After eliminating all the puppets, Lei Qi's Dou Qi was nearly completely depleted.
He immediately sat down and began cultivating.
Zzzt—Zzzt—
The power of lightning surged through his body continuously.
After a full battle, the flood of replenishing Dou Qi pouring back into his meridians felt unbelievably satisfying.
One full day passed. Other than eating some dry rations midway, he spent the entire time restoring his Dou Qi.
His earlier plan to head straight for the next layer had greatly diminished. Before breaking through to Da Dou Shi (Great Fighting Master), Lei Qi felt it was safer to stabilize first.
After all, he had nearly ten years inside this place. There was no need to rush.
And for someone from a Dou Emperor bloodline, once their bloodline power began to activate, their cultivation would skyrocket "shoo shoo"—straight upward.
Another three months passed. Through constant battle, Lei Qi finally reached the rank of Da Dou Shi.
At the Da Dou Shi realm, a cultivator could form a Dou Qi Armor, release Dou Qi externally, and condense it into a solid diamond-shaped form.
Upon reaching Dou Ling, Dou Qi could fully condense into tangible objects.
After Dou Wang, one could form Dou Qi Wings and command a small amount of external spatial energy—allowing flight!
Upon reaching Dou Huang, one's Dou Qi Wings could command a large amount of external elemental energy. At peak Dou Huang, one could even hover briefly in the air without external aid.
After Dou Zong, one could remain suspended in the void without external help, and even begin grasping spatial power.
At Dou Zun, one could tear open space.
After reaching peak Dou Zun, one would face a massive bottleneck—especially for those blessed with a Dou Emperor bloodline. Many geniuses were stuck at this stage, unable to advance further.
However, even if a peak Dou Zun could not immediately enter the Saint realm, they could undergo Nine Revolutions of Dou Qi.
After the nine cycles were complete, one could advance to Half-Saint.
Even though "Half-Saint" still had the word "Half," the presence of "Saint" already set it worlds apart from peak Dou Zun.
The difference was absolutely enormous.
Half-Saints also had rankings: Low-tier, Mid-tier, and High-tier Half-Saint.
And above Half-Saint—stood Dou Sheng (Battle Saint).
Those who reached Dou Sheng were true apex beings of the world!
A Fighting Saint could shatter mountains and split the earth with a single move.
Creating a habitable pocket-space from the void itself—this was the sign of a true Dou Sheng.
There was also a massive divide between Fighting Saints: once one reached Six-Star Dou Sheng, they could perform spatial transposition.
In a little over a year, Lei Qi had gone from Dou Zhe → Da Dou Shi.
This showed just how terrifyingly effective this place was.
At this point, Lei Qi decided to proceed to the next layer.
In the first layer, the strongest puppet he had encountered was only a Dou Shi-level puppet.
The treasures dropped were mostly Profound Rank cultivation methods and battle skills, almost all lightning-attribute.
According to the Clan Leader and Grand Elder, the entrance to the second layer was located somewhere in the central region. Lei Qi had been moving toward that direction the entire time.
However… this place was far larger than he had imagined.
It took him nearly another month to finally reach the second layer's entrance.
Upon stepping in, he once again saw an endless plain. Other than himself and the puppets, there seemed to be no other living things here.
"Hm… I wonder how Lei Dong is doing now?"
Lei Qi didn't leave the entrance. Instead, he chose to stay and cultivate.
He wanted to see whether Lei Dong would also arrive at the second layer—or not.
Half a year passed.
Lei Qi's cultivation rose to Five-Star Da Dou Shi.
But the entrance still showed no activity.
With no other choice, he gave up waiting and left.
However—unexpectedly, right after Lei Qi left, Lei Dong arrived.
Compared to Lei Qi, Lei Dong was indeed slower.
But upon arriving, his cultivation had also reached the level of Da Dou Shi…
Meanwhile, Lei Qi was wandering around, searching.
As he destroyed more puppets, he discovered something:
These puppets didn't just provide battle experience—they were carrying all sorts of treasures.
And these items were ancient relics from the Dou Qi Continent!
Anything left from ancient times was undoubtedly precious.
Zzzt… Zzzt…
Eventually, through persistent searching, he encountered a Da Dou Shi-level puppet.
RIPPP!!
The instant the puppet spotted him, it attacked without hesitation—a bolt of lightning crashed down.
BOOM!
Lei Qi reacted quickly. As the lightning struck, a layer of Dou Qi Armor instantly formed over his body.
A dark scorch mark appeared on the ground.
Lei Qi swung his spear in a sweeping strike—
Swish!
Bang!
However, unlike Dou Shi puppets, Da Dou Shi puppets knew to guard their heads.
It blocked the spear, then immediately threw a punch.
Whoosh!
The fist cut through the air, aiming straight at his face.
Lei Qi released the spear and counter-punched.
BOOM!
Their fists collided with a muffled explosion.
Both Lei Qi and the Da Dou Shi puppet were forced back.
The puppet casually tossed aside the spear and charged again.
Without proper spear technique, Lei Qi found the weapon difficult to control.
"Thunderbolt Frenzy!"
Dou Qi surged. A beam of lightning shot out.
But this Da Dou Shi puppet wasn't helpless—it could also use battle skills!
As Lei Qi used a battle skill, it did the same.
BOOM!!
The two powerful forces clashed again.
Although Lei Qi could only unleash one-tenth of Thunderbolt Frenzy's true power, a Earth Rank Battle Skill was still vastly superior to whatever battle skill the puppet used.
Even so, he was blasted backward.
Seeing the puppet also stagger from the impact, Lei Qi seized the moment and launched a fierce assault.
In some ways, these puppets—rich in combat knowledge—were brilliantly designed opponents.
Bang! Bang! Bang!!
Lei Qi closed in and hammered the puppet repeatedly with lightning-filled punches.
Bang! Bang!
The Da Dou Shi puppet also counterattacked continuously.
But Lei Qi didn't defend. He focused every strike on its head!
BOOM!
After a barrage of blows, the puppet's head finally shattered.
With the puppet destroyed, a battle-skill manual appeared.
"Starfire Wildflame."
A Low Earth Rank, fire-attribute battle skill.
More importantly—it could be infused into the spear.
Because it was a battle skill manual, Lei Qi could cultivate it himself. And conveniently, he possessed both lightning and fire attributes—plus a trace of wood attribute within his fire.
This made cultivating this technique even more advantageous.
In the original world, Feng Qing'er of the Heavenly Demon Phoenix Clan could cultivate multiple attributes. Naturally, so could he.
After all—he didn't think he was inferior to her in the slightest.