Ninefold Thunder Domain

Li Wangxian was quite interested and headed toward one of the Heavenly Thunder Platforms.

When he arrived, he was a little disappointed. It was merely an enormous rock. There was nothing special about the Heavenly Thunder Platform itself; what was special was the formation, which could draw down heavenly lightning and imprison it within the platform, providing those inside with enough thunder power to temper themselves or gain insights.

Wanting to see what sort of thunder power this Heavenly Thunder Platform could draw down and how useful it would be, Li Wangxian stayed. Then he found an opportunity to slip into the most terrifying intelligence organization in the Shrouding the Heavens World: the passersby.

But before he could steer the conversation toward any secrets, he heard information about himself instead, leaving him with decidedly mixed feelings.

"Have you heard? The Good Person Bandits just got dealt with by a newly arrived Holy Son."

"Really? Those Good Person Bandits are famous for their sharp eyes and caution. Why would they go after a Holy Son?"

One passerby was astonished and rather puzzled. After all, that gang had roamed freely around Thunder City for years.

Although they only robbed people rather than killing them, and targeted newcomers without truly provoking public outrage, experts had still gone looking for trouble with them. Yet the gang was notoriously slippery. How had they fallen so easily?

"It's true. Someone saw it firsthand. That Holy Son was very young, supposedly only thirteen or fourteen. He was dressed very plainly, and there was no guardian visibly accompanying him. So the Good Person Bandits followed him, only to be subdued by His Holiness."

The cultivator who answered was a young man, and he was very excited. When he had first arrived a few days ago, that gang had robbed him. His poor thousand-year-old deer antler velvet had only just come into his hands, and before he could bear to use it, those bastards who deserved a thousand cuts had stolen it.

"Unfortunately, His Holiness was too kind and let them go. He could at least have hauled them here and sealed them in the Thunder Prison for a thousand years!"

Everyone paused at the sight of his agitation.

Clearly, there was a story here!

"Brother... were you robbed?" someone asked tentatively.

"That's right! Those sons of bitches! My poor thousand-year-old deer antler velvet! I went through a thousand hardships to get it! Those bastards should be imprisoned for a thousand years-ten thousand years!"

The young cultivator made no attempt to conceal anything, and the thought of his spirit medicine sent him wailing again.

"Oh, thousand-year-old deer antler velvet! That really is a heartbreaking loss. They ought to be imprisoned for ten thousand years."

A middle-aged cultivator loudly agreed. Once he had earned the young man's goodwill, he immediately struck while the iron was hot. "I-I have a friend who wants to ask where he can buy this deer antler velvet."

Li Wangxian froze. He had never expected that, even after transmigrating into the cultivation world, the skill of conjuring a friend out of thin air would still shine in all its glory.

The young cultivator looked at the middle-aged man with a knowing smile. Without holding anything back, he explained that he had a friend from the demon race and had paid a considerable price to obtain it through him.

The middle-aged cultivator's smile broadened. A high price was nothing to fear; not being able to buy it was the real problem. He immediately began discussing the price with the young man through voice transmission.

Li Wangxian's mouth twitched. He could plainly see more than one cultivator "privately chatting" with the robbed young man. Could cultivators suffer from that sort of deficiency too?

Wasn't that complete bullshit?

After this round of private chats, the atmosphere grew even livelier. Somehow, an unspoken understanding that they were all friends arose of its own accord.

Even Li Wangxian was no exception. Although he had not joined in, the others saw that he looked like a boy of thirteen or fourteen and developed a peculiar sense of superiority as adults.

They were even quite friendly toward him. It was absurd.

Still, thanks to this, he did hear a good deal of information. The Heavenly Thunder Platforms came in different grades, for instance, and the Thunder Sea outside the city was divided into nine layers according to its power. The locals called it the Ninefold Thunder Prison. Supposedly, a divine substance comparable to peerless dragon marrow was being nurtured in its innermost layer.

Perhaps because Li Wangxian had asked so many questions and seemed to be a newcomer, the young cultivator specifically reminded him that, if he had brought any spirit medicines, he should exchange them for Healing Sacred Medicine at the Medicine King Hall. Their prices were fair, and their sacred medicine was the most effective, working wonders on injuries caused by lightning.

Li Wangxian thanked him sincerely. He was planning to venture into the Ninefold Thunder Prison, so this information was quite useful. After all, ordinary spirit medicines certainly could not match medicines specifically refined to heal particular injuries.

"Huh, come to think of it, Little Brother Li, you also just arrived today, and you look thirteen or fourteen. You sound a lot like that Holy Son everyone's talking about!"

At that moment, the middle-aged cultivator with "a friend" noticed what they had overlooked.

"Now that you mention it, he really does! He's even wearing the same white robes." The young cultivator paused, then quickly looked Li Wangxian over.

"That's right. Thirteen or fourteen, very handsome, with a distinctive air about him. It really is you, Your Holiness!"

The young cultivator was extremely excited. After hearing that someone had dealt with the Good Person Bandits, he had carefully questioned a cultivator who knew the details. Now, the more he looked at Li Wangxian, the more closely he matched that description.

Li Wangxian felt helpless. The passersby in this world really were terrifying. He had acted just once, and they had already exposed him. Fortunately, he had altered his appearance and was merely using an alternate identity, so it did not matter.

Once Li Wangxian admitted it, the young cultivator, Luo Yang, became very excited. He thanked Li Wangxian on the spot for helping him vent his anger.

Then he expressed his great regret that Li Wangxian had not brought the Good Person Bandits to Thunder City to be imprisoned.

After that, the middle-aged cultivator, Peng Tao, shared another piece of news that made Li Wangxian want to rush out immediately and capture the bearded man and his companions again.

There was actually a bounty of five thousand jin of source on them. He had truly missed out on a windfall!

Li Wangxian felt a pang of heartache, but none of it showed on his face. His composure made the others inwardly marvel. As expected of a Holy Son from a great sect, his resources ran deep. He had missed out on five thousand jin of source without showing the slightest regret.

Since things had already come to this, Li Wangxian dispensed with formalities and questioned them closely about every detail of the Ninefold Thunder Prison.

The others were perceptive and immediately realized that Li Wangxian intended to head straight outside the city to temper himself, rather than train and acclimate using the Heavenly Thunder Platforms within it.

This led them to suspect that the Holy Son simply thought nothing of the thunder power drawn down by the city's Heavenly Thunder Platforms and intended to enter the Ninefold Thunder Domain directly for brutal training.

That was more or less the truth. Li Wangxian did indeed think that way. From his observations, the lightning drawn down by this low-grade Heavenly Thunder Platform could do nothing to temper his golden body, while using a higher-grade one would attract too much attention and did not suit him.

After learning of his plans, Luo Yang enthusiastically led him to the Medicine King Hall to exchange for Healing Sacred Medicine, telling him all sorts of rumors he had heard along the way.

Finally, as Li Wangxian was leaving the city, Luo Yang stammered out a request: could he hold on to the thousand-year-old deer antler velvet for him? In a few days, he would bring two thousand-year-old spirit medicines to exchange for it.

Li Wangxian smiled and nodded in agreement.