Advancing to Dou Shi

By evening, Xiao Yan took his leave.

He was at a critical stage now and needed to break through to Seventh Stage Dou Qi as soon as possible, so he spent almost every day cultivating diligently.

Today was his only day of relaxation in the past six months.

Yao Lao had also said that going too far was as bad as not going far enough, and taking a day off would do him good. That was why he had come to visit Zhou Changqing.

He simply had not expected one shock after another to leave him so stunned. Even as he left, he was still somewhat dazed.

After seeing Xiao Yan off, Zhou Changqing returned to his bedroom and began cultivating his Dou Qi.

He was already close to the Dou Shi realm, so for the coming stretch of time, he intended to focus on cultivation.

Another five or six days passed.

At noon that day.

Zhou Changqing sat upright on his bed, concentrating as he circulated his cultivation method.

Up close, a silver radiance could be seen emanating from his entire body, with wisps of silver Dou Qi resembling electrical arcs constantly escaping from his pores.

Then, at one particular moment!

The natural energy in the room suddenly seethed, as though something had drawn it in, and surged wildly toward Zhou Changqing!

A powerful suction had spread from within Zhou Changqing, pulling at the churning energy and continuously drawing it through his pores into his meridians.

As the vast influx of energy entered his body, the Dormant Thunder Method operated at its utmost limit!

With each minor circulation, the natural energy was continuously converted into lightning attribute Dou Qi before flowing into his dantian, rapidly strengthening his Dou Qi Vortex!

He turned his gaze inward.

His Dou Qi Vortex had already changed. Its golden half had transformed from a gaseous state into liquid.

Only the silver portion remained gaseous.

As vast amounts of lightning attribute Dou Qi poured in, the half-gaseous, half-liquid gold-and-silver Dou Qi Vortex spun faster and faster!

"Hum!"

A faint sound suddenly arose from deep within his body!

At that moment, the gaseous silver portion of the rapidly spinning Dou Qi Vortex began swiftly liquefying, gradually becoming the same as the golden portion!

Moments later, the Dou Qi Vortex had completely liquefied, but it did not stop spinning. Instead, it took on the appearance of a whirlpool at the heart of an ocean!

The gold-and-silver liquid vortex resembled a whirlpool in a sea of stars, with dazzling specks of gold and silver occasionally flashing within it!

Liquefied Dou Qi, a liquid vortex!

As the Dou Qi Vortex took shape, the terrifying suction emanating from Zhou Changqing rapidly weakened, disappearing entirely within moments.

The Dou Qi surrounding his body also swiftly receded, returning to the Dou Qi Vortex in its entirety.

Once all the activity had subsided, Zhou Changqing slowly opened his eyes.

"So this is what the Dou Shi realm feels like?"

Sensing the Dou Qi within him, now several times stronger than before, Zhou Changqing felt brimming with power!

He quickly rose and climbed off the bed, eager to test it out.

He stepped into the open space before the bed, held his breath, focused his mind, and willed it into motion!

"Condense!"

In the next instant, countless streams of golden Dou Qi surged from the vortex in his dantian, coursing through his meridians before swiftly emerging from his body!

The Dou Qi continually interwove and melded together. Within just a few breaths, it had completely covered his body before seeping outward through his clothes!

Then a thin film of golden liquid Dou Qi appeared over the surface of his clothing!

It looked as though he had donned a magnificent, translucent robe fashioned from golden glass!

The Dou Qi Veil!

The hallmark of the Dou Shi realm!

It worked!

Feeling the seemingly thin yet incredibly resilient Yarn Garment, Zhou Changqing's eyes filled with delight!

If he had been able to form this last time, how could he have been left in such a sorry state against that middle-aged, mid-level Dou Shi?

And his was a metal-attribute Dou Qi Veil, whose defensive power ranked among the finest of all elemental Yarn Garments!

With this Dou Qi Veil protecting him and a Mortal Weapon in hand, he could probably have slain that man within a few exchanges!

Now he finally possessed some ability to protect himself. Although he would still be easy pickings for a Da Dou Shi, at least an ordinary Dou Shi would no longer leave him struggling to cope.

"Soon, Che'erluo. Before long, I'll send you down to join that middle-aged man!"

As though something had occurred to him, Zhou Changqing's delighted expression instantly turned cold, and traces of killing intent surfaced in his eyes.

During the days he had spent sheltering at Mittel, he had learned from Ya Fei that the Dou Shi who had attacked him was a Weapon Workshop overseer working under Weapons Tycoon Che'erluo.

Zhou Changqing was hardly as easygoing with his enemies as he was with his friends.

All he knew was that if he had truly been captured, his fate would certainly have been grim.

With such a bitter grudge, compounded by all the exploitation his blacksmithing family had suffered at Che'erluo's hands, who should die if not that man?

He reined in his killing intent.

Zhou Changqing's cold, handsome face regained its calm. Then an elegantly designed ring on his right index finger flashed faintly, and a book appeared in his hand.

This was the Storage Ring he had long yearned for.

He had purchased it from the Mittel Auction House with the gold coins earned from auctioning his previous batch of Mortal Weapons.

Zhou Changqing had long found it inconvenient to carry a bundle whenever he went out, so once he had gold coins to spare, he had bought himself a Storage Ring.

Although this was only the lowest grade of Storage Ring, with no more than three or four cubic meters of space inside, it was enough for his everyday needs.

Once he had more money, there would still be time to replace it with a better one.

Still, even the lowest-grade Storage Ring cost seventy or eighty thousand, and paying for it had made Zhou Changqing's heart ache for a while.

Looking at the book titled "Magic Core Weapon Refining Manual" in his hand, Zhou Changqing sat down beside the table in his room, cast aside all distracting thoughts, and began reading carefully.

Having a Da Dou Shi like Che'erluo watching him from the shadows was quite a headache.

That old bastard was now his mortal enemy, and might well be plotting how to kill him at this very moment.

Although Mittel and the Xiao Clan had publicly declared their protection, Zhou Changqing did not believe the man would truly furl his banners and silence his drums.

Besides, Mittel and the Xiao Clan could not watch over him at every moment. There would always be gaps.

Better to rely on himself than on others; to forge iron, the smith himself had to be strong. After all, a thief could plot for a thousand days, but who could guard against one for a thousand days?

Still, he did not expect his current strength to be enough to contend with a Da Dou Shi.

Since his own strength was insufficient, Zhou Changqing intended to seek some outside help.

And he held great hopes for Magic Core Weapons, which he envisioned as an upgraded version of the Iron-Cleaving Mortal Weapon.

He had begun researching them several months ago and had already made considerable headway. He believed it would not be long before they saw the light of day.

When that time came, his strength might rise considerably once again, giving him greater confidence when facing Che'erluo.

One day, a little under half a month later.

The courtyard still rang with the clang, clang, clang of forging.

Zhou Changqing was continuously hammering an iron billet.

Unlike an ordinary iron billet, this one showed faint flecks of dark gold despite being heated red-hot.

(End of chapter)