Chapter 526: Third-Tier Grand Formation, Thunderwave Tempest (II)

No, Aperture Opening has to continue. That's non-negotiable. With battles raging at the frontlines, the Four-Sect Alliance is constantly losing inner disciples and True Inheritors. The same is likely true for the Flame Alliance. Their remains will surely contain traces of Earth Fire Fiend Qi. Rather than wait until I return to Golden Sand Floating Island, it's better to buy some directly here on the battlefield.

With that thought settled, Luo Chen immediately summoned a Qi Refinement cultivator—the very same Bu Junjie who had once stood up to Qu Zhenbiao. He instructed him to go to the frontline encampments and make inquiries. If anyone had second-tier Earth Fire Fiend Qi, Luo Chen would buy it at a high price.

After Bu Junjie departed on his errand, Luo Chen suddenly found himself with nothing urgent to occupy his time. He took a slow walk around the encampment, inspecting the sentry posts and defensive formations before heading toward the Thunderstruck Tree grove where he had buried the Wandering Eighteen-Formation Disc.

The grove looked unremarkable at first glance. The short, charred trees appeared lifeless, their bark blackened and cracked. Yet those who understood cultivation materials would recognize their worth. These were second-tier Thunderstruck Trees—rare trees that naturally absorbed and stored traces of lightning. From time to time, faint sparks leapt across their branches, evidence of the lightning energy pulsing within.

After inspecting the formation disc, Luo Chen nodded with satisfaction. In just one month, he had spent thirty thousand low-grade and two hundred mid-grade spirit stones. The formation now shimmered with lightning, and it was almost fully charged. In another month or so, it will be ready for activation at any time. All that would be left was the right environmental trigger.

He knelt down and quietly replaced the shattered fragments of spent spirit stones with fresh ones, ensuring the formation's continued operation. Once the last stone was in place, he rose to leave.

Snap!

A bolt of lightning streaked down from the sky and struck a lone first-tier Thunderstruck Tree. The blast caused the small tree to tremble violently, half of its brittle branches shorn off by the force.

"It didn't catch on fire... Seems it gained some resistance after reaching the first tier," Luo Chen murmured, mildly impressed. He was about to walk away, but his feet halted on its own accord. A flicker of something in his peripheral vision had caught his attention.

He activated Spirit Eyes and locked onto the struck tree. Beneath the scorched bark, the wood's internal structure was hardening, strengthening. Threads of spirit energy began converging around it, and its aura slowly intensified. The tree was advancing to the second tier!

That single lightning strike had become its catalyst for transformation!

Lightning was a symbol of destruction and a herald of catastrophe. Yet everyone also knew that it symbolized rebirth and life. When spring lightning rolls, all life awakens; in the Five Elements, the eastern Zhen Trigram represented lightning and belonged to wood. Thus, the Azure Dragon of the East, associated with the star of Yi Wood, ruled over lightning and vitality.[1] Legends told of powerful ancient Physique Refinement cultivators who didn't just use fiend qi, but even went so far as to use lightning itself to forge their flesh. The principle behind this madness lay in this very aspect of lightning's nature—not destruction, but refinement.

I wonder if I can use this power too...

Luo Chen stood silently in the grove, watching the tree's slow evolution.

The night had deepened; the moon hung high and pale, while the occasional flash of silver lightning lit the darkness, outlining his figure in stark relief.

Suddenly, Luo Chen moved. Duan Feng and Xu Haizhen, who were keeping guard some distance away, looked up in alarm as Luo Chen extended his hand toward a little Thunderstruck Tree.

Crack! Crack!

Duan Feng's expression changed. "Does he even know any lightning cultivation method!? Facing lightning with just his body... Why is he being so reckless!?"

Before he could even get up, Luo Chen instantly stiffened, although for just a moment, before hesitantly lifting his hand and looking at his fingertip. A small black dot stood out starkly on the pad of his finger.

It... seems to be working?

Luo Chen lingered there for a moment, his mind still turning. Without quite realizing it, he repeated the experiment several more times, each result no different from the one before.

"What's wrong, President?" Xu Haizhen asked curiously.

Duan Feng, who had known Luo Chen long enough to read his silence, spoke before he could answer. "You're trying to use the lightning power stored in the Thunderstruck Tree for something, aren't you?"

Luo Chen nodded. "You artifact creators[2] have methods for channeling lightning, don't you?"

Duan Feng nodded in agreement. "Indeed. Artifact creation is a vast and intricate art. Most creators rely on fire to melt and shape metals, for which reason they're also called 'artifact forgers,' but some use methods that draw on flesh and blood or extract the soul. And at the highest level, they harness the forces of nature itself. There are legends of Nascent Soul cultivators who used the lightning tribulation during Divine Transformation to create True Artifacts. We ordinary artifact creators cannot attempt such feats, but we possess tools that let us capture and channel natural lightning."

True Artifacts existed above enchanted artifacts and enchanted treasures. They were not items that ordinary cultivators could ever hope to obtain. Even Nascent Soul Sages often struggled to acquire one. A True Artifact could only be born from a life-bound enchanted treasure that had evolved beyond its limits. To reach that stage, it had to endure a lightning tribulation before it could transcend into a True Artifact. Yet this tribulation in and of itself was practically a near-death experience; who would dare pay attention to upgrading an artifact during it?

Thus, many Sages and Divine Transformation cultivators began studying alternative ways to channel natural lightning into their refining process. Over time, those techniques matured and spread until even ordinary artifact creators without lightning spirit roots could harness lightning with the help of specialized tools.

"Do you have one of those tools?" Luo Chen asked.

Duan Feng nodded. "I have a lightning-channeling net, and I sometimes use it for my own creations. The artifact business hasn't been profitable lately, so it's just lying around. I can lend it to you."

As the old saying goes, man proposes but heaven disposes. The Luo Tian Society had once hoped to use the war as an opportunity to earn spirit stones through the Artifact Palace. But with Li Yingzhang severely wounded and Wang Yuan still missing, that plan had fallen apart. The situation worsened when they discovered that Golden Sand Floating Island was already monopolized by major factions. For a minor artifact creator like Duan Feng, there was no room to compete. He was still far too young to carve out a place for himself.

"Alright, thanks," Luo Chen replied.

He took the bluish-white metal net from Duan Feng and returned to his stone hut, lost in thought.

The next day, Luo Chen appeared once again in the Thunderstruck Tree grove. This spot had the highest concentration of lightning energy in their entire encampment. As before, he tried to draw lightning directly into his body. Each attempt ended the same way, leaving behind only shallow burns and minor injuries.

"Too weak," he muttered under his breath, and he activated the lightning-channeling net Duan Feng had given him.

Once it was charged with spirit power, the nearby Thunderstruck Trees flared to life. Arcs of silver-white lightning erupted from their branches and converged on the net, lashing toward Luo Chen in a violent surge. The next instant, his entire body trembled as lightning soared through his veins. Every muscle convulsed like the membrane of a drum struck by the mallet of the gods.

When the lightning finally dispersed, he exhaled slowly. A faint scent of charred flesh lingered in the air. He cast Heal and fell back into deep contemplation.

It's still not good. I don't have a lightning spirit root. I just can't control lightning. After each strike and recovery, my body does get a little stronger, but it's barely noticeable. This kind of progress takes too long and drains too much spirit energy. It's just not worth it.

He examined himself again, carefully tracing the flow of energy through his body. The lightning he had drawn in was far too wild for him to command. All he could manage was to let its power temper his flesh before using Heal to repair the damage. Repeating the process over and over would eventually make him a little stronger, but that was his limit.

What a shame. I thought I'd stumbled upon some amazing Physique Refinement method. But without a lightning spirit root, I can't even store the lightning energy in my meridians long enough to temper my body.

He packed away the lightning-channeling net, resigned to stopping for now. But just as he turned to leave, he froze mid-step.

I may be out of Earth Fire Fiend Qi, but the lightning here... much of it carries the Yi Wood attribute. If I can guide that into my body, could it serve to open my acupoints instead?

The Sky Roc Transformation had mentioned that its most potent cultivation path required the blood essence of three ancient beasts: the Lightning Roc, the Golden-Winged Roc, and the Sky Yang Roc. The latter two methods were incomplete, but the Lightning Roc's technique had been recorded in detail.

A flicker of realization crossed his mind.

My Aperture Opening method was partially inspired by the Sky Roc Transformation. If I tweak it just a little...

Luo Chen's pulse quickened. His lips curved into a faint smile as his gaze swept across the grove of Thunderstruck Tree. To him, this place was nothing less than a treasure trove! Its value lay not in the wood itself, but in the endless supply of accumulated non-violent lightning energy.

1. This passage draws from classical metaphysics, aligning the Zhen Trigram (震卦) the eastern trigram of lightning in the Bagua with the wood element in the Five Elements (五行) system. The Azure Dragon of the East (青龙), a celestial beast tied to spring and growth, is associated with 乙木 (Yi mu), and thus governs over both lightning and vitality. The "Yi Wood Star" referenced here is emblematic of renewal, electric force, and the cosmic resonance between heaven's motion and man's life essence. ☜

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

2. Hi everyone, the term "artifact forger" will be updated to "artifact creator." I'll post an announcement once everything is finalized. ☜