Gou in the world of comprehension

Chapter 1510 Opening the Preaching

When Zheng Xinghuai saw off the sword cultivators from the "Polar Sword Pavilion," he never let go of Su Fan's wrist.

With a hint of eager heat in his fingertips, he led Su Fan and Hu Xuan through the misty mountain path, heading straight for the sect's main peak deep within the mountain gate.

Upon arriving at the main peak, an elder from the Dao Palace, dressed in a blue-patterned Daoist robe, stepped forward and led Hu Xuan to the cultivators' quarters on the west side for accommodation.

Zheng Xinghuai held onto Su Fan's wrist tightly, continuing his steps toward the sect's main hall at the mountaintop. His sleeve swept across the moss on the stone steps in front of the hall, creating subtle fluctuations of spiritual energy.

Before long, it was noon, and the spiritual banquet of "Tianlei Daogong" had been set up in the square outside the main hall.

A series of white jade tables were laid out along the steps, with jade plates filled with spiritual fruits gleaming on them. The aroma of steaming spiritual wine mingled with the mountain breeze and drifted half a mile away.

This spiritual banquet was of an extremely high standard, which is rare even in the "Heavenly Thunder Palace".

Sect Master Zheng Xinghuai personally took the main seat, with five Nascent Soul Realm elders sitting on either side. All the cultivators present were dressed in the sect's formal attire, but their gazes were all drawn to Su Fan, who was sitting next to the main seat.

The clinking of glasses echoed throughout the banquet. Zheng Xinghuai frequently raised his glass to toast Su Fan, and several elders, emboldened by the wine, inquired about the details of severely injuring the great demon from the upper realm, their words filled with admiration.

The lively memorial banquet continued until the setting sun dyed the clouds golden red, and then it ended with everyone still feeling reluctant to leave.

After the banquet, Zheng Xinghuai did not leave. He personally escorted Su Fan to a cave hidden in a bamboo forest halfway up the mountain.

The stone door of the cave is engraved with an intricate spirit-gathering array, and when the door is pushed open, the sound of a tinkling spirit spring can be heard.

As soon as they entered the cave, Zheng Xinghuai suddenly stepped forward and gripped Su Fan's forearms tightly with both hands, his knuckles turning white from the force.

"Senior brother, could you please hold a sermon at my 'Heavenly Thunder Dao Palace'..."

His voice was low, but he couldn't hide the urgency in his eyes.

Upon hearing this, Su Fan abruptly waved his hand, causing the spiritual energy at his fingertips to tremble.

"Senior brother...you mustn't..."

What a joke! Although he severely injured the great demon with the ancient forbidden technique of thunder, if he were to preach in the holy land of thunder, he would probably expose his deception after just three sentences.

The cultivators of this "Heavenly Thunder Dao Palace" may not be as strong as him, but when it comes to the theory of thunder, any inner disciple could easily explain his limited knowledge.

After all, these people have been immersed in the classics of thunder since they can remember, and have received the most orthodox enlightenment in the way of thunder.

They might not be able to beat Su Fan, but when it comes to theoretical knowledge, anyone could easily outshine him.

"Senior Brother Xinghuai, my major is Body Dao..."

Su Fan shook off his hand, took half a step back, and spoke with a hint of helplessness.

"Being able to use lightning techniques was merely a stroke of luck. As for the theory of lightning, how dare I presume to teach a fish to swim in front of the disciples of the Dao Palace..."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zheng Xinghuai's face darkened instantly.

He took a step closer, his brows furrowed.

“Senior Brother Su Fan, now that you’ve come to my ‘Heavenly Thunder Dao Palace,’ it would be dishonest of you to still be hiding things…”

Seeing that he was angry, Su Fan quickly stepped forward and softened his tone.

"Senior Brother Xinghuai, how could I dare to hold back? I really don't know what to say..."

Zheng Xinghuai refused to budge, his face hardening and his eyes filled with determination.

"You were able to severely injure a great demon from the upper realm with the Thunder Dao Secret Technique, don't you have any insights at all...?"

Hearing him say that, Su Fan's heart skipped a beat.

It seems this sermon is unavoidable.

He sighed, and decided to stop refusing: "Since you're so kind, senior brother, I'll go all out. But if I make a fool of myself, I hope you'll forgive me..."

Zheng Xinghuai's face lit up instantly, and his previous gloom vanished.

He stepped forward and patted Su Fan on the shoulder, the force almost making Su Fan stumble. "Alright... it's settled then, the sermon will be in three days..."

Watching Zheng Xinghuai's excited departure, Su Fan finally breathed a sigh of relief and slowly sat down against the stone door of the cave.

He spent nearly three hours dealing with the midday memorial banquet, his smile almost stiffening into a mask, and he was completely exhausted.

But after resting for only a short while, the sound of light footsteps suddenly came from outside the cave.

Su Fan turned and walked inside. As soon as he stepped into the hall, he saw more than ten female cultivators dressed in pink and white robes kneeling on the ground, their voices clear and crisp like bells.

"Disciple pays respects to Divine Venerable Su Fan..."

He looked up and saw that all the female cultivators were beautiful, with rosy cheeks, bright eyes like spring water, slender and fair ankles exposed under their skirts, and a gentle and charming fluctuation of spiritual energy around them.

It's obvious without even thinking that these were specially selected from among the female disciples of the "Heavenly Thunder Dao Palace," each one possessing a beauty that could captivate any cultivator.

However, Su Fan dared not be careless. He had suffered a similar loss in his early years. Who knew what tricks the people arranged by the Dao Palace might have up their sleeves?

He glanced at the expectant eyes of the women and waved with a smile.

"I don't need anyone to wait on me here, you can all go back now..."

After saying that, he took out a storage ring from his pocket, condensed some spiritual power on his fingertip, and steadily tossed the storage ring into the hands of the leading female cultivator.

When the female cultivator caught the storage ring, her fingertips trembled slightly, and when she looked up, there was a hint of disappointment in her eyes.

Su Fan didn't look at them again, turned around and walked towards the hall deep inside the cave, leaving the women sighing softly in place.

In the center of the hall stood a white jade couch, covered with a brocade cushion embroidered with thunder and cloud patterns.

Su Fan sat down cross-legged, his fingertips lightly tapping the edge of the jade couch, but his heart was in turmoil.

Three days later, when he gives his sermon facing a hall full of powerful figures from the Thunder Dao Sect, if he can't deliver anything substantial, he might just fail here.

For the past three days, Su Fan has barely stepped out of his cave. He only eats a few bites of the spiritual food that is delivered to him, and his mind is full of thoughts about the content of his sermon.

It wasn't until the morning of the third day, when Zheng Xinghuai's voice came from outside the cave, that he got up, straightened his robes, and followed Zheng Xinghuai to the "Thunderclap Hall" on the main peak.

The Thunderclap Hall is the core area of ​​the Heavenly Thunder Palace.

The roof of the hall is inlaid with hundreds of luminous pearls, the floor is paved with obsidian that can gather lightning, and the stone walls on both sides of the hall are engraved with secret techniques of lightning passed down from ancient times.

Normally, only the sect leader and a few senior elders are qualified to give lectures here.

As soon as Su Fan pushed open the palace door, he was taken aback by the scene inside.

The hall was already full of people. On the prayer cushions at the head of the hall sat several elderly elders with white hair reaching their shoulders. Their spiritual energy was contained, yet it could cause subtle arcs of lightning to appear in the air.

On the stone steps below, core disciples at the Nascent Soul stage and above sat densely packed together, each clutching a jade slip in their hand and looking over with burning eyes.

The entire hall had over a thousand people, yet it was so quiet that only the sound of breathing could be heard.

At this moment, all eyes were on Su Fan, filled with curiosity, anticipation, and a hint of scrutiny. After all, the "Heavenly Thunder Dao Palace" had been established on the Dao of Thunder for tens of thousands of years; if Su Fan couldn't offer any real insights, he would likely struggle to convince the masses.

Sects like "Heavenly Thunder Palace," which specialize in the path of thunder, undoubtedly possess formidable combat power.

However, there are also many bookworms within the sect who specialize in the study of thunder, spending their days immersed in various classic texts on thunder.

Therefore, if Su Fan were to preach in the normal way, he would definitely not be able to convince those bookworms who spend all their time immersed in the classics of thunder.

Zheng Xinghuai walked up to the main platform, cleared his throat, and his voice, enveloped in spiritual energy, resounded throughout every corner of the hall.

"Elders and disciples, the reason we invited Senior Brother Su Fan here today is to have him share his insights on cultivating the Dao of Thunder with us."

Although Senior Brother Su Fan is not a cultivator specializing in lightning, he was able to severely injure a great demon from the upper realm with the power of lightning. His understanding of lightning must be unique. I hope everyone will listen carefully…”

As soon as he finished speaking, a low murmur of discussion arose in the hall.

The elders nodded slowly, their eyes filled with anticipation.

However, many of the younger disciples frowned, their eyes revealing their disapproval.

Having practiced orthodox thunder magic from the Taoist palace since childhood, how could they easily believe the opinions of an "outsider"?

Su Fan ignored the stares and walked to the altar in the center of the hall. He lightly touched the lightning patterns on the edge of the altar with his fingertips and got straight to the point.

"Many of you who cultivate the path of thunder focus on drawing upon the thunder and lightning of heaven and earth to temper your spiritual power, pursuing the fierceness and destructive force of thunder. But in my view, the essence of thunder power lies not in 'fierceness,' but in 'fusion'..."

"melt……"

As soon as the word was uttered, the hall fell silent enough that the faint light of the luminous pearl could be heard traversing the air.

Several elders who had been resting with their eyes closed suddenly opened their eyes, a hint of surprise flashing in their eyes.

Zheng Xinghuai sat up straight on the prayer mat, his fingers unconsciously clenching his robes.

The thunder magic passed down by the "Heavenly Thunder Palace" has never involved the concept of "fusion." It mostly involves simply drawing and controlling thunder, at most supplemented by a small amount of the power of the five elements. So where does the concept of "fusion" come from?

Su Fan ignored everyone's reactions. He raised his hand and gestured, and a wisp of deep purple lightning instantly condensed at his fingertips.

The lightning was fierce and intense, with the dancing arcs on its surface carrying a sharp sound as if tearing through the air. It was the primordial lightning he had refined from the "Evil-Suppressing Thunder Seal".

Immediately afterwards, a ball of dark red flame rose from his left palm, the flame exuding a violent aura that could burn the soul, it was the Yang Extreme Earthly Fiend Fire.

"Ordinary lightning magic involves transforming one's own spiritual power into lightning, or drawing upon the lightning of heaven and earth for one's own use..."

Su Fan's voice clearly reached everyone's ears, and the lightning at his fingertips and the earth-fiend fire in his palm slowly approached.

"But this is ultimately 'borrowing' and 'transforming,' not 'fusion'... The lightning fusion technique I'm talking about is to completely merge lightning with other powers under one's control, breaking attribute boundaries and making lightning a link connecting all laws, rather than an isolated means of attack..."

As soon as he finished speaking, a blinding purple light flashed in everyone's eyes.

The deep purple lightning bolt had become entangled with the dark red Yang-type Earthly Fiend Fire.

Normally, thunder counters fire; when the two meet, either the thunder extinguishes the flames, or the flames are destroyed by the thunder.

At this moment, the deep purple lightning not only failed to suppress the Earthly Fiend Fire, but instead acted like fuel, causing the temperature of the Earthly Fiend Fire to surge several times over.

The flames were edged with a fine arc of lightning, scorching the air with a hissing sound, and even the obsidian floor inside the hall radiated a faint heat.

"This...how is this possible..."

An elder in a red-patterned Taoist robe suddenly stood up in the hall, his voice trembling with disbelief.

He is a dual-elemental user of lightning and fire, and has tried countless times to fuse the two powers, but each time the conflicting attributes caused a spiritual energy upheaval.

But Su Fan was able to make lightning and fire complement each other, which completely overturned his understanding.

Su Fan didn't stop. He flipped his right hand, and another ball of dark blue liquid appeared in his palm.

The liquid was as thick as ink and exuded a bone-chilling cold. As soon as it appeared, the temperature inside the hall dropped several degrees.

It was the Nine Nether Profound Water that he refined from the extremely cold land.

He focused his power at his fingertips, guiding the Nine Nether Mystic Water towards the purple-red lightning and fire, causing everyone in the hall to gasp in their throats.

The three elements are lightning, fire, and water, with lightning and water, as well as fire and water, being conflicting attributes.

If the fusion fails, not only will Su Fan himself be destroyed by the explosion of spiritual energy, but the entire Thunderclap Palace will also be destroyed.

But the next second, an even more shocking scene unfolded.

The azure blue Nine Nether Mystic Water did not extinguish the thunder and fire. Instead, drawn by the lightning, it transformed into countless fine water droplets, evenly enveloping the thunder and fire.

Deep purple lightning weaved through the water droplets, while dark red flames burned within them, forming a fist-sized sphere of tri-colored light.

The pale blue water droplets were neither evaporated by the flames nor pierced by the lightning. Instead, they used the power of the lightning to lock the temperature of the flames inside the sphere of light.

The heat from the flames also prevented the water droplets from freezing into ice.

"Everyone, please take a look..."

Su Fan held the three-colored light sphere, gently rotating it with his fingertips, revealing every side of the sphere to everyone.

"The 'explosion' of thunder can activate the 'fierceness' of earthly evil fire, the 'guidance' of thunder can draw in the 'gentleness' of the nine netherworld mysterious water, and the 'moistening' of the mysterious water can neutralize the 'dryness' of thunder and fire."

The so-called fusion is not about forcibly suppressing conflicting attributes, but about finding a 'bond' between different forces, letting lightning be that bond, connecting seemingly conflicting forces..."

As soon as he finished speaking, he flicked his fingertips again, and a wisp of grayish-black energy silently appeared.

Wherever that airflow passed, even the air seemed to be corroded, emitting a faint fishy smell—it was the bone-chilling wind.

This time, before anyone could react, Su Fan lured the bone-corroding wind into the three-colored light sphere.

The gray-black airflow swirled around the outer layer of the light sphere, intertwining with lightning, mysterious water, and earth-evil fire, forming a thin "wind membrane".

As the wind membrane rotated, it was not destroyed by the lightning and fire. Instead, it accelerated its rotation with the help of the lightning, which further enhanced the defensive capabilities of the light sphere.

"This...this is the fusion of four elements..."

Zheng Xinghuai suddenly stood up, gripping the armrests of the chair tightly with both hands until his knuckles turned white.

He stared at the tricolor orb of light, his voice trembling slightly.

"Thunder, fire, water, and wind—three of the four elements clash, yet Senior Brother Su Fan has managed to fuse them perfectly… This has completely overturned my understanding of spiritual attributes…"

At this moment, the Thunderclap Hall was in complete uproar.

The elders, who had previously been scrutinizing the scene, now had eyes full of fanaticism.

The young disciples were so excited that their faces turned red. Many of them immediately sat down cross-legged and tried to merge their spiritual power with the lightning by following Su Fan's method of "finding the link".

(End of this chapter)