Afternoon was spent training to dodge sandbags, and Yu Tianlin was utterly battered.
Yu Jian did not use any high-level techniques like prediction or forcing a positional move; he simply seized the opportunity, throwing the sandbag straight at Yu Tianlin the instant he paused, and it would accurately hit his body.
There was no other reason—it was simply fast. Yu Jian truly could imbue the sandbag with the speed of the Thunder Dragon's Claw, making it completely impossible for Yu Tianlin to evade.
Fortunately, Yu Tianlin did make some progress. From being hit one hundred percent of the time in the beginning to occasionally dodging one by the end, it was not a total loss.
However, Yu Jian was still quite dissatisfied. According to him, this was only the most basic stage. Later, there would be sandbag prediction, continuous sandbags, gravity fields, and even the sealing of his Soul Power—all of which he had to be able to dodge one hundred percent of the time.
The repeated mention of "sandbag, sandbag" made Yu Tianlin feel dizzy. He almost wished he could ask Yu Jian if he had ever seen a fist as big as a sandbag.
Forget it, there are still four months. Take it slowly, he thought.
In any case, today's training was over. Next up was the evening session of attracting lightning and Soul Power cultivation.
Yu Tianlin returned home, took a hot shower, and after eating dinner, went to the council hall to find his grandfather, Yu Yuanzhen. Under his grandfather's guidance, he headed to the Clan head's exclusive cultivation chamber.
The Clan Head's cultivation chamber was located on a solitary peak behind the clan, and to get up there, one had to climb a 500 meter high cliff face.
With Yu Tianlin's current level of cultivation, he naturally couldn't do it. So, Yu Yuanzhen simply lifted Yu Tianlin and leapt toward the mountaintop.
Yu Tianlin only felt a blur before his eyes, and then he was at the summit, where a massive, pointed-roof building stood before him.
The clan territory of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan was already constantly shrouded in thunder. Now, at night and atop a solitary peak, it felt as if they were wrapped in boundless darkness and lightning, making Yu Tianlin feel incredibly oppressed.
Yu Yuanzhen seemed completely unaffected. He pushed open the door to the cultivation chamber and said as he walked in, "This is my place of cultivation. Situated on the peak, close to the sky, the lightning-attributed energy is dense, making it more suitable for cultivation."
Yu Tianlin looked inside and found the Clan Head's cultivation chamber to be quite simple, with no unnecessary clutter, except for one thick, long iron pillar that shot straight up into the sky in the very center.
"That is a lightning rod. Its function is just as its name suggests—to draw down the high-altitude lightning," Yu Yuanzhen explained, looking at the iron pillar. "Originally, this thing constantly drew in lightning to keep the lightning-attributed energy in the chamber sufficient and active. But now that you have the ability to devour lightning to increase the age of your Soul Ring, the lightning rod has a more important purpose."
"It costs Soul Power for you to activate your external Soul Bone to draw in lightning. Now, by using the lightning rod, you can greatly reduce that consumption and increase the efficiency of your lightning devouring."
As he spoke, a bolt of lightning struck the lightning rod, which Yu Tianlin nodded at in satisfaction.
The Thunder Hell Prison Vine, being a plant-type Soul Beast, couldn't move. Even after breaking through to the 100 year level, while it could actively draw in lightning, it had to wait for stormy weather. Now that he was human and possessed the same ability, he could naturally choose a more suitable location, allowing him to draw in lightning every day. His speed of advancement would definitely be much faster than the Thunder Hell Prison Vine's.
After a brief introduction, Yu Yuanzhen took out a thick, blue-covered book from his storage Spirit Tool and handed it to Yu Tianlin.
Yu Tianlin took it and saw the three large characters on the cover: Thunder Dragon Art.
Before Yu Tianlin could ask, Yu Yuanzhen explained, "This Thunder Dragon Art is a cultivation technique, or rather, the Soul Power circulation route during meditation, that our clan's predecessors developed over generations. Cultivating according to the circulation route described in the Thunder Dragon Art is the most convenient way to accumulate lightning-attributed Soul Power, making it suitable for Soul Masters with the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul."
Yu Tianlin was suddenly enlightened.
He had always thought that the only cultivation technique on the Douluo Continent was the Mysterious Heaven Skill held by Tang San. He hadn't expected the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan to have one too. If the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan had one, then the other major powers must also have them.
This wasn't surprising, though. In the original work, after Tang San took Yu Xiaogang as his teacher, Yu Xiaogang gave Tang San a simple cultivation method.
Even if the content of that method was relatively generic, it was not something Yu Xiaogang could have developed on his own. It was likely an adaptation, revised and simplified from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's Thunder Dragon Art.
Seeing Yu Tianlin take the Thunder Dragon Art, Yu Yuanzhen said, "The route for circulating Soul Power is described in great detail here. Unless you are too stupid to even read a book, you just need to follow what's written. I won't stay here to guide you. You practice well on your own, and I will come to pick you up in the morning to descend the mountain."
With that, Yu Yuanzhen turned and departed, vanishing into the night.
Yu Tianlin walked over, closed the door to the cultivation chamber, and began to read the Thunder Dragon Art in his hands.
Because Yu Tianlin had not seen any other cultivation methods, he had no frame of reference, so he couldn't tell what level of technique this Thunder Dragon Art was. He just felt it didn't seem too difficult to understand.
After reading it seriously twice, Yu Tianlin memorized the content. He then sat down cross-legged and attempted to circulate his Soul Power according to the route mentioned in the Thunder Dragon Art for two cycles. He found that there were no problems, and the cultivation effect was indeed slightly better than ordinary meditation.
After a preliminary attempt, Yu Tianlin exited his meditation state and walked over to the lightning rod.
He activated his own Soul Power, and his Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul possessed him. Immediately, a ball of blue light flashed from his glabella (the point between his eyebrows) and instantly spread, traveling from his glabella throughout his entire body. Blue-violet electric light, like little snakes, swam around him.
At the same time, the pale yellow Soul Ring slowly appeared.
In the Martial Soul Possession state, Yu Tianlin's resistance to lightning greatly increased.
Although, with the help of his external Soul Bone Ahoge, Yu Tianlin would not be harmed by the lightning, the body's involuntary twitching and spasms were unavoidable. This would affect the efficiency of drawing in lightning, so Yu Tianlin simply used Martial Soul Possession to increase lightning resistance and eliminate this negative effect.
After Martial Soul Possession, Yu Tianlin reached out and grabbed the lightning rod in front of him. Amplified by the lightning rod, Yu Tianlin only had to input a small amount of Soul Power into the "Ahoge" on his head, and immediately a bolt of lightning struck him.
The second time he was struck by lightning, he was in the state of Martial Soul Possession and had summoned his Soul Ring. Therefore, Yu Tianlin could clearly see that the moment the lightning struck him, his Soul Ring flickered.
It would take one hundred lightning strikes to increase the age of the Soul Ring by one year. This was destined to be a time-consuming task.
Again!
Because activating the external Soul Bone consumed Soul Power, and maintaining the Martial Soul Possession state also consumed Soul Power, Yu Tianlin's Soul Power was completely depleted after approximately fifty lightning strikes.
Once his Soul Power was exhausted, he would meditate to recover.
He began to meditate, circulating his Soul Power using the Thunder Dragon Art he had just learned.
Yu Tianlin didn't spend much time being struck by lightning; instead, recovering his Soul Power through meditation took half the night.
The process of lightning strikes for Soul Ring enhancement followed by meditation for Soul Power recovery took half a night, so over the entire night, Yu Tianlin completed the process twice, meaning he was struck by lightning just over a hundred times.
One hundred lightning strikes could only increase the age of the Soul Ring by one year. This rate of increase was too small; Yu Tianlin's pale yellow Soul Ring appeared to be virtually unchanged.
However, there was no need to rush. Take it slowly. If he could increase the Soul Ring age by one year every day, he would gain about one hundred and twenty years over the four months. Adding the original one hundred years, the total would be two hundred and twenty years.
Having a 220 year first Soul Ring was already considered quite good.
It was the same with Soul Power cultivation. After exhausting his Soul Power and then meditating to refill it, twice in a row, Yu Tianlin could feel his Soul Power increase by a fraction.
At this rate, he would definitely increase by more than one level over the four months, reaching level 12.5 without a problem.
When Yu Tianlin exited his meditation state and opened his eyes, he saw Yu Yuanzhen standing in front of him.
"How was your cultivation harvest last night?" Yu Yuanzhen asked when he saw Yu Tianlin awaken.
Yu Tianlin immediately activated his Martial Soul Possession, summoning his pale yellow Soul Ring, and said, "I took over a hundred lightning strikes last night. My Soul Ring's age should have increased by one year, but I don't feel any difference."
Yu Yuanzhen carefully sensed the pale yellow Soul Ring on Yu Tianlin's body and said, "Take your time. There are still four months left."
Yu Tianlin nodded and asked, "Grandpa, what time is it now? How long have you been here?"
Because the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect was constantly overcast, it was still very dim outside the room, making it impossible for Yu Tianlin to tell the time.
"It is still morning, and I just arrived a short while ago," Yu Yuanzhen said, picking up Yu Tianlin. "Let's go. After breakfast, we will continue today's training."
In the time that followed, Yu Tianlin repeated this grueling regimen every day.
However, it only took him two months to fully adapt to one times gravity. Running under the gravity field posed no difficulty at all, to the point where they eventually had to add weights.
Similarly, in just two months, Yu Tianlin could perfectly dodge the sandbags thrown by Yu Jian. He could even do it while his Soul Power was sealed and the gravity field was active. Therefore, continuing to train his evasion ability for the remaining two months was pointless, so they directly transitioned to close-quarters combat training.
In the third month, Yu Tianlin successfully broke through to level 12, and the age of his Soul Ring reached 200 years.
After the Soul Ring's age reached two hundred years, Yu Tianlin's first Soul Skill also changed. Originally, activating the skill could only condense one Lightning ball, but now he could directly condense two.
It seemed that for every one hundred years the age of his first Soul Ring increased, he could condense one additional lightning ball. When he broke through to the 1,000 year level, it would be ten balls at once.
All this time, it turns out my first Soul Skill is an area-of-effect ability!
Just like that, four months passed, and Yu Tianlin finally arrived at the day of his battle with Yu Tianqing.
Yu Tianlin originally thought the Elders would heavily publicize this duel, holding it in the Clan's training grounds under the eyes of all the members.
However, that was not the case. When the appointed time arrived, Yu Yuanzhen simply brought him to an secluded hall.
By now, several Elders were already seated in the main hall, and besides them, only Yu Tianqing was standing inside.
Since attaching his Soul Ring, Yu Tianlin had spent every day in training, so this was the first time in four months that he had seen Yu Tianqing.
Yu Tianqing appeared to have grown taller, and the exposed parts of his arms were somewhat thicker than before. It seemed his gains over the four months were also considerable.
Yu Yuanzhen told Yu Tianlin and Yu Tianqing to wait below while he walked to the front of the hall, sitting on the central seat reserved for the Clan Head.
"Brother Lin, long time no see."
Seeing the elders go to the platform above, Yu Tianqing couldn't help but approach Yu Tianlin to greet him.
Yu Tianlin casually nodded and replied, "Mhm, it's been four months."
"Brother Lin, I heard about your situation. It's truly regrettable," Yu Tianqing whispered. "I know the reason for our fight this time, and I was wondering if I should go easy on you, but my father and grandfather..."
Hearing Yu Tianqing say this, Yu Tianlin couldn't help but smile, opening his mouth to say, "Little Qing, no need to let me win. You can't beat me!"
"That confident?" Yu Tianqing muttered. "My first Soul Ring is..."
"Ahem!" Just as Yu Tianqing was about to reveal his secret to Yu Tianlin, Yu Luomian, seated above, cleared his throat, interrupting Yu Tianqing's words. "Big Brother, since Tianlin is also here, let's just start."
"Let the two of them fight without restraint," another Elder beside him added. "The few old men here are watching, so there won't be any danger."
"Tianlin, Tianqing." Yu Yuanzhen scanned the two below and said, "This duel of yours is very important. You must go all out and not hold back."
Yu Tianlin and Yu Tianqing answered simultaneously, "Yes!"
The two had intended to chat a little more, but since the elders had spoken, they could only begin the fight immediately.
The two separated, walking to their respective fighting positions. Yu Tianqing said one last time, "Brother Lin, my grandfather is watching, I really can't hold back. You should be careful."
Yu Tianlin, his eyes burning, looked at Yu Tianqing and said, "Come on!"
"Now, summon your Martial Souls."
Seeing the two take their positions, Yu Yuanzhen's faint voice came through.
As soon as he spoke, the same transformation manifested itself in both Yu Tianlin and Yu Tianqing.
The same lightning patterns, the same electrical light swirling around them, and the same pale yellow Soul Ring!
"This is... a 100 year Soul Ring?!"
Upon seeing the yellow Soul Ring on Yu Tianlin's body, one of the Elders couldn't help but exclaim.
"Fourth Elder, you're seventy or eighty years old, yet you still clamor like a young man. Can't you be a little more composed?" Yu Yuanzhen glanced at the Elder who had cried out. "It's just a 100 year Soul Ring. What is there to make a fuss about?"
------
Lol grandpa acting nonchalant.
15+ Chapters on Patreon
read, comment, and like/favourite this.
Your criticism is very much appreciated.
You can also read chapters in advance on p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m./ Lucinziel
Schedule: Mon-Fri Chapters Daily