Chapter Eighty-Seven: Refining the Divine Thunder

This was a low peak, with several caves scattered around it.

Qingyuan chose the most secluded of them. First he screened the entrance outside with grass and trailing vines, then from within he sealed the mouth of the cave with stones.

At first his heart had been wholly set on seizing the treasure, and he had felt only the pressure of time, as though every moment were too urgent to waste.

But after traveling some distance, he had run into enemies one after another. Helpless though he felt, after some thought he could only halt for the time being and place the strengthening of himself above all else.

And if he wished to raise his abilities, the simplest method at present was to refine the divine thunder.

Yet different kinds of divine thunder served different purposes.

If the information he had previously obtained was accurate, there were four kinds in all.

The first was thunder-path cultivation art. The second was thunder-path spellcraft. The third was thunder-law divine power.

There was another kind besides, one that could attach itself to an object and transform it into a thunder-attributed magical implement.

...

Qingyuan came to the middle of the cave and sat down cross-legged.

The place was cut off from the outside world, and the air did not circulate, but at his current level of cultivation this was no great matter.

He set the Ancient Immortal Pouch before him and gently closed his eyes.

First he contemplated the Impure Vision of the Sixth Month; then he circulated the Yellow Court Immortal Canon, guiding his true energy through his entire body.

Calming spirit and mind, he naturally recalled the writings concerning thunder arts.

Thunder-path cultivation art was essentially a cultivation method, only inclined toward lightning; broadly speaking, it belonged to the same category as the Yellow Court Immortal Canon he himself cultivated.

Thunder-path spellcraft was akin to the Frost Sword Aura Lu Yushuang had displayed, and also akin to the talisman arts contained in the fire talismans Qingyuan possessed. Yet all spells had to be cultivated step by step, steadily and painstakingly.

Thunder-law divine power, however, was an inborn supernatural faculty. It required no bitter training over long years, yet could be accomplished on its own. Such powers were heaven-made, wielded as easily as one moved an arm. But their flaw was this... though one could use them, one did not understand their underlying principles, only exercised them as instinct. Thus they could not be taught or passed down.

The final type could touch flowers, grasses, trees, stone, gold, iron, and the like, condensing them into thunder-attributed magical implements with the potential to become true treasures. For that reason they were also called the embryos of magical treasures.

"I already have the iron staff as my treasure. For now it is enough to let me bring all my abilities into play. Unless it were a thunder-attributed magical treasure, even an embryo of one would not help me much."

Qingyuan thought, "What I most need at present is precisely a divine power that comes naturally, requiring no cultivation. A power like that is almost as if one were born with it; the higher my own attainment, the stronger the power becomes... If this thunder is of that kind, my strength will surely soar. I may even be able to contend with the arts of a third-heaven cultivator."

...

The mouth of the Ancient Immortal Pouch was tied with dragon-sinew.

He drew a deep breath. Only after a round of cultivation and gathering his focus did he open the pouch, intending to take out the divine thunder and refine it.

But the moment the opening parted, a dull buzzing crash entered his ears.

It was a muffled peal of thunder.

A streak of crimson light burst violently out of the pouch.

What is happening? Qingyuan was inwardly alarmed; the thought flashed through his mind.

He had long known that paper could not wrap fire forever, and those talismans would certainly burn to ash in the end. Yet he had not imagined it would happen so quickly.

Caught completely off guard, the crimson divine thunder had already shot toward his face.

Qingyuan had no time to think. He hastily raised the iron staff in his hand to block it.

With a tremendous boom, the crimson divine thunder suddenly dispersed, turning into a wash of red light.

Scorching and fierce, like molten lava from the earth's veins, its radiance flowed and shifted.

The iron staff in Qingyuan's hand abruptly grew searing hot; then a flush of red spread over it, burning like branding iron in a furnace.

"This..."

A feeling of utter disbelief rose in his heart.

Back in those years, this iron staff had been used in the alchemy room of the Palace of Violet Firmament to stir the fire.

Though the immortal flame had been covered by the Eight-Dragon Trigram Immortal Furnace, it had still been immortal fire. The staff had shown no change even within such flame, so how could it undergo a transformation now?

...

"So this crimson divine thunder is the type that turns objects into thunder-path treasures?"

Qingyuan felt both delight and disappointment.

If the iron staff could be strengthened, that was naturally excellent. Yet what he truly sought was thunder-law divine power. Since he could not obtain it this time, regret was unavoidable.

The red glow grew ever more blazing.

The iron staff was still changing.

But all at once Qingyuan remembered the many weapons inside the Ancient Immortal Pouch.

Since the pouch contained weapons, why, after slipping free of the talisman paper's restraint, had this crimson divine thunder not merged into the weapons within, or even into the Red River White Night Yin Spirit Chariot, but instead fused with the iron staff in his hand?

"This is not the kind of divine thunder that turns things into thunder-path treasures..."

"This is thunder-law divine power!"

Qingyuan shuddered.

Line after line of markings was being inscribed upon the iron staff.

They were thunder patterns, dark red in color, as though painted in cinnabar.

At the same time, the red light on the staff kept spreading toward Qingyuan's hand.

He had originally meant to resist it, but suddenly stopped and instead wrapped true energy around his hand, refining the aura of the divine thunder.

The red thunder patterns spread across his hand.

His five fingers, his palm, his wrist, then all the way to his forearm—only there did the spread gradually cease.

His entire right arm had grown so hot it was nearly numb. Had his true energy not been circulating, this body of flesh and blood might well have been reduced to char, just like those wild deer before.

"So that is how it is..."

By now he understood the reason.

This crimson divine thunder was indeed thunder-law divine power.

But after the iron staff had fused with half a tail of the earth-dragon, it had become almost a life-bound treasure. And after resonating with that treasure of Fu Chongshan, Qingyuan had grown ever closer to the staff; he could nearly stir it with his very breathing.

So when the crimson divine thunder touched the iron staff, it was as though it had touched a living being, and thus it merged into it.

...

Who knew how much time passed.

Qingyuan had already cleared away all stray thoughts and was doing all he could to refine the divine thunder.

The burning sensation gradually faded.

The red light slowly drew in.

The iron staff, too, returned to its former appearance, except that line upon line of thunder patterns had now been engraved upon it. Dark red in hue, they gave it a strange and singular beauty.

And on Qingyuan's hand there were likewise dark red thunder patterns. Yet as the circulation of his true energy came to a halt, the patterns gradually withdrew and sank beneath skin and flesh.

His forearm and hand returned once more to their pale, slender state. Still, if one looked closely, one could faintly make out traces of red beneath the skin where the thunder patterns remained.

"It worked..."

Qingyuan opened his eyes, delight shining in them.

His true energy moved, issuing from his palm and passing into the iron staff.

A red glow bloomed over the staff, and within it there was faintly the sound of thunder.

He swept it through the air with a single swing, and at once a whistling rumble burst forth.

Qingyuan's physical strength had not increased, nor had his true energy grown stronger, yet the iron staff was now sheathed in a layer of lightning, and its power to kill had increased enormously.

If he were to encounter again the spirit-creature raised by the little Jade Spirit girl, then with a single strike Qingyuan would not merely smash the two curved horns on its head, but reduce the entire creature to char with thunder.

His cultivation was still at the second heaven, and his attainment had not risen, but his abilities had advanced by a great deal.

"And not only that. With divine power in one's body, there are further subtleties besides..."

He drew a deep breath and set his true energy in motion.

He was just about to test this thunder-law divine power.

At that moment, a tremendous crash suddenly came from the left.

Someone had shattered the rock and entered the cave on that side.

Qingyuan immediately stilled his true energy and concealed his aura.

And from the cave to the left, voices began to sound.