Lin Xiao’s gaze locked onto the youth. His badge bore two stars, his cultivation at Heavenly Martial Seventh Layer.
Stopping before Lin Xiao, the youth glanced back. “What, you got a problem?”
“Believe me, I’ll beat you ‘til you do,” he added smugly.
Lin Xiao blinked, puzzled. “You can fight here?”
“Duh, you think this place is some flimsy shack that’ll collapse? Outside the forbidden zones, the outer court’s fair game—here included!” The youth’s face twisted with mockery. “Scared now? Get lost!”
Lin Xiao stared, pity flickering in his eyes.
“Boom!” Like a lion pouncing, Lin Xiao’s fist roared forth with ferocious might.
“You!” The youth jolted, expecting retreat—not an instant attack. Panicked, he summoned his Seventh Layer vitality, throwing a hasty block.
Bang!
A loud crash echoed. His fist met an iron wall, numbing as a savage force slammed into him. He flew back, smashing against the chamber’s outer wall, blood spewing from his mouth.
“Sorry, this chamber’s mine!” Lin Xiao glanced down, then strode inside, slamming the iron door shut with a resounding “thud.”
“You’ll regret this!” the youth roared, humiliated beyond measure.
Lin Xiao ignored him completely.
Inside, he checked the door—sealed tight, likely to block interruptions. No one could barge in now.
“Let’s see what makes this Thunder Qi Tower special,” he murmured, eyeing the pillar’s slot. With a deep breath, he placed thirty Thunder Beads inside.
“Chi! Chi!”
The beads melted like snow in sunlight, dissolving into streams of lightning energy that flowed into the pillar.
“Boom! Chi!”
Moments later, a thick, thunder-laced mist surged from the pillar, flooding the sealed chamber.
The dense, cloudy thunder qi enveloped Lin Xiao in a blink, crackling against his skin.
“Chi! Chi!” His body jolted as faint lightning coursed through him, trembling from the shock.
“This is thunder qi training? Feels like I’m being struck by lightning!” Lin Xiao grimaced. The sensation was brutal.
But he knew power came with pain. Thunder qi, used as vitality, tempered the body, forging it stronger.
Guiding it through his meridians to his dantian would refine his cultivation further.
Though pervasive, the lightning was mild—within his tolerance.
Shengyuan’s method was unique, sustained by a constant lightning source.
Lin Xiao figured it tied to the Nine Heavens Thunder Dragon Energy.
Enduring the sting, he felt his flesh swell. After a while, the lightning seeped deeper.
He painstakingly channeled the wild, scattered thunder qi, directing it where needed—especially his dantian.
In the Yuan Martial realm, vitality filled the dantian. In玄武, it liquefied, absorbing more. Heavenly Martial solidified it, compressing it further to hold even greater reserves.
To reach Martial King, the dantian’s solid vitality had to be refined into a pure, gall-like core.
Thunder qi was perfect for that.
Lin Xiao funneled it into his dantian, tempering it relentlessly. Passing through his body first, it also hardened his flesh.
Cautiously, he let it seep into his organs—fragile spots that, once strengthened, boosted resilience.
Overall, thunder qi outstripped vitality’s benefits.
He trained for three days, the array’s thunder qi nearly spent.
“Almost there!”
Gritting his teeth, he drew the last wisps into his dantian, hammering it after three days of refinement.
“Chi!”
A surge erupted from his dantian.
His cultivation broke from Heavenly Martial Sixth Layer to Seventh Layer!
“Finally!” Feeling the surging power, Lin Xiao exhaled in relief. The array’s thunder qi had nearly fallen short, but he’d clinched the breakthrough at the last second.
The tower’s benefits stunned him—three days to jump a layer, with a rock-solid foundation. His strength had spiked, his body brimming with explosive force.
Resting briefly to stabilize, he eyed the pillar, resolve firming. “One hundred five Thunder Beads left—three more activations. Next, I’ll master Great Azure Dragon Slash.”
The pain was grueling—few could endure back-to-back sessions. Most left after one, returning later once acclimated.
Only Lin Xiao, with his iron will and post-breakthrough need to train techniques, would push on. Freshly advanced, further gains would stall for now.
After studying Great Azure Dragon Slash, he triggered the array again.
