Eight-Star Dou Practitioner!
In an instant, Xiao Bai had jumped from a Three-Star to an Eight-Star Dou Practitioner. He knew this was due to the Yi Wood Righteous Thunder inside him, and his physical body had also become much stronger than before, although he wasn't sure exactly to what extent.
It was precisely because of this experience that Xiao Bai finally understood why the talisman had suppressed him for five years.
Without those five years of continuously absorbing the Dou Qi of Five Elements to nourish his organs and strengthen his body, Xiao Bai would have certainly died today.
He now had mixed feelings toward the talisman in his sea of consciousness—love and hate.
He loved it for giving him such a great opportunity. From the previous sensing, he knew that every time he broke through a realm in the future, the talisman would grant him a thunder seed.
He hated it because the talisman always acted without warning, leaving him defenseless.
Every time he was in a clear-headed state, it would hit him with a heavy blow, making him repeatedly jump between life and death, never knowing what it was going to do or when it would act—truly stimulating.
Looking outside, he noticed that it was almost dark.
It had been almost five hours since his breakthrough. Xiao Bai was ready to head back. After nearly dying twice today, he felt mentally exhausted.
As he stepped out of the cave, the cool wind outside made him feel much more awake. Feeling the overwhelming power within him compared to when he had arrived, Xiao Bai couldn't help but smile, and his smile grew wider.
Suddenly, as if remembering something, Xiao Bai's face stiffened. He almost forgot something very important.
This time, jumping from Nine-Stage Dou Zhi Qi to Eight-Star Dou Practitioner, would it attract the attention of some people? For example, the "Sleeping Dragon and Phoenix Chick."
"No, I need to find a way to hide my cultivation. Otherwise, this drastic change will definitely raise suspicion!"
If Xiao Bai's Dou Qi had been unstable, it wouldn't have mattered much. The Dou Qi continent was so vast that there would always be heavenly treasures capable of helping someone leap several stages at once.
But Xiao Bai's cultivation wasn't unstable. On the contrary, it was very solid. The first three stars after breaking through the Dou Practitioner stage were the result of five years of effort. The later five stars were earned by Xiao Bai at the cost of his life.
When refining the Yi Wood Righteous Thunder, Xiao Bai had endured the pain and repeatedly compressed the increased Dou Qi in his body. Otherwise, his cultivation would have already reached the Dou Master Realm.
Xiao Bai wasn't sure if there were any rare treasures in the Dou Qi continent, but he couldn't let others think he had something special, attracting unwanted attention. After all, he really did have something extraordinary!
Though he didn't know what level the Talisman was, Xiao Bai guessed that even a Dou Sheng would be tempted by it.
Of the entire Xiao family, the only person Xiao Bai trusted was Xun'er, but even then, he only trusted her—not her bodyguards. If Ling Ying found out, he would definitely report it to Gu Yuan.
At that point, Xiao Bai's best outcome would be losing his freedom. The worst? He didn't dare to think about it. Thinking too much would only affect his relationship with Xun'er.
Then there was that old man who drained people's life essence. In the original story, although his character seemed good, that was just from Xiao Yan's perspective.
In the Dou Qi continent, killing and stealing treasures happened all the time. Even Xiao Yan had done it. Xiao Bai had no ties to that old man, so who knew what would happen?
He couldn't gamble with his life based on someone else's moral standards. Once the talisman was exposed, it would be no different than a child walking through a busy market with gold.
Xiao Bai turned around and returned to the cave. He sat on a large stone, propping up his chin with one hand, his brow furrowed as he thought about how to solve this problem.
After thinking for a while and calculating what he had on hand, it seemed that only the unreliable soul cultivation technique in the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder Canon had any hope of solving this.
«Heavenly Heart Perception Chapter»
"Comprehend the Heavenly Dao through the Human Dao, reflect the Heavenly Heart with your own heart, align with heaven and respond to humanity, perceive the heavens and the earth, perceive all living beings—this is the beginning of divinity."
This is the opening principle of the "Heavenly Heart Perception Chapter," and this is the reason why Xiao Bai considers it unreliable. In the Dou Qi Continent, where does the Heavenly Way and Heavenly Heart come from? This isn't Ze Tian Ji, where there's the will of Heaven's Blade or the imprint of the Heavenly Heart.
Moreover, to see the heavens and the earth, to see all living beings, and to be the beginning of divinity—the spirit of an emperor might be strong enough, but it still wouldn't allow someone to see the heavens, see all living beings.
"Forget it, I'll give it a try!" After all, the cultivation method, the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder Canon, is a censored version. Now, it's just cultivating a censored version again, or rather, the method is being localized.
Sitting cross-legged, Xiao Bai cleared his mind of distractions and followed the method to focus his soul, perceiving the illusory heavens and earth.
"The heavens and earth contain the true qi, the essence of spirit, soul, and will. In utmost stillness, the Heavenly Heart is revealed, and divine understanding naturally arrives."
Xiao Bai's heart was calm and undisturbed. Perhaps a single incense stick had passed, perhaps an hour.
In his soul's hazy state, he entered a strange void. There was nothing in this void, only occasional white currents floating by.
Suddenly, one of these white currents collided with Xiao Bai's soul, and his soul absorbed it, growing a little stronger.
There was no concept of time or space in the void, and Xiao Bai felt as though he had no consciousness, aimlessly drifting. Occasionally, a white current would hit him, and his soul would grow stronger with each absorption.
Finally, it seemed as though a certain limit had been reached. Xiao Bai's soul was expelled from this void, and along with it came a silver seal.
The seal floated toward the center of his his sea of consciousness, suddenly, a flash of purple lightning from the talisman above the center of his sea of consciousness struck the silver seal, forcibly ejecting it from the sea of consciousness and causing it to appear on Xiao Bai's forehead.
Immediately, a strange silver pattern formed on Xiao Bai's forehead, resembling a closed vertical eye.
After regaining his senses, Xiao Bai's eyes showed a hint of confusion, as though he had no memory of the void just now. He looked up at the entrance of the cave, and it was already bright outside.
"This cultivation method really is a scam. I felt so still, I must've just fallen asleep!"
Xiao Bai complained.
Xiao Bai tried to sense his soul again.
"Holy crap!"
Xiao Bai was shocked. Having lived two lives and with the talisman in his sea of consciousness, his innate soul was already quite strong.
Before cultivating, he sensed his soul's realm. According to the method, he was in the mid-stage of the Mortal Realm, which already made him quite happy. But now, his soul had directly reached the late-stage of the Mortal Realm.
"Could it be that I'm a once-in-a-lifetime soul cultivation genius? Even sleeping while cultivating can raise my soul realm? Or maybe the Heavenly Heart Perception Chapter just has the wrong name, and it should actually be called Great Dream Heart Sutra!"
Xiao Bai stroked his chin, thinking suspiciously.
"Should I try again? At this rate of cultivation speed, it wouldn't take long to reach the Emperor Realm for my soul, right? If I could reach the Emperor Realm soul and then leave the mountain, I wonder who would dare speak loudly to me. Kekeke!"
Without hesitation, Xiao Bai decided to go for it, filled with hope for his future. His spirits were high, his eyes sparkling with excitement and full of energy.
First attempt—failure!
Second attempt—failure!
Third attempt—failure!
Tenth attempt—failure!
The light in Xiao Bai's eyes gradually dimmed. Indeed, the three great illusions of life:
"I'm the protagonist!"
"She likes me!"
"There's nobody in the grass!"
Modern people aren't wrong; Xiao Bai finally accepted the fact that he wasn't the protagonist, and he didn't have the protagonist's halo.
"Sigh! I can only be a plain, unremarkable hanger-on!"
He stood up, hands behind his back, gazing up at the sky with a long sigh, nearly shedding tears.
After a while of lamenting, Xiao Bai remembered the problem he had intended to solve at the start, but now, it wasn't such a big issue.
After entering the Heavenly Heart Perception Chapter, he could use the soul sealing technique recorded within it to seal an enemy's soul. By adding lightning to it, the power would become even more formidable.
Xiao Bai planned to use this feature to seal the fluctuations of Dou Qi in his dantian.
According to the original novel, when Xiao Yan first entered the Dou Zong realm, his soul was only at the perfection stage of the Mortal Realm. This was due to his naturally strong soul. With this in mind, other early Dou Zong's souls were likely at the late-stage of the Mortal Realm.
By applying a soul sealing technique with this soul realm, a broken soul old man or a blind Dou Huang shouldn't be able to see through it. At the very least, when they tried to forcefully probe, Xiao Bai would sense it and not be caught completely unaware.
After handling this, Xiao Bai adjusted his clothes, touched the blood tears on his face, and prepared to wash them when passing by the small lake in the back mountain. He didn't care what others thought if they saw him, but if Xun'er saw it, it would be a problem. That girl wouldn't blame him, but she'd look at him with a wronged expression that would make him feel guilty and heartbroken.
Unless he were a scumbag, who could tolerate that? Certainly not Xiao Bai, he wasn't a scumbag, he was just a bit more affectionate.
"Is there something wrong with a man being affectionate? I just want to give these good girls a warm home!"