PDLP Chapter 16: The Thunderous Mechanism Remains Hidden
Chapter 16: The Thunderous Mechanism Remains Hidden
Back to Pukoufang Market.
Li Wu still felt a chill run down his spine. After learning about the despicable deeds of those powerful families and immortal sects in Yue Kingdom, he dared not take any more of the pills they produced.
"Let's repair the formation first, and then we can keep an eye out for news about alchemy techniques in the future."
Li Wu walked into a shop selling array formations, where all kinds of array flags and array plates were displayed.
The best-selling formations are naturally those like [Gathering Spirit] and [Silence], which are beneficial for cultivation and relatively inexpensive.
When the shop assistant saw that it was Li Wu who came in, he quickly went forward to greet him.
Li Wu is quite famous in the market now, after all, he has a treasure like the Beast-Repelling Powder and a shop, so he is very rich.
Many independent cultivators had tried to take advantage of Li Wu, but Li Wu was always cautious and rarely left the market, leaving them powerless to do so.
"Fellow Daoist Li, are you looking to purchase an array formation?"
Li Wu shook his head and took out the array plate and array flags he had obtained from the cave:
"Take a look and see if this can be fixed."
The shop assistant took the two items, examined them carefully for a moment, and nodded, saying:
"Both of these formations can be repaired, and it will cost approximately thirty-two spirit stones."
"Two formations?"
Li Wu knew nothing about formations; he thought that formation plates and formation flags belonged to the same formation.
Seeing his confusion, the shop assistant explained:
"Both array plates and array flags can be used to set up formations, but they are different."
"The array formations that can be set up on the array plate are fixed; whatever is engraved on it is what it is. However, its advantage lies in its simplicity. The operator only needs to inject spiritual power to activate it."
"As for the array formation, several different arrays can be arranged depending on the number and attributes of the array flags, but the operator needs to have a certain level of array formation cultivation."
After speaking, the shop assistant raised the four battle flags and said:
"For example, these four array flags represent the four elements of thunder, wind, water, and wood. If you asked me to set up an array, I could arrange the [Sudden Wind Array] which is based on wind and the [Water Spirit Array] which is based on water."
"I see."
Li Wu nodded. No wonder the array formations in those top-tier courtyards in the market were all set up using array plates.
"Fellow Daoist, can you tell what kind of array formation is inscribed on this array plate?"
The shop assistant looked at the array patterns and said after a moment:
"It should be a complex formation, containing four or five types, such as illusion formations and spirit gathering formations."
"How long will it take to complete the repairs?"
"The damage isn't serious; it should be fine in a month."
Upon hearing this, Li Wu took out ten spirit stones and handed them to the other party, saying:
"These ten spirit stones are a deposit. I will come to collect the array plate and array flag in a month."
"Okay!"
…………
A month later.
Li Wu obtained the array plate and array flag as promised, and then went to the location of the cave to reactivate the array on the array plate.
The cave was filled with spiritual energy, so Li Wu didn't need to use any extra spirit stones, which saved him a lot of money.
"As for these battle flags, we can't use them for now, let's leave them for later." Li Wu took the battle flags in his hand, looked at them, and then threw them into his storage bag.
Then he took out a mediocre [Miraculous Spirit Pill] and pondered:
"Next, I should try to break through to the second level of Qi Refining as soon as possible."
So, in the days that followed, aside from showing up at the shops in the market every month to distribute wages and check the accounts, Li Wu spent almost all his time cultivating in his cave.
After breaking through to the Qi Refining stage, the path of the Purple Mansion Golden Elixir requires a painstaking process, gradually strengthening the thunder within the dantian.
Unless he takes a Thunder Pill that aligns with his cultivation path, given Li Wuping's unremarkable cultivation speed, it will take him quite a while to break through to the second level.
……
A year and a half has passed in the blink of an eye.
Li Wu refined his spiritual power into thunder, making the thundercloud in his dantian even wider. When he looked inward with his spiritual sense, he could see silvery-white arcs of electricity flashing from time to time, accompanied by rolling thunder.
"I've reached the second level of Qi Refining."
Li Wu slowly opened his eyes, exhaled a breath of stale air, and sighed:
"The Purple Mansion Golden Core Path is much more difficult to cultivate than the Qi Refining Path. I wonder if I have the talent to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage."
"If you want to cultivate faster, you still need to rely on spiritual objects that are in line with the path of cultivation."
"But in any realm, spiritual objects of the lightning element are quite precious and not so easy to find."
Li Wu had already spread the word in the market that he was collecting spiritual items related to the lightning element, but after a year and a half, he hadn't seen a single one.
At this moment, he remembered the letter he had received from Qi Yu six months ago.
"Qi Yu has already broken through to the Qi Refining stage. He previously asked me to meet him at the Qi family. Now that I have broken through to the second level of Qi Refining, it's time for me to go to the Qi family."
"As a cultivation power over there, the Qi family is better informed than I am, so they might know something about thunder-attribute spiritual objects."
With this in mind, he had an idea and went to the Yue Kingdom, taking out the map given to him by Qi Yu from his storage bag.
It marks the locations of dozens of forces, large and small, in the Yue Kingdom, among which the Qi family's ancestral land is a mountain called Guangling.
It is about 800 li away from Jianxiawu.
…………
The Qi family's Guangling Mountain was shrouded in mist, with a thin, pale fog completely obscuring the small courtyard on the mountain, preventing even spiritual senses from penetrating it.
Li Wu was welcomed up the mountain by the mortals of the Qi family. He waited in the courtyard for a while before Qi Yu hurriedly returned.
"Brother Li, I'm so glad to finally meet you." Qi Yu walked over with a smile.
After a long absence, Qi Yu had changed quite a bit. He was no longer wearing animal skin clothing, but a decent-looking fur coat that shimmered with spiritual light.
It's clearly a robe!
"Brother Qi, it's been a long time. Congratulations on your breakthrough to Qi Refining," Li Wu said, cupping his hands in greeting.
Haha, congratulations to you too!
Qi Yu walked to Li Wu's side, took his hand, and sat down in the pavilion, smiling as he said:
"Thanks to Brother Li's spiritual items, my family has unexpectedly gained some income."
Li Wu smiled and shook his head, saying:
"It's all thanks to your shop, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to sell those things."
The two hadn't seen each other for a long time, so they naturally had a lot to talk about. After speaking for a while, Li Wu finally said seriously:
"By the way, Brother Qi, I cultivate the path of thunder. Do you have any information about thunder-attribute spiritual objects?"
"A spirit creature of the thunder element?"
Qi Yu's expression froze. He hadn't expected Li Wu to choose the path of thunder. After a moment of silence, he replied:
"Since the destruction of the Thunder Palace during the war between immortals and demons hundreds of years ago, the power of thunder has been absent from the world, and spiritual objects of the thunder element have become extremely rare."
"The path of thunder has also been lost, and no Purple Mansion True Person has appeared in the world for hundreds of years."
"If Brother Li is looking for items of the lightning element, I'm afraid the only way is to explore the secret realm."
Thunder Palace destroyed? Thunder mechanism vanished? Legacy severed?
Upon hearing this, Li Wu's expression changed instantly, and the doubts in his heart were immediately cleared up:
"No wonder the *Jade Pivot Edict on the Scripture of Attack* was so cheap; it turns out the path of thunder has been cut off."
A pang of regret rose in Li Wu's heart, but he knew he could only walk this path to his death.
Qi Yu continued:
"As for the secret realm, that's precisely why I summoned you here."