After leaving, Zhou Changqing returned to his base of operations on the highest peak in the vicinity. Reaching the foot of the mountain, he slipped into the temporary cave he had dug for himself and began to cultivate.
About half a month had passed since his successful thunder tempering experiment. During this time, Zhou Changqing's daily life consisted of cultivation, researching Equipment Glyphs, and, most importantly, drawing down lightning to temper his body.
Unfortunately, thunderstorms did not appear on command, nor could he summon lightning at will. In the past half a month, besides the one successful experiment, it had only rained three times—an average of once every five days. Furthermore, not all of them were thunderstorms; one was just a light drizzle.
Fortunately, he no longer needed to experiment. During the two thunderstorms, Zhou Changqing made full use of every lightning strike that hit the lightning rod on the mountain peak. As a result, his strength had improved considerably.
First was his physical fortitude. After two sessions of thunder tempering, his body had been greatly enhanced. It had gone from being able to contend with a mid-rank Dou Master to being able to completely overpower a peak Dou Master. The Gold-Imprisoning Bear he had fought earlier was proof of this, as it was a peak second-rank Magical Beast. Its physical strength was entirely comparable to a peak Dou Master going all out. The fact that Zhou Changqing could overpower the bear in sheer physical might spoke for itself.
Next was his Dou Qi realm. Compared to the improvements in his physical body, his Dou Qi progression was far less impressive. He had yet to break through to the Dou Grandmaster realm and remained at the peak of a nine-star Dou Master.
Zhou Changqing wasn't surprised by this. Although he had refined a large amount of lightning energy during the tempering, he had also consumed a great deal of his gold-attribute Dou Qi. Thus, most of the refined lightning energy had been converted back into gold-attribute Dou Qi via his Lightning and Gold Sources while running the Heavenly Dipper Gold Tempering Art, ensuring a balance between the two. With this constant increase and decrease, it was only natural that his Dou Qi cultivation would progress slower than his physical strengthening.
Though it was a little unfortunate, Zhou Changqing was already content. He couldn't expect to have all the good fortune in the world; that wasn't how things worked. Even Old Xiao, this world's Son of Fortune, didn't have it so easy, so why should he?
Besides, the speed of his Dou Qi growth only seemed slow relative to his physical enhancement. Compared to his normal cultivation with the Heavenly Dipper Gold Tempering Art, it was already quite fast. Advancing one star per month in the Dou Master realm was a speed that would make countless jaws drop. One had to remember that it took Xiao Yan almost a full year to go from Dou Master to Dou Grandmaster, and that was with fortuitous encounters like refining the Earthflame Lotus Seed, devouring a Heavenly Flame, and consuming a Three-Lined Green Spirit Pill.
"Even without external help, just based on my own cultivation speed, I should break through to Dou Grandmaster within the next few days," Zhou Changqing thought to himself after finishing his cultivation session, inwardly observing the Dou Qi Vortex in his Dantian, which had almost solidified.
Four days later, inside the cave, Zhou Changqing was still sitting cross-legged in cultivation. Because he was on the verge of a breakthrough, he had spent the last few days focused solely on that. At this moment, the Dou Qi Vortex in his Dantian had completely solidified, transforming from a liquid to a solid state.
"Now!" The instant the vortex fully solidified, Zhou Changqing's spirit jolted. He immediately began to compress the vortex with all his focus. At the same time, he split his attention, running the Heavenly Dipper Gold Tempering Art at its maximum capacity to capture the worldly energy in the air, refining it into Dou Qi and pouring it into the compressing vortex in his Dantian.
A powerful suction force instantly emanated from Zhou Changqing's body, forming numerous invisible vortexes on his skin. The unaligned worldly energy within the cave was pulled by this force, surging violently toward him. This caused the concentration of energy around him to skyrocket, becoming so dense it was almost visible to the naked eye. A misty vapor appeared in the space around him, drawn into the invisible vortexes before frantically pouring into his body.
Even more dramatically, a massive, two-meter-wide vortex of mist formed above his head, spinning wildly. Before long, all the worldly energy inside the cave was completely swept away. Fortunately, a continuous stream of energy from the outside world flowed in to replenish the void.
Under Zhou Changqing's compression and the massive influx of Dou Qi, the vortex began to shrink...
About half an hour later, the Dou Qi Vortex in his Dantian had completely changed. It was no longer a swirling liquid but had condensed into a diamond-shaped crystal that shimmered with intermingling gold and silver light. As the final wisp of Dou Qi entered the crystal, the gold and silver colors within it instantly flared with a brilliant luminescence.
Seeing this, Zhou Changqing ceased circulating his cultivation art. The suction force emanating from his body immediately weakened and then vanished.
"A Dou Crystal! I'm a one-star Dou Grandmaster!" Taking a deep breath of fresh air, Zhou Changqing observed the Dou Crystal in his Dantian, a wave of joy rising in his heart. After more than a year of effort, he had finally reached a realm that was considered top-tier in Wu Tan City.
He eagerly stood up and, with a thought, began to circulate his Dou Qi. Instantly, a massive amount of gold and silver Dou Qi erupted from the Dou Crystal and surged through his meridians. In the next second, countless streams of gold and silver Dou Qi flowed out from the surface of his body, coalescing around him to form a suit of armor-like protection with dazzling patterns.
Dou Qi Armor! The signature ability of a Dou Grandmaster.
He touched the gold and silver Dou Qi Armor, then knocked on it, a bright smile spreading across his face. Although he hadn't tested it in combat, his senses told him that this Dou Qi Armor was incredibly strong. If Dou Qi Threads were like coarse cloth, then Dou Qi Armor was like steel plate. His mundane iron-cleaving blades and Magical Core Armaments, which could easily cut through Dou Qi Threads, would be as effective as ordinary knives against this armor. An ordinary knife could certainly cut cloth, but it would be useless against steel.
Not only that, but just like Dou Qi Threads, the armor also provided a significant boost to his combat abilities, such as speed and strength. This was why he couldn't hope to match a Dou Grandmaster with his Magical Core Armaments alone. The higher the realm, the greater the gap.
After reveling in his joy for a while, Zhou Changqing suppressed the excitement from his breakthrough, muttering to himself, "Don't get arrogant, don't get complacent. It's just Dou Grandmaster. I might be someone in Wu Tan City, but in the Jia Ma Empire, it's just a bit of strength, nothing more. With this power, I could probably get a deacon position in the Misty Cloud Sect at best, and maybe not even that..."
He estimated his current capabilities. Even now, he couldn't run rampant in Wu Tan City. Setting aside cultivation arts and Dou Skills, even with the problem of using both his Dou Qi attributes simultaneously solved, and with a body as strong as a peak Dou Master, wielding a peak second-rank Magical Beast Weapon and wearing an early third-rank Magical Beast Armor, he could at best, as a one-star Dou Grandmaster, fight a five-star Dou Grandmaster like Jia Lie Bi to a standstill.
So, even after breaking through, Zhou Changqing had no intention of returning to Wu Tan City. He would wait until he had researched and forged a mid-tier third-rank Magical Core Armament. At that point, even if he hadn't reached the mid-rank of Dou Grandmaster, with his powerful physique, dual-attribute advantage, and a mid-tier third-rank armament, his combat power would be enough to crush every Dou Grandmaster in Wu Tan City. He wouldn't fear them even if they ganged up on him.
But now was not the time to consider such things. "After a month, my supplies are basically gone. It's time to go out and restock." Retracting his Dou Qi Armor, Zhou Changqing touched the Storage Ring on his right index finger. He wasn't short on food; the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts was full of meat, enough to last him for a year or more. However, his materials for forging weapons were completely used up. Even the iron lightning rod and coils were on the verge of breaking after being struck by lightning during three thunderstorms.
Zhou Changqing would not give up on the path of refinement; it was one of the advantages that would set him apart from the others on the Dou Qi continent. Not to mention Xiao Yan, who had Yao Lao's guidance and a string of fortuitous encounters. Only by advancing his Dou Qi, physical body, and refinement skills in tandem could he hope to keep pace with Old Xiao. He had no desire to still be a Dou Saint when Xiao Yan became a Dou Di in the future.
With these thoughts, Zhou Changqing walked to the mouth of the cave and gazed into the distance, contemplating his next destination. "It needs to be rich in ores and diverse special metals, and also have frequent thunderstorms. It seems I'll have to consider this carefully."