Chapter 1489 - 805: Two Women Cast Thunder Skill (2-in-1)

Chang'an City, Zhang Mansion.

The sun was setting in the west, curfew was approaching, and Chang'an City was gradually quieting down. Now and then someone noticed dark clouds massing over distant Zhongnan Mountain, but took it lightly, merely thinking it was "sunrise in the east, rain in the west." The guest courtyard of Zhang Mansion was all the more tranquil at this hour.

Donggong Ruoshu, in her capacity as a maid, was staying here alone. The room was not large, the furnishings simple: one bed, one table, one chair, plus a small bookshelf.

Spread out on the table were several Taoist classics with yellowing pages, all left by Yin Weiyin before she departed, saying they were for her to "flip through in idle moments, perhaps you may gain something."

Miss Donggong might be a stupid girl, but she wasn't incapable of reading. Her stupidity was just right: if she were a bit smarter, she wouldn't like to read; if she were a bit stupider, she wouldn't be able to understand what she read.

Lying on the bed, Miss Donggong placed the book on her chest, pressing down its lower edge so the pages wouldn't close on their own; when she needed to turn a page, she would slightly lift her shoulders so her chest wrap would tilt up a corner, and after turning the page, press the chest wrap back down… She felt this method was terribly clever, which showed that at heart she actually was quite smart.

The afterglow streamed through the carved window lattice, casting warm orange patches of light onto the floor of the side room, shining broadly over Miss Donggong's body. In that light, when she lowered her head she saw her chest wrap pressing out a round "cake," and she curled her lips…

If it really were a cake, it would be delicious, she'd even want to eat it herself… Unfortunately Miss Donggong had tried; she wasn't yet big enough to bite herself, always just a little bit short.

What she was leafing through at the moment was a fragmentary scroll titled the Five Thunders Core.

The book was not thick, its script hand-copied. In some places the ink had already faded; in others, tiny marginal notes were interspersed—Yin Weiyin's own comments from when she read it. The different hands showed that it had clearly accompanied Yin Weiyin for a long time.

Looking at these, Miss Donggong thought of the look in Yin Weiyin's eyes when she had left the books.

"Read more of these. You might, by analogy, gain some insight. After all, you can't even manage Energy Introduction."

Miss Yin's gaze had been very calm, and her tone equally detached, but Miss Donggong still felt a bit uncomfortable, always sensing a trace of cold mockery in her eyes.

As though seeing her utterly clueless about cultivation methods, unable to figure anything out, gave her a strong sense of superiority, inwardly thinking: indeed, just as expected.

Thinking of this, Donggong Ruoshu furrowed her brows and muttered, "How could Miss Yin mock me? I'm just slower at learning, that's all."

Between the pages were simple diagrams of human meridians, marking the courses and key points of the circulation of Qi. She read extremely slowly, as if every single character had to be chewed several times in her mind.

When she was fully absorbed, she slightly raised her right hand, thumb pressing against the base of her ring finger, the other three fingers alternately bent or extended, trying to form the starting hand seal of the Thunder Attraction Technique recorded in the book.

Her joints moved a bit stiffly, and her strength was poorly controlled; after forming the seal a few times, she always felt something was off—either the fingertip was half a hair out of place, or the flow of Qi Force grew stuck and stagnant at some knuckle.

She didn't get discouraged, but lowered her hand and carefully read the adjoining commentary and the now-blurred diagrams, brows lightly knitted, lips silently opening and closing.

"…Heavenly Thunder rumbling, Earth Thunder roaring, Yin Thunder unfathomable, Yang Thunder formless…" Her voice was as thin as a mosquito's, carrying the caution of a novice. "…Dragon Thunder rolls the waters, Water Thunder churns the waves, She-command Thunder Fire, lightning splitting and crisscrossing… Mm, She-command Thunder… Fire?"

Crack…

When she recited "She-command Thunder Fire," she snapped her fingers, imitating the sound of thunder.

Donggong Ruoshu's mind was fully immersed in grasping the subtle essence of Thunder Skill. As the book said, cultivation in Thunder Skill rests first upon the communion of one's mind with heaven and earth: using a single spark of spiritual light within as the guide to stir the five elements Qi in the body, externally harmonizing with the workings of yin and yang in heaven and earth; only then can one command wind and thunder, and drive ghosts and spirits.

Spoken, it sounded simple; in practice, it was difficult beyond measure.

Her mind gradually sank, stray thoughts seeming to slowly settle.

She continued silently reciting the convoluted and complex general Thunder Spell, adjusting her hand signs, and snapped her fingers once more.

Suddenly,

Rumble…

A very deep, distant peal of thunder faintly penetrated the high walls of Zhang Mansion and reached her ears.

It was vague and indistinct, not very clear.

Donggong Ruoshu's fingers forming the seal abruptly halted.

She hurriedly rose and looked out through the window lattice.

On the distant horizon, muted thunder was rolling.

...............

...............

A thread of radiance attached itself to the blade of the Hou Kang Sword.

This thread of radiance came from the Bright Hall.

Back in the Southern Border, when Chen Yi broke through to the Second Rank, he crushed the Bright Hall and refined it into his own Sword Intent World, turning it into a great sun—one of the trump cards he now kept at the very bottom of his chest.

The reason he had not used it immediately was not so much concealment, but chiefly that number-one under heaven who embodied Absolute Heaven and Earth.

Back then, the Purity Saintess schemed in every possible way, stole the Bright Hall, incarnated as the Ming Venerable, and lured that True Heavenly People down from the Great Heavenly Mountain. The scene of that fierce battle was still vivid in Chen Yi's memory.

That True Heavenly People of Absolute Heaven and Earth would never allow Gods and Buddhas like the Ming Venerable to walk the mortal world.

The reasons he was able to retain that wisp of Bright Hall remnant light were, first, Zhou Yitang's face and mediation; second, that True Heavenly People perhaps held some appreciation for talent; third, the complicated considerations of the struggles among the Immortals and Buddhas above.

But most crucially, this radiance was not the Bright Hall in its entirety, and it had already merged into Chen Yi's Heart Lake World, bound and constrained by it.

Of course, if Chen Yi were to take it out openly and brazenly, it would likely attract Xu Qi again.

Yet at this moment, within this cage the White Lotus Saint Mother had set up to seal off inside and outside, there was no need to fear the True Heavenly People's prying gaze.

The dazzling golden Bright Hall glory clung to the edge of the Hou Kang Sword in his hand. The originally dark, heavy blade was coated in a layer of flowing luster, and along the sword's spine faint outlines of an ancient hall's phantom silhouette seemed to emerge.