Chapter 166
Now, he was practicing the fourth layer of the "Five Thunder Body Technique"—Blood Exchange.
This was the final layer before the Heavenly Thunder Body Refinement.
It was also his last preparation before entering the Thunder Pool.
Within the Xuanlei Stone, the lightning flowed like water, slowly entering his body, seeping into his skin, penetrating his muscles, and finally drilling into his bones, stirring up a tempest in his marrow.
Excruciating pain!
Zheng Fa had endured a lot of hardships in his childhood.
He had fought with boys in the fields.
He had been cut by sickles and hoes.
He had even had near-death experiences—
But never had he felt such intense pain!
Perhaps it was because there were many nerves in the marrow, making the suffering all the more pronounced. He curled up, lying on the bed, his forehead drenched with beads of sweat that fell with each tremor.
This was not his first time experiencing this sensation; each time before, he thought he had grown accustomed to it.
Yet every time, he felt a despair akin to standing on the edge of an abyss.
In his hand, he gripped a half jade pendant tightly, as if he might crush it at any moment.
...
Just two or three zhang away from Master Pang's grand hall, the sounds of shouting and commotion drifted into Zheng Fa's ears.
"Master! Don't charge in!"
"Help me, help me!" This was Master Pang's voice: "Who can give me a blood-stopping talisman?"
"Master, surrender! You're surrounded by our people!"
"…"
Zheng Fa shook his head.
It seemed Master Pang was once again leading his disciples in a game.
He never expected that the number one gaming addict of Jiushan Sect, well, in his old age, would be Master Pang.
From what Zheng Fa knew, Master Pang had come to the Thunder Pool this time specifically to get a lot of "Great Dao Contest for Immortals" talisman formations from the sect leader.
However, Master Pang didn't bully others while gaming.
He always sealed his own consciousness and spiritual power, playing at the Qi Refinement stage with his disciples.
He never cursed when he lost.
His temper was quite good.
But there was one issue—he was too reckless.
Zheng Fa now strongly suspected that his master’s "Rescue Little Cultivator Pang Qian" script was based on a true story.
Thinking about Master Pang's teachings to him—
Zheng Fa always felt that Master Pang was searching for the boy he once was in the game…
Setting aside these scattered thoughts, Zheng Fa gently knocked on the hall door.
"Come in!"
As soon as Zheng Fa entered, Master Pang waved his hand, and the illusion of the "Great Dao Contest for Immortals" in the hall immediately dissipated.
Several senior brothers exchanged glances, seemingly smirking.
Was this… a case of not being able to handle losing?
"Ahem." Seeing Zheng Fa's knowing look, Master Pang cleared his throat and said, "What do you need from me?"
"Master, I would like to ask for some information about the Thunder Pool."
"You plan to enter the Thunder Pool? Have you reached the fourth layer of the 'Five Thunder Body Technique'?"
Master Pang paused, slowly sitting up, his expression serious.
"Yes!"
"…" Master Pang stared at him for a long moment, silent, as if deep in thought.
"Master?"
"Your master spoke to me before he came." Master Pang suddenly shifted the topic: "He said that your biggest challenge in reaching the fourth layer of the 'Five Thunder Body Technique' isn't resources… it's endurance."
"…"
"He said that after each blood exchange, he had to wait ten days to half a month before attempting the next one."
As Master Pang spoke, the senior brothers in the hall all turned their gazes toward Zheng Fa.
Their expressions varied.
"He told me it was too painful, too torturous, each time feeling like he was being flayed alive from the inside out." Master Pang shook his head: "So, even though he had plenty of Xuanlei Stones, it took him a full six months to cultivate the fourth layer of the 'Five Thunder Body Technique'..."
"And you… you completed it in half a month. Why the rush?"
Zheng Fa lowered his head and replied, "Although Senior Sister Zhang is now safe, she has been missing for a while, and her situation is likely not good."
Master Pang fell silent again.
"…Zhang, my disciple, has not misjudged you." Master Pang shook his head, waving his hand as several jade tubes flew toward Zheng Fa: "This contains information about the Thunder Pool from the market, as well as some experiences from our Jiushan Sect disciples. Take it."
Zheng Fa accepted the jade tubes, cupping his hands in gratitude to Master Pang before turning to leave the grand hall.
Watching him walk away slowly, Master Pang's gaze drifted far, lost in thought.
"Master, are we still playing?"
Seeing him silent for so long, a disciple beside him asked quietly.
"Play, play, play! All you know is how to play!" Unexpectedly, Master Pang exploded: "Look at Zheng Fa, working so hard on his cultivation, why do you all just want to play?"
"…"
"For the sake of Senior Sister Zhang, he endures the heart-wrenching pain, pushing himself to cultivate. What about you? If I were to go missing, could you all do the same?"
"…We would go through fire and water for you…"
The disciples all chimed in.
"Get lost! Do I not know you all?"
Master Pang snorted, waving his hand forward, and the disciples were promptly sent out of the hall.
When he looked up again, the hall doors were tightly shut.
The disciples exchanged glances, not daring to speak, and left together.
Once they were far away, one disciple finally voiced his confusion:
"Isn't 'Great Dao Contest for Immortals' a game set up by Master? We can't not play!"
"Master is jealous of Senior Sister Zhang."
One disciple's comment made several others nod in agreement.
"True, we can't compare to Zheng Fa." One disciple said, feeling a bit dejected.
"If we can't compare to Zheng Fa, then can Master compare to Senior Sister Zhang?"
"Ah?"
This remark caused others to question.
No matter how impressive Senior Sister Zhang was, their master was a Yuanying True Person.
"Just think, if Senior Sister Zhang had our master's face, would Zheng Fa be so eager to rescue her?"
"…"
"Would you?"
"…Even though he is our master, Senior Sister Zhang hasn't had the best relationship with us in the past…" One senior brother spoke up: "But that doesn't mean we should disrespect Senior Sister Zhang."
(End of this chapter)
Chapter 166: Behind the Scenes
Zheng Fa walked through the market, making his final purchases before entering the Thunder Pool.
The information in the jade tubes Master Pang had given him was very detailed, with some phrases even reflecting Master Pang's own tone—indicating that he hadn’t just been idly playing games, but had actually been to the Thunder Pool.
According to Master Pang, the Thunder Pool was a place where the laws of heaven and earth had mutated—
In other words, the Thunder Pool operated under different rules than other areas of the Xuanwei Realm.
From the information in the jade tubes, the three biggest differences were:
First, the power of thunder techniques was greatly enhanced, while the power of non-thunder techniques was significantly weakened. Master Pang speculated in the jade tube that he had observed with his Dongxu Spirit Eye that the spiritual energy attributes near the Thunder Pool were different from those in other places, likely due to the Thunder Dao Heavenly Stele.
On the other hand, using thunder techniques was also more dangerous; among talismans, thunder talismans were the most unstable, and this instability was even more pronounced in the Thunder Pool.
One careless move could summon heavenly lightning that would obliterate you.
Lastly, the most troublesome aspect was that the environment was particularly hostile to consciousness.
The jade tube stated that once a consciousness above the Foundation Establishment stage was exposed in the Thunder Pool, it would attract a thunder tribulation—acting like a human-shaped lightning rod.
Similarly, since spiritual power contains consciousness, overly strong spiritual power would also face retribution.
This led to significant restrictions on high-level cultivators in the Thunder Pool.
Master Pang summarized in the jade tube:
"While cultivators above the Golden Core stage are certainly limited in the Thunder Pool, those below the Foundation Establishment stage are actually at greater risk… From my observations, those who can survive for long in the Thunder Pool must be individuals who conceal their brilliance and act low-key."
Zheng Fa partially agreed with Master Pang's words—
In a situation where consciousness was restricted, the likelihood of being ambushed increased significantly, so there would definitely be those attempting to use this environment to eliminate their enemies.
On the other hand, the Thunder Pool was like a fire extinguisher; whoever was arrogant would be extinguished.
He only wanted to use the Thunder Pool to refine his body, so keeping a low profile was indeed the way to go.
Zheng Fa first bought many essential elixirs:
Ning Yuan Dan, which was for condensing the Yuan talisman.
Bi Gu Dan, which he rarely consumed before, but there was no spiritual grain in the Thunder Pool, so he had to make do.
And then there were the Zeng Qi Pills, a Qi Refinement stage elixir—its effect was quite singular, providing spiritual energy and increasing cultivation.
In this era, buying Zeng Qi Pills for cultivation was quite a luxury.
This elixir wasn’t expensive; three pills could be bought for one spirit stone… Well, that was a bit pricey.
But Zheng Fa was considered a wealthy disciple among those in the Qi Refinement stage. Over the past few months, he had income from selling talismans with Han Qi and the others, as well as a share from a drama production, plus his salary from the market management.
Even after deducting the costs of cultivation, he had accumulated over a hundred spirit stones.
However, using Zeng Qi Pills for cultivation meant he would need one a day, which added up to ten spirit stones a month.
Zheng Fa bought a month's worth, feeling quite pained by the expense.
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