One-Star Dou Master (Two Chapters—4,700 Words)

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A few days later, at the summit of the Xiao Clan's back mountain.

The dense little forest unfolded beneath the morning light. Trees of varying heights stood scattered throughout, their branches overlapping and weaving into an impenetrable green net.

Sunlight filtered through layers of leaves, casting tiny spots of light across the ground covered in dead leaves. They scattered like countless little holes poked into the sky, allowing the light to leak through.

The air carried the damp scent of earth and the faint sourness of rotting leaves, occasionally mingled with crisp, fleeting birdsong.

Within the small forest, two figures suddenly crossed paths.

Xiao Yan stepped forward with his right foot and drew back his left fist. His body turned slightly to the right, power flowing from his waist and abdomen along his spine to his shoulder blade, then down his arm before bursting from his fist.

He had not used his full strength—when his fist was still three inches from Xiao Xun'er's shoulder, he had already withdrawn seventy percent of his power.

Xiao Xun'er's body shifted slightly aside, avoiding the front of the punch. Her fair little hand flipped up from beside her waist, palm outward, sliding along Xiao Yan's arm toward his chest.

Her movement looked slow, but it was actually extremely fast. Wherever her palm passed, the air compressed with a faint hum.

Xiao Yan abruptly crossed his arms before his chest, blocking Xiao Xun'er's palm strike.

With a muffled bang, Xiao Xun'er's palm pressed against his crossed forearms.

That palm looked light and casual, as if she had merely rested it there. But the instant they made contact, a force both soft and firm burst from her palm, traveling up Xiao Yan's bones and numbing his shoulder joints.

Xiao Yan retreated two steps, his soles dragging two shallow marks across the ground. Dead leaves were swept up beneath his feet, spun through the air a few times, then drifted back down.

Xiao Xun'er did not pursue. She stood where she was, her fair hands moving slowly before her, fingers slightly curved and palms facing down, as if leisurely paddling through water.

A faint pale-golden glow appeared at her fingertips. It was thin, like a coating of gold dust, outlining her slender fingers with a hazy halo.

Pale-golden Dou Qi flowed around her fingertips, appearing and vanishing with every subtle adjustment of her hands.

Xiao Yan's gaze fell upon that pale-golden light, and he froze slightly. From what he sensed, Xiao Xun'er's strength had already broken through to the Four-Star Dou Practitioner level!

But when had this girl broken through to become a Four-Star Dou Practitioner?

Several thoughts flashed rapidly through his mind.

During the previous clan test, Xiao Xun'er's measured strength had still been at the Ninth Stage of Dou Zhi Qi.

Less than half a month had passed, yet she had leapt from the Ninth Stage of Dou Zhi Qi to become a Four-Star Dou Practitioner. The scale and speed of that progress surprised even Xiao Yan.

Xiao Yan did not dwell on it. The Dou Qi within his body had already begun to circulate.

Golden-red Dou Qi surged from his dantian and flowed through his meridians into his limbs. He drew his right fist back to his waist, fist facing upward, as Dou Qi gathered, compressed, and spun over his knuckles, forming a fist-sized pale-golden ball of light. Fine ripples moved across its surface, like a tiny sun compressed to its limit.

Flame Burst Fist, an Intermediate Mystic Tier Dou Skill.

Xiao Xun'er watched the fist rushing toward her without any change in expression. Her gaze was calm as water, without tension, panic, or even a trace of unnecessary emotion.

Her fair little hand traced a small semicircle before her, moving from the left side of her body to the right, palm downward and fingers slightly spread.

When her palm reached the lowest point of that semicircular arc, the pale-golden light in her palm suddenly flared. It went from nothing to blinding brilliance in an instant.

Her little hand curled into an unusual semicircular shape, her fingers closing and her palm sinking inward. Then, without hesitation, she slapped toward Xiao Yan's incoming right fist.

High Mystic Tier Dou Skill—Swallow Return Strike!

Fist met palm.

Bang—

A muffled blast erupted between them.

The sound was not loud, but it was heavy, like a massive hammer striking a thick quilt, making one's chest feel tight.

At the same moment the sound burst forth, a wave of air spread in every direction from where fist and palm met, sweeping dead leaves from the ground. They spun, curled, and collided in midair, producing soft rustling sounds.

The two forces remained locked at the point of impact for less than an instant before exploding at the same time.

The dead leaves beneath Xiao Yan's feet were blown completely away, revealing the damp black soil below.

Fine cracks spread across the soil's surface, radiating outward from his feet. The longest extended more than half a meter.

Driven by the recoil, Xiao Yan's body involuntarily retreated. His back was less than an arm's length from a tree trunk as thick as a thigh behind him.

He lightly tapped the trunk with his toes. The tree shuddered violently, and a large shower of leaves fell from its crown. The trunk absorbed most of his backward momentum. Borrowing the force, he flipped and landed steadily in an open space three meters away.

Xiao Xun'er retreated much farther than he had. Her steps were light, and only after seven or eight steps did she stabilize herself. Pale-golden Dou Qi flickered faintly over her body, blocking the leaves swept up by the blast from coming within a foot of her.

Her chest rose and fell twice before settling again.

"Xun'er, when did you break through to become a Four-Star Dou Practitioner?"

After steadying himself, Xiao Yan brushed the leaf fragments and dirt from his robe. Looking at Xiao Xun'er as she walked toward him, he asked.

Xiao Xun'er stopped before him. A smile appeared on her face as well, clean and bright, especially beautiful beneath the mottled shadows of the trees.

"Just a few days ago."

She paused, her gaze moving from Xiao Yan's face to the bruise on his arm. A trace of apology flashed through her eyes. "I thought I could give Brother Xiao Yan a surprise, but Brother Xiao Yan's strength is still so formidable.

If Brother Xiao Yan had not held back, Xun'er would have been seriously injured by that strike just now."

She was not being polite. She was stating a fact.

With that punch, Xiao Yan had withdrawn ninety percent of his strength when his fist was still half a foot from her body.

When her palm had struck Xiao Yan's arm, what she felt had only been the aftershock of force that had already been mostly dissipated.

If Xiao Yan had struck with full strength, her palm could never have blocked that fist. Once her defense was broken, his fist would have landed directly on her chest—that kind of power was beyond what she could withstand.

"We were only sparring." Xiao Yan shook his head, lowering his gaze to the bruise on his arm that was slowly spreading. The corner of his mouth curved slightly. "Besides, I will never lay a hand on you."

He spoke softly, as though he were stating something only natural, something that needed no further emphasis or explanation.

Xiao Xun'er looked into his eyes for two seconds, then looked away. The tips of her ears reddened faintly, though her expression remained calm.

"If Xun'er is not mistaken," she changed the subject, lowering her voice, "Brother Xiao Yan has already broken through to become a One-Star Dou Master?"

A trace of shock flashed through her eyes as she spoke.

Xiao Yan nodded.

"That is right. I broke through just yesterday." He paused, looking at Xiao Xun'er's slightly widened eyes. The curve of his lips deepened. "Xun'er, you are the first one to know."

Xiao Xun'er stood frozen in place.

A timeline raced through her mind—on the day Nalan Yanran came to annul the engagement, Xiao Yan had revealed his strength for the first time: Four-Star Dou Practitioner.

From that day until now, less than half a month had passed.

In less than half a month, he had gone from a Four-Star Dou Practitioner to a One-Star Dou Master, crossing five minor stages and the great threshold between Dou Practitioner and Dou Master.

An ordinary person would need at least one, perhaps even three years to advance from a Four-Star Dou Practitioner to a One-Star Dou Master. Even those within the clan who called themselves geniuses had taken half a year.

Yet Xiao Yan had done it in less than half a month. For a moment, her mind could barely process it.

Xiao Yan looked at Xun'er's stunned expression but offered no explanation.

There was no need for him to explain, nor did he intend to.

Xun'er was one of the people he trusted most, but he could not tell her everything.

He could not reveal the system's secret, Yao Lao's existence could not yet be revealed, and the origins of the Heaven-Burning Divine Art and the Myriad-Flame Divine Physique were even less something he could disclose.

It was not because he did not trust her. It was because if these matters were exposed, it would not only bring disaster upon him—his entire Xiao Clan would suffer as well.

As for why he had broken through to become a One-Star Dou Master, that began a few days earlier.

A few days ago, after completing the absorption of the Beast Flame in a cave on the back mountain and breaking through to become an Eight-Star Dou Fighter, he had not rushed to refine a Dou Practitioner Pill and continue advancing. Instead, he rested for several days.

That rest did not mean lying down and sleeping. He maintained his normal cultivation routine every day: rising early to train his body, reading in the morning, circulating the Heaven-Burning Divine Art in the afternoon to consolidate his cultivation, and replacing sleep with cultivation at night.

During the days after absorbing the Beast Flame, subtle changes occurred within his body each day. The toughness of his meridians gradually increased, the stability of his Dou Qi vortex steadily improved, and the patterns of the Flame Spirit Body slowly adapted to his body's strength.

Only after the Dou Qi within him had completely stabilized did he begin refining the Dou Practitioner Pill.

The "Dou Practitioner Pill" was a second-grade pill with only one effect: after taking it, a Dou Practitioner could advance by one to three stars.

This pill could only be used by Dou Practitioners, and each person could only take it once in their lifetime. Upon taking it a second time, the body would develop resistance and the medicinal effect would almost completely vanish.

Successfully refined Dou Practitioner Pills were divided into four grades according to their quality.

If there were no pill patterns on the pill's surface, there was a fifty percent chance of advancing by one star and a fifty percent chance of no advancement at all.

This pill had no side effects. It would not damage the meridians or cause cultivation to regress, but that fifty percent chance of failure was enough to make most Dou Practitioners hesitate.

Spending a fortune on a pill only to swallow it and get nothing from it would hurt anyone.

If one pill pattern appeared on the pill, then there was a one hundred percent chance of advancing one star, along with a ten percent chance of advancing two stars.

The appearance of one pill pattern meant that the pill's quality had crossed the threshold of "acceptable." Its medicinal effect far surpassed that of a pill without patterns.

Though the ten percent chance of advancing two stars was not high, it was already an irresistible temptation for Dou Practitioners trapped at a bottleneck for years.

If two pill patterns appeared on the pill, then there was a one hundred percent chance of advancing one star, along with a fifty percent chance of advancing two stars.

Pills with two patterns were extremely rare on the market and usually cost three to five times as much as equivalent pills without patterns.

A fifty percent chance of advancing two stars meant that the user had a half chance of crossing two minor stages at once, saving months or even years of arduous cultivation.

If three pill patterns appeared on the pill, then there was a one hundred percent chance of advancing two stars, along with a twenty percent chance of advancing three stars.

Pill patterns were the hard standard by which a pill's quality was judged.

If a pill could condense a ring of pill patterns on its surface, that meant the essence of the ingredients had been preserved to the greatest possible degree during refinement, impurities had been completely stripped away, and its medicinal effect had reached the theoretical peak.

Between pills of the same type with and without pill patterns, the difference in effectiveness was not merely ten or twenty percent, but severalfold.

Xiao Yan's Dou Practitioner Pill was similar to the fourth-grade pill, the Three-Pattern Azure Spirit Pill. Both had different grades based on the number of pill patterns.

The more pill patterns there were, the higher the price naturally became.

A patternless Dou Practitioner Pill could sell for around forty to fifty thousand gold coins on the market.

A One-Pattern Dou Practitioner Pill cost twenty to thirty thousand gold coins more than a patternless one.

A Two-Pattern Dou Practitioner Pill cost one hundred thousand gold coins.

A Three-Pattern Dou Practitioner Pill was priceless and rarely seen. If auctioned, it could possibly fetch two hundred thousand gold coins.

Among the second-grade pill formulas Xiao Yan had studied in the Martial Dao Space, the one he had spent the most time on was this Dou Practitioner Pill.

He had practiced it more than a hundred times in the space. At first, every batch was ruined. Then he occasionally produced a One-Pattern pill, later became able to reliably produce Two-Pattern pills, and eventually raised the success rate of Three-Pattern pills to over eighty percent.

The ingredients for the Dou Practitioner Pill had been purchased from the Miter Auction House, ten sets in total.

Each set contained Three-Leaf Fire Ganoderma, a second-tier fire-attribute Magic Core, and several supplementary ingredients, costing around four thousand gold coins per set.

Ten sets came to forty thousand gold coins.

He had been fortunate. All ten sets of ingredients were successfully refined, with no explosions and no ruined pills.

There were ten finished pills in total: two Three-Pattern Dou Practitioner Pills, three Two-Pattern Dou Practitioner Pills, and five One-Pattern Dou Practitioner Pills.

The two Three-Pattern Dou Practitioner Pills lay at the bottom of a jade bottle. They were pale gold, their surfaces smooth as mirrors. Three pill patterns clasped around their surfaces like three golden threads entwined together, connected end to end, their markings clear and their lines fluid.

The three Two-Pattern Dou Practitioner Pills were slightly lighter in color than the Three-Pattern pills. Their bodies were light gold, with two clearly visible pill patterns spaced evenly apart.

The five One-Pattern Dou Practitioner Pills were the palest, almost light yellow. Each had only one pill pattern, winding alone around the middle like a golden belt tied around it.

He swallowed one Three-Pattern Dou Practitioner Pill.

The instant the pill entered his stomach, immense energy exploded from his dantian like an erupting volcano. A scorching current surged from his dantian through his limbs, into every meridian, every acupoint, and every inch of muscle.

A layer of pale-golden light emerged over his skin. It flickered several times, dimming and brightening, each flash accompanied by violent fluctuations of energy within his body.

Under the impact of that energy, his Eight-Star Dou Fighter cultivation broke through the threshold of the Nine-Star Dou Practitioner level with almost no resistance.

Early Nine-Star Dou Practitioner, middle Nine-Star Dou Practitioner, late Nine-Star Dou Practitioner—the energy continued surging upward without any sign of stopping.

The solid wall between the Dou Practitioner and Dou Master realms began to crack beneath the repeated impacts of energy. The cracks spread outward from the center, becoming more numerous and denser until they covered the entire wall like a spiderweb.

Guiding that energy, he launched one final assault at the point where the cracks were densest.

Crack

The barrier of the Dou Practitioner realm shattered completely at that moment.

One-Star Dou Master achieved!

The Dou Qi vortex in his dantian seemed to be seized by an invisible hand, rapidly shrinking, compressing, and solidifying. The Dou Qi that had once drifted loosely like mist began transforming into liquid under the immense pressure.

One drop, two drops, three drops... Golden-red liquid condensed out of the compressed Dou Qi. Every drop contained energy several times denser than the gaseous Dou Qi from before.

Those drops fell directly into the Dou Zhi Qi vortex.

As the vortex slowly turned, they circled within it like little fish in a lake, nimble and orderly.

More than a dozen drops of Dou Qi Spirit Liquid gathered at the center of the vortex like stars scattered across the night sky, densely packed and swimming along with the vortex's rotation.

At that moment, the difference between a Dou Practitioner and a Dou Master became incomparably clear.

A Dou Practitioner's vortex was like a balloon, while Dou Qi was the air inside it.

A balloon had its critical limit. Once the Dou Qi inside reached capacity, it could no longer hold any more.

If one insisted on forcing more inside, the vortex would burst like an overinflated balloon with a bang, obliterating the cultivator's years of cultivation.

The greatest change when advancing from a Dou Practitioner to a Dou Master was that the gas inside the balloon had been compressed into liquid.

Within the same volume of dantian, liquid could contain dozens or even hundreds of times more energy than gas.

More than a dozen drops of Dou Qi Spirit Liquid, each one concentrated Dou Qi essence, circled and swam through the vortex, drawing one another along like a tiny galaxy.

A Dou Master with such an immense reserve of Dou Qi was naturally far beyond an ordinary Dou Practitioner.

The difference between the two in terms of Dou Qi quality was qualitative, not quantitative—like a pile of sand and an equal-volume pile of iron. Their weight was not even on the same scale.