The instant he was sent flying, a golden light flashed across Zhou Changqing's body, condensing into a thin defensive film of inner armor.
But before Zhou Changqing could even hit the ground, the golden film shattered with a deafening crack!
Countless arcs of electricity, blasted out from the lightning bolt that had struck the ground, immediately bored into Zhou Changqing's body!
Bang!
He slammed violently into a large tree nearby, shaking it slightly, before tumbling heavily to the earth.
Sizzle...!
Innumerable arcs of lightning drilled into every inch of his flesh and blood. The initial numbness gave way to an immense, tearing agony.
"Ahhh...!!!"
The extreme pain, like being subjected to a thousand cuts while submerged in lava, forced a series of miserable howls from Zhou Changqing's lips.
Yet at this moment, he couldn't even move a single finger!
The might of heavenly lightning, even just the aftershock from a near miss, was not something a mere Dou Master like Zhou Changqing could withstand!
As the lightning arcs rampaged through his body, every part of his skin they touched turned scorched black and was etched with crackling electrical patterns!
"How could this happen!"
"Damn it, is my luck really this bad? Am I going to die right after avenging my parents!?"
Perhaps due to the strength of his soul, Zhou Changqing didn't pass out from the horrific pain. Instead, he remained terrifyingly lucid, his mind sharp and clear amidst the agony.
He could distinctly feel the pain of every lightning arc coursing through his body, could sense every piece of his flesh withering and blackening under their assault!
His internal organs were also hemorrhaging from the powerful shockwave!
It was an undeniable cruelty.
There was nothing more brutal than watching oneself die, piece by piece, while trapped in endless suffering!
"Damn it all! I don't want to die!"
Though his heart seethed with unwillingness and fury, there was nothing Zhou Changqing could do.
As if his life were flashing before his eyes, memories of everything since his transmigration began to flicker rapidly through his mind.
The images reeled backward from the present.
Sixteen years old...
Fifteen years old...
Fourteen years old...
...
At this moment, time itself seemed to slow down...
Boom!
Just as Zhou Changqing's consciousness was about to reach its limit, a clap of thunder exploded in his mind!
The memory in his mind's eye had stopped at the instant before his transmigration—the moment he was struck by that bolt from the blue!
"I've already been struck dead once! Are you going to strike me dead a second time!?"
"My life isn't that cheap!"
Recalling the experience of his transmigration, Zhou Changqing's consciousness snapped back, his mind roaring with unyielding defiance!
His previous life had been aimless, but it was peaceful and simple. He never had to worry about food or drink, his family was happy, and his parents were alive and well.
He could have lived out an ordinary life, but a sudden bolt of lightning had taken it all away, leaving him unable to repay his parents for the gift of life and the kindness of raising him.
Reborn into this new world, he had let go of the regrets from his past life.
But why?!
Why did this life have to take his adoptive parents from him as well!
It was bad enough that he couldn't repay them for raising him, but now, just moments after avenging them, was his own life going to be taken away again?!
Was he some kind of worthless trash?!
He had to live!
He would climb to the peak of this world!
He would transcend this world!
He would even transcend the world above the Dou Qi Continent!
He would possess supreme, unrivaled power!
Only then might he have a chance to remedy his regrets, to return to Earth and fulfill his duty to his parents, and perhaps even resurrect his adoptive parents!
In that instant, Zhou Changqing's will to survive ignited, burning with unparalleled resolve!
All his indignation and rage transformed into fuel, sharpening his consciousness and pushing his mind to operate at incredible speeds!
"Get out here!"
Turning his focus inward to his Dantian, he let out a great roar in his mind and used his powerful will to stir the liquid vortex of Dou Qi within!
Then, under the guidance of his will, the two types of Dou Qi in the vortex surged forth, both entering his meridians!
Unlike his usual cultivation, the Dou Qi was not circulating according to a single technique.
Under Zhou Changqing's control, his Dou Qi began to circulate simultaneously along the pathways of both the Stinging Thunder Method and the Tempered Steel Force!
Of course, it wasn't a perfect one-to-one replication of both techniques' circulatory routes.
If he did that, he would probably just die even faster!
With his mind preternaturally clear, Zhou Changqing knew he had only two paths to survival.
One was to expel the heavenly lightning arcs from his body. The other was to completely refine them!
Over the past year, although Zhou Changqing had not switched to a higher-grade cultivation technique, his unique method of forging weapons had given him an extremely deep understanding of both his techniques and a high degree of control over his Dou Qi.
He was confident that his mastery of the Stinging Thunder Method and the Tempered Steel Force was no less than that of their creators!
However, people with dual Gold and Lightning attributes were exceedingly rare; not a single one had ever appeared among the vast population of the Jia Ma Empire.
This meant that the dual Gold-Lightning cultivation technique he had asked the Miteer family to find for him had never materialized.
Because of this, several months ago, he had begun collecting and studying numerous Huang Rank techniques of both the Lightning and Gold attributes, preparing to one day create a dual-cultivation technique suited for himself.
Cultivation techniques were created by people. If others could do it, why couldn't he?
He was simply at too low a realm right now, lacking the necessary experience and foundation.
His original plan had been to wait until he reached the Dou King realm before beginning his attempt.
But now, at the precipice of death, he was out of time.
The efficiency of a single technique was nowhere near enough to expel or refine the berserk heavenly lightning energy raging inside him!
He had to stake it all!
In the jaws of death, there is great terror!
But there is also great opportunity!
The moment the Gold and Lightning Dou Qi made contact within his meridians, they reacted violently, rampaging and tearing through his channels!
But Zhou Changqing paid it no mind. While guiding the two energies, he rapidly evaluated the several meridian maps he had previously studied, the ones he believed had the highest chance of successfully connecting the two cultivation techniques!
In less than a second, Zhou Changqing's mind ran countless calculations on the success rate of each meridian map!
Finally, in a desperate gamble, Zhou Changqing chose the meridian map he believed had the greatest chance of linking the two techniques.
Under his guidance, the two types of Dou Qi began to circulate according to this new technique—one that combined two high-grade Huang Rank techniques and modified several meridian pathways!
A miracle occurred!
The two types of Dou Qi successfully merged within several meridians along his spine!
In that instant, the circulatory routes of the two techniques connected, forming a complete, great circulatory cycle!
Witnessing this with his inner vision, Zhou Changqing's spirit soared. He immediately guided the Gold and Lightning Dou Qi to circulate madly through this new cycle.
Although the two types of Dou Qi still reacted intensely upon contact, the reaction was no longer destructive!
Instead, they were like squabbling brothers, able to coexist peacefully despite their bickering!
Then, under his control, the two types of Dou Qi began to spread into every inch of his flesh and blood to hunt down the stray lightning arcs!
Zhou Changqing had expected a violent clash when his Dou Qi met the lightning arcs.
But what happened the next second when they made contact sent a tremor through his very soul!
The merged Gold-Lightning Dou Qi touched a lightning arc and, instead of meeting any resistance, enveloped it with incredible ease!
Furthermore, the enveloped lightning arc swiftly fused with his Thunder-attribute Dou Qi!
Then, this fused lightning energy instantly began to emit an extremely special and profound aura!
Upon contact with this aura, his Gold-attribute Dou Qi miraculously broke apart, transforming into a brilliant golden radiance that began to merge with the surrounding flesh and blood!
"What is happening?!"
Seeing this, even Zhou Changqing's hyper-aware mind went blank.
This scene... why did it look so much like the reaction that occurred when he forged weapons—when his residual Gold-attribute Dou Qi would integrate into the weapon's material after he infused it with Thunder-attribute Dou Qi?
???
Am I a weapon?
But he had no time to dwell on it.
The flashback and his attempt to merge the techniques had already taken three or four seconds.
That might seem short, but it was an eternity given the speed at which the lightning arcs were destroying his body.
If he didn't deal with these arcs soon, he would be completely charred to a crisp in less than twenty seconds.
And that was only because his inner armor had absorbed most of the damage from the heavenly lightning's aftershock and his own physical constitution was impressive!
Otherwise, he wouldn't have even had time for his life to flash before his eyes before being turned into a blackened corpse