Thunderfall Valley
The sky churned with dense thunderclouds, their roars echoing through the desolate valley. Jagged bolts illuminated the gloom, casting flickering shadows.
Outside the valley, a blinding silver-white glow erupted, banishing the darkness and drawing every eye. The radiance poured from a dazzling orb of light.
Nearby lightning, as if magnetized, veered from its path, streaking toward the orb. Striking it, they crackled with electric sizzles, lingering briefly before dripping like liquid, pooling into a meter-wide puddle of pure thunder-attribute energy. The liquid shimmered with metallic glints, arcs dancing across its surface.
Within the glowing orb, a figure sat, eyes closed, body wreathed in silver-white lightning. Even his hair and brows had turned silver, his form resembling a humanoid bolt of lightning.
This was Xiao Bai, who had cultivated in Thunderfall Valley for months.
His blood surged, infused with potent thunder energy. Slowly, he opened his eyes, and twin beams of silver-white light shot from his pupils. His once-dark eyes now blazed with radiant silver.
A thunderbolt, brimming with destructive might, roared toward him, its power rivaling a peak Dou Wang's strike.
Xiao Bai's gaze flicked to it, his expression serene. He raised a silver-white hand, meeting the bolt head-on.
Boom!
A deafening crash resounded. The bolt's energy writhed, trailing long arcs, crackling in protest as Xiao Bai's hand seized it. Ignoring the silver arcs sparking across his arm, he crushed it, droplets of thunder liquid slipping through his fingers, rippling the puddle below.
"My physique has reached its limit. It's time to break through to Dou Wang," he murmured, his voice low and resonant, like muffled thunder echoing beyond the valley.
With that, the aura of vital energy around him shifted, a powerful presence surging from within.
Seven-star Dou Ling!
Eight-star Dou Ling!
His aura climbed rapidly, reaching nine-star Dou Ling in moments, still pushing upward. At the peak, it paused, then a ripple of energy burst from him, slamming into the valley walls, dislodging loose stones.
Xiao Bai wasn't surprised. A month ago, in this thunder-rich valley, he'd hit nine-star Dou Ling peak. Instead of breaking through, he left his sheltered corner, venturing outside to temper his body with lightning.
With Little Yi and the others absent, the lightning's full potency remained—perfect, as they'd have devoured much of it otherwise.
Initially, he chose areas with sparse bolts, resisting without Dou Qi, relying solely on his physique. Each strike tore his flesh, but his robust body healed swiftly, and he persisted.
Previously, Little Yi and the thunder seeds had tempered his body and Dou Qi, but never so brutally. Only Xiao Bai dared such savage refinement, forging his physique like tempered steel.
From sparse zones, he moved to the densest, where lightning could fell any Dou Wang. Now, these bolts merely tickled him.
With a thought, a faint soul pulse spread, following an instinctive connection.
Moments later, the heavy thunderclouds roiled. Four colored lights sped toward him from the distance.
"Roar!" An excited dragon cry drowned the valley's thunder, reverberating through the air.
The gray sky bloomed with patches of cyan, red, yellow, and gold thunderclouds, hovering above Xiao Bai, painting the valley with vibrant hues.
"Looking lively!" Xiao Bai grinned, sensing the thunder seeds' energies had surged, pulsing with vigor.
A golden flash descended, a massive shadow looming.
"My lord, look at me! Am I not majestic?" an excited voice boomed.
"What the hell did you eat?" Xiao Bai's eyes widened at the thirty three meter-long behemoth. The once-tiny, cute dragon head now bore a menacing edge, its sleek body gleaming with scales, and its four massive claws dwarfed him.
"No clue! Me and Little Yi were roaming the thunderclouds when I caught a familiar scent. Following it, we found a small black thunder orb," Little Golden Dragon said, scratching its chin, puzzled. "The surrounding lightning gathered around it but seemed scared, not daring to approach, like it was their master. It absorbed their energy freely. When I got close, the lightning scattered."
"The orb tried to flee, but I shouted, 'Don't run!' and it froze. It smelled so good, I couldn't resist and swallowed it. Then my body just kept growing, and here I am!"
… Xiao Bai was speechless.
That black orb—was it the Black Demon Thunder Mang Tian Chi brought? No, not the real thing—Little Golden Dragon couldn't handle that.
What it was, only Mang Tian Chi would know.
But swallowing and digesting it? What if Mang Tian Chi raged? A Half-Saint's wrath was no joke.
"Forget it, we'll deal with it later," Xiao Bai sighed, not scolding the dragon. It was done—what could he do, make it spit it out? If he met Mang Tian Chi and it was vital, he'd compensate him.
"Your size grew, but your aura barely changed?" Xiao Bai scanned it with his soul force, finding no issues, and teased.
"Hey, my lord, your eyes gone white and blind?" Little Golden Dragon's face soured, voice rising. "Can't you see my essence got stronger?"
"Heh," Xiao Bai sneered. "Stronger essence? Perfect. I need to practice a battle skill—shall I carve some out?"
"Hehe, no thanks!" The dragon grinned sheepishly, unleashing a torrent of flattery. "My lord's insight is piercing, his majesty unrivaled, a legend through the ages—"
"Enough!" Xiao Bai cut off the groveling dragon, exasperated.
Ignoring it, he beckoned. The four colored thunderclouds above stirred, shrinking into streams of light that circled him before merging into his body.
The four thunder seeds settled, and his Dou Qi boiled, resonating with the surrounding energy.
Little Golden Dragon muttered, "Breaking through? Hope it's not like last time's mishap. No one's here to save us!"
"Shut it, jinx!" Xiao Bai snapped, itching to smack the dragon.
Inspecting his dantian, he saw the Dou Crystal, once spiky, now perfectly round, no longer a "sea urchin warrior."
His meridians, wide and translucent, glowed faintly, silver-white Dou Qi surging through them.
As the Dou Qi cycled, his aura flared like water hitting hot oil, spreading outward. The valley's dense thunder energy, drawn by this pull, poured into him through his pores.
Falling bolts veered toward him, striking his body.
Xiao Bai stood unmoved, as if dusted by ash, heedless.
This was why he'd tempered his physique. Without it, he wouldn't be so at ease, especially with a new thunder seed approaching.
The thunder liquid pooled from his tempering stirred, a shimmering mass enveloping him, channeling pure energy into his body.
Fast—blindingly so.
Xiao Bai had broken through major realms before, but never with such abundance, like swimming in an ocean of thunder energy.
Even without cultivating, the energy pushed him toward the Dou Wang barrier.
But he didn't rush, letting it flood his meridians, flesh, and bones, refining them. Only energy processed by his technique could enter his dantian.
Ignoring the pain, he methodically refined the energy. Each cycle shrank the Dou Crystal, its energy swirling in his dantian's cyclone.
As the crystal diminished, Xiao Bai felt his Dou Qi interacting with the external energy, a kinship distinct from soul force control.
So this is the Dou Wang's ability to harness external energy, he realized.
Time passed. The Dou Crystal vanished under his gaze.
Crack!
A faint shattering sounded in the void, the world shifting.
His dantian's cyclone emptied, no longer radiant with energy. His Dou Qi seemed to vanish.
Unfazed, Xiao Bai willed it, and torrents of Dou Qi surged from every part of his body, filling his luminous meridians.
At Dou Wang, Dou Qi no longer flowed solely from the dantian but from the entire body.
"Breakthrough already?" Little Golden Dragon gaped at the Dou Wang aura, stronger than before. "Compared to Dou Ling, that was too fast!"
"Fast?" Xiao Bai shook his head, glancing at his silver skin, imbued with thunder energy from tempering, unused in the breakthrough.
He'd prepared too thoroughly, making this breakthrough feel effortless.
His shoulders twitched, Dou Qi surging through a unique meridian path.
Pop!
Silver-white light flared, a pair of lightning-flecked wings sprouting from his back, a three meter long, curving elegantly—noble and resplendent.
Dou Qi forming wings… I've reached this step by my own strength!
Xiao Bai tilted his head, admiring the silver wings. His flight skill had fooled others into thinking him a Dou Wang, but now, no one would mistake it.
He was Xiao Bai, a true Dou Wang, capable of forming wings himself.
After a moment, he retracted them, his mind sinking into his sea of consciousness.
He gazed at the ancient rune, unchanged, as if eternal. A moment of distraction hit him. Who crafted this rune? Why choose me? What's its purpose here?
Countless questions swirled, unanswered, buried deep.
As his thoughts churned, the rune's patterns lit up, profound and elusive, visible yet impossible to memorize.
He'd once tried replicating them on beast hide, inspired by Daoist talismans, but the patterns vanished from his mind upon leaving his consciousness, leaving his thought a blank.
After countless failed attempts, he'd given up his dream of raining rune-fueled destruction.
A corner of the rune glowed black, dark lightning arcs flickering.
"It's here," Xiao Bai said, his face solemn, focusing on the light.
The last Geng Metal Tribulation Thunder had been brutal. What surprises awaited this time?
Under his vigilant gaze, a dark thunderbolt erupted from the rune, streaking through his consciousness, aiming for his kidneys.