80: Thunder Body Refining

“Excellent! I can rest assured then!”

Gu Chang was quite relieved about Ma An, the Divine Martial Forbidden Army Commander. Ma An was a soldier he had personally cultivated, having followed him in Cultivating since they were in Da Wu Mountain.

After pacifying the world, Gu Chang even heavily invested in Ma An's development, enabling him to Breakthrough to the highest level of Martial Dao in this world, becoming an extremely rare Refining Spirit Expert.

It could be said that to Ma An, Gu Chang was his Master and liege, an object of lifelong loyalty.

After saying this, Gu Chang directly walked into the Heavenly Thunder Hall. The main structure of the Heavenly Thunder Hall was made of metal, including precious gold and silver, but the style was relatively rough, primarily emphasizing sturdiness and durability, and that it wouldn't catch fire!

“Hoo~ Haa~”

At the center of the Heavenly Thunder Hall was a stone platform specifically for Cultivating, connected to a metal lightning rod above and a metal floor below. It could disperse the power of the Heavenly Thunder while also strengthening the body.

After sitting cross-legged on this stone platform, Gu Chang immediately began to breathe in and out, continuously circulating the Zhengang Strength within his body.

“Rumble! Bang!”

Above the Heavenly Thunder Hall, silver snakes flashed, and Heavenly Thunder rolled. Terrifying electric light continuously descended, and violent currents surged through the hall, then gathered around Gu Chang along the metal network of the Heavenly Thunder Hall.

“Crackling! Sizzling!”

Gu Chang, sitting cross-legged on the stone platform, was instantly enveloped by countless electric currents. The violent currents numbed his entire body, made his hair stand on end, his muscles twitch, and his internal Zhengang Strength was repeatedly tempered under the effect of the electric currents.

“Hiss~”

At first, even Gu Chang felt quite uncomfortable. His entire body felt as if it were being pricked by tens of thousands of silver needles, or being cut by a thousand blades. His whole body twitched and stiffened, making it almost impossible to move.

However, as time passed, his extremely powerful physique gradually adapted to the might of the Heavenly Thunder. Furthermore, Gu Chang actively released his Martial Dao Divine Venerable, allowing it to directly undergo the tempering of the Heavenly Thunder within the Heavenly Thunder Hall.

Thanks to this, Gu Chang's Zhengang Strength was repeatedly compressed and tempered by the mighty power of heaven and earth, gradually undergoing a qualitative change.

However, things did not go as smoothly as expected. With a slight mistake, Gu Chang still risked being injured or even killed by the Heavenly Thunder after exhausting his internal Zhengang Strength and Qi and blood.

One day, after a night of rest, Gu Chang once again came to the Heavenly Thunder Hall to Body Refining with the power of the Heavenly Thunder.

However, this time the sky was overcast with dark clouds, and muffled thunder rumbled. Not long after, strong winds began to blow, and heavy rain poured down.

“Boom! Rumble!!!”

“Bang! Crack!”

Suddenly, an incomparably dazzling and brilliant lightning bolt descended directly from the Nine Heavens, instantly engulfing the entire Heavenly Thunder Hall.

At this moment, Gu Chang, who was Cultivating in the Heavenly Thunder Hall, was instantly engulfed by terrifying lightning fire. The deadly lightning, with an unimaginable power of heaven and earth, destroyed his body in an instant.

[Martial Dao Major Achievement, Spirit Refining Perfection. Below a Divine Martial, rarely an opponent!]

[This Reincarnation evaluation: Grade C-]

[This Reincarnation reward: 15 Reincarnation points]

[You have 267 Reincarnation points. You can use Reincarnation points to exchange for: Xuanbing Blood Fiend Skill (7 points), Divine Statue Skill (3 points)]

Upon waking up again, Gu Chang immediately discovered that the two Cultivation Techniques he had long been unable to exchange for finally made progress!

“This path is indeed correct, but directly drawing Heavenly Thunder is still too crude.”

“After all, the power of lightning cannot be controlled, and the magnitude of the current is difficult to regulate. Sometimes it's fierce, sometimes gentle. A slight mistake could lead to lightning damage, which is extremely dangerous.”

“Next, perhaps I should focus more on developing electrical technology to make the current controllable, with power gradually increasing from weak to strong, allowing people to adapt gradually. That would be much easier.”

After this experience of Heavenly Thunder Body Refining, Gu Chang finally found a new direction. However, he was not in a hurry to exchange for the current Cultivation Technique, but rather planned to do so after truly completing the Breakthrough.

“Speaking of which, among Cultivators, there are also Cultivators who specialize in Body Refining. However, I heard that compared to Qi Refining, the cost is even more terrifying, and ordinary Loose Cultivators simply cannot afford it.”

Immediately, Gu Chang thought of another piece of information that he was quite interested in. Perhaps he could go buy a Body Refining Cultivation Technique next.

However, he had just spent quite a few Spirit Stones on “Complete Explanation of First-Order Talismans” not long ago, so it would be better to keep a low profile for a while.

Thus, his Cultivator life in Qing Ling Market was much the same as usual. He was still busy drawing Talismans and Cultivating every day, only occasionally going out to eat and drink with his drinking buddies and exchange information.

As the demonic Cultivators caused more and more trouble, the Meng Family, the owners of Qing Ling Market, finally couldn't help but personally take action.

A Foundation Establishment Old Ancestor of the Meng Family personally took action, killing several demonic Cultivators on the spot and bringing back their heads for display.

It was then that the Cultivators realized that these were some familiar faces from the Market!

Clearly, these were not demonic Cultivators at all, but rather familiar people committing crimes, merely disguised as demonic Cultivators.

“Knowing a person's face doesn't mean knowing their heart! These scoundrels are so insidious, specifically contacting external bandit Cultivators to trick Fellow Daoists from the Market into going out to be ambushed. No wonder they never targeted those Family or Sect disciples!”

“Hmph! With such actions, why even Cultivate? Such people will sooner or later suffer Qi Deviation and go completely insane!”

“They don't care about the future, only about living freely in the present. It's just a pity that those who kill will be killed!”

“Hearts are not what they used to be! Hearts are not what they used to be!”

“It's best for us to Cultivate peacefully in the Market. It's always risky to stick your neck out!”

Gu Chang and his drinking buddies sighed repeatedly, but when they looked at each other, there was a hint of wariness.

Because no one knew if the person next to them might be the hidden murderer.

And so, with the Cultivators who killed for treasures and absorbed essence blood dealt with, Qing Ling Market returned to its usual tranquility, only with fewer familiar faces than before.

For Gu Chang, these matters had virtually no impact. Instead, his Mixed Origin Skill Cultivation finally Brokethrough after several months of arduous Cultivation!

“Finally reached Qi Refining Third Rank, it really wasn't easy!”

“I meditate and Cultivate every day, draw Talismans daily to replenish my magical power, and occasionally eat some spiritual meals to replenish my body. Even so, it took me more than three months to Breakthrough Qi Refining.”

“This is only Early Stage Qi Refining. The difficulty of Breakthrough to Middle Stage Qi Refining is clearly higher, requiring more time and more resources!”

“No wonder some Cultivators only reach Early Stage or Middle Stage Qi Refining in their entire lives. The Dao of Cultivation is indeed extremely difficult.”

“Thinking back, those few in the Divine Image Sect probably returned to the mundane world completely disheartened because they couldn't Breakthrough for a long time, right?”

Recalling his arduous Cultivation day and night during this period, Gu Chang couldn't help but sigh. If he couldn't relax in the Reincarnation World, he definitely wouldn't be able to maintain his daily Cultivation state.

After sighing, Gu Chang continued to draw Talismans as usual. He had now begun to attempt to draw First-Order Medium Grade Golden Blade Talismans.

Compared to the First-Order Low Grade Blazing Flame Talisman, this Talisman was much more powerful. Once activated, it could generate a golden blade Magical Artifact that instantly struck the enemy. Only by relying on a Magical Artifact could one defend against it, and even some inferior Low Grade Magical Artifacts would be injured.

Accordingly, the price of this Talisman was also considerable. Even when sold cheaply, it required two Spirit Stones per Talisman, and when expensive, it could even require three or four Spirit Stones.

Compared to five or six First-Order Low Grade Talismans, the price of this Talisman was indeed not cheap at all.

Similarly, the difficulty of producing such a Talisman was also considerable. It not only required better spiritual ink, Talisman paper, and Talisman brushes, but also demanded higher skill from the Talisman Master. The complexity of the Talisman was clearly not on the same Rank.

Gu Chang learned this Talisman according to his previous experience, first thoroughly memorizing and practicing the most basic things.

As for actually drawing this Talisman, he would wait until he had a certain degree of confidence.

Otherwise, it would be a waste of Materials. After all, the Materials for First-Order Medium Grade Talismans were not cheap, and with his financial situation, he couldn't afford hundreds or thousands of failures.