Chapter 4: Breakthrough
On a steep cliffside, surrounded by nothing but a barren land of black dirt, a handsome youth in white had his torso exposed, while his pants were riddled with holes. The handsome youth was sitting cross-legged in a lotus position, as thunder had struck his body.
Rather than turning into ashes right then and there, the youth instead devoured the Heavenly Thunder, making it into his own. Within his body, a small wisp of Thunder Qi grew in size, however, it was not enough to fully comprehend the Concept of Thunder.
Even while he himself understands it, his body didn't match with the talents of his mind, making him unable to 'comprehend' it. Fortunately for him, the thunderclouds didn't seem like they would be going anywhere for a while.
An hour later, the youth had completely integrated the thunder into his body. With just a tiny push, he would be able to fully understand the Concept of Thunder. Without allowing him any time to rest, the third round of Heavenly Thunder erupted.
Three bolts of thunder struck him at once, giving him no chances to recover. The thunder struck his body, even while being tempered from the earlier rounds, he still felt immense pain from the thunder. While his body was getting stronger, so was the thunder.
It was not only increasing in quantity, but also quality. Even the two bolts previously, didn't even compare to a single one of the three bolts that just struck. While the youth's expression didn't change, beads of sweat dripped from his forehead, while his hair was sticking up.
As thunder was being devoured inside his body, the next round of thunder was preparing itself. It was as if the Heavens were saying, "If this doesn't kill you, the next one will, let's see how long you can preserve."
Within the youth's body, Heavenly Thunder flowed throughout all one hundred amd eight meridians in perfect unison, as though it were blood rather than thunder. The thunder was progressing smoothly without any setbacks, while his flesh and internal organs were being strengthened from within.
The thunder streams then were devoured by his Divine Rune, as a thunderbolt took form within the Divine Rune. Similar to the Concept of Ice, which was a stream of cold air, the Concept of Thunder was a single bolt of thunder.
With this, Yan Lenglei had fully comprehended the Concept of Thunder. Not only that, the thunder was exceptional, being greater than ordinary thunder by many times. This obviously meant that his combat prowess was also much stronger than it would be, if he had comprehended using regular thunder.
By comprehending the Concept of Thunder, Yan Lenglei would gain some immunity to all thunder at the same time. Only powerful kinds of thunder could harm him.
It took him six hours to devour the three bolts of thunder. The Heavens didn't let up, as four bolts struck out at once.
Bang!
Four purple bolts of thunder struck his body, causing him unimaginable pain. His immunity to thunder reduced the pain by a small margin. Fortunately, it didn't diminish the source of the Heavenly Thunder, allowing him to immerse himself with it.
As six hours went by, Yan Lenglei's internal organs, and his outer flesh were strengthened by a large margin. If one were to look carefully, they might be able to see a slither of glossiness coming from his flesh.
Rumble! Rumble!
The rumbling of thunder didn't end there. Five bolts of purple Heavenly Thunder erupted all at once, each bolt was stronger than the four bolts from the previous round combined.
The might contained in each one was extremely terrifying, it was hard to imagine how one could survive under the onslaught of the Heavens. However, Yan Lenglei prepared himself without any expression.
As lightning struck his head, a purple bolt of thunder formed above his head, clashing against the Heavenly Thunder. This purple bolt of thunder, of course came from his own Qi. Yan Lenglei used his own Thunder Qi to clash and devour the Heavenly Thunder in the skies above.
As the two similar energies clashed, it was an obvious outcome for the Heavenly Thunder to come out on top. A pure dark purple ray of heavenly thunder struck against a weaker source of thunder, directly smashing it to bits, while striking the human below.
Pfft!
Yan Lenglei spat out a mouthful of blood as he was struck. Even with his strengthened flesh and immunity, it didn't prove much in the face of the Heavenly Thunder. As thunder coursed through his meridians, he could feel his meridians being extremely close to rupturing.
If they did so, his body would explode, and he would perish. As the pain coursed throughout him, Yan Lenglei spat out two more mouthfuls of blood, while resisting and slowly developing the Heavenly Thunder within his body.
As a few hours had gone by, the Heavenly Thunder was slowly calming down. The dark thunder clouds above dispersed, heading off in different directions.
Within his body, Yan Lenglei's Divine Rune shook. A golden stream of energy was released, spreading around his one hundred and eight meridians, and everywhere within his body. The golden energy repaired his damaged meridians, and restrained the Heavenly Thunder that had yet to be devoured.
Within a matter of moments, his meridians were all repaired and even stronger than before. A hint of gold could also be seen in his meridians. As for the Heavenly Thunder, it had all been devoured completely by his Divine Rune.
A qualitative change was seen throughout him. His cultivation base made a breakthrough to the Fourth stage of the Awakening realm in both Qi and Body Refining, further boosting his current prowess.
Opening his eyes, a powerful current of thunder exploded from within his body. Without much effort, a strong wave of thunder was unleashed into his surroundings, pulverizing nearby boulders.
Standing up, Yan Lenglei changed into a spare set of clothes and left. It had been over a day since he had been cultivating on the cliff, his parents would have worried about him, since he didn't leave a message.
Of course, they trusted him, since he always left without a word for a few days before returning without a sound. While they were worried, they had gotten used to it over the years.
*******
Awhoo!
A Demonic Beast of just over two meters in height dropped to the ground lifeless. Under its belly, was a single cut made by a sword. The cut was clean, killing the Demonic Beast without any bleeding.
Only a slight crispy spell of overcooked meat could be smelled from the sword stroke. A transparent purple sword floated in the air above the Demonic Beast, slowly rotating in the air.
A single stroke of the sword had slain the Demonic Beast of the High Tier Grade One. If a single strike could do this, then it was possible to kill even a Grade Two Demonic Beast with such domineering power.
The purple sword was emitting a powerful thunder aura from it. One would feel as though they were being cut, just by having their gaze set upon the exceedingly sharp sword.
As a youth in white stepped forward, the powerful sword flew towards the youth at a breathtaking speed. But rather than harming him, the sword seemed like a child waiting for its father.
The transparent sword stayed above the youth's head, as it slowly disappeared and returned to the body of the youth. The youth was Yan Lenglei, after mastering the Concept of Thunder, he went to the Blackcloud Forest to slay some Demonic Beasts.
Everywhere he went, a Demonic Beast would be beheaded with a single sword strike. Whether in groups or individually, a single stroke was all that was needed. Every step he took, a Demonic Beast would fall.
When he sat down to cultivate, no Demonic Beast dared to step foot even a kilometer away from him. His slaughter of their brethren, as well as the terrifying pressure that he emitted from his very being scared them off.
Boom!
Not too far away, a black fist landed upon the body of multiple Demonic Beasts. Each of them were large, and possessed great strength. A handsome youth in black, sent them to their impending doom them a single punch.
The youth in black stepped forward, lifting them over his small body. Despite his size, the youth was born with divine strength that didn't lose out to a Demonic Beast and could even surpass them.
His strength was further enhanced by his cultivation technique, bringing his titan strength to a whole other level. Lifting such Demonic Beasts over his head was an easy task, all he had to do was leave them in a pile to bring back later on.
Sitting down, he found a place near Yan Lenglei, and started cultivating himself. The youth who was Mo Jidong, recited the contents of the Body Refining technique given to him by his blood parents.
His entire body was instantly consumed in unimaginable pain. It was like his very soul was being grinded into fine dust, while his flesh was torn to shreds by the sharp fangs of Demonic Beasts and burned inside a furnace with Heavenly Fire.
Mo Jidong gritted his teeth, without uttering a sound. Beads of sweat dripped down his forehead, as he rolled around in pain. He was no longer sitting down, instead, his knees were dug into the ground as he shivered from the pain.
His entire body was red like lava, while a horrifying storm of black demonic energy leaked from his body, consuming him. Every bone in his body, down to the marrow was creaking, as though they were being eaten and repaired constantly.
His muscles and tendons spasmed, while loud sounds from bones cracking continuously could be heard. His hands dug straight into the ground, creating a huge spider web-like hole, while his head was bent down, hiding his face.
Mo Jidong's Body Refining technique was terrifying. In exchange for great strength that matched his horrifying inborn talents, the pain that came along with it was millions of times more than others.
Even Yan Lenglei's crazy cultivation that involved being struck by Heavenly Thunder, paled greatly to Mo Jidong's pain. It was unimaginable, for another to under how much pain he was suffering from.
The more he would cultivate, and the stronger he became, the greater the pain he would suffer from his cultivation. If others were to see the pain he was going through, they would feel sick by watching.
Opening his eyes, Yan Lenglei sensed Mo Jidong not far away. He could see his brother who he had grown up with since childhood, suffering from the endless torturous pain. Even as he watched, he clenched his fists hard, while his expression changed slightly.
Even Yan Lenglei who was known to be expressionless with a paralyzed ice face, showed a reaction watching his best friend cultivate with such pain. As a Body Refiner himself who held a technique that was much stronger than the typical Body Refining technique, he knew just how painful it was.
Watching Mo Jidong, he knew that the pain they received was as great as comparing Heaven and Earth, or the world and space. It was extremely vast.
Mo Jidong was rolling from the pain. Even after a while, the pain didn't lessen and only slowly increased the longer he cultivated. Yan Lenglei calmed down and cultivated, slowly making progress in both Qi Refining and Body Refining.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone