Five Thunder Token

Guangzhou was already scorching in May.

Scattered white clouds drifted across the sky, unable to block the sunlight pouring straight down. Filtering through dappled tree shadows, it turned into flecks of golden light that still dazzled the eyes.

Gu Zhao walked out of the job fair in the school gymnasium. The air conditioning's effect instantly vanished, leaving him feeling stifled by the heat.

"How'd it go?" A voice suddenly sounded beside him.

"Not well." Gu Zhao recognized the speaker and shook his head. "It was either sales or customer service."

Zhang Hang looked slightly surprised. "Not a single company hiring programmers?"

"There were." Gu Zhao nodded, then curled his lip. "But they only wanted graduate students."

"Pfft, hahahaha!" Zhang Hang burst out laughing, then threw an arm around Gu Zhao's shoulders. "Why are you even looking for a job? Programmers all work 996. Wouldn't it be better to go home and take over your dad's business?"

Gu Zhao was speechless. "My dad is still in the prime of life. He doesn't need me taking over yet."

"Then be a rent collector!" Zhang Hang said with a sly grin. "Have fun for a few years first, then take over!"

Gu Zhao shot Zhang Hang a sidelong look. "Can't you have a little ambition?"

"I've got plenty of ambition, okay?" Zhang Hang said with perfect confidence.

Zhang Hang counted on his fingers as he laid it out for Gu Zhao. "I'm not good at studying, and I can't find any great job. I'd earn three or four thousand a month in hard-earned money, and it might not even cover the doctor's bills after I worked myself sick.

If I don't work, I can spend my time having morning tea, playing games, watching streams, working out, and exercising. I'd be healthy, happy, and maybe I could even find a girlfriend."

Zhang Hang looked at Gu Zhao. "Tell me, isn't that way more worthwhile than working?"

Gu Zhao felt his teeth ache. "When you own lots of property, you get to make the rules!"

Gu Zhao and Zhang Hang had been classmates since middle school. They lived close to each other and got along well enough, so they had quickly become friends.

Both their families ran factories and businesses. But over the past few years, Gu Zhao's family business had progressed steadily, while Zhang Hang's family business had leaped forward by bounds and bounds. As a result, they had accumulated more properties in Guangzhou.

"I say you should stop looking for work too. Let's make videos together—check out shops around Guangzhou. Once we get popular, we can take ads. We can have fun and make money!" Zhang Hang urged Gu Zhao.

"I'm not making shop-review videos." Gu Zhao snorted. "Taking money and saying things against my conscience would damage my Dao heart."

Zhang Hang was speechless. "What era is this? You're still cultivating some Dao heart? Don't monks and Taoist priests these days run martial arts schools and wellness centers to make money too?"

Zhang Hang pulled out his phone, opened Doukuai, and brought up Gu Zhao's account. "Look at the videos you post. The BGM and backgrounds are kind of fresh, but what the hell are you even talking about?"

Gu Zhao glanced at Zhang Hang's phone screen and said calmly, "The Three Lights True Qi Cultivation Method and Tiangang Talismans."

Zhang Hang said, "..."

"What the hell use are those?" Zhang Hang complained. "Are you selling cinnabar and Yellow Talismans on Doukuai or something?"

Gu Zhao couldn't be bothered with him and headed straight toward the school gate. "Anyway, I'm not taking ads. Grandpa taught me that if you want to stay healthy and live a long life, your heart and spirit need to flow smoothly."

"There isn't even the first stroke of the character yet, and you're already talking about it. Get popular first. With just over three hundred followers, you can't get ads anyway!"

Zhang Hang caught up to Gu Zhao and continued offering ideas. "If you want more followers, you should make skits."

"What kind of skits?" Gu Zhao asked as he walked.

Zhang Hang smiled. "How about a hero saving a beauty? Didn't you learn from your grandpa? You fight pretty well too."

"What an ancient, clichéd skit!" Gu Zhao scoffed. "Who watches that stuff now? What people watch now is me going to save a beauty, only to run into a honey trap that demands I pay up."

"Film exactly that. It'll definitely blow up!" Zhang Hang gave him a thumbs-up. "You play the unlucky kung fu master, and I'll play the guy who scams you together with the beauty."

"Why, thank you so much!" Gu Zhao said helplessly.

"Huh?" Only then did Zhang Hang realize Gu Zhao was not heading to the school cafeteria, but toward the school gate. "You're not going to keep handing out résumés this afternoon?"

"The competition is killing me. Why submit anything? I'm sleeping this afternoon!" Gu Zhao declared decisively.

After having lunch with Zhang Hang, Gu Zhao entered a residential complex not far from the school and returned home.

His parents had bought this apartment when he got into university, giving him somewhere to stay besides the school dormitory. He had rarely used it before, only moving in this year during his internship and while he shut himself away to write his thesis.

Then Gu Zhao got used to living there. He had moved almost everything from his dorm over, with only his graduation certificate left to collect from school.

He tossed his backpack onto the sofa, changed into casual home clothes, then went to the balcony. Sitting facing the sun, he habitually meditated and practiced qi cultivation.

Everything Gu Zhao knew had been taught to him by his grandpa.

According to Grandpa, their lineage had its own inheritance, but it had long since lost contact with the orthodox Taoist tradition and survived only among the common people. What he had learned counted as traditional culture, and it would be a terrible pity if it were lost.

In Gu Zhao's father's generation, campaigns against feudal superstition coincided with economic reform. His father had no interest in cultivation or martial arts, abandoned them early, and threw himself into business, where he achieved some success.

By Gu Zhao's generation, living standards had improved, the nation had gradually grown stronger, national confidence had risen, and the internet had added its own push. All of that sparked Gu Zhao's interest in these things.

So, under Grandpa's guidance, he began learning them and practiced for more than ten full years.

Even though Grandpa had now passed away, Gu Zhao had already formed the habit.

He sat cross-legged, formed the Monkey Seal with his fingers, half-closed his eyes, cultivated the spirit within his heart, and breathed in and out with long, unbroken breaths.

Bathed in warm sunlight, Gu Zhao imagined the sun's true qi pouring into his body, circulating within him, and transforming into his own power.

After breathing for about fifteen minutes, Gu Zhao finished his practice and opened his eyes, checking his condition.

Mm... no changes.

Of course there were no changes!

He simply felt clear-headed and sharp-eyed, his breathing flowed smoothly, and he was much more alert. The morning's irritation had been swept away.

Gu Zhao stretched, preparing to stand.

Just then, he suddenly felt a burning heat in his chest.

Startled, Gu Zhao hurriedly pulled out the wooden token hanging around his neck.

It was a piece of Lightning-Struck Jujube Wood half the size of his palm, black showing through its red surface. The front was carved with a deity's image and symbols he could not understand. The back bore a talisman enclosing the words "Five Thunders."

Gu Zhao called it the Five Thunder Token.

Grandpa had passed it down to him. Supposedly, it was the token of their lineage. Legend said that their founding master had received teachings from an immortal in a dream. When he opened his eyes, a bolt of lightning had struck out of a clear sky and hit a jujube tree next door. Finding it strange, the master investigated and discovered this within it.

Gu Zhao had worn the token for years. It was not as though he had never stood beneath the sun before, so when had it ever become this hot?

Staring at the Five Thunder Token in his hand, Gu Zhao suddenly felt it trembling in wave after wave.

"What's going on? It moved on its own!"

Gu Zhao was stunned. His mind went blank for a moment as he sensed an aura swirling around the token, accompanied by wave after wave of suction.

Gu Zhao instinctively brought the token closer and focused his mind to feel it.

The next moment, his vision went black, and his entire body vanished from the balcony, leaving behind only a faintly fading cry of, "What the—"

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