"Why would she come here?"
A trace of confusion flashed in Gu Han's eyes.
Walking toward him was a girl around fifteen years old, with a cold yet charming appearance and delicate features. She wore a moon-white dress that accentuated her graceful figure, and green jade pendants dangled from her tender earlobes, emitting clear, crisp sounds as she moved.
This was none other than Nalan Yanran, the disciple of Cloud Mist Sect's leader, Yun Yun.
But as the personal disciple of the sect leader, why would she come to the outer sect's training hall to cultivate?
Even if she couldn't access the back mountain yet, she should definitely be able to use the core disciples' training rooms.
Though puzzled, Gu Han moved quickly, stepping aside to make way.
"Huh?"
Nalan Yanran, who had been lost in thought with her head lowered, also noticed the sudden appearance of a figure in front of her. Just as she was about to dodge, she saw that the other party had already taken action, so she continued walking forward on her own.
Her gaze lingered on Gu Han's face for a moment, and a flicker of admiration appeared in her eyes. She nodded in acknowledgment before quickening her pace and walking out, soon disappearing through the doorway.
Gu Han didn't look back. After passing Nalan Yanran, he went straight to the registration desk.
"Honored Steward."
Gu Han took out his identity token and handed it over.
The person in charge of the outer sect's training hall was a middle-aged man with a dignified appearance who seemed full of integrity.
"A Provisional Disciple?"
The middle-aged man took the token, a hint of surprise in his eyes.
Provisional Disciples had not yet become Dou Practitioners. Using the training hall to cultivate Dou Disciple was a waste of Merit Points unless they were here to break through.
"Are you Gu Han?" The middle-aged man showed a friendly smile.
"That's right, disciple." Gu Han replied neither humbly nor arrogantly.
"I've heard of you. First place in yesterday's Provisional Disciple competition, and you've been at the ninth level of Dou Disciple for half a year already." The middle-aged man picked up his brush and wrote something, then took a token from the table and handed it back. "Since you're here, I assume you're preparing to break through to Dou Practitioner."
"That's not an easy task. This First Class A room might give you a slightly better chance of success."
Hearing this, Gu Han immediately clasped his hands in gratitude. "Thank you for your consideration, Steward."
The outer sect's training hall had eighteen training rooms, divided into three classes: A, B, and C, with six rooms in each class.
First Class A was the room with the densest natural energy. Generally, only the top-ranked outer sect disciples could apply to use it.
This was no small favor.
"Go ahead, focus on your cultivation. Come exchange your token for your identity token after you finish training." The middle-aged man smiled kindly and waved his hand lightly. "You have a total of 1,500 Merit Points in your token, enough for up to fifteen days of training. Adjust your state properly before condensing your Dou Qi Vortex—your success rate will be higher."
"Understood." Gu Han had the Jade Spirit Fruit and wasn't worried about failing his breakthrough, but there was no need to mention that. He simply accepted the goodwill.
Holding the token, Gu Han continued inward, showing it to two guards at the corner before proceeding further.
Only after he disappeared did the middle-aged man withdraw his gaze, a hint of melancholy in his eyes. "It's not easy for commoner disciples to stand out. I wonder if Gu Han can go further than I did."
Bang!
At the deepest part of the outer sect's training hall, Gu Han took out the token and placed it into the slot on the door marked "First Class A."
Mechanisms activated, and the training room door opened.
Gu Han entered, closing the door from the inside. The token appeared on the inner end.
As long as he pressed the token down, he could open the chamber door. During this time, no one outside could open the door to enter.
Room A-1 was quite spacious, approximately twenty-five square meters with a five-meter ceiling. The roof had a special structure that could be opened for ventilation.
At the center lay a meditation cushion, while a desk with brush, ink, paper, and inkstone stood against one wall.
Gu Han sat on the cushion and closed his eyes to begin regulating his breathing.
However, a faint orchid-like fragrance drifted into his nostrils, causing him to open his eyes.
"Nalan Yanran."
After a moment's thought, Gu Han realized why the scent felt familiar—it was identical to the fragrance he'd noticed when passing Nalan Yanran at the training hall entrance earlier.
"It seems she was the one using Room A-1 before."
A flicker of understanding crossed Gu Han's eyes before he dismissed the thought and resumed his meditative state.
About fifteen minutes later, he retrieved a faintly glowing fruit from his Storage Ring and swallowed it whole.
A peculiar sensation spread through his mouth, but before he could dwell on it, a warm feeling ignited in his lower abdomen like kindled flames.
"Such immense energy."
The fiery sensation didn't harm him but instead enabled premature internal vision. He clearly sensed a gentle, pure energy flowing through his limbs and bones, beginning to strengthen all his meridians.
He immediately formed hand seals to absorb Dou Qi, drawing heaven and earth energy into his body as Dou Disciple energy. This merged with the vast energy in his meridians, converging toward his lower dantian.
"Huu."
The still air in the chamber began rippling with energy currents. Unlike others who experienced tearing pain in their meridians when breaking through to Dou Practitioner, Gu Han felt only comfort.
Every meridian was being nourished and enhanced, while his cultivation rapidly and steadily improved—so pleasurable he nearly moaned.
Under the dual influence of the Jade Spirit Fruit's medicinal power and Dou Disciple energy, his meridians became completely saturated.
The Dou Disciple energy throughout his body had reached its maximum capacity.
It hit a critical point where no further increase was possible.
Yet Gu Han didn't rush to channel the energy to his dantian, continuing absorption instead.
Only when the fruit's efficacy faded, his meridians stopped expanding and strengthening, and the excess Dou Disciple energy began causing faint stinging sensations did he change hand seals—thumbs and index fingers connecting, middle fingers touching.
Instantly, the raging Dou Disciple energy within him surged toward his lower dantian, spinning and condensing as it transformed from pale white to pure white, finally becoming milky white.
"Condense!"
The entire process lasted nearly an hour before Gu Han suddenly opened his eyes, pure white energy flashing through his ink-black pupils.
A strange muffled sound echoed within his body as he gained a new ability: internal vision.
This auxiliary skill, exclusive to Dou Practitioners, would provide deeper insight into his body as his strength grew.
Gu Han focused his consciousness on his dantian, "seeing" a palm-sized milky vortex slowly rotating, wrapped in nebula-like milky energy gas—at least ten times stronger than his previous ninth-stage Dou Disciple energy.
If he faced Mo Qing now, he could directly suppress him with Dou Qi.
Henceforth, the energy he converted from heaven and earth would truly be Dou Qi!
Now he could choose a cultivation technique to study; otherwise, he'd only be able to use primitive methods to control the vortex's absorption of heaven and earth energy.
"Huu."
Having successfully condensed his Dou Qi Vortex on the first attempt and become a one-star Dou Practitioner—finally a qualified cultivator—Gu Han relaxed slightly both physically and mentally.
But this was merely the first step of a long journey, and he didn't celebrate too much, closing his eyes to continue his cultivation.
The Jade Spirit Fruit strengthened his meridians, offering many benefits, and its medicinal potency hadn't been fully absorbed yet.
Cultivating now would yield twice the results with half the effort, allowing him to quickly stabilize his cultivation base.
At the same time, Mo Yu returned to Mo Qing's side with a gloomy expression.
"Brother, where's the Jade Spirit Fruit?" Mo Qing asked eagerly, not noticing Mo Yu's troubled look.
"Gone." Mo Yu clenched his fists tightly, his eyes icy cold. "It was taken and eaten by some petty thief."
Mo Qing: ?