Ye Ling and Hua Ziyan woke up in Wu Long’s embrace, the bed warm with their body temperature as the sound of rain pounding the roof tiles still monotonously reverberating through the house.

As two pairs of eyes, blue and brown looked up at him a smile entered their view and warmth spread through their hearts as they snuggled closer to him from both sides while his hands held them tighter.

The happiness that filled their hearts was palpable in the cozy atmosphere as they simply listened to the music of nature and enjoyed each other’s warmth.

“Your Yang Qi is so potent that Ziyan already reached the bottleneck of the 3rd level, and if it becomes even more enriched I might actually advance to the Core Formation Realm the next time with just your Yang Qi”

As they were getting dressed up, Ye Ling and Hua Ziyan helped him put on his robes, and the former stated with some amazement as she noticed the rise in cultivation of the latter.

“Heh, well I did use up the entire stock of Yang attribute medicines that the Supreme Master Pavilion and the Clear Water Pavilion had as well as what I purchased from the Soaring Feather Trading Company in the Tingren Kingdom.

If we haven’t stumbled upon the Dawn Concealing Sect I would have run out of stock and had likely resorted to clearing the shelves of the nearby merchants”

Wu Long chuckled as he never stopped refining the Yang attribute medicines with the Golden Yang Dragon Body, balancing out his Yang Qi with his women’s Yin Qi.

“Though I should be able to make a big leap if Fairy Yu Huan can refine the Yang Fire Dragon Pill from the Liquid Fire Flower we got in the islands”

He then smiled as he was about to depart to the capital where the lovely and talented alchemist lived. He helped his ladies dress up as well, one by one, and then they came out to the living room where others have already arrived.

As they were talking and discussing possible improvements to the techniques, Wu Long gave Hua Ziyan the first version of the Integral Avalanche Structure Art. 𝙡𝙞𝒓𝙚𝓪𝙙.𝒄𝓸𝓶

And as she happily started to delve into it with Luo Mingyu helping her as well as studying it herself, Wu Long’s thoughts went to the upcoming trip.

“I will likely need to make a stop at the Storm Passage like we did on the trip to the Imperial Capital before”

“Hm? Aren’t you going with just Mengqi?”

Ye Ling raised her eyebrow since the last time they stopped because they were traveling in a large group in carriages and with low-cultivation disciples, thus requiring them to be cautious about crossing the pass. Now, with the Illustrious Stride Wu Long and Wu Mengqi could simply pass through with no problems whatsoever. In fact, the whole trip would take a few days instead of a whole month they used before.

“I want to climb the ridge”

“You mean…”

Ye Ling widened her eyes as she guessed his goal.

“Mm, I want to try and get a Lightning Rune”

“But you said yourself that you did not do the research on Dao Runes yet”

Ye Ling said as she was still a little worried.

“Hmm, there is not likely to be any knowledge on it in this Fractured World, and waiting to return is too long, since then my cultivation might reach the point of Seven Profound Realms.

Don’t worry, even the Annihilation Lighting was not capable of breaking the seal made with the Chaos Refining Body Tempering Art, normal Lightning Should not be a problem”

Wu Long chuckled, reassuring her and the others who also had worry on their faces. The reason he was able to trap the incredibly dangerous and frankly deadly to the current him Annihilation Lightning of the Heavenly Punishment was precisely the Chaos Refining Body Tempering Art’s third layer, which could trap chaotic energy in a contained loop within the body.

At this moment, Butler Bang came in, whispering to Wu Long’s ear and he smiled as he stood up and while the others continued to talk went out.

“Hmm, why is he so stubborn about that Lightning Rune?”

Wei Lan asked as she looked at the door Wu Long went to, unable to process why he went to such risks. The last time when he caught the lightning from the Heavenly Punishment he really was playing with fire as one wrong move would have turned him into dust.

“It is because he is limited in natural talent. In fact going to risks and doing much more than others is exactly how he clawed his way up, and likely so even to the heights that I was never able to see him ascend to”

Ye Ling smiled as she found that side of him incredibly worrying and at the same time immensely attractive. Unlike the sons of heaven who had naturally given talents he had to fight for every opportunity.

It was just not visible in this lifetime since he was currently treading the path with far more advanced knowledge, so there was an illusion of a smooth road. In fact with the techniques and methods he used now, as well as knowledge and comprehension he had, if he actually had a good natural talent he would have ascended not only to the Seven Profound Realm by now, but possibly even further.

“You just don’t understand how truly hard it is for him to cultivate. In a cultivation world where one’s realm determines their status as well as has a big impact on one’s strength, being limited in cultivation by poor talent is akin to being sentenced to a life of mediocrity.

All of his skills and expertise, the extraordinary battle sense that makes him unrivaled in the same Realm would turn into tricks in front of an opponent vastly higher than him in cultivation.

Even if he made twice the effort as others it would not yield him the same results, so he resolved to make dozens if not hundreds of times more than that. It made him pursue anything that could make him even a little stronger and give even a tiny leg over his opponents”

She said with an introspective look. She witnessed part of his journey, the very beginning of it, helping him at the time. So she knew how incredibly smooth and easy his current situation looked compared to his previous life.

“Is this Lightning of Annihilation that powerful of a trump card?”

Cao Mei asked as she was getting more and more comfortable around the others.

“It is, I suppose Mingyu could tell you how powerful Laws and Concepts can be, since she is the one who is trying to perceive the Dao”

Ye Ling nodded and Luo Mingyu shyly smiled since she was only a rookie Dao Cultivator if seen only by her age, though not at all when it came to accomplishments.

“Since the world is governed by Laws of Heavenly Daos, comprehending and utilizing a law means bending part of the world to your will. Though comprehending Laws is incredibly difficult, and it is a great achievement to comprehend even a Concept, which is the lower level representation of the Law.

The Lighting of the Heavenly Punishment contains the Concept of Annihilation, imbuing it with the essence of what it means to annihilate”

She explained with a slight redness on her cheeks as everyone was looking at her.

“Concept? Not Law?”

“Hmm, I was also surprised when Wu Long told me it contained the Concept and not the Law, apparently it has to do with the cultivation Realm or inherent power of the entity or object being ‘punished’. The one being punished was in the Nine Mortal Realms so a light Concept of Annihilation was enough”

Luo Mingyu placed a finger on her lips as she spoke since this was something she only heard from Wu Long and had yet to contemplate on.

“So that is why he wants it so much”

Hua Ziyan nodded since she too was worried about him getting hurt to get this power. And even though she still would not sacrifice his safety for such means, she now at least understood his reasoning.

“But, why is he impatient to get it now? Is it because it has to mature with him?”

“Partially, yes. Because he has to get it while it is not as potent to actually tame it, and then slowly nurture it to be useful. But there is also another reason, which is that he would be going after any element, Lightning is just something that he realized he could possibly obtain”

Ye Ling smiled and the others looked at her with interest.

“You see, while it is not exactly rare, Wu Long has no natural elemental attribute alignment. And even though the majority of cultivators are non-attribute cultivators, as I explained earlier he wants every advantage he can get. The elemental attributes awaken in the Seven Profound Realms, so he is eager to get an elemental Dao Rune before his cultivation reaches that level”

She then said with a sigh and it finally dawned on them that the importance of the foundation, the very beginning of one’s cultivation, was more and more apparent the higher one went. Which was why Wu Long was not willing to compromise the stability of his cultivation for speed, and wanted to prepare the groundwork for the future.

They also looked at the techniques he taught them in a different light, since it did seem that for the quality of techniques he claimed when he gave them, the effects did not really show astounding results. But if looking at them as a foundation, it made more and more sense the more they thought about it from this perspective.