Nine-Star Dou Ling

"Before, I was so eager to raise my cultivation that I would spend months at a time in seclusion inside the Heavenly Flame Qi Refining Tower. By the time I realized something was wrong, the fire poison had already mixed with the dou qi in my body."

"I sought out some other alchemists, but none of them could resolve it. I wonder... do you have a way?"

Lin Yan felt uneasy. If even this Tier 6 Alchemist could not remove the fire poison in his body, then...

The next moment, Wu Bai tossed a small jade bottle over to him.

"Try this."

Lin Yan caught it and opened it, and a black medicinal pill rolled out.

He could sense the potent medicinal power within it. It had to be at least a fifth-grade pill!

Without hesitation, Lin Yan swallowed the pill in one gulp.

The pill melted the moment it entered his mouth. Waves of cool energy flowed through all his meridians, and his heart, which had been restless from the fire poison, settled down.

At that moment, Lin Yan felt an unprecedented sense of peace.

"This!"

When he opened his eyes again, Lin Yan held up a mirror and saw that the fiery red in his eyes was rapidly fading.

Some traces remained, but at this rate, the dark red would disappear completely in just a few days!

"It seems this Zen Heart Pill really does have an outstanding effect on fire poison."

Wu Bai nodded inwardly. As expected of a pill formula deliberately left behind by one of the academy's powerful experts.

A single pill had produced immediate results against fire poison that had accumulated for so long.

"May I ask what grade this pill is, and how much I need to pay?"

"A sixth-grade pill, the Zen Heart Pill. Since you're a student, I won't take advantage of you."

Seeing Lin Yan's shocked expression, Wu Bai waved a hand. He used his soul power to control a brush upstairs, quickly filling a sheet of paper.

"Just buy me three sets of these medicinal herbs. How much you spend on them is up to your own ability. Add two precious, rare medicinal herbs-the sort you hardly ever see on the market. As for the deadline, just give them to me before you leave the academy."

As he spoke, a sheet of paper floated down from the second floor and landed before Lin Yan.

After taking the paper, Lin Yan found that although the medicinal herbs listed on it were expensive, they were not entirely beyond his means.

Lin Yan breathed a sigh of relief and nodded earnestly.

"I will. And I'll owe you a favor too!"

"Good. I'll remember that."

Wu Bai nodded lightly, his gaze lingering on Lin Yan's face as though committing him to memory.

The unexpected interruption soon ended, and Wu Bai returned to what he had been doing: testing the medicinal formula he had created himself.

An hour later, Wu Bai withdrew his soul power from the mass of black, viscous liquid.

"It may look a little ugly and smell rather unpleasant, but its medicinal effects are the real deal."

"Oh? Then shall we continue?"

"Yes!"

With Wu Bai's affirmative answer, the Yellow Springs Demon Saint gave a mischievous chuckle and took him into the Magical Beast Forest.

The Yellow Springs Demon Saint knew nothing about alchemy, but when it came to cultivation-whether dou qi, the soul, or the body-he had a wealth of experience!

Having once stood at the summit, he could now look back with a far-reaching vision, surveying everything from above.

Under the Yellow Springs Demon Saint's strict instruction, not only did Wu Bai's combat experience grow rapidly, but his progress in tempering his body also advanced by leaps and bounds.

The only problem was that every night, covered in medicinal liquid, Wu Bai could no longer lie down in bed to sleep.

The old man measured his blows precisely. They would not damage his foundations, but they hurt.

After applying the medicinal liquid, the sensation became even more excruciating.

Seeing Wu Bai remain utterly composed every night even after applying the medicine, the Yellow Springs Demon Saint was thoroughly satisfied with his student.

But that did not change the fact that he would show no mercy the next day.

He took beatings during the day, then applied medicine and cultivated at night.

More than two months passed like this.

Wu Bai's cultivation rose steadily. When the final spike on the Sea Urchin Dou Crystal inside his body disappeared, it marked the completion of his cultivation in the Dou Ling realm. He could now begin preparing to advance to Dou Wang.

Ten months, from One-Star Dou Ling to Nine-Star Dou Ling.

"Whew. Not too bad, huh?"

Wu Bai clenched his fists, thoroughly satisfied with his cultivation progress.

Seventeen years old, a Nine-Star Dou Ling.

At this rate, advancing to Dou Wang next year did not seem impossible.

An eighteen-year-old Dou Wang expert would be stronger than his biological father by who knew how much!

For a moment, thoughts surged through Wu Bai's mind, and scenes from the past surfaced one after another before his eyes.

"I became a Dou Wang in my forties! How could I possibly be wrong?"

"You useless piece of trash! Become a Dou Wang before you try telling me what to do!"

"..."

Wu Bai sat there without moving as the sun overhead slowly sank westward, hiding most of itself behind the mountains.

At last, before night fully descended, Wu Bai stirred.

The corners of his lips lifted slightly, and his eyes were clear.

"All settled?"

"Yes, Teacher. Let's go make up for today's training."

"No. Your body tempering can come to an end for now."

"Huh? Teacher, isn't that a bad idea?"

"I understand that perseverance is essential to cultivation, but your situation is different."

The Yellow Springs Demon Saint lightly tapped Wu Bai's forehead with the Ruler and patiently explained, "You've refined and consumed quite a few superior medicinal pills yourself, greatly increasing your foundations and potential. It was just all hidden away. That crude method of tempering your body might have looked like I was strengthening your flesh through beatings, but in truth, I was drawing out your hidden physical potential."

"After consuming so many high-grade medicinal pills, your body has already surpassed an ordinary person's by a great deal. Those beatings were simply a way to quickly draw out your potential. You suffered a little, but the method worked well."

"Now, most of your body's potential has already been drawn out. Perhaps you haven't reached the limit yet, but even if I beat you for another year or two, the improvement would be negligible."

"Staying in the same place and stubbornly grinding away to the bitter end is the choice of mediocrities who lack the potential to move forward."

"What matters most for you now is advancing to Dou Wang. That advancement will improve every aspect of you. Your physique will become noticeably stronger afterward, and that improvement is something those mediocrities stuck at Nine-Star Dou Ling could never achieve, even in ten or twenty years."

"Also, once you become a Dou Wang, you'll be able to form wings from dou qi. Against opponents who can't fly, you can leave whenever you want or stay whenever you please."

"The increase in your combat strength will be far more than a mere fraction!"

"Oh! I understand, Teacher."

Wu Bai understood what his teacher meant. It was really a question of efficiency.

If he continued spending time tempering his body, the improvement to his strength over that same period might amount to only a tenth.

But if he devoted all his energy to advancing to Dou Wang, his strength would increase severalfold!

Especially with air superiority-he would become a prestigious flying unit outright.

A Dou Wang's ability to suppress anyone below that realm was truly overwhelming, far greater than before. There was basically no chance of a lower-ranked opponent turning the tables and killing him.

Besides, with wings formed from dou qi, a Dou Wang expert could retreat at any time.

More importantly, many people below Dou Wang had little ability to attack airborne targets.

The power of dou qi released outside the body would rapidly diminish as the distance increased.

When a Dou Ling fought a Dou Wang, once the distance widened, the power of the Dou Ling's Dou Techniques would automatically drop by thirty percent. That was essentially how it worked.

Of course, if that Dou Wang had water in his brain and insisted on fighting a Dou Ling to the bitter end on the ground, that would be another matter...