New Draw Attempts

Xiao Qing slowly opened his eyes and let out a breath of stale air. An uncontrollable smile appeared on his young face.

It seemed he had made the right bet!

"Sure enough, one could not lack the courage to forge ahead on the path of cultivation."

Xiao Qing thought this to himself. If he had chosen to accumulate more strength and break through later, the time wasted would have been enough for him to reach a higher realm.

On the path of cultivation, one step ahead meant staying ahead at every step.

Although no one could possibly surpass him with his cultivation speed, he did not want to waste time on meaningless things.

Xiao Qing shook his head and cast those thoughts aside.

He sank his consciousness into his body and saw a palm-sized milky-white vortex slowly rotating in his lower abdomen.

The vortex was wrapped in a layer of milky-white energy resembling a nebula.

Xiao Qing could sense that although the vortex was still small, the energy it contained was definitely more than ten times stronger than his previous Nine-Stage Dou Qi!

A Dou Zhe and Nine-Stage Dou Qi were fundamentally different. Before becoming a Dou Zhe, the energy one absorbed was called Dou Qi. Only after becoming a Dou Zhe could the energy one absorbed truly be called douqi!

Though the difference was only one word, the gap between them was as vast as heaven and earth, utterly incomparable.

He controlled the douqi to surge toward his palm.

"Zzt..."

A wisp of milky-white douqi remained within the acupoints of his palm.

"So this is douqi?"

Xiao Qing curiously examined the milky-white wisp of douqi.

Releasing douqi externally was something only a Da Dou Shi could possibly accomplish. Xiao Qing clearly did not possess such strength yet.

Thus, the douqi within his body did not break through the blocked acupoints. It merely caused faint white light to gradually emerge over his fair palm.

After sensing it for a while, Xiao Qing controlled it back into the vortex.

Then, as if recalling something, Xiao Qing rubbed his hands together, anticipation showing on his face.

Now that he had broken through to Dou Zhe, he wondered whether the number of draw attempts on the panel had increased as he expected.

With a thought, an illusory panel appeared.

[Host: Xiao Qing]

[Age: Five]

[Attributes: Fire, Wood]

[Cultivation: One-Star Dou Zhe]

[Soul: Mortal Realm: Early Stage]

[Remaining Draw Attempts: 1]

"As expected!"

Noticing the newly added draw attempt, Xiao Qing inwardly exclaimed.

Just as he had expected, the number of draw attempts provided by his golden finger was related to his realm.

It now seemed that every time he broke through a major realm, he would gain one additional draw attempt!

Having no intention of saving it, Xiao Qing gave the order in his mind.

"Draw!"

The roulette wheel, emanating a mysterious aura, began spinning at high speed.

Before long, it stopped on a question mark.

As the question mark flipped over, an ancient dark-yellow parchment scroll came into view.

The question mark slowly faded, replaced by lines of tiny text.

[Taiyi Soul Art]

[An ancient soul cultivation technique, awarded to the champion of a certain Pill Gathering.]

"Taiyi Soul Art..."

Looking at the familiar name, Xiao Qing clicked his tongue. He had not expected to encounter this cultivation technique here.

This was precisely the cultivation technique Xiao Yan received as a reward after winning the Pill Gathering in the original novel.

It had also provided Xiao Yan considerable help in his subsequent cultivation of soul power.

"Materialize it?"

"Yes."

As soon as he spoke, a scroll rolled from ancient parchment appeared in Xiao Qing's hand.

After putting away the panel, Xiao Qing impatiently spread open the parchment scroll in his hand, yet no words appeared upon it.

Xiao Qing was not surprised. Soul power spread from between his brows and reached toward the parchment scroll in his hand.

Immediately afterward, faint invisible ripples silently spread across the scroll. Then, streams of information invisible to the naked eye flowed along his soul power and poured into Xiao Qing's mind.

Xiao Qing immediately felt his head swell with pain. Enduring the discomfort, he did his best to receive the information in his mind.

A moment later, the cultivation method of the Taiyi Soul Art appeared in his mind. Xiao Qing closed his eyes tightly and immersed himself in the soul cultivation method. Only after a long while did he slowly open his eyes.

"As expected of a cultivation method from ancient times. It truly is incomparably profound!"

As he studied the Taiyi Soul Art in his mind, Xiao Qing found it obscure and could not make any sense of the cultivation method described within.

Thinking about it, that was only natural. Xiao Qing's current soul realm was merely Mortal Realm: Early Stage.

When Xiao Yan first came into contact with soul cultivation methods in the original novel, his soul realm had already touched upon the Spirit Realm.

Before that, Xiao Yan had not even known that souls could be cultivated!

Did Yao Chen not have any soul cultivation methods?

Perhaps he had not passed one to Xiao Yan because there was a threshold to them.

After studying it for a while longer and still finding no clue, Xiao Qing finally abandoned the thought.

"No rush. I'll be able to cultivate it sooner or later."

Xiao Qing thought this to himself. The cultivation method was right here and would not run away, so there was no need for him to hurry.

Now that he had successfully broken through to Dou Zhe, his most urgent task was to find a high-tier cultivation technique to practice.

The cultivation techniques in his Storage Ring were somewhat too low-grade for him. With better options available now, Xiao Qing naturally would not consider them.

Thinking of what Hu Gan had said before, Xiao Qing felt somewhat expectant.

What could be so important that he had to visit after breaking through to Dou Zhe?

Naturally, it was for a cultivation technique!

Xiao Qing rose and left the dormitory, heading straight toward the depths of Jia Nan Academy.

Within an ancient pavilion deep in Jia Nan Academy's Outer Academy, Hu Gan sat leisurely behind a desk, holding a thick book and reading it with great interest.

Knock, knock, knock!

Just then, a faint knock came from the door.

Hu Gan's brows furrowed after his thoughts were interrupted.

Who would come looking for him at this time?

Could it be that old fellow Su Qian?

Impossible.

If it were him, he would not be so polite. He might even suddenly appear right in front of him.

Could it be his granddaughter?

That seemed unlikely as well.

If it were that girl Hu Jia, she would have pushed the door open and entered long ago.

Curious, Hu Gan released his soul power and looked toward the doorway.

When he saw that familiar young figure, Hu Gan was somewhat surprised.

"This is... a Dou Zhe?"

Feeling the aura emanating from Xiao Qing's body, Hu Gan was even more astonished.

It seemed that only two months had passed since Xiao Qing joined Jia Nan Academy, right?

He remembered that when Xiao Qing last came here, he seemed to have only been at Eight-Stage Dou Qi, didn't he?

Hu Gan began to doubt life itself. Was this what a true genius was like?

As his thoughts surged, Hu Gan adjusted his posture and called toward the door, "Enter!"

As soon as he spoke, Xiao Qing outside pushed open the door and entered.

After walking closer, Xiao Qing bowed slightly in greeting. "Xiao Qing greets Vice Principal."

Hu Gan waved his hand and looked at the young figure before him with a face full of amazement.

"Not bad. I didn't expect you to break through to Dou Zhe so quickly. You truly are a monster!"