254: Chapter 254 The Way of Thunder

One month later.

Qianjiao Cliff Water Mansion, Quiet Room.

Gao De sat cross-legged on the Profound Ice Jade Couch, the Purple Gold Glazed Thunder Flame slowly circulating around his body, his aura steady and long.

After a month of bitter cultivation, his Physical Body's injuries were ninety percent healed. The broken bones were completely reconnected, the torn Meridians were all healed, and even that almost fatal crack in his Dantian was now just a faint white scar.

There was only one place that was difficult to recover.

The consumed Bloodline.

The price of using Dragon Blood Burning Essence at seventy percent was far heavier than he had imagined.

His Bloodline concentration had plummeted from 45% to less than 2%, meaning his current Dragon Clan Bloodline purity was not even as good as it was at the beginning of the Fourth Rank.

“The Fourth Rank Middle Stage Realm is still there, and my combat power hasn't decreased too much.” Gao De inspected his inner self and frowned slightly, “But my Foundation... is indeed damaged.”

Bloodline is the root of Yao Race Cultivators.

One can Cultivate their Realm, comprehend divine abilities, and refine Magical Artifacts, but the Bloodline alone—without the nourishment of Heaven And Earth Treasures or the tempering of long years—is extremely difficult to recover.

With his current 2% Bloodline concentration, let alone attacking the Fifth Rank, even wanting to return to 45% was not a task that could be achieved overnight.

He had already instructed Lin Xiaofan and Turtle Three Thousand to prepare more Dragon-Blooded Creatures, regardless of their rank.

“Fortunately, I know which path to take.”

He raised his hand, and a wisp of Purple Gold Glazed Thunder Flame appeared in his palm.

During this month, besides nursing his injuries, he was also doing another thing—

Comprehending the Dao of Thunder.

The "return void secret records" recorded that the power of the Great Dao is profound and mysterious.

It is not a Divine Ability, nor a Cultivation Technique, but a kind of "understanding" and "resonance" with the rules of heaven and earth.

A Divine Ability uses one's own power to trigger the power of heaven and earth.

But the Great Dao is "becoming one" with the power of heaven and earth.

The former is borrowing; the latter is merging.

“I have cultivated thunder techniques for many years, from the initial Purple Lightning Thunder Aura to the later Thunder Smite Spear and Violet Extreme Thunder Strike, and now the Purple Gold Glazed Thunder Flame...” Gao De said in a low voice, “These are all just divine abilities.”

“I am still one step away from the ‘Dao’.”

He closed his eyes, and his Divine Sense sank into his Dantian.

There, his Natal Dragon Pearl pulsed gently, emitting wisps of warm light.

Sealed within the Dragon Pearl were the Legacy fragments of the Dragon Lord of Dongting.

In those fragments, there were not only the secrets of the Fifth Rank but also—a faint, ethereal “Dao Charm”.

That was the “Dao of Water” that the Dragon Lord had cultivated during his lifetime.

The Dao of Water is also one of the three thousand Great Daos, standing alongside the Dao of Thunder and ranked among the Five Elements.

“The Dragon Lord cultivated Water, and I Cultivate Thunder.” Gao De murmured, “His Dao Charm is of no direct use to me. But the ‘method of comprehending the Dao’ contained within can be used as a reference.”

He concentrated, carefully sensing that wisp of Dao Charm.

It was a feeling that was hard to describe in words.

It was as if he were in the middle of a boundless ocean, where every drop of water resonated with him. It was also as if he had turned into a drop of water, merging into the ocean, indistinguishable from one another.

“Is this... becoming one with the Dao?”

Gao De was thoughtful.

He withdrew from his inner vision and looked at the lightning flames in his palm again.

Purple gold and glazed, fierce and brilliant.

He tried to “feel” the essence of these lightning flames—not as a power he had cultivated himself, but as the “thunder” that already existed between heaven and earth.

Where did it come from?

Why was it born?

Why was it supremely Yang and supremely unyielding?

Why could it break evil and slay demons?

What connection did it have with other Great Daos?

A series of questions flooded his mind, but there were no answers.

Gao De was silent for a long time.

Then, he opened his eyes and looked toward the door of the quiet room.

“Ao Xue.”

Outside the door, Ao Xue's voice sounded: “I am here.”

“Accompany me to a place.”

“Where?”

“The Gui Xu Eye.”

---

An hour later, at the edge of the Gui Xu Eye.

The gray-white mist still shrouded this land of dead silence. The light membrane that had shattered after being opened by the Three Keys had now re-condensed—although it was much weaker than before, it still emitted a faint blue light.

Gao De stood before the light membrane, gazing into the pitch-black abyss.

Ao Xue stood by his side, a hint of worry in her blood-colored eyes.

“Great King, your injuries haven't fully healed...”

“It’s fine.” Gao De said, “I’m not going in.”

He paused.

“I will comprehend the Dao right here.”

Ao Xue was stunned.

Gao De did not explain.

He simply sat down cross-legged, facing the Gui Xu Eye, and entered a state of meditative concentration.

Ao Xue was silent for a moment and did not press him.

She merely retreated thirty feet, sat cross-legged on the ground, and silently acted as his Protector.

---

Deep within the Gui Xu Eye, that Evil Dragon was suppressed.

It was an existence that had ravaged the human world countless years ago and was finally suppressed here by the combined efforts of the Dragon Clan. Although it had fallen, its residual thoughts had not completely dissipated, turning into those two clusters of eerie green flames dwelling within its skeletal remains.

What the Heavenly Demon Cult Master wanted was its power—the power of slaughter and resentment, which was also one of the Great Daos.

The Dao of Slaughter.

The Dao of Resentment.

That Evil Dragon had been a "practitioner" of these two Great Daos during its lifetime.

And at this moment, Gao De sat at the edge of the Gui Xu Eye, not for the Evil Dragon's Dao, but to—

Feel.

Feel the boundless, infinite "power of the Great Dao" permeating the abyss.

Not slaughter, not resentment, but the "Dao Charm" that had remained in the world for tens of thousands of years from that Evil Dragon, naturally emitted and resonating with heaven and earth.

Any Great Dao has its own aura.

The violence of the Dao of Slaughter, the coldness of the Dao of Resentment, the supreme Yang of the Dao of Thunder—these auras cannot be sensed by ordinary people, but if one deliberately tries to comprehend them, they can be faintly touched.

What Gao De wanted to do was to find that wisp of "resonance" on this land that had been tainted by the Evil Dragon's aura for tens of thousands of years.

Not to resonate with the Evil Dragon.

But with heaven and earth.

With thunder.

With that mysterious, omnipresent "Dao".

---

One day.

Two days.

Three days.

Gao De sat like a rock at the edge of the Gui Xu Eye, motionless.

The Purple Gold Glazed Thunder Flame burned quietly around him, neither increasing nor decreasing, neither flourishing nor fading, as if he too had become a stone, a stone burning with lightning flames.

Ao Xue guarded behind him, her blood-colored eyes always staring at that gray-white mist.

She didn't know what Gao De was doing.

But she knew this was his path.

She only needed to guard him and not let anything disturb him.

The fourth day.

The fifth day.

The sixth day.

The seventh day—

Gao De suddenly opened his eyes.

At that instant, the Purple Gold Glazed Thunder Flame around him suddenly surged!

It wasn't that it became stronger, but—it became "transparent."

It was as if the lightning flames were no longer his power, but the thunder that already existed between heaven and earth, merely manifesting through his body for a moment.

Ao Xue's pupils constricted.

She felt that at that moment, Gao De's aura... had changed.

It wasn't an increase in Realm.

But something deeper.

It was as if he were no longer a "Flood Dragon possessing thunder," but had become a part of "thunder itself."

But that feeling only lasted for a breath.

After a breath, the lightning flames returned to normal, and his aura returned to calmness.

Gao De stood up.

He turned and looked at Ao Xue.

In those eyes, the purple-gold glazed light flickered slightly, but there was a bit more of... something indefinable than before.

“Great King?” Ao Xue asked tentatively.

Gao De did not answer.

He simply raised his hand and made a light grasping motion toward a giant rock a hundred feet away.

Boom—!!!

A bolt of purple-gold thunder was born out of thin air, directly smashing that giant rock into powder!

Ao Xue was stunned.

It wasn't the power of this thunder that stunned her.

But—she hadn't sensed Gao De making a move at all.

There was no fluctuation of Demonic Power.

No rising Dragon Might.

No condensing of lightning flames.

It was just... a grasp.

And then the thunder appeared.

“This is...” Her voice trembled.

Gao De lowered his head, looking at his hand.

“The first wisp,” he said.

Ao Xue was startled.

“Power of the Great Dao?”

Gao De nodded.

“The Dao of Thunder, the first wisp.”

He paused.

“It is done.”

---

On the way back to Qianjiao Cliff, Ao Xue remained silent.

Only after entering the Water Mansion did she finally couldn't help but ask, “Great King, that move just now... I didn't sense your aura at all. How did you do it?”

Gao De pondered for a moment.

“It's hard to explain,” he said. “It's like... you were originally a part of the thunder. You don't need to ‘activate’ it; you just need to ‘think,’ and it comes on its own.”

“It's not ‘borrowing,’ it's ‘merging.’”

Ao Xue was thoughtful.

She had the Blood Dragon Bloodline in her body, and she didn't follow the path of comprehending the Dao, but the route of Innate Divine Beast Bloodlines. But Gao De's description still allowed her to vaguely understand something.

“Then what... is your Realm now?” she asked.

Gao De thought for a while.

“My Realm is still Fourth Rank Middle Stage. My Bloodline is also still 2%,” he said. “But my combat power... should be a notch stronger than before.”

He paused.

“Most importantly, I know how to walk the path ahead.”

“The first wisp of the Dao of Thunder is just the beginning. Next, I need to comprehend the second wisp, the third wisp... until seven wisps, or even a complete strand of the Great Dao.”

“With every additional wisp I comprehend, my strength will increase by one point, and my chances of breaking through to the Fifth Rank will also increase by one point.”

Ao Xue nodded and suddenly asked, “What about the Heavenly Demon Cult Master? Which path is he taking?”

Gao De's eyes narrowed slightly.

“He is taking the second path—refining the Origin,” he said. “What he wants is the Evil Dragon's power of slaughter and resentment, using that to break through to the Fifth Rank.”

“Once that path succeeds, he will be in the Fifth Rank. But he will also be the weakest Fifth Rank, and he will never be able to advance another inch for the rest of his life.”

“But he doesn't care,” Ao Xue said.

“Right. He doesn't care,” Gao De said. “He only wants the Breakthrough, the power, and to crush everything. As for what happens afterward, he doesn't consider it at all.”

He paused.

“So, we must beat him in terms of time.”

“Before he breaks through, I must comprehend at least three wisps of the Dao of Thunder.”

“With three wisps, I will have a fifty percent chance of fighting him.”

Ao Xue was silent for a moment and suddenly said, “Great King, there's something... I've always wanted to ask you.”

“Ask.”

“Why do you push yourself so hard?” Ao Xue's blood-colored eyes gazed at him. “Saving me in the Dragon Transformation Pool back then was pushing yourself. Later, the two-front war was pushing yourself. That battle at the Gui Xu Eye was even more of a push, to the point of burning out your Bloodline.”

“You clearly could have hidden, escaped, and waited until you were stronger before coming out.”

“Why must you...”

She didn't finish.

Gao De was silent for a long time.

Then, he said softly, “Because I want to transform into a Dragon.”

Ao Xue was stunned.

She understood what Gao De meant, but she heard a hint of... complexity in his tone.

Gao De did not explain.

He just looked out the window at Dongting Lake, where he had lived for hundreds of years.

“I was once a fish,” he said. “A fish hiding in the mud that didn't even dare to provoke a Second Rank Yao General.”

“At that time, I thought, if only I could transform into a flood dragon.”

“After transforming into a flood dragon, I thought, if only I could transform into a Dragon.”

“Later I found that transforming into a Dragon wasn't enough. There are still Fifth Rank and Sixth Rank in this world, and existences like Bai Ze and the Mysterious Tortoise that have lived for tens of thousands of years.”

“Then, at the Gui Xu Eye, I saw the Dragon Lord's Legacy.”

He paused.

“Do you know what the last thing the Dragon Lord carved before he died was?”

Ao Xue shook her head.

“‘I hope.’”

Gao De said, “Just those two words.”

“He waited for ten thousand years, waiting for a successor. He didn't know who that successor would be, he didn't know if he could wait long enough, and he didn't know if the one who came would be an evil demon.”

“But he still waited.”

“Just for those two words—I hope.”

He turned and looked at Ao Xue.

“I'm not doing this for some great righteousness, nor for the common people of the world.”

“I just feel that since I have this opportunity, since I've come to this step—”

“I should keep going.”

“To see what exactly is at the end.”

Ao Xue was silent for a long time.

Then, she nodded gently.

“I will accompany you,” she said.

---

Three days later.

Qianjiao Cliff, Water Mansion Quiet Room.

Gao De once again entered secluded cultivation here.

This time, it wasn't to nurse his injuries.

It was to comprehend the Dao.

The first wisp of the Dao of Thunder was complete; next was to comprehend the second wisp.

On the table lay three items.

A Jade Slip—an Incomplete Manual obtained from the Hundred Beasts Sect, recording some ancient thunder techniques.

A piece of Lightning-Struck Wood—picked up from the outskirts of that Fourth Rank Thunder Tiger's nest during the Ancient Thunder Pool phenomenon years ago, containing a wisp of heavenly thunder's resonance.

A Dragon Pearl—his own Natal Dragon Pearl, which contained the root of his thunder Bloodline.

Gao De took a deep breath.

He closed his eyes.

His Divine Sense sank into the Dragon Pearl.

This time, he wasn't comprehending the Dragon Lord's Legacy, but searching for that wisp of "Thunder Root" within his own Bloodline.

Where did the thunder come from?

From the first time he devoured a Thunder-attribute Yao Beast.

From the first time he triggered a Heavenly Tribulation.

From every time he fought, every time he broke through, and every time he hovered on the edge of life and death.

That was his path.

That was his Dao.

Outside the window, thunder rumbled faintly.

A rainstorm was coming.

Gao De opened his eyes and looked at the rolling dark clouds.

Suddenly, he smiled.

“The second wisp,” he said softly. “So you've been waiting for me all along.”

He raised his hand.

A bolt of purple-gold thunder crashed down from the Nine Heavens!

It wasn't something he had summoned.

It was himself.