You've only been cultivating for a few years, and you're already talking about cultivating

"What's wrong?"

Qi Fei opened his eyes and saw that both Chan Kong and Lei Leilei were staring at him, each one more peculiar than the last.

Lei Leilei spoke first, his expression as if he had seen a ghost: "You cultivate thunder magic?"

"Yes." Qi Fei raised his hand, and a bolt of lightning crackled in his palm, with blue and white light dancing between his fingers.

"The Five Thunder Orthodox Method that I passed on to you?" Lei Leilei asked again.

"good."

Upon hearing this, Lei Leilei frowned even more deeply: "The Five Thunder Orthodox Method is the introductory method of our Five Thunder Sect, and it can only be cultivated up to the Golden Core Realm. But what you are cultivating... is different from mine."

He asked, "Big Guy, you didn't just train randomly, did you? You've probably done it wrong, haven't you?"

Qi Fei shook his head: "No! I haven't even grasped the principle of magnetism generating electricity, electricity generating magnetism, or the rotation of a magnetic field through lightning magic. How can it be considered as practicing incorrectly?"

"Perhaps I have a slightly new understanding?"

"What do you mean by 'understanding'?"

"Have you heard..." Qi Fei explained the similarities between "the theory of contradiction" and Lei Fa to Lei Leilei in detail.

After listening, Lei Leilei's expression changed from confusion to contemplation, then back to confusion, and finally settled on a blank look, as if she had grasped something but hadn't.

"I think I understand a little," he said, "but I also think I don't quite understand."

He knew in his heart that he had heard all of what Qi Fei was saying before.

When the masters of the Five Thunder Sect teach thunder magic, they often talk about "the transformation of Yin and Yang" and "all things carry Yin and embrace Yang" to explain the eternal opposition and transformation between all things.

Qi Fei's use of "spear" and "shield" is more straightforward and easier to understand than those other terms.

The interplay of Yin and Yang within all things is like the strongest spear against the strongest shield. Which will ultimately prevail?

A buzzing sound went through Lei Leilei's mind, as if something had been illuminated.

"I think..." he murmured, "I seem to have realized something."

As he spoke, he sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes.

Crackling electric sparks began to emerge from his body. At first, there were only a few strands, as thin as spider silk, but they became denser and brighter, like countless silver snakes slithering wildly across his body.

He also gained some insight.

When the moon was high in the sky, Lei Leilei slowly opened his eyes.

The electric light around him dissipated, as if it had been absorbed into his body by something. Only when he opened his eyes did a glimmer of blue-white light flash deep in his pupils.

The light was extremely fast and extremely bright, like a lightning bolt compressed to its extreme that exploded in the depths of the eye before disappearing.

"So that's how it is," he muttered to himself, "No wonder my cultivation in the Three Pure Realms was so difficult before..."

The vast majority of cultivators perish during the Tribulation stage, and very few can reach the Three Pure Realms.

Within the Three Pure Realms, the gaps between individuals are ridiculously large. Most people who plunge in either achieve the Golden Core stage or end up becoming neurotic.

There's a saying: "Without a psychic, one cannot attain the Three Pure Ones."

Cultivators like Lei Leilei and the Four Heavenly Kings of the Five Cauldrons Sect have only just touched the threshold of the Three Pure Realms.

He had wasted many years in the Three Pure Realms without making any progress, so he traveled thousands of miles to the Yue Kingdom to find the Five Thunder Cauldron, a magical artifact from a sect a thousand years ago, hoping to gain inspiration from the inscriptions on the Five Thunder Cauldron.

However, the inscriptions on the Five Thunder Cauldron were mostly about "Five Elements Transformation," which did not help his current cultivation much, but instead became a magical artifact for him.

Unexpectedly, after chatting with Qi Fei for a few minutes about the Law of Contradictions, he realized his shortcomings in cultivation.

Qi Fei may have low cultivation level, but he is very knowledgeable.

If such a person could join the Five Thunder Sect, how could the Five Thunder Sect not flourish?

Unfortunately, they seem to have a sect. It's called something like "Mount Xi," the Loyal Faction. But that Loyal Faction doesn't sound very impressive; they don't even have a method for attaining enlightenment, and they're dirt poor.

Lei Leilei's eyes darted around, and a gentle smile appeared on his face as he said to Qi Fei, "Big Guy's insightful observations have been very helpful. I suppose Big Guy comes from a prestigious family."

"Could it be that the Loyal Faction was also a sect from a thousand years ago, only to decline later?"

Qi Fei didn't know what he was planning, but he was already very good at making up stories.

He then said, "The Loyalist tradition has a long history, with each millennium constituting a 'turning point,' and there have now been forty 'turning points.'"

"Huh?" Lei Leilei was stunned for a moment, then his eyes widened. "Then isn't that an ancient immortal sect with a history of tens of thousands of years?"

He quickly calculated in his mind: forty thousand years is forty thousand years.

Forty thousand years of heritage, what does that mean?

The sects of Min and Yue nowadays, even the oldest ones, have only a few thousand years of history. Compared to them, they are like children who have just learned to walk.

"No wonder Big Guy has such insight." Lei Leilei's tone was filled with genuine admiration.

Qi Fei waved his hand dismissively, saying, "Keep a low profile, keep a low profile."

"Although the Loyal Faction has a long history, many of its classic texts have been lost, and it is not as powerful as it used to be."

"Even now, we don't even have a method for proving the Dao; we still have to rely on Fellow Daoist Lei to pass on the teachings!"

"I am so ashamed."

When he said he was "overwhelmed with shame," a look of remorse did appear on his face. Whether he was truly ashamed, only he himself knows.

Lei Leilei said, "These are all the basic methods of the Five Thunder Sect. Passing them on to you is also saving myself."

He was telling the truth. He passed on the teachings to Qi Fei to save his own life; there was no noble sentiment involved, nor any selflessness.

But what he was thinking about was something else entirely.

We need to figure out a way to kidnap the big guy and take him back, but we have to escape from Yue first.

After the three finished recuperating, they got up and continued on their way.

This time, they did not encounter any pursuers blocking their way. They walked from nightfall to dawn, and then from dawn to nightfall again.

When night fell again, the wind carried the scent of the sea.

The three men's eyes lit up, and they quickened their pace without hesitation. No one had stopped them for a day and a night; they were finally approaching their destination.

The sandy beach shimmered with a greyish-white light under the moonlight, and the waves lapped against the rocks on the shore, making a dull, rhythmic sound.

A gust of wind blew by, carrying a strong salty smell, which dispersed most of the dust and grime from the journey the three of them had accumulated.

But they didn't rush to the sea.

Because there was a person sitting by the sea.

A monk.

He sat cross-legged on the beach, his back to the sea and his face to the land. The moon hung in the sky behind him, and the waves surged and receded in front of him, surged and receded again.

He remained motionless, his hands hanging naturally at his sides, resting on his knees, his eyes closed, as if he were meditating, or like a Buddha statue sitting by the sea.

Qi Fei stopped in his tracks.

He recognized the man.

On a street corner in Sanshan County, on the muddy ground, stands a beggar covered in mud and with disheveled hair. He is also the Buddha in Alaya consciousness, seated atop a golden city, radiating light.

Zen wisdom.