Chapter 579 438: The Secret of Thunder Dharma

She followed Shen Yanqing down, landing on a small hilltop, where she saw an old man, wearing a bamboo hat, with snowy white, slender beard, holding a fishing rod, casting it into the sea of clouds.

Li Qinghong shifted her gaze slightly; 'Creek Elder' was the first Zifu Fate Divine Skill that the Li Family had encountered. The impression was deep, and she felt somewhat uneasy about the fishing rod, so she avoided looking at it. The old man before her, however, opened his mouth and said:

"Who goes there?"

Shen Yanqing pursed her lips in a smile, leaving him his dignity only when outsiders were present, then said:

"Senior Ling Yanzi, members of the Li Family have come!"

"Oh!"

Ling Yanzi suddenly leaped up on the spot. The fishing rod in his hand knocked against the ground with a gurgling sound. He flipped his hand and stowed it away, then muttered peevishly:

"I thought a disciple really had come to me."

"Qingdu's Li Qinghong greets Senior."

Li Qinghong cupped her hands and bowed. Ling Yanzi, now at the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage cultivation level, raised his brows and gave her a look, sighing a little regretfully:

"It's a pity about our Taoist Fellow Tongya. At that time, I was in seclusion cultivating and could not go to see. By the time I broke through and emerged, I could no longer leave the sect at will... truly a pity."

Li Qinghong cared not whether this was an excuse or heartfelt, and so first replied softly, while Shen Yanqing, acting with good sense, withdrew. Ling Yanzi thus invited her inside. They sat together, and he smiled, saying:

"Back then, I was saved by your clan's lifesaving grace; it is vivid in my memory even now. Who would have thought that seventy or eighty years have passed in a flash, and even his descendant has reached Foundation Establishment."

Ling Yanzi shot her a glance, his expression abruptly changing. He hurriedly rose and closed the cave mansion's door before uneasily saying:

"Taoist Fellow—bah—Qinghong, the technique you practice, is it the 'Purple Thunder Secret Essence Technique'?"

Li Qinghong didn't understand the reason, and answered:

"It is."

Ling Yanzi immediately turned pale, and cautiously asked:

"This technique of yours... did you say it was obtained from me?"

Li Qinghong replied softly:

"Such a thing, I would naturally never speak of lightly... Senior, is this...?"

"That's good!"

Ling Yanzi let out a long breath, and spoke in a low voice:

"If others ever mention it, you must on no account say it came from me! I might be doomed!"

Li Qinghong fixed him with a stare, sensing something amiss, and in a low, grave voice said:

"What is the true story behind this technique? I ask Senior to tell it to me truthfully!"

Ling Yanzi heaved a sorrowful sigh and spoke:

"You don't know... in those days, I was ignorant and clueless, completely unaware of the weight that Thundercloud Temple carried."

He recounted slowly:

"Back then, I was at the middle stage of Qi Cultivation, from a commoner background, with no backing in the sect. I thought to seek an opportunity, so I rashly went off to the East Sea, wandering through its waters all the way southeast until I reached the Qunyi Sea Strait."

"It was there, delving into some underwater ruin, that I unknowingly triggered a mechanism and ended up in a Cave Heaven!"

"Ah?"

Li Qinghong was surprised, casting him a suspicious look. Ling Yanzi snapped irritably:

"Don't look at me like that! I had no fate upon me! It was pure chance."

"That Cave Heaven was filled with thunderbolts everywhere. Back then, I didn't even know it was a Cave Heaven. Timid as a mouse, I dared not touch anything, only gathered a few worthless scraps from a pavilion nearby and hurried out."

His face was full of regret, and he murmured:

"Fool! Such a fool! I've kept this bottled up for almost a hundred years, never daring to tell anyone, never ever... not even a Perfected Person."

Li Qinghong nodded, inner doubts arising, and asked gently:

"Senior, could you fool a Perfected Person?"

"Let me finish."

Ling Yanzi shook his head, speaking softly:

"So I left Qunyi, flew deep into Yue territory, and ran into two Changxiao Sect outsiders, a pair of idiots, who set their eyes on my Purple Smoke Spiritual Veil. They chased me everywhere... I nearly broke my legs running."

"Later, together with your grandfather, we killed those two, disposed of their bodies, and when we rode the wind back to the main sect to ask, a few months inside the Cave Heaven had consumed ten years outside!"

Li Qinghong was dumbfounded; Ling Yanzi forced a bitter smile, and whispered:

"What was even more frightening was that no one could track me anymore. Thus, the Changxiao Sect could do nothing, and nothing pointed back to me."

"Zimei Perfected Person came in person to deduce, but could never find my whereabouts. The honored elder said I had karma with a higher-level cultivator, so no Divine Skills could be used to inquire. They could only keep me in the sect, day after day on this mountain, bored to death."

Li Qinghong focused her gaze on him, turning over his words in her mind, and asked quietly:

"So what Senior means is... apart from you and my family, no one knows the origin of this 'Purple Thunder Secret Essence Technique,' nor has anyone else ever cultivated it."

"Exactly so..."

Ling Yanzi finally bared his heart, looking much more relaxed, and said with a wry smile:

"I dared not say a word to a Perfected Person. Their Divine Skills are formidable; if they knew I was involved with a Cave Heaven, wouldn't they have swallowed me alive? So I could only keep dragging it out, year after year."

Li Qinghong glanced at him then, suddenly thoughtful, swept her eyes across the empty spaces of the cave mansion, and a chill ran through her. In a low voice, she said:

"Since Senior knows the Perfected Person holds you in some regard, and with old acquaintances coming to call..."

"Who's to say a Perfected Person hasn't crossed into the Great Void, concealing himself in this array, quietly listening to us speak..."

Ling Yanzi's face went rigid, his old eyes widened at her, and a few hoarse laughs left his throat. He stared blankly and said:

"Ah?... Ah!"

The old man was scared out of his wits in an instant, sweat springing out, and he waved his hands:

"No, can't be! I have a weak heart, don't scare me!"

"There's trouble in the East Sea, so all the Perfected Ones have gone there! Else, how would I dare say such things! Besides, if a Perfected Person really knew, you think we'd be safe sitting here now? They'd have revealed themselves and snatched me up long ago."

"Moreover, the Perfected Person is hardly that concerned with me... There have been people like me before; compared to that troublemaker Liu Changdie, I'm a mere firefly to the moon. In my early years they cared about me, but now they just see it as a chance encounter with some Golden Core cultivator, and they've gradually forgotten me."

Li Qinghong wiped the sweat from her forehead as well. Her apricot eyes flickered, shifting back from the empty space of the cave mansion, and she muttered:

"Senior, you've thrown quite the mess on our family's lap... Should something befall you, I fear I'd be dragged down with you."

The temptation of a Thunder Law Cave Heaven was so great that it could make even the Real People of Ziyan Sect ignore all background behind the Li Family. Who knows, they might even inform Xiao Chuting and drag him in as well, making him one of the parties to split the loot from the Thunder Law Cave Heaven.

As for Li Qinghong, who had cultivated this secret art, and Ling Yanzi, who had been to the Cave Heaven, the best possible outcome would be to return in peace. Perhaps Li Qinghong could gain a slight benefit thanks to Xiao Chuting, but the risks were immeasurable.

If this group of Zifu wish to open the Cave Heaven, Li Qinghong and Ling Yanzi would be right at the storm's center. Just thinking about it sent chills down their spines—both were left uneasy, Ling Yanzi closed his mouth, Li Qinghong fell silent, and for a while, they merely looked at each other, not daring to speak.

Li Qinghong steadied herself for a few moments, then said in a low voice:

"My Thunder Dharma was gained only because my grandfather's fate led to it. Back in the day, saving Senior's life was merely for the sake of a few Spirit Stones and that token—which allows our children a place in the Ziyan Sect."

"Right, right, yes, yes."

Ling Yanzi nodded hurriedly, bowing and scraping in a way that made him appear the junior:

"Qinghong speaks truly!"