One could see the image of a palm-sized Black Tortoise floating above Shen Tian’s head. Its body was covered by black lightning, and it looked very majestic. One would surely be intimidated by its oppressive vibes, except that… it was simply too small!
This was a mini-sized Black Tortoise, whose head wasn’t even as big as a person’s thumb.
Argh, why is Zhang Yunxi’s White Tiger image so big, but mine so small?! This was unfair!
In addition, in Shen Tian’s eyes, this Black Tortoise was just nicely stepping on his providence halo. It was awkward looking at how his providence halo’s green light was reflected off the Black Tortoise’s body.
Where is the intimidating effect of the Black Tortoise avatar?! This looked like a little green-haired bastard!
Not to mention how that tortoise’s shell seems to be emanating off green light… on top of my head!
Shhh…
Shen Tian shuddered uncontrollably and kept the projection hurriedly.
I am never going to use this Black Tortoise avatar outside, no way!
Even though he knew full well that this skill could suppress his opponents’ Spirit Qi circulation, hence allowing him to gain the upper hand during combats, Shen Tian swore he would not use it.
After all, who could bear being ridiculed by their opponents for carrying such an absurd image above their head?
Let’s try out the other types of Divine Lightning.
With that, Shen Tian started his cultivation of the other lightning skills.
The Five Elements both vitalize and restrain one another. Going by this principle, since Shen Tian had completed his cultivation of the Black Tortoise IX Divine Lightning (Water) skills, he should now move on to the wood-type lightning skills.
This was also mentioned by the instructions, as stated in the Five Heavenly Lightning Cultivation Technique’s Manual.
The wood-type Divine Lightning skills were classified into the Azure Dragon I Divine Lightning (Wood) skills and the Cosmos II Divine Lightning (Wood) skills, based on their Yin-Yang constitutions.
Shen Tian did not hesitate anymore—he took another 10,000 Spirit Stones out of his Archeon Sea Ring and sat down cross-legged, continuing his cultivation process.
Yet this time round, the cultivation process did not seem to proceed as smoothly as his previous attempt.
Even though the Yin-Yang Mixed Divine Lightning Origin still supported him, somehow, his progress was rather slow.
This was perhaps because now he did not enjoy the complementary support of similar-natured spirit items.
Shen Tian estimated that he probably needed to cultivate non-stop for at least three days in a row before he could achieve the Greater Mastery stage of the I Divine Lightning (Wood) skills.
Only then would he be able to summon out the Azure Dragon avatar.
This top-notch cultivation technique from the Divine Firmament Sacred Ground was hard to master, indeed!
In any case, Shen Tian had this inkling that most probably, the I Divine Lightning (Wood) skills would not work as well as the IX Divine Lightning (Water) skills for him. After all, Shen Tian could feel how the Heavy Water and Divine Lightning resonated with each other in his body when he was using the IX Divine Lightning (Water) skills.
The I Divine Lightning (Wood) skills could probably never achieve the combined prowess of these two items for him, even if he managed to master them. In addition, that Black Tortoise avatar really gave Shen Tian a rude shock. He was contemplating if he was only able to conjure up the Azure Dragon’s minimized version too.
That scene would probably be too unsightly for words.
To be honest, it would still be passable if what he conjured up looked like a green snake. But imagine if the avatar turned out to be like a green worm, and it began wriggling on top of his head… That would just be gross!
Argh, my heart cannot take that! Let’s just focus on the water-type lightning skills then and try the rest on another day.
Shen Tian felt that there was no need to be too greedy. Perhaps it was better to master the IX Divine Lightning (Water) skills than to start on the I Divine Lightning (Wood) skills.
Again, he gathered up the IX Divine Lightning powers in his body and tried to materialize it.
Following which, one could see strips of black lightning forming at Shen Tian’s right fingertips. They seemed absolutely harmless and obedient, all ready to carry out his orders.
Meanwhile, Shen Tian could also sense some shadow of the First Essence Heavy Water within these strips of lightning. This made the lightning he formed much heavier than the original IX Divine Lightning.
I wonder if this makes the lightning I have here more destructive too!
He wrapped his fingers around the lightning with that thought in mind and gradually gathered them into a black lightning ball.
This was a battle art recorded in the Five Heavenly Lightning Cultivation Technique, and it was called the Lightning Fist. Essentially, it just meant gathering up a ball of lightning and then throwing it at one’s enemies to strike them down.
It was the most basic lightning art that almost all Divine Firmament Sacred Ground formal disciples would know. But of course, depending on the type of lightning used, this basic art’s prowess varied too.
For example, there were the Li Fire Lightning Fist, Geng Metal Lightning Fist, and the Jia Wood Lightning Fist. As for the attack which Shen Tian was about to blast out now was the Ren Water Lightning Fist.
Normally, within the Five Elemental Lightning Fist arts, the Geng Metal Lightning Fist was the one with the greatest penetration ability, while the Li Fire Lightning Fist was the most explosive one.
Meanwhile, the Ren Water Lightning Fist’s purpose would be to numb its opponents’ actions, and it did not have great destructive capabilities.
As such, Shen Tian wasn’t expecting too much from this attack when he blasted it out.
Yet when that egg-sized lightning ball hit a boulder, what happened was too shocking to describe.
That boulder was about ten feet in height, and while it had a smooth texture, one could clearly see how hard it was innately.
Yet the Ren Water Lightning Fist merged into the boulder seamlessly after touching it. Following which, black lightning started cracking out from within the boulder—, and in the next second, the boulder exploded apart, as if it was nothing but a piece of tofu!
This scene made Eunuch Gui and Qin Gao draw in sharp breaths—they were absolutely shocked.
Qin Gao swallowed hard and commented faintly, “Well… this is so powerful. Imagine that boulder exploding within seconds!”
Eunuch Gui had surprise written all over his face as he spoke. “Considering the extent of destruction, it’s almost comparable to an attack dealt out by people at the 9th Firmament of Qi Refinement!”
What’s more shocking was that it was an attack that Shen Tian had casually summoned.
Given the current amount of Spirit Qi stored in his body, Shen Tian could at least deal out five more of such blows. Should he be able to regenerate more Spirit Qi, it would be easy for him to use this battle art ten times.
This was akin to how a normal A student was able to pass any examinations effortlessly—or in the cultivation world’s context, imagine a 5th Firmament Qi Refinement cultivator deflecting a 9th Firmament expert cultivator’s attack…
The Five Heavenly Lightning Cultivation Technique can indeed live up to its name of being one of the most superior skillsets among the entire Lightning Imperial Sutra!
Greatly satisfied with the battle art’s offensive capability, Shen Tian was now ready to witness its defensive capability.
Truth be told, the IX Divine Lightning (Water) arts were famed for their long-lasting effects and were supposed to be focused on defense.
Within the Five Heavenly Lightning Cultivation Technique, another skill could complement the IX Divine Lightning (Water) arts. This skill was known as the Black Tortoise Armor, and it was a skill that could form a full-body lightning armor for its wielder.
For cautious people like Shen Tian, this was an attractive skill to learn.
He walked over to the bits of the boulder and absorbed back some of the First Essence Heavy Water used in the previous Lightning Fist.
After that, Shen Tian turned to Eunuch Gui and said, “Uncle Gui, try hitting me with some attacks.”
At that, he started his Spirit Qi circulation again and conjured up the IX Divine Lightning on his right arm.
The Black Tortoise Armor was a superior skill, and its difficulty levels and prowess outweighed a normal Lightning Fist by loads.
However, due to unknown reasons, the IX Divine Lightning and the First Essence Heavy Water were very obedient within Shen Tian’s body. Just merely thinking to gather them up had allowed him to materialize a piece of the Black Tortoise Armor on his arm.
But of course, because Shen Tian was not familiar with the skill yet the materialized armor could only vaguely maintain its shape. This indicated that he was just a novice to the skill.
That piece of armor was black in color, and there were mysterious Dharma markings engraved all over it. One could clearly see how hard it was.
The only thing that made Shen Tian feel resigned was that this armor looked very similar to a tortoise’s shell.
Aish, let’s not think too much about that.
After all, in the most crucial of times, this could be a potential life-saver! Who would care if it looked less majestic… right?
Lifting up the Black Tortoise Armor, Shen Tian looked at Eunuch Gui and repeated, “Uncle Gui, try hitting me with all your power.”
Eunuch Gui nodded and summoned up a gust of crimson Spirit Qi at his fist.
“Your Highness, please be careful and avoid hurting yourself!”
After which, Eunuch Gui attacked, hitting Shen Tian’s Black Tortoise Armor face on!
A dull cracking sound was heard—but nothing seemed to happen to the Black Tortoise Armor. There were no crack marks on it at all.
However, black lightning crawled up Eunuch Gui’s body from the armor’s direction and started engulfing him instead!
Boom!
The lightning exploded!
Eunuch Gui retreated five steps falteringly, with shock written all over his face.
So, such is the Black Tortoise Armor’s terrible defensive capabilities!
