Chapter 103: Refining the Thunderstorm
Massive bolts of lightning, thick as tree trunks, rained down from the heavens, as if they had eyes, all converging on Chen Xian.
Instinctively, he dashed forward, desperate to escape the deadly strike zone of the thunderbolts.
Yet, a strange sight unfolded: as Chen Xian fled, the ink-black storm clouds and crackling lightning above relentlessly pursued him, clinging like a stubborn shadow that no matter how he tried, he could not shake off.
Worse still, the speed of the storm clouds and lightning outpaced his own.
A minute later, all the thunderbolts enveloped Chen Xian.
Cornered and unable to flee, he faced the destructive lightning with all his might, activating the Supreme Chaos Art. Simultaneously, he channeled his spiritual energy rapidly through his meridians, pushing his physical strength to its absolute peak.
At this moment, this was all he could do. Whether he could withstand the terrifying lightning was uncertain.
Crackling and sizzling!
In an instant, Chen Xian was engulfed by the lightning, forming a sphere of thunder. Countless bolts danced across its surface, crackling and popping, while more lightning continuously descended from the dark clouds, merging into the electric orb.
Around him, the trees struck by the thick lightning were instantly charred black and crashed to the ground with thunderous booms.
At the Howling Wolf Mercenary Group’s stronghold, soldiers stationed in the watchtower gazed tens of miles away at the sky, where the lightning flickered relentlessly. Curious, they immediately reported the phenomenon to their captain.
Li Xiong swiftly led his core team up the watchtower, confirming the sight of serpentine bolts weaving through the night sky in the distance.
“Captain, what’s going on? It’s winter now. By all logic, lightning shouldn’t appear at this time of year,” a company commander inquired.
Li Xiong’s eyes darkened as he stared at the distant lightning, his expression grim. In a low voice, he said, “Thunder in winter is unnatural—there must be something amiss. It’s likely related to that Chen Xian.”
“What should we do? Should we send people out to investigate?”
Li Xiong shook his head. “Not long ago, we suffered a heavy loss, nearly two hundred brothers. The situation is unclear now; we must not act rashly. We’ll wait until dawn to make our next move.”
...
As time slowly passed, the thunderclap sphere encasing Chen Xian gradually contracted, shrinking in size.
About an hour later, the thunder and lightning finally dissipated, and the black clouds in the night sky vanished without a trace.
In the jungle below, a large crater appeared. Its edges were scorched black; more than a dozen trees lay toppled, charred to obsidian. Fortunately, no wildfire broke out.
At the crater’s bottom, Chen Xian stood naked, his clothes reduced to ashes by the ferocious lightning.
Though he appeared somewhat disheveled, the aura he radiated was far more powerful than before, as if he were a transformed man.
His muscles were sleek and sculpted, exuding a refined beauty.
As his eyelashes fluttered, Chen Xian opened his eyes, which gleamed with radiant vitality and unyielding spirit.
A faint smile crept to his lips as he murmured to himself, “Disaster may conceal fortune; the ancients spoke true.”
Most of the lightning’s energy had been absorbed by Chen Xian through his Supreme Chaos Art.
The lightning contained an incredibly dense and terrifying energy, enough not only to saturate the spiritual energy within his third spirit wheel space but also to awaken his fourth spirit wheel. Moreover, he replenished the spiritual energy in his third spirit wheel, which had been depleted upon awakening the fourth.
Of course, the fourth spirit wheel space could not be completely filled, as it was ten times the volume of the third.
With the successful awakening of his fourth spirit wheel, Chen Xian advanced into the mid-stage of the Transcendence Realm. Awakening the first, second, and third spirit wheels marked the early stage; the fourth, fifth, and sixth corresponded to the mid-stage; and the seventh, eighth, and ninth to the late stage.
The difference in strength between early and mid-stage was vast; mid-stage practitioners far surpassed early ones, and late-stage far outclassed mid-stage.
Now, with his fourth spirit wheel awakened, Chen Xian’s physical strength and spiritual power were far greater than when he was at the third spirit wheel.
Additionally, Chen Xian carefully sensed his body and was delighted to find that the strange, cold aura that had lingered around him had completely vanished.
He felt as if a layer of filth had been cleansed from his being, bringing an unparalleled comfort and exhilaration.
Suddenly, a flash of insight struck him. Recalling some knowledge he had studied and materials he had read, he deduced that those eerie, cold energies were the malevolent grudges left behind by the humans he had slain.
Grudge energy was a form of negative energy—akin to negative electrons—symbolizing evil and chill; lightning, on the other hand, embodied the righteous and vast qi of heaven and earth, or positive energy, positive electrons.
Based on the principle that opposite charges attract and like charges repel, Chen Xian concluded that these lingering grudges had drawn the lightning, causing the unusual thunderstorm in winter that struck him.
The malevolent aura that clung to him was entirely eradicated—or rather neutralized—by the overwhelming might of the thunderbolts.
Fortunately, Chen Xian’s cultivation of the supreme and domineering Supreme Chaos Art allowed him to absorb and refine the thunderbolt’s power into spiritual energy within his spirit wheels.
Had it been anyone else, they would have perished under such a fearsome storm.
Now, Chen Xian wondered why he could not also absorb and refine the grudges—the negative energy—from the humans he had killed.
The Supreme Chaos Art could absorb even the most fiercely positive and unyielding lightning. Surely, it should be able to absorb the grudges, too!
After pondering for a long time, Chen Xian finally speculated that this was due to the inscrutable laws of heaven and earth, or the Way of Heaven.
Nothing in this world comes without cost; to gain something, one must pay a price.
If you wish to kill humans and refine their corpses to strengthen yourself, you must be prepared to be struck by thunder.
This explained why many practitioners of demonic or evil paths—though they could cultivate at a far faster rate than righteous practitioners and achieve formidable power—ultimately met grim fates.
These demon cultivators and evil practitioners accumulated vast amounts of negative energy from their countless murders. Eventually, their minds were corrupted by this energy, losing themselves to madness, or they attracted the heavenly thunder—known as the Calamity Thunder—to be struck down.
Chen Xian felt a chill run down his spine at these thoughts.
However, possessing the invincible Supreme Chaos Art, he need not fear the Calamity Thunder. The arrival of the thunder was merely a gift of energy.
In the future, Chen Xian resolved to continue slaying evil-doers and refining their corpses for cultivation. Resources on Blue Star were far too scarce; he must exhaust every means to advance his strength.
He then carefully examined his body again, satisfied with his current state.
“I wonder if, with my cultivation improved, the Super Divine Treasure Tree in my mind can absorb external attack energy again today?”
“Judging by the consciousness that erupted from the Super Divine Treasure Tree, as my cultivation rises, the tree’s daily energy absorption limit should also increase.”
“Idle speculation won’t help. I’ll head to the Howling Wolf Mercenary Group’s stronghold and see for myself.”
His thoughts racing, Chen Xian made up his mind.
With a powerful push from his legs, he sprang high into the air, swiftly leaping beyond the crater.
Glancing around, he murmured, “The power of thunder is truly immense!”
Retrieving a fresh set of clothes from his dimensional ring, he dressed quickly and then sprinted toward the military fortress with determination.