Great Opportunity Between Life and Death

The instant he was sent flying backward, golden light flashed over Zhou Changqing's body, forming a thin defensive membrane of inner armor.

But before Zhou Changqing even hit the ground, that golden membrane shattered!

In that instant, countless arcs of electricity shooting from the lightning that had struck the ground bored into Zhou Changqing's body!

Bang!

He slammed into a nearby tree hard enough to make it shudder, then crashed heavily to the ground.

Sizzle...!

Countless lightning arcs burrowed into every inch of his flesh, their numbing sensation followed by tremendous, tearing pain.

"Aaaaargh...!!!"

The agony was like being sliced into ten thousand pieces while submerged in molten lava, wringing unending, wretched screams from Zhou Changqing's mouth!

Yet he could not even move a finger!

Even without a direct hit, the mere aftermath of Heavenly Thunder was far beyond what a lowly Dou Shi like Zhou Changqing could withstand!

As the lightning arcs ravaged him, every patch of skin they passed over turned charred black and sprouted streaks of electrical markings!

How could this happen?!

How could I be this fucking unlucky? I just avenged my parents, and now I'm going to die?!

Perhaps because his Soul Power was so strong, Zhou Changqing did not lose consciousness from the horrific pain. Instead, he remained acutely lucid amid the agony.

He could even clearly feel the pain of every lightning arc coursing through his body, and each patch of flesh shriveling and blackening beneath their onslaught!

His internal organs were also shaking and bleeding under the powerful shock waves!

It was undeniably cruel!

Nothing could be crueler than watching himself die little by little amid endless suffering!

Fuck! I don't want to die yet!

Despite the immense resentment and fury in his heart, Zhou Changqing could do nothing.

As though his life were flashing before his eyes, every memory since his transmigration began flickering rapidly through Zhou Changqing's mind.

The images ran backward from the present.

Sixteen years old...

Fifteen years old...

Fourteen years old...

At that moment, even time seemed to slow...

Boom!

Just as Zhou Changqing's consciousness was nearing its limit, a thunderclap exploded in his mind!

The memories in his mind froze at the instant before his transmigration, when that bolt from a clear sky had struck him!

I've already been struck dead once! Are you going to strike me dead a second time?!

My life isn't that worthless!

Recalling his transmigration, Zhou Changqing's consciousness snapped back into focus, and defiant roars rang out in his heart!

Though he had drifted aimlessly through his previous life, his days had been peaceful and simple, with no worries about food or drink. His family had been harmonious, and both his parents had been alive.

He could have lived out an ordinary life, but a sudden lightning bolt had taken him away, leaving him unable to care for his parents and repay them for giving him life and raising him.

Given another life, he had let go of all those regrets from his previous one.

But why?!

Why did you have to take my adoptive parents away from me in this life too?!

As if denying me the chance to repay them for raising me wasn't enough, now that I've finally avenged them, you're going to take my life too?!

Am I really so worthless?!!

He would live!

He would climb to the pinnacle of this world!

He would transcend this world!

He would even transcend the world above the Dou Qi Continent!

He would wield supreme power!

Only then would he have a chance to make up for his regrets, return to Earth to care for his parents, and even resurrect his adoptive parents!

At that moment, Zhou Changqing's will to survive blazed to life, utterly unwavering!

All his resentment and fury became fuel, sharpening his consciousness even further as his mind began racing!

"Come out!"

Looking inward at his dantian, Zhou Changqing shouted in his heart and stirred the liquid Dou Qi vortex within it through sheer force of will!

Then, guided by his will, the two kinds of Dou Qi surged out of the vortex and entered his meridians together!

Unlike his usual cultivation, his Dou Qi no longer circulated according to a single cultivation technique.

Under Zhou Changqing's control, it began following the circulation routes of both the Dormant Thunder Method and Steel-Condensing Force simultaneously!

Of course, it did not follow both techniques' routes in their entirety.

After all, doing that would probably only make him die faster!

His mind exceptionally clear, Zhou Changqing knew there were only two paths to survival.

One was to expel the Heavenly Thunder arcs from his body; the other was to refine them completely!

Over the past year, Zhou Changqing had not switched to a higher-tier cultivation technique.

But tempering weapons with his new method had brought both his understanding of the two techniques and his control over Dou Qi to an extremely high level.

He could confidently say that his mastery of the Dormant Thunder Method and Steel-Condensing Force was no less than that of their creators!

However, people possessing both metal and lightning attributes were exceedingly rare. Not even one had appeared among the Jia Ma Empire's vast population.

As a result, there had still been no news of the dual metal-lightning cultivation technique he had asked the Mittel to find.

So, several months earlier, he had begun collecting and reading numerous lightning- and metal-attribute Yellow Tier Cultivation Techniques, preparing to create a dual metal-lightning technique suited to him in the future.

Cultivation techniques were created by people. If others could do it, why couldn't he?

His cultivation realm was simply too low at present, and his experience and accumulated knowledge too shallow.

Originally, he had intended to wait until he reached the Dou Wang Realm before beginning.

But now, with life and death hanging in the balance, he no longer had that much time.

The circulation efficiency of a single technique could neither expel nor refine the violent Heavenly Thunder energy within him!

He had to stake everything on an attempt!

Between life and death lay great terror!

And great opportunity!

Upon meeting within his meridians, the metal and lightning Dou Qi reacted violently, rampaging through them and continually damaging them!

Yet Zhou Changqing remained unmoved. While guiding the two kinds of Dou Qi, he kept assessing several meridian diagrams he had previously studied that might successfully connect the two techniques' circulation routes!

In scarcely a single breath, Zhou Changqing's mind calculated the success rates of those meridian diagrams countless times!

Finally, Zhou Changqing staked everything on the meridian diagram he believed most likely to connect the two techniques' circulation routes.

Under his guidance, the two kinds of Dou Qi began circulating according to this new technique, which combined two Yellow Tier High Grade techniques and altered several meridian routes!

A miracle occurred!

The two kinds of Dou Qi successfully converged within several meridians on either side of his spine!

In an instant, the circulation routes of the two techniques joined together, forming a complete Great Circulation!

Seeing this through his inward perception, Zhou Changqing's spirits surged, and he hurriedly guided the metal and Lightning Dou Qi through that circuit in a relentless, frenzied flow.

Although the two kinds of Dou Qi still reacted fiercely upon contact, that intensity was no longer destructive!

Instead, they were like brothers: noisy, but able to coexist peacefully!

Then, under his control, the two kinds of Dou Qi spread into every inch of his flesh to capture the wandering lightning arcs!

Zhou Changqing had initially expected a violent clash when his Dou Qi encountered the lightning arcs.

But what happened a second after they met sent a tremendous shock through his mind!

Upon touching the lightning arcs, the converged Metal-Lightning Dou Qi met no resistance whatsoever. Instead, it enveloped them with remarkable ease!

Furthermore, the enveloped lightning arcs swiftly fused with his lightning attribute Dou Qi!

Then, that fused lightning energy instantly emitted an exceptionally strange and profound energetic fluctuation!

Upon contacting that fluctuation, his metal attribute Dou Qi miraculously dispersed into brilliant Golden Radiance, continually merging into the surrounding flesh!

What's going on?!

Watching this, even Zhou Changqing's exceptionally lucid mind grew somewhat dazed.

Why did this look so much like the reaction when he tempered weapons, when the residual metal attribute Dou Qi merged into the weapon's material after he infused it with lightning attribute Dou Qi?

???

I'm a weapon?

But he had no time to ponder it now.

The memories flashing before his eyes and his attempt to fuse the techniques had already consumed three or four breaths.

That might seem brief, but given the speed at which the lightning arcs were destroying his body, it was a very long time.

If he did not deal with these lightning arcs, he would probably be reduced to charcoal in fewer than a dozen or so breaths.

And that was with his inner armor's defense having negated most of the damage from the Heavenly Thunder's aftermath, and with his own physique being far from weak!

Otherwise, he would probably have been struck into a charred corpse before his life even had time to flash before his eyes!

(End of chapter)