At noon, Xu Wen arrived.
The two of them sat on the heated brick bed. Two dry pots sat on the kang table, charcoal fires burning beneath them as they simmered and bubbled.
Heavy snow flew outside, while the room was filled with warmth and the enticing fragrance of food.
Xu Wen poured Su Fan a cup of Spirit Wine and pointed at the two dry pots on the kang table.
"Brother, these two pots are pretty good..."
Su Fan raised his cup and clinked it against Xu Wen's, then tipped his head back and drained it in one gulp.
"It's getting colder and colder, so I thought I'd prepare a couple of pots and stew something for you when you came, Elder Brother."
"Mm... Eating food from a hot pot makes the wine go down just right..."
The two drank and chatted. In truth, Xu Wen did all the talking while Su Fan listened.
His predecessor had been taciturn by nature, and although Su Fan had plenty of inner drama, in the eyes of outsiders he was a man of few words too.
"Elder Brother, how are things over in the Qin State?"
"What else could they be? Both sides are clinging to that Spirit Vein and refusing to let go. They won't settle down without fighting for several months."
After Xu Wen finished speaking, he took a sip of wine and continued, "Don't go wandering around at night these days..."
Su Fan was startled when he heard that.
"Elder Brother, what do you mean?"
"A few days ago, the Foundation Establishment Ancestor of the Lesser Yang Sect led a group of elite disciples to the Qin State. The sect's mountain gate has even been sealed."
Su Fan hurriedly asked, "There won't be any trouble in the market, will there?"
"The market is fine. Several Late Qi Refining elders have gone down the mountain and will be stationed here in the market from now on."
Su Fan immediately let out a sigh of relief. If the market fell into chaos, he could forget about having peaceful days ahead.
Xu Wen took a sip of wine and lowered his voice. "They say Evil Cultivators have been discovered again these past few days. The Lesser Yang Sect is short-handed now. The market may be fine, but it's hard to say about other places. Don't go spreading this around."
Su Fan's hair stood on end.
It was said that Evil Cultivators were skilled at raising ghosts. Could the filthy thing he had encountered that night have been related to an Evil Cultivator?
The two kept drinking until nightfall, when Xu Wen finally staggered home.
After Xu Wen left, Su Fan found himself unable to sleep.
What had happened last time had been too frightening.
Actually, there was a question that had lingered in his heart the whole time: how had he escaped that filthy thing that night?
Su Fan carefully recalled what had happened. At the time, he had nearly lost consciousness, and that filthy thing had already seeped into his body.
He had only heard a shrill shriek beside his ear. The ghostly entity must have been injured, which was why it had detached itself from his body.
But what exactly had helped him drive away that filthy thing?
Su Fan thought for a while. Could it have been the Lightning Dao Seed?
That had to be it. The Lightning Dao Seed had just been activated a few days before.
And Heaven and Earth Lightning was the natural bane of all ghosts and monsters. Dealing with a single ghost was child's play.
After witnessing the power of a ghostly entity, Su Fan could not settle his heart. He tossed and turned, unable to sleep.
A frigid aura had silently burrowed into his body.
That feeling of nearly losing consciousness, of being forced to watch helplessly as the frigid aura seeped into his body while he could do nothing about it—he never wanted to experience it again.
If something like that truly happened again, he no longer had the Dao Seed to help him.
Evil Spirits and ghosts only came out at night. If one drifted into the room after he fell asleep, then even if the Evil Warding Talisman gave him a warning, he would not have time to take out a talisman.
The more Su Fan thought about it, the greater the pressure became.
Then he suddenly remembered the divine ability known as "Lightning Eye Dharma Eye."
If he mastered this divine ability, then at least he would not be so helpless the next time he encountered Evil Spirits or ghosts.
But cultivating this ruinously extravagant divine ability required drawing Heaven and Earth Lightning into his body.
If only he had a treasure that could resist lightning. At the very least, it could help him withstand the heavenly lightning.
At that moment, an idea struck him.
Could the Lightning Rod from his previous life help divert some of the lightning?
The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. At the very least, it was worth a try.
Damn it, forget sleeping.
He climbed out of the broken bed, lit the candle again, and sprawled over the kang table, writing and drawing until dawn.
The following afternoon, Su Fan returned from the market with several iron rods balanced on his shoulder.
He joined two iron rods as thick as a baby's arm together into a pole more than ten meters long. He pointed the sharp end upward and drove the other end three or four meters into the ground.
The remaining six iron rods, each as thick as a finger, extended from several directions, lying against the ground as they connected to the long pole.
The ends of the thin rods that extended outward were bent into right angles and driven into the earth.
Su Fan had never actually seen a Lightning Rod in his previous life, so he had made a crude one according to his own imagination.
He had it made at the same shop where he had bought his sword. After hearing his request, the burly man stared at him for a long while as if he were looking at an idiot.
"What are you making this thing for?"
Su Fan had no idea how to explain. He could hardly say that he intended to use it to avoid lightning when he was struck by thunder, could he?
After holding it in for a long time, he finally managed to say, "Uh... cultivation..."
The thing was simple enough, and the burly man did not ask any more questions. He found an apprentice, and the item was finished that afternoon.
After finally setting up the Lightning Rod, Su Fan slapped his forehead. He had overlooked something.
"It's winter now. Where the hell would thunder come from..."
Su Fan looked at the Lightning Rod again. He might as well leave it standing for now.
Around midnight, snowflakes began to drift down once more.
After drawing several "Evil Warding Talismans," Su Fan went into the courtyard and glanced at the sky.
"Should I give it a try..."
The Earth in his previous life truly had very little thunder in winter, but this was the Cultivation World.
At that thought, Su Fan went to the Lightning Rod and sat down cross-legged.
After sitting with his eyes closed for a while, he began circulating the "Demonic Saint Body Art."
The spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth surged into his body and circulated back and forth through his meridians.
A long while passed, but there was still no reaction.
Looks like it won't work.
Thunder in the middle of winter? Wasn't that just nonsense?
At that moment, a mysterious and profound aura rose from his heart and inexplicably resonated with the world around him.
"Don't tell me it's really going to thunder..."
At that moment, dark clouds blanketed the sky, surging like churning waves.
One wave rose higher than the last, like the deep sea before a storm.
The sea of clouds slowly churned, gradually forming a massive vortex of black clouds.
Within the black-cloud vortex, countless streaks of lightning writhed like electric snakes.
It was as if a colossal existence was about to descend from within the vortex.
A vast pressure descended, making Su Fan feel incomparably humble and insignificant.
This aura was too terrifying, filling him with overwhelming dread!
This was freaking terrifying.
Boom...
Suddenly, an explosion rang out.
Su Fan's heart jolted.
In an instant, he snapped awake from his dazed and bewildered state.
He saw that a massive bolt of lightning had already crashed down.
Holy shit...
That had been too fast. He was not ready yet.
Su Fan tried to stop circulating the technique, but it was already too late.
"Crack..."
A soul-shaking explosion suddenly rang out from the sky.
It was as if the heavens had collapsed and the earth had split, as if the mountains were shaking and the ground trembling.
At last, the first bolt of heavenly lightning came roaring down.
The blinding electric light was like a sharp sword. It slashed across the pitch-black night sky in an instant before viciously stabbing toward the ground.
Faced with the Lightning Rod, the heavenly lightning did not even spare it a glance. Instead, it struck straight at Su Fan.
There was no time to run.
Left with no choice, Su Fan could only grit his teeth and endure it head-on.
The violent lightning crashed into him in an instant, tearing his skin apart.
Horrifying bloodstains appeared all over his body.
Rolling waves of scorching energy rampaged through him without restraint.
The cultivation technique began cycling out of control, guiding the searing current toward the Dao Seed at his heart.
The bone-deep agony nearly made him faint.
Fortunately, he had already forged the Lightning Dao Body. Otherwise, the lightning would have reduced him to pieces.
Boom...
Another peal of thunder exploded.
Immediately afterward, bolt after bolt of heavenly lightning came roaring down, striking his body without pause.
The scorching current raged madly inside him. His flesh, skin, sinews, membranes, bones, blood, and marrow burned unbearably, as if they were being licked by flames.
Su Fan endured the agony by force, his state of mind entering a profound realm where all things were empty and no worldly dust could cling to him.
He cast out his distracting thoughts and began cultivating the divine ability "Lightning Eye Dharma Eye."
Countless streams of heat surged toward his eyes, like steel needles stirring inside them. The pain made his whole body twitch.
No one knew how much time had passed before the turbulent thunderclouds in the sky gradually subsided.
Su Fan had already been tortured until he could feel nothing.
Only after recovering for quite a while did he stand up.
His Daoist robe had been utterly shredded. His body was covered in split, bloody gashes, leaving him a man of blood.
He looked even more horrifying to behold.
He tried moving his body, and it erupted with crackling explosions. His bones trembled and snapped nonstop, as if beans were being fried.
Su Fan knew perfectly well that although he was covered in blood, the injuries were only superficial.
He had already forged the Lightning Dao Body. Not only had one strike of lightning failed to harm him, it had instead made his physical body just a tiny bit stronger.
Of course, it had still fucking hurt.
The pain had nearly made him want to ram his head into a wall and die.
Su Fan walked over to the Lightning Rod and kicked it over in one blow.
"What use is this iron rod to me..."
Damn it, he had gone to all that trouble, and the thing had been completely useless. All the heavenly lightning had landed on his head.
After kicking over the Lightning Rod, he felt a little better.
Su Fan closed his eyes, then suddenly opened them. His gaze seemed to flash with a streak of lightning.
He opened the panel, and the data updated once more.
[Name] Su Fan [Life Span] 36/92 years [Realm] Qi Refining Third Layer: 9/100 [Techniques] 1. Primordial Chaos Technique (First Order): 26/100. 2. Body Tempering Art (Second Order): 45/200 3. Demonic Saint Body Art (First Order): 100/100 [Arts] 1. Qi Gazing Art (Subtle): 85/800 2. Light Body Art (Subtle): 242/800 3. Spirit Concealment Art (Subtle): 72/800 4. Xingyi Quan (Grandmaster): 265/400 5. Nine Extremes Consecutive Slashes (Grandmaster): 151/400 [Skills] 1. Green Lamp Talisman (Beginner): 35/100 2. Evil Warding Talisman (Beginner): 12/100 [Divine Abilities] 1. Lightning Eye Dharma Eye (Beginner): 1/100
Su Fan let out a long breath. At last, he had reached the beginner level.
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