34: Chapter 34 Heavenly Thunder Pearl

This process lasted for four days. Jiang Yan barely closed his eyes. When his Qi was exhausted, he would meditate to recover, and when his Divine Sense was fatigued to the limit, he would circulate the Taixu Nourishing Spirit Art to force himself to keep going.

Outside the cave, the waterfall roared day and night. Inside, there was only the faint sound of the furnace fire burning and the hissing of the meteorite iron under high heat.

Late in the night on the fourth day, the refining of the meteorite iron was complete.

Floating above Jiang Yan's palm was a fist-sized ball of pale purple metal—Iron Essence. It weighed less than one-tenth of the raw ore, but the power of thunder contained within it was several times more concentrated.

Tiny electric arcs occasionally flashed across the surface of the Iron Essence, flickering like fireflies in the dim cave.

On the other side floated the separately collected thunder particles—over a hundred of them. Each one was smaller than a needle tip, and gathered together, they looked like a miniature purple nebula.

He divided the Iron Essence into seven portions. Then, he picked up one portion and tossed it into the Artifact Refining furnace.

The Formation of the first bead embryo went very smoothly.

The spiritual fire inside the furnace melted the Iron Essence into a sphere the size of a dragon's eye. Jiang Yan's Divine Sense carved a compression Restriction and a detonation Restriction inside the embryo—he was already well-versed in these two Restrictions.

An hour later, the inscription of the Restrictions was complete.

Next was injecting the thunder particles. Using his Divine Sense, he wrapped three purple lights and carefully guided them toward the core node of the compression Restriction.

The first three were injected smoothly. The pale purple on the surface of the embryo deepened slightly, and faint electric arcs began to circulate inside.

When injecting the fourth one, his fingers paused—his Divine Sense perceived a tiny fluctuation in the compression Restriction, as if a harp string had been plucked.

He stopped to observe. After confirming the Restriction was stable, he hesitated for a moment and decided to inject one more.

Just as the fifth thunder particle was embedded into the node, a blinding purple light suddenly erupted from inside the embryo.

Jiang Yan's pupils constricted. Without hesitation, he threw the embryo toward the cave entrance. Simultaneously, his left hand crushed a protective jade talisman from his Storage Pouch, and his right hand activated a Golden Light Talisman he had just refined.

Two layers of shields overlapped in front of him—a milky white spiritual light barrier and a pale golden light film.

Boom—

The purple light exploded at the cave entrance. Countless tiny purple electric arcs crackled in the air, like dozens of electric snakes dancing wildly in the cave.

The roaring sound reverberated against the stone walls, making his eardrums ache.

The rock at the cave entrance, which had been washed by the waterfall for who knows how many years, was shattered into pieces, sending stone debris flying everywhere.

The protective jade talisman's spiritual light barrier vibrated violently, and spiderweb-like cracks appeared on its surface from a few stray electric arcs; the golden light film of the Golden Light Talisman also dimmed by thirty percent.

After the smoke and dust cleared, the cave walls were covered in radial scorch marks. Each one was the trajectory of an electric arc, with the longest nearly a zhang long.

Jiang Yan walked to the center of the explosion and squatted down, using his Divine Sense to carefully inspect the remnants of the Restriction fragments in the scorch marks.

The fragments were only the size of a grain of rice, but the remaining patterns were enough to analyze the cause of failure—the innermost layer of the compression Restriction could not withstand the energy pulse when the thunder particles were injected.

The solution was to add a buffer layer to the Restriction structure.

Jiang Yan adjusted the Restriction structure. He added a buffer Restriction between the compression Restriction and the detonation Restriction. The pattern was spiral-shaped and could absorb the pulse like a spring.

However, the modified circuit was nearly twice as complex as the original, and the difficulty of refining increased sharply as a result.

The subsequent refining was like walking on thin ice. The second and third ones were successful.

When injecting the thunder particles into the fourth one, signs of instability appeared again—the buffer Restriction was activated to its limit, and the patterns emitted a blinding purple light.

He immediately stopped the injection and withdrew three of the five injected thunder particles, and the embryo finally stabilized again.

The power of this heavenly thunder bead, with only two particles injected, was greatly reduced, but at least it wasn't ruined.

Starting from the fifth one, his feeling returned. That sensation was indescribable—the intuition of a quasi-fourth-rank Artifact Refiner from his past life allowed him to perceive the limit of the Restriction's endurance inside the embryo, as if the Materials were speaking to him, telling him how much more they could withstand.

He injected six particles into the fifth one and seven into the sixth—this was the theoretical limit of the current Restriction structure.

Six heavenly thunder beads floated above his palm, arranged in a ring.

Each one was the size of a dragon's eye, dark purple throughout, with tiny electric arcs faintly visible and circulating within the bead, like a miniature thunderstorm sealed in amber.

The shades of purple of the six beads were different; the more thunder particles injected, the deeper the color, and the denser the internal electric arcs. They were High Grade of the first rank.

Jiang Yan fell silent for a moment. In the world of cultivation, no Cultivator at the Late Stage of Qi Refining could withstand the power of a single heavenly thunder bead head-on.

However, it must hit within three zhang—beyond three zhang, the lethality of the electric arcs would decay sharply, and beyond five zhang, it would only serve as a distraction.

He placed the heavenly thunder beads in a position in his Storage Pouch where he could easily reach them.

The heavenly thunder beads and that Golden Gang Slash Talisman were his strongest trump cards at the moment, stronger than both his Flying Sword and Formation. But they were all one-time use items.

Every time he used one, he would have one less.

When the refining of the heavenly thunder beads was complete, it was raining outside the cave.

The volume of the waterfall was much larger than the previous days, and the water curtain poured down from the cave entrance, shrouding the mountain forest outside in a hazy curtain of rain.

The rain hit the rocks and leaves, making a dense pattering sound.

Jiang Yan put the Artifact Refining furnace into his Storage Pouch, sat cross-legged on the dry grass, and closed his eyes to regulate his breathing.

The Qi in his Meridians had been repeatedly consumed during the Artifact Refining process, and the dark golden vortex in his Dantian had faded slightly—this was a sign of Qi overdraft, and it would take at least two days to fully recover.

A few days ago, in the Jin Kingdom Imperial Palace, the meditation room of the guarding Cultivators.

When Sun Hao stepped into the meditation room, Cao Xiong was sitting cross-legged on a prayer mat, meditating, his breathing so long and steady that he seemed to be asleep.

Meng Tong was leaning against the wall with a pale golden Flying Sword resting across his knees, repeatedly wiping it with a piece of fine velvet cloth, making the Restriction patterns on the blade shine.

"There are results." Sun Hao placed the jade bottle on the table between the three of them.

Cao Xiong opened his eyes.

Sun Hao recounted the events at the River God Temple—the compass's tracking route, the ashes in the dilapidated temple, and the cold aura remaining in the ashes.

He spoke slowly, explaining every detail clearly, as if reporting on official business.

Cao Xiong picked up the jade bottle and pulled out the stopper.

A wisp of extremely faint aura spilled out from the bottle. His expression unchanged, he brought the jade bottle close to his nose to sniff it, then handed it to Meng Tong.

"It is indeed a Cultivation Technique of the Demonic Path." Cao Xiong's voice was unhurried. "This aura is cold and overbearing; it should be some kind of Cultivation Technique that centers on absorbing essence blood and Qi. Judging from the remnants in the ashes, the grade of the Cultivation Technique is not low, at least second rank or higher."

Meng Tong took the jade bottle and put it down after just one look. "Although Zhao Xuancheng is a piece of trash, he is at least at Qi Refining Stage 2. To be able to take him from the Marquis's Mansion without a sound, and then subdue and drain him in a dilapidated temple, the culprit is either at the Middle Stage of Qi Refining or possesses a powerful Magical Artifact."

He paused. "The possibility of it being a Late Stage of Qi Refining Cultivator is low—the essence blood of a Qi Refining Stage 2 Cultivator is of little use to a Late Stage Cultivator."

"If it is a Middle Stage of Qi Refining Cultivator," Sun Hao said, weighing his words, "it would be hard to predict the outcome if Senior Brother Meng and I were to encounter them. Only Senior Brother Cao could guarantee a win. The methods of Demonic Path Cultivators are strange; who knows what other tricks they have hidden."

Cao Xiong was silent for a while, then placed the jade bottle back on the table. "Report it to the Sect."

Meng Tong looked up.

"Discovering the trail of a Demonic Path Cultivator and determining their strength is a merit in itself."

Cao Xiong stood up and took out his Storage Pouch. "The Sect will naturally judge whether to send reinforcements. But regardless of whether the Sect sends people or not, we will investigate ourselves first. Make some noise—let that Demonic Path Cultivator know that we have set our sights on him, and let him reveal more flaws. Even if we can't catch him, as long as we clarify the situation, we will have an account to give when the people from the Sect arrive."

"I will go to the vicinity of the Marquis's Mansion." Meng Tong sheathed his Flying Sword. "Since that Demonic Path Cultivator has been to the Marquis's Mansion and acted at the River God Temple, it shows he is not unfamiliar with the Luoshui area. Perhaps he left other traces."

Sun Hao nodded. "I will continue to search along both banks of the Luoshui River. Senior Brother Cao, will you hold down the fort at the Imperial Palace?"

"Yes." Cao Xiong had already started walking out. "If there is any situation, use the Sound Transmission Talisman to contact me."

The three of them dispersed. The meditation room became quiet again, with only the jade bottle on the table still retaining a faint, lingering cold aura.