Chapter 114: Clouds and Thunder

Inside the new camp.

After detecting someone spying and chasing them, killing the Black Crow Taoist, Wu Ming and others immediately changed their position.

The place they had chosen now was a steep cave, damp and cool inside. However, for these people, having a place to shelter from the wind and rain was already quite good.

Puff!

A point of light flashed and vanished. Beside him, Li Suihan’s face was gloomy: “The spell formation I set up has been destroyed. It seems those people have already found our old camp…”

He glanced at Wu Ming and Gong Yunshang beside him, his face full of unwillingness: “Why don’t we set up a trap to ambush them by surprise?”

“Brother Li, don’t be hasty. Don’t forget our mission!”

Xu Ziquan, seeing the gains of Wu Ming and Gong Yunshang beside him, had a trace of envy in his eyes. He then said: “What we are here for is still to cooperate with the righteous sects, to destroy the node of the grand formation at Yellow Wind Cave. This concerns the success or failure of the main task. Other things are trivial. We must above all preserve our strength…”

“Huh?”

Wu Ming was unscrupulously handling the corpses of three spirit birds. At this moment, he touched the belly of the golden-crowned crow, his fingernail flicked like a steel knife, slicing open the abdomen and digging out a blood-dripping pearl.

The pearl was the size of a longan, exuding a faint heat and even a wisp of electric light, prompting Gong Yunshang to exclaim: “A demon core?!”

At this, Xu Ziquan and Li Suihan beside her could barely suppress their jealousy.

“It should be…”

Wu Ming’s face also showed a trace of joy.

After all, he had only intended to take the bones, flesh, and blood of these three thunderfire crows—creatures imbued with thunder attributes—to refine into medicine and absorb a trace of their thunder power.

But now, obtaining a demon core likely of thunder nature was a pleasant surprise.

Holding the demon core, Wu Ming was filled with emotion: “I’ve seen many demons, even a senior-level fox demon from Nan Mountain, but none had demon cores. Yet this crow, a minor demon, actually had one. It seems the probability of demon cores appearing really depends on luck…”

Seeing the jealousy on Xu Ziquan and Li Suihan’s faces almost turning into flames, he sneered: “This demon core is naturally mine. Do either of you friends have any objections?”

A killing aura rose from him, making everyone in the cave shudder inwardly.

“This is naturally the spoils of battle for Daoist Brother Wu Ming. How could I possibly object?”

Gong Yunshang smiled slightly and edged closer to Wu Ming, making her choice through action.

“Hmph! Do you think we are such people?”

Seeing this, Xu Ziquan and Li Suihan snorted, both saying.

Actually, if Xu Ziquan hadn’t seen Wu Ming’s prowess in the Netherworld and if there weren’t the major enemy, the Blood Oath Alliance, for this mission, something unpleasant might have already happened.

Wu Ming was well aware of this and thus resolutely displayed his strength.

He did not expose them now, carefully wiping the demon core, revealing a dark red color like flesh, faintly tinged with blue.

Seeing this, Gong Yunshang immediately congratulated him: “Congratulations, Daoist Brother. This is a thunder-attribute demon core. If sealed now to preserve its spiritual energy, with a few more spirit herbs, it can surely be refined into a superior pill…”

“Indeed, but where is there time now? With a major battle imminent, even if some is wasted, we can’t help it…”

Wu Ming shook his head and suddenly opened his mouth, swallowing the demon core in one go.

“Waste! What a waste!”

The three beside him watched in anguish, while Wu Ming leaned against the wall, his body emitting streaks of electric light as he refined the thunder power within the demon core.

Swallowing the demon core directly would waste several portions of its essence, but Wu Ming had no choice but to enhance his strength now.

“This Wu Ming is indeed daring!”

Xu Ziquan was getting restless again, but seeing Gong Yunshang guarding Wu Ming beside him, he shuddered inwardly: “How do I know this isn’t a trap to lure me into action?”

Seeing Li Suihan glance over similarly, their eyes conveyed the same message: “You try first?”

They exchanged a scornful look and each sat cross-legged, closing their eyes to meditate.

“Heh! Indeed too cautious, lacking the courage to take a risk!”

Wu Ming naturally would not be so arrogant. In fact, as soon as the demon core entered his belly, it was wrapped in a layer of spiritual power. At this moment, he was waiting for Xu Ziquan and the others to attack so he could strike back with thunderous force.

Otherwise, facing a major enemy like the Blood Oath Alliance, if their own faction split internally and schemed against each other, how could they succeed?

This operation, he had estimated with 60 to 70 percent certainty that these two would be wary of each other, each wanting the other to test first, and thus would not dare to act.

Now seeing the situation unfold thus, he gave them the mental label of “hesitant and indecisive,” while his internal spiritual power dispersed directly.

Streaks of electric light surged forth, shattering the demon core and rapidly digesting it.

Thanks to his cultivation of the “Yellow Court Yin Fu Jing,” Wu Ming had precise control over his spiritual power, which was why he dared to act so boldly in front of these people.

Peng!

In the dantian, the demon core instantly disintegrated, releasing thunder light and faint threads of black qi.

This black energy was the demonic aura of the Thunderfire Crow, infused with abundant vital essence. While absorbing it could boost spiritual power, it would also leave behind latent dangers.

Wu Ming naturally wouldn’t be so foolish. Streams of electric light from the Five Thunder Palm technique surged forth, shattering and destroying all the black qi.

Thus, nearly 90 percent of the demon core’s essence was lost. If outsiders knew this, they would surely curse Wu Ming as a wastrel.

“If I were really cultivating, I have better options. The true value of this demon core for me is just the bit of thunder power within, which can enhance my Five Thunder Palm technique!”

The Five Thunder Palm technique was a spoil from Yu Shaojun, combining martial and spiritual cultivation, with great destructive power, perfectly suiting Wu Ming’s tastes, divided into five levels: Heaven, Earth, Cloud, Water, and Constellation.

The Water and Constellation Thunder levels were still mundane martial arts, at most adding a bit of thunder attribute to palm techniques.

But reaching the Cloud Thunder level, one would form cloud-script thunder talismans in the cultivator’s spiritual sea, greatly increasing power, merging martial arts with cultivation, forming true thunder techniques! It was extremely important!

However, to reach this step, one must channel thunder power to temper the body, which was quite troublesome.

According to the technique’s instructions, one must scale towering mountains on stormy nights and channel lightning through their body—a near-suicidal endeavor. Wu Ming evaluated his own fortune and opted instead to focus on preparing to trade for thunder-attributed treasures from the main deity’s hall, allowing him to extract thunder essence directly.

Although this method would definitely not be as effective as natural thunder, carrying the majestic and solemn power, it was barely sufficient.

Unfortunately, his merits were insufficient to even exchange for a single Thunder Pill. This demon core arrived at just the right time!

“Thunder is the pivot of Yin and Yang, originating from the Five Elements yet transcending them. It is truly the ultimate force of destruction!”

When the demon core was mostly destroyed, a thread of cyan glow emerged, containing the power of thunder’s birth and death.

Thunder governed life and death, thus possessing the power of creation and destruction, harmonizing with the transformations of Yin and Yang!

Regarding understanding of thunder, Wu Ming was far superior to local Taoists. After all, in his previous life, it was nearly a consensus that life originated from thunder, while local Taoists only saw thunder as a destructive force.

At this moment, his insight was high-level, changing the situation entirely.

Strands of spiritual power continuously entwined, channeling the thunder’s power, which then dispersed into every part of his body.

“Five Thunder Palm technique! I’ve been stuck at the Water Thunder level for long. Now is the perfect time to break through!”

Feeling a surge in his thunder power, electric light flashed in Wu Ming’s eyes.

Almost instantly, the last bit of thunder power from the demon core was drawn out, merging with the electric light throughout his body, rushing into his spiritual sea.

Inside the chaotic spiritual sea, a white light shone at the center, floating with several talismans.

How vast was a person’s spiritual sea? Most of it was dark and chaotic, with only the area illuminated by light being usable.

Boom!

At this moment, electric light surged in, generating several thunderbolts, continuously striking the surrounding chaos, expanding the boundaries of the spiritual sea.

In an instant, the entire spiritual sea brightened and expanded, doubling in size compared to before.

However, at this moment, this was not the main focus.

“Five Thunder True Talisman, condense!”

Inside the spiritual sea, Wu Ming focused most of his attention, using his spiritual sense as a brush and electric light as ink, beginning to sketch an unusual talisman.

This talisman seemed composed of many thunderbolts, emitting white light, octagonal with rays extending from its corners. The strokes in the middle continuously moved, appearing three-dimensional rather than flat, each layer exuding immense majesty.

Despite Wu Ming’s strong spiritual power and broad knowledge, sketching this talisman still consumed a great deal of effort.

Finally, as the last thread of electric light was about to vanish, the final stroke of the talisman was firmly drawn.

Boom!

Almost instantly, the cyan-white Five Thunder Talisman arrived at the center of the spiritual sea, pushing the original Five Elements techniques and several minor spells’ talismans to the periphery.

“It seems this palm technique indeed has great potential, almost suitable as a primary cultivation method… Unfortunately, I already have the Yin Fu Jing!”

Although this talisman occupied the center, the central position was already occupied by a faint talismanic shadow.

Though extremely faint, resembling a dragon or snake, with swirling clouds, carrying a vague aura, it was the orthodox talisman of the “Yellow Court Yin Fu Jing.”

“One is a Dao technique, the other a Dao spell; I’m not so foolish to reverse the order…”

Although the thunder spell was powerful, it had limitations, at most reaching the human immortal level. Wu Ming naturally wouldn’t be foolish enough to focus on it.

“But now that the cloud-script thunder talisman is formed, the Five Thunder Palm technique has finally merged martial arts with cultivation. Perhaps now it can be called the ‘Five Thunder Spell Technique’?”

Wu Ming’s expression was somewhat exhilarated.

A cultivator’s spellcasting relies on the true talisman seeds within the spiritual sea. Once the cloud-script thunder talisman was formed, it signified not only the complete mastery of this technique but also a significant increase in power, even allowing direct expenditure of spiritual power to draw “Five Thunder Talismans” and inscribe thunder-attribute magical artifacts.