Refining Thunder

Tang Wan'er's pretty face felt as if it were on fire; as a girl, how could she possibly give someone breath mouth-to-mouth?

But seeing Long Chen appearing to be on the brink of death, as if he had some last words to impart but lacked the breath to speak them…

"No, this is absolutely not allowed," Tang Wan'er said, her face as red as an apple, shaking her head in a difficult position.

"I…"

Long Chen wanted to say more, but lacking the breath, he could only spit out a single word. Afterward, his mouth just moved silently, unable to make a sound.

At this moment, Long Chen's breath grew weaker and weaker, like a candle flickering in the wind, threatening to go out at any moment, making one's heart ache.

Tang Wan'er looked at Long Chen with a conflicted expression, then glanced around and found no one else was there.

"Fine, since you're about to die anyway, I'll let you say your final wish." Tang Wan'er gritted her teeth and slowly leaned down in front of Long Chen.

Long Chen's eyes lit up as he gazed at Tang Wan'er with gratitude. Tang Wan'er's heart raced like a panicked deer, her chest heaving, showing her extreme inner turmoil.

Looking at Long Chen's face, her cherry lips slowly approached his mouth. Long Chen slowly closed his eyes.

"Hehe, after being tricked for so long, this time I'm getting it all back with interest."

Long Chen felt incredibly pleased. If people knew that Tang Wan'er was actually taking the initiative to give Long Chen a sweet kiss, who knows how many would go mad with jealousy.

Just as Long Chen was anticipating the sweet kiss, a sudden sharp pain shot through his thigh, causing him to cry out in surprise.

"Ouch!"

Long Chen opened his eyes and saw Tang Wan'er looking at him playfully, one of her jade-like hands pinching his thigh hard.

"Are you crazy? I'm a dying man, why are you pinching me?" Long Chen shouted in anger, but then he froze. It was over; he had blown his cover.

"A dying man with such good spirits to scold people? You 'dead man' really have quite the personality," Tang Wan'er said, looking at Long Chen with ill intent.

"Ah? I remember now. I was supposed to be dying, but then I thought, if I died, I was afraid you'd be scared facing a corpse, so I decided not to die," Long Chen laughed awkwardly.

"Then you should just go die, you bastard!"

After saying that, Tang Wan'er raised her delicate fists and rained them down on Long Chen like raindrops. Long Chen hurriedly covered his head, letting her pummel him like a beating drum.

However, Tang Wan'er's strength was actually quite ordinary. This beating was like being tickled, and it was so comfortable that Long Chen almost groaned with pleasure.

This fist-and-foot massage didn't last long. Whether Tang Wan'er got tired or had vented her anger, she stopped the beating.

"Get up, let's talk properly," Tang Wan'er said.

Long Chen covered his head and peeked through a gap. Seeing Tang Wan'er standing there with a much softer expression, he lowered his hands and said with a fawning smile:

"Young Miss Wan'er, how did you find out?"

Long Chen felt incredibly depressed. He was just about to succeed, only to fail at the last moment. He couldn't help but feel extremely vexed.

Most importantly, he believed his acting was flawless—his expressions, movements, and breath were all perfectly portrayed. How could he have failed?

"Hmph, though your acting was good, how could it possibly deceive this young lady?" Tang Wan'er said dismissively.

However, in her heart, she secretly thought it was a close call. She really had been fooled by Long Chen. A tiny flaw had appeared just as Long Chen closed his eyes, waiting for Tang Wan'er to give him breath.

It turned out that the place where Long Chen was sitting was overgrown with weeds, and his bare calf happened to be right next to a fruit from a piece of Rat-tail grass.

The fruit was fuzzy and slightly toxic; though the toxicity wasn't strong, it caused an unbearable itch.

At first, Long Chen had been enduring it, but when he thought he was about to succeed and closed his eyes to wait for the kiss, he secretly used his other foot to scratch the itch.

As it happened, Tang Wan'er had her face turned away as she slowly approached Long Chen, and she caught sight of that exact moment. It instantly woke her up—could a dying person still scratch an itch?

At the same time, Tang Wan'er quietly spread her Soul power and indeed discovered Long Chen's trick. Normally, when a person is dying, their Soul power becomes withered and extinguishes after death.

But although Long Chen's Soul power was hidden extremely well, it was as vast and majestic as the ocean. How could he be a dying man?

Seeing Long Chen still waiting for her to give him breath with an intoxicated expression, Tang Wan'er was filled with anger, so she reached out and gave him a hard pinch.

Seeing that Tang Wan'er refused to say, Long Chen had to let it go. The Lightning Force surging within his body struck again, causing him to frown.

"Why are you so foolish as to send the Lightning Force into your meridians? If it had only injured your internal organs, with my help, it would only take about ten days to clear it out."

"But now that it's deep in your meridians, even if the Lightning Force is cleared, your meridians will have been severely damaged and will require a long time to repair, wasting precious time for nothing." Although Tang Wan'er didn't know why Long Chen had done this, such an action was indeed incomprehensible to her.

Especially since such a stupid thing had been done by someone as cunning as Long Chen, it made it even more impossible to guess the purpose behind it, which is why she asked.

"This little brother desecrated the Fairy and felt his sins were heavy, so I accepted this punishment…" Long Chen sighed, but just as he said this, another sharp pain shot through his thigh, and he hurriedly said, "Stop pinching, I'll tell the truth!"

Tang Wan'er then withdrew her jade hand, looking at Long Chen with disdain. "If you had just told the truth from the start, we'd be done. You just had to talk nonsense."

Long Chen rubbed his thigh and looked at Tang Wan'er with confusion, asking, "That kid Guo Ran said you were the easiest to get along with among the five. I deeply doubt his words."

Hearing this, Tang Wan'er gave a slight smile, sweet and lovely like cherry blossoms in March, making one feel exceptionally close to her.

"Does it feel much better this way?" Tang Wan'er said with a dimpled smile, her voice enchanting.

"Mhm, mhm." Long Chen nodded involuntarily. This version of Tang Wan'er was exceptionally charming.

"Mhm my foot! If you don't want to suffer, tell me quickly: why did you do it?" As if changing masks, her gentleness vanished, replaced entirely by a look of irritation.

Long Chen sighed. Tang Wan'er had a gentle and lovely side, but also a violent and powerful side. Unfortunately, his Luck was bad, and she only chose to show him this side.

He knew he couldn't make up a suitable reason for this, so he put away his previous playful grin and said seriously, "I can tell you, but you must promise to keep it a secret for me and absolutely not tell anyone."

Seeing Long Chen suddenly become serious, Tang Wan'er was startled. She wasn't quite used to this version of Long Chen, but she still nodded. "Don't worry, I'm not a gossip."

Long Chen then said, "I want to use Lei Qianshang's Lightning Seed to refine my own Lightning Force."

Hearing Long Chen's words, Tang Wan'er said in shock, "Are you crazy? How is that possible?"

"Why is it impossible?" Long Chen asked, puzzled.

"Are you joking? Lei Qianshang has an ancestral Bloodline that allows him to control Lightning Force. You don't have that kind of Bloodline Legacy. The Lightning Force will only destroy your body; it will never be used by you. This idea of yours is simply a pipe dream."

"Really impossible?" Long Chen asked.

"Of course not. The violent Lightning Force will destroy your Dantian. I advise you not to try. Although you're quite a bad person and annoying, your combat power is good. It would be a pity if you died." Tang Wan'er shook her head.

Long Chen laughed. "I'm very moved that you're praising me like that, but I've still decided to refine it."

"Do you want to die?" Tang Wan'er said, somewhat angrily.

"Didn't you say I'm a bad person? Bad people don't die so easily." Long Chen smiled slightly. After hearing Tang Wan'er's words, he felt even more confident.

Others would die doing this, but he wouldn't. After all, he didn't have a Dantian, so how could it be destroyed? Even if something were to be destroyed, it would be the Fengfu Star.

But destroying the Fengfu Star? Hehe, it wasn't that Long Chen looked down on it, but even if there were ten thousand of them, they couldn't hope to do it.

"Young Miss Wan'er, you should go attend to your business. I'm going to start refining." Long Chen looked at Tang Wan'er.

"Go ahead and refine. I'll be nearby. In case you fail and end up half-dead, I might still be able to save your little life." Tang Wan'er shook her head and found a clean spot to sit about a dozen yards away.

Long Chen smiled slightly. Although Tang Wan'er was fierce, she wasn't bad at heart. He slowly closed his eyes, circulated the Spiritual Qi throughout his body, and began refining the Lightning Force.

This Lightning Force rampaged back and forth within Long Chen's meridians, frantically battering his body.

If it were the meridians of an ordinary Blood Condensation Realm expert, they would have long been riddled with holes, leaving them a cripple.

But Long Chen's meridians had been modified by an expert from the Spirit Realm; they were much wider and far tougher. That Lightning Force was unable to cause much damage to his meridians.

This was exactly why Long Chen dared to do this. Now, all the Lightning Force was trapped within his meridians, becoming Long Chen's prey.

"Refine for me!"

With a cold snort from Long Chen, the Fengfu Star rotated, and massive amounts of Spiritual Qi began to pour frantically into his meridians, crushing the Lightning Force.

Within Long Chen's meridians, the Lightning Force met the pressure of the Spiritual Qi and began to resist desperately.

The two engaged in a frantic battle within Long Chen's meridians. The Lightning Force became exceptionally violent, desperately battering the meridians in an attempt to cause widespread destruction.

But Long Chen's meridians were like sturdy pipes; no matter how it struck, it couldn't budge them in the slightest.

Instead, Long Chen's Spiritual Qi continuously compressed and assimilated the Lightning Force. However, the Lightning Force was exceptionally stubborn, resisting desperately and refusing to yield.

"Let's add a little more to the mix."

Hu!

The Pill Fire originally hidden within his meridians suddenly blazed up, joining the battle and frantically crushing the Lightning Force.

Now, without a source of energy, the Lightning Force became isolated and weakened. Its violent aura gradually faded during the collisions, and its resistance grew smaller and smaller.

But it wasn't enough yet. Long Chen increased the power of his Spiritual Qi and Pill Fire, scouring his meridians back and forth to completely wash away the inherent will of this Lightning Force.

This Lightning Force belonged to Lei Qianshang. Long Chen had to completely erase his Soul mark, turning it into an ownerless object, then apply his own mark so it would become his Lightning Force.

For Long Chen, who had experience refining Beast Flames, this was no big deal—the process was just a bit troublesome.

"Phew."

Three hours later, Long Chen opened his eyes. Although his face was full of exhaustion, his eyes were brimming with excitement.