Qi Gathering Powder

Five years.

Chen Cang had spent five whole years in the manor!

He had never set foot outside it.

Not because he did not want to, but because the rules forbade it.

For the children in the manor, the world seemed to be only this big.

To break free of their cage, they had to either become a Dou Zhe or die unexpectedly.

Over those five years, one group had left the manor and another had arrived. The number of children now exceeded a hundred, making their world a little livelier and a little more crowded.

But for Chen Cang, little had changed.

Day after day, year after year, he buried himself in rigorous training, neither chasing quick success nor belittling himself, his mindset as steady as an old hound.

That was difficult for a child, and the reason Chen Cang could manage it was largely thanks to the dozens of instructors who had come over those five years.

Most of the instructors who came to guide them each month were high-level Dou Zhe, with the occasional Dou Shi. Their cultivation insights were nothing short of treasure to Chen Cang.

It was precisely because of those memories that Chen Cang understood one thing: during the Dou Qi stages, steadiness was the royal road!

Of course, examining the memories of dozens of instructors had also cost Chen Cang the painful experience of passing out more than twenty times.

And he had done that deliberately.

By extracting only fragments, Chen Cang could have avoided the resulting unconsciousness altogether.

But after experiencing it repeatedly, he realized that this might well be a way to push past his limits.

Every time he exhausted his mental strength, reached his limit, and passed out, he would wake to feel that the sky had grown higher and the earth broader. Unseen, he had made tremendous progress.

And the next time he examined a new instructor's memories, he could see more.

In other words, he could withstand more.

His soul perception was improving at a tremendous pace!

Cultivating soul perception was harder than cultivating either preliminary Dou Qi or true Dou Qi. Only the great powers with long-established legacies possessed the corresponding secret methods.

Knowing this, Chen Cang naturally would not let such a shortcut slip by.

And enduring that pain again and again had been worthwhile. Starting three years earlier, Chen Cang had been able to examine an instructor's entire memory without falling unconscious.

A few months earlier, he had even viewed the complete life experiences of a Dou Shi instructor. When he finished, his head merely felt somewhat swollen; beyond that, there was no pain.

This made Chen Cang intensely curious about just what level his soul perception had reached.

Unfortunately, he had no way to find the answer.

Compared with the elusive, intangible nature of soul perception, his Dou Qi stage was easy to determine.

Through the manor's sole Testing Magic Stone Tablet, Chen Cang knew that he had already reached the highest level here.

Nine and a half years old, with ninth stage Dou Qi!

Precisely because of this, even though Chen Cang did not proclaim himself a genius, the manor's children considered him in a class of his own. They treated him with great admiration, their eyes burning with fervor whenever they saw him, and every so often, a bolder child would approach him for advice.

Knowing full well that he could cultivate without impatience only because he had benefited from those instructors, Chen Cang held nothing back. He helped whenever he could, repeatedly emphasizing the importance of mindset.

They all lived in the same manor, and Chen Cang hoped that more of them could break free of this cage soon.

"Brother Cang, it's the end of the month again. Do you think your illness will flare up today?"

On the most comfortable patch of grass in the manor, a chubby, honest-looking boy spoke to the boy beside him.

They all ate the same filling meals, yet some people simply grew broad and sturdy. It truly was a curious thing.

The chubby boy was named Lü Guan. He was the one who had dragged Chen Cang back when he first passed out five years earlier.

He had done the same thing more than twenty times over those five years. Fortunately, he was stronger now and no longer had to drag Chen Cang around so roughly.

Lü Guan's talent was quite good. Though he could not compare to Chen Cang, he had reached seventh stage Dou Qi, which already left him thoroughly satisfied.

In his eyes, although Chen Cang had astounded the entire manor, he also suffered from a strange illness that struck once a month. A mild episode left him in pain and discomfort, while a severe one knocked him unconscious outright. Only in recent years had it gradually begun to improve.

Perhaps this was Heaven's way of balancing the scales.

It had given Brother Cang extraordinary talent, but also afflicted him with a strange illness.

"Probably not. I've been feeling better and better lately."

Chen Cang now looked like a young boy rather than a small child. He was slightly lean, but his frame was sturdy and his limbs strong. His gaze, in particular, differed from that of other boys his age, like the difference between someone before awakening and after it.

"Lü Guan, I'm going to condense my Dou Qi vortex tonight. After that, I'll leave. Maybe I'll get to meet our city lord. I'm curious what arrangements he'll make for me."

The chubby boy looked startled at first, then understanding dawned.

He scratched his head and said enviously, "Right. That's Qi Gathering Powder, after all!"

On the Dou Qi Continent, the prerequisite for becoming a true Dou Zhe was to condense a Dou Qi vortex within one's body.

However, Dou Qi Vortex Formation carried a considerable risk of failure. Once someone failed, their ninth stage Dou Qi would drop to the eighth stage.

Some exceptionally unlucky people might need more than ten attempts to succeed. Leaving aside the toll on their mindset, those repeated attempts alone could make them miss the best years for cultivation and severely damage their prospects. That was a price few could bear.

Qi Gathering Powder was a medicinal pill refined by alchemists, practitioners of the most sought-after profession on the Dou Qi Continent.

Its effect was to guarantee that anyone with ninth stage Dou Qi could condense a Dou Qi vortex after taking it!

Calling such an extraordinary effect miraculous would be no exaggeration.

Lü Guan mentioned Qi Gathering Powder because Chen Cang had a pill in his possession, which he had kept for a year.

An Instructor Mo had been greatly surprised to see Chen Cang reach ninth stage Dou Qi at such a young age and had specially requested a pill of Qi Gathering Powder for him.

This was the only exception the manor's children had witnessed in all those years, but none of them thought it unfair.

After all, rules were made to be broken.

Besides, Instructor Mo had already told them that anyone who reached ninth stage Dou Qi before turning ten could report it to a visiting instructor and request a pill of Qi Gathering Powder.

With Qi Gathering Powder, nothing could go wrong when Chen Cang condensed his Dou Qi vortex.

"Keep training hard after I leave. Your talent isn't bad, so leaving the manor is only a matter of time. Once you get out of here, you can come find me."

Lü Guan was something of a little follower, but also a friend, so Chen Cang inevitably looked after him a little more.

Lü Guan nodded firmly. "I'll definitely leave. Then I'll keep following you, Brother Cang."

"Good."

Evening came, and everyone met that month's instructor.

Chen Cang tempered his soul power in his usual way.

Unfortunately, this instructor was only a Nine-Star Dou Zhe and no longer placed the slightest strain on Chen Cang.

His only gains were one Yellow Tier Cultivation Technique and several Yellow Tier Dou Techniques.

Late that night.

Everyone had fallen asleep, but Chen Cang's bed remained neatly made.

He sat alone outside on the grass, his legs crossed beneath the clear moonlight.

After bringing himself into the right state, Chen Cang took a deep breath, pulled the jade bottle containing the Qi Gathering Powder from inside his robes, and set it beside him within easy reach.

"All these years of hard training were for this moment!"