That night, after seeing Xiao Yan off, Zhou Changqing locked the main gate and hurried back to his bedroom.
Sitting cross-legged on his bed, he took out the two scrolls he had been carrying and placed them before him.
Hah... hah... hah...
Gazing at the gold and silver jade scrolls, Zhou Changqing's eyes burned with a feverish intensity. His heart pounded with an excitement he could barely contain. Although he had appeared calm in front of Xiao Yan, he was anything but calm now.
Only someone who had lived in this world, born into a commoner family and experienced the hardships of the lower class, could truly understand the immense value of these cultivation methods, which seemed so commonplace in novels.
How many ordinary people had risked everything, even their lives, for a single, low-level cultivation method, only to perish in the attempt?
There were far too many such examples.
Just like Zhou Changqing's adoptive parents.
Fifteen years ago, on a stormy night filled with lightning and thunder, Zhou Cai and his wife, Yu Li, blacksmiths by trade for generations, found an infant at their doorstep. For the couple, who were well past middle age and childless, the baby was a gift from the heavens.
And so, the kind-hearted couple adopted the heaven-sent infant, naming him Zhou Changqing, hoping he would live a long and healthy life, free from disaster and illness.
His adoptive parents treated him as their own flesh and blood, wanting to give him all the best things in the world. And Zhou Changqing, possessing the soul of someone who had lived two lives, was exceptionally well-behaved and never gave them cause for worry, which made them dote on him even more.
Under their loving care, Zhou Changqing grew day by day.
But when he was nine, tragedy struck.
In order to provide Zhou Changqing with a better and more suitable cultivation method, his adoptive parents, who could have been enjoying a peaceful retirement, suddenly joined a mercenary group. They ventured into the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts to hunt beasts, hoping to earn money quickly.
Both of them were at the Dou Zhe realm. His adoptive father, Zhou Cai, was a Five Star Dou Zhe, while his adoptive mother, Yu Li, was a Two Star Dou Zhe. Although their strength was not considered high, they were of average standing among ordinary mercenaries.
But being a mercenary was a dangerous profession; a single moment of carelessness could mean death in the jaws of a Magical Beast.
At the time, Zhou Changqing was unaware of any of this. Then one day, a mercenary came to his home with devastating news.
His adoptive parents had been caught in the crossfire of a battle between two third-tier Magical Beasts in the mountain range. They were killed by the shockwaves of the fight, their bodies obliterated without a trace.
Hearing such a horrific report, Zhou Changqing fainted on the spot.
In the aftermath, he fell into a deep depression that lasted for over half a year. If not for the savings his parents had left behind, he might have starved to death.
From that day forward, Zhou Changqing became an orphan, living alone in Wu Tan City until the present.
As he recalled this, Zhou Changqing's eyes couldn't help but turn red, tears welling up within them.
After composing himself, his gaze hardened with resolve.
"Rest assured, I will avenge you both, even if I have to turn the entire Mountain Range of Magical Beasts upside down!"
Wasting no more time, Zhou Changqing picked up the silver scroll and began to unroll it.
This cultivation method was called the Crouching Thunder Method.
Crouching Thunder Method, a High Huang Class lightning attribute cultivation method. As its name suggested, the Dou Qi cultivated from it was like a slumbering beast, lying dormant in times of peace. But once a battle began, it would erupt with the force of a thunderclap, swift and unstoppable.
Furthermore, the quantity and quality of the lightning attribute Dou Qi converted by this method were quite high. While not reaching the level of a Xuan Class technique, it was undoubtedly a top-tier existence among the Huang Class.
Thanks to the formidable soul from his two lives, Zhou Changqing quickly memorized the entire contents of the manual.
Next, he opened the final golden scroll.
Forged Steel Force, a High Huang Class gold attribute cultivation method. By cultivating this method, one's Dou Qi became like tempered steel, possessing extreme power in both attack and defense.
This method was also a top-tier technique among the Huang Class, producing Dou Qi of a quantity and quality that was no less than that of the Crouching Thunder Method.
Hah...
After memorizing both techniques, Zhou Changqing let out a long breath. There was not a trace of fatigue in his eyes; instead, they gleamed with eagerness.
Putting aside everything else, if these two cultivation methods were to be sold on the open market, they would fetch no less than two hundred thousand gold coins. (Don't get hung up on the price; the price of a High Huang Class cultivation method was mentioned in Chapter 371 of the original novel.)
This was comparable to the entire net profit of the Xiao Clan over two years!
It was clear that Xiao Yan truly saw him as a brother.
Even Xiao Yan's own father, Xiao Zhan, didn't receive such treatment—though that was partly because Xiao Zhan didn't need it, as the Xiao Clan already possessed a Mid Xuan Class cultivation method. Other factors were that Xiao Yan didn't want to expose Yao Lao's existence, and the Xiao Clan would be unable to protect a Di Class technique.
Zhou Changqing carefully put the two scrolls away.
Returning to his bed, he sat cross-legged again, closed his eyes, and focused his mind, sinking his consciousness down to his Dantian in his lower abdomen.
Within his Dantian, a palm-sized, milky-white Qi vortex was slowly rotating. Surrounding the vortex was a layer of nebula-like energy, also milky-white.
As the information from the Crouching Thunder Method surfaced in his mind, Zhou Changqing began to guide the Dou Qi within the vortex with his consciousness.
A stream of milky-white Dou Qi was drawn out from the vortex, flowing from his Dantian into his meridians and circulating along a specific pathway. As it continued to circulate, the white Dou Qi gradually transformed into a silver color before returning to the vortex.
As a fellow transmigrator who had also lived two lives, Zhou Changqing's talent was naturally not weak. In fact, one could say his talent was even greater than Xiao Yan's.
He began practicing Qi at the age of four and broke through to the ninth Duan of Dou Qi at the young age of nine. In the same year, without the aid of any medicinal pills or treasures, he compressed his Dou Qi on his own to form a Qi vortex, advancing to the rank of Dou Zhe.
A nine-year-old Dou Zhe!
He had achieved this two years earlier than Xiao Yan!
One can only imagine how shocked Zhou Changqing's adoptive parents were at the time.
Furthermore, perhaps due to his soul from two lives, or maybe because of the freak bolt of lightning that had sent him to this world, Zhou Changqing possessed a rare dual attribute constitution of Gold and Lightning.
The value of a dual attribute constitution in the world of Battle Through the Heavens was self-evident. After all, the most prestigious profession on the Dou Qi continent—the Alchemist—required dual attributes, a fire attribute with a hint of wood.
However, once Zhou Changqing's attributes were identified, his adoptive parents found themselves in a difficult position. One of them had an earth attribute, and the other had a water attribute; neither of their cultivation methods was compatible with his.
Having witnessed his incredible talent, they naturally did not want to see it go to waste. It was precisely for this reason that they decided to risk their lives hunting Magical Beasts to earn money for a suitable cultivation method.
Who could have known that they would never return from that venture?
And Zhou Changqing, without a cultivation method, had been stuck at the initial stage of a Dou Zhe for a full six years. As a result, he couldn't even be considered a One Star Dou Zhe at present.
...
Since this was his first time converting his Dou Qi, Zhou Changqing quickly transformed half of the Qi in his vortex to the lightning attribute. He then began cultivating the Forged Steel Force.
More than an hour later, the Qi vortex in his Dantian had undergone a massive change.
The vortex was no longer milky-white. Instead, it now displayed two colors, gold and silver, resembling a Taiji symbol—distinct yet perfectly intertwined. The nebula-like energy surrounding the vortex appeared exceptionally brilliant and mystical under the light of the two colors.
"Thanks to Brother Yan Di for the care package! Otherwise, who knows how long it would've taken me to take this step!"
Observing the Dou Qi vortex with his inner vision, Zhou Changqing grew more delighted by the second, a broad smile spreading across his face. The bottleneck that had held him back for six years was finally broken today. How could he not be ecstatic? It was a feat of restraint that he didn't leap up and laugh out loud.
After about half an hour of excitement, Zhou Changqing gradually calmed down.
He once again examined the vortex in his Dantian, his eyes twinkling as he murmured to himself, "Now that the conversion is successful, it's time to test out those old ideas. If I succeed, I might be able to forge a path entirely my own..."
Some readers don't read carefully, which is fine, but can you please not come in here spouting nonsense, accusing me of licking Xiao Yan's boots?
I already said the protagonist's adoptive parents became mercenaries to get him a *better* cultivation method, and then they died on their first hunt. Yet you still ask why he didn't just sell their methods to buy a low-level Huang Class one. Are you dense? Do you understand what "a better cultivation method" means? Can you trade two low-level ones for a mid-level one?
And why not first get two suitable low-level Huang Class methods, practice them, and then switch to better ones after earning more money?
Come on, the protagonist was only nine years old! What could he decide? He didn't even know his adoptive parents had become mercenaries, okay? By the time he found out, they were already gone.
Also, who said a cultivation method must come on a scroll? Can't it be an ancestral technique passed down orally? And is it so wrong that they didn't immediately pass it on to the protagonist, so he wouldn't rush to practice an unsuitable method? Were his parents gods? Did they know they would die on their very first mercenary mission?
And who says a Dou Zhe must have a Dou Technique? Their cultivation methods were family heirlooms. Do you think his parents could afford to buy a Dou Technique? A single low-level Huang Class Dou Technique costs at least a thousand gold coins, okay?
Why didn't they have an ancestral Dou Technique? Because their family had spent generations of savings just to buy the cultivation methods, okay?
As for why he didn't go to Jia Nan Academy, there will be an explanation when the story gets to that point, okay?
And this is Battle Through the Heavens, not Douluo Dalu! If you want to see Xiao Yan get abused, please delete this book from your library! You're all so hostile. What, stealing his women isn't enough? You have to see him get killed to be happy?