"Huh..."
In a low house in an alley, Su Yun was absorbing Dou Qi.
Pale streams of energy seeped from the air, then continuously poured into the young man's body.
As the Dou Qi continued to flow in, a trace of fatigue crossed Su Yun's face. He released his hand gesture, ceasing his practice.
He stood up from the basin, twisted his aching neck, and stretched. A crackling sound of bones colliding echoed.
"It's been about three years since I obtained the system..." Su Yun silently calculated the time.
Although his system was no longer up to date, and there was no way to sign in or clock out, impersonating a peerless expert and defeating everything in his path,
if used wisely, combined with his foresight, he still had a promising future.
Su Yun walked out the door and headed towards the street. This time, he was going to relax.
For the past three years, he had barely left his home, except for necessary supplies. He
had now reached the ninth stage of Dou Qi, and his body was overflowing with Dou Qi, with no room for improvement.
Having just finished training, Su Yun was in poor condition. A rash attempt to reach Dou Zhe and condense Dou Qi would likely result in failure.
He needed to recover.
Ever since he learned this was the Dou Qi Continent, his mind had been preoccupied with cultivation, and he hadn't paid much attention to his surroundings.
Naturally, he had few friends in Wutan City, and given his age,
he wasn't up to the task. His time to relax was simply a leisurely stroll through Wutan City.
After relaxing for an hour, Su Yun's mind became active again.
"Nine years old, reaching the ninth level of Dou Qi is considered a genius, not only in the Jia Ma Empire, but even in Zhongzhou."
Thanks to the Foundation Establishment Spirit Fluid, his current cultivation level was already far superior to his peers, surpassing even Xiao Yan.
If he could achieve success in condensing Dou Qi in one go, he would reach Dou Zhe status two years earlier than Xiao Yan.
Su Yun mentally encouraged himself.
He was fortunate to be a traverser, to have obtained a system, and to have successfully recovered Yao Lao's lifelong memories. His luck wasn't too bad...
No matter what, he must not be timid. Even if he was called a fool, he must forge ahead!
If he couldn't even gather a single Dou Qi vortex, he might as well just hang up.
......…
After adjusting his form, Su Yun returned home and sat cross-legged.
He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the turmoil in his heart, and further regulated his breathing on the bed.
After an hour, Su Yun finally reached peak physical condition. Now was the perfect time for him to achieve Dou Master status.
His face remained calm, expressionless. He formed a hand seal with his hands to absorb Dou Qi. His breathing gradually became steady, and the faint Dou Qi within him began to flow in response to his heart.
The calm air in the room suddenly rippled, and wisps of pale Dou Qi seeped out from the air and penetrated Su Yun's body.
As time passed, the Dou Qi from all around continued to flow in, and the Dou Qi within Su Yun's body slowly expanded.
With the continuous influx of Dou Qi from outside, the Dou Qi within Su Yun's body gradually filled most of his meridians.
Sensing the state of his body, Su Yun took a deep breath, and his hand seals suddenly shifted, forming a strange hand seal with his ten fingers.
As the hand seals shifted, the surging Dou Qi within his body, as if drawn by a fierce suction, rapidly contracted towards his lower abdomen.
By the time all the Dou Qi had shrunk to his lower abdomen, the pale Dou Qi had begun to transform into a milky white.
Su Yun felt the pale Dou Qi flowing through his veins drain away. He focused his mind, using the considerable spiritual power of two lifetimes to compress the Dou Qi within him.
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The milky white Dou Qi in his lower abdomen began to resist, churning violently.
The resistance was considerable, but Su Yun's combined age in both lives was nearly thirty, and his soul power at the ninth stage of Dou Qi was truly exceptional. The
two forces held stalemate for a brief moment before the Dou Qi continued to shrink.
An unknown amount of time passed before a soft, muffled sound crept through his body...
and with it, the resistance dissipated.
Su Yun breathed a sigh of relief, his chest heaving violently.
Lying in bed, feeling the abundant energy within him, a smile played on his face. Just as he was about to rise, a wave of drowsiness overtook him, and he fell into a deep sleep.
......…
He slept all night, waking up the next morning.
The dawn light slowly broke, the rising sun shone on the young man's face, and a few sparrows chirped by the window.
In the nest outside, young chicks had grown wings, ready to soar thousands of miles.
Su Yun let out a light breath, stretched his slightly numb legs, and sat cross-legged.
With his eyes slightly closed, Su Yun's mind gradually sank into his body.
Inner vision is an ability only mastered at the Dou Zhe level. The more powerful one becomes, the more thoroughly they can perceive the internal state.
As his mind sank into his lower abdomen, a palm-sized milky white vortex of energy slowly swirled. Around its periphery, a layer of milky white energy, resembling a nebula, enveloped it.
Su Yun's mind gazed upon this tiny vortex, and he nodded in satisfaction.
Although the current vortex was small, the energy contained within it was incomparable to that of the previous ninth stage of Dou Qi.
The Dou Zhe and Dou Qi stages are fundamentally different.
The energy absorbed before the Dou Zhe stage is called Dou Qi, while the energy absorbed after the Dou Zhe stage is truly Dou Qi!
While the difference between the two is only a single character, the difference is profound beyond mere description.
Su Yun's tightly closed eyes suddenly fluttered open, a flicker of confidence in his deep irises.
A Dou Zhe's strength wouldn't even rank among the best in the Dou Qi Continent, let alone in Wutan City.
Yet, the thrill of advancement still brought him a sense of satisfaction.
Even at a weaker level, he was still stronger than at the Dou Qi stage.
He adjusted his mindset, silently reiterating that now was not the time to be complacent. Shaking off his nascent complacency, Su Yun began to review Yao Lao's memories.
Unlike the Dou Qi stage, a Dou Zhe could already begin practicing Dou Qi techniques.
On the Dou Qi Continent, Huang-level techniques were ubiquitous, while Xuan-level techniques and above were inaccessible to ordinary people.
The same was true for Dou Skills: Profound-level techniques and above required joining a sect or academy to obtain. Of course, if one had sufficient financial resources, one could try their luck at auctions.
Su Yun had no such concerns.
Alchemists, especially high-level ones, disdained gold coins.
To get a high-level alchemist to help you refine pills, you must offer something that will impress them, and martial arts and fighting techniques are particularly useful in this regard.
As a peak eighth-grade alchemist, Yao Lao must have a considerable collection. Transitioning through this early stage shouldn't be a problem.
"Wait..."
"I don't know my attributes yet."
Su Yun felt a headache.
(End of this chapter)