Cultivation Levels:

1. Dou Disciple (Dou Zhi)

2. Dou practitioner (Dou Zhe)

3. Dou Master (Dou SHi)

4. Dou Grandmaster (Da Daou shi)

5: Dou spirit (Dou Ling)

6: Dou King

7: Dou Emperor

8: Dou Ancestor

9: Dou Venetrate

9.5: Half saint

10: Dou Saint

11: Dou Immortal

Dou Zhi Li, 5th stage!'

Facing the Magical Testing Monument as it displayed the 5 big hurtful words, the youth stood expressionless, lips curled in a small smile which hid a mystery inside for the observers if they only knew.

"Xiao Yan, Dou Zhi Li, 5th stage! Rank: Low!" Beside the Magical Testing Monument, a middle-aged man looked at the results on the monument and announced them with an indifferent voice.

Immediately after the middle-aged man finished speaking, without much surprise, the people in the square started a commotion, ridiculing him.

"5th stage? Hmmhmm, as expected. This 'genius' has once again taken a step back."

"Ai, this piece of trash really disgraced his entire clan."

"If his father wasn't the clan leader, this kind of trash would already have been kicked out of the clan. Nobody would care about him, and there wouldn't be such a thing as leeching off the clan home."

"How could the once famous genius of Wu Tan Cheng fall to become like this over the past few years?"

"Who knows? Maybe he did something unforgivable and caused the immortals to get angry."

The ridicule and laughter directed at him came from all directions and resonated in the motionless youth's ears, as if piercing his heart. He could not help but want to laugh in ridicule at these short sighted fools, which he did making everyone angrier.

He raised his head to reveal a delicate and immature face, jet black eyes glancing past the people of his age that ridiculed him as well and laughed while heading to out. As he walked he wondered if this supported his idea of the fact that humankind was selfish and hardly ever cared for others.

'These people, were they always this cold? Or was it because three years ago they smiled humbly to congratulate me, and now they wanted to take it back?' Smiling with ridicule, Madara walked back to the group of people. His lonesome figure seemed to be unable to fit in with the surroundings, as even with his declining strength he stood out with his commanding presence. But even as he thought about how people had changed, he heard voices singing support for him which softened his smile.

"Next up, Xiao Mei!"

Hearing the tester's voice, a teenage girl quickly ran up from in the crowd. The moment she got on stage, the murmurings and discussions quietened down and every pair of fiery eyes were locked on her face.

The teenage girl wasn't more than 14 years old. Although her beauty wasn't immediately evident, her small childish face combined with her innocence captured the attention of the audience.

She quickly stepped forward and put her tiny hands on the black stone monument. She then closed her eyes gently.

As the girl closed her eyes, the monument shined brightly once again.

'Dou Zhi Li, 8th stage!'

"Xiao Mei, Dou Zhi Li, 8th stage! Rank: High!"

Hearing the tester read out the result, the teen girl smiled proudly.

"Tsk tsk, 8th stage Dou Zhi Li. How impressive! At this rate, in two years she'll be named a true Dou Zhe already."

"She really fits the name of the clan's seedling."

Hearing the unanimous praise coming from the crowd, the girl's smile turned even wider. Vanity, the temptation that so many girls are unable to resist…

While chatting with her fellow sister members, her line of sight weaved through the surrounding people and landed on a lonesome figure away from them.

Furrowing her brows for a while, she finally decided against walking over. Between the two of them was already a huge gap. Looking at Madara's performance these past few years, by the time the Adulthood Ceremony comes, he would only be able to place at the lower tier clan member ranks. She, however, with her brilliance, would become the clan's very important and thus well-nurtured fighter. There would be no limit to her future.

"Ai…" An inexplicable sigh emerged from her. Xiao Mei thought back to the youth from three years ago, bursting with energy and pride. At 4 he started practicing, and at 10 he achieved the 1 star Dou Zhe and became the youngest Dou Zhe in the clan since the past 100 years.

At that time, his self-confidence as well as immeasurable power attracted countless young teens which of course, included Xiao Mei.

However, the path of a genius was always winding. Three years ago, this genius youngster whose fame reached the absolute top, received what could possibly be the cruelest blow. The hard work he put into accumulating and condensing the Dou Zhi Qi Zu over the past ten years had, in just one night, vanished into nothingness. All the Dou Zhi Li in his body slowly dissipated with time and instead, pity for him grew.

As a result of losing his Dou Zhi Li, his physical strength decreased as well.

From the position of a genius, in one night he fell to the level of the average person. This kind of blow would have made youth of his age lose his will to carry on training but unlike what others believed he continued to practice with a harsh training regime and in spars he has still never lost, no matter how people ridicule Madara he was still the strongest fighter in his generation. The reverence once associated with this lad had slowly changed into disdain and ridicule, as they showed their jealousy because he was a figure within their sight and would be surpassed as time passed because he continued to grow weaker as his energy became smaller and smaller.

Standing so high up and falling right down – this kind of fall might just be one that he could never recover from but he had proved that he was still the prince of her dreams, holding his head in pride with strength that made her weak when she looked into his deep eyes. She knew his secret and was trained to become better by him, she wanted to lash out in his stead but he held her back. The words uttered might never hurt him but it made her very uncomfortable hearing such things directed at someone she admired.

"Next, Xiao Xun Er!"

Among the commotion, the tester's voice sounded yet again.

Following the calling of this highly reputable name, the group of people quietened down immediately. Every single gaze turned, at the center point of attention was a teen girl clad in a purple dress, elegantly standing there. Her calm, tender and immaculate face was completely unaffected by the many gazes of the crowd.

Her calm and indifferent attitude could be compared to the blooming of a lotus. At such a young age, she already had the air of a refined lady. It would be hard to imagine how she would affect the city and the nation once she grew up.

This purple dress girl, if compared to Xiao Mei in terms of beauty, was clearly several leagues above. It's no wonder the crowd would have this kind of actions.

Taking small, graceful steps, the girl named Xiao Xun Er walked up in front of the stone monument. She stretched her small hand out and the purple sleeve mixed with black and gold threads fell down her arm, revealing a delicate snow-white wrist. She touched the monument lightly.

In the silence, the monument shone once more.

"Dou Zhi Li, 9th stage! Rank: High!"

Looking at the words on the monument, the entire square fell into deep silence.

"... She really reached the 9th stage, how frightening! The position of the youngest high rank in the clan has been taken, without a shred of doubt, by Miss Xun Er!" After the silence, several teens couldn't help but wolf whistle, their eyes full of respect and awe.

Dou Zhi Li was essential towards being a Dou Zhe. Dou Zhi Li is split into 10 different stages, and when the body acquires 10 stages of Dou Zhi Li, it can better condense the Dou Zhi vertex, becoming a well-respected Dou Zhe!

In the crowd of people, Xiao Mei stared at the purple dress girl in front of the monument with a little jealousy as she knew Xiao Yan favored her and liked people with strength in all aspects.

Looking at the results on the monument, the middle-aged tester who would normally be indifferent smiled, faced her and congratulated her: "Miss Xun Er, half a year later, you should be able to condense the Dou Qi vortex. If you succeed, you'll be a Dou Zhe at the age of 14, the second person to do so in the Xiao clan."

Of course, the second person as the first would be the fallen genius, Xiao Yan.

"Thanks." The teen girl nodded her head lightly, her calm face showing a little happiness because of his praise. She quietly turned, and in the midst of the crowd's attention, slowly walked to the prideful youth in the back of the group.

"Brother Xiao Yan." At the youth's side, the teen girl stopped. She faced Xiao Yan and bowed respectfully. Her beautiful and gentle face showed an elegant smile which would make the surrounding girls jealous.

"Congratulations Xun Er, you have done well." He faced the girl that could be considered the clan's radiant pearl and said with a small amount of happiness. Hearing the words made her fill up with joy, as praise was rarely given by him.

"Brother Xiao Yan, you once said to Xun Er before – to take on anything, one must first be able to let go. One is only truly free when he can take on and let go easily. Your figure filled with strength and pride without any care shows that you live by these words, so how can I slack off." Xiao Xun Er said gently, her smiling face full of warmth.

"I hope to see you free as well, as for this world it's just waiting to be conquered by yours truly." Madara laughed and said spiritedly.

Facing Madara's arrogant proclamation, Xiao Xun Er's fine brows furrowed a little, and she said with tinge of excitement "Brother Xiao Yan, are you saying that you will be regaining your strength soon." She stopped after saying that, her white tender face reddening a little thinking that back then, there were a lot of people who were attracted to him and what if he was attracted to the sluts.

"Ha-ha…" Hearing the girl's whole-hearted truth, he laughed awkwardly but didn't say anything else. Other people would be swayed by it, but he did not have the qualifications or the mood. Instead, he silently turned around and walked away from the square.

As Xiao Yan was leaving, she didn't hesitate and joined with Xiao Mei also coming both girls looked at each other with a sisterly smile while surrounding him from both sides. Meanwhile, from behind jealous wolf whistle sounded.

The moon was like a silver plate and the stars filled the sky.

At the summit of the cliff, Madara lay on the grass and in his mouth was a strand of green grass. He chewed it slightly and let the bitterness spread into his mouth slowly.

He raised his white palm and put it in front of him, blocking the moon and only letting some moonlight pass through the gaps between his fingers. He looked at the giant circular silver moon in the sky.

"Ai…" Thinking back the testing in the afternoon, Xiao Yan sighed lightly. He lazily pulled his hand back and rested both hands on his head. He looked absent-minded.

In a soft voice the young teen spat out the words without any warning, "15 years already, huh?"

In Madara's mind, there was a secret that only he himself knew: He wasn't a person from this world. More accurately, his soul wasn't from this world. He was from a deep blue star called Chakravartin. As for unexplainable mystery of why he would be here, he himself had no clue. As he grew older, he slowly came to understand bits and pieces of this continent.

This continent was called the Dou Qi Continent. On the continent, there wasn't many tales of magic users and their effects, but rather, Dou Qi was the main star.

On this big piece of land, the training of Dou Qi had become commonplace after the hard work of countless individuals who continued to train beyond generations, expanding the knowledge surrounding Dou Qi all the way to the top. Dou Qi and mankind are one and the same in everyday life and as such, Dou Qi is extremely important in the continent. It could be called irreplaceable!

As the number of levels in Dou Qi kept increasing, so did the number of ways to train it. Some were better than others, as expected.

After going through a system of analysis, the Dou Qi rankings in the Dou Qi Continent got split into four different classes – Tian, Di, Xuan, and Huang.

And every class was split further into Beginner, Medium and High ranks!

The Dou Qi techniques you learned also determined how strong you would be. For example, if a person practiced a Xuan class Medium rank technique, he would naturally be stronger than a person who practiced a Huang class High rank technique.

In the Dou Qi Continent, to differentiate the strong from the weak, there are 3 criteria that need to be looked at.

First, and also the most important, is your natural body strength. If a person only has a 1 star level of strength, even if he practiced the Tian class High rank techniques, he wouldn't be able to beat a Huang class Combat Master.

Next is technique level. If two people of the same innate strength were to battle, the one with the better technique will obviously win.

Lastly is Dou Technique.

Dou Technique is a special kind of skill that is used when controlling Dou Qi and in the land of Dou Qi; Dou Technique is also separated into Tian, Di, Xuan, and Huang.

Dou Qi in the continent speaks for itself, but Dou Technique is different. Almost everyone starts off with a Dou Technique class of Huang. If you wanted to learn more advance control skills, you would need to join a sect or enroll in a Dou Technique school.

Of course, there are some who, by chance, managed to learn the skills that others before have left behind, or those who have compatible Dou Techniques. For these people, their combat level might be slightly higher than normal.

Relying on these 3 aspects, you can determine who is strong and who is weak. All in all, if you managed to learn a high level Dou Technique, the benefits in the future would be enormous.

However, high level Dou Techniques are really hard to come by as a commoner. Those that are open to the public are normal, Huang class techniques. For those bigger clans or small sects, Xuan class techniques are the norm. For example, in Xiao Yan's clan, their highest level technique was only practiced by the clan leader – Lion Wind Strike. It was a wind style Xuan class Medium rank Dou Technique.

Above the Xuan class would be the Di class, but this kind of high-level techniques might only obtainable by a powerful country-like organisation.

As for the Tian class, in a hundred years, it hasn't appeared once.

As previously stated, commoners trying to get a high-level technique is like trying to climb a mountain without gear. However, nothing is absolute. In the world of Dou Qi, there are thousands of clans. In the North, there are people referred to as 'Unbeatable'. They fused their soul with wild animals and became barbarians. In the South, there are smart and talented high class beast spirit clans, and even the strange and infamous underworld people.

Because of the vastness of the continent, there are bound to be cases of nameless figures that, by chance, happened upon a miracle that made them strong. Or, perhaps, there might be people who are bound by fate to discover strong techniques. In the land of Dou Qi, there is one famous sentence: If you find yourself stuck in a ditch or forsaken by the world, don't panic. Take two steps forward and maybe you'll find yourself stronger than ever before.

Of course, though this line isn't false, in the thousand years of history in the continent, there aren't many stories of people getting strong by random chance.

As a result of this, every day, there are countless individuals who try to break through and discover a new skill or technique, but instead only return with a broken hip or leg.

All in all, this continent is full of mysteries and miracles.

To access the vault of secret Dou Qi techniques, you must at least be a full-fledged Dou Zhe to meet the basic requirements. For Xiao Yan, it seemed so far away.

Xiao Yan sat down, peacefully remembering the old days when he was the one and only feared Madara Uchiha. It had been so long since he had arrived that he gotten used to being part of the family but he still held contempt for the weak talking big. He had arrived after disappearing when his talk with Hashirama finished but unexpectedly instead of arriving in the pure lands he was a reborn as a baby. With his original strength being so high, his spirit was way stronger than normal people.

It must be known that in the Dou Qi continent, your spirit is decided upon at birth. Maybe, as you grew older, it would strengthen a slight bit, but there is no known technique to train your spirit to be stronger. It was Xiao Yan's strong spirit that gave him his talent, as well as his fame as a genius.

For an average person, if they were told that they could be a genius, there's little doubt that they would claim their fame and live the high life. But Madara didn't do that and trained with fervor, even then the news spread without him trying to boast as people witnessed his progress they saw a future of advancement for the clan.

If there wasn't any accident, Xiao Yan could perhaps grow even more with his 'genius' label but unexpectedly he chose to let it go one night as he had been provided an offer which he could not decline as it intrigued him very much. That is the real truth behind the mystery of how a genius turned into a piece of trash.

He shook his head from the musing, as he remembered meeting the ghost once he realized that the ring given to him by his mother was absorbing the energy slowly. His absorption of Dou Zhi Qi was also extraordinarily fast. It was faster than the strongest fighter from a few years back. All these factors should have meant that Xiao Yan was a natural genius, but all the Dou Zhi Qi that he absorbed was completely absorbed.

Taking another deep breath, Madara raised his hand. On his finger was a black ring of simple design. The material used to make it was unknown. On it were some markings as well. This was the only present his late mother gave to him before she passed. He started wearing it since the age of 4 and even now, 10 years later, he was still wearing. It was a precious gift from his mother and Xiao Yan treasured it dearly. He rubbed the ring and said bitterly: "These few years, I've really let Father worry, huh?"

Sighing deeply, Madara quickly stood up and turned around, saying to the black figure from the woods: "Father, why have you come?"

Though his Dou Zhi Qi was only at 5th stage, his spiritual awareness was akin to that of a 9 star Dou Zhe, perhaps even better. While thinking about his mother, he felt a sudden disturbance from the woods.

"Ah ah, Yan Er. It's already quite late. Why are you still here?" From within the cluster of trees, after a moment of silence, a tender voice sounded.

The trees shook a little and a middle-aged man jumped out, face smiling widely. His eyes were locked on his son under the moonlight.

The middle-aged man was wearing an expensive looking grey tunic. He walked with pride and dignity and his face showed it. He was the Xiao clan leader, as well as Xiao Yan's father, a 5 star Dou Shi – Xiao Zhan!

"Father, why have you not returned to rest yet?" Facing the middle-aged man, Xiao Yan's smiled thickened. Although he had another set of memories, when he was born, the person before him treated him as with love and care. When he lost his power and spirit, the love did not lessen but grew instead. This poked at Xiao Yan's heart, making Xiao Yan recognize him as his father and share his secret to show his trust in his new parent.

"Yan Er, are you still thinking about what happened this afternoon?" Taking a big step forward, Xiao Zhan smiled again.

"Ha ha, what's there to think about? It's within my expectations." Xiao Yan shook his head and smiled.

"Ai…" Looking at Xiao Yan's tender face, Xiao Zhan let out a sigh. The both of them sank into silence for a while, before Xiao Zhan said: "Yan Er, you're 15 now, aren't you?"

"Yes, father."

"Just one more year… and you have to attend the Adulthood Ceremony…" Xiao Zhan said.

"Yes, father. Only a year left." Xiao Yan's fist clenched for a while before he replied. He was extremely clear what the Adulthood Ceremony meant. Once the ceremony had past, for the Xiao Yan that didn't train, he would be subject to the criteria of searching for Dou Qi techniques. Because he was so weak, he would be sent to do a normal job in the other parts of the Xiao clan. This was a clan rule and even if the clan leader was his father, he would not be able to do anything about it.

If one didn't reach Dou Zhe by the age of 25, the clan would abandon them.

"Sorry, Yan Er. If you don't reach the Dou Zhi Qi 7th stage by next year, I can't do anything to help you, no matter how much I want to. In this clan, I'm not the sole decision maker. There are also those old geezers waiting for me to make a mistake…" Looking at the peaceful Xiao Yan, Xiao Zhan voiced guiltily.

"Father, don't worry it's time!" Xiao Yan reassured his father.

Knowing full well Xiao Yan's would never lie to him, Xiao Zhan could only answer with a hearty laugh at the good news and waited for his son to strike like lightning to pass the expectations of all. He knew that 4 stages of Dou Zhi Qi in a year were easy for his son, so he gently patted Xiao Yan's head, and smiled, saying: "It's getting quite late, you should go back and get some rest. Tomorrow, the clan has a guest and you shouldn't miss the ceremony."

"Guest? Who?" Xiao Yan asked, full of curiosity.

"You'll find out tomorrow." Xiao Zhan winked at the restless Xiao Yan, leaving with a big smile on his face.

"Don't you worry, father. I'll work really hard." Xiao Yan rubbed the simple ring while raising his head and whispering. Just when Xiao Yan raised his head, the black ring on his finger suddenly lit up with a mysterious glow and flashed. Blinking, Xiao Yan realized it was finally time to start again.

"Yao Lao, Its time you paid the price for my service."

"Yao Lao, Its time you paid the price for my service." Madara muttered seemingly to know one but unknown to everyone a spiritual existence had flown out of the ring forming into the shape of a person.

A wizened and strange laugh entered his ear, and a transparent elder appeared beside him, "You are as sharp as ever Madara. It's nice to meet you again after so long and I am happy that you kept your promise as I was really worried you might run out of patience and eat my soul."

Madara smirked without looking at the figure, "No need to question my pledges old man, I have been waiting to learn new skills from such an important figure as you for a long time. If I didn't have principles than I would no different than the scum I despise."

Yao Lao looked at the surroundings and enjoyed the sight after so long and spoke, "Madara you are also old, don't fool yourself by acting like a kid. As for our deal I will keep to it and teach everything that I can about Alchemy. You have the best potential among the people I have encountered with your affinity to all elements and the high affinity for flames along with nature making you an ideal candidate for Alchemy."

Madara turned around with a wicked smile on his face, "No need to flatter me, I heard the same speech last time. So when are we starting."

In Dou Qi mainland, even though alchemists were very rare, there were still differences between alchemists. From low to high, the stages for alchemists range from the lowest, 1, to the highest, 9. The Pill King Gu He that was considered the top alchemist in Jia Ma Empire was a sixth stage alchemist.

Alchemists, even within strong forces were treated with respect and deference.

"Hehe, you want to start? Since you want to, then you should pay your respects to your teachers." The elder sat on a green rock and coiled his legs beneath himself.

"You want me to do what?" Madara enquired with confusion.

"Ridiculous! To not pay your respects and still expect me to teach you all that I know? You're dreaming!" The elder rolled his eyes, looks like the pedantic elder really cared about these student-teacher relationships.

Madara laughed at the elder and stared at him with his demonic eyes, "Yao Lao cut the banter and tell me when you are ready or else I might eat you by accident."

Yao Lao understood that he was pushing Madara limit who knows when he might snap, so he told him that he needs to adjust himself to the release of his power for today and they will start tomorrow.

Madara calmed down and was filled with expectation though e didn't want to rely on external resources to help himself but the order of the world meant you will be left behind without pills and such. Even though he had better pace than the people of this world he needed to be the strongest so using all means was a necessity and Yao Lao had said "that the Pill King is … only trash in my eyes.".

He wouldn't believe the nonsense but he could tell when people lied to him and he saw within his eyes pride at being better and some other things hidden.

"First of to become an alchemist, you need to have Dou Qi of the Fire-Attribute. So, before you become an alchemist you have to at least become a Dou Zhe and learn a fire attribute Dou Qi method!"

Madara held out his hand looked at the elder: "Fire attributes Dou Qi method of my clan is really shabby so you should give me a Tian Level fire attribute Dou Qi method."

Hearing that, Yan Lao indignantly scolded Madara: "Really? Do you think that Tian Stage Dou Qi Methods are like potatoes in the ground? How could you say something like that?!"

Okay okay, stop looking at me like that; I wouldn't let you practice some shabby methods. Tian Stage Methods? I don't have them! But I have a method that's a lot stronger than a normal Tian Stage Method. Do you want to learn it?" Yao Lao's turbid old eyes suddenly became conspiratorial.

"Stronger than a Tian Stage Dou Qi Method?"

His heart beats rapidly. Madara felt a hint of anticipation, "Then what level Dou Qi Method is it?"

"Low Huang Level." Yao Lao's light laughter made Madara face stiffen.

"Geezer, you need to stop playing around."

A furious voice sounded on the peak of the mountain.

Looking at the twisted face of the young man, Yao Lao started laughing. To be able to make the calm Madara that mad, he had a feeling of accomplishment.

"What's strange about that Dou Qi Method?" Watching Yao Lao´s bantering face, Madara suddenly calmed down.

"It can evolve!"

Madara's eyes widened and without blinking, Xiao Yan stared at Yao Lao's face, trying to find a hint that Yao Lao was lying, but after a few seconds, he shook his head: "Interesting, old man you got my attention but can you prove that it works."

"Dou Qi mainland is huge and strange people and things happen all the time. In your limited mind, you haven't even gone outside of Jia Ma Empire. There are tons of impossible things that are actually possible."

"It's explained like that on the Dou Qi Method."

"There really are such Dou Qi Methods?" His brows furrowed, Madara hesitated before saying: "let me see it?"

"Hehe…" Looking at the curious Madara, Yao Lao's mouth opened, but what came out wasn't what Xiao Yan was expecting. "Apologies but you have to return to Dou Zhe level first before I pass it on to you."

Madara would have smacked the old man hard but he knew the thing would be useless until he stepped into the next stage, "Very well Yao Lao you can go and rest, I will call you when I need your services."

Yao Lao nodded and disappeared into the ring leaving Madara to his musings. While Madara thought about doing more training for the day as he realized the benefits from the incident, two birds with one stone was how he rolled. As a result of this incident he gained an alchemy teacher and his internal foundation had become solid and reliable since he never stopped never stopped training Qi, with it leaving and growing within his body making the pathways stronger.

When one begins to train their Dou Qi, their main focus is to build muscle and strengthen internal Qi paths so that they have a foundation for when they materialize their Dou Qi within their body. Because people at younger have weak internal Qi paths and can be molded, you need to take the training process step by step and you can't use outside force to boost your training speed or else in the future when your Dou Qi becomes stronger, your internal Qi paths won't be able to withstand the force of Dou Qi pushing through the paths and your Qi paths would burst which would be when you would die.

But this only applied to others as he gained the benefit and was able to force large amounts energy to grow within a small time without destroying himself, though that didn't matter when he still he had his regeneration ability which was working slowly but would grow with the level of power.

The next day Madara was meditating on his bed. In front of him, his hands were clasped in a weird yet relaxed manner. His chest peacefully rose and fell with the rhythm of his breath. Everything was just… so natural! With every breath he took, a pale white stream of what seemed to be air darted into the young man's nose and mouth, squeezing into his body and reshaping it.

He gathered energy and felt his powers grow, the energy absorption was very fast but it will take some days for him to enter 6th level from the 5th.

After having done a few exercises in his plain room, an old, wizened voiced sounded outside of his door: "Young master, the clan leader has requested your presence in the hall."

Madara was the third son of the clan head. Above him were two brothers, but they had already left the clan in search of adventure. Only at the end of each year would they come back and meet their family. Overall however, the two brothers were extremely nice to their little brother, Xiao Yan, even when he fell from being a genius.

"Coming!" Madara changed his clothes and went out. Outside of his room was an elder in a green robe. "Let's go!"

Looking at the young man's fresh face, the elder nodded his head. But when he turned around, his eyes showed a flash of regret. If young master had his former talent, he probably would have been a great Dou Zhe, such a waste…

The elder and the young man crossed through the back yard and finally arrived solemnly at the welcoming hall. After politely knocking, the two softly went in.

The hall was quite large, but there were many people already in it. At the head of the hall were Xiao Zhan and three emotionless elders. They were the clan elders and had equal importance to the Clan leader.

On the left, below the four were other elders from the clan. These elders didn't hold as much power as the clan elders but nevertheless, they had quite a bit of say and weren't pushovers. Besides these elders were young men that had shown promise and talent.

On the other side were three strangers, looks like they were the people that Xiao Zhan foretold last night.

The young man's eyes quickly swept through the strangers. Of the three, there was an elder wearing a moon white outfit. Although the elder was all smiles, his tiny eyes were full of energy, restlessly scanning the room. Madara sight dipped lower, stopping at the elder's chest. On his chest was a silver moon and besides the moon were seven shiny stars.

This guy was a 7 star Da Dou Shi, the elder was stronger than his own father and in fact he was two whole stars stronger. But he didn't really feel anything incredible about it as this world hadn't proved itself to be stronger than his old, Madara knew it was just a matter of time and he would find such a place where he could fight beings that would make everything of old times look like child's play. That was what his instincts told him and he hoped it was true or else he would be very disappointed.

Anyone that became a Da Dou Shi was at least a power to be reckoned with. With that kind of strength, most places would probably rush for recruitment.

Beside the elder was a young couple. They were also wearing moon white robes. The male was about 20 years old and had a handsome face, coupled with a strong build. He was definitely the ideal type for any girl. Of course, the most important thing was, on his chest were 5 golden stars. This represented the strength of the young man: 5 star Dou Zhe!

To be able to become a 5 star Dou Zhe at the age of 20 definitely shows the exceptional talent of the young man.

With a handsome face and decent strength, this young man, not only became the target of stares from young girls in the clan, except for Xiao Mei who only had eyes for Madara.

But, the looks that the girls gave had no effect on the young man. His entire focus was concentrated on the young girl beside him…

The young girl's age was similar to Xiao Yan. Her beauty even rivaled Xiao Mei's, no; she was prettier than Xiao Mei. In the entire clan, probably only Xiao Xun Er could rival her. No wonder the guys of Xiao clan chased girls outside of the clan.

On the intricate ear of the young girl was a green jade earring. As she moved around, the pieces of jade clinked together, chirping a beautiful melody and adding a hint of royalty to the girl…

In addition, on the developing chest of the girl were 3 golden stars.

A 3-Star Dou Zhe, This girl… if she didn't use any special methods, she must be an incredible genius! The girl might be become someone interesting in the future and he would definitely like to fight her soon or else she would be left behind b his progress making a fight pointless. Unlike everyone else Madara was not lost in her beauty as it wasn't like girls didn't throw themselves on to him in this and old world but always had one goal. Though since reincarnating he had mellowed down a bit and decided to give his parents grandchildren this time and actually have children to inherit.

Madara's actions caused a slight tension within the girl. Although she wasn't the kind that had an entire universe revolving around her, her beauty and appearance wasn't bad. Madara's random glance over her was a first for her.

"Father, three elders!" Walking quickly, Madara courteously greeted the Xiao Zhan and the three elders.

"Haha, Yan Er, you came! Here, come sit." Seeing Xiao Yan arrival, Xiao Zhan stopped talking to his guests and nodded in the direction of Xiao Yan, waving his hand to indicate for Xiao Yan to take a seat.

With a slight smile, Madara ignored the lazy, almost hateful gazes from the three clan elders and searched for his seat. But, he was surprised at the result; he didn't have a seat…

Hahhh, Madara thought these scum that called themselves family were really falling low to do such a base act. He looked at the Old geezers who called themselves elders of the clan and stared at them with his full awakened Sharingan with three Tomoe revolving which hypnotized them with ease and told them to stand up while he went and sat beside his father.

The old men might be at a higher stage but their souls were to weak compared to his, making it almost impossible for them to resist his mental attacks. The three old men excused themselves and stood behind his father with respect.

In the main hall, Xiao Zhan and the three clan elders were talking excitedly with the strange elder as Madara didn't make them his puppets and allowed them to operate normally. The guest seemed to have something weighing on his mind, yet every time when it seemed as if he was about to broach the subject, he would swallow back the words and change the topic. Each time he did this, the delicate girl next to him would give the elder a subtle yet firm glance…

After listening on to their conversation for a while, Xiao Yan was bored by their conversation but their attitudes had slowly changed as they realized that his power was returning. The only thing he waited was for the people from the Faction of Misty Clouds to talk.

Even though Xiao Yan had never gone out into the real world, he had read from books about this faction. Xiao Yan's clan lived in a city named Wu Tan City which was part of the Jia Ma Empire. Even though this city is listed as being one of the bigger cities within Jia Ma Empire, it was still dwarfed by the size of the empire, despite having the Magic Monsters Mountain Range behind it.

Within the city itself, Xiao Yan's clan was the biggest. Besides the Xiao Clan, there were two other clans that competed with the Xiao Clan, but even after 24 years of blood and strife, they were unable to overtake the Xiao clan…

If the Xiao Clan was the strongest power in Wu Tan City, then the Faction of Misty Clouds would be the strongest power in the entire Jia Ma Empire! The difference between the Xiao Clan and the Faction of Misty Clouds was enormous, to the point where Xiao Yan's father Xiao Zhan, who normally kept a strict and harsh face, was extremely respectful in front of these guests.

They most likely had come to cancel the marriage with the girl that had taken everyone's breath away. Nalan Yanran, the granddaughter of Nalan Jie, the Lionheart commander of Jia Ma Empire.

Madara's grandfather and Nalan Jie were like blood brothers and at that time, he and Nalan Yanran were born around the same time, so the two decided that the two children should get married. But, unfortunately, three years after he was born, grandfather died in a fight with a clan enemy and as time passed, Xiao Clan's relation with the Nalan family became weaker. The marriage was decided by him so even though Madara's name had been quite bad the past few years, old Jie never once thought of annulling the marriage.

Nalan Jie has the final say in all matters within the family so even though he really is very fond of his granddaughter, no one in the family has stepped up to oppose the marriage. But 5 years ago, Nalan Yanran became a student under the faction leader of Misty Clouds. In these 5 years, Nalan Yanran demonstrated incredible talent. When a person has enough power to change the path of their life, they would try their hardest to change things that they don't like and unfortunately, she absolutely hates her promised marriage him.

He had never seen her before but f she wants to be free, then he didn't mind as she wasn't worth his time but he didn't like not giving people options so he would let her decide by herself after she has been informed of his return. All this information he had gotten from his network and from Xun Er whose identity was always veiled in mystery, though if had wanted he could have a just read her memories but he didn't want to do something too intrusive on somebody close.

"Ahem." The white robed elder cleared his throat and stood up. Putting his hands together, he smiled: "Clan leader Xiao Zhan. The reason we came here for today is because we would like your help for something."

"Of course, Ge Ye, if you have any problems just let me know. If I can help you solve it, then I definitely wouldn't dare say no." To the visiting elder, Xiao Zhan did not refuse but since he did not know what the request was, he did not make any promises either.

"Hehe, Leader Xiao, do you know her?" Ge Ye smiled lightly and pointed to the girl next to him.

"Umm… I'm sorry, this girl is…" Xiao Zhan looked over the girl and awkwardly shook his head.

When Nalan Yanran became Yun Jun's student, she was only 8. After studying in the Faction of Misty Clouds for 5 years, she had changed quite a lot. Before she was only a child but now she is a blooming teenager!

"Huh…Her name is Nalan Yanran."

"Uncle Xiao, I haven't come to pay my respect in a long time. It's my fault that you don't recognize me." Nalan Yanran sweetly said.

"Hehe, Yanran, I heard that you've become a student under Yun Jun. At the time, I thought that it was just a baseless rumor, but now I realize that it's actually true. What incredible talent you must have…" Xiao Zhan complimented.

"It was just good luck…" Smiling lightly, Nalan Yanran began to feel uncomfortable and lightly tugged Ge Ye's robe with her hand under the table.

"Hehe, Leader Xiao, the request that I have relates to Yanran. In addition, this was assigned by our faction leader…" Ge Ye kept his smile but when he mentioned the faction leader, he subconsciously lessened his smile and his face grew serious.

Like Ge Ye, Xiao Zhan stopped smiling. The faction leader of the Faction of Misty Clouds was one of the most important people in the entire Jia Ma Empire. Xiao Zhan, who was a small clan leader, wouldn't dare to provoke her. But with her power, what would she need Xiao Clan to help with? Ge Ye did say that it was related to Yanran, is it that?

A wandering thought crossed Xiao Zhan's mind causing the edge of his mouth to twitch slightly and his firm hand to start trembling, thankfully his hands were covered by his long sleeves. Taking care to push down the thought, Xiao Zhan shakily asked: "Mister Ge Ye, please do tell me what is the faction's request?"

"Errr…" Ge Ye hesitated but he thought about how much the faction leader adored Yanran and thus, he clenched his teeth: "Leader Xiao, you know how strict the rules are in the faction. In addition, faction leader views Yanran very highly, in fact, faction leader is expecting Yanran to be the next faction leader. However, due to a special rule, future faction leaders cannot have a relation with another male before they become the official faction leader…"

Taking a breath, Ge Ye continued: "When our faction leader asked Yanran about it, she realized that Yanran and the Xiao Clan had a marriage proposal, therefore, faction leader asks for Leader Xiao to… to cancel this marriage."

"KA!" The jade cup in Xiao Zhan's hands turned into a fine mist in an instant.

In the main hall, everyone was silent. The three clan elders were shocked by Ge Ye's words but soon afterwards, the elders glanced at Madara with plain fear, not knowing what he might do.

"How will you respond to this?" The three elders thought.

A couple of the younger kids didn't know about the set marriage between Xiao Yan and Nalan Yanran, but after asking their parents about it, their faces brightened! Their glances towards Nalan Yanran were full of distaste at trying to defame their friend and family…

Looking at Xiao Zhan's dark face, Nalan Yanran lowered her head and squeezed her fingers together.

"Leader Xiao, I know that this request is a little over the top, but because faction leader requested it, please cancel the marriage…" Helplessly letting out a breath, Ge Ye lightly whispered to Xiao Zhan.

Xiao Zhan's hands curled into fists. A faint green Dou Qi slowly creeped over his body and finally, it formed an illusory lion's head in front of Xiao Zhan's face.

Xiao Clan's secret Qi Method: Furious Lion's Rage! Level: Middle Xuan!

Looking at Xiao Zhan's reaction, Ge Ye's face became serious. He moved to place Yanran behind him and within his eagle claw like hands a green Dou Qi gathered. The Dou Qi released small but sharp illusory swords.

Faction of Misty Cloud's Qi Method: Green Wood Sword! Level: Low Xuan!

With the release of Dou Qi, the weaker youngsters within the main hall became pale and felt their chests tighten.

When Xiao Zhan's breathing became more intense, Madara stood up and said in voice that could be heard throughout the hall, filled with strong presence and denying any chance to ignore, "Father stop and let me handle this. It's time for our friends in the clan to see hope and for the trash to know their position."

Xiao Zhan stiffened for a moment but could hear the confidence within his son's voice and decided to trust his decision, and the Dou Qi on his body disappeared slowly…

Xiao Zhan fell back into his chair and emotionlessly watched the lowered head of Yanran. Finally, he said is a neutral tone: "Nalan, you have some guts. With such a daughter, I'm really envious of Nalan Su."

Nalan Yanran twitched: "Uncle Xiao…"

"No! Call me Clan Leader Xiao from now on. I don't deserve to be called Uncle; you're the future faction leader of the Faction of Misty Clouds. In the future, you'll probably one of the most important people in Dou Qi mainland. My Xiao Yan only has modest talent, he doesn't deserve you…"

"Thank you Clan Leader Xiao." Hearing Xiao Zhan's words, Ge Ye's face brightened. Apologizing, he says: "Clan Leader Xiao, faction leader understands that today's request is quite disrespectful. Therefore, she asked me to bring something, please accept it as an apology from our faction leader."

Ge Ye touched a ring on his hand and suddenly a completely pan-green jade box appeared in his hand…

Carefully opening the box, a fragrance swept through the entire main hall. Anyone who smelled it felt relaxed.

The three elders' curiosity got the better of them and they poked their head to see the contents of the box: "Qi Gathering Powder?"

Within the jade box, a green pill, about the size of a Dragon's eye, laid quietly. The refreshing scent that had spread throughout the entire hall was emanating from the pill!

In Dou Qi Mainland, to become a Dou Zhe, one needs to be able to compress the Qi within one's own body to a Qi cyclone. But the process of compressing Qi to become a Qi cyclone has an extremely high failure rate. After failing, one's 9 Duan Qi would fall back to 8 Duan. Some unlucky people need to compress their Qi 10 or more times before they are successful in doing so. But by wasting so much time on the compression of Qi, one would lose the best time to practice Qi and thus destroy their future.

Qi Gathering Power, its use was to allow someone with 9 Duan Qi to have a 100% percent success rate when trying to compress one's Qi!

This effect makes many people red-eyed. After all, anyone thats not a Dou Zhe is treated extremely badly.

But Qi Gathering Power isn't something made by nature, rather it was made by someone: Alchemist!

In Dou Qi Mainland, the sole profession that's more desirable than a Dou Zhe are Alchemists.

Like the name suggests, alchemists are able to create special pills that raise one's strengths. Every free-agent alchemist is sought after by many forces.

The reason as to why alchemists have such a high position is because of how rare alchemists are and how strict the requirements to become an alchemist are.

First of all, one must be of the fire attribute. And then, within the fire attribute, one must have a tiny sliver of the wood attribute to act as a catalysis in pill-refining.

In the Dou Qi Mainland, a person's attribute is determined by their soul. A soul since birth will only have one, sole attribute and reject any other attribute. So it's impossible for a person to have two attributes.

Of course, nothing is impossible. Within a million people, there will always be someone who has a mutated soul. Within these people that have mutated souls, some have the potential to become Alchemists!

However, a person that has the fire and wood attributes is not enough to become an Alchemist. That's because one must also have a strong Soul Perception or Soul Molding!

In the refinement of pills, the three most important requirements are: The material, the flame and one's soul perception.

The Material. They would have to be natural treasures. After all, even the best alchemists can't create a god-tier pill from trash material. Therefore, good base materials are very important for good pills.

The flame. Or the fire that's required when refining pills. The fire used in refining pills can't be normal flames but rather, they must be Dou Qi flames created though Dou Qi with a fire attribute. Of course, there are some extremely strong mutated flames in nature. Some strong alchemists would take these flames and use them to refine pills instead of their own Dou Qi flame. Not only do these mutated flames boost the success rate of the refinement, they also increase the effectiveness of the pills!

Because refining pills is a gruesome task, extended periods of refinement requires a lot of Dou Qi, and because of that, every brilliant alchemist is also a strong fire-type Dou Zhe.

The final requirement is Soul Perception.

When refining a pill, the intensity of the flame needs to be controlled with ridiculous precision. If the flame is slightly too hot, the pill within the furnace would be burned to ashes, wasting the time and effort of the alchemist. Therefore, controlling the intensity of the flame is a prerequisite to becoming an alchemist. But in order to have a control over the flames, one must have an incredible Soul Perception; without Soul Perception, even if one meets or even exceeds the first two requirements, it would be pointless to try to refine pills.

Under these strict conditions, the ones who have the qualifications to become an alchemist are few and rare. Because there aren't that many alchemists, the magical pills that they refine are also few and sparse. Since rare things are valuable and pills can definitely be defined as rare, alchemists all have a honorable, to an exaggerated extent, position.

Within the main hall, with the gasps of the three elders, the younger generation all stare at the Jade box in Ge Ye's hands.

Next to her father, Xiao Mei licks her red lips with her soft tongue and stares at the box, without blinking but when she saw the disdain on Madara's face she felt small and let the greed flow away.

"Hehe, this was refined by our honorable elder Gu He. I think that everyone here has heard of his name right?" Looking at the embarrassing appearance of the three elders, Ge Ye started becoming arrogant.

"This pill was refined by the Pill King Gu He?" Hearing Ge Ye's words, the three elders once again embarrassed themselves.

Pill King Gu He, an extremely influential alchemist within the Jia Ma Empire. His alchemy is mysterious and unpredictable, causing countless different forces to try to fawn upon him.

Not only does Gu He have extraordinary talent in alchemy, his own strength is at the level of a Dou Wang and he's one of the top ten Dou Zhes in Jia Ma Empire.

Refined by his hands, the Qi Gathering Powder's value is probably exponentially higher than other normal Qi Gathering Power.

The three elders smile at the Qi Gathering Powder within the Jade box. If the Xiao Clan gets this Qi Gathering Powder, then the Xiao Clan can probably develop another young Dou Zhe.

Right when the three elders were thinking about how to get the pill for their own grandsons, a young voice filled with fury resonates within the main hall.

"Mr. Ge Ye, it would be better if you kept the pill. It is quiet worthless for someone like me. As for breaking the contract, I don't really care. It's not like the little girl is anything special, she is very weak and would be behind me in cultivation within a year. But I will let her decide after knowing the full information. The reason you thought I am not worthy of her was because I was stuck at the bottom of the ladder but that was a choice I made as I had discovered a training method to strengthen my foundation. So I am already on the road to recovery and growth, in three months or so I should break to the next stage."

The main hall fell silent and everyone's gaze turns upon the delicate face of Xiao Yan, the elders felt their faces go white and the youngster were hoping to see a fight to take place. From the opposite side the people were speechless at the ludicrous boast by the trash, Ge Ye wanted to lash out and smash the arrogant face of Madara but the young lady held his cloth indicating not to be rash.

Afterwards, he turns around to face Nalan Yanran. Slowly letting a breath of air, he asks: "Lady Nalan, I would like to ask a question. Your visit here today, to release the marriage, did Grandfather Nalan give his consent?"

Before, when Xiao Yan stood up, Nalan Yanran already felt uncomfortable with him. Now hearing his question, her brow scrunches up. This guy, at first I thought he was pretty nice, but he's actually extremely shameless. Does he not know the difference between the two of us?

Criticizing Xiao Yan in her mind, Nalan Yanran never considered how releasing the marriage would put Xiao Yan and his father into an awkward and infuriating situation.

Standing up and staring at the should be husband of hers, Nalan Yanran says: "Grandfather didn't give his consent. But! This is my own problem and not related to him."

"Since Grandfather hasn't said anything then I hope that you will forgive my father for not accepting your request. But unlike them I am not really set in the old ways, so I will give a choice we will fight today with just our bodies no techniques but pure hand to hand combat. If you win the marriage is cancelled but if you lose you will be my slave for eternity."Madara tilts his head and stared straight at Yanran with absolute confidence, and smiled waiting for the inevitable combat he hungered for while also showing others what kind of person they are going against. This show would make it easy to finally clean house and he didn't want to delay it any longer. Just seeing their faces made him annoyed and he had already informed his men to kill the people on the list he made during the time.

With his words some of the youngsters cheered at the opportunity of seeing Brother Xiao Yan let loose on the ignorant.

"Are you serious, do you understand the difference between our strength? If we fight you will not last a single second and would die from the first punch I throw." After saying that with a face filled with contempt and disgust at the young man who was definitely trying to bargain a better deal, she annoyingly continued: "instead of such unfair condition, I can ask my teacher to give you another 3 Qi Gathering Powder. In addition, if you want to, I can let you join Faction of Misty Clouds and learn profound Dou Qi training methods, is that enough?"

Hearing the attractive conditions from Nalan Yanran, the three elders' breathing started to become heavy. Within the main hall, the younger generation swallowed the saliva. Joining Faction of Misty Clouds? God, that's the dream of countless people…

After saying all these conditions, Nalan Yanran raised her snow-white chin, like a princess addressing her servants. She waited for Xiao Yan's response and knew that these conditions were enough to make any young man crazy…

Unlike what Nalan Yanran expected, after saying the alluring condition, the young man in front of her didn't change in any manner. His face still showed the same bored expression like the matter didn't matter much.

"You should stop spouting non sense girl; I am not like other people. Just fight me and we will have our conclusion to this pointless endeavor. Or are you afraid of losing to someone at my level." With each word the killing intent increased making the people in hall feel suffocation and horror at how the young man could let out such strong feeling.

"Yan Er, you're being rude!" At the top of the hall, Xiao Zhan was shocked by the reaction of Xiao Yan and hurriedly quieted Xiao Yan. The current Xiao clan wouldn't dare be on the wrong side of Faction of Misty Clouds.

Madara stopped and spoke in a carefree manner, "It's okay father, I was just playing around who knew the little girl and the others couldn't handle such a small thing."

Looking at the young man in person who confirmed the reports about his personality, Ge Ye and Nalan Yanran suddenly felt a chill…

This kid, if he stays useless then it isn't a big deal. But if he gains strength, then he will definitely become a dangerous force to be reckoned with… Ge Ye solemnly thought.

"Xiao Yan! You asked for this don't blame me for being ruthless. Let's go and finish this farce already." Slowly letting out a breath, Nalan Yanran pushed her fear and stiffened her face showing rage within at the perceived insult.

A.N Hope you enjoyed. This is a repost and it is same as the original novel, and changes slowly. But i plan to rewrite it so the story will start from the beginning where madara arrives so vote for this story in the polls.