Chapter 61: Breaking Through in Strength, Qimen Dunjia

Walked out of the forest.

Dou Changsheng looked at the sun at the center of the sky.

He couldn’t help but exhale in relief—what a close call.

Another old monster.

It was very simple to determine this.

Because in all the world, few understood the true weight of the words “Tai Zhen.”

The higher one’s cultivation, the more one feared those two words.

Dou Changsheng was growing increasingly satisfied with this adopted sister; without her, he likely wouldn’t have survived either of those two encounters.

Looking at the black chicken in his hand, Dou Changsheng gathered some dry firewood, lit a fire, and planned to roast it.

Not long after, he was already gnawing on it.

He added only salt—the flavor wasn’t great, but it was far better than chewing dry rations.

With each bite, Dou Changsheng clearly felt his blood qi steadily increasing; his complexion flushed red, the medicinal effect astonishing. This sparked his appetite, and he opened his massive mouth, devouring the entire black chicken in a few bites.

Finally, he licked his fingers, feeling his blood qi continue to grow.

An old monster—no wonder he was called one.

He truly understood human nature.

Knowing Dou Changsheng lacked this most, he had simply delivered it.

Among the Three Flowers of Heaven, Earth, and Man, Dou Changsheng had already condensed the Qi Flower, representing the Heaven Flower; the next steps were the Earth Flower and the Man Flower, and the Blood Qi Flower represented the Man Flower.

After consuming the black chicken, his blood boiled, his blood qi surged, his entire body became like a furnace, radiating terrifying heat that baked the surrounding area.

A phantom flower slowly took shape, swaying gently in midair.

Blood qi continuously flooded in, the Man Flower gradually solidified, finally becoming a vivid bloom standing firm against the wind in the sky.

Two of the Three Flowers had now been condensed.

This cultivation speed was extraordinarily fast.

This also revealed that Dou Changsheng had deliberately suppressed his realm in the past, never blindly chasing breakthroughs.

He had only broken through then due to Wang Chongguang’s surprise attack, forcibly ascending to complete the Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown and reaching the Primordial Profound Realm.

He had merely acquired Wang Chongguang’s thousand-year medicinal herb, and now this extraordinary encounter—yet in the future, Dou Changsheng would never lack such things.

Only the Earth Flower remained; once formed, his Primordial Qi would transform into Primordial True Energy.

Less than a year since he began his path, he was about to attain the Primordial Realm—achieving what others spent decades trying to accomplish. The Iron Armor Lion King Wang Xiong, who once kidnapped him, had only sought to reach the Primordial True Realm, risking everything by plunging into the northern conflicts.

Dou Changsheng slowly rose, brushed off his hands, straightened his robes, and continued on his journey.

Not knowing the location was simple—just head north.

After walking only a short while, Dou Changsheng spotted a government road, and he exhaled in relief.

A government road meant he would soon encounter people and learn where he was.

He couldn’t help but glance back—the direction of the village. Who could have imagined such an ordinary little hamlet concealed an old monster?

Absentmindedly, he pulled a shard of jade from his robe.

It was a corner of a jade pendant, forcibly broken off.

This fragment had been inside the black chicken; Dou Changsheng discovered it while eating, and upon seeing it, he immediately understood—the old woman Du intended for him to deliver a message.

But the origin of this jade shard was unclear, and he didn’t know what to do with it.

Besides, Dou Changsheng had no intention of getting involved; they were strangers—why invite trouble?

The Hero List boasted he was righteous and benevolent, but Dou Changsheng didn’t believe it for a second—it was just for outsiders. How could he fool himself? He was just an ordinary man.

Afraid of trouble, he sought self-preservation.

After fiddling with it for a while, he put it away.

After walking along the road for a while, he noticed something was wrong.

It felt like he’d been here before.

Dou Changsheng narrowed his eyes, deliberately raised his hand, and slashed out a sword qi, leaving a visible scar on the ground, then continued forward for about fifteen minutes.

A sword mark, roughly one zhang long, appeared in his vision—the furrowed soil, straight and deep. Dou Changsheng fell silent.

Had he walked in a circle? Was this an illusion?

Was his perception distorted, causing him to endlessly circle back to the same spot?

Or had he entered some array, altering the terrain so subtly he returned to the same place—possibility after possibility arose in his mind.

As a transmigrator who had experienced an information explosion, benefiting from countless wild possibilities of his past life, Dou Changsheng thought too much. For a moment, he didn’t advance—he deliberately stepped back.

As he retreated, he clearly saw the distance between himself and the sword mark growing larger.

But after retreating a short while, he saw the sword mark again—this shattered all hope; escaping was impossible.

Left or right, he hadn’t tried—no one would leave such an obvious flaw.

Without realizing it, he had stepped into some array—this must be the product of Qimen Dunjia.

Unfortunately, this was his weakness—he had cultivated too briefly; aside from wielding a sword to kill, Dou Changsheng knew nothing else. He looked up, considering using the Hero Sword to surge straight into the sky.

Gaps were more likely to appear in the heavens and earth.

The sky above held no obstructions, unlike the ground, where roads, stones, and forests could be manipulated.

The moment this idea formed, Dou Changsheng leapt upward, then surged again into the air—this was Yun Long San Zhe.

Far off, another figure rose into the air—silver hair fluttering in the wind, robes billowing. They exchanged a glance and recognized each other instantly.

Dou Changsheng narrowed his eyes—it was Jin Wuming.

They had deliberately parted ways, one heading south, the other north—yet the strange thing was, they had met again.

Before Dou Changsheng could speak, Jin Wuming asked first: “You didn’t keep going north—why did you turn back?”

Dou Changsheng suspected Jin Wuming was accusing him first, that it was Jin Wuming who had turned back—but he had no proof. After the abandoned village, he too had lost his sense of direction; he only felt he was heading north, but whether he truly was—that was questionable.

Jin Wuming immediately shook his head and waved his hand.

“Forget it.”

“This isn’t important.”

“As I said, when we meet again, we must join forces to protect ourselves.”

“This signifies we’ve both been drawn into the vortex of Liang.”

“No matter which way you walk here, you return to the same spot—without doubt, this is the Nine-Turn Array of the Mechanism Sect.”

“Only the Mechanism Sect in Liang has the ability to trap you and me.”

“I sensed the wind was wrong, so I tried to flee—but still got dragged in.”

“The Divine Blood Sect, the Wang Clan of Xiangzhou!”

“They’re clearly trying to capture us, to make others hesitate.”

“Relax, unlucky one—there are certainly more than just the two of us.”

[73] “You’ll soon meet others just as unlucky as we are.”