Chapter 401: Breakthrough to Dou Grandmaster!
Chapter 401: Breakthrough to Dou Grandmaster!
Despite the excruciating pain caused by the continuous tearing and repairing of his meridians, which nearly made Xiao Yan's vision go black, he could feel his meridians becoming wider and tougher. This encouraged him to persevere, as he knew it would bring immense benefits. Once these tiny meridians were fully opened, his ability to control dou energy would undoubtedly improve, greatly increasing his speed. In combat, being able to direct his energy as smoothly as moving an arm would give him a considerable advantage.
As this energy surged forward, breaking through each small meridian, faint popping sounds could be heard. Small jets of energy suddenly burst out from the pores on Xiao Yan's skin, making him resemble a leaky kettle with numerous holes.
This eruption lasted only a few seconds before completely stopping. Afterward, blood seeped slowly from the pores that had expelled the energy, drenching half of Xiao Yan’s body.
As these pores gradually returned to normal, Xiao Yan could clearly sense that whenever he changed his hand seals to the cultivation form, these pores, now connected to his meridians, acted like wind tunnels, voraciously absorbing energy from the outside world at a rate more than ten times faster than before.
This energy circulated rapidly through his meridians. Each cycle completed would inject a large amount of refined, pure energy into his energy vortex, and each time, the vortex would grow noticeably larger.
Originally, the vortex was filled with only three-quarters liquid energy, but now, the liquid had filled over 90% of the vortex’s capacity, approaching the threshold of a fully complete Dou Master stage.
As time passed, a faint glow gradually enveloped Xiao Yan's body, forming a layer resembling a dou energy garment.
In a corner of the room, the last pill refined by Yao Lao had just been completed. Watching Xiao Yan, Yao Lao murmured to himself, "Luckily, Xiao Yan, your foundation is solid. Otherwise, consuming pills in quick succession to increase your strength would have made your dou energy unstable, affecting your foundational abilities... Now, it’s all up to your own efforts!"
At this moment, Xiao Yan was oblivious to his surroundings, his entire focus on the nearly overflowing energy vortex within him.
Inside his body, the vortex rotated slowly, with the liquid energy inside it resembling a reservoir about to overflow, as though it could spill out from the vortex at any moment.
Xiao Yan dared not relax for a second, watching the overflowing vortex carefully. The medicine power from the peak-grade pill he had just ingested was about 70-80% refined, but the remaining 20-30% still held a significant amount of energy.
However, the vortex could no longer accommodate even a trace of additional energy. Its capacity had reached the absolute limit, and if he continued forcing energy into it, the vortex might burst, with consequences unimaginable. Xiao Yan was left with only one choice: to avoid this outcome.
When approaching a breakthrough, every Dou Master instinctively made the most optimal choice, a method proven successful countless times by predecessors. It was a simple concept—compression.
Gaseous energy could be compressed into high-grade liquid energy, and liquid energy could, in turn, be compressed into an even higher grade of solid energy. This solid energy was the secret behind a Dou Grandmaster's ability to summon dou energy armor with tangible presence.
As Xiao Yan changed his hand seals, his inner vortex fell into a moment of stillness. Moments later, ripples appeared on its surface, growing more intense until it resembled boiling water. Waves of liquid energy splashed in the vortex's center, continuously seeping out. When these energy ripples began to undulate, the previously calm vortex started accelerating subtly. The acceleration lasted only for about ten seconds, and the once-languid vortex transformed into a spiraling, rapidly rotating vortex.
Due to this high-speed rotation, rings of circular arcs formed around the vortex. The whooshing sound generated by the spinning echoed through his body, carrying a mystical rhythm that passed through his meridians, bones, and cells before reaching his skin, where it resonated within the dou energy garment that wrapped around Xiao Yan’s body.
After the sound resonated within the dou energy garment, its writhing motion gradually subsided. In an instant, the dou energy began to fuse rapidly, merging and coalescing. Finally, a somewhat blurry armor, with a mysterious rune imprinted on its chest, appeared faintly on the surface of Xiao Yan’s body. Though this armor was only in its early stages, the faint yet mighty surge of energy it emitted made it clear that it was leagues beyond the previous layer of dou energy garment.
Of course, as this embryonic dou energy armor gradually took shape, Xiao Yan was unaware, as he was experiencing an intense transformation within his body.
Since his mind was focused on controlling the vortex’s rotation speed to prevent it from exceeding a certain limit and causing damage to his body, Xiao Yan had to tend to it carefully, without the slightest relaxation.
As time passed, the liquid energy within the rapidly spinning vortex in his body was visibly depleting at an unusual pace. Although the energy within the vortex was diminishing, Xiao Yan could distinctly feel that deep within the vortex, a substance with immense energy was slowly taking shape.
“It’s close!”
Sensing the rapidly forming substance, Xiao Yan’s tense mind relaxed slightly. Before long, the vortex that had been spinning with a frenzied whooshing sound was nearly drained of its liquid energy. Suddenly, under Xiao Yan’s focused gaze, a diamond-shaped crystal, only the size of a thumb, began to float gently at the vortex’s center.
With the appearance of this crystal, Xiao Yan felt a profound sense of comfort emanating from deep within his soul.
This small object, known as a Dou Crystal, has the ability to contain all of a person's dou energy within it and is the hallmark of becoming a Dou Grandmaster.
“Teacher, I did it!”
Slowly opening his eyes from his cultivation state, Xiao Yan turned his head, his face beaming, as he looked at Yao Lao’s spirit in the room.
(End of Chapter)v