Gou in the world of comprehension

Chapter 1513 Relying on yourself is still the most reliable way.
Martial Aunt Hongling's figure floated like a cloud to the majestic hall in front of the mountain gate. Without pausing for a moment, she stepped straight inside.

Just as the palace doors slowly closed behind her, a figure in blue rushed forward from the inside.

A disciple dressed in the standard robes of the Nascent Soul Realm clasped his hands and bowed, his tone respectful yet somewhat awkward.

"Disciple pays respects to Grandmaster Hongling..."

Martial Aunt Hongling lightly raised her jade hand, gesturing for a moment of silence, her voice clear and cold yet tinged with urgency.

"Where is the person looking for me...?"

"Grandmaster Uncle, please follow me..."

The disciple dared not say anything more, and stepped aside to lead the way, walking briskly towards the back of the hall.

After passing through several ornately decorated corridors, the two entered a lavishly furnished reception room.

Inside the hall, the floor was covered with warm jade and shrouded in ethereal mist. Zhang Xuemo was leaning idly against a soft couch with cloud patterns, her fingertips casually twirling a jade ruyi.

Upon seeing her Martial Aunt Hongling arrive, her eyes lit up, and she quickly stood up and straightened her robes.

The two were old acquaintances. They met at a Taoist gathering years ago and became fast friends. Later, they ventured into a dangerous secret realm together and forged a bond of life and death.

They were kindred spirits and had endless things to talk about when discussing cultivation experiences and interesting stories from around the world. In just a few days, they became inseparable best friends.

Later, Zhang Xuemo returned to her sect, "Polar Sword Pavilion." Although the two were separated by vast distances, they never lost contact.

They often talked all night long through the communication array, and were even willing to share the bottlenecks they encountered in their cultivation without reservation.

Now that they've been separated for so long, the two have so much to talk about.

From the amusing stories of outwitting monsters in the secret realm back then to the rise and fall of their respective sects over the years, the two chatted as they walked, and before they knew it, they arrived at the cave dwelling of their Martial Uncle Hongling.

As soon as I sat down at the stone table inside the cave, a maidservant served me some spiritual tea.

Zhang Xuemo then changed the subject, a sly glint in her eyes, and asked with a smile, "Hongling, I heard that Su Fan has already returned to the sect..."

Upon hearing the mention of Su Fan, Martial Aunt Hong Ling's originally relaxed brows furrowed slightly, a complex expression flashed across her face, and a hint of barely perceptible resentment lingered deep in her eyes.

She picked up the celadon teacup, took a small sip of the spiritual tea, and spoke as softly as a feather.

"Yes... He went into seclusion a few days after he came back. I tried to contact him several times, but he ignored me..."

Her words carried a hint of complaint, but the undisguised concern in her tone was obvious.

Zhang Xuemo was incredibly astute; he had already noticed the change in her expression. He immediately put down his teacup and deliberately dragged out his teasing tone.

"How come... it's only been a few years, and our Red Silk Fairy, who vowed to sever all ties of love and focus solely on the path of cultivation, already has someone she cares about? I still remember you saying that the most taboo thing on the path of cultivation is romantic love, as it will disturb one's resolve..."

When someone touched on her secret, a faint blush instantly rose on Hongling's cheeks, as if she had been smeared with rouge.

She quickly put down her teacup and explained, "Don't talk nonsense... I just think he has good talent and is a promising individual..."

Although she said that, Su Fan's image involuntarily appeared in her mind.

I remember when Su Fan first entered the sect, he was just an inconspicuous outer disciple, and no one would notice him if he stood in the crowd.

But now he has grown into a powerful figure who can stand on equal footing with old monsters in the Integration Realm, and even the sect elders have to treat him with respect.

And last time, she made a special trip to the "Chengyun Immortal Sect" hoping to meet him while he was doing business there, but he left without even saying hello.

Standing in the empty teleportation hall, she felt a void in her heart, as if a piece of it had been ripped out.

Even now, thinking back on that feeling of loss and melancholy still brings a pang of sadness to my heart.

Seeing her unfocused and absent-minded look, Zhang Xuemo knew that if she continued to tease her, she would get angry.

“Hongling…you don’t know yet, do you? When we learned that Su Fan had come to Xiaoyang Heaven, hundreds of high-level sword cultivators from our ‘Polar Sword Pavilion’ all rushed to the ‘Heavenly Thunder Palace’ to meet him, and the result was…”

As she said this, she sighed softly, her fingers trembling slightly as she picked up the teacup.

The moment Su Fan drew his sword, the overwhelming and awe-inspiring power pressed down on the hearts of all the sword cultivators like a mountain. Even now, she still feels lingering fear when she thinks about it.

Then, Zhang Xuemo recounted everything that had happened at the "Heavenly Thunder Palace".

From the initial disdain of the crowd, to the shock when Su Fan drew his sword, and finally to the embarrassment of being suppressed by that power to the point of being unable to move.

The more Aunt Hongling listened, the more shocked she became, her almond-shaped eyes widening slightly.

"With just one sword strike, he nearly shattered the sword hearts of hundreds of Nascent Soul stage sword cultivators from the 'Polar Sword Pavilion'..."

You must understand that sword cultivators are all about forging ahead without hesitation, and they cannot retreat even a single step.

Once you retreat even once, your swordsmanship will be flawed, making your future cultivation path even more difficult.

However, given the circumstances at the time, the sword cultivators of the "Polar Sword Pavilion" couldn't even move their fingers, let alone wield a sword.

Therefore, after leaving the "Heavenly Thunder Palace", those sword cultivators were too ashamed to return to their sects and scattered to various places, hoping to find a place to re-polish their sword hearts.

However, Zhang Xuemo knew in her heart that such setbacks might not be a bad thing for sword cultivators.

Swordsmanship is like fine steel; only through repeated tempering in the flames can it become more resilient.

The path of sword cultivation is fraught with thorns. Losing is not terrible; what is terrible is becoming discouraged after losing.

She herself wandered for more than half a year, searching for like-minded people everywhere, trying to make up for the flaws in Kenshin, but she made no progress.

Finally, for some unknown reason, my feet inexplicably led me to the "Guangfa Daozong".

Seeing the undisguised disappointment in her best friend's eyes, Master Hongling felt a pang of pity.

She reached out and put her arm around Zhang Xuemo's shoulder, gently patting her back, her tone tinged with concern.

"Alright, don't be sad. Once that kid comes out of seclusion, I'll make him apologize to you. How could he bully people like that..."

Zhang Xuemo couldn't help but laugh or cry when she heard this.

"You... my swordsmanship has become flawed. Even if he apologizes, what good will it do..."

Uncle Hongling ignored all of that and took her hand.

"Alright...you have nowhere else to go, so just stay here with me..."

Zhang Xuemo paused for a moment, then hesitated.

She knew she wasn't in a good state right now, and staying with Hongling might actually help her calm down.

Finally, she nodded gently, her voice tinged with gratitude.

"Then... I'll have to trouble you..."

At this moment, Su Fan was sitting cross-legged by the pool next to the thatched hut.

He was surrounded by dense spiritual energy, like a layer of white mist, with tiny arcs of lightning occasionally leaping within it, making a soft "sizzling" sound, and striking the water's surface to create small ripples.

Since hanging up the wooden sign that read "Secluded Cultivation," he has devoted all his attention to the Thunder Dao inheritance in the secret hall of the "Guangfa Daozong."

This period of seclusion lasted for two whole years.

In the past two years, Su Fan's understanding of the origin of thunder has made a qualitative leap.

Previously, in the Dharma Repository of the "Heavenly Thunder Palace," although he had perused countless classic texts on the path of thunder, most of the content consisted of scattered knowledge points and the cultivation insights of his predecessors. It was like holding a large pile of puzzle pieces, yet he could not find the pattern to piece them together, and could not assemble a complete picture.

The secret hall thunder path inheritance of the "Guangfa Daozong" is precisely the missing piece of the puzzle.

From the most basic "lightning-summoning technique" to how to sense the power of lightning in the world, to various advanced lightning techniques.

Each step has a clear cultivation path and practical methods, and even details the bottlenecks encountered by cultivators throughout history and the corresponding solutions, making it a complete guide to the cultivation of the Thunder Path.

In just a few months, Su Fan had completely mastered this Thunder Dao inheritance, which allowed him to take the most solid step on the path of Thunder Dao cultivation.

However, just as he was preparing to further study the "Thunder Escape Technique" and the "Five Elements Thunder Array," he encountered an insurmountable bottleneck.

Ultimately, it's because his foundation in the Dao of Thunder was too shallow.

The knowledge of thunder is vast and boundless. He has only been involved with thunder for a few short years, and there is still so much he has not learned or seen.

Despite his reliance on the "Evil-Suppressing Thunder Seal" bug to cleverly comprehend the two ancient forbidden thunder techniques, "Taixiao Transformation Chaos Divine Thunder" and "Taiyi Soul-Shattering Extreme Life Heaven-Shaking Tribulation Thunder," he still managed to master them.

Taking advantage of the opportunity presented by these two forbidden techniques, he suddenly comprehended the Twin Runes and grasped a smattering of the Thunder Dao Fusion Technique.

However, these "shortcuts" made him neglect the most basic accumulation.

In particular, the theory of thunder balance that he saw in the Dharma Hall of the "Heavenly Thunder Palace" made it even more difficult for him to move an inch.

He discovered that, with his current knowledge of thunder, it was simply a pipe dream to comprehend the method of balancing thunder as recorded in the book.

Even though he had spent two years teaching Hu Xuan the basics of Lei Dao, he had also solidified his own foundation in the process.

Yet, faced with this profound classic, I was still as bewildered as a novice disciple.

Without those two years of accumulation, he probably wouldn't even be able to understand the words in the classics.

At this moment, Su Fan finally understood that there was no shortcut when faced with the vast knowledge of thunder.

Those basic steps that he used to think he could skip now seem essential and must be redone.

Take the "Thunder Power Condensation" stage, which is a necessary step for Thunder Dao cultivators, for example. Because of the "Evil-Suppressing Thunder Seal" cheat, he can easily skip this step and directly call upon powerful thunder power.

He used to think this was a good thing, that it would save a lot of time, but now he realizes that it was actually "forcing growth."

Although he could unleash two ancient forbidden techniques with power far exceeding that of this realm, making him virtually invincible in the lower realm, he could find no opponent even with his hands in his pockets.

But the more he studied the Dao of Thunder, the more he realized how ignorant he was.

He vaguely sensed that although he was able to unleash those two forbidden techniques, he was likely only able to exert a very small portion of their power.

In the Nether, this power might be sufficient.

However, if one were to go to the Upper Realm and face those truly powerful beings, this level of power would probably not even be able to break through their defenses.

Moreover, Su Fan had a strong intuition that he would one day go to the Upper Realm.

If one's foundation in the Thunder Dao is not deep enough by then, let alone establishing oneself in the Upper Realm, even self-preservation will be a problem.

He couldn't help but think that if his foundation in the Thunder Dao had been deep enough back then, when he risked his life to activate the "Evil-Suppressing Thunder Seal," it wouldn't have been as simple as just severely injuring the true form of that great demon from the upper realm.

Given that the great demon was suppressed by the rules of Heaven and its strength was reduced to less than one-hundredth, he might have been able to leave it in the lower realm.

Thinking about this, Su Fan fell into deep thought.

Therefore, we are now facing a difficult choice.

The first option is to give up further in-depth research into the knowledge of thunder and stop spending a lot of time filling in the gaps in the foundation.

Anyway, he has the "Evil-Suppressing Thunder Seal" as a cheat device in his body, and with his current strength, he is enough to crush cultivators of the same level in the lower realm.

They can even contend with stronger individuals at higher levels, allowing them to cultivate peacefully and enjoy the awe of others.

The second option is to continue to calm down and study the knowledge of thunder path little by little, and do our best to accumulate our own foundation in thunder path.

Before heading to the upper realm, comprehend as much of the fundamental power of thunder as possible.

He knew very well that the deeper his understanding of the origin of thunder, the greater his chances of survival when he reached the upper realm.

But this path is destined to be difficult, requiring a great deal of time and effort.

It is even very possible that even if he tries his best, he will end up with nothing and waste decades or even hundreds of years of his life.

The pool water rippled gently, and the crackling sound of thunder was exceptionally clear in the silent valley.

Su Fan closed his eyes, his fingers unconsciously tapping his knees, weighing the two options repeatedly in his mind, unable to make a decision for a moment.

He sat by the pond for a whole day until Li Chongxiu called him to eat, which brought him back to his senses.

Su Fan took a deep breath, and finally made his choice.

Regardless of whether he ultimately fails or not, he must persevere. Only by truly mastering the power of the Thunder Dao can he survive in the Upper Realm.

Taking shortcuts and speculation is not the way to go; one must steadily accumulate one's own profound knowledge and skills in the art of thievery.

Relying on mountains will lead to their collapse, relying on trees will cause them to sway, relying on people will lead to their departure; relying on yourself is the most reliable option.

Moreover, with the "Evil-Suppressing Thunder Seal" as a cheat, he will definitely receive great help when he comprehends the power of the Thunder Dao in the future.

Having made up his mind, Su Fan not only stopped feeling anxious and nervous, but also relaxed.

However, the "Guangfa Daozong" is ultimately not a suitable place for spiritual practice.

Although this place is rich in spiritual energy and resources, there is too much external interference.

The next step is to find a quiet place where you can cultivate peacefully without being disturbed.

Thinking of this, Su Fan stood up from the ground and returned to the small courtyard in front of the thatched hut.

After finishing his dinner, he returned to the pond and sat down cross-legged.

Su Fan thought for a moment and took out a communication array plate from his storage ring.

He ignored the dozens of messages inside and sent a message directly to his Martial Uncle Hongling.

"Uncle-Master, has anything been going on in the sect lately...?"

The message from Martial Aunt Hongling carried a hint of resentment between the lines.

"The big battle is over, what could possibly happen..."

Su Fan knew in his heart that this woman seemed quite dissatisfied, like a resentful woman.

Actually, this was something he did on purpose. The two of them were just casual buddies, so of course they couldn't make it look all lovey-dovey.

"Uncle-Master, I was in such a rush during my last seclusion that I forgot to contact you. Now that I've finished my seclusion, I'm coming to find you..."

"You'd better not come. I can't handle serving you..."

Seeing Hongling's reply only piqued Su Fan's interest. He quickly stood up and hurriedly left the cave.

(End of this chapter)