighty percent of Su Heng's Dou Qi Whirlpool was now filled with azure liquid. Once the Dou Qi Whirlpool was completely filled, one would reach the limit of the Dou Master rank—the peak of the Nine-Star Dou Master realm.

At this rate, if he fully absorbed this energy, he would likely charge straight toward the Two-Star Great Dou Master realm.

As time slowly passed, Su Heng within the bluestone room was gradually enveloped in a faint azure glow. The light moved according to his will, covering his body and forming a Dou Qi gauze robe that fit tightly around him.

Yet under the influence of the azure glow, this Dou Qi gauze robe kept twisting, as though it were constructing something. In a daze, the originally mist-like robe of Dou Qi began to display characteristics similar to solid matter.

Naturally, Su Heng could not sense the changes in his Dou Qi. At this very moment, all of his attention was focused on the Dou Qi Whirlpool within his body, which was about to overflow.

Within his meridians, roughly half of the Three-Stripe Green Spirit Pill's medicinal power had already been refined.

At this moment, Su Heng's Dou Qi Whirlpool could no longer contain even a trace of additional energy. If he continued pouring in the remaining fifty percent of azure energy, the whirlpool would burst apart. Not only would Su Heng fail to break through, but his Dou Qi would scatter and his realm would plummet.

However, no one facing such a situation would allow the medicinal power to continue pouring into their Dou Qi Whirlpool.

At such a critical point before a breakthrough, every Dou Master would choose the correct course of action: compressing their Dou Qi.

Gaseous energy could be compressed into higher-grade liquid energy, and liquid energy could likewise be compressed into an even higher-grade solid energy. This so-called solid energy was Dou Crystal!

It was also the foundation that allowed Da Dou Shi to summon tangible Dou Qi Armor.

Using four Six-tier Beast Flames as a barrier, Su Heng completely cut off the flow of the remaining medicinal power.

After all, while compressing Dou Crystal, any additional influx of energy would disrupt the energy balance within the Dou Qi Whirlpool and cause the breakthrough to fail.

Calming his mind and focusing his spirit, Su Heng drove his Dou Qi Whirlpool into a mad rotation and began compressing the Dou Qi within his body. With Su Heng's solid foundation, compressing Dou Qi was as easy as breathing.

Soon, Su Heng sensed the liquid energy within the whirlpool rapidly condensing into a viscous solid. The embryonic form of a Dou Crystal had appeared.

Who knew how long passed before the liquid energy inside the whirlpool gradually dried up. Under Su Heng's soul perception, a dark, diamond-shaped crystal over an inch long slowly floated into the center of the Dou Qi Whirlpool, motionless.

The instant this crystal appeared, Su Heng clearly felt a sense of ease radiating from the depths of his soul. At last, he had officially entered the Da Dou Shi realm.

"Whew, that's about enough. Let the rest come in together!"

Su Heng instantly withdrew the Beast Flame barrier. The remaining azure liquid energy was no longer restrained and surged fiercely into the Dou Qi Whirlpool. Yet unlike when he had been a Dou Master, when the whirlpool was easily filled, this influx of azure energy only occupied a small portion of the whirlpool.

Drawn by the Dou Crystal, the incoming liquid energy resembled thick paste, wrapping layer upon layer around the crystal.

At this point, Su Heng could choose to use the energy to reinforce the Dou Crystal, or he could make the Dou Qi Whirlpool spin rapidly, scatter the semi-solid energy throughout it, and condense it into a new Dou Crystal. However, the quality of this new Dou Crystal would be far inferior to the first.

The former was known as consolidating one's foundation, while the latter was forcibly breaking through to become a Two-Star Great Dou Master, resulting in unstable Dou Qi.

Given Su Heng's personality, he naturally chose the former. After repeatedly compressing his Dou Qi and thoroughly merging the vast majority of the azure liquid energy with the Dou Crystal, consolidating it until it could no longer be compressed, Su Heng finally allowed the small remaining portion of liquid energy to flow into the Dou Qi Whirlpool.

The medicinal power of the Three-Stripe Green Spirit Pill allowed Su Heng to break through directly from an Eight-Star Dou Master to a One-Star Great Dou Master. Moreover, Su Heng could now be considered the strongest among One-Star Great Dou Masters—the Peak One-Star Great Dou Master.

After successfully breaking through, Su Heng slowly exhaled a breath of stale air. Every limb and bone in his body felt indescribably relaxed and refreshed. He felt as though he had just enjoyed the best sleep of his life, utterly blissful and satisfied.

After slowly rising to his feet, Su Heng sensed the incomparably abundant Dou Qi in his body, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face. He slowly clenched his fist, and dense dark-purple radiance swiftly covered its surface before flowing across his entire body, until he was completely enveloped.

"Dou Qi Armor, manifest!"

The dark-purple Dou Qi covering Su Heng's body instantly solidified at his command. Within the light, an exquisite suit of Dou Qi Armor abruptly appeared.

Su Heng gently tapped the Dou Qi Armor on his body with his index finger. A crisp metallic ring sounded, leaving him utterly astonished.

On the Dou Qi Continent, advancing to Da Dou Shi was considered truly taking one's first step onto the path of cultivation. Before that, rather than being called a Dou Qi cultivator, one was more like a martial artist.

More importantly, the amount of Dou Qi a Da Dou Shi possessed was several times greater than that of a Dou Master.

When Su Heng had been an Eight-Star Dou Master, he needed to rest while refining Fourth-grade Pills. He even had to take Qi-Replenishing Pills during the alchemy process.

The fundamental reason was insufficient Dou Qi. Su Heng needed to first finish refining the medicinal ingredients, take Qi-Replenishing Pills to restore his Dou Qi, and only then fuse the ingredients into a pill.

Sometimes, refining a Purple Heart Barrier-Breaking Pill required taking three Qi-Replenishing Pills just to restore his Dou Qi, and even then he might not succeed. Often, after refining pills for several hours, he had to lie down and sleep for another hour or two to recover his Dou Qi.

Only now did Su Heng finally understand why Alchemists desperately pursued Heavenly Flames.

Higher-grade flames offered the most direct improvement in efficiency. Heavenly Flames were much more efficient than Beast Flames at removing impurities and melting medicinal ingredients. Even among Beast Flames, a Six-tier Beast Flame was several times stronger than a Fifth-tier Beast Flame.

After refining the Hundred Beasts Phosphor Flame, Su Heng had successfully refined the Three-Stripe Green Spirit Pill with three Beast Flames. Yet during the final pill-fusing stage, he had nearly caused the cauldron to explode because of insufficient Dou Qi.

At the same time, Xiao Yan, with a similar realm, had been able to successfully refine a Three-Stripe Green Spirit Pill using the Green Lotus Core Flame and Bone Chilling Flame. The gap was enormous when one thought about it.

Still, under the current circumstances, this difference in efficiency could be made up for.

Su Heng estimated that Seventh-grade Pills were likely a dividing line. Before the Seventh Grade, although Heavenly Flames were stronger than Beast Flames, Six-tier Beast Flames would not fall too far behind during alchemy.

But after Seventh-grade Pills, the boost Heavenly Flames gave to ingredient refinement and pill fusion far surpassed Beast Flames. Unless one could obtain the Beast Flame of an Eighth Rank or even Ninth-Order Magical Beast, it would be possible only to contend slightly.

For example, obtaining the Origin Beast Flame of Zhu Kun, Dragon Emperor of the Ancient Void Dragons.

If two people had equal cultivation and alchemy skill, one using the Beast Flame of Zhu Kun, Dragon Emperor of the Ancient Void Dragons, and the other using the Green Lotus Core Flame, ranked nineteenth on the Heavenly Flame Ranking, then the latter would most likely lose to the former.

"Sigh... Finding Zhu Kun's Origin Beast Flame seems several times harder than finding an ordinary Heavenly Flame. I should stop dreaming about that for now."

He still had to keep his feet on the ground. What Su Heng needed to do first was refine a large number of Three-Stripe Green Spirit Pills to raise the Su Clan's strength. As for seeking high-tier Beast Flames or Heavenly Flames, it was enough to think about them in his spare time.

After successfully advancing to Da Dou Shi, Su Heng's pill-refining speed underwent a clear qualitative leap. He no longer had to worry about insufficient Dou Qi. He could even complete refinement and pill fusion in one go, without resting midway or taking Qi-Replenishing Pills.

For the following ten-plus days, Su Heng worked day and night, continuously refining Fourth-grade Pills.

The destruction of the Mo Family not only created a power vacuum in Salt City, but also left a vacuum across the eastern provinces of the Jia Ma Empire.

Many experts from other factions who had gone to the Mo Family's birthday celebration were indiscriminately slaughtered by the Eight-Winged Black Snake Emperor. Those factions had relied on the strength of their leaders to survive. With their leaders gone, they completely fell apart.

As for the Su Clan, the instigator behind everything and its greatest beneficiary, it naturally struck hard and began voraciously swallowing Salt City's industries.

However, to keep what they swallowed from being forced back out, they needed absolute strength to support them.

Su Yan, the Su Clan Patriarch and a Six-Star Great Dou Master, was not enough to hold down a place as large as Salt City.

But if the Su Clan Patriarch were a Dou Ling, then it would be a completely different matter!

Sometimes, Su Heng truly admired his father's talent.

After obtaining a Profound Tier cultivation technique, Su Yan had taken only one year to advance from an Eight-Star Dou Master to a Six-Star Great Dou Master. Across the entire Jia Ma Empire, that speed counted as exceptionally gifted.

If his father had not shouldered the heavy burden of the family at such a young age, coupled with the Su Clan's limited resources, then with Su Yan's talent, he could have advanced toward even higher realms and challenged the Dou Wang or even Dou Emperor realm.

It had to be said that the burdensome trivialities of life had buried countless exceptionally gifted people.

Fortunately, Su Heng's appearance changed everything.

After more than ten days of refining pills day and night, Su Heng successfully produced five Three-Stripe Green Spirit Pills and seven Two-Stripe Green Spirit Pills.

With the aid of these pills, Su Yan successfully advanced to the Peak Great Dou Master realm, only half a step away from breaking through to Dou Ling.

According to Su Yan himself, as long as he found the feeling needed for a breakthrough, he could advance to Dou Ling.

Aside from the Su Clan members, Xiao Ding and Xiao Li also broke through to Eight-Star Great Dou Masters with the aid of Su Heng's pills.

Even Xue Lan, Fei Li, and the others from the Desert Iron Mercenary Group successfully broke through to the Seven-Star Dou Master realm.

With such martial strength as support, the Su Clan had a much easier time cleaning up Salt City's aftermath.

However, just as everything was going smoothly, Su Heng began to feel that something was wrong with his body.

At first, he would only become inexplicably tired and sleepy.

Su Heng thought he was simply exhausted from refining pills and staying up too late, so he deliberately set aside a day to get some proper sleep. Yet over the following period, the condition did not ease. Instead, it showed signs of worsening.

From time to time, Su Heng's vision would go black, and he would fall into brief bouts of sleep.

And it all fully erupted on the fifteenth day.

At noon that day, Su Heng was fully focused on refining a Three-Stripe Green Spirit Pill.

The Purple Crystal Winged Lion Flame, Green Nether Flame, and Hundred Beasts Phosphor Flame gently and skillfully enveloped the pill inside the Flame Phoenix Cauldron.

Three pill stripes had already appeared on the pill's surface. With just a little more pressure, it would form successfully.

Su Heng could even smell the pill fragrance. After more than ten experiences refining pills, he had long become thoroughly familiar with the Three-Stripe Green Spirit Pill. It came to him effortlessly.

Yet at the final moment of pill condensation, Su Heng suddenly saw stars and felt the world spin around him!

His vision went black. He let out a muffled groan and fell straight backward onto his back.

"Boom!"

Inside the Flame Phoenix Cauldron, the nearly completed pill suddenly lost control. Its medicinal power fused with the flames, causing a violent explosion.

The deafening blast frightened the Su Clan disciples standing guard outside the door so badly that they fell to the ground.

When they rushed into the room through the thick smoke, Su Heng had already lost consciousness and completely passed out.