A Will Eternal

The Lightning Ancestor was completely flabbergasted to see the lightning slowly dissipating from around Bai Xiaochun, who stood there trembling, smoke rising up from him. He almost looked like he had been fried to perfection by the tens of thousands of lightning bolts.

However, his cultivation base was no longer in the early Deva Realm… he had stepped into the mid Deva Realm!!

His incomplete Sun-Moon Vast-Sky Incantation had reached its great circle. His left eye now had a bright moon in it that seemed ready to fly out of him at any moment, and appear in the sky as a second moon!

The manifestation of this divine ability would cause any ordinary person to feel as if their heart and mind were being replaced by a moon.

But all it did to Bai Xiaochun was leave him trembling physically and mentally. The truth was that he normally wouldn’t ever use a method like this to achieve a cultivation base breakthrough.

The mere thought of being slammed by so much lightning struck terror into his heart….

“I'm done with cultivation….” he said, scowling on the verge of tears. As of this point, even the slightest crackle of thunder caused him to flinch…. Right now, he couldn’t have been more afraid of another convergence of lightning.

Even as he looked around anxiously, and tried to decide whether or not to start moving around, a new lightning storm began to build up. Perhaps because of the influence of the previous convergence of lightning, the gravitational force generated this time was massive. Within moments, more lightning had built up than the last time, covering everything with sparkling brightness.

Bai Xiaochun screamed and scrambled backward, and yet that didn’t stop the lightning from descending toward him.

“I don’t need it….” he shrieked. The Lightning Ancestor was long gone, huffing and puffing as he propelled his cell far off into the distance. Upon looking over his shoulder, he began to curse. “Dammit! No consideration for the elderly! Does he think it’s easy for me to move this cell at my age!?!?”

**

Shortly before….

Something big was happening outside in the Nine Heavens Cloud Lightning Sect. The black cloud that housed the Lightning Order was beginning to move.

It was almost like an earthquake, something strong enough that all of the Lightning Order cultivators felt it immediately.

“Did the ground just move?”

“There’s no way. We’re on a big black cloud! How could that black cloud move…?”

“Do you guys get the sense… that our Lightning Order’s lightning reserves seem low…?”

Ever since Bai Xiaochun had been incarcerated, the Nine Heavens Cloud Lightning Sect had been oddly at peace. The Cloud Order cultivators had felt at ease from the beginning, whereas the Lightning Order cultivators had initially been worried. However, as time passed, they gradually calmed down as well. After all, everyone had complete and utter faith in Lightning Penitentiary.

Even the devas felt no apprehension whatsoever. At long last, they were able to experience what life had been like before Bai Xiaochun arrived in their sect, and it left them sighing with heartfelt relief.

However, even as people sighed in contentment, the Lightning Order’s black cloud suddenly trembled, which immediately attracted attention. What was even more astonishing to the Lightning Order cultivators was how, moments later, the cloud shifted beneath their feet yet again!

At the same time, muffled rumbling sounds could be heard, leading to cries of alarm within the Lightning Order.

“It did move!!”

“Something’s wrong!!”

“The lightning… guys, look at that lightning….”

Everyone looked down at the black cloud, and could see that fewer lightning bolts danced beneath its surface than before. Furthermore, every few moments, some of the remaining lightning bolts seemed to disappear into the depths of the cloud.

Almost immediately, ill premonitions rose up in the hearts of many Lightning Order disciples. Up in the black coffin high above, the devas’ expressions flickered, and they suddenly started to get very nervous.

“Don’t tell me it’s Bai Xiaochun again!!”

“Dammit! It couldn’t possibly be him! He’s been locked up….”

It was at this point that the Lightning Order’s black cloud trembled yet again, even more violently than before. At the same time, loud rumbling sounds could be heard.

It was at that exact same moment that, deep within the black cloud, in the middle of that massive convergence of lightning, Bai Xiaochun screamed and fled as quickly as possible. The restrictive spells that made up his 30-meter cell had long since been destroyed, giving him free access to attempt to escape. And yet, that did him no good. No longer were there tens of thousands of lightning bolts around him. Now, there were hundreds of thousands!

No matter where or how he fled, the lightning followed, and if he slowed down for even a moment, he would be enveloped.

And if he stopped moving, then even more lightning would build up. By this point, he was going crazy.

“How could this be happening…?” he moaned. It was a moment of deep crisis, and therefore, he finally just gritted his teeth and said, “Dammit! Fine, I'm going to go for broke. That lightning is made of spiritual energy, right? Who the hell would be scared of that!?!?” Letting out a roar to psyche himself up, he drew upon the mnemonic the Lightning Ancestor had taught him, and began to cultivate the Eleven Cloud Lightning Forefather Transformations!

He suddenly lurched to a halt, which instantly allowed tens of thousands of lightning bolts to hone in on him, then smash into his body.

Having his body slashed by lightning in this way was painful, but because of how tough he was, was easy to endure for the time being. At the same time, massive amounts of spiritual power began to flow through him, until he began to swell up like a balloon….

“Cloud Lightning Forefather, First Transformation!” His vision swam as he was wracked with pain, but he focused on the divine ability, using the spiritual energy to fuel the transformation.

Instantly, rumbling sounds filled him as he grew to a height of 30 meters, and began to exude a wild and barbaric air.

He had already succeeded at the first transformation!

But things weren’t over yet. As massive amounts of spiritual energy went wild within him, he began to work on the second transformation! Furthermore, he bolstered the effect with the Sun-Moon Vast-Sky Incantation, and the power of his left eye!

He could only attempt a true combination by carefully analyzing everything one step at a time. Furthermore, there was always a chance of failure.

Under normal circumstances, a failure would require him to stop and build up more spiritual energy before trying again. After all, combining these two powerful techniques demanded that he be in peak condition.

But now, with boundless amounts of spiritual energy at his disposal, he didn’t need to sit around waiting. As soon as he failed, he could try again.

He tried again and again, over ten times, until suddenly his left eye began to shine with dazzling moonlight. As it did, his 30-meter-tall forefather form looked very different than Master Cloud Lightning’s had.

An indescribable aura emanated out from him, and the moon sigil within his eyes shone with such powerful light that it seemed capable of controlling all of the darkness of the night!

“It worked!” However, now was not the time to revel in excitement. The spiritual energy inside of him drained rapidly, almost beyond his control. Howling, he began the second transformation of the Cloud Lightning Forefather technique!

Rumbling sounds echoed out as he grew to a height of 60 meters! The second transformation… was a success!

And of course, he was not finished. Next was the third transformation, and then the fourth!

As the innumerable lightning bolts surrounded him, rumbling sounds could be heard as he grew to a height of 90 meters, and then 120 meters!

Furthermore, the wild and barbaric aura of the technique, combined with a fleshly body that had mastered the Undying Bones, made his transformed form even more powerful. By now, he had surpassed the limits of fleshly body power!

If the twin Master Cloud Lightnings were here to see what was happening, they would be shocked to the core. After all, the power Bai Xiaochun was capable of with this transformation far surpassed them!

That was especially true because of the moon sigil in his left eye, which further added to his power!

Under normal circumstances, Bai Xiaochun would be very excited. But right now, he could tell that his body was reaching a limit in its ability to absorb the lightning from the black cloud. It had nothing to do with the divine ability, only his own body. In some ways, it was exactly the same as when consuming medicinal pills.

When that critical point was reached, the lightning would no longer be nourishing, but instead, harmful, and even destructive!

As Bai Xiaochun grew stronger, the lightning bolts grew more numerous. By now, hundreds of thousands of them were showering down onto him.

Tears of fear leaking out of his eyes, he decided that he had no choice but to hope that one more transformation would fix the situation.

“Cloud Lightning Forefather, Fifth Transformation!”