Chapter 260: Chapter 20: Analyze Haphazardly, Then Give Up

[Holy crap, he really is the Thunder God!]

[He’s not just the Sea King, he’s the Flash too?!]

[If we’re really stretching for an explanation, the way he flies is also a bit like a certain reporter from Metropolis!]

[Su Zhou: I’m half the Justice League all by myself!]

[So where’s Batman? |･ω･`)]

[Thanks for the invite. I was on the scene, just got out of my hospital bed. After the electrotherapy, I feel refreshed and my hands don’t even shake when I type. From now on, I’m a ❤Zhou-Zhou❤ fan ❤(✪ω✪)]

[Is the guy above okay? I heard there’s some kind of Heart Demon Disease in the south... !!!∑(ﾟДﾟノ)ノ]

The entire Zhengguo internet was in an uproar. The camera Su Zhou had been carrying captured his entire battle against the Shepherd of Spirits, including the moment he unleashed dozens of consecutive lightning strikes.

In reality, the initial video wasn’t clear. In fact, it was extremely blurry due to strong electromagnetic interference.

But in addition to the original video, the Zhengguo government also used expedited technical restoration and CG reconstruction to create a second, much smoother version of the fight. This version was released right after the original and was now playing on all major video sites.

This was basically the world’s first video of two Extraordinary Tier Transcendents fighting each other, and it immediately sparked countless discussions and analyses from netizens.

[My god, that Shepherd of Spirits can actually use Spiritualization to dodge an artillery barrage? I thought he’d been blown to smithereens!]

[He’s a Transcendent, after all. It’s only natural for him to have a Bottom Card. In fact, I’d be disappointed if Transcendents *couldn’t* deal with conventional artillery.]

[What’s the use? Spiritualization can’t dodge lightning strikes. It hits you whether you’re physical or ethereal!]

[Ethereal Form: Takes 40% increased Magic damage.]

[BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM, the thunder is gonna make me deaf!]

[Isn’t that way too far? Does the attack range of an Extraordinary Tier just jump to several kilometers? Wouldn’t the next level up be over-the-horizon strikes? Can Cultivation really give you this much power?]

In the year since the Spiritual Energy Revival, quite a few videos of Awakening Tier Transcendents fighting had already surfaced. With some post-production special effects, they looked incredibly cool, like two supreme beings clashing and grinding the Great Dao itself into dust.

But everyone could tell that the strongest output from an Awakening Tier clash was really no more than a mortar or an RPG... Of course, you couldn’t just dismiss the latter. To an ordinary person, that was already terrifyingly powerful—enough to demolish a house with ease. Compared to normal people, they could already be considered mini-supermen.

However, this hadn’t exceeded most people’s imaginations... How should I put it? It hadn’t completely surpassed ’reality’ to reach the realm of the ’Extraordinary’.

As for Su Zhou’s combat video, although it had no special effects added, the utterly silent momentum that screamed, ’I’m going to strike you with lightning until you’re dead today,’ and the arcs of electricity spreading around his body like a magnetic storm’s corona, were all the more terrifying and awe-inspiring.

Clouds, thunderbolts, and the high heavens... what could be closer to people’s fantasies of the Extraordinary, what could better ignite their desire for Cultivation? This was especially true when they learned that Su Zhou had only been cultivating for a mere year. Although his Talent was admittedly exceptional and not a fair comparison, the young people with decent talent and the potential to reach the Extraordinary Tier all felt their hearts fill with longing.

"Isn’t this a bad idea?" This was the doubt of some Cultivators in the government who were in charge of this matter. "If we publicly broadcast the combat video and someone analyzes Professor Su’s weaknesses from it, wouldn’t that be terrible?"

Even ordinary Cultivators who didn’t need to fight much knew that a battle between two Transcendents was fundamentally a contest of mutual understanding and guessing each other’s bottom cards. Otherwise, one would have to pay the price of injury, or even heavy wounds, to ’learn’ the opponent’s hidden moves.

Thus, even though all the major global organizations knew that promoting a powerful Transcendent was beneficial for national stability and for advertising Spiritual Qi Cultivation, none had yet made such a decision. The more that was known about the promoted target, the easier it was for others to defeat them. If a hard-won banner were to fall so easily, it would be better not to have raised it in the first place.

In other words, they weren’t in a rush. It was for this very reason that the many long-established Transcendents around the world, after advancing to the Extraordinary Tier, did not seize this opportunity to make a name for themselves.

After all, not everyone was Su Zhou, a brand-new Extraordinary Tier existence. For him, displaying his power to announce his presence was better than hiding his bottom cards for deterrence.

However, this Cultivator’s rather rational analysis received a rather blunt reply.

"Analysis? Our entire think tank analyzed it for five hours and came up with nothing. What are *they* going to analyze?"

A certain staff officer, who had been working so much overtime recently that he’d lost a few hairs, replied irritably, "Professor Su’s combat process, from start to finish, was just ’unleash lightning, unleash lightning, unleash lightning.’ He’d take a breath, gather his power, then unleash five consecutive bolts... The entire time, he was just discharging electricity inside a thundercloud. He did nothing but hurl lightning from several kilometers away.

"Analyze what weakness? That you shouldn’t fight a Dragon Blood Thunder Technique Cultivator who has Thunder Control during a thunderstorm? Or that you should challenge him on a clear, sunny day? Or maybe that you should wear an insulated suit or something... Does that even need analysis? Even an elementary school kid knows not to walk with an umbrella across an open field during a thunderstorm! That’s not a weakness at all!"

"It’s all just useless talk!" he asserted.

"Uh..." The Cultivator was so taken aback he couldn’t even refute it for a moment... On second thought, it really did seem to be the case!

Everyone knew that Professor Su was powerful, very good at discharging electricity, and could even unleash dozens of lightning strikes in one go, but could you really analyze any weaknesses from that?

That scene where he started his bombardment from several kilometers away was especially hard to analyze for anything other than a sense of bone-chilling terror. This was evident from the countless comments online. Most people were just saying things like ’Holy shit, awesome!’, ’So handsome!’, ’So cool!’, and ’I want one too!’... As for the professional analysts, they were just as clueless as the shitposting netizens. No matter how they analyzed it, they were completely baffled, could only make wild guesses, and eventually gave up.

"I see, I get it now!"

Although it wasn’t clear what he now understood, his expression was clearly one of enlightenment, earning a slight nod from the staff officer beside him.

In truth, there was more the staff officer hadn’t said. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

On the surface, the foundation in Thunder Technique that Su Zhou had displayed this time was indeed terrifying. In ancient times, such power to manipulate celestial phenomena would have made him an Immortal who could Call the Wind and Summon the Rain.

After all, the ancient name for the Extraordinary Tier was the Innate Tier. Returning to the Innate state meant becoming a Land Immortal. While it was an exaggeration for Su Zhou to have such might at this stage, it wasn’t completely unheard of.

’But that’s not all. Besides unleashing lightning, he also flies very fast, and his physical strength is extremely high! What’s more, judging from the details of his movements, Professor Su’s close-combat abilities are at the Grandmaster Realm!’

Recalling the truly classified data, the staff officer muttered to himself, ’On the surface, everyone was captivated by the dazzling, extravagant Thunder Light. They all overlooked how exactly Professor Su was flying... That immense Wind Power, if used for defense and offense, could block even anti-materiel sniper rifles or artillery shells, as long as they aren’t armor-piercing rounds.’

’And with the ability to command lightning and gales, moving freely at speeds exceeding one hundred meters per second, his neural reaction speed is so powerful that dodging bullets, or even artillery shells, after seeing them would probably be a piece of cake.’

’During the Holy Ascension Selection Test, he could already lift a twenty-ton barbell with his physical body. Now it seems that wasn’t even his physical limit. Paired with a fighting foundation that is, in theory, by no means poor, he would be a powerful Transcendent with no weaknesses or openings at close, medium, or long range.’

Finally, he came to a conclusion in his heart: ’The government can release the video precisely because it uses his dazzling abilities to conceal the truly noteworthy data. That way, if someone attacks Professor Su with the thought, "All I need to do is get close and launch a sneak attack on a sunny day to win," then the one in danger definitely won’t be Professor Su!’

「Meanwhile.」

"Can you compare to him?"

In the European Union, inside a mountain villa, a giant screen was playing the image of Su Zhou slamming down five dragon-like bolts of Thunder Light in a single breath. A blond-haired young man, hugging a plush doll of a golden, electricity-discharging mouse, lifted his head from the screen of the Ren Hell gaming device in his hands. He glanced at the video, then at his own hand.

Faint golden sparks could be seen crackling between his fingers, emitting a holy light while also revealing a hint of a dangerous aura.

But it was nothing compared to the video. The young man sighed and said with a wry smile, "Give me a break, Grandfather. I can barely even control high-voltage electricity right now. Don’t compare me to a guy who can control thunderclouds, okay?"

"At his rate of progress, if he gets any stronger, he could really become the Thunder God."

"I know you’re no match, you little slacker. I was just asking." The pity in the old voice almost made the blond youth click his tongue. ’You already knew, you old coot, so why even ask?’ he thought, then lowered his head to continue playing his game.

In reality, they both knew the young man wasn’t actually lazy. Cultivation simply required a balance of tension and relaxation; forcing continuous training was basically chronic suicide. He had already reached the power of Awakening Peak in just one year, which was already very, very fast.

But that young man named Su Zhou, who was estimated to be at the Extraordinary High-tier, was completely off the charts and beyond comparison. The blond youth’s grandfather himself had only just reached the Extraordinary Tier.

Similar scenes were unfolding all over the world, shaking the many deeply hidden Extraordinary Clans to their core.

The impact of this press conference and the videos circulating online was far more eye-catching than that of the Holy Ascension Selection Test.

After all, an Extraordinary Level student and an Extraordinary Powerhouse who could skillfully use his abilities to kill a veteran Cultivation powerhouse were two completely different concepts.

"Su Zhou."

In different languages, from different factions, the name was whispered in low voices. It had now fully entered the sights of every Transcendent on the globe, branded with the label ’Extremely Dangerous’.

「At this very moment.」

Su Zhou himself, who had already been labeled ’Extremely Dangerous’ and ’The Living Thunder God’ by the major powers, was rather oblivious to it all.

Having moved backstage to rest by himself, he had unexpectedly received a piece of news.

"Huh? You mean the Shepherd of Spirits was essentially an Evil Demon, so after killing it, I also harvested the aura of a Great Being that can be used on the Celestial God Seal to provide coordinates to an Otherworld?"

Su Zhou’s expression was quite surprised. "I thought a guy like that, who stole a Great Being’s power, wouldn’t be acknowledged by the Great Being at all!"

"Isn’t that obvious?" Yara bit Su Zhou’s ear, took a sip of blood, then sighed in satisfaction. "Even if the Shepherd of Spirits’ actions completely twisted the Silent Lord’s original intent, it was still one of the Celestial God’s Favored Clan—or, in other words, an Evil Demon. Great Beings aren’t that petty. Or, to put it another way, even a twisted faith is still faith."

"What’s that saying again? There are no haters in this world, only fans and twisted fans. As long as it’s an Evil Demon that has gathered Extraordinary elements, it’s guaranteed to have an aura that can be used."