BTTH : Emperor Yang

Wei Yang opened his eyes, his face pale and a trace of exhaustion showing.

Soul clashes like this were dangerous and extremely taxing on the mind.

"I did it."

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and whispered to himself.

Lowering his gaze to the black scroll in his hands, he circulated his Dou Qi according to the energy pathways recorded in the technique. Slowly, the Dou Qi began to flow within his body.

Moments later, the Dou Qi reached his palms, gradually emerging from his hands.

As soon as the Dou Qi appeared in his palms, the eagle wings on the black scroll suddenly radiated a dazzling light.

The black glow, tinged with purple, grew more intense until it condensed into two thin streaks of black-purple energy, which shot into Wei Yang's palms like lightning.

After entering his body, the two streaks of light swiftly traveled along his meridians.

When they reached the meridians on his back, they abruptly stopped—then forcefully started creating new pathways.

Two extremely thin branch meridians were forcibly torn open.

These new meridians extended outward from the main pathways, stopping only when they reached his back.

"AH—!"

Wei Yang clenched his teeth tightly, letting out a painful and guttural scream.

Large beads of sweat rolled down his forehead, and his fists clenched together so hard that his knuckles turned white.

The agonizing pain of his meridians being torn apart was truly unbearable.

"Damn it—!"

BANG!

Wei Yang collapsed onto the ground, slamming his fists violently against the stone floor. His eyes turned bloodshot, veins bulging across his forehead.

BANG!

His fists struck the stone floor again, causing small fragments of rock to fly in all directions.

At this moment, every second felt like an eternity.

He didn't know how long it lasted—perhaps just a moment, or maybe an eternity—before the searing pain finally began to fade, receding like a retreating tide.

Wei Yang lay curled up on the ground, drenched in sweat, as if he had just been pulled out of water.

Huff... Huff... Huff...

He gasped for air, his entire body still throbbing with a lingering stinging pain, leaving him numb and completely drained of strength.

Only after resting for a long while did the needle-like pain gradually fade, and his strength slowly began to return.

"Finally done?"

Wei Yang sluggishly got up, still feeling shaken, and looked at the black scroll lying discarded beside him.

The scroll was now completely blank—the eagle wings, the text, everything had vanished.

Shaking his head, he ignored the now-empty scroll and removed his drenched shirt, revealing his well-toned upper body.

Running his hand over his back, he could feel something new—at some point, a pair of black feathered wing markings had appeared on his back, each about the size of a palm.

The markings were slightly raised, resembling both tattoos and protruding meridian veins.

With a single thought, Wei Yang activated his Dou Qi, channeling it into the wing-shaped markings on his back.

As soon as the Dou Qi entered, the dark markings lit up, emitting a faint black-purple glow.

Whoosh—!

The markings suddenly transformed into a pair of real, solid black wings, adorned with mysterious purple patterns, slowly unfurling from Wei Yang's back.

These wings spanned about ten feet when fully extended.

Each feather was clearly defined, appearing both lifelike and metallic, as if they had been forged from black iron.

It was a strange sensation—almost surreal—as if he had truly grown wings from his back.

Wei Yang attempted to control them, giving them a slight flap.

Whoosh—!

A gust of wind stirred within the stone chamber, and an invisible force lifted him—his body began to rise slightly off the ground.

Since this was his first attempt, he struggled to balance himself, wobbling clumsily like a fledgling bird learning to fly, his movements looking rather awkward.

However, he remained excited, continuously testing and adjusting his actions, gradually learning to stabilize himself.

After an extended period of trial and error, he finally managed to adapt.

At this moment, Wei Yang was hovering steadily a foot above the ground, suspended in midair. His black wings fluttered gently behind him.

"From Now On, I Can Fly."

Wei Yang grinned widely. After hovering for a while longer, he finally landed, retracting his wings with satisfaction.

As he ceased the flow of Dou Qi, the black wings folded away, once again forming a pair of palm-sized black tattoos on his back.

Stretching lazily, he put his clothes back on.

"With these wings, things will be much more convenient and safer for me. Even if I run into an enemy I can't defeat, I can always take to the sky and escape."

"As for opponents at the Dou Wang level or higher? There are only a handful of such experts in the entire Jia Ma Empire. Why would I go looking for trouble with them?"

Clenching his fists, Wei Yang silently felt the surging Dou Qi within his body. "Because of my technique change, my cultivation has dropped to Dou Shi Two-Star, but my strength has not decreased—in fact, it has increased."

"Now that I have a High-level Xuan-Grade cultivation technique as my foundation, my potential can be fully unleashed. With three to four months of training, I should be able to return to Dou Shi Six-Star."

Before reaching the Dou Zhe rank, one's body was still weak and in the foundational stage, meaning there were very few ways to accelerate training.

For most, advancing by just one stage of Dou Qi in a year was already considered genius-level talent.

But after breaking through to Dou Zhe, things changed—cultivation speed increased significantly, influenced by one's technique quality, environment, and resources.

For those with exceptional conditions, talents, and techniques, breaking through multiple stars in a single year was not unusual.

Wei Yang didn't have someone like Yao Lao guiding him, nor an endless supply of medicinal pills like Xiao Yan.

However, his current technique was a High-level Xuan-Grade method, three to four levels superior to his original Crimson Flame Art—and a staggering six to seven levels above Xiao Yan's initial Huang-Grade Low-level Flame Mantra.

Combined with his natural talent, this technique was perfectly suited to him, creating an effect far beyond one plus one equals two—compensating for the lack of medicinal resources.

In terms of raw cultivation speed, Wei Yang would definitely not be slower than Xiao Yan.

Three years from now, when Xiao Yan regains his talent and starts cultivating from Dou Qi Zhi Third Stage, Wei Yang will have already widened the gap between them.

This was his confidence.

Filled with excitement, Wei Yang glanced around the stone chamber where he had spent nearly half a month.

Here, he had obtained a great fortune, one that would change his destiny during this early stage.

Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself.

After settling his emotions, he stepped forward to the stone table, looking at the scattered remains on the chair behind it.

"Senior, my apologies."

Feeling a little guilty, Wei Yang bowed.

During his breakthrough, he had failed to control the surge of energy, causing the remains to collapse into a heap of bones.

"Please wait a moment, Senior. I will ensure you are properly laid to rest." He spoke softly.

Moving to the chair, he carefully gathered the fallen bones, piling them neatly to one side before looking for a suitable burial spot.

Scanning the chamber, Wei Yang decided to move the chair aside.

The moment he did, the ground beneath it cracked open, revealing web-like fissures and loose stones—completely different from the rest of the smooth stone floor.

"Hmm?"

Examining it closely, Wei Yang touched the cracked floor and realized that this area had been dug up before and later refilled.

"Could it be… this Senior buried something beneath it?"

His heart stirred with excitement at the thought.

Without hesitation, he wrapped his hands in Dou Qi, his fingers forming claw-like shapes, and squatted down to start digging.

Stone fragments flew as he worked.

Soon, he had uncovered a two-foot-long and one-foot-deep pit.

It was clearly a pre-dug hole that had simply been refilled before.

"Did this Senior even dig his own grave in advance?"

That certainly made things easier—he could just rebury the bones.

But suddenly, Wei Yang's movements halted.

"That is…!"

At the bottom of the pit, embedded in solid rock, lay a black, ancient-looking ring.

Wei Yang's eyes lit up.