Martial Cultivator

Beneath that terrifying heavenly lightning, the common people had long since been scared out of their wits. Facing such a natural calamity, they knew they had no way to resist.

Waiting for death to arrive seemed to be the only thing they could do.

But this time, it was not so.

That snow-white true dragon moved through the sea of clouds, swallowing the bolt of heavenly lightning that would otherwise have fallen upon the human world.

The snow-white true dragon continued to roam within the clouds, roaring and bellowing in fury at the heavenly lightning above.

The people looked up at this scene, utterly shaken.

No one yet knew why that snow-white true dragon was doing this, but they could vaguely sense that at this moment, that true dragon had appeared for their sake.

Very soon, some of the people knelt down and began kowtowing without stop.

For a creature like a dragon, though they felt some fear, what they felt more was reassurance, because it was the most auspicious being passed down in their stories.

Those demons that drank blood and ate raw flesh were in no way comparable to this true dragon.

......

......

Although the first bolt of heavenly lightning had been swallowed directly by that true dragon, the pool of lightning in the sky did not disperse. After a brief pause, a second bolt of heavenly lightning gathered momentum once more. It paid no attention to that dragon, which was destined not to truly exist, and instead still aimed straight for Chen Chao.

A moment later, with a rumbling thunderclap, a bolt of lightning as thick as a thousand-year-old tree came crashing down from the sky!

That streak of lightning transformed into a ferocious thunder dragon, roaring as it charged downward. Along its path, the surrounding space began to warp, and the sea of clouds was torn open in an instant.

It was as if anything standing in front of that thunder dragon would be completely devoured by it, with no other possible outcome.

Yet the snow-white true dragon did not choose to evade in the face of such overwhelming might. Instead, it quickly charged forward to meet it.

The thunder dragon, crackling with purple arcs of electricity, and the snow-white true dragon became entangled in an instant. The snow-white dragon’s sharp claws quickly seized the thunder dragon’s body, but at the same time, arcs of lightning spread from the thunder dragon onto the snow-white dragon.

The snow-white true dragon let out a pained cry, but did not release its grip. Instead, it tore fiercely, ripping away large patches of the thunder dragon’s scales.

Those scales fell in clusters, crackling as they scattered within the clouds.

After that, the two dragons clashed and tore at each other within the cloud sea. Though neither was a real living creature, at this moment, as they fought, they formed a spectacle rarely seen in the world.

Terror and awe existed side by side.

Lu Ji frowned, tossing out the tea bowl in his hand to intercept those strands of lightning that might fall to the ground.

Those lightning strands posed little threat to ordinary cultivators, but they could easily kill common people.

This was what people meant by immortals fighting, and mortals suffering the consequences.

The weak have no ability to resist, but they should not have to die simply because they lack the power to resist.

The meaning of the strong has never been to bully the weak at will. Rather, it should be to protect the lives of the weaker members of their own kind, to spare them from calamity.

But this principle, many people do not understand it.

Or perhaps they understand, but disdain it.

Lu Ji looked at the lightning pool in the sky, his expression still grim. This was only the beginning, yet the scale was already so vast. If it continued, the situation would likely become impossible to control.

Lu Ji asked himself, though he had stepped into that realm long ago, he had never been skilled at fighting others, much less fighting the heavens.

If he were to face this tribulation himself, he would not be able to withstand it.

He could only hope that someone would come to help this young man, or that the young man could resolve it himself.

Relying on his old bones alone would not be enough.

......

......

Logically, once Lu Ji left his dream, it should have collapsed. But for some reason, not only had the dream not collapsed, it continued to persist.

Chen Chao walked above the sea of clouds and, in a place filled with brilliant golden light, saw that door.

The door was tightly shut, but strands of golden light seeped through the cracks, revealing its extraordinary nature.

Chen Chao walked up to the door and stopped. He could roughly guess what lay behind it. If he stepped through, he would become a cultivator of the Fuyun Realm.

So he stood before the door, reached out, pressed his hand against it, and pushed with force.

The door opened in radiant brilliance. Endless golden light burst forth, seeming to envelop his entire body.

At that moment, his whole body seemed to be coated in a layer of golden radiance, except for his eyes.

Chen Chao’s eyes were incomparably bright, and incomparably clear.

One of his feet had already stepped into the doorway, but at this moment, he withdrew that foot, then pulled the door back and closed it.

The golden light dissipated, as if everything had returned to how it was before.

If it were anyone else in Chen Chao’s position, they would not be able to understand why he did this. After all, beyond that door lay the Fuyun Realm, a realm all cultivators in the world longed for.

In the records of history, those who had reached this realm were exceedingly few.

No one would give up such an opportunity. No one would see such a chance and not seize it.

But Chen Chao seemed different from everyone else in the world.

Even when an immortal medicine had been placed before him, which he could have eaten to reach such a realm, he had resisted. Now that the same opportunity appeared again, how could he fail to restrain himself?

He turned and began to walk down from the sea of clouds, returning once more to the front of that great hall.

The court officials of Great Liang had already left. At this moment, only that young, valiant emperor stood there with his hands behind his back.

He was the founding emperor of Great Liang, the one who established the warden system. During his reign, the Northern Frontier Great Wall began to be built. It could be said that this emperor truly laid the foundation for everything in Great Liang.

But in truth, the most important thing he left behind for later generations was his unyielding will.

From him onward, the emperors of Great Liang all possessed such an unyielding will.

”What is in the heavens?”

The young emperor suddenly spoke, yet clearly, there was no one else around him.

Chen Chao glanced at the young emperor and quickly determined that he was speaking to him. He was somewhat surprised, but the feeling soon faded. Smiling, he said, “There’s a door in the sky. After entering it, it seems one can become a bit stronger.”

The young emperor asked, “Then why not go in?”

Chen Chao said, “It just feels like it shouldn’t be done this way. Although I do want to become stronger, this way won’t do.”

The young emperor laughed. “Your temperament is quite like Our. Our empress is always saying We are like a stone in a latrine pit, smelly and stubborn.”

Chen Chao said, “Scholars have a saying: a gentleman has things he does and things he does not do.”

“Studied a lot of books?”

The young emperor smiled as he looked into the distance and said with some emotion, “In this life, We never really read much. We only ever thought about how to kill people.”

Chen Chao shook his head. “I haven’t read much either, but the girl I like has read quite a lot.”

The young emperor turned his head to look at Chen Chao, his expression somewhat strange. Only after a while did he click his tongue and say, “You must really like that girl, to bring her up at every turn.”

Chen Chao said somewhat awkwardly, “I haven’t seen her for a long time.”

The young emperor smiled and said nothing.

They were men of about the same age. Those thoughts were more or less the same; in truth, everyone understood them clearly.

______