It’s highest peaks were even higher than the ridge dividing the Azure Eagle?Empire in half, and it stood like an imposing wall, weathered by time but still unbroken. There was no vegetation at all, as the bare cliffs were made of solid, dark rock.

And while Gutian Kingdom’s side was elevated above sea level, the closer to the mountains the steeper the slope, when Wu Long approached the foot of the mountain there was still a wall of solid rock covering the Western Sky.

He did not stop at the bottom and started scaling the wall as Spiritual Qi began moving along his feet, ascending higher and higher until he started reaching cloud levels.

During his sprint his eyes were surveying the rocky cliffs around, as his irises flashed with profound patterns. Soon, his pupils slightly dilated, and he changed direction.

*Sreeech*

As he sped across the cliffs a bird-type demonic beast spotted him and made a deafening sound that echoed through the mountains. It’s head was adorned with ice-like crystals and Cold Qi was circulating around it.

“Heh, it would have been better for you if you pretended not to see me”

Wu Long grinned as he saw the 7th-tier Demonic Beast. His eyes showing interest when he discovered it had a Neidan.

He quickly approached the beast that unfolded its snow-white and gray wings to ascend into advantageous position but did not seem to expect him to catch up to it so fast.

It’s leg with deadly claws that could tear down a Core Formation Realm cultivator’s protective Spiritual Qi like a piece of paper was raised in position to strike as it accurately grasped Wu Long’s speed and trajectory, but the man’s figure suddenly disappeared into a cloud of black smoke.

‘Bahshi Ghost Step’

Wu Long appeared from its side with the exposed belly because of the raised leg, and a spear that he received as a generous donation in the Dawn Concealing Sect on the Wood Spirit Continent appeared in his hand.

‘Nine Orchids Spear Art, Seventh form, Full Bloom’

He thrust the spear and nine spear Spiritual Qi images matching the one he held in the hand sprang forth with his thrust in a formation resembling how the orchids bloomed on one branch, piercing into the beast and the head of each spear producing protrusions that resembled the orchid flower, burrowing into the flesh.

*Scree–…*

The demonic beast’s eyes showed horror and confusion before becoming glassy as it’s torso was thrown by the impact of the spear strike to the side of its nest.

As the loud and heavy thud resounded in the echoes following the sounds of screeches, Wu Long approached its corpse among the clouds of snow that were raised into the air with a light stride, the blade of the spear in his right hand that was surrounded with Spiritual Qi drawing a beautiful line in front of him with a natural and simple motion. The beast’s corpse opened up with a wide gash and at the very end of the cut a slightly murky white sphere was revealed among the red meat. .

He didn’t want to get into the corpse so he retrieved a band of thin metallic wires Butler Bang made his weapon of choice, and with a light wave of his left hand retrieved the Neidan.

“Heh, an unexpected profit”

Wu Long chuckled unaware that he just rid all of the neighboring villages in both Gutian and Fantian Kingdoms of the scourge that has been terrorizing them for centuries, devastating one of them randomly each decade and devouring all of the cattle.

He safely stored the Neidan and continued to his destination. He soon saw the peak he found while surveying the area, and with a few steps was already on it.

As he stopped on a small natural platform, he overlooked the surrounding breathtaking view, breathing in the thin air that would not fill the lungs of a normal mortal enough to breathe but was enough for a cultivator in the Revolving Qi Realm.

He then looked up at the sky beyond the low-level clouds and chuckled. His eyes revealed a sharp look as he concentrated and the surroundings became discolored in a limited area, as if a bubble of translucent gray matter engulfed him and the area around.

A circular opening appeared in the rock that withstood the decamillennium of rains, hails, snow and harsh winds, as well as the decay such long time brought along. A single spear strike made a hole as smooth as if a hot knife went through butter. Something shined at the end of the hole with a metallic luster, but not enough to be solid metal.

“Hopefully this vein is enough”

Tracing his Spatial Ring, he took out a pitch black rock the size of a human head, its surface slightly shining with sparks of electricity, and chugged it into the hole he made.

The moment the rock fell into place, the sky above the clouds showed signs of change as a pressure started building up and at the speed visible to the eye a cloud started forming. Not long after the static electricity became palpable as the cloud became darker and was moving, swirling as its eye was right above the rock Wu Long took out.

‘Heh, taking a souvenir from the Storm Passage was a good idea after all’

He thought as he watched little arcs of lightning start dancing in between the clouds. Though it would have been useless if he did not find an ore vein that went deep enough to touch the Spiritual Qi flows in the earth and yet also had an access point in the higher altitudes.

He used this moment to feel the Water Qi forming the clouds, wondering if he could reproduce this with his Water Rune, but quickly realized that he required much more precise control to create something like that.

He also found that he lacked a crucial components of Cold Qi and Warm Qi that created the necessary temperature changes that made the clouds turbulent enough to produce electricity.

He had, to a limited degree, the ability to move and manipulate water in its many forms but he had no say over its temperature and thus what state it was in.

He noticed it when he ran on the road last night, but he could feel the water that made snowflakes, and could even slightly manipulate it, but the movement was duller than water in its pure form and he could not change it into water, as they only became droplets when they touched his face and melted from his warmth.

This told him that even if he had perfect control over the Water Rune and somehow found a way to advance it into a higher order rune, he wouldn’t be able to produce ice, or snow, or hot water, or steam.

“Heh, I cannot help but get greedy” .

He chuckled as his greed for anything that could become his strength was one of the traits he viewed as a flaw as sometimes it caused him to do reckless things like shoving his hand into a tiny strand of Annihilation Lightning to try and get it for himself.

The Lightning Rune inside Wu Long became agitated as the sparks within the growing dark cloud were getting more and more frequent, and soon the first bolt of lightning headed straight for the stone, intercepted by Wu Long’s figure who willingly stood in its way.

He could not let the lightning touch the Thunder Baserock as what he took was a small piece that was already partially saturated and would stop causing the lightning to fall as soon as it was completely charged.

He thrust his spear up and the bolt struck it as the charge went through him, and then was absorbed into the Lightning Rune. This time there was nothing to temper his body with as the lightning was significantly less powerful than what he endured in the Storm Pass.

Another bolt, and then one more went up into the air and then Wu Long felt the Rune slip through the lightning at the moment the purplish-white arc connected the tip of his spear and the cloud.

“Haa~”

Wu Long sighed. He knew there was no way to contain the rune when it had access to the outside through the electric charge that connected them. But anticipating something and having it come true were still different things, as he felt a little disappointment.

His thoughts went to planning his next visit to the Storm Pass as he did not want to give up, but then he felt a thin strain of his Spiritual Qi being drawn somewhere.

His mind stirred and he let a current of Spiritual Qi follow that pull as it tore through the air and into the Storm Cloud above. And then his eyes opened up wide as he felt the Lightning Rune again in the cloud, drawing on his Spiritual Qi and locked in struggle with a smaller, visibly less powerful rune.

“Hah! So it is predator and prey? Hahaha, that makes things much easier”

A somewhat evil grin appeared on Wu Long’s face as he understood that the Dao Runes followed the law of the strong preys on the weak as well. The Rune that has been living off of his Spiritual Qi for so long was now either unable to or unwilling to borrow the Spiritual Qi in the air which was of considerably less quality, thus using his own Spiritual Qi while the free Lightning Rune that was summoned by the Thunder Bedrock was only able to rely on the Spiritual Qi in the air.

The winner soon became apparent as Wu Long’s Lightning Rune devoured the other one, and the lightning charges from the cloud all poured into one as it bolted toward Wu Long.

Despite this charge containing all of the lightning generated by that cloud, Wu Long did not feel any threat from at as it engulfed him and then the Lightning Rune simply reappeared inside his bloodstream, slightly quivering.

Wu Long examined the rune and found that the devoured rune did not exactly disappear, becoming a sort of part of the other one, as it orbited the bigger rune in slow rotation.

“Success”

Wu Long’s lips drew a satisfied smile as it seemed that the rune truly was very enticed by the Annihilation Lightning enough to return even after breaking free of his restraints, and even relied on his Spiritual Qi to devour other runes.

He finally felt confident enough to initiate a soul connection with the Rune, which first sparked, sending a pang of intense headache for him, but then as he lowered the amount of Spiritual Qi he supplied to the Rune and it started to lose control over the smaller one it quickly accepted the link, his Niwan Palace connected to the Rune with a strand of Soul Power.

A profound ripple spread from him as the air around became filled with static electricity and sparks fired off in the area with crackling sounds all around him.

He opened his eyes that slightly flashed as if arcs of electricity danced in his eyes for a moment.

He waited for a bit as the Thunder Baserock was still not charged but there was no signs of another cloud forming.

‘I guess I shouldn’t be too greedy’

Wu Long chuckled as he retrieved the rock and sped down the mountain to a passage to the other side. In any case, he already reaped massive benefits today, the biggest of them being the knowledge on how to advance Dao Runes.

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