https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-374-Da-He-s-Old-Acquaintance-A-World-of-Difference/12932489/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-376-Guest-Elder-Have-the-Four-Sects-Gone-Mad-/12932491/
Chapter 375: Third Rank Formation, Thunderstorm Surge
Chapter 375: Third Rank Formation, Thunderstorm Surge
Thunderstorm Surge!
A Third Rank Thunder Formation!
This was the formation that Min Longyu had continuously improved upon, learning from his experience and lessons after that night.
This formation was not a static one but a dynamic, living formation!
Just as the name suggested, it was like a raging torrent of thunderbolts and lightning.
Once this formation was unleashed, even a Golden Core Senior would have to avoid its sharp edge.
If one were deeply trapped within it, being blasted into oblivion was not an impossibility.
However, setting up this formation had extremely strict requirements.
Firstly, a Formation Core of the artifact level was necessary, supplemented by various Thunder Path materials.
Secondly, one must accumulate a vast amount of thunder power as a catalyst to attract the torrential, violent thunder.
Lastly, for the formation to unleash its maximum power, it must be in an environment rich in thunder power.
Otherwise, the power it could unleash would be inferior to that of an ordinary second-rank killing formation.
Rather than calling it a third-rank offensive formation, it was more like a Lightning Summoning Spell.
Unlike the major sects that summoned and nurtured special spiritual woods and minerals, the lightning they summoned was relatively gentle and scarce in quantity.
The Thunderstorm Surge Formation, on the other hand, summoned a vast and destructive torrent of lightning!
To be prepared for any eventuality.
Just after Luo Chen had settled in, he buried the Eighteen Traveling Arrays in the Thunder Strike Wood forest.
Then, he took out multicolored small flags and inserted them according to specific Five Elements and Eight Trigrams positions.
He also set up the materials that Min Longyu had previously instructed him to prepare in various locations.
Crimson Thunder Iron, Firefly Powder, Lightning Attracting Wood...
His actions attracted curious glances from many Luo Tianhui cultivators.
But seeing that Luo Chen was setting up a formation, no one dared to disturb him.
It must be Min Longyu Elder's backup plan!
What surprised everyone was that the Chairman's formation setting seemed so natural, as if he had been immersed in this art for a long time.
Natural?
After placing a hundred medium-grade spirit stones into the grooves of a Lightning Summoning Platform carved by Luo Chen, the formation was complete.
To be honest, even Luo Chen was surprised that he had personally set up this third-rank formation without encountering any difficulties.
Looking at the threads of lightning arcs in the center of the formation, heading towards the Eighteen Traveling Arrays, Luo Chen stroked his chin.
He estimated that this formation was quite simple!
Although it was a third-rank formation, its power didn't solely depend on the formation itself but also on the strength of the surrounding environment.
"The longer the time, the more thunder power accumulated, the thicker this catalyst will become, and the more lightning it can attract."
"This way, besides constantly replenishing the spirit stones consumed by the lightning, I only need to wait."
Luo Chen breathed a sigh of relief.
Looking around, he saw that Duan Feng had arranged patrols.
In the future, he estimated that he would have to stay in this desolate place for a long time.
However, there probably wouldn't be much fighting.
After all, there were many people at the front lines.
...
As Luo Chen had expected.
During their stay at the Sixth Peak, the vassal forces experienced thrilling and dangerous days, but for Luo Tianhui, it was relatively peaceful.
For over a month.
From time to time, news of the Sword Sect Alliance's attacks on the Sixth Peak reached them.
The intensity of the battles was almost on par with the previous assault on the Seventh Peak!
Everyone knew that if the Sixth Peak fell, the Four Sects Alliance would only have the Fifth Peak left, leaving the Luoyun Sect with no retreat.
Therefore, the Four Sects Alliance's resistance was fierce.
Each battle was a fierce, bloody defense.
In such wars, countless cultivators perished, and many surviving cultivators gained fame.
Names like Min Longyu's 'Thunder Array Master' became commonplace.
You praise me, I praise you, everyone's happy!
But these battlefield-earned titles came and went quickly.
Regardless of whether they survived or not, the question of whether these titles would spread in the future was another matter.
Luo Chen also went to the front lines to witness a large-scale battle.
At that time, spiritual energy poured down like a rainstorm, and sword lights crisscrossed brilliantly.
Various magical artifacts and talisman spells were unleashed and clashed.
Foundation Establishment Cultivators were the main combatants, either maneuvering artifacts with agility or accumulating power in their artifacts to unleash devastating attacks on the battle formations.
The seemingly unable to participate in the Foundation Establishment stage battles, a large number of Qi Condensation Stage cultivators displayed astonishing combat power.
Many Qi Condensation Stage cultivators formed groups, releasing lethal spells under the command of the Four Sects' Direct Disciples.
One or two were not to be feared.
But when their numbers increased, even Foundation Establishment Cultivators found it difficult to resist their onslaught.
Just as the Golden Core Senior from Qingdan Valley had said, the cultivation world had taken a wrong turn, with cultivators focusing more on offense than defense.
Powerful offensive artifacts were commonplace.
Excellent defensive artifacts, however, were hard to come by, and even supreme defensive artifacts were rare.
In this situation, Foundation Establishment Cultivators seemed powerful but still faced the risk of being besieged and falling to lower-level cultivators.
Compared to the life-and-death struggles of the vassal forces.
Luo Tianhui's side was like a peaceful haven.
Except for a support battle under Dan Tai's call, they had hardly engaged in combat.
This situation frustrated some Luo Tianhui's Qi Condensation Stage cultivators who sought to establish merit.
However, for Luo Chen, Duan Feng, and Xu Huanzhen, the three Foundation Establishment Cultivators, they hoped this situation would continue until the war's end.
Merit?
No matter how great the merit, it couldn't compare to surviving and seizing greater heights.
Unless the Four Sects Alliance could provide them with a path to higher peaks.
Otherwise, staying quietly in the rear area would be the best option.
Perhaps, the only thing that made everyone uncomfortable was the extremely sparse Ling Qi in the Thunder Accumulation Nine Mountains!
It was unsuitable for ordinary cultivators to practice!
Actually, it wasn’t that the Ling Qi was sparse, but rather that the Five Elements Ling Qi was too scarce.
The world was filled with vast amounts of Thunder Attribute Ling Qi. Unless one possessed a Thunder Spirit Root, it was impossible to cultivate quietly here.
Moreover, even Thunder Spirit Root cultivators dared not easily absorb the Ling Qi that was scattered by the might of heaven and earth.
It was too chaotic and required a long time to refine.
Being unable to cultivate did not mean one could not practice.
Luo Chen had not stopped practicing for a month.
He had been continuously working on opening his Energy Points using Earth Fire Evil Qi.
In a month, he had opened over fifty more Energy Points.
After mastering the technique, Luo Chen became more proficient, almost able to open two Energy Points per day.
Such progress would make even Wang Yuan gape in astonishment.
But Luo Chen was not surprised. Opening Energy Points was different from the other minor stages of the Blood River Realm.
Cultivating the Five Viscera required gradual accumulation, slowly refining the five organs to nurture the five vital energies in the chest.
Paving the Meridians required a broad and open approach, like a river rushing, washing away narrow channels, leaving a vast ocean in its wake!
But opening Energy Points required finesse!
After all, compared to the Five Viscera and Meridians, Energy Points were extremely fragile, and a single misstep could easily cause injury.
It was like threading a needle, requiring keen eyes and steady hands.
Luo Chen’s eyes were particularly sharp. His Divine Soul foundation was incredibly strong, far surpassing Wang Yuan’s.
His technique of controlling Malevolent Qi had also become extremely proficient due to refining Blood Burning Pills and handling Earth Fire Evil Qi thousands of times.
Now, he was merely using a higher-grade Earth Fire Evil Qi.
After becoming more familiar with it, his progress naturally accelerated.
"Perhaps, after finding Wang Yuan, I can give him this method of opening Energy Points that I researched, to speed up his body cultivation."
"But he is already ahead of me in body cultivation. He might have already opened all 720 Energy Points, achieving the Inner and Outer Circulation, where my body’s Energy Points are as the stars in the sky."
Shaking his head, Luo Chen took out another Rock Floating Stone.
Just as he was about to extract Earth Fire Evil Qi, he froze.
It was gone!
Used up!
Coming to his senses, Luo Chen couldn’t help but feel helpless.
He had thought that the more than a hundred portions of Earth Fire Evil Qi would last a long time, but it turned out to be so easily depleted.
It was probably due to his method of combining three strands into one to forcefully open the Energy Points.
It was too wasteful.
Without Malevolent Qi, how could he open Energy Points?
He couldn’t just waste his time on Liu Shan!
Practice spells?
Luo Chen’s spells were almost all at the Grand Perfection level.
The few new ones he had learned, except for the Ten Thousand Mile Journey, a Third Rank spell, he didn’t have high demands for them.
Moreover, he had already reached near-perfection in the Ten Thousand Mile Journey, being just a step away from the Grandmaster level, making it unsuitable for public practice.
"Opening Energy Points must continue!"
"The frontline warfare is ongoing, and the Four Sect Alliance frequently loses inner disciples or true disciples. The Flame Alliance is likely the same, and their legacies must contain a large amount of Earth Fire Evil Qi."
"Instead of waiting to buy it back at the Golden Sand Floating Island, I might as well look for people on the battlefield to purchase it."
With this decision, Luo Chen immediately summoned a Qi Condensation Stage cultivator, the same Bu Junjie who had dared to block Qu Zhenbiao before.
He asked him to go to the frontline camp and inquire.
If anyone had Second Rank Earth Fire Evil Qi, Luo Chen was willing to buy it at a high price.
After Bu Junjie left, Luo Chen, feeling bored, inspected the camp’s defenses and then went to the Thunder Strike Wood Forest where he had buried the Eighteen Traveling Arrays.
Looking at the scorched and stunted forest, outsiders would find it hard to associate it with the precious Second Rank Thunder Strike Wood.
But the occasional flashes of lightning confirmed that it was indeed Second Rank Thunder Strike Wood containing trace amounts of lightning!
After checking the Formation Cores, Luo Chen nodded in satisfaction.
In a month, it had cost him 30,000 Lower Grade Spirit Stones and 200 Medium Grade Spirit Stones, and now the lightning was abundant, with the array charged to about half.
In another month or so, it would be ready to activate at any time.
When the time came, everything would be prepared, lacking only the right environment.
Luo Chen replaced the many shattered Spirit Stones with new ones, ensuring the formation could continue to operate.
Just as he was about to leave, a sharp sound caught his ear.
Crack!
A bolt of lightning descended from the sky, striking a First Rank Thunder Strike Wood.
Shaken by the impact, the Thunder Strike Wood trembled violently, shedding most of its branches.
"It didn’t catch fire, indicating that it has developed some resistance after reaching the First Rank!"
Luo Chen mused, about to leave.
But his steps paused instinctively.
His Spirit Eyes activated, focusing intently on the Thunder Strike Wood.
Though it appeared heavily damaged, its core had become even more resilient and powerful.
The surrounding Ling Qi was slowly converging on it, and its grade was slowly transforming.
This strike had instead facilitated the critical step for it to upgrade to the Second Rank!
"Lightning is a symbol of destruction and a harbinger of tribulation."
"But everyone knows that lightning also symbolizes revival and life."
"Spring thunder heralds the birth of all things... In the Five Elements, the Eastern Trigram is Zhen, which represents thunder and is associated with Wood. Therefore, the Azure Dragon of Wood in the Eastern Seven Constellations also governs the vitality of thunder."
"According to legend, powerful ancient body cultivators not only refined their bodies with Malevolent Qi but also used the madness of thunder to temper their physiques. The principle they utilized was the other side of thunder's destructive nature."
"I wonder, can I utilize the power of thunder?"
Standing in the Thunderstrike Wood Forest, Luo Chen stared at the ascending Thunderstrike Wood, deep in thought.
The moon shone brightly in the starry night sky, enveloping the forest in darkness.
Hidden within the depths of the dark forest, Luo Chen's tall figure occasionally revealed itself amidst the flashing silver-white lightning.
Suddenly, Luo Chen moved.
Under the watchful eyes of Duan Feng and Xu Zhenren in the distance, he reached out and touched a small Thunderstrike Wood.
A loud crackling sound filled the air!
Duan Feng's face twitched slightly, "It seems the chairman doesn't know the Lightning Conduction Technique. To face lightning with just his physical body is..."
Before he could finish, Luo Chen's body stiffened.
For a brief moment, Luo Chen hesitantly raised his hand and looked at his fingertips.
A black dot stood out on his palm.
"It seems effective?"
Deep in thought, he experimented a few more times like before.
After a long while, he slowly walked back.
"Chairman, what's wrong?" Xu Zhenren asked curiously.
Duan Feng, who had known Luo Chen for a long time, understood his temperament and spoke up, "Chairman, are you trying to borrow the power of thunder from the Thunderstrike Wood to do something?"
Luo Chen nodded.
"You casters seem to understand the art of lightning conduction?"
Duan Feng responded with a hum, "Indeed, the art of casting is profound and vast. The most common method is to melt gold and iron with fire, but there are also techniques like flesh casting and soul extraction. At a higher level, it involves utilizing the power of heaven and earth to cast artifacts."
"It's rumored that powerful Nascent Soul Cultivators, when facing the Divine Thunder Tribulation during their ascension, have borrowed the power of tribulation lightning to forge True Artifacts."
"We ordinary casters, though unskilled in such methods, have corresponding auxiliary tools to harness the power of heavenly lightning."
Above Magical Artifacts and Treasures, there are True Artifacts.
True Artifacts are not something ordinary cultivators can possess, and even Nascent Soul Realized Souls often struggle to obtain one.
These artifacts can only be obtained through the promotion of Lifebound Treasures, and they must be imbued with a trace of tribulation lightning to be promoted from high-grade Magical Treasures to True Artifacts.
However, tribulation crossing is a life-threatening endeavor, so who would dare to use tribulation lightning for forging? Thus, many Nascent Soul Realized Souls and Divine Transformation experts have turned to other methods, using various techniques to harness ordinary heavenly lightning to temper their Lifebound Treasures.
Over time, these techniques have become more sophisticated, spreading from the top down.
Eventually, it became possible for ordinary casters to harness the power of lightning without possessing a Thunder Spirit Root, using tools to guide the lightning for forging.
"Do you have one?" Luo Chen asked.
Duan Feng nodded, "I have a Lightning Guidance Net on me, which I occasionally use for casting. With the recent decline in Magical Artifact sales, it's been sitting idle. I can give it to you."
Sometimes, plans don't keep up with the pace of change.
Luo Tian Association's attempt to earn Spirit Stones through the War Caster Hall fell through with Li Yingzhang's severe injury and Wang Yuan's disappearance.
More importantly, the business on Golden Sand Floating Island had already been taken up by others, leaving no room for a mere ordinary caster like Duan Feng.
He was still too young.
"Hmm, thank you."
Luo Chen took the iron net with a bluish-white hue from Duan Feng and returned to the stone house, deep in thought.
The next day, Luo Chen reappeared in the Thunderstrike Wood Forest.
This place had the most concentrated thunder power in their entire camp.
As before, he tried to absorb the power of lightning with his body, but it only resulted in minor injuries.
"It's too little!"
Luo Chen muttered and used the Lightning Conduction Grid that Duan Feng had given him.
With his spirit power activated, several nearby Thunderstrike Woods suddenly unleashed silver-white lightning, which flowed through the iron net towards Luo Chen.
In an instant, Luo Chen was struck hard, his body enveloped in electrical light.
After a while, Luo Chen exhaled a foul breath, his body emitting a faint aroma of scorched flesh.
Casting a healing technique, Luo Chen fell into deep thought again.
"It's still no use. Without a Thunder Spirit Root, I can't harness the power of thunder."
"After being struck by lightning and healing, my physical body has indeed strengthened a bit, but only slightly."
"This accumulation takes too much time and spirit power, and it's not worth it at all."
Luo Chen continued to assess his condition.
The vitality contained within the thunder and lightning was beyond his current level of comprehension.
He could only utilize the most basic aspects.
By tempering his body with thunder and lightning, and then using wood-based spirit power to perform medical arts, his flesh would become stronger with each recovery.
But that was as far as it went.
"What a pity, I thought I had discovered an extraordinary body cultivation technique."
"Without a Thunder Spirit Root, I can't borrow the spirit power within the lightning and have it linger in my meridians to temper my body for long."
Luo Chen sighed and put away the Lightning Conduction Grid.
Just as he was about to leave, Luo Chen suddenly had an idea.
"I don't have Earthfire Malevolence right now, but the lightning here is mostly of the Azure Dragon of Wood attribute. What if I channel it into my body to open my energy points?"
"The Heaven Peng Transformation also mentions that the most suitable cultivation method for this technique involves borrowing the essence blood of the Thunder Peng, Golden Winged Peng, and Heaven Sun Peng, three ancient ferocious beasts."
"The latter two techniques are incomplete, but there's a relatively detailed development method for utilizing the Thunder Peng essence blood."
"My energy point opening technique draws inspiration from the Heaven Peng Transformation. If I make a few adjustments..."
Luo Chen licked his lips, his eyes filled with anticipation as he looked at the nearby Thunderstrike Wood Forest.
This place was a treasure trove for him, not because of the materials, but because of the abundant and non-violent accumulation of lightning power.
(End of Chapter)
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