Ninth Uncle, the Thunder Arts Amplifier!

Just as Ninth Uncle was about to flee and surrender, brilliant white lightning erupted throughout the nearly leveled grove, swiftly coalescing into lifelike thunder dragons that lunged toward him. In an instant, the roaring thunder dragons transformed into lightning chains, binding Ninth Uncle's feet, shoulders, waist, and abdomen. They left only his hands free! Seeing Ninth Uncle bound by the lightning chains, Four-Eyed Daoist and Wencai blanched. They instinctively tried to shout out to stop it, only to discover in horror that they had been immobilized! Never mind speaking—they couldn't even budge an inch! Shi Shaojian remained entirely single-minded, wondering only when his father, Shi Jian, would pass down that technique for condensing a lightning beam sword to him. "Don't worry. With me here, he won't die!" A female voice familiar to Liu Xiu rang out. Unaffected by the immobilization, he turned his head at the sound and immediately spotted a familiar sight—Perfected Tianning, dressed in her black-and-white yin-yang fish Daoist robe. Behind her in the void hovered ethereal golden eyeballs, an anomaly rare not only to ordinary mortals but even to cultivators. [Ding! Favorability toward you: 50] [Ding! Favorability toward you: 70] [Ding! Favorability toward you: 55] The favorability system automatically popped up upon sensing emotional fluctuations. Liu Xiu's expression remained unchanged, though internally he scoffed at how many people were watching the spectacle. "Hmm?" Perfected Tianning watched Liu Xiu in surprise, noticing that he seemed to have detected the Thousand-Li Dharma Eye Projection Art being cast by their fellow Daoists. Liu Xiu paid no mind to Perfected Tianning, nor did he heed the quiet, noisy chatter drifting from behind those Dharma Eyes. He merely snapped his gaze forward. Before him, suspended along twenty-four red-and-blue light tracks circling Shi Jian, twenty-four iron beads radiating dazzling, blinding lightning suddenly stirred. The next instant—*Boom! Boom! Boom!—* Driven by Shi Jian, twenty-four blinding pillars of incandescent white lightning blasted straight at Ninth Uncle. A terrifying roar erupted alongside a blistering wave of superheated air and an arcing electric thunderstorm. Not only did a circular crater several meters across blast open where Ninth Uncle had been standing, but a visible mushroom cloud also billowed upward. As the mushroom cloud rose, terrifying ripples of visible heat surged outward, sweeping across the surroundings. Nearby, plants, grass, and trees were instantly scorched to charcoal, while further out, a dark, heavy curtain of dust rose to blot out the sky. The sight prompted Liu Xiu to frantically rack his brain, wondering if he had ever mentioned water electrolysis producing hydrogen to Shi Jian. After a moment's thought, he was relieved to find he hadn't! A rather spooked Liu Xiu breathed a massive sigh of relief. Don't ask why he was afraid—if you must know, he simply didn't want to live through an excessively hot "summer." Witnessing it all, Four-Eyed Daoist's pupils shrank to pinpricks. With his mouth hanging open, the immobilization reduced his attempts at speech to garbled mumbles: "A-ba, a-ba..." Likewise immobilized, Wencai stared blankly at the massive crater where Ninth Uncle had been standing, tears welling in his eyes. His train of thought was simple: his master was dead! And he had probably died... in pieces! If Liu Xiu had known what Wencai was thinking, he would surely have teased him by saying there wouldn't even be pieces left. As for why he would call it teasing? Because Liu Xiu knew Ninth Uncle wasn't dead at all. It wasn't that Shi Jian had pulled his punches at the last second, either. Rather, Ninth Uncle had broken free from the lightning chains! Indeed, Ninth Uncle had shattered the lightning chains—by uttering a single word, "Disperse," he had broken free at the crucial moment. Before the twenty-four lightning pillars struck, Ninth Uncle had narrowly evaded the blast in the nick of time, successfully surviving. Of course, Liu Xiu figured Ninth Uncle would have been fine even if he hadn't dodged this great divine ability of primordial magnetism. Having seen Shi Jian fight before, Liu Xiu knew Shi Jian had been holding back all along. He also knew Shi Jian could recall the attack! After all, as Liu Xiu saw it, Shi Jian only wanted to force Ninth Uncle to fight with everything he had; he had never intended to kill him. *Still... what kind of spell was that 'Disperse'?* Liu Xiu wondered in perplexity, recalling how more than half of the electric arcs and lightning around the grove had dissipated with just that single word from Ninth Uncle. As he puzzled over it, he realized the golden eyes watching from behind were even more baffled. A flurry of hushed, hurried murmurs drifted into his ears: "A thunder-halting art?" "No, no, that wasn't a thunder-halting art!" "Though the thunder-halting art contains the word 'halt,' it actually operates by executing the transformation and clashing of yin and yang before commanding the Heavenly Bureau's Thunder Generals to recall the lightning. In the end, it's still a method of marshaling lightning within thunder arts. What Lin Jiu just used wasn't a thunder art at all!" "True. But is Second Senior Brother really unable to cast thunder arts? Why doesn't one of you send a voice transmission to Senior Brother, having him blast him with primordial magnetism again to force Second Senior Brother to—" "You're done for! I just recorded what you said with a sound-recording stone! Just wait until that Lin fellow ambushes you with a club from behind!" "..." "'That Lin fellow'? Heh heh, I recorded your words too. Just wait for Second Senior Brother to thrash—hey, why are you using a fake voice?!" The solemn atmosphere abruptly derailed as serious discussion devolved into exposing each other's secrets. Liu Xiu listened on, his mental avatar wearing an utterly speechless expression, until an aged voice spoke up: "What Lin Jiu just used seemed to be an earth art!" "An earth art? Stop joking—wait... huh?!" "Earth overcomes water... and subdues fire?!" "Damn! As expected of Tianhei—*cough, cough*—as expected of Sect Leader Tianming's disciple! He actually mastered an earth art specifically designed to restrain outer thunder!" "..." "Isn't that technique called the Harmonizing Yang Thunder-Halting Formula?" "The Thunder-Halting Formula? You mean the art that spreads the Yellow Court's Wutu Qi throughout the surroundings to blend the segregated clear and turbid qi in space, thereby eliminating the very foundation of yin-yang polarity?" "Yes, that's the one!" "Earth arts can be used like that? Brilliant! I'm learning that right now!" "Heh, then you'd better be careful. That technique can only neutralize outer thunder. In other words, if I strike with inner thunder, I can still blast you to death. Besides, do you really think Lin Jiu's Thunder-Halting Formula can stop Daoist Shi's great divine ability of primordial magnetism?" "More than that, the key to executing this technique is precise moderation! If it's too weak, it has no effect; if it's too strong... heh heh heh... you can look forward to your Thunder-Halting Formula turning into a Great Art of Fuelling Outer Thunder! The outer thunder will intensify to the point where your serious injuries become full lightning dissolution!" "Ah... wait..." "Heh, why do you think almost no one in the cultivation world cultivates this technique? It's because if you make the slightest slip, you'll end up turning into a thunder art amplification implement for your opponent!" "Huh? A thunder art amplifier... Then wouldn't Ninth Uncle cultivating this technique turn him into an amplification implement for Daoist Shi's electromagnetic thunder cannon?! *Hiss...* Who knew the Maoshan Sect had schemed so far ahead? Truly terrifying, utterly terrifying..." The noisy voices continued to chatter, some even circling back to debating whether Lin Fengjiao actually knew thunder arts or not. Liu Xiu's expression didn't change, but internally he felt it was absurdly hilarious, because he had essentially figured out the operating principle behind Ninth Uncle's Harmonizing Yang Thunder-Halting Formula. As common knowledge dictated, the essence of lightning derived from electrical potential difference in space. When positive and negative charges separated in a localized region, a steep electric potential gradient formed. Once the electric field strength exceeded the breakdown threshold of air, the air ionized, resulting in an electrical discharge. That was lightning! As for the Harmonizing Yang Thunder-Halting Formula, in Liu Xiu's eyes, it was an art that released massive, equal quantities of positive and negative charged particles—a low-energy quasi-neutral plasma cloud—into the target airspace. The opposing charged particles in the released plasma would actively bind with and neutralize the separated excess charges in the space. This flattened the regional potential difference, eliminating the spatial potential gradient. Once the potential difference vanished, the electric field strength dropped below the breakdown threshold of air. Even if a caster attempted to channel heaven-and-earth qi to summon outer thunder, there would not be an adequate electric field to ionize the air and trigger a discharge. That was the real reason Ninth Uncle had broken the lightning chains and dispersed much of the incandescent lightning with a single word: "Disperse." This version of Ninth Uncle had received a buff too! Too bad... he hadn't been buffed enough! And the buff was bizarrely weird! Liu Xiu mused inwardly, not believing for a moment that Ninth Uncle's Harmonizing Yang Thunder-Halting Formula naturally countered Shi Jian. After all, Shi Jian was no longer merely the Lightning Dharma King; he was now the Electromagnetic Dharma King. Moreover, given Shi Jian's mastery over thunder arts, this version of Ninth Uncle with the Harmonizing Yang Thunder-Halting Formula would only end up becoming a thunder art amplifier. To be completely honest, it felt rather odd! Not only did Liu Xiu find it odd, but Perfected Tianning beside him also wore a peculiar expression. However, once she noticed Liu Xiu wasn't even looking at her, she dismissed her thoughts. As the saying went: pretty boys were all no good! *???* *Is she going through menopause? Wait, no, don't female Daoists have to slay the red dragon during their cultivation?* Sensing the chill radiating beside him, Liu Xiu pondered instinctively. After a brief thought, he gave up. Women were fundamentally incomprehensible anyway! In the woods that had now been flattened into bare ground, Shi Jian was also feeling puzzled—though his bewilderment lay in why Ninth Uncle still hadn't used thunder arts. As for the Harmonizing Yang Thunder-Halting Formula Ninth Uncle had employed, Shi Jian paid it no mind, as he knew the technique as well. In fact, his mastery of the Harmonizing Yang Thunder-Halting Formula exceeded Ninth Uncle's. He simply hadn't wished to; had he wanted to, he could have easily used 'harmonized yang to suppress weaker yang,' turning Ninth Uncle right then and there into an amplification implement for his thunder arts! "Senior Brother, I yield!" While Shi Jian was looking at Ninth Uncle, Ninth Uncle near the crater naturally saw Shi Jian as well. He tossed down his copper-coin sword and chose to surrender. There was no help for it—he simply couldn't beat Shi Jian! With lingering dread, Ninth Uncle stared at the bottomless circular crater nearby, its edges lined with crystalline vitrification—a crater blasted out by Shi Jian's great divine ability of primordial magnetism. He didn't fool himself into thinking that knowing the Harmonizing Yang Thunder-Halting Formula would let him stop Shi Jian's thunder arts. He had learned that technique back in the day primarily to avoid getting shocked when sparring with Shi Jian in the future. Looking back now, he had certainly made the right choice! "It seems you still didn't use your full strength. But no matter—" Shi Jian's words trailed off into sudden silence. Frowning, he recalled the forty-nine iron beads that had just drifted out of his sleeves and flashed over to Ninth Uncle, who had abruptly collapsed unconscious to the ground. "Hm? Really passed out?" Without crouching down, Shi Jian frowned at Ninth Uncle, who didn't appear to be faking, and forced a stiff smile. "Just as well. Come, your senior brother will take you back to Maoshan to study the new thunder arts!" "Uh, I suddenly feel—" Ninth Uncle fell silent, because Shi Jian had already hurled him through a water screen conjured by the Mystic Chapter of Riding Emptiness and Commanding Space straight into the main hall of the Maoshan Main Altar. Before his eyes were the same hall from back then, the same battered desks from back then, and the same junior martial brothers attending class together from back then. Only, Lin Jiu's role had shifted from the former second substitute teacher to a student—and once more, Shi Jian's student. "Martial Aunt, may I trouble you to help restore this place?" Shi Jian, who hadn't returned to the Maoshan Main Altar immediately, looked at the surrounding devastation and the damaged Yizhuang. Feeling rather sheepish, he bowed toward Perfected Tianning beside Liu Xiu. "Mm." Perfected Tianning nodded, extending her right hand to lightly sweep over the woods and the Yizhuang. In an instant, both rapidly restored to their original states. Just like a video playing in reverse, within a few breaths, everything returned to how it had looked before the battle had ever begun. Liu Xiu's eyes went wide at the sight. Perfected Tianning arched a graceful eyebrow and said with a smile, "What, you want to learn? Kneel before me and I'll teach—" Perfected Tianning fell silent as Liu Xiu dropped to his knees without hesitation. Thinking that pretty boys were truly spineless, she reached out to catch him before his knees hit the ground. "This is Returning Wind and Reversing Fire, one of the Thirty-Six Heavenly Dipper Great Divine Abilities. It's not something you can comprehend right now. Bring this up again once you break through to the realm of Refining Spirit to Revert to Emptiness. However, I can give you this instead!" As she spoke, Perfected Tianning formed a sword finger with her right hand and poked Liu Xiu's forehead—with enough force that Liu Xiu wondered if the old broad had done it on purpose. He put on a face full of gratitude and beamed. "Thank you, Grandmaster, for imparting the art!" "Cultivate diligently..." After silently appending "adaptable" to her assessment of "spineless," Perfected Tianning vanished in a flash. Only then did Liu Xiu look toward Shi Jian, who hadn't left yet, finding Shi Jian watching him with a twitching mouth. "Heh heh..." Perusing the Art of Gathering Spilled Water in his mind, Liu Xiu chuckled, feeling no shame over his conduct just now. After all, the person he was going to kneel to was a senior. Besides, if one kneel earned him the inheritance of a great divine ability, he felt he should have dropped even faster and knelt several dozen more times! Shi Jian gave Liu Xiu a helpless look, pressed two fingers against Liu Xiu's forehead, left behind a word to cultivate diligently, and departed through the water screen. There was no helping it; he still had to return to Maoshan to teach his junior martial brothers and martial uncles. Moreover, he intended to keep testing his second junior brother, Lin Fengjiao, to see just how much longer the man would hide his thunder arts. *The Primordial Magnetism Weapon Condensation and Qi-Governing Great Art... I even have the method to handcraft plasma weapons now... I just don't have the strength to craft them...* Looking at the magnetically confined plasma method transmitted by Shi Jian in his mind, Liu Xiu sighed with emotion, feeling only that his thunder art attainment was far too low. Just then, having regained his mobility, Shi Shaojian strode right up to Liu Xiu. "Master passed down the lightning beam sword technique to you?" "Huh? Why, Master didn't pass it to you, Senior Brother?" "..." *Honestly, I feel like I ought to give you a beating!* With a dark face and clenched fists, Shi Shaojian shoved past the dazed Wencai and walked briskly toward the Yizhuang. Paying no attention to Shi Shaojian, Four-Eyed Daoist clicked his tongue as he recalled the terrifying scene from before. "Scared me half to death just now. I really thought Senior Brother had beaten Second Senior Brother to death..." "Don't worry, my master was holding back!" Liu Xiu replied. As far as Liu Xiu was concerned, Shi Jian hadn't used his full power at all; he had merely been trying to force Ninth Uncle to use thunder arts! Although Liu Xiu had a feeling Ninth Uncle genuinely didn't know thunder arts, the thought that Ninth Uncle was the disciple of True Person Tianhei made him suspect Ninth Uncle might actually know them after all! Perhaps Ninth Uncle really was hiding a thunder art he hadn't used! "True enough. Senior Brother definitely didn't go all out this time, or else with Senior Brother's current strength, Second Senior Brother would have dissolved into lightning and reincarnated long ago..." Four-Eyed Daoist chuckled. As he spoke, he glanced at the stunned Wencai to make sure the boy wouldn't remember the comment and tattle on him to Ninth Uncle before addressing him: "Wencai, don't you worry either. Your master is fine. Your Eldest Martial Uncle only took him back to the Main Altar to study the new thunder arts!" Were it not for the urgency of his corpse-driving commission, Four-Eyed Daoist would have wanted to return to the Main Altar to study the new thunder arts himself—for no other reason than their sheer power! He certainly hadn't forgotten that bottomless crater blasted out in the woods by twenty-four incandescent lightning pillars. *By the way, does the Main Altar have free English dictionaries?* Four-Eyed Daoist suddenly felt he could pay a visit to the Main Altar after finishing his corpse-driving delivery. Naturally, it wasn't to take advantage of the Main Altar's perks; he simply lacked an English dictionary and whatever those electromagnetism books were. "Oh, oh... Wait! If Master left, then who's going to drink foreign tea with Master Ren? We made an appointment yesterday to go to the Western restaurant this morning to drink foreign tea and discuss business!" Wencai stared wide-eyed at Four-Eyed Daoist. "Foreign tea?" Four-Eyed Daoist raised a brow. Liu Xiu thought to himself, *What a coincidence,* and asked aloud, "What business are they discussing?" "Exhuming a grave and checking the feng shui. Yesterday, the Ren family's steward came over and said Master Ren wants to exhume and relocate his father's coffin, so he wanted my master to inspect the feng shui..." Wencai held nothing back; Four-Eyed Daoist and Liu Xiu weren't outsiders anyway, and with Ninth Uncle gone, he was at a total loss. "Feng shui..." the two echoed together. Four-Eyed Daoist and Liu Xiu exchanged a glance, both furrowing their brows as they asked in unison, "Don't tell me you don't know feng shui either?" As soon as the words left their mouths, they stared at each other speechlessly. Four-Eyed Daoist looked at Liu Xiu in bewilderment. "You actually don't know feng shui?!" "Don't tell me you do!" Liu Xiu retorted. Although Liu Xiu possessed great talent in fate-reading, his aptitude in feng shui was rather lacking. The type who had seven of eight orifices open—which is to say, completely clueless! He had sensed this back at the Qin household from what Shi Jian had said. Of course, his talent in feng shui shouldn't be so dismal now. After all, not only had his cultivation attainment grown, but his natural talent had increased as well! Seeing Wencai's anxiety, Four-Eyed Daoist furrowed his brows in thought. "Don't panic, Wencai. How about this: I'll contact your master first to see when he can return. If all else fails, I'll ask if your Martial Uncle One Eyebrow over in Jiuquan Town is free. And if that really doesn't work, we'll just decline the business!" "Great, great!" Wencai nodded. Just as Liu Xiu was about to speak, the voice of the narrator cheat suddenly chimed in. [Ding! Favorability toward you: 0!] With an impassive expression, Liu Xiu circulated his minor mastery realm Three Lights Primordial Magnetism Chain-Forming Formula. He then calmly scanned his surroundings. Seeing nothing amiss, he raised an eyebrow slightly and said, "Come on, let's head inside before we talk more!" Liu Xiu smiled as he spoke. Four-Eyed Daoist glanced back oddly at Liu Xiu, who was walking half a step behind him. *How strange. Did I suddenly turn into a Black Jiangshi?* Liu Xiu found it strange as well, because he had a sudden intuition that Ninth Uncle might abruptly return. Don't ask why—if you must know, it was pure instinct!