They had just said the weather was still fair, but less than twenty minutes later, lightning flashed, thunder rumbled, and rain came pouring down.
They had originally been flying close to the ground. Seeing the weather turn bad, Luo Lieyang shouted, "Speed up! Head for that cluster of rocks!"
Fortunately, everyone present could fly. Jing Qingyang had achieved Martial Entry into the Dao, and even Chen Junwei, who had not entered the Dao, was still an Innate Expert capable of flight.
The rocks were only three or four li away, close enough to reach in the blink of an eye. Yet by the time they truly arrived, lightning and thunder were already raging nearby.
Luo Lieyang took out a huge umbrella with a canopy four meters across and drove it fiercely into the pile of stones. Then he removed several silver threads as thick as little fingers from the canopy and tossed them into the distance.
Feng Jun found it rather strange and could not help asking, "Are those threads made of silver?"
Kong Ziyi answered, "Not silver. They should be Silver Essence. Fellow Daoist Luo, is this a Lightning-Deflecting Umbrella?"
Luo Lieyang glanced at her in surprise. Then, recalling that she was a disciple of the Supreme Clarity Sect, he understood. He smiled. "It is indeed a Lightning-Deflecting Umbrella. The workmanship is crude, though. I've made a fool of myself before an expert."
The umbrella's central shaft was not made of conductive material, while the Silver Essence wires had been thrown far away.
Once lightning struck the canopy, it would be drawn away into the distance, leaving the space beneath the umbrella relatively safe.
If the canopy were any smaller, there would not be enough distance, and it might not be safe beneath it either.
So a four-meter canopy