Chapter 438: Secret of Thunder Magic (Yunmeng Qingxian Alliance Leader)

She followed Shen Yanqing down to a small hilltop. There, she saw an old man wearing a straw hat, with a long, snow-white beard, holding a fishing rod cast into the sea of clouds.

Li Qinghong subtly averted her gaze. The 'Old Man of the Stream' represented the first Purple Mansion-level divine ability the Li family had ever encountered, leaving a deep impression on her. She felt uncomfortable about the fishing rod and chose not to look at it. The old man before her then spoke:

“Who comes here?”

Shen Yanqing suppressed a smile, giving him face only in front of outsiders. She said:

“Senior Lingyanzi, members of the Li family have arrived!”

“Oh!”

Lingyanzi immediately jumped up on the spot. His fishing rod clattered against the ground with a thud. He quickly put it away with a flick of his wrist, then said sullenly:

“This old man thought he actually had a disciple coming to visit.”

“Li Qinghong of Qingdu greets Senior.”

Li Qinghong bowed with cupped hands. Lingyanzi, now at the mid-Foundation Establishment cultivation level, raised an eyebrow and glanced at her, saying with a hint of regret:

“It's a pity about Fellow Daoist Tongya. I was in seclusion cultivating at the time and couldn't go see him. By the time I came out, I couldn't leave the sect freely anymore… It's truly a shame.”

Regardless of whether it was an excuse or genuine regret, Li Qinghong gently acknowledged his words. Shen Yanqing wisely withdrew. Lingyanzi led her inside, and they both sat down. He chuckled:

“The life-saving kindness your family showed me all those years ago is still vivid in my mind. I never imagined that seventy or eighty years would pass so quickly, and even his descendant would reach Foundation Establishment.”

Lingyanzi glanced at her, his expression suddenly changing. He quickly stood up and closed the cave dwelling's door, then asked nervously:

“Fellow Daoist… bah… Qinghong, are you cultivating the *Purple Lightning Secret Primordial Art*?”

Li Qinghong, unsure why he asked, replied:

“That is correct.”

Lingyanzi was instantly alarmed. He cautiously asked:

“This cultivation method of yours… have you told anyone it came from me?!”

Li Qinghong softly replied:

“Such a matter would naturally not be spoken of carelessly… Senior, what is this about…?”

“That's good!”

Lingyanzi let out a long breath and whispered:

“If anyone ever brings it up, you absolutely must not say it came from me! I'm afraid it would harm me!”

Li Qinghong gazed at him, immediately sensing trouble. She said gravely:

“What exactly is going on with this cultivation method? Please tell me truthfully, Senior!”

Lingyanzi sighed mournfully, saying:

“You wouldn't know… Back then, I was ignorant and naive, completely unaware of the significance of Thundercloud Temple.”

He began to narrate:

“Back then, I was at the mid-Qi Condensation stage, from a commoner background, with no connections within the sect. I was looking for an opportunity, so I impulsively ventured eastward to the Eastern Sea. I traveled around the sea, heading southeast, and unexpectedly reached the Qunyi Strait.”

“There, I delved deep into an underwater ruin, and without knowing what mechanism I triggered, I ended up falling into a grotto-heaven!”

“Ah?”

Li Qinghong was surprised, glancing at him with a suspicious look. Lingyanzi snapped impatiently:

“Don't look at me like that! I don't have any special destiny! It was purely accidental.”

“That grotto-heaven was filled with thunder everywhere. At the time, I didn't even know it was a grotto-heaven. I was as timid as a mouse and didn't dare to touch anything. I just picked up some scraps from a nearby pavilion and hastily left.”

His face was filled with remorse as he murmured:

“Foolish! So foolish! Me! I've kept this bottled up for almost a century, never daring to tell anyone, never daring to tell anyone… not even a True Lord.”

Li Qinghong nodded, feeling puzzled, and softly asked:

“Senior, are you able to deceive a True Lord?”

“Just let me finish.”

Lingyanzi shook his head and said quietly:

“So, I came out of Qunyi and flew all the way to the heartland of Yue Country. There, I ran into those two idiotic outsiders from the Changxiao Sect, who set their eyes on my Violet Smoke Spirit Shield and chased me relentlessly… They truly made me run my legs off.”

“Later, your great-grandfather and I killed those two, disposed of their bodies, and I hurried back to the sect. When I inquired, I found that only a few months had passed inside the grotto-heaven, but ten years had already elapsed outside!”

Li Qinghong was stunned. Lingyanzi gave a bitter laugh and whispered:

“Even more frightening was that no one could accurately divine my whereabouts anymore. So, the matter with the Changxiao Sect was dropped, and they never traced it back to me.”

“True Lord Zimu personally tried to divine, but he couldn't pinpoint my trace. The old man said that I had entanglements with a high-level cultivator, making it impossible to inquire about me with divine abilities. He could only keep me within the sect, spending day after day bored on this mountain.”

Li Qinghong focused her gaze on him, pondering his words, and whispered:

“Senior, do you mean… that this *Purple Lightning Secret Primordial Art* I cultivate, apart from you and a few members of my family, no one else knows its origin, nor has anyone else cultivated it?”

“Precisely…”

Lingyanzi unburdened his heart, looking much more relaxed. He gave a bitter smile and said:

“I dared not tell the True Lord. His divine abilities are formidable. If he knew I was connected to a grotto-heaven, wouldn't he skin me alive? I could only drag it out day by day.”

Li Qinghong glanced at him, then suddenly seemed to realize something. She swept her gaze across the empty space within the cave dwelling, startled, and said in a low voice:

“Senior, since you know the True Lord values you quite highly, and since an old acquaintance has come to visit…”

“How can we be sure the True Lord isn't traversing the void into this formation, secretly hiding his presence, and listening to our conversation?”

Lingyanzi's expression stiffened. His old eyes stared at her, and he let out a few hollow laughs from his throat, then stammered:

“Ah?… Ah!”

The old man instantly broke out in a cold sweat. His face tightened, and he waved his hand, saying:

“No, no! I'm a coward, don't scare me!”

“Something happened in the Eastern Sea, and all the True Lords have gone there! Otherwise, how would I dare to speak of this?! Moreover, if the True Lord knew, would you and I still be sitting here safely right now? He would have long since revealed himself and seized me.”

“Besides, the True Lord doesn't value me that much at all… My case isn't unique; compared to that troublemaker Liu Changdie, it's like the difference between a firefly and the bright moon. In earlier years, he paid me a lot of attention, but now he probably just considers me someone who accidentally met a Golden Core cultivator and has gradually forgotten about me.”

The matter of Liu Changdie had been repeatedly emphasized by Li Tongya. Although the Li family members at that time didn't understand destiny, they knew this person was extraordinary, so Li Qinghong wasn't surprised now. Li Qinghong wiped the sweat from her forehead, her apricot eyes shifting as she withdrew her gaze from the empty space in the cave dwelling, and murmured:

“Senior, you've certainly left my family with a huge mess… If you encounter trouble, I'm afraid I'll be implicated as well.”

The temptation of a lightning law grotto-heaven was so immense that it could make the True Lords of the Purple Mist Sect disregard all of the Li family's backing. They might even communicate with Xiao Chuting, pull him in, and include him in the share to jointly carve up this lightning law grotto-heaven.

As for Li Qinghong, who cultivated this secret art, and Lingyanzi, who had visited the grotto-heaven, their best outcome would merely be a safe return. Perhaps Li Qinghong might gain a tiny benefit by relying on Xiao Chuting, but the risks involved were immeasurable.

For this group of Purple Mansion cultivators to find a way to open the grotto-heaven, Li Qinghong and Lingyanzi would be at the center of the storm. Just thinking about it revealed how dangerous it was. Both were still reeling from fear. Lingyanzi closed his mouth, and Li Qinghong remained silent. They looked at each other, not daring to speak.

Li Qinghong calmed herself for a few breaths and whispered:

“My lightning cultivation method was obtained coincidentally because my great-grandfather possessed destiny… When we saved Senior back then, we merely received some spirit stones and this token, which allows our descendants to join the Purple Mist Sect.”

“Yes, yes, yes, that's right.”

Lingyanzi quickly nodded, bowing and scraping like a junior now:

“Qinghong is right!”