Getting struck by lightning today had definitely been the dog system's doing. He was simply too unlucky.
He had to curse some people to death and steal a bit of luck.
As Duan De was watched by Jiang Ming, his scalp suddenly tingled. He felt as though disaster was about to strike, leaving him utterly baffled.
This guy felt really inauspicious!
Forget it. He should keep searching for the Demon Emperor's Tomb instead of wasting time here. This person was a little strange.
Duan De had laid out his life plan and growth plan very clearly. First, he needed a supreme treasure to protect himself.
The Demon Emperor had once snatched away the Desolate Pagoda. If he could find it, then as long as he did not encounter a Saint in the future, he would have the means to preserve his life.
Thus, even after failing to obtain the Desolate Pagoda, failing to seize the Demon Emperor's Armament, and even missing the Emperor's Green Cauldron fragment, Duan De persisted without giving up and finally found the lid of Ruthless's Heaven-Swallowing Devil Jar.
Duan De's instincts and spiritual perception toward danger were quite sharp. In the end, he was still unwilling to clash with Jiang Ming.
Jiang Ming was likewise wary of Duan De. He would not take the initiative to provoke this fellow and become enemies with him.
He was already at the Tenth Qi Refining Stage, and the strength of his physical body was even more outrageous. Among Sea of Bitterness cultivators, he was comparable to an Other Shore cultivator.
He had no doubt that once he reached the Life Spring Realm in the future, his physical body would rival Dao Palace Secret Realm cultivators. Once he entered the Divine Bridge Realm, he did not even dare imagine how powerful it would become.
Thinking back to Ye Fan's physical combat strength, he could fully use it as a reference.
However, Ye Fan's cultivation in the Wheel of the Sea Secret Realm had been gradually transformed and developed through consuming Saint Fruits, things akin to Quasi-Undying Divine Medicine. With that, it would be difficult for both his physical body and soul not to transform.
That was Ye Fan's advantage, one Jiang Ming could not envy.
But he had his own advantages as well. The Chinese Paladin Method had no particular advantage in developing the physical body, but he was ultimately at the Tenth Qi Refining Stage, so there were still some benefits.
"Daoist, keep digging up people's ancestral graves. I won't disturb you."
Seeing Duan De staring at him without saying a word, Jiang Ming shrugged and bid him farewell. Let this dead fatso keep being depraved. He had no time to waste with him; he still had serious business to attend to.
Duan De: "--"
He hated this person for speaking such blunt truths.
As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Ming directly used the Sacred Light Technique. His entire body transformed into a streak of pure white light and, propelled by the true essence power of the Tenth Qi Refining Stage, headed toward Smoke Glow Grotto-Heaven.
There was only one goal for this trip: the flock of Lightning Birds.
And he wanted the Lightning Grass and Three Yin Cold Lotus as well.
At the Tenth Qi Refining Stage, he was comparable to an Other Shore Realm cultivator.
As for secret techniques, once you had mastered them, there was not much difference between using mana cultivated through the Shrouding Method to activate them and using true essence cultivated through the Chinese Paladin Method.
Next, he needed more heavenly treasures to assist his cultivation and enter the Foundation Establishment Stage as soon as possible. That way, when he encountered a depraved Daoist like Duan De, he would have more confidence.
"Sure enough, he's not simple. This secret technique seems to be the Sacred Light Technique of Yaoguang Sacred Land.
Could he be the Yaoguang Sacred Son?"
Duan De muttered to himself as he watched Jiang Ming's departing figure.
Duan De had never met the Yaoguang Sacred Son. He had only seen the Sacred Light Technique before, which was why he made such a guess.
Jiang Ming did not know of Duan De's speculation, nor did he care. His heart was now filled with killing intent, and he could not be bothered with other matters.
At his speed, a journey of over two thousand li required only a few minutes. Aside from taking detours around certain dangers and wasting a little time, it took merely ten minutes to reach the territory of Smoke Glow Grotto-Heaven, at Smoke Glow Ridge.
Back when he was at the Seventh Qi Refining Layer, the true essence flowing quietly in his dantian had been like a lake, rippling within the Sea of Bitterness and suspended above it like a lake in the sky. At the bottom of the Sea of Bitterness was the purple divine power spring formed by opening up the Sea of Bitterness.
The powers cultivated through the Shrouding Method and the Chinese Paladin Method were as distinct as the rivers and the Wei.
Moreover, with the Shrouding Method, he had only opened up the Sea of Bitterness, and the spring of divine power was merely the size of a golf ball.
Compared to the small lake of true qi, the two were like the ocean and the sky.
At the Seventh Qi Refining Layer, one formed the Cinnabar Lake. The Eighth and Ninth Qi Refining Layers were devoted to accumulating the Cinnabar Lake.
At the Tenth Qi Refining Stage, the Cinnabar Lake would transform into an Origin Sea and expand further.
Once he cultivated to the perfection of the Twelfth Qi Refining Layer, the Origin Sea would become a Dao Sea and nurture a Foundation Establishment Dao Platform, allowing him to enter the Foundation Establishment Stage.
It could be said that although he was also at the Tenth Qi Refining Stage, both the quantity and quality of his true essence far surpassed those of his previous life. Conservatively speaking, the difference was more than tenfold.
Therefore, this journey consumed very little for him.
Clearwind Town!
Jiang Ming did not even dare take a single step into the town. Standing high in the sky from afar, he glanced at the inn where his family lived. For now, the inn was still in his family's hands. Only a little girl with pigtails stood at the entrance, looking toward the entrance of Clearwind Town as though waiting for someone to return.
Jiang Ming's heart ached. Transforming into Bai Ze, he bestowed a blessing upon both his father and Tingting before quietly leaving.
He then went to investigate the vicinity of Smoke Glow Grotto-Heaven. He learned that the events from more than three months ago had enraged Smoke Glow Grotto-Heaven's Tai Shang elder. His master's martial granduncle, a Divine Bridge cultivator, had personally visited Lightning Valley and slain two Lightning Birds.
This old man was also advanced in years and rarely acted. After all, for cultivators of Shrouding the Heavens, every act of combat was equivalent to consuming the vital essence within their bodies.
After all, from the moment Shrouding the Heavens cultivators began cultivating, the vital essence they developed came from the body's Life Wheel.
Different physiques possessed different amounts of vital essence within their Life Wheels. During cultivation, once one achieved success and became a Life Spring cultivator, one could increase the vital essence within one's body and extend one's lifespan.
The lifespan a Sea of Bitterness cultivator could possess was actually equivalent to the vital essence contained in the body's Wheel of Life. Their lifespan was only around one hundred and twenty years.
This was why the Li Family's Seventh Young Master had been obediently cultivating in seclusion, not daring to be too active for fear of attracting attention. As for the Li Family's remaining five cultivators, they were merely mediocre Sea of Bitterness cultivators struggling to get by in Smoke Glow Grotto-Heaven, not daring to run around causing trouble.
This situation was actually much the same as in the original plot.
In the original plot, after the Li Family caused Jiang Tingting's parents' deaths, they lay low for over two years. They only secretly pulled strings and pressured Elder Jiang into gradually selling off his properties.
Not to mention now, when Jiang Ming might not have died and had only gone mad. Over these years, the Li Family had been cooperating with the people of Smoke Glow Grotto-Heaven to search for Jiang Ming.
Smoke Glow Grotto-Heaven was searching for Jiang Ming because his talent was decent. He had a chance to become a Divine Bridge cultivator in the future, another Tai Shang elder-level combatant, and perhaps even an Other Shore cultivator.
The Li Family was naturally searching for Jiang Ming because they wanted to silence him for good.
Having learned this, Jiang Ming was relieved.
Since that was the case, it was time to act.
With a shake of his body, he transformed into Sanzang, a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old monk from the Western Desert.
It was time to settle the karma here.
Jiang Ming used the Sacred Light Technique and flew straight over. He looked like a blazing golden sun, crossing three thousand li of Smoke Glow Ridge and flying brazenly over the towering mountains perpetually shrouded in smoky haze.
Clouds and rosy mists swirled about, the vast void stretched endlessly, and the mountain ranges continued without end.
Ordinarily, even Life Spring cultivators would not dare be so ostentatious here. Within the towering ancient trees below, there might be a rare bird or exotic beast comparable to a Divine Bridge cultivator, or a special variant with an exceptionally powerful bloodline.
But today, he had come.
Jiang Ming shone like the midday sun. He was currently using only the combat strength of the Seventh Qi Refining Layer, fully activating the Sacred Light Technique. Bathed in golden radiance, he appeared incomparably sacred. It was impossible to tell whether it was Buddhist light or sacred light. His entire body radiated blazing brilliance, scorching heaven and earth in all directions.
Lightning Valley!
A powerful flock lived here, numbering roughly more than fifty Lightning Birds. The strongest among them, the Lightning Bird King, was comparable to an Other Shore cultivator.
Even Smoke Glow Grotto-Heaven did not dare directly attack this place and provoke these Lightning Birds.
Before them lay a reddish-brown valley spanning eight hundred li in every direction. Above the valley, streaks of golden lightning darted rapidly through the sky, tearing across the heavens with blazing intensity, even more dazzling than the sun.
At that moment, an even more brilliant golden sun slammed into a Life Spring Realm Lightning Bird. With a "pfft," the Lightning Bird instantly burst into pieces, and scarlet blood crackling with electricity scattered across the sky.
Boom!
Jiang Ming directly raised his cultivation to the Ninth Qi Refining Layer. At that moment, golden sacred light enveloped heaven and earth within a ten-li radius. Bathed in the sacred light, it was as though everything had been placed within a furnace of heaven and earth, as the golden sacred light refined all things.
"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle--"
Clouds of blood mist appeared one after another, continuously evaporated by the blazing golden sacred light. The Lightning Birds caught within the sacred light were reduced to dust in an instant.