Time is like water, always slipping away quietly through people's fingers without them noticing.
After a harsh winter, spring is here and the branches are starting to emit lush greenery.
Back mountain,
Xiao Feng sat cross legged and took one pill after another.
His body transformed at a rapid speed and pills were refined into pure Dou Qi, helping him impact the next realm.
As Xiao Feng circulated the "Dou Qi" in his body, the medicinal power of pill was absorbed by his body.
"It's time to break through to Dou Zong!"
Xiao Feng opened his eyes, and a sharp golden light flashed through them.
The Dou Qi within his body had already reached its limit. His meridians were filled to the point of swelling, while the vast energy accumulated inside his Dou Crystal surged like a raging sea.
Without hesitation, Xiao Feng took out a jade bottle and poured the final pill into his mouth.
The pill melted the instant it touched his tongue.
Boom!
A torrent of medicinal energy erupted within his body, rushing through his meridians with frightening force. Even an ordinary Dou Zong might have suffered severe injuries from such violent energy, but Xiao Feng's body remained unmoved.
His powerful physique greedily absorbed everything.
Xiao Feng formed a seal with his hands and circulated his cultivation technique to its limit. The surrounding natural energy immediately began gathering toward him.
At first, only a faint breeze appeared around the mountaintop. However, within a few breaths, the peaceful breeze transformed into a violent storm.
Leaves were torn from the surrounding trees and carried into the air. Loose stones trembled across the ground, while waves of visible energy converged above Xiao Feng's head, gradually forming an enormous vortex.
The elders and disciples within the Xiao residence soon noticed the disturbance.
"What is happening at the back mountain?"
"What terrifying energy!"
"Could someone be breaking through?"
Several figures hurried out of the courtyards and looked toward the distant mountain. Although they could not see Xiao Feng clearly, the oppressive aura coming from that direction caused their breathing to become heavy.
At the centre of the storm, Xiao Feng remained seated.
Under the continuous compression of his Dou Qi, cracks gradually appeared across the Dou Crystal within his body.
Crack!
A clear sound echoed through his mind.
The crystal that had accompanied him throughout the Dou Huang realm shattered completely, transforming into countless fragments of condensed energy.
Xiao Feng's expression remained calm.
Breaking the Dou Crystal was not failure—it was the necessary step toward rebuilding it in a higher form.
He controlled the scattered energy and compressed it again and again.
The process was extremely dangerous. A single mistake could cause the accumulated Dou Qi to explode inside his body, destroying his cultivation foundation.
However, Xiao Feng's spiritual strength was far beyond that of an ordinary cultivator. Every strand of energy remained firmly under his control.
Time slowly passed.
The energy vortex above the mountain grew wider, covering almost the entire sky. Dark clouds gathered from every direction, dimming the bright spring sunlight.
Boom!
Thunder echoed among the clouds.
An invisible pressure suddenly descended upon the entire Xiao residence.
The weaker disciples turned pale and instinctively stepped backwards. Some even felt an urge to kneel, as though the person upon the mountain had become a higher existence.
Xun'er stood within a courtyard and gazed toward the energy vortex.
There was no fear in her eyes—only surprise and expectation.
"Dou Zong…"
Ling Ying appeared silently behind her. His expression was far more solemn.
He had already known that Xiao Feng possessed extraordinary talent, but the speed of his advancement still exceeded his imagination.
A Dou Zong expert at the age of 13, even their Ancient Clan doesn't have such geniuses.
Back upon the mountain, the shattered energy within Xiao Feng's body finally began gathering into a new core.
Unlike the solid Dou Crystal of the Dou Huang realm, the new energy core seemed both real and illusory. Silver spatial lines flowed around it, appearing and disappearing with every rotation.
At that moment, Xiao Feng crossed the threshold of Dou Zong.
Rumble!
Heavy thunderclouds gathered in the sky, and faint flashes of lightning caused the entire Wutan City to feel strangely depressed.
Xiao Feng raised his head.
The phenomenon caused by his breakthrough was far greater than he had expected. If he allowed it to continue, powerful people in the surrounding region might notice something unusual.
Fortunately, he had made preparations beforehand.
"Activate."
Xiao Feng formed a hand seal.
Hum!
Several formations buried around the back mountain lit up simultaneously.
Countless formation lines emerged from beneath the soil and spread across the mountain like a vast web.
A thin, transparent barrier rose into the sky.
The moment it closed, the enormous energy vortex, dazzling spatial fluctuations, and flashes of lightning above the back mountain disappeared from sight.
From outside the formation, the mountain appeared completely normal.
The violent storm became nothing more than a spring breeze, while the turbulent natural energy could no longer be detected.
Even the figures standing inside the Xiao family residence could only see thick clouds gathering above Wutan City.
Ling Ying narrowed his eyes.
"What a profound concealment formation."
Even with his strength, he could no longer clearly sense what was happening on the back mountain. If he had not witnessed the formation activating with his own eyes, he might have believed that the earlier disturbance had been an illusion.
However, the formation could hide the extraordinary phenomenon, but it could not completely isolate the pressure carried by the heavens.
Rumble!
A deep thunderclap rolled through the clouds.
An ancient and oppressive might spread across Wutan City.
The bustling streets gradually became quiet.
Pedestrians unconsciously raised their heads, only to see dark clouds covering the sky. Although the clouds did not appear especially unusual, an inexplicable heaviness pressed upon their hearts.
Some people felt their breathing become difficult.
Low-level cultivators found the Dou Qi inside their bodies slowing down, as though it had encountered an invisible suppression.
"What is happening?"
"Is a storm coming?"
"Why do I feel as though something terrifying is watching us?"
Inside the major families of Wutan City, several elders walked out of their rooms and looked toward the sky with solemn expressions.
They could not locate the source of the pressure.
It seemed to come from the clouds themselves, covering the entire city without leaving the slightest trace to follow.
Within the Xiao family, the weaker disciples were affected even more strongly.
Some leaned against nearby pillars to steady themselves, while others circulated their Dou Qi to resist the invisible pressure.
Xun'er and Xiao Mei remained standing in the courtyard, their eyes fixed upon the back mountain.
Although the formation concealed everything, they knew that Xiao Feng's breakthrough had reached its most important moment.
"Brother Feng…" X2
They clasped her hands together, quietly waiting.
"Master..."
Zi Yue looked at the formation surrounding the mountain and murmured.
Back on the mountain, Xiao Feng slowly withdrew his hand.
The formation continued operating, absorbing the surrounding energy fluctuations and concealing them beneath layers of illusion.
"No one outside Wutan City should be able to discover this now."
The pressure spreading through the city was unavoidable, but pressure alone could not reveal his location or cultivation realm.
At most, people would believe that the strange weather had been caused by some natural phenomenon or a powerful magical beast passing through the nearby mountains.
"Time to undergo the tribulation. This is a good opportunity to engrave the Thunder Rune into my body."
At the Dou Wang realm, Xiao Feng had engraved the Wood Rune. At the Dou Huang realm, he had engraved the Water Rune.
Now, upon reaching Dou Zong, it was time for Thunder.
Xiao Feng stepped forward and soared into the sky, passing through the concealment formation before stopping thousands of metres above the back mountain.
...