Chapter Eighteen: The Profound Thunder Divine Art (Part Two)

"Master, do you think it’s possible that, for countless ages, no one on Thunder Peak has managed to cultivate the Divine Thunder Manual to the ninth level—not because the manual itself is incomplete, but because our cultivators have all fallen into some kind of misunderstanding?" Ji Mo propped her chin on her hands and offered her hypothesis.

"No," Lei Wei shook his head, dismissing Ji Mo’s speculation. "Although our Moonwatching Sect is only a fifth-rank sect, over these tens of thousands of years, the sect has produced many extraordinary talents. The first eight levels of the manual can all be cultivated without issue. There’s no reason a problem would only arise at the ninth. The only explanation is that the technique itself is incomplete. But to complete a broken manual is not something just anyone can do. Countless predecessors in our sect have tried everything, racking their brains and sacrificing their lives, but without exception, every single one who attempted it met their end."

Ji Mo sighed, somewhat dejected, conceding that her master’s words made sense. For a moment, she was at a loss for words. Lei Wei glanced at her and, reaching out, tapped her forehead with a finger. "So young, and already sighing? Let me ask you this: now that you know the full story behind this technique, are you still willing to practice the Divine Thunder Manual?"

"I am." Ji Mo answered without hesitation.

Lei Wei laughed heartily. "Good child! I knew I wasn’t mistaken about you. Since you don’t mind whether the manual is complete or not, I’ll teach you the first three layers of the Divine Thunder Manual now." With that, he lightly touched Ji Mo’s brow with his fingertip.

Ji Mo felt a buzzing in her head as a wealth of new information flooded her mind. The way Lei Wei transmitted the manual to her was different from how the Peony Immortal had passed on cultivation methods before. Once the Divine Thunder Manual entered her spiritual sea, it became part of her memory; she didn’t need to consciously recall it.

"Alright, you now have the technique. Begin by following its instructions to draw spiritual energy into your body. You’re still young and have no cultivation base yet, so it’s not suitable to place you on a peak of your own for now. Stay here—this courtyard is yours from now on. Choose whichever room you like." With that, Lei Wei left the courtyard.

The Divine Thunder Manual is among the most ferocious and domineering of the offensive cultivation methods. Practitioners of this manual are rarely matched by peers in the same realm, and the exceptional ones can even challenge those a level above. Take Lei Wei, for instance—he is now a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator. In the Yunhai Dynasty, he is virtually unrivaled among his peers, and even late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators have suffered severe losses at his hands.

Not just in the Yunhai Dynasty—even in the cultivation world of the grand Haofeng Dynasty, the name of Master Lei Hua is renowned. When he first formed his Nascent Soul, he provoked a great demon who had already reached the mid-stage Soul Transformation realm and had dominated the Ejin Mountains for over a thousand years. This demon hunted him for tens of thousands of years, but Lei Hua eventually turned the tables and slew the beast in a desperate counterattack—a battle that spread his fame throughout the Haofeng Dynasty.

The demon Lei Wei killed was no obscure creature; it was a tiger demon, an overlord of the Ejin Mountains, whose fierce reputation was known far and wide. Many Nascent Soul cultivators from neighboring kingdoms had fallen prey to it. Who would have thought that such a notorious demon would ultimately die at the hands of a newly advanced Nascent Soul cultivator like Lei Wei?

Successive generations of Moonwatching Sect cultivators who practiced the Divine Thunder Manual have speculated that if one could reach the Soul Transformation stage with this manual, their overall combat power would make them unmatched among their peers. Of course, this remains conjecture—no one in the sect’s history has ever cultivated the manual to the ninth layer, so no one knows what their true power would be after reaching Soul Transformation.

The more impossible a feat, the more it inspires anticipation. So it was with the sect’s predecessors, and so it is with Lei Wei. Though his own strength is formidable among his peers, he never believed he could reach the ninth layer in this lifetime. Yet, upon meeting Ji Mo, he found newfound hope. Lei Wei could not say why, but he felt that if anyone in this world could perfect the incomplete Divine Thunder Manual, it would be Ji Mo.

Lei Wei possessed a pure thunder attribute single spiritual root, making him exceptionally gifted among his generation in the Moonwatching Sect. When he first began cultivating the Divine Thunder Manual, it took him only three days to draw spiritual energy into his body, causing quite a stir. He reached the Core Formation stage in less than a hundred years, but then progress slowed, and it took nearly four hundred years to break through to Nascent Soul.

The early stages of the Divine Thunder Manual are not difficult, but after reaching the Golden Core realm, every further step becomes arduous. Countless disciples on Thunder Peak spent their entire lives stuck at Core Formation. Of the five great elders of Thunder Peak, only the chief elder, Mu Jinhong, managed to reach the Nascent Soul stage through the Divine Thunder Manual. The other four elders became Nascent Soul cultivators by practicing fire techniques.

Ji Mo, being a variant with twin thunder and fire supreme spiritual roots, might progress even faster. Lei Wei himself had taken three days to draw in spiritual energy—perhaps Ji Mo would need only a single day. The thought filled Lei Wei’s heart with expectation.

The next morning, as soon as Ji Mo awoke, Lei Wei appeared before her, scrutinizing her from head to toe. Seeing no visible change, he still couldn’t help but ask, "Mo girl, after practicing the Divine Thunder Manual last night, did you feel anything unusual?"

"Anything unusual? No," Ji Mo shook her head. She had spent most of the night following the introductory incantations of the Divine Thunder Manual, but felt nothing at all. Weariness finally overcame her, and she drifted into deep sleep. Given her usual laziness, if not for her genuine respect for Lei Wei as her master, she would never have been so diligent.

"Nothing? You didn’t feel the spiritual energy around you responding to your thoughts and breath, entering your body?" Lei Wei, worried she didn’t understand what he meant by ‘unusual’, explained further.

"Truly nothing," Ji Mo shook her head again.

"Impossible. With your constitution and talent, even if you couldn’t manage to draw in energy in one night, you should at least be able to sense it," Lei Wei’s brows furrowed.

"But master, I really didn’t feel anything," Ji Mo replied, bewildered.

"Very well, perhaps I’m too impatient. I’ll check on you in a couple of days. You must continue practicing diligently—do not slack off." Lei Wei gave her another look, realizing he shouldn’t press too hard lest he frighten her and achieve the opposite effect. With those words, he turned and left.

Two days later, while Ji Mo was munching on a platter of spiritual fruit, Lei Wei appeared before her once more. "Mo girl, how is it? Any unusual feelings after these days of practice?"

"None at all, master. I’ve been working hard, but I still don’t feel any energy entering my body." Ji Mo spoke while biting into a large peach.

"What? You still can’t sense even the slightest bit of spiritual energy?" Lei Wei’s brows knitted even tighter. He stared at Ji Mo for a long moment, then suddenly placed his hand on her forehead. A surge of pure thunder attribute spiritual power entered Ji Mo’s body, immediately becoming extremely active within her.