"That sallow-faced middle-aged cultivator should be Mo Qiu, and those youths must be some of the Thick Earth Sect's outer disciples," Huang Tian guessed silently.
At that moment, Mo Qiu spoke: "...Sit cross-legged and calm the mind, loose, still, and natural. Rest lips and teeth lightly together; let your breathing flow slow and steady. When the Yellow Court warms as if brooding an egg, guide the qi past the Weilu, up along the spine through the Jiaji to the Yuzhen, penetrating the Kunlun to return to the Purple Palace..."
Word for word, his voice was exceptionally clear.
To ensure that all the outer disciples remembered and understood, he repeated the instructions several times with untiring patience.
Huang Tian's pen flew across the paper, recording every single word of the cultivation method without missing a stroke, and then listened intently to Mo Qiu's explanations.
More than half an hour passed before Mo Qiu paused and asked, "Do you understand?"
"We understand," the outer disciples answered in unison, nodding.
"Any questions?"
The youths shook their heads.
Mo Qiu nodded. "Since none of you have further doubts, I will use the remaining time to teach you a low-grade lightning technique for self-defense.
"As everyone knows, lightning and fire spells are the most formidable.
"And our Thick Earth Sect, as a great sect of this realm, naturally possesses many astonishingly powerful lightning techniques. One of these low-grade arts is called Orthodox Wutu Thunder.
"This technique can channel the pure Yang essence qi of Wutu from the depths of the earth, giving birth to ultimate motion out of absolute stillness, bursting into supreme ferocity from peak stability. Fierce, mighty, and vast, it drives off evil and banishes demons.
"It is an exceptionally powerful discipline among earth-attribute lightning arts.
"The knack to cultivating it lies first in sensing the essence of Wutu, then using spiritual power to compress its stillness and stability to their absolute limits, before converting them in an instant into the violent burst and motion of lightning.
"It is a thunder of the earth, not a thunder of the heavens.
"However, during a thunderstorm, unleashing the Orthodox Wutu Thunder technique allows it to resonate with the heavenly thunder, vastly magnifying its might. Toppling mountains or smashing cities becomes a simple matter..."
Mo Qiu explained the nuances of cultivating Orthodox Wutu Thunder at an unhurried pace, while Huang Tian eagerly transcribed every word.
More than twenty minutes later, the connection severed. The scene of Mo Qiu lecturing faded away, but Huang Tian had already committed the complete Orthodox Wutu Thunder technique to paper.
Looking at the densely filled sheets, the corners of Huang Tian's mouth curved upward slightly. Setting aside the mid-Qi Refinement methods of the *Huang Tian Mountain-Suppressing Spirit Scripture* for now, he picked up the pages recording Orthodox Wutu Thunder and examined them closely.
A moment later, he closed his eyes. His extraordinary comprehension conjured vivid images of himself executing Orthodox Wutu Thunder inside his mind.
Once, ten times, a hundred times...
After a hundred cycles, the technique was entirely second nature to him.
Huang Tian slowly opened his eyes; in the dim room, a sudden spark flashed, lightning flitting across the darkness.
Suppressing the urge to test the lightning spell in the real world, Huang Tian grabbed his keys and went downstairs for dinner.
His early-Qi Refinement cultivation had drastically reduced his need for sustenance, though he was not yet at the stage of complete inedia.
Crossing the street, he entered Shihui Restaurant on the opposite side. Before Huang Tian could even speak, the proprietor in his thirties called out, "Bucket rice with stir-fried pork and dried tofu skin?"
Huang Tian smiled, nodded, scanned the QR code to pay, and took his usual seat.
The proprietor walked back into the kitchen and began cooking, the rhythmic thudding of a cleaver drifting out.
Huang Tian surveyed the dining area and noticed several tables and chairs were missing. Even the standing cabinet air conditioner in the corner had vanished—no wonder the place lacked its usual cool comfort when he walked in.
Before long, the proprietor brought over the wooden bucket of rice. Setting it down on the table, he looked at Huang Tian and asked, "Young man, is this stir-fried pork and dried tofu skin really that good? I see you order it all the time."
Huang Tian picked up his chopsticks and answered sincerely, "It tastes pretty good."
He was never picky with food. As long as he found a dish decent, he would eat it every day until he grew sick of it, only then moving on to something else.
The owner gave a sheepish chuckle, scratching his head, before letting out a sigh. "Tomorrow's my last day open. You'll have to find another spot to eat after this, young man."
Huang Tian thought for a moment and asked, "Business isn't good?"
"Hardly anyone comes in all day. Then two or three new places selling mala soup and wontons opened nearby, making business even worse. I've got no choice but to close up and try somewhere else," the proprietor replied candidly.
Huang Tian said nothing more, merely nodding. A faint pang of regret brushed his heart—what a pity that the shop was moving before he had even grown tired of the dish.
After exchanging those few words, the owner turned and went back to sit behind the counter, absentmindedly scrolling through videos on his phone.
Once he finished dinner, Huang Tian stood up to leave. As he stepped out the door, he noticed the owner was still hunched over his phone, brows tightly furrowed with worry.
*Life has its hardships for everyone,* he thought with a sigh.
If not for obtaining his superpower, wouldn't he also be fretting about where to find a job right now?
*Fortunately, I have a cheat!*
With a light step, he walked back to the foot of his apartment building and approached his little electric scooter.
Climbing on, he twisted the throttle. The scooter hummed to life and carried him steadily toward Guangming Park.
A dozen minutes later, he arrived. Taking a familiar path through the park, Huang Tian climbed the small hill.
Not a soul was in sight right now, as the buzzing swarms of mosquitoes showed no mercy to anyone.
Huang Tian used his spiritual power to erect a thin barrier, fending off the biting mosquitoes and stray flying insects.
Reaching the spot where he had previously tested the Earth Puppet Technique and the Minor Cloud and Rain Technique, Huang Tian looked up at the sky. Bright was the moon and sparse were the stars, accompanied by a cool night breeze.
"Nice weather."
Taking a gentle breath, he allowed his spiritual power to seep into the earth, melding his mind with the ground beneath him.
Suddenly, his expression shifted. A dense, profound pressure radiated from him, instantly silencing every insect chirp within a ten-meter radius. The world fell dead quiet.
Channeling his spiritual power, he pointed two fingers at that waist-high rock from before. A speck of deep amber light gleamed on the ground and sank into the base of the boulder.
*Boom!*
An immensely deep, heavy roar erupted. With a sharp crack, the rock shattered into dozens of jagged fragments of various sizes, faint wisps of burnt odor rising from them.
When the night wind blew gently across them, those dozens of broken stones actually crumbled into fine powder, scattering and dissolving into the breeze.
"Truly astonishing power!"
Huang Tian's eyes lit up. Merely blasting a boulder to pieces was nothing extraordinary, but reducing it entirely to dust was genuinely terrifying.
*No wonder Mo Qiu said that heavenly thunder is purely Yang and rigid, dedicated to destroying evil, while earthly thunder is heavy and concentrated, dedicated to suppression and disintegration.*
*Whatever is struck by Orthodox Wutu Thunder turns mountains to dust, scatters the souls of demons, and shatters magical implements with spiderweb fractures.*
Having mastered an impressive spell, Huang Tian was in high spirits. He unleashed Orthodox Wutu Thunder twice more in succession, crumbling all the larger stones nearby into powder.
"Hahaha, awesome!"
Huang Tian laughed heartily and freely. Suddenly, the spiritual power inside his body began surging rapidly. His expression froze, and he hurriedly sat cross-legged to focus his mind and gather his qi.
A few breaths later, a vigorous gust of wind rippled out around Huang Tian. He snapped his eyes open, his gaze overflowing with delight.
"Second layer of Qi Refinement!"
Yes, he had broken through!
In merely a few days, he had transformed from an ordinary mortal into a cultivator at the second layer of Qi Refinement!
If the Thick Earth Sect disciples ever learned of this, their eyes would surely turn crimson with envy.
Yet Huang Tian felt no unearned arrogance. He knew full well that all his achievements came from his cheat.
Isn't it only natural for someone with a cheat to develop at lightning speed?
Chapter 8