Building a Faction

At the bottom of Falling Thunder Valley, fierce winds howled as lightning flashed and thunder rumbled overhead. Bolts of lightning flickered endlessly within the black clouds, and from time to time, thick bolts descended from the sky and struck a silver barrier.

Who knew how much time had passed? At the valley floor, the silver barrier floating in midair emitted a faint thunderous glow. Lightning danced across its surface, brightening and dimming as its dim light illuminated the surrounding cliff walls.

Inside the barrier, Xiao Yun sat cross-legged in midair. His earlier struggle to guide the power of lightning had left his mind exhausted, and he had entered an unconscious, mysterious state.

While Xiao Yun remained half-conscious, the silver barrier automatically drew in the power of lightning filling the valley and slowly infused it into his body. The lightning flowed through his meridians, its immense energy constantly repairing his battered body.

The lightning coursed through each of his meridians, making electric light flare everywhere it passed. His meridians, flesh, and bones absorbed its energy at an astonishing speed, growing stronger without end. His meridians became thicker, while his flesh and bones became tougher, improving by several levels over before.

As the lightning repaired Xiao Yun's insides, his charred body also began to gradually change.

The muscles beneath his skin were rapidly strengthened, explosive power gathering within them. Layer after layer of charred skin peeled away from his body like a great serpent shedding its skin, replaced by fair, tender skin as delicate as a newborn infant's.

As the lightning continued pouring in, Xiao Yun's heavily injured body was restored completely, becoming even stronger than before.

Then, at a certain moment, the silver barrier stopped drawing in the lightning power that filled the surroundings. Immediately afterward, it erupted with dazzling lightning, illuminating the entire valley floor. Within that radiance, a small figure gradually appeared.

Boom!

With a thunderous explosion, countless streams of silver lightning energy shot out from the barrier in every direction. As the barrier vanished, Xiao Yun's body floated in midair.

He suddenly opened his eyes. Lightning flickered within them, bursting with azure radiance. Xiao Yun slowly descended to the ground, where the massive rock that had once stood there had long since been shattered by lightning.

He clenched his fist, and a series of crackling sounds rang from his bones with every movement. Feeling the powerful strength contained in his body, Xiao Yun threw back his head and let out a long roar, expelling the stale air from his chest.

"You brat, you scared your master half to death this time."

Before Xiao Yun could carefully inspect the changes throughout his body, a familiar aged voice rang through the valley. He looked up in delighted surprise. "Master? Why are you here?"

Whoosh!

A sharp sound split the air. In the next instant, an old man appeared before Xiao Yun. It was Fire Elder.

Fire Elder raised his hand and smacked Xiao Yun hard on the head. Seeing his disciple's aggrieved expression, he snapped, "You brat, do you know how long you spent cultivating with the Lightning-into-Body Technique this time?"

"About... one day?" Xiao Yun looked at the sky, which was gradually beginning to brighten, and answered uncertainly.

"Heh, one day? You cultivated for seven days! Three days ago, those little brats you shared a dormitory with noticed that you hadn't returned and informed Old Man Su. Only after Old Man Su told me did I learn that you had already started using the Lightning-into-Body Technique."

"Didn't I tell you to leave Falling Thunder Valley immediately if you couldn't endure it? Is this how you listened to your master?" Fire Elder snorted coldly, his gaze toward Xiao Yun growing increasingly unfriendly.

"Uh... I didn't expect my first time using the Lightning-into-Body Technique to take this long. I made you worry, Master." Xiao Yun rubbed his head sheepishly, lowering it and not daring to face Fire Elder.

With his head lowered, Xiao Yun finally noticed that all his clothes had been destroyed by heavenly lightning. In other words, he had been standing naked in front of Fire Elder this entire time. His face immediately flushed red, and he hurriedly pulled out a robe from his Storage Ring and clumsily threw it on.

Seeing Xiao Yun's embarrassment, Fire Elder teased, "You brat, how old are you? Is there really any need to be this shy?"

"Master, please stop." Xiao Yun's face reddened further. He wasn't really a child. Standing naked in front of a man, even if that man was his master, was embarrassing, all right?

"You brat, I think you've changed quite a bit this time." Fire Elder carefully examined Xiao Yun, circling him twice before exclaiming in surprise, "You've already broken through to the Nine-Star Da Dou Shi? Weren't you only a Seven-Star Da Dou Shi when you came back last time?"

"Nine-Star Da Dou Shi?" Xiao Yun froze slightly upon hearing Fire Elder's words. He hurriedly summoned the Status Panel to inspect it, and joy immediately filled his face. He had not expected absorbing lightning power to have such benefits. Given his cultivation speed, he had estimated that reaching the Nine-Star Da Dou Shi would take a month, yet after tempering his body with lightning and sleeping for seven days, his cultivation had actually risen by another level.

"Perhaps the natural energy here is simply too abundant. While I was absorbing lightning power, I may have unconsciously absorbed some natural energy as well, allowing me to break through to the Nine-Star Da Dou Shi in one go." Xiao Yun explained his guess to Fire Elder.

Fire Elder's feelings were complicated at that moment. He did not know whether to rebuke Xiao Yun for his recklessness or praise him for his good fortune.

After all, the energy of heaven and earth could not be directly absorbed into one's body, for it contained large amounts of impurities. If it were absorbed directly, those impurities would taint the Dou Qi within one's body, causing irreparable damage.

"Perhaps. A breakthrough in cultivation is still a good thing. And the Dou Qi in your body is condensed and pure, without the slightest trace of unstable impurities. I suppose the natural energy was refined by the lightning when it entered your body, which allowed you to absorb it successfully."

After a moment of silence, Fire Elder suddenly patted Xiao Yun's head and spoke earnestly. "Although your cultivation broke through this time, don't take such risks again. Cultivation cannot grow overnight. You are very talented, and I do not want you to take the wrong path someday."

Looking at the old man before him, Xiao Yun nodded and said softly, "I understand, Master. Before I break through to the Dou Ling realm, I won't use the Lightning-into-Body Technique again."

"It's good that you understand. Now, brat, tell your master what it felt like to use the Lightning-into-Body Technique." Fire Elder asked curiously.

Xiao Yun grinned and told him in detail about swallowing the Golden Thunder Flower, absorbing lightning, and how the power of lightning had later repaired and strengthened his body.

"Heh, brat, that was truly far too dangerous. If the Golden Thunder Flower had not protected your meridians, the instant that lightning entered your body, it would probably have burned every organ inside you to ashes." Fire Elder listened with a frown, only speaking worriedly after a long while.

Lightning was even more violent than fire. Bringing something like that into one's body, even the slightest mistake could leave Xiao Yun severely injured at best and dead without a burial place at worst.

Yet relying only on his willpower and the Golden Thunder Flower's protection, Xiao Yun had dared, as a Da Dou Shi, to draw in heavenly lightning that even Fire Elder did not dare touch. Fire Elder truly did not know whether to call him brave or foolish.

"But the result was good in the end. Didn't I come through it safely?" Seeing Fire Elder's frown, Xiao Yun scratched his head sheepishly.

"You can't rely on luck every time!" Fire Elder shot Xiao Yun a glare and said earnestly, "The Golden Thunder Flower is only needed by your technique to increase your resistance to lightning and protect your meridians when lightning enters your body, correct?"

"That's right. The technique absorbs the lightning of heaven and earth through its circulation. The Golden Thunder Flower merely assists me in absorbing lightning power."

"Exactly. Then you could have refined pills that improve lightning resistance even more effectively. Not to mention that the Sixth-Tier Pill, the Wind-Thunder Pill, already possesses high lightning resistance, even the Third-Tier Pill Purple Lightning Pill and the Fourth-Tier Pill Heavenly Thunder Pill—both pills that assist those with lightning attributes in cultivating—are more effective at improving lightning resistance than the Golden Thunder Flower. Why didn't you think of that at the time?"

As he spoke, Fire Elder smacked Xiao Yun on the head again and demanded fiercely.

"Well... Master, you haven't taught me how to refine those two pills." Xiao Yun said aggrievedly. He had not thought of those two pills, but even if he had, it would have been useless. Fire Elder had not given him their pill formulas.

Hearing that, Fire Elder raised a brow and irritably took several scrolls of pill formulas from his Storage Ring before tossing them to Xiao Yun. "Don't say your master hasn't taught you next time. I'm giving you all the formulas. Refine whichever one you want."

"Thank you, Master!" Xiao Yun eagerly caught the pill formulas and stored them in his own Storage Ring.

"All right, brat, there's nothing else now, is there? I'll take you back to the Inner Academy." Vast Dou Qi surged from Fire Elder's body, and a pair of fiery-red Dou Qi wings appeared behind his back. Taking a step forward, he tucked the helpless-looking Xiao Yun beneath his arm. With a beat of his wings, Fire Elder shot into the sky with Xiao Yun.

Before long, Fire Elder brought Xiao Yun back to his residence in the Inner Academy. After setting him down, Fire Elder gave him another round of instructions. Only after talking Xiao Yun nearly to the point of impatience did he finally leave.

Creak.

Xiao Yun pushed open the wooden gate of the small courtyard and returned to the dormitory.

"Boss, you're finally back!" The moment he returned, Fang Wen ran over with a delighted expression.

Seeing that Fang Wen was alone, Xiao Yun asked in confusion, "Where are the others? Did they all go cultivate at the Blazing Sky Qi Refining Tower?"

"No. Ever since you left, lots of older students have been causing trouble for us new students and demanding protection money. Many new students, including the other three, couldn't withstand the pressure and joined factions in the Inner Academy for protection. Now only the two of us are left living in this dormitory." At the mention of this, Fang Wen lost his earlier joy and pulled a long face.

"Oh? The older students are collecting protection money? Then why didn't you join?"

"I wanted to, too, but I felt that would be letting you down, Boss. I was afraid that when you came back, you'd find that we had all run off."

Xiao Yun nodded to show that he understood, then smiled. "Not bad. Go find the other new students who haven't joined any factions yet. Tell them that I'm preparing to establish a faction and can provide them with protection."

Fang Wen's face lit up with delight. "Really? Boss, you're going to establish a faction? Then can I join too?"

"Of course you're joining. I'm usually busy cultivating, so I'll need you to manage things then. All right, go find them and make a list of everyone willing to join. I'm going inside to cultivate first. Come find me again at this time tomorrow." With a wave of his hand, Xiao Yun left those words behind and headed straight into the room. He still needed to examine his condition and had no time to chat with Fang Wen.