Steward Liu Slain by Thunder, the Immortal Assembly's Cultivators Stripped of Their Cultivation

After they had exhausted all their methods, the great array's spiritual light was depleted, the God-Locking Thunder Spear dimmed and fell, and all sorts of torture instruments were destroyed.

Chen Du slowly spoke, "What, why can't you kill me?"

Steward Liu gripped the chipped dagger so tightly his knuckles dug into his palm, his face ashen like frozen iron. He swallowed hard, finally managing to choke out, "Take him back!"

Several disciples of the Immortal Society were already in a state of panic. They rushed to the bronze pillar in a flustered manner and, with trembling hands, unlocked the chains.

They then retrieved a more powerful spirit-binding rope to re-bind Chen Du, and shoved him as they escorted him to a secluded courtyard deep within the branch headquarters.

Steward Liu personally closed the heavy wooden door and sternly ordered all the onlookers who had gathered to be dispersed. The noisy crowd gradually faded away outside the courtyard wall.

The public execution that was supposed to intimidate everyone ended up failing to establish its authority and instead became a laughing stock that spread throughout the entire Southern Border.

He stood alone in the middle of the courtyard, pacing back and forth, his chest churning with shame and an uncontrollable rage.

His face flushed and paled in turns, and with each glance at the figure by the wall, the embarrassment in his heart deepened.

Chen Du leaned against the old, gnarled locust tree in the courtyard, the ropes binding him loosely draped over his shoulders. A casual smile played on his lips as he chuckled, "Steward Liu, well, since you've given me so many gifts, I should reciprocate, shouldn't I?"

Steward Liu was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, his brows furrowing tightly, a hint of barely perceptible panic hidden in his eyes. "What do you mean?"

Chen Du did not give an immediate answer, but simply pulled his arm outwards, and the spirit-binding ropes binding his body snapped.

It shattered into strands of lifeless fibers, which flickered twice on the Spirit-Sealing Formation Patterns flowing across the skin before fading into complete darkness and silence.

Steward Liu's pupils suddenly contracted to their maximum size, and his mouth opened wide as if he wanted to shout for help, but the shout he was about to utter had not yet broken out of his throat.

With a deafening roar, a thunderous sound descended from the heavens, and thick, dark purple lightning tore through the void, pouring into the enclosed courtyard.

The lightning struck each of the remaining Immortal Society disciples in the courtyard with pinpoint accuracy, causing more than a dozen figures to freeze in place, their limbs involuntarily solidified.

They couldn't even move a finger, as the raging thunder slowly circulated around them, pressing down heavily and robbing them of the ability to breathe smoothly.

Steward Liu was the first to be struck, slammed hard onto the muddy ground by the powerful lightning. His cheeks were pressed tightly against the damp soil, and his muscles trembled uncontrollably. A bone-chilling fear climbed up his spine and into his mind.

Only at this moment did he belatedly realize that the Holy Land disciple he had identified as Eighth Stage disciple had a true cultivation level that he could never reach.

All previous attempts to frame the other party were foolish acts that led to self-destruction.

With all his might, he craned his neck, his face and temples covered in dirt, and his trembling voice squeezed out through clenched teeth. "Senior... Senior, spare my life... This junior was blind to your Mount Tai... This junior will never dare to do it again..."

The other disciples of the Immortal Society, who were also imprisoned by the lightning, followed suit, begging for mercy. Their broken cries echoed throughout the courtyard.

Some people couldn't control their emotions and cried out loud, while others twisted their bodies desperately and kowtowed heavily in Chen Du's direction, their foreheads repeatedly hitting the hard ground, and soon hot blood seeped out.

Chen Du lowered his eyes and quietly looked down at the mess at his feet, then gently touched Steward Liu, who was lying in the mud.

Another deafening roar erupted, and Steward Liu was enveloped in dark purple lightning, instantly vanishing into nothingness without leaving a trace of ash in the courtyard.

The remaining disciples witnessed their leader vanish, and were terrified. Their cries for mercy grew even more desperate, as fear overwhelmed them.

Chen Du glanced indifferently at the trembling group, his tone calm yet carrying an undeniable authority, "I'll cripple your cultivation, spare your lives, but from now on, watch your eyes and don't dare provoke just anyone."

With a flick of his wrist, fine lightning threads pierced through the void and entered the meridians of these cultivators, reaching their dantian and meticulously annihilating the True Essence they had painstakingly accumulated over many years of cultivation.

More than a dozen figures simultaneously let out heart-wrenching screams as they crashed to the ground, rolling around in the mud, their cultivation levels plummeting.

He plummeted from an eighth or ninth-level cultivator to a mere mortal with no cultivation whatsoever.

Some people hugged their dantian and wept bitterly, heartbroken over the foundation they had painstakingly built up over countless years.

Some people huddled in small balls, trembling uncontrollably; others lay on the ground, repeatedly banging their heads against the earth, tears of regret mingling with blood as they dripped into the soil.

Deep within his consciousness, gilded characters slowly surfaced: [Deliberate Revenge triggered; the opponent framed him in public, and he went so far as to use the branch's grand formation to suppress him. His arrogance reached its peak, and he sublimated his Enmity Qi, gaining: 900,000.]

This abundant Enmity Qi settled steadily within his sea of consciousness, quietly awaiting Chen Du's opportunity to send it into the Heaven's Way's Gift in exchange for insights into the laws of countless Ji Yuan.

Chen Du slowly squatted down, giving the group of Immortal Society disciples, who had lost their cultivation and were filled with remorse, a faint smile. "I didn't do anything, do you know what you should do now?"

The dozen or so people were stunned for a moment, then suddenly came to their senses and nodded frantically, afraid that if they were slow to respond, they would end up like Steward Liu.

Someone scrambled to their feet from the mud, staggered towards the courtyard gate, and summoned all the other cultivators from the Immortal Society branch. In front of everyone, they revealed everything that Steward Liu had secretly planned.

They said that Steward Liu secretly accepted bribes and was determined to eliminate this disciple of the Ancient Path Holy Land. They said that the assassins who boarded the ship to kill him were secretly arranged by Steward Liu. They said that this grand public execution was a conspiracy orchestrated by Steward Liu from beginning to end.

The assembled cultivators were deeply shaken, their gazes falling upon Chen Du in the center of the courtyard, fear and guilt spreading through the crowd.

Chen Du stood quietly to the side, patiently listening to all their testimonies, before slowly adding, "So I was wronged."

Those around who heard this quickly echoed, nodding hurriedly and frantically, "Yes, yes! Senior has been wronged! It was all that bastard Steward Liu's doing!"

After some time, the newly appointed manager, temporarily transferred from the Immortal Society branch to take over the affairs, stood on the periphery of the crowd, listening to the whole story with a bewildered expression.

He had just received a message from his superiors, and a huge weight was already hanging over his heart, making him unable to muster even the slightest courage to provoke them.

For some reason, the previous manager died inexplicably, and these people had their cultivation abolished.

He dared not ask any further questions about the secrets, and quickly stepped forward to personally and respectfully invite Chen Du onto the merchant ship docked at the pier.

They specially set aside an elegantly furnished, spiritually rich first-class cabin and had a large quantity of rare spiritual materials delivered as an apology to the Immortal Gathering.

Chen Du accepted all the apologies without hesitation, turned around and lay down on the soft jade couch in the cabin. When the merchant ship weighed anchor and set sail, he leaned against the window and looked up at the shore.

The numerous cultivators of the Mount Tai Immortal Assembly stood silently on the bluestone of the dock, watching the merchant ship slowly sail away from the harbor. A heavy sense of bewilderment and lingering fear clung to their faces.

They knew perfectly well that from now on, no one on this sea route in the Southern Border would dare to provoke this disciple from the Ancient Path Holy Land.

The remaining disciples, whose cultivation had been crippled, knelt under the locust tree for a long time, recalling their arrogant actions over and over again. Regret, like tiny poisonous insects, gnawed at their minds day and night.

For the rest of their lives, they would remember this lesson well, remembering never to bully others with their power, and never to use their little bit of authority to frame a powerful person whose strength they could not fathom.

The merchant ship cut through the shimmering waves and sailed steadily toward the Ancient Path Holy Land. The cabins were quiet and peaceful, with only a faint spiritual energy flowing slowly in the air.

Chen Du sat cross-legged in the center of the jade couch, slowly closed his eyes, and sank his mind into his sea of consciousness. The nine hundred thousand units of sublimated Enmity Qi that he had just obtained was like a long, hot, and dazzling golden river, quietly surging in his sea of consciousness.

With a thought, he pushed the entire golden river of Enmity Qi toward the Heaven's Way's Gift of talent, which was suspended deep within his sea of consciousness. A layer of hazy, warm golden light instantly spread out, enveloping the surging Enmity Qi.

[Heaven's Way's Gift activated, consuming 900,000 units of Sublimated Enmity Qi to exchange for insights into the Fundamental Law of Thunder.]

Lines of gilded text appeared one after another, and a vast torrent of insights surged into his soul, with countless images of the Thunder Origin flashing through his mind.

He saw the first divine lightning bolt piercing the void at the beginning of chaos, the tribulation lightning sweeping across the starry sea when the galaxy collapsed, and the primordial lightning path that governs birth and death amidst the endless cycles of reincarnation in countless worlds.

[You have gained insight into the Fundamental Law of Thunder spanning two thousand seventy Ji Yuan; one Ji Yuan is one trillion years.]

The laws and principles accumulated over the long years seeped into his already solidified lightning meridians along with his divine soul, and every insight honed his understanding of the Fundamental Law of Thunder.

[The Fundamental Law of Thunder, Eighth-Level Recognition.]

A faint glint of lightning quietly seeped out from between his skin and flesh, but he concealed it within his body without making a sound, so that not a trace of his aura alerted the other cultivators on the ship.

Chen Du slowly exhaled a long breath, a faint flash of lightning passing through his eyes. He could clearly feel that his control over the Dao of Lightning had taken another solid step forward.

He raised his hand, and with a gentle flick of his fingertips, a wisp of extremely faint dark purple lightning coiled around his fingertip. This wisp of lightning already carried a hint of the source of destruction.

The Primordial Tribulation-Extinguishing Sword he had created earlier naturally underwent a new transformation in his mind, and another sword move hidden within the origin of thunder quietly took shape in his thoughts.

This sword technique is called "Ten Thousand Ji Yuan Myriad Tribulations Return to Thunder," drawing upon countless eons of tribulation lightning to converge into a single strike.

With a single sword strike, all illusions in the world can be dissolved.

Chen Du silently memorized the essence of this sword strike, without rushing to unleash it. He simply quietly comprehended the power that changed around him as the laws ascended.

The merchant ship sailed forward, passing by the spiritual islands floating on the sea and the numerous cultivator boats coming and going. Many cultivators, upon seeing this merchant ship belonging to the Mount Tai Immortal Assembly from afar, instinctively gave way.

Unbeknownst to anyone, inside the first-class cabin of this merchant ship sat a terrifying being who had just received a vast understanding of the Dao of Thunder and quietly broken through to the level of recognition of the Dao of Thunder.

Some passing cultivators peered out from the ship's railing, whispering amongst themselves about the turmoil that had occurred aboard the merchant vessel.

They wondered if the Holy Land disciple who caused such a commotion at the Immortal Society branch was still on the ship.

Inside his cabin, Chen Du paid no attention to this. He let the merchant ship carry him slowly back to the Ancient Path Holy Land, already planning in his mind where to find the next opportunity to reap the benefits of Enmity Qi after returning to the holy land.

He doesn't actively seek revenge, but if anyone is foolish enough to provoke him, he naturally won't be polite. He never refuses Enmity Qi that comes to him willingly.

A gentle sea breeze blew across the ship, making soft sounds as it turned the sails. Within his consciousness, the spiritual light of the Thunder Dao Origin lingered, quietly nourishing his soul and body.