Chapter 29: Chapter 29 Lightning Mage Qiu Changtian
Editor: Henyee Translations
After declining the recruitment from Ziyun Peak and accepting Lou Zhizheng’s challenge to a duel, the relationship between Ling Yunpo and his Senior Sister started to heat up rapidly.
Awoken from a state of meditation by his Senior Sister in the morning, he was then subjected to intensive sword training, intensive sword training in the afternoon, and more intensive sword training in the evening.
It was almost like a dream back to the days of endless daily problem-solving for the college entrance exam in his previous life.
However, thankfully, the charming figure of Senior Sister An, wielding her sword in delicate gestures, was so enchanting that it wasn’t unbearably boring.
Having learned the overall sword moves of the Seven Kills Sword Technique, Ling Yunpo began to learn the Two-Handed Sword Control Technique.
The Two-Handed Sword Control Technique circulating within the Shushan community is based on using the Life-bound Sword Artifact as the main sword, accompanied by an auxiliary sword. The two swords must attack and defend together, inseparably.
However, the Two-Handed Sword Control Technique of the Seven Kills swordsmanship school, after Su Jian’s improvements, had become a true multitasking of one mind using two swords.
The two swords could either attack and defend together or act individually, with one attacking and the other defending, following different sword paths, as if a single-core CPU had suddenly become a dual-core — naturally greatly enhancing combat capabilities.
To control two swords with both hands at the same time, Ling Yunpo needed to enable different meridian routes in each arm. Because he hadn’t reached the Marrow Cleansing Rank yet, he tried many times but could not master it.
An Zhisu was also worried and planned to find someone to teach him this technique.
Let’s put aside Ling Yunpo’s situation for the moment; after all, there was still some time before the day of the sword duel. He could just reload to Qiu Changtian’s side and then ask the Ziwei Master for his secret weapons.
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At the Kunlun Taiqing Sect, once today’s scripture lecture was over, everyone filed out of the Scripture Lecture Hall.
Qiu Changtian remained seated in stillness on the meditation cushion. Xu Yinglian was about to rise, but seeing this, she continued to sit to his right.
“What’s the matter?” Only after everyone else had left did the Ziwei Master ask with his eyes still closed.
“Reporting to Master,” Qiu Changtian respectfully said, “On a recent external practice journey, I encountered a Marrow Cleansing Rank cultivator from the Nether Ghost Path. If not for the Master’s gift of the Tai Yi Dividing Light Sword to protect my life, I might have met with misfortune.”
“I wish to ask Master, if without the Tai Yi Dividing Light Sword, how should I deal with an enemy of the Marrow Cleansing Rank?”
Xu Yinglian on the side was startled:
The ambition of my Senior Brother is enormous! Mere Qi Refining Rank, and he’s already seeking ways to defeat Marrow Cleansing Rank enemies?
Hearing this, the Ziwei Master did not immediately answer, just pondered for a moment before suddenly opening his eyes to ask:
“Have you arranged a duel with someone?”
How the hell could he guess that? Qiu Changtian was shocked deep down, but he verbally denied it:
“I was merely contemplating the incident the other day, and the subsequent shock left me in fear.”
“Hmph.” The Ziwei Master snorted coldly, not bothering to expose him. Instead, he turned to Xu Yinglian and said:
“Ying Lian, you may leave.”
“Yes.” Xu Yinglian got up and left.
As the Junior Sister departed, only the master and disciple remained in the Scripture Lecture Hall.
Qiu Changtian looked at his master to see the Ziwei Master waving his horsetail whisk and saying in a clear voice:
“To my disciple of the 280th generation, Qiu Changtian, I now impart the technique of Thunderous Command. With the Great Dao above, listen with calm!”
His voice was thunderous as if spring thunder burst forth from the tip of his tongue.
Qiu Changtian instinctively sat up straight, feeling a cold sweat on his back and incense smoke curling before his eyes. Gradually, he could see nothing anymore, as if he was in a small universe isolated from the world, with only the chanting of the Sect Leader echoing in his ears:
“Thunder and lightning are the pivot of heaven and earth. The Jade Pivot and Earthly Pivot, known as the Two Pivots, are situated in the east and west, presiding over the seventy-two officers of thunder. Positive thunder and negative lightning, the Pivot wields Yin and Yang, thunder signifies good, lightning evil. Good thunder brings life, evil lightning brings deathly qi. The convergence of life qi and deathly qi creates a striking peeling force. The subtlety of thunder is three from the east, two from the south, one from the north, four from the west, with five and six Wu Ji centralized…”
In his sudden enlightenment and haziness, his consciousness sank quickly, seeing only darkness around him, except for a twinkling starlight in the Qi Sea, flashing and swaying persistently.
In a moment, the light ignited, gradually burning throughout his body, yet it did not feel unbearably hot, more like a warm bath, with a comforting warmth to the limbs.
After a short while, the chanting stopped, and the firelight around his body swiftly dissipated.
In a daze, someone patted his cheek:
“Open your mouth.”
Qiu Changtian subconsciously opened his mouth, and the Sect Leader took out an elixir bottle from his sleeve, retrieved one pill, and placed it under his tongue.
As soon as the elixir entered his mouth, it dissolved, turning into a stream of heat that went down his throat, all the way to his dantian, into his qi sea. It formed into a ball of purple-gold light, which floated uncertainly within the qi sea, flickering in and out of sight.
Qiu Changtian slowly woke up, only to see the Sect Leader toss the elixir bottle into his arms and, with eyes closed, said:
“This is a thunder seed. Take one pill every three days, continue for nine days to consolidate your realm.”
“Then go to the Scriptural Repository and fetch ‘Shenxiao Jade Pivot Assessing the Five Thunders Greater Method,’ study it carefully.”
“Whether it’s for competition or self-protection, you must execute it flawlessly and not tarnish the reputation of our Ziwei True Person.”
Qiu Changtian remained silent for a while, then knelt to express his gratitude.
After leaving the Scripture Lecture Hall, he immediately headed to the Scriptural Repository to fetch the scripture mentioned by his Sect Leader teacher.
The elder in charge of guarding the Scriptural Repository, with the last name Xu (supposedly also from The Xu Family of Southern Heaven), was an old lady with a clear and lean appearance who practically knew the hundreds of thousands of scriptures in the repository like the back of her hand.
Upon hearing the name “Shenxiao Jade Pivot Assessing the Five Thunders Greater Method,” Elder Xu looked at Qiu Changtian skeptically and curiously asked:
“What do you need thunder methods for? That thing… is not easy to practice.”
“May I ask, Senior, what do you mean by ‘not easy to practice’?” Qiu Changtian asked respectfully.
“Mainly because its cultivation is exceedingly difficult,” Elder Xu explained in detail, “Thunder is the hinge of heaven and earth, the command of heaven, and carries the heaviest killing aura.”
“Thunder possesses a deadly energy, specialized in breaking all that is wicked and polluted, and holds immense power against magic; it also occupies the shaking position, able to break through armor and defenses, even Flying Sword Treasures find it difficult to withstand.”
“Due to such immense power, it is therefore easy to harm others as well as oneself. If one is not careful during cultivation, one may injure their body, wither to the brink of death; or their temperament might greatly alter, becoming irritable and prone to anger.”
Stopping there, she pondered for a moment, then added:
“You possess a quality of Daoist Heart Clarity, which greatly reduces the risks of cultivating thunder methods. If you can obtain an Innate Thunder Crystal as the thunder seed for consumption, effectiveness would be doubled.”
“However, due to the scarcity of practitioners throughout history, most spells related to thunders have been lost.”
“Taking the risk to painstakingly study the tome of thunder only to find no corresponding spells to practice would be quite a jest, wouldn’t it?”
“Even our Kunlun Taiqing Sect, as of today, only possesses the ‘Shenxiao Jade Pivot Assessing the Five Thunders Greater Method’ volume, which can be used to cultivate Jade Pivot Thunder.”
“With that amount of effort, one might as well cultivate other more complete and conventional spells…”
She rambled on. Seeing Qiu Changtian standing by with hands folded, showing respectful silence, she suddenly came back to her senses and apologized with a smile:
“What am I going on about! Since you’ve specifically requested the Jade Pivot Thunder manual, you must have already made up your mind, so why should I interfere unnecessarily?”
Retrieving a thin booklet from a certain bookshelf, Elder Xu handed it to Qiu Changtian, saying:
“Here is your Jade Pivot Thunder. Be extremely careful when you practice it.”
“Thank you, Elder Xu.” Qiu Changtian gave his thanks with a bow.
“There’s no need for thanks. That girl Ying Lian will need you to look after her in the future,” Elder Xu said kindly, “Hmm, as a wedding gift for the two of you becoming Daoist Companions…”
After pondering for a moment, she took out a writing brush and wrote him a note:
“Apart from Jade Pivot Thunder, our Scriptural Repository also had the Shenxiao Thunder manual, but it has been missing for six hundred years.”
“I checked the records and found that Chonghe True Person was the last inheritor of the Shenxiao Thunder method. The last recorded time he left the mountain was to visit Kuaiji in Yangzhou, after which he never returned to the sect.”
“Should you find the time in the future, you might look for it in Yangzhou.”