Chapter 130: Narrowly Escaping Death

“Guess who will win in the end?”

“It is still hard to say for now, but the Asura Manor should have the greater advantage.”

“Not necessarily. The Puppet Sect dared to challenge the Asura Manor head-on, which clearly means that their strength is no weaker than the Manor’s.”

“True. If they had no confidence, how would they dare to throw everything into the fight and send thirty thousand people at once?”

“Indeed. Thirty thousand men, forty cultivators at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage, and two thousand more at the various other levels of Nascent Soul. What an astonishing display of power.”

“Even an ordinary top-tier second-rate sect might not be able to produce such strength all at once, would it?!”

“Who could say otherwise? The battle has only just begun, yet it is already this brutal. If they put an old man like me into the fray, I reckon I would have nothing but the fate of cannon fodder.”

“You should be content. At least you have entered the Nascent Soul stage. As for your little brother here, I have been stuck at the peak of the Golden Core stage for over forty years.”

……

Whether they were distant spectators watching the battle or the countless forces across the various regions that had not come in person but were constantly monitoring reports from their scouts, everyone was discussing the matter animatedly, speculating or sighing over the developments.

Some affiliated forces connected by ties of dependence to the two great powers had also begun solemnly gathering their people and making preparations for war.

They knew all too well that if the clash between the two great powers escalated any further, it was highly likely that forces such as theirs would be dragged directly into it and compelled to take part.

In the cultivation world, relying on someone stronger while one was still weak was an exceedingly common phenomenon.

Once a weaker force established such a dependent relationship with a stronger one, it could certainly enjoy the latter’s powerful protection. But whenever a great war truly broke out, it also had to be ready at any moment to become the stronger party’s pawn—or its cannon fodder.

Thus, all those dependent forces forced to prepare for battle sincerely hoped that the conflict between the two great powers would end at its present scale. They prayed that it would not escalate any further.

Aside from the people of these affiliated forces, countless young cultivators across the entire continent had also been affected in ways they could hardly perceive.

Several great sects in the other regions happened to be holding grand disciple tournaments, yet these competitions had coincided with the battle between the two great powers and had consequently been overshadowed.

This left the participating disciples from the other regions feeling rather aggrieved. As geniuses, they should have been dazzling beneath the attention of the entire world, yet far fewer people were admiring them than they had imagined.

Therefore, whenever most of them thought of the name Gu Changqing, champion of the Southern Region’s tournament, their hearts would ache faintly, and they would instinctively come to resent the entirely innocent Gu Changqing.

There was nothing to be done about it. In this age of great contention, every young genius was brimming with ambition. Whoever they were, they all wished to distinguish themselves across the continent as soon as possible, while still young, so that they might gain the attention of the higher-ups in their own forces and obtain a greater share of cultivation resources, laying a solid foundation for the future.

Of course, there were also a few who placed their faith solely in themselves and looked down somewhat on such external things.

In their eyes, as long as they were outstanding enough, why would they need to struggle or compete for anything? It was completely unnecessary.

……

At the junction where the southeastern regions met the Boundary Sea—

The enormous black thundercloud continued to hurl bolts of lightning furiously into the Boundary Sea, while the sea itself resisted with waves that surged heavenward.

In the distance, three figures still sat cross-legged in silence, waiting anxiously.

They had not the slightest interest in the battle between the powerful sects of the central and southern regions. At present, all three had focused their attention on the thunderclouds. Why would they have any time to care whether those two domineering forces lived or died?

Within the thunderclouds, a charred body whose original form could no longer be discerned—and which held not the slightest trace of life—was slowly drifting toward the center. It moved at a speed so slow that it would never attract the thundercloud’s attention, yet it was drawing closer and closer.

No one knew whether Gu Xiaopang had awakened from a deep sleep or had just died once and returned from the dead. In the sea of his soul, within his spiritual platform, a spark of soul-fire threaded with electricity suddenly struggled out of annihilation.

The aura emanating from that soul-fire was astonishingly identical to that within the thundercloud.

One hour passed, then two…

Within the lifeless, charred body, the crystallized spiritual powers of every element were all dim and colorless, with the sole exception of the furnace formed from the power of thunder and lightning, quietly suspended above the dantian.

The furnace, which had originally been utterly still, began to rotate slowly as time passed. Its speed visibly accelerated, growing faster and faster.

The countless violet-gold crystals that had already filled more than half the furnace rapidly melted into its walls, which had been merely platinum in color. The furnace gradually changed hue until its entire body shimmered with radiant violet-gold light.

The feeble spark of soul-fire controlled the furnace lid as it opened, swallowing the multicolored crystals formed from the other elemental spiritual powers in a single gulp. The lid instantly slammed shut.

From that moment onward, all the powers of metal, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, and space vanished completely from the body, as though they had never existed. Only the orderly flow of thunder and lightning remained.

After that silent operation, the spark of soul-fire began to grow rapidly.

Before long—after only a few dozen breaths—the soul-fire had once again condensed into a miniature Gu Xiaopang. This was the complete form of his spiritual body.

The spiritual body, with lightning coursing throughout it, no longer felt the slightest pain.

Instead, as it drew closer and closer to the center of the thundercloud, he increasingly felt as though his entire soul were immersed in nourishing fluid, rapidly replenished and strengthened.

By the time his spiritual body, following the corpse, truly drifted into the center of the thundercloud, the small lake of his soul—which had originally been more than fifty meters across—had become a larger lake over a hundred meters in diameter.

The vortex of spiritual power above the soul lake had also resumed its normal rotation, and its scale had grown more than twice as large as before.

“You little brat, you finally woke up.”

“Master, does that mean I have technically died once?”

“More or less. To be honest, I was genuinely worried that you would overdo things and end up getting yourself killed for real.”

“Hmph! You old bastard, so you do know how to worry and be afraid!”

“If anything this dangerous happens again, don’t trouble yourself to goad me into it. Even if you beat me to death, I won’t take such a risk again.”

“Oh? Calling yourself ‘this lord’ now? Looks like you really are fine.”

“As the elders say, listen to your master! Feel the changes in yourself. This is what they mean by surviving a great calamity and receiving great fortune afterward, and by seeking wealth amid danger.”

“Hmph! I would rather go without this fortune and this wealth!”

“But seeing as I have indeed improved by the tiniest little bit, a magnanimous man like me will temporarily forgive you, you vicious old bastard.”

After grumbling for a while, Gu Xiaopang’s spiritual body, having narrowly escaped death, had sealed away all five senses. Yet he could still use the thumb and forefinger of his right hand to pinch the air and vividly gesture toward something minuscule—just a tiny little bit.

This experience had truly frightened him. Even if someone beat him to death, he would never willingly go through it again.

As for Old Man Qin, he had indeed been deeply worried during these past few days, terrified that this disciple upon whom he had placed all his hopes had really perished.

Low-level spiritual bodies feared the violet-gold lightning immensely, but to Old Man Qin, an Imperial Pole Venerable, the thundercloud was no more than a mild itch.

Throughout those ten-odd days, Old Man Qin had kept his entire attention fixed on the changes in Gu Xiaopang’s sea of consciousness. He had protected and guided him, controlling the charred body as it slowly drifted toward the center of the thundercloud.

……

“Brat, it is time to get down to business.”

“All right.”

Gu Xiaopang immediately released his soul force, spreading it through every part of the charred body. Within the lightning furnace, he drew upon the power of wood and began guiding it to repair the ruined flesh and meridians throughout his body.

At that moment, there was not a single intact patch of flesh on the outside of Gu Xiaopang’s body. Inside, it was like a torn sack, riddled with cracks.

Since it was his own body, Gu Xiaopang proceeded with extreme care, repairing it bit by bit, slowly and methodically, leaving no hidden trouble behind.

Thirty breaths passed, then forty…

After roughly the time it took to drink two cups of tea, countless cracks appeared across the surface of Gu Xiaopang’s charred body amid a series of crisp snapping sounds. Thick gray scabs fell away in pieces, revealing newly formed flesh. His skin was smooth as milk and oil, even more delicate than a young maiden’s fair complexion.

Before long, every gray scab had fallen away. Gu Xiaopang swiftly put on a blue robe over his completely naked body.

Once he rose, Gu Xiaopang carefully sensed his condition. He had already withdrawn all the spiritual powers of the other elements. Now, only the power of thunder and lightning remained within him, and even that was violet-gold lightning identical in aura to the thundercloud’s, coursing freely throughout his body.

Unlike before, when he had been utterly incompatible with the thundercloud, Gu Xiaopang now walked through it as though a wanderer who had finally returned home. Wherever there were thunderclouds, there was his home.

He seemed like a divine king of lightning in human form. Along the way, countless violet-gold bolts of lightning danced and leaped joyfully beside him.

The lightning was extraordinarily dense in the very center of the thundercloud. Whenever batches of violet-gold lightning were sent out to bombard the Boundary Sea, fresh batches would be born and replenish them at the same time.

“Brat, enter the innermost lightning pool.”

“All right.”

Gu Xiaopang did not speed up. He continued strolling at an unhurried pace, walking normally toward the lightning pool at the very center.

Not every thundercloud could form a lightning pool, and every thundercloud capable of forming one was a forbidden ground for cultivators.

Take the thunderstorms that often appeared above the various regions of the continent. Their thunderclouds could cover a considerable area, with bolts of lightning splitting the sky and earth, yet cultivators could still cross the layers of thunderclouds in midair.

The thunderclouds above the Boundary Sea were different. They appeared at random locations over the sea, as though they bore a grudge against it. It was nothing unusual for dense bolts of lightning to strike down furiously for months or even years.

The lightning pool before Gu Xiaopang was several hundred meters in diameter. Within it, the liquid lightning resembled milky-white raw jade, suffused with violet-gold radiance, yet clear enough to see through.

“Go in and sink directly to the bottom of the pool. There are several thunder souls inside.”

“You do not need to hurry out now. Cultivate here and break through to the Golden Core stage.”

“All right. I really cannot suppress it any longer. It is time to break through.”

As countless violet-gold currents of electricity began flowing inside and outside his body, Gu Xiaopang lifted one foot and stepped into the pool, sinking freely toward the bottom as though in free fall.

He casually touched the largest thunder soul, then closed his eyes and began cultivating in a cross-legged position.

The enormous thundercloud, which had previously been filled with hostility and had struck him as though intent on killing him, did not hinder him in the slightest after Gu Xiaopang awakened and returned.

Holding the thunder soul in both hands, he felt streams of incomparably pure lightning surge into his body.

At the same time, the lightning furnace within Gu Xiaopang began spinning rapidly. It continued accelerating until it flung out layer after layer of illusory furnace images.

His entire body was transformed into a world where lightning furnaces existed everywhere.

……