chapter 19
19. Bai Zhiqing Absorbs Thunder
That night, Mo Qingxue and Han Xiangjun flew toward an ancient spring somewhere on Heavenly Sword Mountain.
“Not bad, the spiritual power is indeed abundant. Comparable to the Scholarly Heart Heavenly Sect’s spirit-gathering formation.” Mo Qingxue said: “Maybe I should cultivate here for a while too.”
She sat cross-legged and began regulating her breathing.
“Qingxue is too diligent.” Han Xiangjun complained while meditating: “Didn’t you always say you never seriously cultivated before? Actually you probably cultivate more diligently than anyone, right?”
“Can’t help it, who told me I’m the senior sister?” Mo Qingxue said helplessly: “I don’t have a senior brother like Yuan Jianyi to carry the load above me. Now my strength not only can’t compare to Yuan Jianyi, it’s even somewhat lacking compared to the Azure Sea Blade Sect’s Qin Feng. The elder who teaches us always says we’re the worst batch he’s ever taught.”
“And you still always say you don’t cultivate?” Han Xiangjun rolled her eyes at her irritably.
“Can’t help it, the Scholarly Heart Heavenly Sect’s atmosphere is like that. They take pride in never cultivating but still being far ahead. But where are there so many geniuses who can lead without cultivating? So most people are still desperately cultivating in secret.” Mo Qingxue harshly criticized: “They’re all hypocrites. They always say they don’t cultivate, then desperately cultivate in secret hoping to get a good ranking in sect competitions, then smugly say ‘sorry, I accidentally got first place again.’”
Han Xiangjun’s mouth twitched: “I always feel like our Heavenly Pole Sword Sect has quite a few people like that too.”
This blessed land was indeed a blessed land. Han Xiangjun’s cultivation progress was indeed much faster because of it. Today was especially smooth—her spiritual power circulated through several cycles in her body without any feeling of fatigue.
—This is unusually smooth… and my spiritual power hasn’t reached its peak yet.
Han Xiangjun felt the spiritual power in her body gradually surging upward, gradually giving her a feeling of exceeding her usual limits. This feeling was very familiar to her.
“Thunder Dragon Xuanlei! It’s really here!” Han Xiangjun looked up and indeed saw the thunder dragon had caused spiritual power fluctuations around them, giving her a push.
“So beautiful! Is this the Integration stage thunder dragon’s true form? It’s as big as a small mountain.” Mo Qingxue was also amazed by the thunder dragon’s magnificence. She could even see the scales glittering under the lightning: “Xiangjun, shall we chase after it to get a better look?”
“No, you go ahead.” Han Xiangjun said: “I suddenly feel my cultivation is very smooth. I might be able to break through to late Core Formation in one go.”
“Really?” Mo Qingxue was somewhat delighted: “Then I’ll go by myself. Be careful.”
Before leaving, Mo Qingxue took out her spirit brush and wrote several characters in the air one after another, hoping to help Han Xiangjun.
[Advance] [Guard] [Protect] [Calm]—one large character after another fell into Han Xiangjun’s body or surroundings, forming a small barrier.
Then she rode the wind upward, chasing in the thunder dragon’s direction.
After passing through several cloud layers, two figures appeared in her field of view.
It was Bai Zhiqing and Lin Dongming.
She saw Bai Zhiqing carefully approaching the thunder dragon, with streaks of thunder essence passing by her, extremely dangerous.
—What are they trying to do? That’s Integration stage thunder essence! Let alone Core Formation stage, even Nascent Soul stage cultivators might lose their lives if they touch it.
Mo Qingxue was very surprised. For Thunder Dragon Xuanlei, night touring was just following his whims, and the thunder essence was just his spiritual energy overflowing as a byproduct. But the huge realm gap made his thunder essence extremely lethal to cultivators below Spirit Transformation stage, especially since dragon clans were naturally gifted. Though only Integration stage, his actual combat power should be at half-step Tribulation Transcendence.
Bai Zhiqing imitated Lin Dongming’s method from that day, layering as many shields as possible on herself and wearing her strongest defensive robes before trying to approach the weakest thunder essence.
“Junior Sister Bai… cultivation doesn’t necessarily require taking such great risks. Especially for you, there are many safe alternatives. Why not try other methods?”
“No,” Bai Zhiqing firmly shook her head: “It must be this way. I don’t want to wait that long, and I don’t like being powerless.”
She reached out her hand toward the weakest thunder essence.
A clear dragon roar came.
“Ah?” Bai Zhiqing was stunned, discovering the thunder essence before her had changed direction. She didn’t touch the weakest thunder essence, but instead a thick thunder essence nearby collided with her, and Bai Zhiqing could no longer dodge in time.
“This is bad!” Lin Dongming quickly flew over trying to knock her away, but it was too late.
The dozen-plus layers of magical shields in front of Bai Zhiqing were split like paper, and even her robes that could resist Nascent Soul stage attacks were charred black by the electricity.
“Damn it, this thunder essence’s power exceeds Core Formation stage!” Lin Dongming didn’t think twice, directly forming hand seals and grabbing Bai Zhiqing, drawing the thunder tribulation from her body to his own.
—You better not die. Otherwise my two hundred thousand spirit stones per month will be gone!
The violent electrical current ran wild through Bai Zhiqing’s body, almost destroying her physical form cultivated over many years. Though her talent was decent, she wasn’t a body cultivator after all, so her physical strength wasn’t outstanding. Fortunately Lin Dongming pulled in time, and the electrical current on her body immediately weakened by more than half.
Even so, both were still injured by the electricity. Bai Zhiqing couldn’t even control her spiritual power and fell from midair.
“Damn! Are you okay!” Lin Dongming was angry enough to curse, not knowing what had gotten into the thunder dragon to suddenly roar and surge with spiritual power.
He grabbed Bai Zhiqing but was nearly dragged down from midair. Fortunately his daily cultivation was diligent and his willpower exceptionally firm, so he managed to stabilize his spiritual power.
“Wake up!” Lin Dongming took out a high-grade healing talisman and stuck it on Bai Zhiqing, then stuffed several Essence Nourishing Pills he’d obtained earlier into her mouth like they cost nothing.
“This is a huge loss.” Lin Dongming muttered: “You better earn it back for me.”
He hadn’t had time to check his own injuries yet and cast another healing spell on Bai Zhiqing. Only after her breathing stabilized did he breathe a sigh of relief.
“…This young miss is really troublesome.” Lin Dongming let out a long breath.
Thunder exploded again in the sky. Lin Dongming reflexively looked up and saw Thunder Dragon Xuanlei had left the protective sect barrier, letting out clear dragon roars. Brilliant lightning burst from his body with power completely incomparable to before—even Integration stage cultivators would probably have to retreat.
“…There’s only one situation where Thunder Dragon Xuanlei would make such a commotion.” Lin Dongming gritted his teeth: “Enemies outside.”
He’d probably sensed something wrong with the surroundings earlier, so he changed course and roared in warning. After truly confirming enemies existed, he entered combat mode.
“!?” A black light shot toward Lin Dongming. He reacted quickly, deflecting the black light with his sword, producing a clear ring of metal striking metal.
“Who!?” Lin Dongming shouted coldly.