Thunder and Lightning Secret Manual

Li Yilin opened his eyes, his face utterly expressionless.

To him, defeating an opponent of the same level was hardly something worth celebrating.

He walked to the counter and was about to buy himself a drink when he caught sight of Man Luo sitting in a chair.

As something occurred to him, a flicker of hesitation crossed his face, but it soon gave way to resolve.

He bought two drinks and walked over.

"Senior, here." He held one of the drinks out to Man Luo. Man Luo opened his eyes and raised his deeply wrinkled brow, his cloudy eyes silently studying him.

"Senior?"

Li Yilin held the drink out a little farther, wearing a smile that was neither servile nor arrogant.

Man Luo fell silent for a moment, then accepted it.

If an ordinary Fighter had tried to approach him this way, he would have ignored them completely.

But the drink Li Yilin had offered him was worth ten Hunyuan Units. The young man clearly wanted something.

A Domain Lord Fighter who had earned the title of Giant Axe Warrior could be considered a genius.

He had nothing better to do. A little amusement might be nice.

Seeing him accept the drink, Li Yilin grinned and sat down on the floor.

He held the drink in one hand and propped himself up with the other, leaning back slightly as he looked up, relaxed and casual. It was as if the person before him weren't a lofty Immortal God, but merely an ordinary elder he wanted to befriend.

"Senior, my name is Li Yilin. Could I ask you a question?" he said.

Man Luo blinked and drawled, "Go ahead."

"Are the opponents set up in the Killing Space always perfect in their combat skills and Law Comprehension?" Li Yilin asked.

He hadn't spent the past three days in the Killing Space playing around. He had been testing what he'd learned. He set his opponents to use the same secret techniques, weapons, and armor as him, while requiring their technique use and weapon control—

To be perfect.

By rights, he should have had a fierce battle against an opponent like that, and might even have been hard-pressed to keep up.

But he always felt that the opponents he created were missing something.

He just couldn't put his finger on what.

Still, he knew that the opponents in the Killing Space were a level below the ones Marquis Lei Xu had created while instructing him.

He wanted to know what the difference was.

He had a feeling that if he could figure it out, his strength would take another great leap forward.

That was why he had come to Man Luo.

"Perfect?" Man Luo turned his head. His cloudy eyes made his thoughts impossible to read. "Can you tell me what 'perfect' means?"

Li Yilin froze.

Man Luo grinned, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Kid, you should know that there are permissions everywhere."

The kid had set his opponents in the Killing Space to have a hundred points' worth of weapon control.

The problem was, he himself only had a hundred points, too.

That kind of opponent wasn't right.

Someone who scored a hundred points was only invincible among those of the same level. But in reality, there were people who could kill opponents above their level.

What did it take to fight above your level?

Naturally, it took getting a score of a hundred and fifty on a test worth a hundred points.

The requirements might seem unreasonable, but it was precisely because they were unreasonable that the word "genius" existed.

"Solving your doubts is simple." Man Luo lowered his head slightly and looked into Li Yilin's dark eyes. They were clear and bright as the eternal starlight of the cosmos; it seemed the passage of time had left no trace in them.

They were too clear!

As clear as a newborn baby's eyes.

And yet their owner was a Fighter who had earned the Domain Lord Level Giant Axe Warrior title from the Giant Axe Arena?

What a rarity!

Who knew how long those eyes would stay so clear?

"Just join the Virtual Universe Company." Man Luo looked at him with a smile. "With your talent, you'll definitely make it into the Core Layer and receive the Virtual Universe Company's top-tier training." Though it would only be the outermost reaches of the Core Layer.

Yet even a place in the Virtual Universe's Core Layer was already a pinnacle most people could only dream of reaching, let alone surpassing.

Unfortunately, Li Yilin was destined not to understand Man Luo's intentions.

He shook his head with unshakable resolve. "I'm honored that you think so highly of me, Senior, but I'm used to my freedom. I don't want to join any faction." At least, not for now.

The Virtual Universe Company was great, but it wasn't right for him at the moment.

Sigh, it really wasn't easy being too outstanding. Everyone wanted to befriend him.

"Too bad!" Man Luo leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes again.

Seeing this, Li Yilin braced himself with his arm and shifted into a more composed position. Leaning forward slightly, he looked up with a suitably ingratiating smile. "Senior, couldn't you give me a few pointers?"

"I can't tell you too much, but I can answer one thing." Man Luo didn't make things difficult for him. In exchange for the drink in his hand, he decided to offer a few words of guidance.

"The Universal Language has a finite number of words. The different ways those words can be combined give it endless variations, allowing people to communicate freely with one another.

"Law Comprehension is like learning a language. Some people only learn the surface-level words and phrases, and can do no more than understand what they hear. Others learn what is most basic, most fundamental—" Man Luo finished speaking, then closed his eyes again without looking at Li Yilin.

Li Yilin sat on the floor, appearing to listen attentively, though inwardly he felt helpless.

He knew exactly what Man Luo meant, having read the original story.

Wasn't this exactly what Luo Feng had done? After entering Chaos City and receiving guidance from King Zhenyan, he had begun analyzing the 108 fundamental essences of the Space Law.

It wasn't that he didn't understand.

The problem was that he had no secret technique that could help him comprehend the Law Essences.

No, that wasn't quite true. He did have one.

Some of the secret techniques he'd received from the system's daily sign-in did cover the Law Essences, but they were far too advanced, and their contents were already obscure and difficult to understand.

Analyzing the essence of an Origin Law was far harder than comprehending it. It tested one's insight and character most of all, as well as one's understanding of the Origin Law. Few but the most exceptional geniuses could achieve anything.

His talent, insight, and other qualities had improved quite a bit thanks to the Law Fruits, but his original aptitude was what it was. Even if it improved dozens or hundreds of times over, he still wouldn't deserve to be called an exceptional genius.

Even learning those secret techniques would be a struggle, let alone using their obscure and unfathomable contents to analyze what was most basic and fundamental.

But—

Li Yilin suddenly thought of something. He hurried to his feet and bowed respectfully to Man Luo. "Thank you for your guidance, Senior. I've learned a lot.

"Goodbye, Senior." With that, he vanished from the spot.

After he disappeared, Man Luo opened his eyes again and gazed thoughtfully at the now-empty space.

Was he in such a hurry because he'd already had an idea?

He shook his head to himself and let the matter go.

Li Yilin's consciousness left the Virtual Universe. He logged back in and returned to his fixed residence there.

He didn't stop, heading straight for the study.

The spacious study was a full thousand square meters. Half of it was occupied by enormous bookshelves, five meters high and more than ten meters long. They were packed to the brim with all kinds of classic texts and secret techniques.

On the other side stood a five-meter-long desk, facing the entrance. Behind it stretched a huge floor-to-ceiling window that reached around the corner. All he had to do was turn around to see the beautiful garden outside, as well as the enormous fish tank tucked against the outer wall—

Li Yilin strode to the desk. Two metal books, each fifty centimeters long and thirty centimeters wide and tall, lay on it.

On their purple covers were lightning patterns and two prominent characters: Thunder and Lightning. The strokes were sharp and wild, suggesting that whoever had written them must have been a proud, unruly figure.

Beside the desk stood a stack of identical metal books, more than a meter high. Their covers were exactly the same, and each spine bore a number in the Universal Language, clearly marking them as a set.

The Thunder and Lightning Secret Manual!

His fingers brushed across the two characters on the cover. Even through the Virtual Universe, he could sense their spirit. Those few characters alone revealed how extraordinary the manual was. Li Yilin sighed.

Less than an hour after Marquis Lei Xu finished instructing him, the secret manual had arrived at his Virtual Universe residence in an email.

He had just finished the instruction and had been busy deepening his Law Comprehension and testing what he'd learned, so after receiving the manual, he'd temporarily stored it in the study.

Man Luo's words had reminded him to analyze the fundamental essences. Perhaps this set of Thunder and Lightning secret manuals could give him the answer.

He calmed himself and opened the first page of the manual.