Heaven-Bestowed Opportunity

Lin Tianlu's eye twitched faintly, and a strange look crossed his face.

What kind of suffering had this locust tree gone through to end up in such a sorry state...?

After taking a few steps closer, he saw that the tree was covered in scorched marks from lightning, its trunk riddled with cracks that spread all the way from the top to the flower bed. Quite a few flowers and plants nearby had been reduced to flying ash, with black smoke billowing into the air.

Could it be that after he had angrily cursed a couple of times earlier, Heaven had actually sent down punishment?

Back then, when he had shouted once atop Taiyi Mountain, it had taken half a month to receive a response. How had Heaven suddenly installed a 5G signal? Its reaction was awfully fast.

Besides, the lightning had not struck him. Instead, it had struck the tree... in his Household.

Could this have been a meat-bomb charge that had veered off course?

While Lin Tianlu muttered to himself, his brows soon furrowed.

--No.

He rubbed his chin, his face thoughtful.

Thinking it over, the lightning clouds had clearly begun gathering before he had cursed at the heavens.

At the time, he had been focused on hurrying along and had not turned to look at the sky, but he had seen the reflected brilliance of the thunderbolts. It had been highly unusual. Besides, the two curses he had muttered seemed to have been telling the heavenly lightning to strike the tree--strike it early and get it over with?

He pondered silently before murmuring, "Could it be that I really have the ability to make words follow the laws of reality?"

He had previously treated it as nothing more than a joke and had not taken it seriously. After all, Hua Shuya's arrival on the mountain had merely been a coincidence.

But now--

Perhaps there really was something mysterious about it.

"Sir, since this tree has been struck by lightning, why not take the opportunity to move it out of the residence?"

As Lin Tianlu pondered, Mao Ruoyu awkwardly broke the silence.

Her thoughts were churning as well.

After all, locust trees belonged to yin, and planting one in a residence could easily disrupt its feng shui. In her eyes, the tree had surely been struck by lightning because its yin energy was too strong.

As for the tree's origins...

She had deliberately planted it herself.

Mao Ruoyu felt both regretful and somewhat fortunate.

Back then, to more smoothly seize the yang energy and vitality of those residents, she had made quite a few arrangements in the residence, all to gather yin energy and improve the effects of casting yin arts from a distance.

But after becoming acquainted with Lin Tianlu, she had reformed and repented. She had also secretly cleaned up most of the arrangements in the household, but this tree alone...

She had not known what to do with it.

That was why she had deliberately climbed a ladder onto the tree a few days earlier, hoping to use some means to restrain the yin energy gathered inside it, lest it clash with the yang energy in the residence and harm Miss Hua and Mister Lin... Though halfway through, a series of laughable misunderstandings had occurred.

Now that she saw the locust tree destroyed, she hurriedly brought it up, secretly delighted in her heart.

"Madam is right. Having a chunk of charcoal standing in the courtyard really is inappropriate."

Lin Tianlu temporarily set aside his many thoughts and prepared to push over the charred locust tree first.

Afterward, he could find some seeds and plant another one.

"--Hm?"

But the moment his fingers touched the tree's surface, Lin Tianlu's expression changed slightly. He immediately raised his hand and called out, "Madam Mao, wait a moment."

Mao Ruoyu quickly stopped and asked in surprise, "What happened?"

"It seems there is still some residual electricity inside the tree trunk."

Lin Tianlu's eyes narrowed. The scene before him immediately transformed into a mysterious painting, streaked with wisps of strange light.

Within the charred trunk, a massive amount of peculiar electric radiance was flowing, flickering unstably.

"This lightning seems to carry something..."

At that very moment, the strange lightning seemed to have found an outlet for its release and surged out all at once!

Boom--!!

The thunderous explosion shook the earth like a bolt from a clear sky, and the sound instantly traveled several miles.

The sudden boom frightened Mao Ruoyu into collapsing onto the ground, her face filled with terror.

"Mi-Mister Lin?!"

Lin Tianlu was suddenly wrapped in dark lightning, with electric arcs shooting in every direction!

Mao Ruoyu's face paled in horror as she hurriedly scrambled up from the ground.

Even merely touching that lightning with her gaze made her heart tremble. When its aura brushed against her face, her entire body stiffened. If someone took a direct hit, even a body of bronze head and iron arms would probably be scorched black!

--Danger!

She forced herself to stay focused and prepared to cast a yin art to save him.

But just as she began forming the hand seal, the sight before her left her staring dumbfounded.

Lin Tianlu slapped himself randomly several times, and the electric light actually dispersed like a phantom, leaving only wisps of green smoke rising from his clothes.

"Are you... are you all right?"

"I'm fine."

Lin Tianlu turned and smiled at her. "Don't be fooled by this lightning's ominous color. Its power is actually rather ordinary."

He had been slightly startled just now, thinking that some sudden change had occurred. But only when the lightning struck him did he belatedly realize it.

Hm--

He had been electrocuted?

Although the spectacle had been quite frightening, the strange energy contained in the lightning was not particularly impressive. A couple of casual slaps had dispersed it completely.

It was about the same as static electricity in winter?

Of course, Lin Tianlu was not foolish enough to truly mistake the lightning for static electricity. Where in this world was there static electricity that was purplish-black?

"So this really is a heavenly tribulation that fell from the sky?"

Lin Tianlu looked up at the sky with some curiosity.

After living in Changling County for more than ten days, he had gradually realized that, with the abundant Spiritual Energy within him, he might really be able to attract the tribulation lightning described in cultivation novels.

For example, advancing from Qi Refining to the Golden Core realm, or from the Golden Core realm to the Nascent Soul realm... Though he had an entire mountain inside his body.

It was just that he could not quite understand the color of this tribulation lightning.

After all, a single novel could have lightning in every color--red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple--like a painter's palette. He had no idea what variety of lightning this was or what level it represented.

The lightning's power really was nothing special, either. It had struck into the courtyard and merely damaged a tree without even affecting the house. It was truly pathetic.

The only thing worth praising was... that it was a little noisy.

The saying about thunder being loud while the rain was light probably referred to this?

Lin Tianlu shook his head.

It was a disgrace to heavenly lightning.

"Mister Lin, are you really all right?"

Mao Ruoyu hurried over at this point and repeatedly stroked different parts of his body, afraid that some hidden injury might have been left behind.

Lin Tianlu awkwardly waved his hand. "There's no need to worry, Madam. I'm truly unharmed."

Seeing that his expression was normal and that even his clothes were barely damaged, Mao Ruoyu finally relaxed a little.

"You nearly scared me to death. How did this strange lightning appear so suddenly?"

"I'm just as confused."

Lin Tianlu cupped his hands and said softly, "But the heavenly lightning has passed, so you can return to your room and get some proper rest. I'll clean up the courtyard."

"I... Oh?"

Mao Ruoyu blinked her beautiful eyes and looked at the charred locust tree beside her in astonishment. "Mister Lin, look at this tree--"

Lin Tianlu hurriedly turned around.

After the charred bark slowly peeled away, the locust tree that had originally been reduced to charcoal revealed a completely intact layer of fresh bark!

"What... is going on?"

Lin Tianlu murmured.

As soon as his voice fell, a gentle breeze drifted past. All the charred fragments turned into ashes that filled the sky, revealing a strange locust tree whose trunk twisted and coiled upward!

Although it was a little smaller than before and all its leaves and branches had vanished, leaving only the bare limbs, every branch of the locust tree was smooth as jade and extraordinarily beautiful. Under the sunlight, they seemed to carry a faint, flowing radiance.

But what was most astonishing was--

From the center of the locust tree's twisted trunk, a section of... a sword hilt had grown!

Lin Tianlu was slightly stunned.

Could a bolt of heavenly lightning actually strike a sword out of a tree?!

After steadying his mind, he simply reached out, grabbed the hilt, and pulled hard.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle, sizzle--!

A shower of sparks burst from the tree trunk, as though an unrivaled blade were being drawn.

But after pulling out the sword, Lin Tianlu was surprised to discover that it was also made of wood. It merely shimmered with a golden sheen and looked quite hard. Faint sparks of lightning still lingered, scorching rows of profound, mysterious patterns into the blade.

Mao Ruoyu was even more astonished. Covering her red lips, she murmured, "Strange lightning descending from Heaven, a sword born within a tree, carrying the intent of lightning and fire... How could such a bizarre thing exist in this world?"

In her more than twenty years of life, she had never heard such a strange tale. Even the records of strange creatures, tales of the supernatural, and collections of curiosities probably contained nothing like it.

Mao Ruoyu took a moment to calm her emotions, but soon her brows lifted with delight.

Could this item be a Heaven-bestowed opportunity granted to Mister Lin?

"This sword came from the heavens and landed in our residence. It must be a Heaven-bestowed opportunity. Why not give it a name, Mister Lin?"

"A name?"

Lin Tianlu lightly flicked the sword twice and chuckled. "Why not call it the Thunderfire Sword?"

"Thunderfire..."

"Ahem! I'm only joking. If we're really naming it, we might as well call it the Sophora Sword."

"That name is simple and straightforward, but it also carries considerable meaning--"

Seeing the beautiful woman beside him lost in thought, Lin Tianlu chuckled twice and casually thrust the wooden sword back into the tree trunk.

Mao Ruoyu asked in astonishment, "Mister Lin, you're..."

"I don't usually practice with swords or sabers, and carrying a sword around would be troublesome. If you like it, Madam, feel free to take it home for self-defense."