Battle Through the Heaven: Purple Heaven

A swelling pain in his dantian signaled to Xiao Bai that his Dou Qi could no longer be suppressed. If he didn't break through now, any damage to his dantian would hinder his future cultivation. The time had come to advance.

His emotions were a tangled mix—anticipation tinged with trepidation. What will the new thunder seed be? He craved its power but dreaded the agony it would bring. It reminded him of a friend from his past life who'd quipped, Wanting to fall in love but scared of getting hurt. The sentiment fit his mood perfectly.

Gritting his teeth, Xiao Bai growled, "It's gonna hurt either way. As long as it doesn't kill me, I'm in!"

Releasing his hold on his Dou Qi, he formed the cultivation hand seals, his mind diving inward to focus on his dantian. As his Nine Firmaments Divine Thunder Canon activated, the surrounding heaven and earth energy surged toward him. Xiao Bai carefully guided the chaotic energy into his body, refining and purifying it before it could enter his dantian.

The influx of energy was immense, but with his late Mortal Realm soul, controlling it was manageable. He cautiously channeled a stream of purified Dou Qi into his dantian.

It was like tossing a spark onto dry tinder. The sluggish qi cyclone in his dantian roared to life, spinning faster. As it accelerated, the external energy found an outlet, rushing toward the cyclone like a flood.

"Damn it!" Xiao Bai hadn't anticipated this. The technique's descriptions were always vague, shrouded in mystic nonsense. He'd once scoffed at tales of needing a master to guard a breakthrough—now he understood why.

No time to dwell. He couldn't let the raw, impure energy flood his dantian; cleansing it later would be a nightmare. Using his soul power, he enveloped his dantian in a protective barrier, letting the chaotic energy rampage through his meridians for now.

He resumed refining the energy in his dantian bit by bit. Suddenly, the Yi Wood True Thunder in his liver stirred, as if sensing something, and burst forth. Xiao Bai's heart leaped to his throat.

"Don't mess with me now, big brother! Things are messy enough!" he roared inwardly.

The Yi Wood True Thunder ignored him, charging straight for his dantian. It shattered the soul barrier with ease and stormed inside, flooding the dantian with azure lightning.

"I'm done for!" Xiao Bai squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for pain.

Though the thunder didn't harm him when it broke his soul barrier, the chaotic energy in his meridians went berserk, surging toward his dantian. He could only watch helplessly as it poured in.

But as the energy entered, Xiao Bai noticed it didn't merge with the spinning cyclone right away. Instead, it passed through the azure thunder filling his dantian. Each pass stripped away impurities, and by the time it reached the cyclone, the energy was astonishingly pure—refined far faster than he could manage.

From hell to heaven in an instant, Xiao Bai was elated. But recalling the thunder's antics, his face darkened. Was it… mocking me? Its brazen charge felt like it was saying, This master's useless—step aside, let me handle it!

Didn't I refine this thing and imprint it with my soul? Why's it so… alive?

"Looks like my thunder's got more to it than I thought," Xiao Bai mused, running his technique while pondering.

Observing his dantian, the Yi Wood True Thunder stood like an impregnable wall, calmly refining the onslaught of external energy with unyielding poise.

As the purified energy fed into the cyclone, it grew denser, spinning ever faster. Gradually, the gaseous energy thickened, condensing toward liquid. At a critical threshold, a thumb-sized droplet of liquid energy formed in his dantian.

Its appearance triggered a cascade. More droplets emerged, bolstering the cyclone's pull. The external energy surged stronger, converging on Xiao Bai. Under this torrent, his meridians widened and toughened, his bones and muscles growing sturdier.

After what felt like ages, the cyclone's frantic spin slowed, the external energy ceased its rush, and the Yi Wood True Thunder returned to his liver. A Dou Shi's aura emanated from Xiao Bai. Feeling the strengthened energy within, he smiled, satisfied.

"Dou Shi achieved—another step toward Dou Di. Cause for celebration!"

On the Dou Qi Continent, cultivation spanned eleven realms: Dou Zhi Qi, Dou Zhe, Dou Shi, Da Dou Shi, Dou Ling, Dou Wang, Dou Huang, Dou Zong, Dou Zun, Dou Sheng, and Dou Di, each divided into nine minor stages. A hundred levels to ascend, just like those hundred-level godhood games. Easy, right?

In his elation, his mind wandered to whimsical thoughts. But his expression soon sobered. Sitting cross-legged, he sank his consciousness into his sea of awareness, bracing for the talisman decree's next move—time for "one bag of rice, how many floors?"

As expected, a section of the decree glowed with eerie red light. A crimson thunderbolt shot out, streaking toward his heart.

"Bing Fire Yang Thunder, tied to the heart, huh?"

The moment it appeared, information flooded his mind. Bing Fire Yang Thunder: Crimson, explosively fierce, wielding both unyielding lightning and domineering flame power.

No sooner had he processed this than a searing pain erupted in his heart, dwarfing the Yi Wood True Thunder's torment by several magnitudes. A suffocating weight gripped him, his breathing labored. Crimson lightning wove through his heart, evaporating much of the blood flowing through with each beat.

"Hngh… ah…"

Xiao Bai's face paled to a ghostly white, sweat streaming down as he gasped, his mouth opening and closing. The agony was so intense he couldn't scream, only managing hoarse, guttural groans.

At first, he struggled faintly, but as time dragged on, his resistance weakened. To any onlooker, Xiao Bai—cross-legged, hair graying, head slumped, skin bloodless, body withered, clothes hanging loosely—looked like a corpse.

His consciousness plunged into darkness, despair creeping in. He hadn't expected the decree's thunder to be this ferocious, overwhelming him before he could even begin refining it.

Am I going to die like this? he murmured in the void.

"No, I won't die! There's got to be a way!" Refusing to give up, Xiao Bai's mind raced, searching for a path to salvation.