Staying Alive Cautiously in the Celestial Realm and Becoming the Strongest

Nanshao Prefecture, governing four counties, had a registered population of five to six hundred thousand.

If hidden households and mountain people were included, the number would be even higher.

However, in such a medium-sized jurisdiction, the Imperial Guard of the Exorcism Hall in the Prefecture City numbered only a paltry one hundred twenty-seven, lacking the strength to project power to the counties below.

The reasons behind this were quite complex.

Although the Imperial Guard Bureau answered directly to the Imperial Family, the late emperor favored literature over military, making life quite uncomfortable for them.

The Deer Faction, which held power in the Cabinet, viewed the Imperial Guard Bureau as a thorn in their side and spared no effort to suppress it.

Most importantly, with the annual income of Great Qian continually declining, the allocations to the Imperial Guard Bureau and the Exorcisms Halls across the lands had been decreasing year by year. Combined with the high casualties during missions, this had led to the current situation.

Zuo Yongjun, who was in charge of the Exorcism Hall in Nanshao, was honest and upright, with extreme aversion to dishonest paths, and the fact that he could maintain such a situation was already commendable.

But this was precisely what Wang Chen admired about him.

The fierce wind knows the sturdy grass, the turbulent times reveal loyal subjects.

Such a person was worth trusting and capable of shouldering great responsibilities!

After arranging the most important affairs, Wang Chen handed over all other tasks to Wan.

He then secluded himself to comprehend the "Five Suns Qian Thunder."

"Five Suns Qian Thunder," deriving from the "Upper Clear God Sky Thunder Method," was the primary technique of the latter, belonging to the orthodox Taoist Sect's Dharma Techniques, profound and formidable, and could be practiced from the Qi Cultivation Stage all the way to the Purple Mansion Realm.

To exchange for this Thunder Magic, Wang Chen paid a total of one thousand Merit Points.

The difficulty of practicing the Five Suns Qian Thunder was also incredibly high; he had been contemplating it en route to the Great Qian aboard the Willow Leaf Flying Boat from the Four Seas Commerce Association, but progress had been very slow.

This Spell was in perfect harmony with the Thunderbolt Sword Technique, and once mastered, could significantly enhance the swordsmanship's power.

Therefore, Wang Chen was determined to master it by any means necessary.

He boosted the operational intensity of the Star Observation Pavilion's Array to its maximum, fully dedicating himself to the practice of the Five Suns Qian Thunder.

Three days later, Wang Chen came out of seclusion.

After leaving seclusion, he summoned Wan to give her a few instructions, then quietly left the Guarding Heavenly Master Mansion.

The moment Wang Chen stepped out of the gate, he immediately perceived several prying eyes falling on him!

Without a doubt, someone had always been secretly watching every move at the Guarding Heavenly Master Mansion.

This was actually quite normal.

Previously, Wang Chen had sent thirty heads to the Prefect Mansion, giving Ruan Zhaoming a resounding slap in the face.

How could the other party let bygones be bygones?

And it wasn't just the Prefect Mansion that was watching the Heavenly Master Mansion; surely there were others as well.

After all, the Guarding Heavenly Master Mansion now had a new master, and Wang Chen's current identity was quite sensitive.

Even if he had no intention of getting involved in mundane affairs, others would not be without their guards and vigilance.

Wang Chen was well prepared for this.

He was dressed in an utterly ordinary set of clothes, and when he came out, he also wore the "Thousand Mechanisms Changing."

Adopting a completely ordinary face,

nobody could recognize him.

With the enhancement of the Stealth Breath Technique, Wang Chen naturally blended into the crowd, vanishing without a trace.

Once out of Nan Shao City, he headed southwest.

Reaching a deserted place, Wang Chen performed the Shadowless Divine Traverse, shooting out like an arrow released from a bowstring.

He quickly entered a range of majestic mountains and lofty hills.

His destination on this trip outside the city was Falling Thunder Peak, a hundred miles away from Nan Shao City.

The most crucial step in entering the Five Suns Qian Thunder was channeling thunder into the body.

The practitioner was required to draw a strand of Thunder Power into their body, tempering the meridians and Mana to increase affinity with lightning.

Channelling thunder into the body was very dangerous and couldn't possibly be completed in the tranquility of a chamber.

You need to find a place dense with thunder to personally experience the might of nature and understand the mysteries of this spell!

Previously, Wang Chen had looked up information and knew that this mountain was named for the frequent thunder that struck it.

It was the exact training ground he needed.

In fact, if it weren't for Falling Thunder Peak, Wang Chen's original plan was to make a large kite and fly it during stormy weather to complete the process of drawing lightning into his body.

Now, he wouldn't have to go through such trouble, and if Falling Thunder Peak was as described in the records, it would be very suitable for him to cultivate Five Suns Qian Thunder there in the future.

Half a two-hour period later, Wang Chen arrived at his destination.

Finding Falling Thunder Peak was actually easy; it stood like a colossal pillar reaching for the sky amid the mountain ridges, tall and solitary.

Above the peak, clouds swirled with faint rumbles of thunder emitting from within.

Wang Chen's heart leaped with joy, and he immediately quickened his pace towards the summit.

For ordinary people, climbing such a steep mountain would be an extremely dangerous endeavor.

But for Wang Chen, it was no different from walking on flat ground.

If it weren't for the need to conserve mana, he could have simply used his Willow Leaf Flying Boat to fly directly to the top.

Even so, it only took Wang Chen the time of a single pot of tea to smoothly reach the summit.

"Eh?"

Wang Chen paused, perplexed.

The summit of Sunset Peak was unexpectedly flat, as if it had been shaved off by a sword, and it was quite spacious.

There were no trees, just a few patches of grass growing stubbornly in the cracks of the rocks.

The stones here were mostly scorched black, and there were even signs of melting.

What surprised Wang Chen was not the slightly odd scenery here.

After all, this was merely the mortal realm, which could not compare to the fantastical cultivation world, no matter how wonderful.

What truly astonished Wang Chen was that he actually perceived a faint presence of nature's spiritual energy within the surrounding space!

The mortal realm belonged to the Spiritless Land, and normally, no spiritual energy was present.

Previously, when Wang Chen traveled from Qian Capital to Nan Shao Prefecture, covering thousands of miles, it had always been like this.

Yet here, there was actually spiritual energy?

Although the spiritual energy above Falling Thunder Peak was extremely thin and provided little benefit to cultivation, the mere presence of spiritual energy was special in itself and clearly held other mysteries.

But currently, Wang Chen didn't have the inclination to unearth the secrets of this place.

He looked around and chose a large rock, then dug out a hollow next to it to sit down.

Calling lightning into one's body wasn't about using your head to catch the thunder above—that's called seeking death.

As long as you could sense the dispersing thunder power around you and guide it into your meridians and dantian, repeating the process until the refinement was complete, you would be considered to have entered the door of Five Suns Qian Thunder.

Wang Chen dug the hole so that after sitting down, his body would not be taller than the neighboring rocks.

Otherwise, he might become a target for the lightning.

Rumble rumble~

Just as he had settled down, a deep roar suddenly erupted overhead, each one louder than the last.

Crack!

The next moment, a bolt of lightning struck only a dozen steps away from Wang Chen.

Falling Thunder Peak lived up to its name, with the frequency of lightning strikes greatly surpassing his expectations.

Wang Chen was not alarmed but delighted.

Immediately focusing his mind and breath, he began to absorb the thunder power that filled the surrounding space.

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The second update is here.