Something big happened

On the bare mountaintop, Long Chen arrived once again. Looking at the dense thunderclouds in the sky, Long Chen sighed.

Currently, his Bottleneck was stuck fast, and he couldn't get a Qilin Fruit, so he could only exhaust every possible method to improve his strength.

During his last battle against Yin Luo, a single strike had nearly exhausted his thunder energy. Since then, Long Chen had been busy "procuring" medicinal ingredients and hadn't had time to recover.

Now that he was finally free, Long Chen felt that coming here to replenish his thunder energy was the most cost-effective option.

Because Long Chen's thunder energy was dissolved within his blood, he needed to spend a significant amount of time nourishing those thunder runes. Only when those thunder runes were fed would they be willing to work and generate thunder energy.

This process was long and arduous, so Long Chen intended to collect ready-made thunder instead, which didn't require much effort.

In Long Chen's philosophy, if something could be done while lying down, he would never do it sitting up. Saving time and effort, while being safe and fast, was the ultimate way.

Long Chen took out a kite over three feet long from his robes. Unlike an ordinary kite, this one was made of iron.

This was a kite that he had Guo Ran custom-make for him. Most importantly, thirty-six spring plates were installed on the kite's wings. Once the wind blew, those spring plates would vibrate continuously, keeping the kite steadily suspended in the air. It was truly miraculous.

As long as it was released into the sky, it didn't require constant control of its direction like a normal kite, otherwise, it would fall.

With this kite designed by Guo Ran, as long as one end was tied to the ground and there was wind in the sky, it would never fall.

Long Chen's kite string was also special; it was woven from steel wire with extreme toughness, both thin and resilient.

Long Chen quickly sent the kite into the air, and within a short while, it had risen to a height of over a thousand zhang.

That was where the thunderclouds gathered. From time to time, lightning would strike the kite, and the powerful thunder energy would travel down the kite string.

However, at this moment, that thunder energy would not cause Long Chen any harm; instead, it made his body feel light and airy.

The thunder runes within his Bloodline, awakened by the invading thunder energy, were like starving wolves, frantically absorbing that power.

In the dense lightning, the kite allowed the bolts to strike it, merely trembling slightly without any signs of damage, which put Long Chen's mind at ease.

"Produced by Guo Ran, worth trusting."

Long Chen gave Guo Ran a thumbs up. In this regard, this brother was very reliable.

He found a clean rock, tied the kite string to his waist, then took out a jar and mixed a large jar of Jade Bee Queen Honey.

Lying on the rock with a straw in his mouth reaching into the jar, the sweet fragrance filled his mouth. As a tingling sensation radiated from his waist, Long Chen felt so comfortable he nearly groaned.

"This kind of Cultivate is truly a life of the immortals."

Long Chen couldn't help but sigh with emotion. The thunder energy from the sky was continuously transmitted to his body through the kite string.

The thunder energy in his blood was being rapidly replenished, and those thunder runes, after the previous exhaustion, seemed to have grown slightly larger, frantically absorbing that thunder energy to accelerate their own growth.

Such a lazy way of Cultivate was likely something only Long Chen's brain could conceive in this world.

Currently, besides his thunder energy, there was basically nothing else for Long Chen to improve, so he prepared to stay here until the Nine Li Secret Realm opened.

Although he hadn't applied for Supreme Disciple status, there was no need to mention Core Disciple status; it was definitely a sure thing.

Watching others Cultivate diligently and improve constantly all day, Long Chen didn't feel good about himself, so he simply decided not to go back.

A month passed just like that. The blood within Long Chen's body began to roar frantically, with countless thunder runes rolling continuously inside, possessing a terrifying Aura.

During this month, Long Chen had been subjected to thunder baptism day and night. The thunder runes within his blood, nourished by the thunder energy, had grown even larger.

As those countless thunder runes grew, Long Chen felt that the thunder energy within his body was becoming increasingly powerful.

When Long Chen had fought Yin Luo, he had unleashed a strike of thunder energy, but he hadn't controlled it well, and it had dissipated.

However, its power was still terrifying. If Yin Luo hadn't used a treasure at the critical moment, that strike could have even killed him.

Now, as the thunder runes slowly grew, the thunder energy Long Chen could use was becoming stronger and stronger.

Those thunder runes were like pets kept by Long Chen; whenever he needed them, they would spit out the energy within them.

And as those runes grew stronger, Long Chen's control over the thunder energy also became increasingly stronger, so in the future, there shouldn't be any situations where his attacks dissipated the moment they left his hand.

"Boom."

A muffled sound came from the sky. After the last thundercloud contributed a bolt of thunder energy, the clouds filling the sky became no different from ordinary white clouds.

"Well, in a month's time, the thunder energy has all been drained."

Looking at the clouds in the sky, Long Chen couldn't help but sigh.

He was draining the pond to catch the fish; he had extracted that thunder energy so quickly that the thunderclouds couldn't recover in time.

Last time, he had extracted more than half of the thunderclouds in the sky. Now, after a month of day-and-night extraction, he had finally exhausted all the thunder energy within the thunderclouds.

Long Chen estimated that for these clouds to return to their original state, it would take at least several months, or even a year, and he couldn't afford to wait.

He brushed the dust off his body and cupped his fists toward the listless thunderclouds in the sky: "Thanks!"

Long Chen returned to the branch courtyard and headed straight for the Profound Heaven Pavilion; he wanted to select a few combat techniques for self-defense.

Normally, Long Chen relied most on the Wind Palace Battle Body and Heaven Opening, but both of these guys were heavy consumers of energy, especially Heaven Opening. No matter how much energy he had, it could drain him instantly.

Especially when he battled Yin Luo, with Chu Yao's Wood Spirit sharing, Long Chen's energy had increased tenfold compared to usual.

Even when later resisting Yin Luo's terrifying strike imbued with heaven and earth power, Long Chen estimated that the energy remaining in the three magical leaves behind him was still four or five times his own.

Yet, such powerful energy was still drained instantly by Heaven Opening, which showed just how terrifying Heaven Opening's consumption was.

However, Heaven Opening had never disappointed Long Chen, because although Yin Luo's strike at that time had been obstructed by Mo Nian's arrow, seventy percent of its power was still directed at Long Chen.

This was the terror of Yin Luo, yet Long Chen had still managed to shatter that strike by relying on Heaven Opening. It could be said that before opening the Jade Balance Star, Heaven Opening was his strongest trump card.

Furthermore, Heaven Opening was like a bottomless pit; Long Chen couldn't figure out what rank this combat technique belonged to.

This combat technique, exchanged for a trash Medicinal Pill, had been a massive bargain for Long Chen, and he often admired his own business acumen.

However, regardless of the Wind Palace Battle Body or Heaven Opening, those were life-saving ultimate moves and not suitable for prolonged battles. He needed some combat techniques with low consumption and quick effects; that way, as long as he opened his Divine Ring, he could be self-sufficient, achieve a balance of income and expenditure, and endurance was the ultimate way.

This was Long Chen's second time coming to the Profound Heaven Pavilion. The first time was with Tang Waner to procure some medicinal ingredients. Long Chen had also spent a fortune buying a Secret Manual for opening up a Soul space, and he was ripped off so badly he nearly vomited blood.

Afterward, Long Chen never came again. One reason was that he was busy, and the other was that he didn't want to come in; because just looking without the money to buy was a form of torture.

Even when he was doing Alchemy and needed medicinal ingredients, he would have Tang Waner procure them, which was a case of "out of sight, out of mind."

Inside the Profound Heaven Pavilion's combat technique hall, over thirty Senior Brother-level experts were on duty. Suddenly seeing Long Chen enter, they hurriedly stepped forward to salute: "Senior Brother Long Chen."

Long Chen was stunned: "Fellow Senior Brothers, you must be mistaken. You are the Senior Brothers."

"Senior Brother Long Chen, you may not know, but among the branch courtyard Disciples, except for Elders, everyone addresses each other as Senior Brothers and Junior Brothers. 'Senior Brother' is a term of respect; as long as someone is stronger than oneself, they should be addressed as Senior Brother. This is called 'no precedence in entering the sect, the strong are Senior Brothers.' Hehe, on the battlefield last time, Senior Brother Long was truly majestic, making us feel our blood boiling for the first time in so many years."

Those enforcers' eyes were shining with excitement at this moment, clearly recalling the scene of the Righteous-Evil War again.

"Senior Brother Long Chen, Elder Tu Fang has instructed that all treasures in the entire Profound Heaven Pavilion are open to you for free. Whatever you want, just take it." That enforcer was very perceptive; knowing Long Chen was busy, he quickly got to the point.

"Hehe, thank you then. Let me take a look first."

When he was at Ling Yunzi's Immortal Cave, Ling Yunzi had promised that Long Chen could use the branch courtyard's resources at will.

Originally, Long Chen intended to get some medicinal ingredients, but then he suddenly felt he was stupid. With such a good resource as Elder Sun, why not make use of it?

Thus, the matter of medicinal ingredients was resolved easily and happily, and his revenge was taken as well. Long Chen considered this a win-win situation. In any case, Elder Sun was already dead; whether he agreed or not was his own business.

After wandering around the Profound Heaven Pavilion for half a day, Long Chen saw two things very suitable for him—the Gale Saber Technique and the Lightning Transformation Art.

The former was a combat technique, and the latter was a Cultivation Technique. Both were Earth Rank Advanced combat techniques. If one were to exchange points for them, it would require nearly two million points.

Long Chen loved the saber, but he had never truly Cultivated any saber techniques. When fighting others, he just treated the opponent like firewood to be chopped, not caring about any technique at all. The key was that he didn't know any techniques either.

Therefore, this Gale Saber Manual would be of great help to him, allowing him to learn more techniques for wielding a saber.

And that Lightning Transformation Art was the only thunder-element Cultivation Technique in the entire branch courtyard, because in this world, people possessing thunder energy were simply too few; it was very niche.

Looking at this Lightning Transformation Art, Long Chen was incredibly excited. This trip was worth it. Previously, when he used thunder energy, he could only control it simply and couldn't unleash the true thunder energy.

He glanced at the beginning of the Lightning Transformation Art and found that it involved a lot of introductions regarding thunder energy, which were very detailed and just happened to fill Long Chen's gap in knowledge.

Long Chen couldn't help but sigh inwardly; a branch courtyard was indeed a branch courtyard, its foundation was truly profound. Holding the two Secret Manuals, Long Chen left the Profound Heaven Pavilion with satisfaction.

Long Chen did not study the two Cultivation Techniques in the branch courtyard but went on another long trip. This time, he was away for even longer, returning to the branch courtyard only after a full two months.

When Long Chen returned to the branch courtyard again, his blood Aura was surging. Over these two months, he didn't know how many powerful Demonic Beasts he had killed; in any case, he hadn't been idle a single day.

However, when Long Chen returned to the Heaven and Earth Society, he found the entire mountain silent and couldn't help but feel puzzled—where were the people?

"Senior Brother Long Chen, you're finally back. Hurry, come with me, something big has happened in the branch courtyard!"