Zirong’s gaze sharpened, shooting toward Luo Bigfoot like a volley of arrows.
Luo Bigfoot appeared entirely unaware that he had kicked down their door. He swaggered to the bedside, shoved Zirong aside and slapped Xu Ziyan on the shoulder. “Stupid disciple, how did the first bolt of tribulation lightning feel?”
Xu Ziyan’s face darkened. Zirong’s expression turned ugly too.
Their master had a remarkable talent for raising exactly the subject they least wanted to discuss. Both brothers were still upset about what had happened, yet here he was bringing it up again.
“What? Don’t tell me you couldn’t even withstand the first bolt?” Luo Bigfoot asked, apparently astonished.
Seeing no sign that the surprise was feigned, Xu Ziyan felt a little uncertain. Was the array really not so difficult? Had he simply missed some essential technique?
“Big Brother was unconscious in the cultivation chamber for three days,” Zirong said coldly, looking at Luo Bigfoot as though demanding an explanation.
“Three days? Not bad. That’s a respectable result for a first attempt.” Luo Bigfoot rubbed the new stubble on his chin and nodded thoughtfully.
Zirong nearly exploded. Unconscious for three days was respectable? If the first bolt had left his brother like that, would further bolts reduce him to ashes?
Although Zirong had been a demonic cultivator in his previous life, he had not killed very many people, apart from wiping out the Xu family and those who had coveted his beauty and tried to harm him. Even so, his own Golden Core tribulation had nearly cost him half his life. If he had not prepared thoroughly and chosen a secluded place, even surviving the lightning might have left him vulnerable to those self-proclaimed righteous cultivators.
Heavenly tribulation lightning was not something an ordinary person could endure. The array merely imitated it, but its power was still formidable. Had Luo Bigfoot sent his brother to his death?
Zirong’s gaze turned murderous. Luo Bigfoot was certain the brat would attack and try to kill him on the spot if he possessed enough strength.
But… Why is teasing this disciple so satisfying? Compared with his obedient apprentices, the sense of achievement from tormenting this rebellious one was extraordinary.
Watching Zirong seethe without being able to fight back made Luo Bigfoot feel invigorated. He could almost imagine the bottleneck at late Nascent Soul loosening a little.
Deliberately ignoring Zirong’s glare, Luo Bigfoot looked approvingly at Xu Ziyan. “Excellent. You’ve got potential. A senior brother of mine once tried to use this very Lightning Tribulation Array when practicing Thunder Storage. He had it far worse than you. He was unconscious for nearly half a year!”
Xu Ziyan stared at him without expression. Master, was that supposed to be praise? Because I suddenly want to hit you.
Apparently realizing he had said something questionable, Luo Bigfoot hurriedly laughed it off. “Haha! It’s not that your master was irresponsible. My senior brother was rather ambitious. He was only at the fifth level of Qi Refining when he first tried the array. I thought you were already at Great Perfection, so surely you wouldn’t suffer that badly!”
Xu Ziyan was speechless. An array designed for Meridian Condensation cultivators, challenged by someone at the fifth level of Qi Refining? Had that senior brother been in his right mind?
Luo Bigfoot ignored Xu Ziyan’s doubts. Instead, he questioned him closely about exactly how the lightning had struck, then performed some calculations.
Actually, Luo Bigfoot was not an irresponsible teacher. Thunder Storage was an obscure Flowing Light Sect technique with tremendous power, but it placed exceptionally high demands on the body. Had Xu Ziyan not possessed a lightning spiritual root and a robust physique, Luo Bigfoot would never have recommended it.
The technique could also become a deadly trump card. Xu Ziyan’s lightning arrows were normally formed from his own spiritual power. If he mastered Thunder Storage to a high level, he could shape the divine lightning stored inside him into lightning arrows instead.
The destructive power of ordinary spiritual power and divine lightning was incomparable. An enemy accustomed to Xu Ziyan’s normal lightning arrows would be caught off guard by ones formed from divine lightning. Luo Bigfoot even believed such an attack could badly injure a cultivator one stage above Xu Ziyan.
Combining Xu Ziyan’s account with his own deductions, Luo Bigfoot soon devised a specialized method for enduring tribulation lightning.
Used properly, this method could allow someone at Qi Refining to withstand the array’s lightning. But only a person with Xu Ziyan’s lightning spiritual root could accomplish it.
In other words, Luo Bigfoot had developed it specifically for Xu Ziyan. It would not work for anybody else.
Though Zirong was deeply dissatisfied with their master, he did not interrupt their discussion.
After his initial indignation faded, he became engrossed in the explanation himself.
In his previous life, the Blood Demon had possessed Nascent Soul cultivation but could not begin to match Dao Lord Luo Yun’s breadth of experience. As Luo Bigfoot explained the method, Zirong benefited enormously.
The more he listened, the more astonished he became. Luo Bigfoot explained complicated matters with striking clarity, making them easy to understand. Even Zirong learned a great deal.
Just who is this Luo Bigfoot…?
Doubt appeared in Zirong’s eyes, and his wariness deepened.
From the moment Luo Bigfoot invented a personalized ‘art of getting struck by lightning’ for Xu Ziyan, the latter’s miserable cultivation career began.
Enter the Lightning Tribulation Array, get struck, pass out, wake up, recover, then get struck again. Repeating this cycle, he was delighted to discover that the time he spent unconscious after each bolt grew shorter and shorter.
Seventeen days later, he finally managed to remain conscious through the first bolt. After celebrating wildly, he resumed the same exhausting routine.
Zirong’s heart ached to see his brother suffer daily, but he knew strength was indispensable in this world.
So he silently took care of everything for Xu Ziyan, assuming all the tasks Luo Bigfoot assigned. For Zirong, cultivation was mainly a matter of accumulating spiritual power. With memories of his previous life, he faced no bottlenecks. Once his cultivation was sufficient, he could break through whenever he wished.
After half a year of several close calls, Xu Ziyan finally succeeded in… stealing a thread of Azure Firmament Divine Lightning. _(：з」∠)_
Looking at the azure streak winding like a tiny dragon across his palm, Xu Ziyan almost wanted to burst into tears.
Who could possibly understand what it’s like to be struck by lightning every single day?!
Now whenever it rained and thundered, he practically wanted to charge into the lightning himself.
“Good. You got it in half a year. Very good indeed,” Luo Bigfoot said, approvingly watching the lightning move obediently among Xu Ziyan’s fingers.
His original plan had involved considerable risk, but the benefits of Thunder Storage extended far beyond this first thread of divine lightning. As Xu Ziyan’s cultivation advanced, tempering his lightning spiritual root through the art would gradually make it purer. There was even a slight chance he might one day devour the lightning of his ascension tribulation.
That possibility was vanishingly small, of course. His increasing bodily resistance to heavenly tribulations, however, was a concrete benefit.
Perhaps Xu Ziyan understood the technique’s extraordinary potential. He had worked so diligently that he mastered its first level in only half a year, with Azure Firmament Divine Lightning as his very first absorbed lightning. His foundation could hardly have been stronger.
While Xu Ziyan spent half a year mastering that thread, Zirong thoughtfully repaid the sect contribution points his brother had owed, by completing all manner of chores.
Xu Ziyan felt guilty about that for a long time. Zirong reassured him that the work had served as training, led to another moment of enlightenment, and raised his cultivation to Great Perfection of Qi Refining.
Both brothers now met the requirements for Foundation Establishment and could apply to the sect for Foundation Establishment Pills, but Luo Bigfoot did not approve of them taking the pills.
In his view, both were exceptionally gifted. Why should something as minor as Foundation Establishment obstruct them? Rather than taking pills, they should attempt the breakthrough using their opportunity to enter Qilin Tower. Succeeding without Foundation Establishment Pills would give them even greater future potential.
Naturally, the brothers welcomed the suggestion.
Zirong could have reached Foundation Establishment long before, had he not feared attracting attention. Xu Ziyan wanted to test himself too. If he failed, he could still take a Foundation Establishment Pill later. He would regret not even trying.
Qilin Tower stood on a subsidiary peak of the Flowing Light Sect. The mountain’s old name had been forgotten, and because of the tower it was now called Qilin Peak.
Qilin Peak was not particularly high. The brothers reached its summit quickly, where a square paved with bluestone stood around a wooden pagoda of only seven stories.
The tower was modest in height, yet radiated awe-inspiring majesty. Even from a distance, it seemed to carry an aura from ancient times.
That aura was vast and overwhelming. Xu Ziyan began to tremble without realizing it, and fear appeared in his eyes.
According to legend, Qilin Tower had been built using the bones and blood of a deceased divine beast, a qilin. Though the creature had been dead for countless years, its lingering presence was still so intense that Xu Ziyan felt profound reverence.
Zirong was similarly shaken. He had encountered many high-level cultivators in his previous life, yet none had inspired the kind of awe he felt before Qilin Tower.
And the tower was only an inanimate object. What terrifying power the living divine beast must once have possessed!