Girl in the Thunder

"Refining a soul weapon means offering one's soul into the soul weapon, nourishing it with spiritual power, letting it seep in day and night, and establishing a spiritual connection."

Zhong Yue sat cross-legged, the Dragon Blood Sword Box standing upright on the ground before him. Xin Huo guided him within his sea of consciousness, teaching him how to refine the Dragon Blood Sword Box and the Dragon Scale Sword.

"The longer you refine it, the more stable the connection with the soul weapon will become. Even if you lose your soul weapon, you can recall it with a thought, and no one else can seize it. However, your sword box has already established a connection with the Dragon Scale Sword—a connection between scabbard and sword. If the treasured sword is lost, you can also summon it back by activating the sword box. As for your current refinement, you need not refine the sword box. Refine the sword first, nourishing it with powerful spiritual power and soul!"

Zhong Yue offered his soul into the Dragon Scale Sword, and his spiritual power surged out as well, nourishing the treasured sword.

"Ordinary people nourish soul weapons by simply using their souls and spiritual power. It takes more than ten days to refine them to their command, and that is merely the most foolish method."

Xin Huo continued guiding him. "While nourishing the soul weapon, visualize Suihuang of the Fire Epoch Palace as well. With this method, you will need at most a few hours to refine the soul weapon to your command."

Upon hearing this, Zhong Yue immediately visualized Suihuang of the Fire Epoch Palace. Several hours later, he suddenly opened his eyes.

"Activate!"

With a click, the sword box opened. The Dragon Scale Sword let out a faint buzzing hum and sprang from the box. Chilling light erupted, and the temperature of the air plummeted, an icy aura assailing the senses!

The Dragon Scale Sword seemed to have become his eyes. Through it, Zhong Yue could "see" the surrounding scenery, and as the Dragon Scale Sword flew higher and higher, the scene he saw grew broader and broader.

Crack!

Lightning flashed and thunder boomed in the sky. Under his control, the Dragon Scale Sword unleashed the Thunderclap Sword Art. Electric light ran rampant in every direction, and the Dragon Scale Sword truly transformed into thunder and lightning, darting back and forth like a bolt of lightning, swift as racing thunder!

Zhong Yue was both shocked and delighted. He fully unleashed the Thunderclap Sword Art, and sword light flashed and leaped through the sky as the might of the Thunderclap Sword Art was completely displayed!

In the past, whenever he used the Thunderclap Sword Art, he had always felt constrained, unable to fully bring it into play. But using the Dragon Scale Sword as a soul weapon, all the variations he had previously been unable to execute suddenly flowed as he wished!

No wonder so many upper-court disciples say that a good soul weapon can double one's strength. With the Dragon Scale Sword, how could the might of my Thunderclap Sword Art merely double? Zhong Yue thought to himself.

"You have only offered your soul into the sword for refinement. It is enough to kill ordinary ferocious beasts, but it is still far from enough to deal with a little devil like Shui Qinghe. Shui Qinghe's spiritual power is stronger than yours, and his soul weapon is probably no inferior to yours either. If you fight him, your chances of losing are quite high."

Xin Huo transformed into a tiny flame, flew onto the Dragon Scale Sword, and sank into the sword's body. Standing atop Zhong Yue's soul, he said, "This sword is fairly good. It can protect your soul and prevent you from being shattered and your soul from scattering if someone breaks the Dragon Scale Sword. Its toughness and hardness are both top-notch. As long as your opponent is not a qigong master, they can forget about breaking it. When it collides with other soul weapons, you also need not worry about your soul being destroyed."

"If a soul weapon shatters, does the person die as well?" Zhong Yue was horrified and blurted out.

"Of course. When one offers one's soul into a soul weapon and uses it to fight, the greatest fear is for the soul weapon to be shattered. Since the soul is offered into the soul weapon, if the soul weapon breaks, the soul will shatter with it, and its master will die."

Xin Huo sat on his shoulder and said, "That is why soul weapons are things one either does not use or uses only the best of. Otherwise, once the soul weapon shatters, the result is a shattered soul and scattered spirit! Look at those little turtles from the upper court. They do not know a damned thing. Their soul weapons are mostly crude and shoddy things that break at the slightest touch, yet they still dare activate them to fight. They are clearly carrying their own heads around to show off!"

Zhong Yue's heart trembled. Indeed, quite a few upper-court disciples activated their soul weapons whenever they encountered a battle, relying heavily on them. He had never expected that, in Xin Huo's eyes, they were all courting death.

"Your sword is fairly good. As long as your opponent is not a qigong master, it will not be easy to shatter this Dragon Scale Sword of yours. When competing against upper-court disciples, you may freely bring it out."

Xin Huo said solemnly, "Of course, if you encounter a qigong master, you should still run as far away as you can. Otherwise, if a qigong master cuts down your Dragon Scale Sword, he will cut down your soul along with it! Soul weapons are merely substitutes for sword qi, a helpless expedient used while one's cultivation is still low. Sword qi is not only far stronger offensively than soul weapons, it is also much safer... Good, keep flying upward and practice your sword in the high sky!"

The Dragon Scale Sword immediately shot into the sky. In midair, sword light carried rolling thunder, and before long it had flown ten thousand zhang into the heavens!

Zhong Yue's soul looked downward. The mountains below had become short and tiny, but nearby, Sword Gate Mountain was like a colossal sword, still towering beyond measure!

Zhong Yue piloted the Dragon Scale Sword for a while, only to feel that his spiritual power was becoming difficult to sustain. He still had spiritual power to spare, but its intensity was insufficient to support such a great distance.

Even after flying so far, the golden summit of Sword Gate Mountain still towered somewhere high above, impossibly distant.

"Here will do."

Xin Huo looked outward and said, "This is the high-altitude thunder zone. In the high sky, there are blazing suns, astral winds, and thunder waiting to erupt. The blazing sun is like fire, the astral winds are like blades. When souls reach the high sky, they will be burned to death or blown apart by the wind. The blazing sun and astral winds are not especially dangerous, but thunder is formidable. Thunder senses your soul. Once you reach the high sky, thunder forms on its own and strikes you, killing you!"

"Thunder will strike me of its own accord?"

Zhong Yue was horrified. "Even if I do not provoke it, it will still strike me?"

"Before the soul merges with spirit, it is yin in nature, while thunder is filled with yang. When yin and yang encounter each other, they attract one another, so once a soul rises into the high sky, it will be struck by thunder."

Xin Huo said, "It is like a man and a woman. When a man encounters a woman, he wants to move closer. In the past, when you cultivated the Thunderclap Sword Art, the thunder you visualized with your spiritual power was false thunder, yin thunder. The thunder of nature is yang thunder, and its might is countless times greater than that of yin thunder! The altitude here is just right. The thunder is not yet too violent and is very thin. You can cultivate the Thunderclap Sword Art here, using the thunder to temper your soul, spirit, and soul weapon... Careful, the thunder is coming. Quickly visualize Suihuang!"

Around the Dragon Scale Sword, crackling electric light appeared. More and more electric light gathered together, and countless thunder serpents suddenly seemed to have appeared in midair, swimming among the clouds. It was an astonishing sight!

More and more electric light converged, a great serpent swallowing smaller serpents, growing larger and larger, while faint peals of thunder appeared in the sky!

Zhong Yue's heart jolted. He felt as if his soul had been locked onto by something, and fear actually arose within it. He hurriedly visualized Suihuang of the Fire Epoch Palace.

Spiritual power constructed the Fire Epoch Palace inside the Dragon Scale Sword, while Zhong Yue transformed into Suihuang, with a dragon's head, a human body, and a dragon's tail. At once, he felt the fear vanish without a trace.

Boom!

Thunder roared. A tremendous sound rang out, and a bolt of thunder struck straight across. The Dragon Scale Sword had no time to dodge before being hit, and an unimaginable might instantly filled the sword!

Inside the Dragon Scale Sword, Zhong Yue's soul was blasted black with char. Even Suihuang of the Fire Epoch Palace he had visualized was scorched black, and his soul seemed about to become charcoal and crumble apart!

His spiritual power was nearly blasted apart, giving rise to an unbearably violent pain. As the thunder boomed, the vibration seemed as though it would shake him to pieces!

"Visualize with all your strength. Do not be distracted!"

Xin Huo stood on his shoulder, astonishingly unharmed, his expression tense. "If you are distracted, you will die—your soul will scatter!"

Zhong Yue clenched his teeth and endured the pain that seemed to tear him apart. He gathered his spirit with everything he had and visualized Suihuang of the Fire Epoch Palace. The scorched parts of his soul immediately began to recover, like an old tree returning to spring.

Boom!

Another bolt of thunder struck. Zhong Yue's soul had only just recovered when it was nearly shattered again, and the unbearable agony came surging back!

Xin Huo was not worried in the slightest. He laughed and said, "Rest assured and grit your teeth. It is only your soul gritting its teeth. If your body gritted its teeth like this, every tooth in your mouth would be crushed. If you did not die the first time, you will not die the second time either. Keep cultivating. Do not relax!"

"It hurts..." Zhong Yue gritted out.

"Does it hurt that much?"

The little flame sounded somewhat guilty. "The pureblood Fuxi Divine Clan I taught in the past never cried out in pain..."

Zhong Yue clenched his teeth and persevered, visualizing continuously. In a mere half-hour, more than twenty bolts of thunder had struck the Dragon Scale Sword. Even Xin Huo was startled, thinking, The pureblood Fuxi Divine Clan I taught in the past did not last this long the first time they were struck by lightning. They cried out in pain long ago and could not hold on. This boy is actually still persevering...

Zhong Yue felt that his soul was nearly numb from the pain, yet the thunder continued to surge over, striking him with crack after crack.

Gradually, however, Zhong Yue seemed to feel less pain. The intensity of his spiritual power was increasing, while his soul had become tougher and more magnificent, capable of withstanding thunder strikes of this degree!

There were even threads of lightning flickering within his soul and spiritual power.

Suddenly, Zhong Yue "saw" a delicate young girl several hundred zhang away, sitting in midair. Bolt after bolt of thunder was also striking her. The girl had no soul weapon to protect her, taking the thunder directly upon her body, yet she sat cross-legged, unmoving as a mountain!

This girl does not look very old, yet she is actually this formidable!

With a thought, Zhong Yue sent the Dragon Scale Sword flying toward the girl. She opened her eyes, curiously examined the Dragon Scale Sword, and smiled. "Is this senior brother also tempering his soul? Does it hurt?"

"It hurt a little just now, but now it has gone somewhat numb."

Zhong Yue's soul poked its head out from the sword, smiling. "May I ask your name, senior sister?"

"I am from the Qiu Clan, and my name is Qiu Jin'er. The thunder just now was too much for me as well. I nearly fainted."

The girl forcefully held back the pain and said, "May I ask your name, senior brother?"

Seeing lightning strike over, Zhong Yue hurriedly returned to the sword. "I am from the Zhongshan Clan, Zhong Yue. Senior Sister Qiu's cultivation is truly formidable. I would not dare resist the thunder directly with my soul."

Qiu Jin'er smiled sweetly. "Senior Brother Zhong, you seem a little older than me. You should call me junior sister instead."

The two chatted for a while, and each grew somewhat tired. Zhong Yue smiled. "Junior Sister Qiu, let us meet again tomorrow."

Qiu Jin'er nodded and flew away with her soul. Zhong Yue watched her, his eyes going straight. He saw that Qiu Jin'er was actually flying toward a great hall on a mountain platform resembling a Lingzhi Mushroom on Sword Gate Mountain!

"That is where the qigong masters live. How could she..." Zhong Yue blurted out.

Xin Huo was puzzled. "She is a qigong master herself. You did not notice?"

Cold sweat appeared on Zhong Yue's forehead. "She called me senior brother just now, and I called her junior sister... A qigong master called me senior brother. I feel so much pressure..."

"When you become a qigong master tomorrow and surpass her in cultivation, would that senior-brother title not become real?"

Xin Huo grinned. "But you need to work much harder, because this little female calf named Qiu Jin'er is no simple character. She possesses a naturally formed Spiritual Body, and her aptitude is on par with Fang Jiange's. Once someone like her begins cultivating, she advances as quickly as a little female calf gone mad!"