Mu Liang'er

Heaven and earth gave birth to the Three Thunders.

Cultivators of this Dao Lineage were scarce within the seas, but plentiful overseas.

Li Fuchan had once seen a cultivator cloaked in purple thunder, wielding a lightning spear and striding beneath a thunder pool above his head, locked in battle with a great demon. The sight shook him to the core. Even from dozens of miles away, his hair had stood on end, and he had vaguely felt lightning aimed straight at him.

When he asked about it later, he learned that the man was Liang Shuping, a Direct Lineage heir of the Purple Palace on Welcome Ying Isle overseas. He was a powerful cultivator of True Person rank who followed the "jade thunder" Dao Lineage. With three Purple Palace cultivators, his sect ranked among the top ten overseas Dao Lineages.

The Purple Firmament Thunder-Script Treasure Register was a cultivation manual for the Li Thunder branch of the three kinds of thunder Jia Hua had described within his Outer Scenery. It was a third-grade manual.

It recorded complete methods for Aperture Opening and gathering qi, and even included all the subsequent methods for replenishing the "Nature-and-Fate Root." Not only could it take a cultivator to Outer Scenery Great Accomplishment without issue, it also contained a secret technique called the "Thunder Escape Sword Art."

"Why would he be so kind?"

Li Fuchan was not afraid of traps. He was only afraid he would fail to see where they lay. He immediately summoned his treasure light and examined the manual carefully.

The Purple Firmament Thunder-Script Treasure Talisman Register required him to find a dead tree struck by lightning during a thunderstorm, sit or lie within its blazing light, and use the prescribed method to inscribe a thunder script within his Sea of Qi.

His Outer Scenery did not manifest outwardly, but resided within his Sea of Qi.

Thus, it could also be described as inscribing a thunder script within his Outer Scenery. It could give his Dharma Power the nature of Li Thunder, allowing him to command thunder and harness lightning, drive light and wield fire. It could break demonic forces, refine and deliver souls, burn away evil, clear obstructions, and illuminate hidden depths, and could also empower weapons.

After reading through it, Li Fuchan finally understood Jia Hua's intent.

Li Thunder was domineering thunder. Once he cultivated it, it would inevitably extinguish the Three Lights Method, stripping Li Fuchan of many of his abilities. At the very least, his Spiritual Nature would no longer be able to withstand a mid-stage Outer Scenery cultivator, nor would he retain his perfect recall and ability to master anything he studied.

Moreover, Thunder Arts were domineering, and scoured away the Three Calamities far more fiercely. Given the people Li Fuchan currently linked to through turbidity, the Three Lights Method could sustain him for another year. With the Purple Firmament Thunder-Script Treasure Talisman Register, he would last only three months.

Of course, he could replenish the Three Calamities by consuming Blood Qi.

But then thunderfire would inevitably backlash against him, killing him in an instant.

Unlike the Three Lights Method, linking through turbidity with the Purple Firmament Thunder-Script Treasure Talisman Register required people of resolute character who had never committed great treachery or evil. Alone, he could never find enough such people. Only specially cultivated talent from sects and aristocratic clans could meet that need.

"So this is how the Peaceful Way Abbey intends to restrain me."

Though he had yet to find a good solution to the restrictions on replenishing the Three Calamities, the idea that a single Thunder Arts method could deprive him of his Three Lights was laughable.

"There's nothing to discuss with people who've never used cheats."

Li Fuchan smiled and made some calculations using this world's celestial patterns. As luck would have it, a thunderstorm would arrive in five days.

The Purple Firmament Thunder-Script Treasure Talisman Register contained no method for drawing down lightning, so Li Fuchan made a lightning rod and installed it atop a large tree.

Five days later, black clouds filled the sky and white rain poured down amid rolling thunder. Li Fuchan waited a few breaths, and sure enough, a bolt of silvery-white Thunderbolt descended and struck the dead tree.

Thunder and lightning blazed together, and the dead wood burned fiercely, with hints of gold and crimson flickering within. In the heavens, it was Jade Thunder, majestic and upright; when its collisions birthed fire upon the earth, it became Li Thunder. No smoke rose from those flames, only faint gleams of rosy radiance. This was precisely Li Thunder.

Li Fuchan stripped off his clothes and sat naked within the thunderfire. His flesh ignited at once, yet he did not budge. For five straight days, it burned until his flesh was charred black all over. After another five days, a precious golden-red sheen slowly emerged where his scorched bones lay exposed, as though he were being reborn.

With the Treasure Light, switching cultivation methods was not difficult. Half a month later, the thunder script took shape within Li Fuchan's Sea of Qi. It was a palm long and roughly three fingers wide, its inscriptions interwoven with thunder and fire, faintly echoing with thunderclaps and the roar of flames.

The instant the thunder script took shape, thunderfire began burning the Three Lights. Unhurried, Li Fuchan directed them upward.

"Brow Peak."

During his year overseas, Li Fuchan had never stopped refining Brow Peak. By now, storing the Three Lights there posed no problem.

Boom.

A peal of thunder suddenly rang out between heaven and earth.

Li Fuchan slowly rose. Thunderfire flowed through his limbs and bones, and his black robe hung down, faintly tinted crimson and black by the wondrous manifestations within him. His brows were long and relaxed, and sparks of thunder danced in his gray-black pupils. Golden Thunder and purple markings faintly appeared along his cheeks, only to vanish in a flash. He could not help letting out a long breath. "At last, my future looks bright."

Meanwhile, in a Cave Abode at the foot of the mountain, Jia Hua watched the phenomenon above and slowly rose, delight spreading across his face. "Thunder Arts are ferocious beyond compare. Anyone who can endure the agony of burning flesh is someone who can get things done. And now that he's lost his Three Lights, he'll be easy to control."

The Li Thunder Dao Lineage had long since vanished from the north. The Purple Firmament Thunder-Script Treasure Talisman Register was a thunder method brought north two hundred years ago by a patriarch of the Peaceful Way Abbey, and its Inner Scenery cultivation methods had long been lost.

Moreover, the Peaceful Way Abbey enshrined a Spirit Artifact of the Contrary Thunder lineage. Contrary meant perverse, defiant. Contrary Thunder was an anomaly among Thunderbolts, the unpredictability of heaven and earth, a variation and rift within the Three Thunders.

Rift Thunder controlled lightning, making it precisely suited to restraining Li Thunder.

That was why he had dared give Li Fuchan a cultivation manual that ranked among the finest even within the third grade.

He made some calculations, settled on the timing, and murmured, "Now that this man has successfully cultivated the Thunder Arts, he is entirely within my grasp. It's time he showed his face among the Various Sects, so they know our Peaceful Way Abbey is ready. It will also give him some experience in mortal combat."

Considering that Li Fuchan had just lost his Three Lights and suffered a sharp drop in combat strength, Jia Hua waited another half month. Only when a sword's ringing cry sounded from the summit did he rise and leave.

Not long after he departed, Li Fuchan arrived in the cave with his sword in his arms.

Looking at the writing on the ground, he frowned. "Always so fond of these petty tricks."

Demons plague Longzhu Forest west of Flying Yellow Mountain in You Province. I, Hua, have already dispatched disciples of our sect and members of the Gao clan. Please bear your sword to their aid, and prove that you have not disgraced the spirit of li thunder.

Li Fuchan scanned it, then turned and left.

The writing on the stone wall was immediately wiped away by a flash of thunderfire.

Within the Peaceful Way Abbey.

Quan Yong stared at the letter Jia Hua had sent him, lost in thought. Only after a long while did he put it away and sigh deeply. "Your senior brother is useless. You've had to suffer for it."

Jia Hua had made it clear that he would personally shoulder the consequences and bring Li Fuchan in as a roaming representative of the Peaceful Way Abbey.

He also asked Quan Yong to ritually nurture the Contrary Thunder Spirit Artifact, then kill this man once it was ready thirty years later.

Who could say what other changes might arise by then?

The abbey's affairs were numerous and complicated, leaving Quan Yong little time to dwell on it. He sent someone to summon his disciple.

Before long, a female Daoist approached at a measured pace. Her plain robes were whiter than snow, beneath a moon-white sleeveless vest. Golden butterflies shimmered faintly in its woven patterns, with jade fastenings set in silver. Elegant as an immortal, she wore precisely the Aperture Opening-level magical robe, [Lotus Attire].

Throughout the Peaceful Way Abbey, no one besides its master Quan Yong, Jia Hua, and the three direct disciples could wear magical robes. Her identity needed no explanation.

The female Daoist bowed her snow-white neck slightly and saluted. "Mu Liang'er pays her respects to Master."

Quan Yong stepped forward and helped her up, explaining, "Southern Peak is in seclusion, and Zilu has yet to return from the mountain. I summoned you because your martial uncle sent word that demons are troubling Longzhu Forest again. You must go and eliminate them."

Mu Liang'er was no incompetent. At the young age of twenty-six, she had already opened the Six Apertures and reached full mastery, leaving her only a step from Outer Scenery. Yet she was no glory-seeker, either. Hearing that she would be going alone, she frowned. "I only fear that my strength alone may fall short, and that I might throw away my Life Force rashly and disgrace our sect."

Quan Yong knew Mu Liang'er was not someone who clung to her own safety. This trip was merely a formality for her; the real burden would not fall on her shoulders. Still, this was her first time leaving the mountain, and he did not want his disciple to face danger lightly. He immediately took an object from his Storage Bag: a horsetail whisk with a crimson handle and purple tassels. "This is the [World-Dissolving Horsetail Whisk], an Outer Scenery treasure. It can repel evil and sweep away wickedness, wield world-dissolving tong fire to erode bones and injure sinews, burn nature and life, and consume an enemy's vital qi and Dharma Power, greatly weakening them."

As he spoke, he took out a silvery-white suit of inner armor and instructed her gently, "This armor is called [Ying Hailin]. It was made from 'Three-Flying Scales,' an Outer Scenery demon from the Responding Sea north of the Northern Sea. Golden blades cannot harm you, iron swords cannot approach you, and mundane weapons cannot wound you. When you are attacked, it can raise a Responding Sea barrier around your body to keep you safe."

Even that was not enough. He took out a pair of cloud boots that allowed the wearer to ride the wind and tread across snow without leaving a trace.

Only once he had provided for attack, defense, and escape alike did he send Mu Liang'er, left dazed by the barrage of magical artifacts, down the mountain.

I don't know whether any esteemed readers are following this, but if anyone is here, please help the author by turning to the final "To be continued" page. I'm begging you on my knees to keep reading. If you're interested, you can leave a comment too—even scolding me is fine. (Humbly begging you to keep reading)~~~~