Breakthrough to Dou Zhe

Medicine Elder tossed an Ink-Leaf Lotus into the white flames, then explained, "My white flame is also one of the Heavenly Flames born of heaven and earth. It is called the Bone Spirit Cold Flame. Heavenly Flames are harder to control than ordinary fire because of their terrifyingly high temperatures. The slightest lapse in attention can reduce medicinal ingredients to ashes in an instant. Thus, only those with exceptionally strong soul perception can use a Heavenly Flame."

As he watched, the Ink-Leaf Lotus in the flames turned into a mass of inky-black liquid in mere moments. Medicine Elder continually adjusted the flame's temperature. Once it reached a certain threshold, traces of yellow impurities appeared within the black liquid. With a flick of his finger, he separated out a mass of black liquid wrapped around the yellow impurities.

Yet after only a short while, another faint-yellow impurity emerged from the dark green liquid. Medicine Elder separated it out again. This continued until no more impurities appeared in the dark green liquid, which became like a black pearl—deep and mysterious.

He treated the other five Ink-Leaf Lotuses the same way, refining them all into thumb-sized masses of black liquid before merging them together. They first became fist-sized, then, after being continuously tempered by the Bone Spirit Cold Flame, shrank back down to the size of a thumb.

Medicine Elder then tossed the Snake Saliva Fruit on the table into the flames. In no time, it was refined into a mass of emerald-green liquid. He similarly removed its impurities before slowly merging the green liquid into the earlier inky-black liquid.

The two liquids of different properties collided, producing waves of sizzling sounds. Once they had fully fused, a rough pill embryo appeared within the flames.

Medicine Elder slowly nodded as he looked at the formed pill embryo. He then threw the Spirit-Gathering Grass and a second-tier water-attributed Magic Core into the flames. After refining these final two ingredients and removing their impurities, he slowly infused them into the pill embryo.

Once the four completely different ingredients had fully fused, the rough pill embryo gradually became smooth and round. A faint blue sheen surfaced on its exterior.

After nurturing the pill in the flames for over ten minutes, a blue-and-green pill emitting a delicate fragrance finally appeared.

He casually tossed the freshly refined, still-warm pill to Xiao Yan and said lightly, "This is the Gathering Qi Powder you've been yearning for."

Xiao Yan carefully caught the Gathering Qi Powder Medicine Elder had thrown him and felt its warmth. He raised it to his nose and inhaled, and a fragrance that seemed to elevate his soul drifted over him. Unable to hold himself back any longer, Xiao Yan swallowed the pill in one gulp. He immediately sat cross-legged, formed a strange hand seal, and began cultivating.

Seeing Xiao Yan so impatient, Medicine Elder did not stop him, because there was simply no need. Xiao Yan had long since reached Ninth Duan Dou Qi, and with the terrifying strength of his body and meridians, how could anything go wrong?

The Gathering Qi Powder could be understood as the cultivation world's Spirit-Gathering Formation. It could rapidly gather the energy of heaven and earth, continuously producing Dou Qi.

The moment the pill entered his stomach, streams of pure energy radiated from it. This energy continuously gathered the Dou Qi between heaven and earth and guided it into Xiao Yan's bodily meridians.

As for the collision between that pure energy and Dou Qi, it gave Xiao Yan only a faint sensation. It felt as though someone were massaging him. Not only was there no pain, it even felt somewhat comfortable.

As the Dou Qi within his body gradually increased and filled every meridian, Xiao Yan felt bloated. Yet he did not immediately form his Dou Qi Vortex. Instead, he continued refining Dou Qi. The Dou Qi stretched the meridians throughout his body taut, then seeped directly through them into his flesh. Xiao Yan himself continued swelling like a balloon.

Medicine Elder stared wide-eyed at Xiao Yan, who had become a round ball, and felt his teeth ache in irritation. He said helplessly, "You think you can play around like this just because your body is strong?"

As for Xiao Yan, he was getting anxious as well. At first, he had wanted to store more Dou Qi so that once he became a Dou Zhe, he would naturally possess more of it and save himself some effort. Unfortunately, he could not even form hand seals now. His body was like a ball, leaving him unable to move at all.

Just as Xiao Yan was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, inspiration suddenly struck him. A powerful force of soul perception enveloped his entire body, then began compressing it without pause. The pressure from both inside and outside made veins bulge all over Xiao Yan's body. Tearing pain shot into his brain, and it felt as though his body could explode at any moment. Only someone with a body like a magical beast would dare do this. Anyone else would likely have already been blown into a mass of blood and flesh.

"Can this be done too? Is this kid not afraid of death at all? I really want to pry open Xiao Yan's little head and see what's inside. How can he have so many bizarre ideas? Before this, he even fused Dou Skills. Still, if he truly manages to hold on, his meridians will widen considerably." Watching Xiao Yan compress his body with soul perception, Medicine Elder clicked his tongue in amazement.

Through Xiao Yan's unceasing efforts, the Gathering Qi Powder's energy was gradually exhausted, and his body stopped expanding. Suddenly, a warm energy arose from his lower abdomen and instantly spread throughout his body. Xiao Yan felt incomparably refreshed, as if he had drunk a glass of iced cola. It was utterly invigorating—though, of course, cola did not exist in this world.

Once he felt that his hands could move again, Xiao Yan formed a strange hand seal with all ten fingers. This was a hand seal specifically used to condense a Dou Qi Vortex.

As Xiao Yan's hand seal shifted, the Dou Qi in his body seemed to gain a direction and surged toward his lower abdomen. Because there was simply too much Dou Qi inside him, his qi sea was completely filled and swelled outward.

"Quick, compress the Dou Qi! Use your soul perception to compress it! If you fail to condense it, you'll fall back to Eighth Duan Dou Qi!" Medicine Elder urgently warned.

In truth, Xiao Yan would have used soul perception to compress it even without Medicine Elder's reminder. His powerful soul perception instantly pressed down on his lower abdomen, and the swollen area finally shrank somewhat. However, as more Dou Qi from his body poured in, his lower abdomen swelled again. By the time all the Dou Qi had gathered there, Xiao Yan's lower abdomen was nearly as swollen as that of a woman ten months pregnant.

Xiao Yan controlled his soul perception like a massive hammer, relentlessly pounding the Dou Qi. Whenever the Dou Qi became solid and refused to move, he increased the force once more.

Bang! A muffled sound rang out.

With that muffled sound, the swelling sensation in his lower abdomen vanished. Yet Xiao Yan did not stop compressing it. Instead, he increased the pressure further, because he knew that the smaller the Dou Qi Vortex was compressed, the greater the benefits he would gain.

Only when Xiao Yan was utterly exhausted and the Dou Qi Vortex could no longer be compressed any further did he finally let out a heavy breath.

"Finally, I've become a Dou Zhe!"