The Copper Cloud Staff

"Yun Potian" left, and the space fell silent.

Without "Yun Potian" to sustain it, the enormous supporting pillar lost its power as well. It began to shrink and shorten, eventually becoming a staff shorter than a person.

But Yun Congxin had no attention to spare for the staff now—the words "Yun Potian" had rattled off like popping beans had stunned him, leaving his mouth hanging open before he even realized it.

Never in a million years! A little-known background character like Yun Potian had actually been qualified to sense the existence of Origin Qi?

That made no sense! If Yun Potian had been that strong, even a few resources slipping through his fingers would have been enough to produce several Dou Sheng! How could the Misty Cloud Sect have ended up this pathetically weak?

And the timing didn't add up either. Multiple Dou Di had coexisted on the Dou Qi Continent in the most ancient of ancient times. Yun Potian might not even have been born before Gu Yuan, so how could he have uncovered the secrets of an era when multiple Dou Di existed together?

Yun Congxin rubbed his chin. If spatial turbulence had not been howling with violent energy beyond this strange platform, he would have thought some bastard was having a laugh at his expense.

He even knew terms from my old world like "methodology" and "alternate identity," yet he didn't know that the missing thing he sensed was Origin Emperor Qi. Had he never read Battle Through the Heavens, or were we not from the same world at all?

"Calm down, Yun Congxin. Don't let someone else lead you around by the nose..."

Yun Congxin rubbed his face hard, simply committing these now-unverifiable questions to memory rather than wasting any more time banging his head against them. He turned instead to studying the staff before him and the "Waterfall of Time" that "Yun Potian" had mentioned before leaving.

"Whoa!"

Yun Congxin picked up the staff and exclaimed, "That's heavy!"

The staff was extraordinary indeed. Not only was its density comparable to gold, but its hardness surpassed every metal Yun Congxin had encountered in either of his lives.

The instant Yun Congxin lifted the staff, he felt the effect Yun Potian had described: it suppressed and tempered Dou Qi. Even though he now possessed the strength of a Dou Zong, he could still feel his Dou Qi circulating sluggishly while he held it.

This thing packed even more of a punch than the Heavy Xuan Ruler!

"Hah!"

With a sharp cry from Yun Congxin, Dou Qi surged from his body and took the form of a magnificent pale-blue warhorse.

The warhorse neighed, its hooves striking down as the horse formed from Dou Qi charged straight at Yun Congxin.

Yun Congxin held his breath and focused, swinging the staff straight down!

Thud!

With a dull impact, Yun Congxin easily scattered the Dou Qi spirit he had formed himself, relying on the staff alone without drawing on any Dou Qi!

Its suppression of Dou Qi was even more powerful than he had imagined!

"Brass-colored, with clouds carved into it... I'll call it the Copper Cloud Staff."

Afterward, Yun Congxin performed many more tests on the Copper Cloud Staff, gaining a profound appreciation for its extraordinary qualities.

He poured his powerful Dou Qi into the Copper Cloud Staff, hoping to test whether its interior was just as tough, only to discover that it seemed to be a bottomless pit. No matter how much Dou Qi he supplied, it accepted every bit!

After Yun Congxin had poured in enough Dou Qi to equal a Dou Ling's entire reserve, he was astonished to discover that the Copper Cloud Staff had imperceptibly grown longer, thicker, and heavier, as though it had been scaled up proportionally.

He made a rough estimate. To restore the Copper Cloud Staff to its previous enormous size, he would probably have to charge it until his current Dou Qi reserves ran dry at least three times.

And despite absorbing so much Dou Qi, the Copper Cloud Staff had displayed no distinctive properties. In other words, enough Dou Qi to fill a small pool if condensed into liquid had merely added a little weight!

Who could afford to use this thing?!

"It's turning out to be a bit of a chicken rib—too little meat to enjoy, too much to throw away..." Yun Congxin murmured regretfully.

I thought I'd picked up a real treasure. Something that could grow and shrink and weighed this much had to be a bargain-bin version of the Compliant Golden-Hooped Staff!

Even if it couldn't wound with a graze and kill with a touch, it ought to show at least a little of what a divine weapon could do, right?

But no, this thing was a bottomless pit that simply couldn't be filled. All that Dou Qi had flooded into it, yet there had been neither power that swept everything away like rotten wood nor profound, unfathomable runes.

It had merely gotten bigger!

"Could it really just be a cultivation aid?"

Recalling that "Yun Potian" had described the staff as merely something for tempering Dou Qi, Yun Congxin could not help expressing his disappointment.

Forget it. Being able to temper Dou Qi was still pretty good. My Dou Qi was a little insubstantial right now, so practicing with it would be just the thing.

At worst, I could use it as a dumbbell...

With that thought, Yun Congxin moved to put the Copper Cloud Staff into his Storage Ring.

"Hm?"

The Copper Cloud Staff went in without a hitch, but when Yun Congxin turned his head, he found it lying quietly in its original spot!

He searched his Storage Ring, and sure enough, there was no sign of the Copper Cloud Staff inside.

"Is it alive?"

Puzzled, he tried again.

"No, the jade bottle I moved has gone back to its original spot too. This..."

Looking at the slightly smaller Copper Cloud Staff, Yun Congxin muttered, "Interfering with the Waterfall of Time... Does that mean turning back time?"

"Hmm... That's not right either..."

Yun Congxin sat cross-legged facing the Copper Cloud Staff. Using his vast Dou Qi to lift it, he placed it into his Storage Ring once more.

This time, Yun Congxin's Soul Power poured out in full force from between his brows, closely observing every ripple across the platform.

Once the last part of the Copper Cloud Staff entered the Storage Ring, Yun Congxin sensed tiny but densely packed fluctuations throughout all the stable space above the platform that was free from spatial turbulence.

These fluctuations began after the Copper Cloud Staff entered the Storage Ring and ended when it reappeared on the ground. They followed some sort of pattern, lasting only briefly, disorderly yet organized.

"Could it be... that it can't be taken away?"

Yun Congxin considered this and decided to conduct another experiment.

"Myriad Wind Binding!"

He condensed his vast Dou Qi into ropes, bound the Copper Cloud Staff, and pushed it off the platform into the extremely unstable space filled with spatial turbulence.

A moment later, the Copper Cloud Staff appeared on the platform again.

This time, Yun Congxin sensed stronger, more densely packed spatial fluctuations, and vaguely detected some kind of particle amid them.

The spatial fluctuations were like layers of fog, obscuring the particles' traces.

Had the spatial turbulence not intensified the fluctuations this time, Yun Congxin probably would not have sensed the particles' existence at all.

It was like a breeze passing through, making the fog a little less thick...

"If that's how it is, then let the storm rage even harder!"

Excited by the pattern he had discovered, Yun Congxin circulated his Dou Qi. No longer as cautious as before, he hurled the Copper Cloud Staff into the spatial turbulence with all his strength!

When the Copper Cloud Staff returned to the platform once again, Yun Congxin nearly jumped up in excitement.

"Ha! I got it! I guessed right!"