A Rainy Night, Thunderclap and Flash

When Yuan Yu was seven, a tremendous rainstorm struck Spirit City.

Thunder rumbled from dusk deep into the night.

For the first time, the third pattern on his Sun Wheel Blade truly began to tingle.

Yuan Yu sat by the window, holding the Black Jade Gourd without drinking from it.

He looked down at his blade.

Violet-white lightning flickered deep within it.

The Water Pattern and Flame Pattern were both still.

Only the third pattern seemed to be waiting for lightning to fall from the sky.

Azure Luan stood outside the door.

"Can you feel it?"

Yuan Yu nodded.

"The Thunder Pattern."

Ling Yuan frowned. "Now?"

Boom!

Lightning struck a tower outside the Worship Hall.

The flash lit up half of Spirit City.

In the next instant, the Thunder God's Divine Sense descended.

"Ten Thousand Manifestations Nine Trials, Third Trial: Thunder Mark in an Instant."

"Trial objective: On this stormy night, cross nine Thunder Arrays, rescue the trapped guard, and sever the falling lightning at the final instant."

"Reward: a God-given Spirit Ring bestowed by the Thunder God."

"Reward: Thunder Element Control."

Yuan Yu stood.

"This trial's in a hurry."

Ling Yuan said, "You could stop joking."

"Then I'd be even more nervous."

Azure Luan tossed him a cloak.

"Let's go."

The Thunder Arrays stood outside Spirit City's North Tower.

The Worship Hall had originally used the place to temper Tool Martial Souls, but the Thunder God's Divine Sense had forcibly turned it into a trial ground tonight.

Nine lightning pillars stood in the rain.

Violet-white arcs leaped wildly between them.

At the innermost point, a guard was bound by illusory lightning chains.

Yuan Yu understood at a glance.

This was no trial he could grind through slowly.

He had to be fast.

Fast enough to get through before the lightning fell.

Fast enough to save the guard and cut the lightning in the same instant.

He stepped into the first Thunder Array.

An arc grazed his foot, numbing his whole leg.

The second step was harder.

Lightning was not fire.

Fire had a path. Water had a current.

Lightning had only an instant.

Catch it, and he had it.

Miss it, and his body would seize up first.

On his first attempt, Yuan Yu reached the third lightning pillar before an arc caught his shoulder and sent him sprawling into the rain.

Rainwater and mud splashed across his face.

His shoulder throbbed with numbness as he got up.

The Thunder Arrays were nothing like the Crimson Fire Platform.

At least he could plant his feet and train on the Crimson Fire Platform.

Not here.

Slow down for even an instant, and the lightning would strike him first.

Outside the arrays, Ling Yuan watched with a darkening expression.

Azure Luan did not move.

Bibi Dong had arrived too.

She stood beyond the curtain of rain, violet-gold light flowing around the tip of her Scepter.

She could not take Yuan Yu's Divine Trial for him.

But if the trial threatened his life, she would intervene.

Yuan Yu got to his feet.

"Again."

The second time, he reached the fourth pillar.

The third time, the fifth.

On his seventh attempt, he had just passed the sixth pillar when a slanting bolt struck his blade and split the web of his hand.

He gritted his teeth against the pain.

On his eleventh attempt, Yuan Yu reached the seventh pillar.

Only two remained.

But he glanced at the trapped guard, and his step slowed.

Lightning struck his knee from the side.

He dropped to both knees in the water.

Even Yan could not help taking a step forward.

"You're going again?"

Yuan Yu pushed himself up on his blade.

"Again."

Hu Liena's face had gone pale.

Xie Yue said nothing. He just watched Yuan Yu's footwork.

He had already spotted the problem.

Yuan Yu was fast enough.

But every time he reached the latter half, he instinctively checked the guard's position.

That glance came from his instinct to save someone.

It was also his greatest weakness in this lightning trial.

The Thunder God's voice rang out.

"Hesitation makes you slow."

Yuan Yu looked up at the sky.

"Senior, it's easy to be fast when you're just standing there talking."

Thunder answered him.

Boom!

Yuan Yu stopped joking.

He closed his eyes.

An image surfaced in his mind.

Night.

Rain.

Someone bent to draw a blade.

In a single instant, lightning streaked the length of a street.

Thunder Breathing.

First Form.

Thunderclap and Flash.

Yuan Yu opened his eyes.

This time, he did not watch the lightning pillars.

He fixed his gaze on the end.

His feet drove against the ground.

His breathing slowed.

He leaned forward.

The Thunder Pattern lit up.

On the first step, lightning skimmed past his body.

On the second, he passed three pillars.

On the third, the Sun Wheel Blade left its sheath.

"Thunder Breathing: First Form."

"Thunderclap and Flash."

Lightning exploded outward.

Yuan Yu became a violet-white streak and crossed the Thunder Arrays in an instant.

His blade flashed, severing the lightning chains around the guard.

In the next instant, lightning fell from the sky.

Yuan Yu did not retreat.

He turned and swept his blade upward.

The violet-white Thunder Pattern blazed from the blade to its tip.

Slash!

His blade split the falling lightning in two, sending each half into a stone pillar on either side.

Boom!

The pillars shattered.

Yuan Yu knelt on one knee, his sleeve scorched black by lightning and several tufts of hair standing on end.

He looked at his hair.

"This look... isn't great."

Outside the arrays, Hu Liena let out a laugh before quickly covering her mouth.

Yan stared into the center of the arrays for a long moment. "Is this kid really seven?"

Xie Yue said, "Seven years old. Three Spirit Rings."

The Thunder God's Divine Sense descended.

"Thunder Mark in an Instant: passed."

A third God-given Spirit Ring descended from the thunderclouds.

It glowed violet-white within, with a faint gold outer rim.

All three Spirit Rings behind Yuan Yu lit up at once.

Water, Flame, Lightning.

His Soul Power broke past the threshold of level twenty-nine.

Level thirty-one.

Level thirty-two.

Level thirty-three.

It finally stopped at level thirty-four.

Qian Daoliu gazed at those three Spirit Rings, his expression unreadable.

A seven-year-old level thirty-four Soul Elder.

Spirit Hall had never lacked geniuses.

But genius alone could no longer explain Yuan Yu.

Bibi Dong walked into the rain and looked at Yuan Yu's charred sleeve.

"Go back and get that treated."

Yuan Yu looked up.

"Teacher, I passed."

"I saw."

"Then can you not cut off my wine?"

Bibi Dong turned away.

"One more month without it."

Yuan Yu's face fell.

Outside the arrays, Yan burst out laughing.

The next moment, Yuan Yu raised his hand.

A thin bolt of lightning struck beside Yan's foot.

Yan jumped back.

Yuan Yu grinned. "Thunderclap and Flash. After-sales service."

Ling Yuan reached out and hauled him up.

"You just passed your trial, and you're already acting up?"

Yuan Yu's toes dangled above the ground, but he still clutched his Sun Wheel Blade tight.

"Sister Ling Yuan, I have three rings now. Can't I get a little Soul Elder treatment?"

"You can."

"What is it?"

"Double the medicine."

Yuan Yu fell silent.

He suddenly felt that Spirit City was not the least bit gentle with geniuses.

That night, after the thunderstorm stopped, Yuan Yu returned to the Thunder Array.

Ling Yuan wanted to stop him.

But Azure Luan stepped aside.

Yuan Yu stood before the shattered lightning pillar and drew his blade again.

There was no Divine Trial.

No reward.

He just wanted to know whether that strike had depended on a momentary burst of power.

The first time, Thunderclap and Flash carried him only thirty feet.

The second time, his footwork faltered.

The third time, his blade flashed past the falling rain. The Thunder Pattern held at its tip without dissipating.

Only after watching did Azure Luan speak.

"If you can do it again, the technique is yours."

Yuan Yu sheathed his blade.

"Then I can sleep easy tonight."

Ling Yuan gave a cold laugh.

"You think you're sleeping tonight?"

"What else would I do?"

"Medicinal bath."

Yuan Yu's face stiffened.

Hu Liena giggled quietly beside him.

Yan looked at the three God-given Spirit Rings behind Yuan Yu and suddenly didn't feel like laughing.

Seven years old, with three rings.

Level thirty-four.

And when Yuan Yu used Thunder Breathing, he moved so fast Yan could no longer follow him.

For the first time, Yan felt that if he didn't train with everything he had, he would one day lose even the right to be Yuan Yu's opponent.

Xie Yue said nothing either.

He merely gripped his Moon Blade tighter.

Yuan Yu had no idea that he had lit a fire in every member of the Golden Generation that night.

All he knew was that the medicinal bath was scalding.

It was harder to endure than a lightning strike.