Thunder Sound

"Fourth Young Master, Fourth Young Master, are you awake?!"

As Huang Tian opened his eyes and slowly sat up from the bed, the young girl hunched by the bedside gave a start, then beamed with joy, her fair, delicate hands gripping his arm tightly as if afraid he might fly away at any moment.

Seeing the girl's concerned expression, Huang Tian gently patted her hand to reassure her, then gave an instruction, "Heng'er, I am fine, but I am a bit hungry. Please have Aunt Qin bring me some rice porridge."

"Yes, yes! I will go tell Mother right away!"

The young girl, Heng'er, was overjoyed. She scrambled to her feet, lifted her skirt, and ran out with light, quick steps, looking like a fluttering butterfly.

After she left, Huang Tian began to silently sense the spiritual energy between heaven and earth.

"The spiritual energy is very abundant, but it is extremely, extremely violent!

If the spiritual energy of Blue Star is like a docile little white rabbit, the spiritual energy of this world is equivalent to a ferocious tiger galloping and roaring in the mountains.

This body—no, it should be said that no normal human body could directly absorb such violent spiritual energy. No wonder in the original owner's memories, the first step of this world's cultivation system is to polish the body, tempering the skin, tendons, and bones, before guiding the spiritual energy..."

While he was pondering, Heng'er had already walked in carrying a bowl of warm rice porridge, followed by Aunt Qin, who looked astonished. Aunt Qin was someone who couldn't keep her thoughts to herself, and she blurted out, "Young Master, are you really alright? Could this be a flash of clarity before the end..."

As she spoke, she let out a couple of dry wails. Seeing that Huang Tian ignored her entirely and focused on drinking the porridge Heng'er handed him, she gave a sheepish smile, "I just knew the Young Master had his own heavenly protection and would definitely recover! Definitely recover!"

Slowly finishing the rice porridge and feeling waves of warmth spreading through his body, Huang Tian rose from the bed and stepped down.

"Having transmigrated here, the illnesses of this body have vanished, though it remains somewhat weak. After drinking the porridge, my energy and spirit have indeed improved significantly. Furthermore, I can confirm the original owner was not poisoned; it was merely years of pent-up frustration combined with a cold that led to a critical condition within a night or two..."

"Fourth Young Master, be careful, don't rush, let me support you." Heng'er reached out to help him.

"It is fine, I will walk slowly, I won't fall."

Huang Tian walked slowly from the bedside to the door and stood on the blue bricks of the courtyard. Before his eyes, the spring day was warm, the sky was high and clear, and the small courtyard was quiet and secluded, possessing a unique charm.

However, beautiful as the scenery was, this was not the time to admire it. Although the original owner's illness was not caused by foul play, the most urgent task was to improve his strength and gain some ability to protect himself.

"Although the spiritual energy of this world is violent and cannot be absorbed for now, and I cannot practice immortal cultivation techniques, nor have I seen the martial arts of this world, there are still ways to strengthen myself..."

He stood in the courtyard, his legs naturally spread, his waist and back straight as a long spear, and he emitted two very low, deep sounds: "Heng-Ha."

A dull, thunderous sound suddenly emanated from his chest, as if an invisible thunder hammer was constantly forging his skin, tendons, and bones. The intense resonance tempered every part of his body...

This was a Thunder Sound body-forging secret technique that Huang Tian had improvised, drawing upon his eight hundred years of insight from the Late Han Dynasty World and mimicking the vibration and disintegration essence of the Orthodox Earth Thunder.

Buzz, buzz~

Intense pain and numbness washed over him, as if every inch of his skin and bones were being torn apart and fused together again. Tiny beads of cold sweat seeped from his pores, but his eyes grew increasingly bright and piercing!

"Heng'er, did you hear thunder?"

Aunt Qin and Heng'er were worried about leaving Huang Tian alone in the courtyard—if he fell or got hurt, it would be troublesome—so they leaned against the doorway watching his strange movements. Aunt Qin heard the faint sound of thunder and was quite confused.

"It seems, it seems to be coming from Fourth Young Master's body..."

"From his body?"

Just as the two were puzzled, a loud, mocking voice suddenly came from outside the courtyard.

"Lowly spawn, I heard you were sick. Did you die from it yet?!"

Bang!

The courtyard gate was kicked open. A youth wearing a light cyan robe, with jade hanging from his waist and a folding fan in his hand, stormed in with a servant. It was the original owner's third brother, Huang Jian, now seventeen, at the age of being most rebellious and arrogant.

However, when he saw Huang Tian standing perfectly fine in the courtyard, the arrogance on his face froze. "You aren't sick?! Those dogs actually dared to lie to me?"

Facing Huang Jian's insults, Huang Tian was not angry; instead, he looked at the other with a strange expression, as if observing a rare curiosity.

There was no helping it. Although he had long known that the same rice feeds a hundred kinds of people and that all sorts of scum and dregs existed in the world, he had lived for so many years and had truly never seen a freak like Huang Jian.

"I really don't like your gaze, Young Master!"

Huang Jian was very unhappy with Huang Tian's strange look, feeling like a monkey being dragged out to perform on the street. A strong sense of humiliation welled up in his heart.

He stepped forward, rolled up his sleeves, and with a ferocious face, prepared to teach this lowly spawn a lesson and make him recall the fear of being dominated by his fists and kicks in the past.

"Don't hit Fourth Young Master, he just recovered from his illness. If you break him... hit me instead!"

Heng'er ran over from the doorway, anxiously spreading her arms to block Huang Tian, her petite body acting like a mother hen protecting her chicks.

"Third Young Master, you are a magnanimous person, please don't hold a grudge against the Fourth Young Master." Aunt Qin hurriedly stepped forward, a practiced, fawning smile on her face.

"A lowly spawn matched with a lowly slave, both of you are rotten trash. Get lost!"

Huang Jian suddenly raised a foot, intending to kick Aunt Qin, but his body suddenly stiffened. His right leg was firmly clamped by a palm that felt like reinforced steel.

Looking up, he met Huang Tian's eyes, which were as calm as a deep pool.

Whoosh~

The next instant, Huang Jian felt the world spin. His entire body flipped several times in mid-air before crashing heavily to the ground with a thud. His forehead bled profusely, and his hair was covered in dust.

His head buzzed. He instinctively wanted to look up and curse something, but a black boot stepped heavily onto his head, forcing it down into the ground.

"Truly... disgusting."

As the boot ground into Huang Jian's head, Huang Tian felt no pleasure, only the sensation of grinding a pile of excrement; it was truly nauseating.

Silence.

Everything that happened in the courtyard left Aunt Qin, Heng'er, and the servant who had followed Huang Jian dumbfounded, as if they had witnessed something inconceivable.

How could the Fourth Young Master, who had always been weak and easy to bully, dare to fight back, and even effortlessly knock the Third Young Master to the ground?

One had to know that although the Third Young Master was lax in his martial arts and had failed to enter the ranks, he had at least cultivated internal force, making it impossible for two or three ordinary men to even get close to him.

Yet, this absurd scene before their eyes was truly and undeniably happening!

"You! Quickly let go of the Third Young Master!"

It was only until he heard Huang Jian's pained cry that the servant snapped out of his stupor and shouted loudly.

But when Huang Tian's gaze swept over him, his body trembled as if he had fallen into an ice cellar, and he stuttered, unable to say another word.

Feeling Huang Jian still struggling beneath his foot, Huang Tian stomped on the back of his head; with just that one blow, the latter fainted and slumped on the ground like a dead dog.