Overdraw the future and become a peerless martial god

Chapter 58: The Third Style

He gently set down the incomplete scroll of the "Thunderclap Saber Technique." Chu Ning waved his hand, and the little snow fox landed and squatted beside him, staring at him with its bright black eyes. He sat down cross-legged, his mind replaying the meridian circulation routes, the methods of guiding lightning power, and the changes in saber techniques within the technique.

He started with the most basic activation of lightning flow, each bolt of lightning traveling through his meridians like a fiery knife cutting through flesh and bone.

A sharp pain struck, and his whole body convulsed, but he gritted his teeth and refused to stop.

"The power of thunder is untamed and unyielding; it can only be controlled by a calm mind."

He sat motionless in the lightning all night like a stone statue, his whole body charred and mottled, his skin cracked inch by inch, but his mind became clearer and his perception of lightning became more acute.

As dawn broke, he began to experiment with the movement trajectory of "Nine Shadows Split Flash".

One step, two steps, three steps... each step contained the force of a thunderbolt, and the speed was so fast that it was almost impossible to catch with the naked eye.

However, although the thunderous movement was swift, the Nine Shadows formation was slow to materialize.

"It's not simply about speed, nor is it about deliberately creating illusions..."

The little snow fox paced anxiously around the perimeter, each attempt to get closer only to be blasted away by a burst of lightning.

Chu Ning's eyes narrowed, and he suddenly realized something.

He suddenly remembered a note at the beginning of the third form:
"The ultimate thunder is not the speed of light, but the thought of the mind. When the thought reaches its peak, thunder arrives."

He suddenly became enlightened.

“I was wrong… The Lightning Avatar is not in the physical body, but in the consciousness.”

As he finished speaking, the thunder blade in his hand slowly fell, but his eyes grew even brighter.

Chu Ning began to try to peel, stretch, and tear his divine consciousness like an electric current, attempting to resonate synchronously with the lightning force.

The first time, his divine consciousness split in two, and the lightning power suddenly became chaotic, almost causing a backlash against his heart meridian.

The second time, he forcibly stabilized his consciousness, but found that the direction of the lightning still could not be aligned with his consciousness.

He gritted his teeth and slashed again and again, only to fail each time. Thunder roared and sword shadows flashed in the martial arts pavilion, and the air itself seemed to be torn apart by the scorching heat.

As night fell once more over the pavilion, Chu Ning's figure was already embedded in the charred brick building.

Suddenly, he roared, and the lightning cocoon around his body exploded.

Nine illusory figures burst forth from his body, each wielding a long blade formed from lightning.

The sword flashed like a waterfall, the thunder roared like a drum, and the world fell silent for a moment.

The ancient thunder patterns engraved on the wall were cleaved into fine cracks, causing the entire training pavilion to tremble and dust to fall in a flurry.

"puff!"

On the seventh attempt, Chu Ning coughed up blood. Before the blood droplets could even hit the ground, they were evaporated by the surging lightning intent, turning into patches of blood-red lightning mist that spread around.

He collapsed to the ground, panting heavily, his chest heaving like a tattered sail, but he showed no sign of giving up.

"This is not an ordinary sword technique; it is a tearing apart of the soul and a tempering of the will to its limits."

"No wonder Senior Lei Ming, who created the 'Thunderclap Blade Technique,' only left behind half a scroll of the incomplete technique. There are probably only one in a million people who can master this third move."

But Chu Ning gritted her teeth, her eyes never dimming.

In the following dozens of attempts, he began to calm his mind, adjust his breathing, suppress the lightning energy, and try to guide his clone with "thought" rather than "force." He no longer pursued explosive speed, but rather sought a rhythm where lightning moved invisibly and the divine sense preceded the physical body.

Gradually, with each strike, the afterimage could linger for half a breath longer;

With each step the shadow takes, the lightning flows more naturally.

Every failure brings you one step closer to success.

Time passed slowly, the moon sank and the stars fell, the sun rose again, and another night passed.

After the ninety-ninth attempt. "Boom!"

A thunderous roar pierced the sky, as if cheering for his enlightenment.

With a sudden jolt, he transformed into a bolt of lightning that shot into the sky, and nine lightning shadows instantly appeared around him.

They were lifelike, each with sharp eyes and a menacing aura, wielding long swords that shimmered with lightning. The cold light slashed through the air, and lightning crackled around them, making them appear like ghosts and phantoms.

The lightning shadows darted between the bookshelves, each flash accompanied by an explosion, and each illusory slash caused the space to tremble.

"This... is the true form of Nine Thunder Shadows."

"This is not a movement technique that moves at extreme speed, but a lightning shadow clone formed in an instant by the divine sense drawing upon the lightning intent."

Chu Ning stood in mid-air, watching the nine lightning shadows around him whirl and spin, and within the lightning, he could almost see a projection of his own soul.

"If the enemy is trapped there, even if they can block one strike... can they block nine strikes?"

A slow smile spread across his lips, and his eyes no longer held the naivety of someone just beginning their cultivation journey, but rather the confidence that truly belonged to a strong person.

The lightning dissipated, and the world fell silent. Inside the training pavilion, scorch marks crisscrossed the space, as if a thunderous prison had been carved out.

In the past, he relied solely on the Primordial Divine Decree to perform his moves, mastering the techniques but not understanding the underlying principles.

And at this moment, he truly took his first step.

Chu Ning has stepped onto the true threshold of the path of thunder.

The lightning gradually subsided, and the world returned to silence.

Chu Ning landed slowly, his lightning intent dissipating around him like a thin mist. He gazed at the crisscrossing scorch marks in the training pavilion, his chest still rising and falling slightly, but a barely suppressed smile on his face.

"Finally succeeded..."

This step was difficult for him, but the pain of each shattering of his consciousness and the burning sensation of each mouthful of blood eventually transformed into the joy of this moment.

He looked up and sighed deeply, his voice ringing out.

"Little Snow!"

But the little snow fox did not come.

He frowned and called out again, "Xiaoxue, come here."

The air still held the chill of thunder, yet the familiar figure of the snow fox did not leap and pounce as usual.

Chu Ning's heart tightened, and he darted out of the pavilion.

The thunder still lingered inside the pavilion, and the air carried the scent of burning. He walked around several rows of charred bookshelves, then suddenly stopped. A snow-white figure lay silently slumped at the foot of the stone steps.

The moss beneath the stone steps glowed with an eerie blue light, and lightning patterns spread like vines around the little snow fox's curled-up body. The lightning dust suspended in the air condensed into a fox-shaped phantom, as if some ancient ritual was awakening.

"Little Snow!"

He quickly stepped forward and took the little fox into his arms. The snow fox's spiritual energy was extremely chaotic, its once soft white fur was now covered with lightning marks and dark patterns, and its body temperature was so low that it was almost frozen.

But what surprised Chu Ning even more was that the small fox body was wriggling slightly in his arms, and as its spine moved, it seemed to be transforming into another form!
Before Chu Ning could think about it, he saw a faint golden rune appear on the snow fox's forehead, which was actually the "Golden Hoop Curse" that he had personally cast.

The golden patterns flickered violently, as if resisting some kind of force.

Suddenly, a soft "poof" sound was heard.

The little snow fox's body transformed into a soft light, then rapidly expanded and lengthened in his arms. Its fur vanished like snowflakes, its bones quietly reshaped, and with each snap of its muscles and bones, it seemed as if it had been reborn.

A naked female body quietly appeared in his arms.

She curled up, helpless and mysterious like a newborn elf, her long, silvery hair cascading down from her shoulders like a waterfall, reaching her waist, gleaming with a cool, luminous light under the moonlight.

(End of this chapter)