Cast out the old and take in the new?
Start over as a new person?
Yang Ling didn't understand the Thunder Art, so naturally he had no way to give Jiang Qiao any specific guidance. He could only recount some general concepts he had heard.
But that was enough.
If someone else heard these ideas, they would be utterly meaningless.
They would be no different from empty words.
But to Jiang Qiao, they felt like an epiphany, as though he had suddenly awakened!
Thunder represented vitality.
Of course he knew that.
He had even used it before.
But he had never imagined that its deeper meaning contained two layers of artistic conception.
There had long been rumors in the world.
When things grew old, they became monsters.
Some animals cultivated until they became spirits, while old trees developed strange phenomena.
Such phenomena.
Violated common sense.
And easily invited the thunder to strike them down.
So in the old era, some weasel spirits stole women's riding cloth that had been worn for years, put it on their heads, and used it to evade the thunder.
This was heavenly punishment.
But.
There were also ancient trees that had become monsters. After being struck by lightning, they did not die. Instead, they sprouted tender shoots.
They were called lightning-struck wood.
This was vitality.
The thunder's baptism washed away the evil aura of the demon tree, instead granting it spirituality.
Expel the turbid qi.
Take in spiritual qi.
Discard the old and accommodate the new.
This was casting out the old and taking in the new.
It also carried something of the meaning of "learn from past mistakes to avoid future ones, and cure the illness by treating the tree."
Heavenly punishment, heavenly punishment.
It was not merely punishment.
This was the true meaning