Chapter 77: Half-Step Earth-Tier Dou Technique · Dou Qi Furnace!
"Alright, let's start with the good news…"
Inside the Forging Valley, Jiang Lin—his clothes tattered and his hair partially singed—sat in the open-air workshop, hugging a pile of scrap metal from a failed explosion, his little face pitch-black. Ying Jiang lay beside him, sprawled on the ground, looking at him with an expression of utter disdain.
"Overall, I'd say it was a success... I just didn't expect Dou Qi, as a supernatural energy, to be so violent, and the air to be so saturated with it. If I'm not mistaken, the mechanical wings did have a throttling system and could run stably under my Dou Qi. However, when the Dou Qi engine on the wings was operating under overload in the open air, the turbulent Dou Qi energy in the surroundings surged in, silently increasing the load and surpassing the maximum energy tolerance I had designed for."
Naturally, Jiang Lin wasn't so careless as to skip safety measures for the wings—he simply hadn't anticipated just how wildly abundant Dou Qi energy in the world could be.
Still, this unsuccessful maiden flight gave Jiang Lin immense inspiration and an entirely new insight.
There's a saying: "Failure is the mother of success." But Jiang Lin didn't particularly like that phrase. He preferred its Chinese counterpart: "Where fortune hides misfortune, and where misfortune breeds fortune—yin and yang give birth to each other, and in the extremes of misfortune lies the seed of prosperity." In other words, good and bad can transform into one another under the right conditions.
Take his failure for example. Most onlookers would just pity him, or take delight in his misfortune. But very few, like Jiang Lin, would actually get excited—thrilled even—by failure!
After all, he had prepared thoroughly based on his understanding, yet he still failed. What did that mean?
It meant he had discovered something beyond his current understanding!
It meant his perception had once again advanced! He had gotten closer to truth! And lost more hair in the process—but hey, he also got stronger!!
Because he discovered… that the wild Dou Qi energy in the world could be drawn in by the Dou Qi engine!!!
Jiang Lin combed through his dumb little brain, but couldn't recall ever seeing this trait in any Huang-tier or Xuan-tier Dou Techniques! All of the Huang and Xuan techniques he had trained in used internal Dou Qi and released it outward.
The difference between Xuan and Huang techniques wasn't massive. If Huang-tier was basic addition and subtraction, then Xuan-tier was multiplication and division—slightly more advanced operations. Xuan-tier techniques were more complex (bigger numbers), and more efficient (faster algorithms), but still followed the same logic. That's why most people could learn Huang and Xuan-tier techniques. But when it came to higher-level techniques (advanced math), even with the answers in front of them, they often couldn't learn them.
Jiang Lin had all sorts of weird Huang-tier techniques and two Xuan-tier ones—Mad Lion Roar and Purple Cloud Wings (note: the armored puppet and Dou Qi schematics weren't Dou Techniques). He knew very clearly that neither Huang nor Xuan-tier techniques involved a mixed energy state of "personal Dou Qi + environmental Dou Qi."
"So... I accidentally created a super rudimentary Earth-tier Dou Technique Dou Qi Engine?? Holy crap! I'm one of those once-in-a-millennium geniuses!" Jiang Lin's eyes gleamed with excitement as he scratched his head, only to feel the burnt remnants of his hair, which suddenly filled him with grief.
Sob... the price of getting stronger is terrifying! I'm going bald!
Last time, in an explosion, Jiang Lin sacrificed his eyebrows and gained the route to Magic Core Dou Weapons.
This time, he had to sacrifice his hair to unlock the usage of mixed energy—an Earth-tier Dou Technique? If that's the case... he figured he'd just make his armor look cooler and wear it all the time. Hair really wasn't that essential, was it?
"But I guess... yeah. I've somehow created a half-step Earth-tier Dou Technique, haven't I?"
In the workshop, Jiang Lin sat on the ground, staring blankly at the shattered pieces of his mechanical wings. In his hand were fragments of the Dou Qi engine. Yes, the one he had somehow cobbled together. It was rare for him to struggle to train a technique, and in this case, he had no choice but to use weapon-forging techniques—like a divine craftsman—to shape the metal channels precisely, and then activate the Dou Qi engine via crafting methods.
"I knew it! How could a Dou Technique genius like me suddenly become a moron in front of a so-called 'low-tier Huang' technique? Turns out the rank was wrong—it's actually a half-step Earth-tier technique!"
The Dou Qi Engine was something Jiang Lin had "enlightened" from several Huang-tier energy models. Due to lack of confidence and it being a first version, he had labeled it as a "low-tier Huang" technique. But when he actually tried to train in it, he found it absurdly difficult to the point of physical discomfort—like he was missing organs or something—leading him to question whether he was even human.
Human = Easily trains in low-tier Huang techniques.
Jiang Lin = Struggles terribly with low-tier Huang techniques.
Conclusion: Jiang Lin ≠ Human.
Jiang Lin (pointing at his nose): Am I not human?! Am I?! Am I even human??!!
"Aaahh! My head hurts, my brain hurts! This is the pain of being blessed!" Understanding everything now, Jiang Lin laughed and cried as he gripped his head with both hands, tearing out the last bit of hair he had left.
"Since I've figured it out, this thing can't be called the Dou Qi Engine anymore. Let's name it: Half-Step Earth-tier Dou Technique · Dou Qi Furnace!"
Jiang Lin had a hunch that this little Dou Technique patchwork job of his—stitched together from the ideas of countless predecessors—could, if perfected, become a powerful Earth-tier technique! No, even more—it could be called a Secret Art! Or maybe even a new kind of cultivation method in terms of conceptual structure!
"The flying Dou Device is basically fine. The explosion wasn't my fault—it was the Dou Qi Furnace's overpowered output. So the design is finalized. With a bit of refinement: Tier One flying device—dual-blade feather sheath wings. Tier Two—four-blade feather sheath wings. As for me... of course I'll use the best: six-blade feather sheath wings!"
Jiang Lin's flying devices only came in Tier One and Tier Two for public use. Tier Three was for his personal use. Tier One was enough for a Da Dou Shi; Tier Two could let a Dou Ling hover briefly and even achieve flight. It's not like flying tools are rare or hard to use—just because a Dou Saint can't taste a Tier One pill doesn't mean a Dou Saint can't fly with a Tier One flying device!
(END CHAPTER)
🔥 Get 30% off on my Patreon and enjoy early access to new chapters.
You can also purchase the next 100 chapters of the novel directly from my Patreon page.
⏰ Hurry up! The promotion ends on January 2, 2026.
Read 30 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/Franklin1