noffsinger Chapter 85 Lei Dan
Chapter 85 Lei Dan
The clouds surged like a tide in the sky, and an old man with a white beard dressed in red rope and a bald monk in a moon-white robe, their backs radiating divine light, made it difficult to see each other's faces.
An old man with a white beard sat on the edge of the clouds, his hands glowing with red light. He looked down, his pupils reflecting a courtyard house nestled against a sea of bamboo.
The bald monk was the same, but he was looking at the young Taoist priest in the courtyard who was in a state of distress.
"This red thread is useless. It breaks every time it's used. Although the dragon girl has fallen in love, little Taoist, if you don't touch the red thread, why doesn't she react at all?"
The white-bearded old man glanced at the bald monk beside him and said irritably, "This red string is a matter of fate, and the two of them are not destined to be together. Why should I force them to tie this red string?"
"Sigh, this is for the sake of the bigger picture."
"What grand scheme? You're all just afraid of getting involved in karma, so you've brought out this red thread of fate that's meant to bind us together."
"Poor old man like me, suffering here, having to constantly watch whether the red thread has broken."
"Who isn't? In order to verify that the method of cultivating one's nature still works, I even lost my Taiyin Bright Mind Mirror."
……
The cultivation was tedious, and more than ten days had passed on Earth in the blink of an eye, and the elixirs had all been exhausted.
Fortunately, the Thunder Qi has been perfected.
Song Quyou opened his eyes, within which flickering lightning and arcs of electricity shone. The thunderous energy within his body had already soared to the Yellow Court like a dragon, and only needed to incorporate a portion of the Nine Heavens Thunder to condense into a Thunder Pill.
Fortunately, today is the Awakening of Insects, the "living midnight" of heaven and earth, when the first yang energy stirs, awakening all things and dispelling evil spirits. It is a good time to welcome thunder.
The golden rooster crows at dawn.
Song Quyou pushed open the door, and his senior sister Su Tang, who usually slept in late, was already standing in the courtyard.
"Junior brother, will you condense the Thunder Pill today?"
Song Quyou smiled faintly and cupped her hands, saying, "Thank you for your trouble, Senior Sister."
Su Tang waved his hand: "We're from the same sect, no need to be so polite. But where does Junior Brother plan to summon the heavenly lightning?"
Song Quyou pointed towards the backyard and said, "Junior Brother plans to gather lightning at the top of the mountain behind the house. After all, the lightning is powerful and might damage the house."
"That's good. Few people come to the back mountain, so no one will disturb us."
……
The two emerged from the back door, leaped into the air, causing the bamboo tips to tremble slightly and their clothes to flutter. In just a few leaps, they covered dozens of feet.
The sorghum, which spends all day away from home and is engrossed in rooting itself in the bamboo forest, was happily rooting in the soil when it was suddenly disturbed by the sound of its roots moving through the forest.
It straightened up and was about to utter the word "dog..." when it was silenced by a "forbidden".
The back mountain is not high, but because no one has set foot on it for many years, the wild path is covered with moss and crowded with bamboo, and there are no traces of the path anymore.
The two leaped across the sky.
When we reached the summit, the eastern sky had turned from dark blue to bluish-gray.
Looking around, the bamboo forest stretched out in abundance, with only a dark boulder in the very center, rising several feet above the bamboo grove, standing proudly amidst the emerald sea.
"When you absorb the heavenly lightning, junior brother, just keep your mind focused, no matter what."
Song Quyou nodded solemnly, lightly touched the ground with his feet, and leaped onto the boulder.
Su Tang stood on the bamboo tip, seeing Song Quyou sit cross-legged. She then formed a hand seal, threw out a yellow talisman, which spontaneously combusted and floated into the sky. She spoke again:
"Junior brother, your senior sister will help you gather clouds and draw in lightning. After you have regulated your breathing, let the lightning energy in your body rise into the sky, and then lightning will descend."
"Senior sister, junior brother has remembered it."
……
The ancient rock was covered in moss. Song Quyou sat cross-legged on it, his eyes closed and his mind focused. Electric arcs crackled around him, making his robes billow and his black hair stand on end.
The thunderous energy within his body surged like boiling water, and the dragon-like lightning in his Yellow Court raised its head and roared, waiting for the heavenly thunder to descend.
As the yellow talisman ascended to the sky, a sudden gust of wind arose, thunder rumbled and rolled, and dark clouds gathered on the horizon. The sky, which was originally bluish-gray, instantly turned into a thick, inky black, obscuring the light of day.
Senior Sister Su Tang stood atop a bamboo stalk several feet away, rising and falling with each step, her black hair flying in the wind, and her fingertips entwined with strands of lightning, gathering the thunder and lightning of the dark clouds. She looked up at the sky, her eyes reflecting the silver snakes that roamed among the clouds, her gaze filled with solemnity.
The day of Jingzhe (Awakening of Insects) is often cloudy and rainy, especially in the rainy Jiangnan region, where there are quite a lot of clouds.
……
The dark clouds overhead grew thicker and thicker, and the lightning bolts became increasingly intense.
Song Quyou slowly opened his eyes, the lightning in them now as intense as two blazing suns.
He made a hand seal and circulated his Qi. The dragon-like thunderous Qi within his body surged out from the Yellow Court, roared upwards along the meridians, and rose into the sky, connecting with the clouds on the horizon.
In an instant.
The dark clouds collapsed, and a thunderbolt tore through the sky, like a silver dragon cleaving down from the heavens, striking Song Quyou's head with earth-shattering force and disappearing within three inches of his body.
The lightning faded, but the lingering sound of it tearing through the air left a chilling, trembling feeling, as if struck by a hammer.
When the lightning entered Song Quyou's body, he was in deep meditation. His whole body trembled violently. He felt as if his limbs and bones were being burned by raging fire, and every inch of his flesh was being torn apart and trembling.
He gritted his teeth, his mind as steadfast as a small boat on a raging sea, as if it would capsize at any moment.
Unable to control the raging heavenly lightning within his body, he could only let it enter through all the acupoints of his body, rampaging through the meridians and causing chaos.
But within the Yellow Court, the dragon-like thunder energy suddenly raised its head and swallowed whole, absorbing all the rampaging thunder light within its body. Once the thunder light entered its abdomen, the scales on its body stood up one by one, and horns slowly grew from its forehead. It had transformed from a dragon into a thunder pill the size of a dragon's eye, its entire body crackling with lightning.
……
But Song Quyou knew nothing of all this. His mind had long been overturned by the thunder, floating in the heavens and earth, looking down at the vast earth and gazing up at the boundless sky.
He couldn't see anything clearly, only knowing where the sky was and where the earth was.
suddenly.
A sudden gust of wind swept Song away from his worries, lifting him up through the clouds and into the heavens. It only stopped when he heard the thunderous sound of drums.
Song Quyou looked in the direction of the sound and saw an ancient drum in the churning sea of clouds, which was playing on its own without anyone striking it.
The drumhead crackled with electric light, and each strike was accompanied by a thunderous explosion that ripped through the clouds and illuminated the heavens.
Song Quyou's mind was adrift, involuntarily drawn by the drumbeats towards the thunderous drum. With each step closer, his mind felt as if it were being forged, initially excruciatingly painful, but gradually a sense of clarity arose within him.
After an unknown amount of time, just as he was about to touch the drum, the gale suddenly stopped, and Song Quyou fell from the heavens, crashing heavily back into his body.
Suddenly, darkness descended.
When she came to her senses, her senior sister Su Tang was already in front of her, opening her mouth repeatedly but making no sound.
In a daze, the world seemed to buzz and become restless. All I could see was Su Tang's lips moving, her brows furrowed with anxiety. Her hair was disheveled, and her cuffs were charred black, clearly indicating that she had also been affected by the residual force of the lightning she had summoned.
"...Dan...is it done?" The voice seemed to come from afar, as if separated by thick water.
Song Quyou subconsciously looked inward and saw a Thunder Pill quietly floating in his Yellow Court. Lightning flowed over the pill, and every breath he took was in sync with his heartbeat, steady as a drumbeat.
It became.
But at this moment, something strange happened to his body. Human-shaped light and shadows appeared in his internal organs and acupoints. Upon closer inspection, their spirit and form were exactly the same as his own. They were in his five internal organs and acupoints, closely following his every breath.
A god within the body?
I once read in an ancient book: "When ancient cultivators reached a certain level of cultivation, all the gods in the human body would gather, and each acupoint and organ would be guarded by a deity. Each god would correspond to a specific acupoint or organ. These gods within the body would be the standard by which a person stands in the world."
As I regained my senses, the buzzing in my ears gradually subsided, and the sounds of the world slowly returned like a tide.
"Senior sister... I'm fine," Song Quyou said, her voice hoarse as if grinding against sand.
When Su Tang heard him speak, her tense shoulders finally relaxed a little, and she slumped onto the boulder.
Song Quyou opened his hand, and an arc of electricity coiled between his fingers, flickering uncertainly.
Seeing the unusual shape in Song Quyou's hand, Su Tang smiled with relief: "Congratulations, Junior Brother, on condensing the Thunder Pill. From now on, Junior Brother can summon thunder."
Song Quyou looked down at the dancing arcs of electricity in his hand, then looked up at the sky.
The clouds were about to disperse, and lightning flashed faintly through the gaps in the clouds. The memory of the excruciating pain he had just experienced sent chills down his spine.
"Senior sister, I saw the thunder drum you mentioned."
Su Tang was taken aback.
"Junior brother, are you truly certain you've seen things clearly?"
Song Quyou nodded. "That drum is somewhat different from the one described in the book. It wasn't placed on the carriage, but rather mounted directly on the clouds. It played by itself, and each time it sounded, a thunderous roar would tear through the sea of clouds."
Upon hearing this, a strange light flashed in Su Tang's eyes. She stared blankly at Song Quyou, speechless for a long time.
Just then, the green bamboo rustled beneath the boulder, and a red figure appeared. He straightened up, pointed with his hoof to his inability to open his mouth, and whimpered.
Song Quyou casually waved his hand, releasing the seal on the mountain goat's mouth. But then it gasped, "You taciturn creature, I didn't swear! Why did you seal my mouth?"
Su Tang suddenly interjected, "Alright, Junior Brother, you've just finished absorbing Heavenly Lightning, don't argue with this talkative mountain gypsum."
After speaking, Su Tang suddenly stood up, walked to the edge of the boulder, frowned as she looked down at the mountainside, and said:
"We have accepted your treasure and agreed to let you live with us. We can satisfy your every craving for food and drink. If you wish to learn magic, I can even pass on any skills outside our school to you."
I know that cursing is in your nature, but we made a rule when we first met that you shouldn't curse.
If you want to stay here long, you must abide by the rules. But if you can't stand the rules and insult us again, I, Su Tang, will return double the treasures you paid for with the temple. At that time, I will ask you to go back to where you came from.
My junior brother is kind-hearted. You haven't done anything heinous, so there are some things I shouldn't say too much, as it would seem petty. But as his senior sister, I don't care about such things.
Also, don't think what I'm saying is harsh. Cultivation is about going against your nature. If you can do it, it will bring you endless benefits.
"Alright, that's enough said. Whether you stay or leave is entirely up to you. Think it through and then come find me."
Shan Gao was speechless for a moment, turned around sullenly, and stood silently for a long time.
……
After Song Quyou took a short rest, the two of them did not say much to the mountain caltrop, and then stepped on the bamboo branches to return to the courtyard.
I had just returned to the courtyard when I ran into Mr. Wu, who had come over for a free meal.
Without any hesitation, Mr. Wu took his bowl and chopsticks and sat down at the stone table. Looking at Song Quyou, whose body was covered in charred soot, he exclaimed in shock:
"There was a really loud clap of thunder in the mountains just now, and the Taoist priest was dressed in all black. Could it be that he did too many bad things and was struck by lightning?"
Song Quyou was not annoyed by this. He brushed the ash off his sleeves and laughed, "Mr. Wu is joking. I didn't do anything wrong, but I did get hit by lightning."
Mr. Wu clicked his tongue in amazement, circled around Song Quyou, and saw that although his clothes were charred black, there was a faint spark of electricity between his eyebrows.
"It's definitely different from usual..."
Before Mr. Wu could finish speaking, Song Quyou flicked his sleeve, and a burnt smell wafted out, choking Mr. Wu so much that he had to back away.
Su Tang ignored the gossip and went to the kitchen to bring out some porridge and dishes.
When Mr. Wu saw that there was meat in the side dishes, his eyes lit up. He grabbed a bowl and chopsticks and hurried to the kitchen. He filled a bowl with hot porridge, ate it as he walked to the stone table, and smacked his lips, saying, "It's better to eat meat. Without meat, I feel weak all over."
Song Quyou sat down at the stone table with a bowl of porridge. Before he could even take a sip, Mr. Wu took out two paintings from his pocket and handed them to Song Quyou and Su Tang respectively.
"I've been coming here to freeload all day, so I just casually drew a couple of pictures to express my gratitude."
Song Quyou and Su Tang exchanged a glance, then each took the painting and opened it. Inside were a yellow dog and a black cat, exactly the same as the big yellow charcoal in the yard.
"Although it was just a casual drawing, the paintings I gave you weren't just perfunctory; they're stamped with my seal."
Song Quyou put the painting away and said, "Thank you very much, sir."
"No need for thanks. Please prepare more meat dishes in the future, as I can't get these at the temple."
……
After the meal, Song Quyou was just clearing away the dishes when Mr. Wu pulled him away.
After leaving the house, Mr. Wu said he was going to see the sea, but instead pulled Song Quyou towards the county town.
"Mr. Wu, you should be looking east to see the sea, why are you heading towards the county town?"
"The sea I see is not a vast ocean, but a sea of clouds under the high mountains south of the city. We can go south and pass through the county town. Let's get two more jugs of wine to quench our thirst on the way."
Upon hearing the word "wine," Song Quyou patted himself down and thankfully found he had some loose silver.
Mr. Wu noticed Song Quyou touching the money and laughed, "Don't worry, Daoist, this time it won't be like last time. The restaurant will absolutely not accept money."
Chatting along the way, the two arrived at the restaurant that sold green wine.
This time was indeed different. As soon as Mr. Wu entered, the shopkeeper behind the counter clapped his hands in delight and jogged over, bending down:
"Mr. Wu, I was blind last time and didn't recognize you. What would you like to eat this time? Everything is free at our shop."
"Give me two jugs of green wine, and some braised pork, the fatty kind. I'm not dining in this time, I want to take it away."
"Mr. Wu, please have a seat. Your food will be served shortly."
While waiting for his drinks, Mr. Wu looked around the small shop.
"Shopkeeper, why are you hanging the Kitchen God statue in the main hall instead of the kitchen? Don't come looking for me if your fire isn't burning well."
Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper chuckled and said, "Sir, please don't joke like that. How can you hang your calligraphy, Mr. Wu's work, in the kitchen? If it gets smoked black, I won't even know where to cry."
Although the painting did not bear the master's seal, it was still recognized by a scholar.
After recognizing it, the villain moved it to the main hall, and from then on, business improved a lot, all because people came to see the painting.
Some of these people were even willing to spend a hundred taels of silver to buy the painting, but I refrained from selling it at the time.
Now, during the day, I hang the paintings in the shop, and at night when I close, I roll them up and tuck them into bed, afraid they might be stolen.
……