Cultivation Begins with Daily Intelligence Reports

42: The power of the Thunder Fiend TalismanThe cave was not deep, and the embers of the bonfire struggled with their last bit of dark red, casting Chen Biao, the Grand-Uncle’s waxen, gold-paper-like face in flickering light and shadow.

He sat cross-legged by the fire, his breathing like a broken bellows, every breath pulling at the tearing pain in his lungs and viscera.

The black, congealed blood foam at the corners of his mouth was a hideous mark left by his forced suppression of a backlash and the excessive activation of a secret technique.

Several empty Medicinal Pill bottles rolled to his feet, the lingering medicinal scent at their openings mixing with the heavy smell of blood, permeating the damp air.

His withered claws tightly gripped a Low-Grade Spirit Stone, his knuckles turning white from excessive force as he desperately squeezed out its thin Spiritual Qi.

Every time spiritual power surged into his parched Meridians, it brought a sharp, knife-like pain.

”Cough... Pfft!” Another mouthful of filthy blood sprayed onto the scorched earth in front of him, splashing spots of bloody red.

His eyes were intertwined with bone-deep fear, monstrous resentment, and a trace of pathological greed.

”Damn it... old dog Lin Chengyuan... not only did he refuse to give me the Medicinal Pill because the mission wasn’t completed, but he also struck me with a palm, causing my hard-stabilized injuries to flare up again.”

His hoarse voice sounded like sandpaper rubbing together, filled with unwillingness and hatred.

”Not only did he take those fifty Spirit Stones, but he also forced me to empty my savings to buy his Spirit Medicine... over a hundred Spirit Stones!” He gritted his teeth until they clattered, a fierce light flickering in his eyes, ”Just you wait... once my injuries heal...”

”First, return to the Black Wind Stockade!” His eyes suddenly became as sinister as a viper’s, ”If that brat can get fifty Spirit Stones in a few days, he must have some heaven-defying secret or precious treasure on him!”

”It will be enough to hire a Hall Master at the Late Stage Qi Refining to take action and descend upon the Lin family... that old dog Lin Chengyuan must die too!”

His cracked lips licked his blood-stained teeth, making a hair-raising ”hissing” sound,

”...With interest, I will collect it back with my own hands! I’ll extract the souls and refine the spirits of the men, and as for the women...”

After venting his malice, he tremblingly swallowed another Medicinal Pill as scarlet as blood.

The medicinal power dissolved, and a violent, hot current instantly surged into his limbs and bones.

An abnormal flush surged onto his face, like the final flare of a dying light.

His disordered aura seemed to be forcibly suppressed by this brute force, calming down just a little.

He dared not slack off and immediately closed his eyes to regulate his breath; his withered chest rose and fell weakly, and the light of the Spirit Stone in his withered claw grew dimmer.

Above the cave entrance, behind a jagged boulder covered in moss.

Lin Jingyu was like the most patient gecko, pressed tightly against the cold stone wall, his aura merging with the mountain rock, the Evergreen Art running to its limit.

His five senses were heightened to the extreme; Chen Biao, the Grand-Uncle’s cow-like heavy breathing inside the cave, the bitter scent of the Medicinal Pill, the faint humming of the Spirit Stone being drained, and even the viscous sensation of blood flowing through the other’s damaged Meridians... were all clearly audible.

The despair, resentment, and greed permeating the air were like tangible poisonous fog.

”Completely unguarded... heavily injured... unable to even maintain basic protective spiritual power.” Lin Jingyu whispered in his heart, his killing intent congealing like ice, while a fire that could burn the heavens ignited deep in his eyes.

”You piece of trash, to actually threaten this young master time and again, damn your ancestors to the eighth generation, today is the time for you, this villain, to be executed!”

He did not hesitate any longer, his dormant body like a taut bowstring.

He pressed his right middle and index fingers together, clamping down like iron pliers on that small thunder fiend talisman, which was flowing with deep purple light and had thunder patterns moving across its surface!

An ice-cold, bone-piercing aura of destruction spread along his fingertips, causing his Divine Soul to tremble slightly, as if he were holding a ball of Nine Heavens thunder about to explode!

His left hand flashed into his bosom, tightly gripping two Low-Grade Spirit Stones, ready to strike.

Spiritual power, like a breached flood, surged madly into the thunder fiend talisman!

Upon contact, Lin Jingyu felt as if he had instantly become a funnel gripped by an invisible giant hand!

The spiritual power in his Dantian and Qi Sea, which was not very full to begin with, was greedily and tyrannically drained dry by the thunder fiend talisman, like water released from a dam!

His Meridians felt a tearing pain, as if countless steel needles were stabbing into them!

The Spiritual Qi in the two Spirit Stones was extracted crazily, emitting an overwhelmed ”humming” moan, and the spiritual light on their surfaces dimmed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

”Crackle! Hiss—”

A blinding purple lightning light erupted suddenly!

Countless tiny electric arcs, like living purple vipers, instantly coiled around Lin Jingyu’s arm and ran wildly over his entire body!

His entire body was wrapped in a ball of violently leaping purple light, radiating an aura of destruction!

The majestic heavenly might mixed with bone-piercing Evil Qi descended with a bang; the surrounding air was ionized, emitting a ”sizzling” strange sound, and a faint smell of burning permeated the air.

The terrifying pressure, like an invisible mountain, pressed down so hard that the rubble at the cave entrance fell with a rustle!

”Pop! Pop!”

With two crisp sounds like shattering glass, the two Low-Grade Spirit Stones in his hand completely turned into powder and drifted away with the wind.

The spiritual power in Lin Jingyu’s body was drained until not a drop remained; his Meridians were empty and stinging, his Dantian was withered and felt like it was about to split, his vision went black, and he almost collapsed to the ground.

Just at the moment he was about to be drained into a dried corpse, the greedy thunder fiend talisman reluctantly and actively severed its connection to his spiritual power!

”Hum!”

The thunder fiend talisman broke free from his control, floating in mid-air, its purple light shining brightly!

Countless dense purple lightning snakes danced and hissed, illuminating the dim cave as if it were daylight!

The destructive aura climbed step by step, the air was distorted, emitting an overwhelmed groan!

The entire cave seemed to have turned into a cage of thunder!

”Who is it?”

A deadly sense of crisis, like ice water poured over his head, instantly awakened Chen Biao, the Grand-Uncle from his healing state!

He opened his eyes in horror, forcibly interrupting his Cultivation Technique; his internal spiritual power surged backwards, his throat felt sweet, and another mouthful of blood surged up, which he swallowed down hard!

What met his eyes was a boundless, violently raging Sea of Thunder radiating an apocalyptic aura!

In the center of the Sea of Thunder, that floating Talisman, like a Lord of Thunder wielding heavenly punishment, radiated a majestic heavenly might a hundred times more terrifying than the talisman treasure that had loomed over him that day!

”Lin Jingyu? Little Bastard! How did you find this place, and how do you have such a Talisman?” His eyes were split, his eyeballs instantly bloodshot, and he let out a desperate and twisted roar!

The coldness of death instantly gripped his heart, freezing all his vicious schemes and greedy ambitions into ice.

Chen Biao, the Grand-Uncle wanted to struggle, wanted to sacrifice a Magical Artifact, wanted to perform a secret technique, but with his heavily injured body and his mind seized by terror, his movements were more than a beat too slow!

”Sending you on your way! Die, you beast!” Lin Jingyu’s roar exploded amidst the thunder, filled with absolute determination and the pleasure of revenge!

He pressed his fingers together like a sword, using his last bit of strength to fiercely point at the core of the floating thunder fiend talisman.

The moment his fingertips touched the Talisman, space seemed to solidify for an instant, and time stood still!

”Boom-crack—!”

A deep purple bolt of lightning, condensed to the extreme, only the thickness of a teacup but radiating an apocalyptic aura, was like a spear of judgment from the Nine Heavens!

It tore through the air, pierced through the gloom, carrying the majestic heavenly might and bone-piercing Evil Qi that could annihilate all things!

At a speed that exceeded the limits of vision, it blasted toward Chen Biao, the Grand-Uncle’s face, which was twisted and deformed by extreme fear and written with disbelief!