Chapter Eighty-One: Tenuous Connection

  A thunderbolt like a heavy hammer crashed down on him.

  His mind was booming, the heavy thunder power raging violently inside his body, as if it would shatter him to pieces. Ji Changkong's knees suddenly went soft and he knelt down on the ground, the yuan force in his body fluctuating abnormally, the three heavenly thunder fields at his chest seeming like ignited gunpowder, exploding open all at once.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  A strange noise came from his chest, and the heavenly thunderbolt struck him. The thunder power suddenly surged into the three thunder fields in his body. He was like a toad inhaling air, and his chest swelled up violently. His originally thin body became as fat as a big bear.

  Boom!

  Another thunderbolt fell directly on his back, and the surging thunder power seemed to have found an outlet, all rushing into the three heavenly thunders in his chest.

  Excruciating pain immediately spread throughout his body, and he, kneeling on the ground, could not withstand such a great power, was struck down by this heavenly thunderbolt and couldn't get up at all.

  Darkness flashed with lightning like a dragon snake, and thunderbolts fell one after another, among which more than half of the thunderbolts struck him directly.

  He fell to the ground with a thud and could no longer bear it, soon fainting away.

  Splash!

  A torrential downpour came pouring down, with fierce winds howling, the raindrops like broken beads, and the earth was a vast expanse of gray.

  "Hmm"

  She let out a loud cry, and Ji Changkong slowly came to, only to feel his entire body aching with weakness. The three Heavenly Thunderfields in his chest swirled around, gathering the threads of thunder power, which slowly condensed into a liquid-like state, stored within the three Heavenly Thunderfields in his chest.

  So many thunderbolts struck him, his whole body was charred black, and his hair stood on end.

  He tried to move his limbs, although they were heavy and numb, but he still managed to stand up with difficulty. As soon as he thought about it, the thick yuan force in his body flowed unimpeded, seemingly unaffected by the heavenly thunderbolt's impact.

  A torrential downpour poured over him, he raised his head to look at the sky, with a puzzled face, not understanding why the thunder and lightning were targeting him specifically.

  How outrageous!

  He muttered to himself, and slowly dispersed the yuan force in his body into his sore arms, waist, and abdomen. Wherever the yuan force passed through, the skin that had been struck by lightning seemed to have been nourished by a spiritual medicine, and the numbness and pain slowly dissipated.

  He wiped his rain-soaked eyelids and furrowed his brow in deep thought as he continued on his journey through the storm.

  Rumble!

  At the slightest movement of his mind, the heavenly thunder's power was stirred up. From the three heavenly thunder fields, a loud rumbling sound of exploding thunder suddenly transmitted out. Three strands of mixed thunder force and yuan force swiftly flowed into his arm veins, and with one punch, a violent explosion sounded out. A tree as thick as a man's waist in front of him suddenly exploded and shattered, with black smoke rising up.

  "Thunderous! Real Thunderous!"

  Disregarding her rain-soaked clothes, Ji Changkong stared at the charred tree trunk in front of her with a look of astonishment on her face, and suddenly let out a strange cry.

  Tianlei Jin must be accompanied by the power of Tianlei, and one must cultivate to the realm of Sì Xiàng Tiān. One must communicate with the Holy Beast Qinglong, and through the Holy Beast Qinglong, which can manipulate the nine heavenly thunders, one can then cultivate Tianlei Jin to perfection.

  However, he has not yet reached the realm of the Four Symbols Heaven, nor has he communicated with the Holy Beast Qinglong. For some unknown reason, he was struck by a thunderbolt and his three heavenly tribulations have already been imbued with the power of thunder. What's going on?

  He furrowed his brow in deep thought, but unfortunately no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't come up with a reason.

  The storm raged on throughout the night, only subsiding at dawn the next day. Ji Changkong, drenched from head to toe, trudged along the muddy mountain path with a steady pace.

  He was submerged in the small success of Tianlei's power, and all the way, he continuously punched out Tianlei's power. Every strike had some of Tianlei's power attached to it, which made him ecstatic and even more relentless in his cultivation of the three Tianlei fields filled with thunderous energy within his body.

  Three days later.

  In a clear and transparent pool of water, Ji Changkong washed his whole body clean, took out a clean green shirt from the mustard seed bag to change into, and refreshed and revitalized, he started practicing the Heavenly Thunder Technique again beside the pool.

  One punch was thrown out, and the fierce fist strength hummed loudly. The yuan force burst forth from his hand, and several fist shadows condensed by the yuan force flew out one after another.

  Unfortunately, the mighty thunder has vanished into thin air.

  "Huh?"

  With a cry of surprise, Ji Changkong was somewhat urgent and hastily operated the three heavenly thunderfields in his body, only to be disappointed to find that there was no longer any lightning power fluctuations within the three heavenly thunderfields.

  It's all gone, not even a bit of strength is left.

  What's going on? Can't the power of thunder infused by heavenly thunder continue to be generated and has been exhausted in these two years?

  With a puzzled face, he carefully checked again and dared to confirm that although the three Thunder Fields could still fly freely at will, they had indeed lost their thunder power. The joy of several days turned out to be just an empty happiness, unable to enter the realm of Sì Xiàng Tiān, after all, borrowing natural thunder power couldn't last long. Ji Changkong was filled with disappointment.

  Waaah! Waaaahhhh!

  At this moment, a mournful cry came from the ring, and the finger throbbed with pain. Fresh blood flowed out of the small hole in the ring again.

  Ten dark elves emerged from a hole the size of a grain of rice, greedily sucking the fresh blood of Ji Changkong.

  It only took a short while, and the ten black ghost insects had sucked the fresh blood in the handcuffs dry. They flew out of the handcuffs together excitedly, flying around Ji Changkong happily.

  In the dimness, Ji Changkong vaguely sensed his own divine soul, which seemed to have a faint connection with the ten Wugui insects.

  This feeling was extremely strange, as if there were ten invisible threads connecting him to the ten Wugui insects, and he could even sense their emotions.

  Ten black beetles flew around him happily for a while, and then, as before, they all crawled back into his fingers.

  Ten black ghost insects entered his fingers, and he felt a strange sensation in his heart again. The black ghost insects trembled slightly in his fingers, their life fluctuations extremely clear, tightly attached to the skin under his fingers. He suddenly had an illusion that his blood was connected to that of the black ghost insects.

  What a strange thing! He muttered to himself and didn't think much of it. After determining the direction, he continued towards Gaoyang City.

  Ten days later, Ji Changkong passed through many small towns and big cities, climbed over several mountains and rivers, and finally arrived at Gao Yang City.

  The population of Gaoyang City exceeds one million, and the merchants and travelers passing through every day are endless. Merchants and travelers going to Da Chu State and Tianwu State must pass through Gaoyang City, making it very lively.

  In front of the city gate, the soldiers of the high-walled city strictly checked every person entering the city. On the top of the tens of meters high city wall, many notices were posted, including wanted notices for various thieves and some recent military and political news from the State of Water Cloud.

  The soldiers who checked the people coming and going from the Western Regions were especially strict before entering or leaving the city, with an attitude that was somewhat vicious, using foul language and scolding.

  Without rushing to enter the city of Gao Yang, he listened carefully outside the city and learned from the low curses of the soldiers in front of the city that the black shadow that appeared on the Lingbao Pavilion included evil people from the Western Regions' Manichaeism. These soldiers received orders to strictly inspect every face coming in and out of the Western Regions, especially those with fluctuations in their yuan force, regardless of whether they were innocent or guilty, they would be taken down first before anything else.

  A large number of troops were stationed there, and many Western Heaven's scholars who came and went were forcibly detained and imprisoned in the Great Prison of Gaoyang City for further interrogation.

  After listening for a while, Ji Changkong walked towards the city gate. The soldiers at the gate saw that he was from Zhongtu and relatively young, so they casually asked him a few questions. Seeing that Ji Changkong answered fluently, they didn't intentionally make things difficult for him and let him enter the city.

  "What a waste of money! I don't even know who this kid is, and yet he's worth 10,000 high-quality yuan? Tsk tsk, the Du family really has deep pockets. They're willing to spend such a huge sum on some nobody!"

  As soon as he entered the city and sat down in a restaurant, he heard two heavenly guards whispering to each other nearby.

  "You're really ignorant, aren't you?! Ji Changkong is a young master from the Ji family of Qingyan City. Some time ago, in Yunmeng Daze, he was riding on the Tianyi Dragon's back, dominating the place! After the Lingbao Conference, it's said that not only did he snatch Du Shaofeng's stuff, but he even took down Du Shaofeng himself when he tried to chase him. He's really something!"

  "Du Shaofeng? That arrogant little brat from the Du family? Haha, no wonder Old Lady Du went crazy, that kid is her precious darling! Ten thousand top-grade yuan stones, heh heh, hopefully we're lucky and can run into Ji Changkong that little brat."

  "He can kill Du Shaofeng, you're not his opponent, don't sacrifice your life for Yuan Shi. Du Shaofeng is a Five Elements Heaven Master, we only have the Four Symbols Heaven realm, even if we encounter Ji Changkong, it's likely to be a fatal encounter, so don't harbor any illusions."

  "Damn, these days, there are more and more formidable young people! The younger generation is rising so quickly, it's simply not letting us old folks get by. We don't have a powerful family backing us up, nor do we have a sect to rely on. With just the Tian Shi Secret Manual, I don't know when we'll be able to cultivate to a high level..."

  Although the two of them were whispering in low voices, Ji Changkong, with his keen hearing, could still hear every word clearly.

  As expected, Old Lady Du really went crazy and actually spent a sky-high price of 10,000 top-grade yuan stones for me. It seems she really thinks highly of me, thought to herself. Ji Changkong casually ordered a few small dishes, hung his head low and ate silently, somewhat worried that the Ji family would be affected by this.

  Grandfather and his people are in Qingyan City, will they receive the news late? Will they be targeted by the Du family? The Du family is a family of Tianwu Country, dare they do whatever they want in Shuiyun Country? A string of questions flashed through his mind, his heart was in a mess, and he was at a loss.

  Duan's family, Duan's family is in Gao Yang City, you can find Duan Haoshan and ask him to help inform some of the Ji family. The Duan family has many ears and eyes, using flying eagle communication, it seems that they also do some business on the intelligence side, as long as you find Duan Haoshan and ask him for help, it should not be a problem. After thinking quickly, Ji Changkong suddenly thought of an idea.

  He hastily finished the plate of beef in front of him, tossed down a few pieces of silver that ordinary people used, and stood up, walking straight out of the restaurant.

  The Duan family has estates in various places in the State of Shuiyun, but the real old mansion of the Duan family is still in Gaoyang City.

  The Duan family had a good reputation in Gaoyang City, and after asking around, Ji Changkong soon learned the location of the Duan residence. At noon, he arrived directly at the humble and unassuming gate of the Duan estate.