Five Years

Si Chen began cultivating the Yi Wood Eternal Spring Art.

His progress, however, was slow indeed.

As the elders had said, it relied neither on sudden enlightenment nor on talent. It was more like the plodding work of water wearing through stone, demanding sweat and unwavering persistence.

His life became exceptionally regular.

Every morning, he sat cross-legged beneath the ancient tree in the courtyard, whose age no one knew. His palm rested lightly against its rough bark, and he remained there for the entire day.

In the first year, he felt nothing. It was no different from ordinary meditation.

In the second year, birds searching for food occasionally landed on his shoulders. They tilted their heads, studying this motionless human with eyes like black beans, then fluttered away a moment later.

In the third year, he sensed something else. It was like a slow, vast pulse, rising thread by thread from deep underground through roots that did not truly exist.

One afternoon in the fourth year, a drop of his sweat happened to fall onto a blade of grass beneath him. The withered, yellowing blade unfurled at a speed visible to the naked eye, turning green once more.

From then on, changes quietly took place.

As he sat in meditation, an exceedingly faint fragrance of vegetation drifted from his body. When his fingertips brushed a withered flowering branch, new buds would sprout overnight.

He was no longer merely "cultivating" an art. It was more as though he were holding a slow, enduring conversation with every living thing in the courtyard.

Spring passed and autumn came. The old parasol tree outside his window turned yellow, then green again. It was already the fifth cycle.

Si Chen was twelve.

Five years were no more than the blink of an eye to a consciousness that had once gazed upon the birth and death of the universe. Yet they were enough to leave clear marks on a mortal body.

He had grown considerably taller. The roundness of infancy had long since faded, and the contours of his features had become more distinct, already hinting at a young boy's handsome refinement.

Over those five years, he had not increased his cultivation in the slightest. All his energy had gone into the Yi Wood Eternal Spring Art.

Ye Fu often stood quietly beneath the covered walkway, watching.

She found that her son's complexion grew rosier, while his breathing became longer, steadier, and calmer. Even the hidden dangers within his body seemed to be gradually soothed away.

The sight filled her heart with joy. After five years, her heart, which had hung in suspense, could finally settle a little.

The Yi Wood Eternal Spring Art differed from most arts in the world, which pursued ferocity and speed. It had no tiers and no bottlenecks to speak of.

Its entire mystery lay in a single word: accumulation.

Like a tree growing its annual rings, one circle after another, it was utterly unremarkable at first. One could scarcely even distinguish it from ordinary meditation.

But time would grant it strength. One year, ten years, a hundred years... the longer one cultivated, the deeper one's foundation took root, and the more fully and richly one's body was nourished. Like an ancient tree, it showed little outwardly, while immense vitality gathered within.

That day, Si Chen sat beneath the old tree as usual.

His breathing was steady, and his presence seemed to blend with the vegetation throughout the courtyard.

Suddenly, something stirred within him, and he slowly opened his eyes.

He lowered his head and looked at his open palm. His fingers were long and slender, and his youthful frame had already begun to fill out. Deep within his flesh, he could feel surging vitality, as firmly rooted as the roots of an ancient tree.

Five years of accumulation were only the first steps along this ancient art's long road. Yet the once-fragile vessel was now filled with vitality and resilience.

He felt that the time had come.

"Father, Mother, I want to try the Nine Tribulations Thunder Body."

Si Kai looked at his son, whose gaze was calm. At twelve, the boy stood tall and straight, already showing the first hints of distinction. Though a thousand worries filled Si Kai's heart, they ultimately became a single question: "Have you thought this through?"

Si Chen nodded. "I'm ready."

Ye Fu stood beside her husband. Her lips moved, but in the end, she said nothing, merely burying her worry deep in her eyes.

She understood her son. Once he made a decision, he would not turn back.

For five years, she had watched him sit in stillness day after day. His patience and resolve, far beyond his age, had made her understand that no one could stop this child from walking the path he had chosen.

"Good." Si Kai nodded. "The Lineage will have everything ready for you."

The Si Household never dragged its feet. Once the decision was made, every preparation was already in place.

In the mountains behind the Lineage estate, a forbidden area had been set aside expressly for him.

Layers of formations had long since been laid there. They could gather the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and also draw down thunder from the highest heavens. Pills and magical artifacts to deal with any unforeseen mishap were all ready, awaiting this moment.

Si Chen looked at his parents, and a trace of warmth flowed through his heart.

He rose, stepped back, and gave them both a solemn bow. "Father, Mother, I'm sorry to have put you to so much trouble."

This unreserved support and protection was one of the most precious "rules" he had experienced within this mortal body.

The next day, his third uncle, Si Shuo, placed a jade slip containing the Nine Tribulations Thunder Body in Si Chen's hands.

For once, this usually irrepressible uncle had no trace of humor on his face.

"Kid."

He patted Si Chen's shoulder, neither too hard nor too lightly. "This thing isn't nearly as gentle as the Yi Wood Eternal Spring Art. Read everything in it carefully. You can't afford even the slightest carelessness."

Si Chen accepted the jade slip and thanked him.

Then he returned to his meditation room and spent an entire day studying it intently.

The principles of the Yi Wood Eternal Spring Art were utterly different from those of the Nine Tribulations Thunder Body.

The former was nourishment, integration, and coexistence. The latter was plunder and conquest.

The art divided the power of thunder into nine tribulations, each a heaven unto itself.

What he would face now was the first tribulation, the Yin Thunder Tribulation, also called mortal thunder.

This thunder was born amid mountains, rivers, clouds, and rain. It was the most common-and the "weakest"-thunder accessible to the mortal world.

Yet even the description of this weakest mortal thunder in the jade slip carried a chilling solemnity...

"Heaven's might is a prison; touch it and burn. Draw thunder into the body, and nine deaths await for every chance at life."

Survive, and the body would transform, its strength soaring.

Fail, and at best, every meridian would be destroyed. At worst, the body would perish, the path would end, and the soul would scatter into nothingness.

For the next few days, he did not immediately head to the forbidden area in the rear mountains.

Instead, following the art's instructions, he adjusted his condition. He slowly guided the immense vitality accumulated through five years of the Yi Wood Eternal Spring Art into every limb and bone, bringing his body to a peak state, brimming with power and poised to unleash it.

That day, the sky was somewhat overcast, and the air carried the damp scent of approaching mountain rain.

Si Chen changed into clean blue-green cloth robes and left the courtyard.

His parents, his second and third uncles, and several core elders were already waiting outside. No one wasted words. When their eyes met, they all held the same concern.

"Let's go," Si Kai said gravely.

The group passed silently through the pavilions and halls toward the mountains behind the Lineage estate.

At the center of the forbidden area lay a flat expanse of black rock, surrounded by nine stone pillars covered in runes. The formation was already glowing faintly, its flowing spiritual light subtly echoing the thunderclouds massing overhead.

"Chen."

At last, Ye Fu could no longer hold back. She stepped forward and straightened her son's collar, though it was not disheveled at all. "Be very careful."

"Mother, don't worry." Si Chen gently patted her hand, his voice soft.

His gaze swept over every family member present, and he nodded to them. Then, without further hesitation, he turned and walked alone into the center of the formation, where he sat cross-legged.

The sky grew darker still, and faint flashes of lightning began roaming through the clouds.

His third uncle, Si Shuo, rubbed his hands nervously and whispered to Si Che beside him, "Second Brother, why is my heart beating so fast...?"

His second uncle, Si Che, wore a grave expression, his eyes fixed on his nephew within the formation. "Shut up and watch the formation."

Si Chen closed his eyes and sank his awareness into his body.

The wind rose, carrying a bone-piercing chill and stirring his hair ribbon.

He could clearly sense a destructive force gathering and brewing deep within the clouds. Cold and violent, it stood in stark contrast to the warm, immense vitality of vegetation within him.

Life and death, nourishment and destruction, were about to meet.

Si Chen slowly lifted his eyelids and looked up at the oppressive sky, his gaze as still as water.

Come.