Chapter 132: Chapter 21: Thunder Technique

The thought process was over in an instant.

Wang Ping first had to consider his own safety, which wasn’t a major issue. Then there was the matter of his karmic ties to Liu Chang. The Water Race of Lishui Prefecture were basically homebodies, so there likely wouldn’t be any major problems.

Having figured things out, Wang Ping immediately formed the hand seals for his Magic Formulas, activating the Spirit Gathering Array on his right wrist. He then grabbed a handful of seeds from his storage pouch and scattered them. The next moment, a sky full of seeds, guided by Wang Ping’s will, followed the flow of Spiritual Qi and descended upon the river channel below at extreme speed.

A few breaths later, a dense forest sprouted from thin air along the river channel and its banks, five to six zhang away from Liu Chang. The flowing Wood Spirit Qi within the forest, in accordance with the Five Elements Rules, immediately absorbed most of the Water Spirit Qi.

For Liu Chang, it was as if a great weight had suddenly been lifted from his body. He instantly regained a good deal of his spirit. Just then, the Thunder Tribulation brewing in the sky came crashing down. At the same time, Liu Chang prepared for one last struggle, leaping toward the river mouth under the clear, vast sky.

The instant the Thunder Tribulation descended, Wang Ping severed his connection to the forest below. Almost at that very moment, the tribulation lightning struck. Most of it was drawn to the tall trees, with only a small portion landing on Liu Chang.

But Liu Chang was still struck down, falling vertically into the river. The mouth of the river was now less than two zhang away, but even the rushing current couldn’t move his body, as the frenzied Water Spirit Qi pinned him firmly in place.

In the sky, the Thunder Tribulation continued to brew. For this final stretch of his journey through the water, it seemed the tribulation would persist until the one undergoing it either perished, body and soul, or successfully passed the final trial!

"ROAR—"

Liu Chang let out a low, furious roar, accompanied by the crash of the Thunder Tribulation. As the lightning fell, he once again burned the few Spirit Veins remaining in his body, repelling the Spiritual Threads coiling around him and leaping out of the water once more.

"SPLURT!"

This time, the Thunder Tribulation struck the tail of Liu Chang’s enormous body, but the greater part of him had already passed the river mouth.

A splash of crimson blood spread through the water. At the critical moment, Liu Chang had actually used Sword Control to sever his own tail. The sight of the blood-stained sea next to the brilliant, surrounding rainbow created a strangely eerie feeling, yet it was also somehow beautiful to look at.

...

「Sanhe Temple.」

Thousands of disciples were busy clearing the floodwater from inside and outside the various buildings. In the front hall, a line of patients was waiting to see a doctor.

Outside the mountain gate, a constant stream of people came and went: wealthy households, common folk, and even an official’s sedan chair. Farther off in the fields, old farmers could be seen everywhere, busy dredging irrigation ditches or checking to see if their crops had been damaged.

"The losses this time are quite heavy!"

At the peak of a mountain, Guangxuan remarked with a sigh to Wang Ping, who was observing the sea of mortal suffering below.

Wang Ping didn’t answer. He turned his gaze to the distant horizon, where the identity projections of the Lishui Prefecture cultivators from the Daoist Scripture Hall were clearly visible.

A dozen or so breaths later, two figures landed steadily beside them.

"Greetings to you both, Fellow Daoists!"

The beautiful woman’s face was filled with gratitude. Wang Ping and Guangxuan hadn’t guessed wrong; she was indeed Liu Chang’s mother. Her maiden family was the Yang Clan of Hedong Prefecture. A hundred years ago, she had married her current husband, the eighth son of the Dragon Monarch, named Yang Shu. The names of the Dragon Race were quite arbitrary, without any particular fixed surnames; most were just given on a whim by the Dragon Monarch when he was pleased.

After the four exchanged pleasantries, Guangxuan asked, "How is Liu Chang?"

"It’s all thanks to Fellow Daoist Changqing’s timely rescue. Otherwise..."

A lingering fear was visible in Yang Shu’s eyes. He then let out a breath and said, "He is severely injured, but his life is not in danger. He should make a full recovery after resting for eight to ten years."

After replying, he turned to look at the disastrous state of Sanhe Prefecture and cupped his fists. "My son will slowly repay the losses Sanhe Prefecture has suffered. For the next hundred years, he will remain in Sanhe Prefecture and ensure a century of favorable weather."

"Fellow Daoist, you are most righteous!"

"There is no righteousness in it. One must atone for the karma one creates."

Shaking his head, Yang Shu patted the storage pouch at his waist, took out a Bronze Token, and handed it to Wang Ping. "My Dao Field is on Kunyun Island. If you ever run into trouble in the future, Fellow Daoist, please feel free to come find me." After speaking, he cupped his fists. "My wife and I should not linger here. We shall take our leave!"

"Take care, Fellow Daoist..."

Wang Ping put away the Token, cupped his fists, and bid farewell to Yang Shu and his wife.

The couple wasn’t overly ceremonious. After saying their goodbyes, they transformed into two streaks of light and sped away toward the eastern horizon.

When they were completely out of sight, Wang Ping weighed the Token in his hand and said, "This wasn’t a total loss, then."

"Mm!"

Guangxuan nodded.

This time, by helping Liu Chang, not only had he deepened his friendship with Xia Yao, but he had also received Yang Shu’s promise and gained a powerful contracted worker.

...

「Back at Qianmu Temple.」

The first thing Wang Ping did was take out the ’Nine Heavens True Thunder’ he had obtained and begin studying it...

And he truly had to study it, as the contents were incredibly vast. The ritual altar for casting the spell alone involved a wealth of knowledge concerning runes, Magical Artifacts, and Spirit Gathering.

After thoroughly researching everything about the casting altar, he still had to practice the routes the Spiritual Qi would travel across the Array while casting. He had to reach a point where he could do it with his eyes closed without making a single mistake.

"The Array Runes actually have to be drawn with gold sand? Is this Thunder Technique pay-to-win or something?"

Wang Ping couldn’t help but complain after reading the introductory section on runes. He then took out a brush and paper to calculate the expenses. Before long, he came to a conclusion: just using a Spiritual Object as the Array Core would cost at least thirty thousand taels of silver.

If he used Celestial and Earthly Treasures, the cost would be over one million taels of silver!

Thunder-attribute Celestial and Earthly Treasures had always been expensive.

"Are you researching a Thunder Technique?" Yu Lian had been watching for a while and had finally figured out what Wang Ping was writing on the paper.

"Yes!"

"So you were telling the truth when you said you gained some insights from watching the Thunder Tribulation?"

"Did you think I was bluffing?"

"..."

Time is relentless. In the blink of an eye, it was winter again. Just before the Spring Festival, Wang Ping finally managed to cobble together his first altar Array.

Just as he was preparing to go test it out, his Dao Field received two special guests: his two younger brothers. Both were already fifty years of age, an age that for mortals was near the end of a lifetime.

But for the path of cultivation, it was merely the beginning.

It was the first time the two had ever met Wang Ping. They had been filled with anxiety the entire journey, but for the continuation of their family, they had no choice but to come. When they saw Wang Ping’s youthful face, their fear outweighed their envy.

And Wang Ping, looking at their wrinkled faces, sighed at the frailty of mortals in this world.

The three brothers talked for an entire afternoon. The next day, Yang Hou brought more than ten of the Wang Family’s younger generation to Wang Ping’s Dao Field. To Wang Ping’s surprise, he discovered a boy with middle-to-lower-grade bone structure.

It was the young grandson of Wang Ping’s third brother, named Wang Li.

As was his custom, Wang Ping entrusted him to Liu Shuang for training. In truth, Liu Shuang didn’t need to train him herself; she had two apprentices and a junior brother she could order around.

After taking care of this unavoidable matter, Wang Ping took the Thunder Technique’s casting altar to the deserted island where he practiced his Magic. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

The Primordial Spirit of Tongyu Taoist watched Wang Ping meticulously arranging the Magical Artifacts and setting up the altar, and asked doubtfully, "Kid, do you really know how to set up a Thunder Law Altar?"

"Of course!"

As Wang Ping replied, he slapped the storage pouch at his waist and took out a refined Array Rune Map, spreading it over the altar. He then placed a piece of Thunder Gold in the area of the Array Core. Thunder Gold was a Spiritual Object formed on high mountains that were perennially wreathed in lightning.

"It actually looks the part. The principle behind a Thunder Law Altar is actually quite simple: you use Spiritual Objects and an Array to simulate a simple lightning field, inducing a resonance with the thunder laws of heaven and earth. But this is a secret technique of the Yuqing Sect that is never taught to outsiders. How did you obtain it?" Tongyu Taoist asked.

Wang Ping was also very surprised. The strategy panel that had suddenly popped up this time... it was as if it had used the Thunder Tribulation to pierce through time and space, connect to the Yuqing Sect’s True Thunder Secret Technique, and read it.