Fang Yang sat cross-legged in meditation, soul power surging around him like tidal waves.
A terrifying aura released from within his body, causing the entire space to tremble slightly.
"Level 100 achieved—it's time."
Fang Yang slowly opened his eyes, flames flashing and fading in his pupils. The surging soul power around him receded like a tide, completely converging into his body. His entire aura became as profound as an abyss.
In the next moment, his consciousness instantly sank into the internal space of the Heavenly Flame Pearl.
The world before his eyes began to twist and change, and when Fang Yang opened his eyes again, the familiar Heavenly Flame Plaza stood before him.
Twenty-three towering pillars stood majestically, each interwoven with flames of different colors, emitting heart-trembling energy fluctuations.
"Artifact Spirit, I have come."
Fang Yang spoke in a clear voice, his voice echoing through the spacious Heavenly Flame Plaza.
"I know..."
A distant voice came from all directions, "Congratulations, you have finally reached level 100."
Fang Yang nodded slightly, "Artifact Spirit, how should I transition to the Dou Qi system?"
"Soul power and Dou Qi are, after all, two different paths."
A stream of information instantly poured into his sea of consciousness, containing every detail of the transition method.
"Use the Heavenly Flames as a guide to burn away the foundation of soul power within your body. Break first, then establish—without breaking, there is no establishing."
"Transform soul power into Qi, creating Dou Qi."
"Alright, I understand."
Fang Yang nodded slightly, sat cross-legged, and sank his mind into his dantian.
There, a condensed soul core was slowly rotating—this was the source of a soul master's power.
With a thought, a stream of pitch-black flame rose from his meridians.
This stream of flame traveled along his meridians, and wherever it passed, pure soul power was completely devoured and refined.
This was an extremely painful process. The foundation of soul power was integrated with his physical body, and now being forcibly peeled was like having his tendons pulled and bones stripped.
Fine beads of sweat appeared on Fang Yang's forehead, but his expression remained unchanged as he continued to activate the Void Black Flame.
In the next moment, his realm began to rapidly drop.
Level 100, 98, 86, 72... with every ten levels dropped, a soul ring shattered behind him, transforming into points of light that dissipated.
These soul rings were once symbols of his strength, but now they burst like bubbles.
61, 30, 18, until completely returning to Level 0.
When the last trace of soul power also dissipated, Fang Yang's face paled, and he spat out a mouthful of blood, nearly collapsing to the ground.
He felt completely hollowed out, an unprecedented sense of weakness sweeping through his entire body, making even standing difficult.
Fang Yang forcibly stabilized his posture, took a deep breath, and felt the unprecedented emptiness within his body.
The feeling of losing all soul power was like suddenly becoming a mortal—every step was as heavy as a thousand pounds.
However, although his soul master realm had returned to zero, that thousand-tempered spiritual power still remained.
The soul power devoured by the Nothingness Black Flame had now transformed into the purest heaven and earth energy, lingering around him.
"Now is the time!"
Fang Yang sank his mind into his body and began to sense the heaven and earth energy around him.
Powerful spiritual power spread out like a spider web, capturing the free heaven and earth energy in the air.
His breathing became extremely rhythmic, and between each inhale and exhale, there was a certain profound Dao rhythm.
With every inhale, large amounts of heaven and earth energy were drawn into his body. With every exhale, impurities were expelled.
The heaven and earth energy was guided by his will, circulating along specific meridian routes, constantly being purified and refined during circulation, ultimately stored in the dantian.
Dou Qi—this was the most basic, most primitive form of energy in the Dou Qi system. It was like the foundation of a building, laying the groundwork for all subsequent powerful Dou Qi realms.
Although weak, it was the starting point on the path to becoming a powerhouse.
Through continuously absorbing Dou Qi, one could temper the body, nourish the meridians, and prepare for later condensing the Qi vortex and breaking through to Dou Zhe (Dou Practitioner).
Fang Yang could feel traces of weak energy slowly condensing within his body.
Although weak, these energies contained unlimited potential. They were like small streams, slowly flowing through the meridians, ultimately converging in the dantian.
As time passed, the Dou Qi within Fang Yang's body grew increasingly dense.
He could feel subtle changes occurring in his body—his meridians becoming more resilient, his physical strength slowly increasing. Although this process was slow, it gave Fang Yang an unprecedented sense of solidity.
This was a re-cultivation starting from the foundation, with every step taken incomparably solid.
The Artifact Spirit's voice rang out again, "Excellent, you have successfully condensed your first strand of Dou Qi."
"Next, I will activate time acceleration for you. You need to progress step by step, continuously accumulate, until you break through."
"Remember—the more solid your foundation, the higher your future achievements."
Fang Yang nodded slightly, not speaking more, continuing to immerse himself in cultivation.
He could feel the flow of time around him changing, and a power of time law enveloped the entire Heavenly Flame Plaza.
One day outside, one month here—this was the heaven-defying aspect of the Heavenly Flame Pearl.
Under the effect of time acceleration, Fang Yang's cultivation progress advanced a thousand miles in a day.
Following the guidance in the transition method, he progressively guided Dou Qi to circulate in his meridians, and every cycle made the Dou Qi more solid.
In just three short days, he already felt the bottleneck of Dou Qi Third Stage.
"It's time to attempt a breakthrough."
Fang Yang focused his mind and calmed his spirit, gathering all the Dou Qi within his body into one mass, launching an assault toward that invisible barrier.
Once, twice, three times... under persistent impact, that barrier finally showed cracks.
"Break!"
With Fang Yang's low shout, Dou Qi surged like floodwaters breaking through a dike, instantly flowing to his four limbs and hundred bones.
He could clearly feel that his strength had risen to another level, and the Dou Qi within his body had surged several-fold.
Dou Qi, Fourth Stage!
However, Fang Yang did not stop, but continued to immerse himself in cultivation.
With the assistance of time acceleration, he had enough time to solidify the foundation of every realm.
The sun rose and the moon set, spring went and autumn came.
In this special space of the Heavenly Flame Plaza, time passed at an astonishing speed.
Fang Yang's cultivation also steadily improved—from Dou Qi Fourth Stage to Fifth Stage, then to Sixth Stage...
With every breakthrough, he strived for perfection, leaving no hidden dangers.
Because Fang Yang knew that this period of rebuilding his foundation would determine how far he could go in the future.
When seven full days had passed in the outside world, more than seven months had elapsed within the Heavenly Flame Plaza.
On this day, a powerful aura suddenly erupted from around Fang Yang, and his entire body was enveloped by dense Dou Qi.
This Dou Qi formed a faint halo outside his body, showing that he had reached the peak of the Dou Qi stage.
Dou Qi, Ninth Stage!
"It's time."
Fang Yang took a deep breath and began to assault the Dou Practitioner realm.
This was the first important checkpoint on the path of Dou Qi cultivation, requiring the condensation of a stable Qi vortex in the dantian.
He guided the Dou Qi within his body, circulating it along specific routes in his meridians.
With every cycle, the Dou Qi became more condensed, ultimately converging and compressing in the dantian.
Fang Yang carefully guided the flow of Dou Qi with his powerful spiritual power.
As time passed, the Dou Qi in the dantian grew increasingly dense, gradually forming the rudiment of a vortex.
The vortex slowly rotated, continuously devouring the surrounding Dou Qi.
"Condense!"
Fang Yang shouted in a low voice, pouring all his mind into the condensation of the Qi vortex.
Under the compression of spiritual power, the Dou Qi became increasingly solid, and its rotation speed grew faster and faster.
"Boom!"
The moment the Qi vortex took shape, Fang Yang's aura suddenly surged.
He successfully broke through to the Dou Zhe realm!
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