15: Chapter 15 Cultivating the Thunderclap Breaking Illusion Fist: The Beginner's Guide

The lingering resonance of Thunder Power surging through his Meridians had not yet dissipated, and the value of "Early Bloom Mid-stage · 30%" on the power measurement device was pulsing steadily.

Zhang Wen exhaled a breath of stale air tinged with pale purple lightning, feeling as if his entire Meridians had been soaked in warm water; he felt so comfortable he wanted to stretch. The efficacy of the three Thunder Gathering Pills far exceeded expectations, not only allowing him to stably achieve a Breakthrough in his Realm, but also causing the Nine Heavens Tribulation Thunder within his body to restrain some of its ferocity.

He casually wiped the fine sweat from his forehead, his gaze falling on the thread-bound book with a deep blue cover on the sofa.

He had been so focused on the Breakthrough just now that he had forgotten about this main event.

He held the "Rushing Thunder Delusion Breaking Fist" in his hands; although the pages were slightly curled from previous collisions, it did not in the slightest affect the sharpness of the five gold-stamped characters on the cover.

Zhang Wen sat cross-legged back in the center of the Spirit Gathering Formation Plate. As his fingertips brushed over the title page, he could clearly feel the lightning-attribute spiritual power contained within the pages—this was clearly a unique copy transcribed using thunder silk mixed with cinnabar, with every character seeming to store a miniature Startling Thunder.

He took a deep breath and opened the first page.

The opening was a diagram of human Meridians, with dense red dots distributed along the Meridians of the arm, annotated in small script on the side: "The first form, 'Startling Thunder Arises', requires guiding Thunder Power to gather in the center of the fist. When the Meridians resonate, throw the punch, with force penetrating three inches to break through delusions and reveal the true form."

"Break through delusions?" Zhang Wen raised an eyebrow, recalling the sea of Chaos lightning when he had his Awakening of talent, and his fingertips clenched subconsciously.

He tried to follow the diagram, guiding the newly stabilized Thunder Power to gather in the center of his right fist—at first, there was only a slight tingling sensation, but a moment later, a mass of pale purple Lightning Radiance rose on his fist, crackling and popping.

The patterns on the Spirit Gathering Formation Plate were illuminated by the Lightning Radiance, and the power measurement device emitted a slight hum.

Zhang Wen stared at the leaping Lightning Radiance in the center of his fist, a smile curling on his lips: "Then let's start with 'Startling Thunder Arises' and see just how powerful this S-rank Cultivation Technique really is."

The Lightning Radiance on the Spirit Gathering Formation Plate flickered, and Zhang Wen retracted his fist and stood still, fine beads of sweat seeping from his forehead.

He stared at his right hand—just now, he had clearly followed the diagram to guide the Thunder Power to the center of his fist, but just as he threw the punch, the Lightning Radiance exploded like a wild horse breaking its reins. Not only did it fail to produce the condensed force that 'Startling Thunder Arises' should have, but it instead made his fingertips go numb from the shock.

"Tsk, it's really not that easy." Zhang Wen rubbed his aching wrist, his brows knitting into a knot.

Counting from his Breakthrough to the Early Bloom Mid-stage, he had been pondering the "Rushing Thunder Delusion Breaking Fist" for nearly two hours, but he simply hadn't been able to cross the threshold for entering the first form, "Startling Thunder Arises".

If he gathered a little too much Thunder Power in the center of his fist, it would lose control; if he gathered too little, it wouldn't meet the requirement of "penetrating three inches," which was even more agonizing than solving the hardest math problems.

He slumped on the sofa, flipping through the pages and sighing: "An S-rank Cultivation Technique is indeed S-rank... to be stuck so firmly just at the entry level."

Just as he was feeling irritable, his gaze swept over the schoolbag on the coffee table, and suddenly he let out an "Ah!" and slapped his thigh.

How could he have forgotten about this!

With a thought, the semi-transparent System panel unfolded before his eyes. Zhang Wen's fingertips tapped on the "Backpack" column—inside, a small card emitting white light lay quietly, with the words written clearly on it: [Skill Proficiency +50 (Limited to Lightning-attribute Cultivation Techniques)].

This was a reward from the "Newbie Task" issued by the System last week. At the time, he thought this thing was useless—after all, back then he didn't even have a decent Cultivation Technique, so where would he use Proficiency?

He didn't expect it to come in handy right now!

Zhang Wen grabbed the card, looked at the "+50" on it, and suddenly couldn't help but laugh foolishly.

He tapped his finger on the panel and selected "Use," and the card turned into a beam of white light that merged into the pages of the "Rushing Thunder Delusion Breaking Fist."

Almost simultaneously, a stream of information suddenly poured into Zhang Wen's brain—it was the details of how to exert force for "Startling Thunder Arises": the angle of the Thunder Power flowing through the Meridians, the coordination of the shoulders and hips when throwing the punch, and even the rhythm of his breathing were all crystal clear, as if an invisible teacher was teaching him hand-in-hand by his ear.

He stood up abruptly and once again guided the Thunder Power to gather in the center of his fist.

This time, the Lightning Radiance on his fist was astonishingly stable, and the pale purple electric arcs no longer darted around, but instead condensed along his knuckles into a sharp blade of light.

"This is the feeling!" Zhang Wen let out a low shout and threw the punch according to the guidance in his mind—

"Hiss!"

The wind of the punch swept through the air, actually bringing out a faint sound of thunder.

Zhang Wen looked at his fist, stunned for two seconds, then laughed even more happily: "This 'Startling Thunder Arises' can be considered entered; the System truly does not deceive me... These 50 points of Proficiency came at just the right time!"

Zhang Wen retracted his punch stance, watching the Lightning Radiance in his palm gradually calm down, feeling as secure as if he were holding a piece of warm jade.

After using the Proficiency card just now, he could already control "Startling Thunder Arises" freely. When he threw the punch, the Lightning Radiance condensed without dispersing, and the faint thunder wrapped in the wind of the punch made people tremble just by listening to it.

However, when he flipped to the middle pages of the "Rushing Thunder Delusion Breaking Fist," his eyes sank—the second form, "Thunder Net Locking Truth," required splitting the Thunder Power into hundreds of fine streams, weaving a lightning array around his body like a net, which required extremely high precision control of the Thunder Power; the third form, "Ten Thousand Thunders Return to the Void," was even more ruthless, requiring the compression of scattered Thunder Power into a single point before exploding it violently. Just thinking about the pressure that would tear his Meridians, he knew it was not something he could handle at the current Early Bloom Mid-stage.

"I probably need to reach the Early Bloom Late Stage and widen my Meridians a bit more before I can touch these two forms." Zhang Wen closed the book, not in a hurry.

Cultivation was not something that could be achieved overnight; being able to master "Startling Thunder Arises" was already much better than expected.

He moved his shoulders, feeling the warmth of the Thunder Qi roaming under his skin—that was the lingering resonance of the "Indestructible Thunder Body."

This SSS-rank Body Tempering Cultivation Technique, after being repeatedly tempered by Thunder Power, could now not only withstand ordinary attacks but also reflect faint lightning upon contact, which was practically like having built-in thorns armor.

Thinking of this, Zhang Wen couldn't help but laugh.

For offense, he had the S-rank lightning-attribute Cultivation Technique "Rushing Thunder Delusion Breaking Fist," where a single punch could explode with Startling Thunder; for defense, he had the SSS-rank "Indestructible Thunder Body," with Thunder Qi protecting his body comparable to a Golden Bell Shield.

Combining these two offensive and defensive aspects, plus his own SSS-rank talent, the Nine Heavens Tribulation Thunder, it was as if the words "Invincible at the same Realm" were welded onto him.

He walked to the power measurement device and tried to throw a punch simulating actual combat.

The Lightning Radiance of "Startling Thunder Arises" hit the instrument's screen, and a line of data instantly popped up: "Attack Power: Forming Realm Early Stage Peak."

"Not bad, not bad." Zhang Wen stroked his chin, his eyes flashing with light.

Now, let alone encountering a bag snatcher like the one from before, even if he ran into an ability user of the Forming Realm, he would have the confidence to take a few moves.

The sky outside the window was gradually darkening, and the Spirit Gathering Formation in the cultivation room was still humming.

Zhang Wen packed up his things and carefully stuffed the "Rushing Thunder Delusion Breaking Fist" into his schoolbag—with these two Cultivation Techniques on him, every step he took in the future should be much steadier than before.