Behind the Xiao Family — The giant rocks in the mountains appeared hazy under the twilight.
Under a very hidden cliff, there was a cave entrance that was almost only wide enough for one person to pass through.
The light inside the cave was relatively dim, with only the afterglow of the sunset from the sky able to shine directly through the gaps in the vines.
The air emitted a damp, earthy scent and a strange energy fluctuation.
A young man was sitting cross-legged on a slightly flat cyan boulder.
He appeared slightly thin, with a youthful face, yet possessed a calmness that did not belong to his current age group.
He was Xiao Qing.
At this moment, the atmosphere around Xiao Qing began to undergo a strange change.
The originally calm air began to show subtle changes, as if disrupted by a mysterious force.
Pure, pale white Dou Zhi Qi seeped out from the pores of Xiao Qing’s body bit by bit, beginning to swirl and circulate around him.
It was as if a miniature black hole had been born within Xiao Qing, and it began to crazily absorb the heaven and earth energy from the outside world.
The originally peaceful heaven and earth energy in the surroundings seemed to be drawn in, suddenly becoming restless, turning into specks of light almost visible to the naked eye, and began to converge toward him.
However, the moment these riotous energies were about to touch Xiao Qing’s body, they seemed to hit an invisible and soft barrier.
All the restlessness was smoothed out at this moment, becoming docile, and then slowly began to merge into his body.
These external heaven and earth energies met the Dou Zhi Qi that Xiao Qing had cultivated himself, and instead of repelling each other, they gradually fused, combining into a thicker and purer energy stream.
Under the guidance of Xiao Qing’s consciousness, this fused energy began to wash and temper the relatively immature Meridians in his body, over and over again.
Each tempering brought a faint feeling of swelling pain and numbness, but as the Meridians became increasingly tough, a feeling of smooth satisfaction began to fill him.
Compress, compress again!
Refine, refine again!
The Dou Zhi Qi in his body was compressed to the limit during the repeated circulation of the Great Cycle, as if wanting to gather all the energy into one point.
Finally, when this compression reached a certain critical point — Boom!
A low sound rose; it did not come from the outside world, but from the depths of Xiao Qing’s body!
In an instant, all the energy seemed to have found its destination, crazily rushing toward the Dantian in his lower abdomen, condensing, and rotating…
Finally, a tiny Qi vortex began to form gradually, starting to rotate slowly on its own.
Every time it rotated, it could automatically generate and absorb Fighting Qi.
Dou Qi vortex, complete!
This proved that Xiao Qing had officially started to step into the rank of Dou Practitioner!
After a long while, Xiao Qing let out a long breath.
This breath condensed into a white mist in the cool cave, lingering for a long time.
The brand-new yet somewhat familiar power within Xiao Qing — true Fighting Qi — flowed steadily through his much wider Meridians like a docile stream.
He slowly opened his eyes.
Deep in the bottom of his eyes, a flash of pale red light flickered and vanished, appearing exceptionally bright in the dim cave.
As Xiao Qing stopped his cultivation, the heaven and earth energy gathered around him lost its core and began to slowly, reluctantly dissipate, and the strange energy fluctuation in the cave gradually subsided.
‘Finally…
I have become a Dou Practitioner!’ His heart was filled with hard-to-conceal joy.
After such a long time of Cultivation, Xiao Qing had finally become a Dou Practitioner, taking the first step on the path of Cultivation!
Feeling the Fighting Qi in his body that was several times stronger than Dou Zhi Qi, Xiao Qing clenched his fist tightly.
‘Fire attribute Fighting Qi.
Next, I can officially start practicing the Cultivation Technique left behind by my father.’ He whispered in his heart, filled with anticipation for what was to come.
One hour later — Xiao Qing slowly opened his eyes again, immediately after completing the first Great Cycle of the Cultivation Technique.
Xiao Qing spread his right palm, his thoughts moving slightly.
Puff!
A pale red Fighting Qi began to emerge from his palm, about an inch long, appearing quietly like a dancing fire spirit.
In this relatively dark cave, this red Fighting Qi appeared particularly eye-catching, dispelling the surrounding darkness.
Faint heat drifted away, colliding with and canceling out the inherent cold, damp air in the cave, bringing a trace of warmth to Xiao Qing.
Just at this moment, an illusory, hazy golden book that was neither gold nor jade appeared silently in the depths of Xiao Qing’s consciousness.
This was a mystery that only he could see.
On the golden book, ancient characters appeared one by one: [host: Xiao Qing] [Age: 9] [Physique: Innate Spirit Body] [Bloodline: First-grade Dou Di Bloodline (Inactive)] [Talent (1/2): Mortal Grade · Fire Control · Intermediate (1/20)] [Divine Ability: None] [Realm: 1-Star Dou Practitioner] [Soul Realm: Mortal Realm Middle Stage] [Cultivation Technique: Yellow Rank Intermediate · Mysterious Fire Technique (Beginner)] [Dou Technique: Yellow Rank Low · Fire Palm (Proficient)] [Available Fixed Talent Slots: 1] [Innate Spiritual Rhyme: 2179] [Fire Control · Intermediate: Can control flames relatively exquisitely, the speed of absorbing and refining fire attribute energy is slightly increased, and resistance to flame and fire attribute energy attacks is slightly enhanced.] [Innate Spirit Body (Awakening): When Cultivating, can spontaneously induce and soothe surrounding heaven and earth energy, significantly improving the efficiency of heaven and earth energy inhalation and absorption.
As the Realm improves, this effect will continue to strengthen and contain unknown wonders.] This mysterious golden book had appeared in his mind since Xiao Qing cultivated the first wisp of Dou Zhi Qi at the age of three.
Its function was direct and powerful: it could extract the talent abilities of all living things in the world and convert them into [Talent] that he could fix and use.
What was even more magical was that the [Talent] fixed by the golden book had an essential difference from the talent before extraction; it possessed infinite possibilities for growth and advancement!
The grades of [Talent] are currently known to be divided into: Mortal Grade, Spiritual Grade, Heavenly Grade.
Among them, only Mortal Grade talents can improve their proficiency and grade through continuous Acquired practice, while the improvement methods for Spiritual Grade and above talents are more difficult and mysterious.
The opportunity to fix a new talent is extremely precious, and can only be obtained once every time one breaks through a major Realm.
Xiao Qing obtained one during the Dou Zhi Qi stage, and now that he has promoted to Dou Practitioner, he has gained another precious opportunity.
And [Innate Spiritual Rhyme] can naturally produce one wisp every day.
Its function is to directly improve the proficiency of [Talent] or even promote its advancement.
‘Sigh, without realizing it, I have been in this world for nine years.’ Xiao Qing’s gaze fell on the [Age] column of the golden book, his expression inevitably a bit dazed, and he let out a soft sigh in his heart that did not match his age.
Memories surged.
Xiao Qing’s mother left behind an illness when giving birth to him, her Origin Qi was severely damaged, and she passed away shortly after.
His father, Xiao Tian, was once the captain of the Xiao Family’s herb-gathering team, with a forthright and unyielding personality.
However, six years ago, while leading the Xiao Family’s herb-gathering team into the Magical Beast Mountain Range to collect herbs, they encountered an attack by a second-order Demonic Beast.
Although the team eventually managed to kill the Demonic Beast with their lives on the line, the team suffered heavy casualties.
His father, as the main force, was seriously injured.
Although he was treated and his life was saved, he was left with a serious illness and passed away when Xiao Qing was five years old.