As the cultivation technique was replaced by the Innate Fetal Breathing Art 2.0 version, Qin Yueyao's body seemed to transform into a miniature black hole, continuously absorbing the surrounding heavenly energy.
However, the effect was extremely faint—so subtle that ordinary people wouldn't notice a thing.
Yet hidden within the ancient ring on Qin Yueyao's hand, even in his severely injured state, Yao Lao could still sense the outside world to some extent.
"Heaven and earth energy is converging… What's going on???"
As the most experienced alchemist on the continent, Yao Lao immediately detected the abnormality from such a close distance. The source was unmistakably the child in Qin Yueyao's womb.
"Someone's actually cultivating inside the womb!" Yao Lao was utterly astonished.
Though "cultivating in the womb" was usually just an exaggerated jest used when encountering terrifyingly fast cultivators, everyone knew such a thing was fundamentally impossible.
The body hasn't even developed yet—how could it possibly cultivate?
Yao Lao forced himself to stay alert, mentally going through every mystical constitution he knew. But none matched this kind of heaven-defying phenomenon.
"This child… Could he have the potential to become a Dou Emperor?" A strange thought flashed through Yao Lao's mind.
Typically, the Dou Qi stage is a time to refine one's foundation. Speed of cultivation isn't the priority—tempering the base is what matters most.
Some prodigies even deliberately suppress their breakthroughs to perfect their foundation.
This child, however, had started cultivating in the womb! Upon birth, his foundation would already be several times stronger than those who begin training at five or six. His talent could only be described as terrifying.
For the first time in years, a flame ignited in Yao Lao's long-dormant heart.
But for now, he remained extremely weak. All he could do was wait until this peerless genius was born to begin making his plans.
——
After spending some time in this world, Xiao Yan managed to piece together information from scattered conversations and finally understood a few things.
Though he was a bit slow on the uptake, once he learned about the family he was born into, he was genuinely stunned.
He had crossed over into a xuanhuan world.
And not just any world—it was the one he was deeply familiar with: the Dou Qi Continent.
What's more, he had become the main character of this world.
Upon realizing this shocking chain of facts, Xiao Yan remained stunned for a solid two and a half minutes.
Now that he knew exactly where he was, his heaven-defying comprehension finally had a clear direction.
Previously, without understanding the world he had entered, Xiao Yan's mind was full of wild, imaginative ideas—but no solid targets.
After all, those ideas were too extreme. Xiao Yan had no way of knowing whether they were achievable with just his comprehension, or how long it would take.
But now that he was sure he was in the Dou Qi Continent, Xiao Yan had a definitive path forward.
The effects of the Innate Fetal Breathing Art 2.0 had been derived from the nature of Dou Qi itself.
Of course, Xiao Yan had no idea how to actually cultivate Dou Qi.
But he did know what it fundamentally accomplished, just as he understood the benefits of innate qi.
With the help of his maxed-out comprehension, he spent around a month and managed to replicate its effects almost exactly.
Dou Qi is a very gentle type of energy. Its primary function is to temper and refine the meridians, building a solid foundation.
Only by properly tempering the foundation can one avoid the disastrous outcome of ruptured meridians and death due to the violent force of high-level Dou Qi later on.
To be able to enjoy these tempering benefits even before breaking into the Dou Qi stage—such a thing would be indescribably beneficial for the mother's body.
Knowing his identity, Xiao Yan was well aware that in this life, both his mother and grandfather had very short lifespans.
Other than necessary sleep, Xiao Yan now spent all his time delving into cultivation.
As for the feud involving Grandpa Xiao Lin, he couldn't help with that for now. What he could do was try to strengthen his mother's body as much as possible.
Though the Innate Fetal Breathing Art 2.0 was impressive, it fell short of meeting his current demands.
However, upgrading that technique again was no simple matter.
Especially for someone who, in truth, had almost no cultivation experience.
Xiao Yan may have read many web novels back on Azure Blue Planet, but this was his first time cultivating himself. It was only thanks to his unparalleled comprehension that he was able to create the Innate Fetal Breathing Art.
Later, drawing from his understanding of Dou Qi, he upgraded it to version 2.0.
But beyond that, Xiao Yan had nothing else in his mind to rely on. The next breakthrough would have to come entirely from his comprehension.
As the saying goes, "Even a clever housewife can't cook without rice"—that perfectly described Xiao Yan's current dilemma.
Then, after a full three months passed—
[You have once again deduced from the Innate Fetal Breathing Art 2.0. After days of cultivation and study, you experienced enlightenment and created the Innate Chaos Primordial Qi Art!]
[Innate Chaos Primordial Qi Art: Using a trace of innate qi as the guide, you continuously nurture and strengthen your body, allowing the mother to absorb and refine heavenly energy. This enhances both the mother and fetus's physical constitution, improves foundational talent, and allows early cultivation of Dou Qi.
As innate qi increases, the mother experiences continuous cleansing and refinement of her meridians, and the effects of the cultivation technique are further amplified.]
[Note: Only suitable for more developed fetuses.]
Seeing that even the name of the technique had changed, Xiao Yan knew his three months of effort had not been in vain.
Nurtured by innate qi and with the passage of time, his body had developed meridians, allowing him to begin cultivating Dou Qi.
But what use was cultivating alone?
Leading his pregnant mother into cultivation as well—that was the kind of effect a truly powerful fetal-stage cultivation method should have!
That said, Xiao Yan knew he had reached the limit of what could be achieved in the womb.
Not because his extraordinary comprehension had failed, but because time was too short.
By the time he achieved enlightenment for the next breakthrough, he'd likely already be born.
Researching fetal cultivation techniques any further wouldn't serve much purpose.
After all, his mind held limited cultivation knowledge. Creating this third version had already pushed him to his limits.
To further evolve this already formidable technique in such a short time was no easy task.
With the activation of the Innate Chaos Primordial Qi Art, yet another bizarre phenomenon occurred in the Xiao family after the pregnant "bottomless pit" of a lady.
Qin Yueyao, who was only at the Dou Practitioner level, suddenly began making rapid breakthroughs—soon surpassing her husband Xiao Zhan—and her cultivation speed was still accelerating.
Very few knew of this; only Qin Yueyao, Xiao Zhan, and Xiao Lin were aware.
Xiao Lin simply laughed heartily and said, "My grandson clearly has an extraordinary physique! It's thanks to him that Yueyao gets to enjoy such benefits. This is the Xiao family's good fortune! No need to worry—just wait patiently for his birth."
(End of Chapter)