Lightning Needs a Path

When Hao Nhien said that he wanted to enter the Lightning Sacrifice Mountain Cave, Cat Thanh simply looked at him for a long while.

He neither asked for a reason nor tried to stop him. After several breaths, he said only one word.

“Come.”

Then he personally led the way.

The two left the central district of Cat Loi City and followed a stone path winding toward the rear of the settlement.

The mountains here were not particularly high, but they were completely different from the sand-covered slopes outside. The rock carried a distinctive purple-gray hue, while many places were marked by long black scars as though they had been struck by lightning countless times over the years.

The deeper they went, the more distinct the Lightning-element spiritual energy in the air became. Before long, a faint tingling sensation had begun spreading across Hao Nhien's skin.

Cat Thanh stopped before a massive rock wall, took out a purple jade token, and poured spiritual power into it.

Lightning glowed across the token. Tiny arcs raced along the cracks in the cliff, followed by a deep vibration from somewhere within the mountain.

The ground trembled faintly.

The rock wall slowly separated to either side, revealing a dark passage leading deep underground. Hot air carrying the smell of scorched stone rushed out through the opening.

Hao Nhien narrowed his eyes slightly. The familiar sensation made him instinctively look deeper into the darkness.

Cat Thanh stood beside him.

“I won't go in with you.”

Hao Nhien turned toward him.

“Comprehending Lightning is different for everyone. Sometimes having another person nearby only distracts the mind.”

Hao Nhien nodded.

“I understand.”

Cat Thanh looked into the dark passage.

“But remember one thing. No one knows how deep the Lightning Domain truly goes. Generations of Cat Loi cultivators have only trained within the range their own bodies could endure.”

Hao Nhien's expression became more serious.

“I'll be careful.”

Cat Thanh continued:

“Lightning is different from Wind. It won't wait for you to adapt before it comes, and enduring it a few times won't make it any easier to understand.”

He paused and looked directly at Hao Nhien.

“Don't let the fact that you've reached a certain depth convince you that another few zhang will also be safe. The Lightning Domain usually kills people because they take one step beyond their limit.”

Hao Nhien smiled faintly.

“I'll remember.”

Cat Thanh placed a large hand on his shoulder, squeezed once, then turned and left.

The cliff wall slowly closed behind Hao Nhien, taking the outside light with it. Within the darkness, only thin purple arcs remained, flickering intermittently along the stone.

Hao Nhien stood still for several breaths before beginning his descent.

The deeper he went, the hotter the air became, and the tingling across his skin grew increasingly distinct. Far below, thunder echoed upward in slow, heavy waves, as though some enormous creature deep within the earth were breathing.

The last time he had come here, he had mainly observed.

This time, his purpose was different.

Hao Nhien wanted to understand what characteristics belonged to the force that had just shaken heaven and earth before his eyes, and whether those characteristics could help him further refine his current path of combat.

The stone path eventually opened onto a black altar.

Below it lay the Lightning Domain.

A vast abyss stretched through the heart of the mountain, its bottom completely invisible. Wind surged upward from the depths, carrying the crackle of electricity and the sharp smell of stone baked by lightning.

Hao Nhien stood at the edge and looked down.

Near the mouth of the abyss, thin purple arcs crossed the darkness like threads of light. Farther below, the lightning became denser, intersecting into luminous webs, while deeper still the radiance had grown so thick that individual bolts were difficult to distinguish.

Beyond that, white-purple light merged into a constantly churning region.

Hao Nhien stared for a long time.

How deep the Cat Loi cultivators of previous generations had reached, or where the strongest clan leaders had once stood, Cat Thanh had never given him a clear answer.

Perhaps even he did not know.

What the Cat Loi Tribe had passed down was only one very simple principle: the deeper one descended, the fiercer the lightning became. Once a cultivator exceeded what the body could endure, the damage would no longer stop at flesh or meridians. Push even farther beyond the limit, and the lightning could affect spiritual sense, the soul, and even the heart meridian.

Hao Nhien understood that this place was dangerous in an entirely different way from Black Wind Valley.

Within Black Wind, there were still currents, gaps, and directions of movement. Once he sensed those patterns, he could use Wind itself to lessen the pressure.

Lightning felt far more immediate.

Once a path formed, the force seemed to reach its destination in almost the same instant, leaving very little time to correct a mistake.

Those were still only assumptions.

He needed to verify them himself.

Hao Nhien summoned the Tieu Dao Sword.

The silver blade hovered before him. He stepped onto it, poured spiritual power into the sword, and slowly descended into the Lightning Domain.

The first several zhang were relatively calm, with only occasional arcs crawling across the surrounding walls.

Without warning, one bolt changed direction and struck the Tieu Dao Sword.

The blade shook violently, disrupting the spiritual power Hao Nhien was using to control it for a brief instant. He lowered his center of gravity to keep his balance.

Only a few breaths later, another arc shot toward him and swept across his left shoulder.

His robe burned through immediately, leaving a small blackened wound on the skin beneath as the smell of scorched fabric spread through the air.

Hao Nhien did not immediately leave the area.

He looked down at the injury and concentrated on the reaction inside his body.

The moment the lightning entered, his muscles contracted, his meridians trembled, and even the spiritual power circulating within him became unstable for a brief instant.

Heat was only one part of the effect.

What caught Hao Nhien's attention was how the lightning seemed to make his entire body react almost simultaneously.

He raised his eyes toward the arcs crawling across the stone wall.

“Fire gives me destructive power.”

“Wind helps me sense and move.”

Hao Nhien narrowed his eyes slightly.

“As for Lightning…”

“I'll see for myself.”

The Tieu Dao Sword continued downward.

At around ten zhang, the density of the lightning changed noticeably.

The spiritual power surrounding Hao Nhien began attracting nearby arcs, causing them to repeatedly alter direction.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

One struck his chest, followed immediately by two others that swept across his arm and shoulder.

His entire body jerked.

Several more holes appeared in his outer robe, his skin reddened, and a thin line of blood formed across his chest.

The Body-Soul Fist Art began circulating.

This Body Art did not create a rigid defensive layer to oppose external force. Instead, it continuously adjusted his muscles, meridians, and overall physical state while repairing minor damage as his body adapted under pressure.

After each strike, Hao Nhien could clearly sense the affected areas gradually readjusting. His muscles changed the way they contracted, his meridians stabilized more quickly, and the injuries themselves began repairing through each cycle of the art.

He did not attempt to heal every wound immediately.

Spiritual power was only used to keep the damage within a controllable range. The remaining adaptation was left to the Body Art.

As time passed, the smaller lightning arcs that had once numbed an entire arm caused only powerful muscular contractions, while the time needed for his body to recover grew steadily shorter.

Hao Nhien continued descending.

At around thirty zhang, a powerful burst of lightning suddenly struck the Tieu Dao Sword.

This time, the spiritual connection between him and the flying sword was shaken violently.

The blade veered sharply aside.

The support beneath Hao Nhien's feet disappeared, and his body dropped straight into the abyss.

A cluster of lightning was erupting directly below him.

His pupils contracted.

The Spirit Wings opened behind him.

Compressed air exploded outward, throwing his falling body more than ten zhang to the side.

A thick bolt swept through the place he had just occupied.

At the same time, Hao Nhien locked onto the Tieu Dao Sword again with his spiritual sense.

The silver blade spun once before quickly returning beneath his feet. He landed, stabilized himself, and withdrew the Spirit Wings.

Both shoulders still ached, but his attention had already shifted to the Tieu Dao Sword.

The lightning in this region was powerful enough to disrupt sword control.

If he continued deeper while relying entirely on the flying sword to remain suspended, the danger would increase rapidly.

From that point onward, Hao Nhien changed the way he moved.

He prioritized rocky ledges protruding from the walls as places to stand, using the Tieu Dao Sword mainly to cross the gaps between relatively stable positions.

The Spirit Wings were reserved as an emergency measure whenever the flying sword was knocked off course or he needed to escape a dangerous area within a very short time.

On the first day, Hao Nhien descended only a little beyond thirty zhang.

By the time he returned to the black altar, his body was covered in burns, the meridians in his right arm had been aching for a long time, and his left shoulder was so numb that he could barely feel it.

He stopped to regulate his condition, used medicinal pills to stabilize his injuries, and waited until his body had recovered sufficiently before entering again.

Over the following days, the depth he could reach increased very slowly.

By the third day, Hao Nhien could remain stable at around forty zhang.

Over the next several days, he repeatedly attempted to go deeper, but each time he noticed the lightning beginning to exceed what his body could adapt to, he immediately withdrew.

On one occasion, a long bolt struck his back and left the meridians behind his shoulder aching intensely for nearly an hour.

Hao Nhien returned to the upper region immediately afterward.

Cat Thanh's warning remained very clear in his mind.

The Lightning Domain did not care how far someone had already descended. One step beyond the body's limit could inflict damage far beyond the Body Art's ability to repair.

By the tenth day, Hao Nhien's body had adapted considerably to the region beyond forty zhang.

Small bolts striking his skin now left only reddened marks, while his muscles rapidly adjusted after each contraction.

But it was precisely then that he began to notice a problem.

Ten days had made his body tougher, his meridians more resistant, and his recovery noticeably faster.

His understanding of Lightning itself, however, had barely advanced beyond his original observations.

Lightning erupted almost instantaneously, traveled at extraordinary speed, and carried a decisive quality unlike any other force he had encountered.

Continuing to endure more strikes would certainly make his body stronger, but that did not necessarily mean it would bring him closer to what he truly wanted to find.

Hao Nhien remembered Cat Thanh's words.

Enduring more lightning did not necessarily mean understanding Lightning.

He sat cross-legged on a rocky ledge more than forty zhang below the entrance and began changing his method of cultivation.

The Body-Soul Fist Art continued to circulate, but he reduced its intensity until it was only sufficient to maintain the body's ability to adjust and repair itself.

Most of his spiritual power was concentrated in his right arm.

A very thin layer of protection formed along several meridian branches.

Then he deliberately left a route near the tip of one finger less protected than the others.

A thin purple arc from outside touched his fingertip.

Sharp pain shot through his arm.

Hao Nhien narrowed the affected area, leaving only one small meridian branch open as a path.

The lightning entered through his fingertip, crossed his hand, then traveled up his forearm.

He concentrated completely on sensing every change.

Near the elbow, the lightning began spreading into other branches.

Hao Nhien narrowed the surrounding routes with spiritual power while opening another relatively unobstructed path leading outward.

The electricity changed direction and shot from his skin.

Hao Nhien slowly exhaled as the last trace of lightning left his body.

The first attempt had lasted only several moments, but it had taught him more than several days of simply enduring repeated strikes.

He tried again.

Sometimes the lightning deviated and left two fingers numb for nearly half an hour.

On another attempt, more lightning entered than he had expected, causing such intense pain in the meridians that he was forced to stop and regulate his condition.

Through repeated failures, Hao Nhien gradually discovered a pattern.

Lightning always preferred the more open path.

He created two spiritual routes with different levels of protection and observed carefully. When one route was narrowed and the other opened wider, the lightning almost immediately shifted toward the easier path.

Hao Nhien realized that Lightning did not need to be controlled every step of the way.

As long as an open enough route existed, the force would naturally follow it.

Over the following days, he repeated the process again and again.

The Body Art continuously adjusted the affected areas. The meridian sections that frequently came into contact with lightning gradually became more resilient, the surrounding muscles adapted more effectively to sudden contraction, and the rate at which minor injuries repaired themselves increased day by day.

By the thirteenth day, a clear idea had begun to take shape in Hao Nhien's mind.

Wind existed within flow, so those who cultivated it needed to sense the gaps and changes within that flow.

Lightning operated differently.

Once a suitable path existed, the force seemed to reach the end almost within the same instant.

Hao Nhien looked at his arm.

“Wind seeks the opening.”

He extended one finger toward a small arc of electricity.

“But Lightning needs a path.”

This time, the words were no longer a guess.

They were a conclusion drawn from his own experience.

Outside the Lightning Sacrifice Mountain Cave, time continued to pass.

On the fifteenth day, Cat Thanh once again stood before the cliff wall.

A Cat Loi elder accompanied him.

“Clan Leader, he still hasn't come out.”

Cat Thanh looked at the jade token in his hand.

The lightning glow across its surface remained stable, indicating that nothing serious had happened to the restrictions inside. Even so, fifteen days was far longer than most cultivators usually remained within the Lightning Domain.

The elder lowered his voice.

“Most people come out after only a few days of comprehension. Even among our own Cat Loi cultivators, very few remain inside for more than ten days.”

Cat Thanh understood that perfectly well.

But he had also personally seen the way Hao Nhien fought and handled danger.

The young man could be reckless when necessary, but he rarely risked his life merely to prove something meaningless.

Cat Thanh looked at the jade token for a while longer.

“Give him three more days. If anything unusual appears on the token, I'll go in.”

The elder nodded.

Deep within the Lightning Domain, Hao Nhien continued changing his method of cultivation.

He had stopped trying to descend farther.

Most of his time was now spent remaining at a suitable depth and guiding small strands of lightning through meridian routes his body had already adapted to.

The range gradually expanded from his hand to his forearm, then to his shoulder, part of his chest, and finally the opposite arm.

The areas directly connected to his heart meridian and sea of consciousness remained heavily protected.

With his current ability, allowing lightning through those regions would only increase the danger without bringing proportional benefit.

From that realization onward, Hao Nhien focused on refining the routes rather than increasing his depth.

By the twentieth day, a thin arc entered through his right index finger, traveled up the arm along an adapted meridian route, and reached his shoulder.

Hao Nhien adjusted his spiritual power and created a pathway toward the left side.

The lightning followed.

It crossed his chest, moved down his left arm, and finally shot out through the tip of his left index finger.

A thin purple streak struck the stone wall and left behind a scorched mark no larger than a fingertip.

Hao Nhien stared at the mark for a long time before looking at both hands.

This was the first time lightning had passed through his body along a relatively complete route while remaining within a range his body could safely adapt to.

More importantly, he could now cause the direction of that transmission to change according to a pathway he had created himself.

Hao Nhien slowly exhaled.

“Finally, some progress.”

The lightning was still an external force.

The spiritual power inside Hao Nhien's dantian had not become Lightning-element spiritual power in any way.

Even so, the distance between his body and that force had become much smaller.

He had found an initial point of resonance from which he could continue exploring.

From then on, Hao Nhien remained at the region beyond forty zhang and focused on sharpening his sensitivity while guiding increasingly smaller strands of lightning.

Over the following days, his perception of Lightning-element spiritual energy changed noticeably.

Before, Hao Nhien could only detect arcs large enough to be seen with the naked eye or strong enough to make his body react.

Now, amid the countless flashes racing across the stone walls, he could sense extremely faint fluctuations mixed into the surrounding spiritual energy.

They were so thin that they barely produced visible light, leaving only the faintest tremors within his spiritual sense.

Hao Nhien extended one hand.

A tiny strand of lightning touched his fingertip in response to his perception, followed the meridian path tempered by the Body Art, then exited near his wrist.

The entire process lasted only several moments, but the attempt succeeded.

Hao Nhien studied his arm before beginning the next experiment.

If one path could carry one strand of lightning, what would happen with two?

He opened another meridian route.

Two tiny strands touched separate points on his hand almost simultaneously.

The moment they entered his body, the sensation changed completely.

Two separate shocks traveled through the meridians, tightening the muscles, while the spiritual power stabilizing the routes began to fluctuate.

The Body Art immediately accelerated.

The muscles around his arm adjusted their rhythm of contraction, the affected meridians gradually adapted under the pressure, and the tiny injuries that had just appeared began repairing themselves.

Hao Nhien maintained both routes for several breaths before attempting to guide them toward a single exit at the tip of his index finger.

The moment the two strands approached the same point, sharp pain erupted through his right arm.

Electricity scattered chaotically from his skin, and both routes lost stability almost simultaneously.

Hao Nhien immediately severed the pathways and sat down to regulate his condition.

Nearly half an hour passed before sensation gradually returned to his arm.

When he tried again, the two strands sometimes converged too early. At other times, the difference in their paths caused one to deviate into a neighboring meridian branch.

By the fourth attempt, he managed to guide both close to the fingertip, but the lightning still dispersed just before exiting.

Hao Nhien did not rush.

Every failure taught him more about how multiple strands behaved when several routes existed simultaneously.

After several more attempts, he realized where he had gone wrong.

Trying to force the two strands together inside the meridians was unnecessary.

Lightning traveled extraordinarily fast. As long as each strand had its own route and all of them were directed toward the same endpoint, the difference in arrival time was almost negligible even if they entered the body from different places.

Forcing them to merge too early only concentrated too much pressure on one meridian segment