The tenth level of the Thunder Domain.
There was neither sky nor earth here.
As far as the eye could see, there was only darkness, churning endlessly in chaos.
Pitch-black thunder slurry cascaded from the heights of the void like an inverted river of the underworld, stream after unbroken stream, slicing space into fragments that flickered between light and darkness.
Low thunder was the only background sound here. It surged in from every direction, then rolled into the depths without end, resonating through eardrums and bones and bringing a shudder that bordered on numbness.
The air was as viscous as solid lead and mercury, each breath bringing sharp pain and tingling numbness.
An ordinary Heaven Transformation Realm cultivator who rashly entered would likely last only a few breaths before the omnipresent might of the lightning ate through their meridians and reduced them to charcoal.
Mu Chen stood in the small patch of safe ground at the entrance, lifting his head to gaze into the deepest reaches of this space.
There lay its true core.
A black Thunder Sea so vast its edges could not be seen sprawled at the limits of his vision.
Thunder slurry churned, each swell raising terrifying waves thousands of feet high. When their crests burst, what sprayed out was not water, but bolts of pitch-black lightning as massive as mountains!
"What a... wonderful place."
Mu Chen murmured his praise, a burning light kindling in his eyes.
Lightning of such magnitude and quality was the perfect nourishment for cultivating the Divine Firmament Calamity-Averting Thunder Body!
Here, he might truly be able to master the first stage of this technique in one stroke.
Without much hesitation, Mu Chen willed the spiritual energy protecting his body to quietly recede.
With a slight movement, he shot forward like an arrow loosed from its bow, charging fearlessly toward the black Thunder Sea that sprawled across the horizon, roaring and churning without cease!
Draw lightning into the body, emulate the birth and destruction of heaven and earth, take lightning as the chisel and one's own body as uncut jade, and forge an undying thunder body!
"Come!"
Mu Chen slowly raised both hands, fingertips facing each other as though cradling something before his chest, and formed an ancient, simple hand seal.
The instant the seal formed, his aura changed abruptly!
Drawn by the seal, the endless Thunder Sea crashed down, swallowing him completely.
His clothes vaporized into nothingness on contact, exposing pale skin that had already begun to shine with the gentle luster of jade.
Violent lightning coursed throughout his body, surging and erupting wildly along the profound pathways prescribed by the technique!
Amid this baptism of utter agony and destruction, Mu Chen's aura did not weaken. Instead, like refined iron hammered and tempered a thousand times, its very essence grew ever purer and tougher.
Under the stimulation and tempering of this endless lightning, the innate chaos saint body dao embryo actually began to awaken further and respond!
While Mu Chen drew lightning into his body, immersed in the cycle of pain and growing strength, an entirely different scene unfolded in another region above the Thunder Sea.
Screee!
A clear cry, laden with boundless majesty and an ancient presence, suddenly tore through the unbroken rumbling of thunder.
The Gray-Brown Sparrow's soft feathers became plumage gleaming with flowing black flames, her short tail feathers stretched into long, magnificent plumes, and her little black-bean eyes were replaced by brilliant avian eyes blazing with majesty...
In the blink of an eye, her sparrow form vanished without a trace.
In its place stood an enormous bird, elegant and majestic, her entire body burning with deep black flames!
The Nine Nether Sparrow's true form!
She spread her immense wings, broad enough to blot out the sky and sun. Her burning eyes swept over the ceaselessly churning Thunder Sea below, a distinctly human glimmer of satisfaction passing through them.
Without another moment's hesitation, the Nine Nether Sparrow raised her head and let out an even shriller, sky-rending cry, then beat her wings fiercely!
Boom!
Boundless black flames swept out of her body, swiftly gathering and swirling before her into a gigantic tornado of black fire, reaching up to the vast Thunder Sea and down into the endless void!
The instant the storm took shape, it unleashed a terrifying devouring force.
The relatively calm ocean of thunder slurry below bore the brunt of it, violently stirred by an invisible force field into towering waves of lightning.
Countless strands of wandering silver lightning surged madly toward the base of the black flame storm, like a hundred rivers returning to the sea!
Hiss, hiss, hiss...
Fine points of silver light sprang up throughout the black flame storm like bamboo shoots after spring rain, growing ever more numerous and dense, rising and sinking within the deep black vortex as they flickered and shone.
Just as the Nine Nether Sparrow used nine nether fire to refine Heavenly Thunder Beads in great batches, the disturbance quietly stirred a slight change in the deepest reaches of the Thunder Domain's tenth level.
An incomparably massive black thunder sun hung in the deepest darkness. Countless rivers of lightning, like black lava, poured from it like ten thousand galloping dragons, releasing a savage aura capable of destroying heaven and earth.
And in the profound darkness beneath that black thunder sun, something seemed to slowly... open its eye.
It was an unimaginably enormous eye. The black thunder slurry falling onto it was absorbed directly, unable to stir even the faintest ripple.
"These fluctuations... nine nether fire? How did a little one from the Nine Nether Sparrow Clan come here...?"
A murmur seemed to rise quietly in the darkness, carrying a trace of age-old bewilderment.
Nine Nether was doing her utmost to refine Heavenly Thunder Beads. In just half an hour, she had already made nearly five thousand, leaving only the final third of her target.
Just as she was about to catch her breath before continuing, her spiritual senses suddenly caught an exceedingly unusual disturbance, and she turned her head in puzzlement-
Behind her, in the gap between the churning Thunder Sea and the void, there seemed to be... a human figure standing silently?
A human figure?!
No!
Mu Chen was still tempering his body deep within the Thunder Sea. Who was this?
Nine Nether started in alarm and whipped her head around, staring at that spot in horror.
This time, she saw clearly. In the void not far away sat a bald old man in a tattered black robe, as thin as a bundle of firewood.
The old man's face was withered, his cloudy eyes seemingly heavy with sleep, and he looked as though he already had one foot in the grave.
Yet this very old man had appeared without a sound on the Thunder Domain's tenth level and was quietly... watching her.
"Honored elder," a calm voice rang out, breaking the frozen atmosphere, "might you be Lord Bei Ming Dragon Kun, the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy's Academy Guardian Beast?"
The lightning coiling around Mu Chen had yet to fade completely. Tiny arcs still danced across his skin with faint crackles.
His figure flickered, and he appeared beside Nine Nether's enormous black-flamed avian body, subtly shielding her behind him.
His aura had undergone an earth-shaking transformation compared with half an hour earlier.
It was more restrained, more substantial. His skin shimmered with the gentle luster of jade, as though a primordial beast capable of shouldering mountains lay dormant within him. Through tempering, he had shed his old self and been reborn.
In just half an hour, within this deadly realm of lightning, he had used the Divine Firmament Calamity-Averting Thunder Body to draw lightning into himself and broken through the barrier to the Heaven Reaching Realm in one stroke.
He had safely passed the body tribulation.
The bald old man neither confirmed nor denied Mu Chen's guess. He merely spoke unhurriedly, his voice hoarse:
"The Thunder Domain is a trial ground the academy provides for its disciples to temper themselves and comprehend lightning. By using the Nine Nether Sparrow's power to refine Heavenly Thunder Beads on a large scale and exchange them for Spirit Value, you have taken a shortcut, somewhat defeating the original purpose of this training."
Having said this, his cloudy eyes lingered on Mu Chen for a moment, a trace of surprise flashing through them.
This boy's progress in cultivation was truly astonishing.
When had such a genius come to the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy? He seemed even more monstrous than those two boys he usually thought so highly of!
At those words, the smile on Mu Chen's face remained unchanged, even deepening a little as he answered frankly:
"Honored elder, you're mistaken. The path of cultivation is precisely about using every resource available, seeking the most efficient methods, and advancing with courage and vigor."
"Having Nine Nether's help is both my good fortune and a testament to my own ability."
"As far as I know, the Thunder Domain's rules don't explicitly forbid students from using spirit beasts to condense Heavenly Thunder Beads, do they?"
"If it isn't forbidden, then it can be done. What is wrong with making the fullest use of what one has?"
"Heh..." The bald old man chuckled, his pleasure or displeasure impossible to discern. "A sharp tongue and a nimble mind indeed."
Nine Nether raised her enormous avian head slightly, black flames flowing silently over her body. Though she did not understand why Mu Chen wanted to trade words with such an unfathomable being, she had already resolved to stand with him, whether they advanced or retreated.
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