Dao Child

Three days later, Dong Lin handed Lu Heng three Date Spirit Thunderwood seeds that had successfully sprouted.

"So quickly? Then doesn't that mean..."

Lu Heng looked at Dong Lin as though he had seen a ghost.

No matter how much it contained the aura of True Intent, it was still only containment.

Even Lu Heng, who believed so strongly in Dong Lin's outstanding talent, had never imagined that this Junior Brother Dong, who had only just entered the sect,

would truly comprehend True Intent in such a short time.

One had to know that Jiang Qingfeng, hailed as a genius the Thunder Division saw only once in a century,

had only comprehended the True Intent of Thunder at the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, and it had made his master overjoyed.

The entire sect had been shaken. The difficulty of comprehending the True Intent of Lightning Arts had always ranked among the very highest.

Even in a powerful Heaven Sect, its prodigies generally had to reach the Peak Foundation Establishment Realm

and gain some understanding of the Golden Core realm

before they could comprehend True Intent ahead of time and open up a Golden Core Great Dao.

Dong Lin nodded lightly. "I merely got lucky and grasped a tiny bit of the surface of True Intent."

What Lu Heng did not know was that two months ago, merely half a month after the seeds had reached Dong Lin's hands,

Dong Lin had already cultivated the Lightning-Attracting Method to perfection and comprehended the True Intent of Thunder.

If Dong Lin revealed that explosive news, Lu Heng would surely be so shocked that he bit off his tongue.

"Junior Brother, no one else knows about this, right?"

Lu Heng quickly composed himself, glanced around, stepped forward, and asked Dong Lin in a low voice.

"I have not told anyone else." Seeing Senior Brother Lu acting both overly nervous and cautiously,

Dong Lin asked curiously, "Is that really necessary, Senior Brother? Didn't Master already know about the trace of True Intent in my aura?"

"How could that be the same?!" Lu Heng said anxiously under his breath.

"Come with me. We need to see Master."

Black Mountain Thunder Division, Thunder Extremity Hall

"What?!!!"

Elder Zheng's cry rang through half of Black Mountain, but he hastily covered his mouth again.

He stared at Dong Lin in utter disbelief for a long while, until Dong Lin's skin crawled.

"Xiao Lin, casually demonstrate something for me," Zheng Huayuan said quietly to Dong Lin.

Yellow Spirit Earth-Thunder transformed into a thunder serpent that coiled and moved over Dong Lin's right hand.

That pure True Intent of Thunder faintly radiated an aura of destruction.

"It really is... it really is..."

Elder Zheng's reaction was even more exaggerated than Lu Heng's.

His eyes were fixed unblinkingly on the thunder serpent in Dong Lin's hand.

He stared so hard that his shocked eyeballs seemed on the verge of falling out.

Only after Dong Lin withdrew his Lightning Arts did Elder Zheng slowly recover from what he had just witnessed.

"Xiao Lin, you really are..."

Elder Zheng seemed to want to say something, yet held himself back.

"Two months ago, didn't my Lightning Arts merely faintly contain a trace of True Intent? Is it really so astonishing?"

Dong Lin was beginning to sense that something was wrong, but he still asked in confusion.

"Containing it is one thing. There are too many freakish geniuses at the Qi Refining Stage who contain True Intent to count on both hands; there are more names than fingers on one hand.

"The hard part is transforming that trace of containment into actual comprehension of True Intent. Back then, your Senior Brother Jiang was such a monster,

that with a single Eight Trigrams Thunderbolt containing the embryonic form of True Intent, he suppressed Zhaokong, Baohua Temple's candidate Buddhist Son, for twenty years.

Yet even he only had a flash of inspiration and comprehended True Intent at the Foundation Establishment Late Stage.

"Comprehending True Intent at the Qi Refining Stage—I've lived for several hundred years, and forget hearing of it, I've never even heard anyone boast such nonsense.

"Xiao Lin, this matter must be kept secret. In a moment, I will go see Senior Brother Xuan.

"We must seek the Supreme Elder's instructions. There have always been rumors outside that above the Heaven Sect's Holy Son, there is also a secretly nurtured Dao Child.

"In truth, that position has been vacant for a long time. With your talent, Xiao Lin, receiving the sect's full support will not be a problem."

Zheng Huayuan patted Dong Lin on the shoulder, speaking with excitement.

"Mm..." Dong Lin hesitated. "This disciple may not be able to bear such a position. This disciple merely has a little talent in Lightning Arts..."

Zheng Huayuan immediately widened his eyes. "If you count as having merely a little talent, how are the rest of us supposed to live? On the path of cultivation, what one fights for is that single first place.

"Since you have this strength, Xiao Lin, you should climb a little higher. Don't worry. The Dao Child is secretly nurtured by the sect; aside from the allocation of resources, there will not be too many other changes."

Dong Lin nodded. "I will leave everything to Master's arrangements."

Zheng Huayuan ran toward the mountaintop in high spirits.

"How did I get promoted like I was riding a rocket?" Dong Lin scratched his head. Dong Lin, who had planned to develop quietly and conduct himself properly,

had carelessly found himself about to soar straight into the blue clouds, leaving Dong Lin, who was used to hiding among the crowd, somewhat flustered.

"From what Master said, it seems the position of Dao Child does not need to be proclaimed to the world or celebrated with a grand ceremony. That is not too bad.

"It is better to keep a low profile. People fear fame as pigs fear growing fat."

Dong Lin understood well that the tree that rises above the forest will be battered by the wind. No matter how monstrous one's talent, before it was transformed into strength, it would forever be useless talent.

Only after one truly used time to let that talent grow full wings

could one righteously tell those ill-intentioned figures lurking hungrily in the darkness

no.

The cultivation world was full of treacherous currents and shifting clouds. Dong Lin had little desire for high status; the risks were too great. Without corresponding strength,

in a cultivation world where martial strength was revered above all else, it would only be a castle in the air.

Peach Blossom Retreat atop Black Mountain

Sect Master Xuan Sheng lowered his head and carefully reviewed the fairly detailed dossier Zheng Huayuan had sent over.

"The Reforging Spring Method—was Executive Dong harmed by villains because of this?"

"Yes, Senior Brother. We paid a great price to obtain this from the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion. As for who exactly is behind it, even the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion is powerless to determine.

"The whereabouts of the Heavenly Music King are also unclear. We suspect he has hidden within a secret realm."

"The Reforging Spring Method is merely an Earth Grade Body Tempering spiritual art. There are no fewer than a dozen methods in the sect that can achieve equivalent effects.

"Who would pay such a great price just for a Body Tempering method?"

"It must be someone from the leadership of the sects involved in this joint operation, but there are simply too many people involved, spanning dozens of Immortal Sects and Buddhist temples.

"It will be difficult to find an answer."

"The Reforging Spring Method seems to have rather good effects. Executive Dong's child is now progressing quite smoothly in his Qi Refining Stage cultivation."

"Senior Brother, Xiao Lin's talent absolutely deserves the position of Dao Child. Should we not seek the Supreme Elder's instructions?"

"There is no need to trouble the old man. A blade that is too hard is easily broken. Junior Brother Zheng, you must protect well this talent of mastering True Intent at the Qi Refining Stage.

"Even if the Dao Child is nurtured in secret, observant people may still notice some clues. Once the identity of the Dao Child appears,

"the news will never be as airtight as a wall within the sect. I am worried..."

Xuan Sheng seemed to want to say something, yet held himself back.

"Inside the sect?" Zheng Huayuan frowned.

"We cannot rule out the possibility of an insider. Executive Dong was a member of the third generation of the Spark Plan, and even in the joint operation, his file was separately established and kept confidential.

"Among the few outside parties who could obtain that information, the likelihood that they acted is truly much lower. We cannot help but stay on guard—I fear a thief in the house!"

Xuan Sheng looked somewhat haggard. These days of sealing off the mountain had kept him far too busy.

Many matters that could originally have been solved

by mobilizing the sect's strength now could only be handled by shrinking back into the mountain and requesting outside aid.

Executive Dong's murder was merely one of many external disputes and conflicts.

There were several more cases of this sort, which harmed the sect's interests, and most of the perpetrators still roamed free.

The Heaven Sect's hands and feet were temporarily bound. It could not dispatch disciples to seize those people, greatly weakening the Heaven Sect's deterrence toward the outside world.

"Having our range of movement restricted is truly troublesome."

With his hands behind his back, Xuan Sheng gazed into the distance, his eyes seeming to pass through the obstruction of Heaven Hall and reach beyond the mountain gate.