Zhen Paohui already had his sword in hand and was descending with a powerful killing intent.

Shen Ling, though shy, didn’t want Long Di to die and was preparing to stand in front of him to shield him from Zhen Paohui.

Feng Yu, however, thinking she was being reckless, quickly grabbed her junior apprentice-sister and got her out of the way.

However, this was exactly what Long Di wanted. After all, he didn’t want to harm a potential member of his group.

Crackle!

Long Di’s body quickly discharged a portion of the remnant energy that the Destiny Scale had yet to refine.

Just this strand of energy alone terrorised the space it travelled through!

Cracks appeared in the space where it passed, an obvious showcase of its power.

“Tribulation lightning!?”

When all the elders sensed the energy Long Di released, they paled in fright. After all, what were all cultivators afraid of? Lightning tribulations!

These were the punishments handed down by the heavens for those who wished to go against it.

Strangely enough, this was the goal of all cultivators, an intention to defy the heavens on the long, arduous, never-ending path of the dao.

Still, this lightning possessed a might far beyond anything they had ever experienced or heard of! They were completely powerless before this power, and they shuddered intensely even though Long Di didn’t aim it at them!

By the time Zhen Paohui realised the power he was about to collide with, it was too late!

The elders were powerless to do anything, either. This strand of lightning was at a level beyond anything they’d ever seen before!

Whoosh!

A fierce wind blew in from the entrance of the hall, causing everyone to close their eyes.

When they reopened their eyes, Long Di, along with the lightning attack had vanished, nowhere to be seen.

Boom!

A massive explosion broke apart the silence of the sky outside the hall. Everyone saw a lone black lightning bolt tear across the sky with an unreasonable ferocity!

“Wh—What just happened!?”

The third elder was frightened into stuttering. That energy he felt from that boy’s body was not something he could have resisted!

Zhen Paohui would have been severely injured, or worse!

The first elder, though shaken, was one of the few in the room who was a bit more collected than the others, having an idea of what happened or more specifically who acted.

“Third elder, please send young master Zhen Paohui off. Shen Ling, come with me.”

The first elder already emptied his seat and was on his way to leave the hall.

“But uncle I—”

The first elder’s gaze caused whatever Zhen Paohui was about to say to stay wherever it was.

He waited for Shen Ling to come with him. When he saw Feng Yu beside her, he told her he wanted to speak with Shen Ling alone before he continued on his way with Shen Ling in tow.

Though unwilling, Feng Yu trusted the first elder much more than the third elder.

However, based on what happened, it was clear that this matter, whatever it was, wouldn’t end today.

…

In another part of the village, in a half-ruined shelter, lay Long Di on a cot. In front of him was the same old drunkard who appeared before Shen Ling and Feng Yu before, Uncle Tian Lu.

“How long are you going to act remaining unconscious? You think this old man is a fool!?”

Uncle Tian Lu displayed none of the mannerisms of the old drunkard he had pretended to be earlier. His eyes flashed with a faint murderous intent as the heavy pressure surged from his body, letting Long Di know he wasn’t playing around.

Feeling this, Long Di decided to drop the unconscious act for the moment and opened his eyes to stare at the old man before him.

Seeing that the young man’s attention was fixed squarely on him, Uncle Tian Lu nodded in satisfaction.

He stared at him for a moment before a spark of surprise flashed in his eyes, “You’re full of surprises, aren’t you? You’re what? Only 11, 12 years old, and yet you’re already a Ninth Core Formation Expert!? What kind of monster are you!? And that energy!?”

That’s right, that was Long Di’s current cultivation. He was a Ninth Core Expert; he was already at the limit of the realm that the likes of the City Lord and the others were in!

If the crowd back at Thunder Cloud City knew of this, they would probably faint in shock at this revelation. Of course, his parents and the goddess knew about it, but his unfortunate accident made such an immaculate and, quite frankly, nigh-impossible achievement nothing more than the salt on the wound of losing him.

Long Di stared back at him without blinking, not saying anything.

Seeing this, Uncle Tian Lu didn’t react in any way. He just continued speaking.

“The phenomenon that recently shook the continent, it felt familiar to what I felt from you. What are you, child? We may not have much contact with humans around here, but even we know that no human child can control tribulation lighting, much less use it at will. Speak! What are your plans here!?”

Long Di still didn’t reply, he still continued staring at the old man.

This caused Uncle Tian Lu’s expression to change. Rage quickly overtook his features and his aura surged and filled the shabby surroundings!

“Huh?”

Long Di was finally snapped out of his point of focus. ‘That rattling tooth in his mouth is really distracting. Had me dazed for a good 5 minutes there. Now, what did he say? I didn’t catch a thing.’

This was what held Long Di’s attention so intensely. Uncle Tian Lu’s single rattling tooth.

Of course, Uncle Tian Lu wasn’t aware of this. If he was, he would probably vomit blood in anger.

“Greetings, Uncle Tian Lu. My name is Long Di from the Long family of Thunder Cloud City.”

Uncle Tian Lu was taken aback. He didn’t ask the young man what his name was. But seeing that he was finally responding caused him to rein in his anger.

“Alright Long Di, let’s try this from the top then,” Uncle Tian Lu said, fixing himself on the rickety old chair he sat on. “How did you come to be here? The closest human settlement is more than a week’s journey from here. Don’t tell me that a mere 11 or 12-year-old human boy travelled such a massive distance by yourself.”

“ten-year-old… wait. It was my birthday a few days ago, so eleven. Oh yeah, I was… blown here… by lightning,” Long Di said after thinking about it.

Uncle Tian Lu stared at him as if he was mad. “Yes, well, that entire phrase is going to need context.”

So Long Di took some time as he recalled his entire ordeal in detail to Uncle Tian Lu, whose eyes opened wider and wider as Long Di spun his tale. Of course, he kept the details of his destiny as vague as possible.

By the time Long Di was done, he was sure the old man’s eyes reached his hairline. An impressive feat considering that Uncle Tian Lu only had a few strands of hair to begin with.

Uncle Tian Lu finally calmed himself as he began to assess his thoughts. ‘So he’s in possession of a unique destiny. After calling down a tribulation, this destiny scale with an era-old origin protected him as it fused with him to protect him from the tribulation and it is now in the process of refining the energy in an effort to replenish its own lost energy—what madness is this!? Who would believe this!? Wait, everything about him is madness, to begin with! Quite frankly, it’s the only thing that makes sense and explains everything perfectly. And he wouldn’t choose such an extravagant lie to begin with, so it must be true!’

As Uncle Tian Lu continued to ruminate in his own thoughts, Long Di was slowly becoming entranced by the old man’s single tooth once again. ‘Why does it keep dancing like that even if he’s not talking? Amazing… it could definitely use more brushing, though.’

“Do you know the level of the lightning that brought you here?” Uncle Tian Lu asked, knocking Long Di out of his own… rumination.

“Huh, what? Say what now?” Long Di asked with a baffling look.

“I can understand your confusion,” Uncle Tian Lu nodded with a look of alleged understanding.

He misunderstood Long Di’s curiosity towards his single tooth as interest in the subject he raised. He continued. “In the world of cultivation, lightning is the hand of judgement passed down by the Heavens, or the heavenly dao.”

Finding interest that surpassed even the lone dancing single tooth, Long Di paid more attention to what Uncle Tian Lu was saying.

“However, as it is a judgement, this also means that there are varying degrees to the judgement, in other words, the tribulations it casts down. If you are saying that you were devoured by a golden-black explosion then the closest thing I can think of is it being an eight or even ninth-stage tribulation lightning.”

Uncle Tian Lu’s expression became severe the minute he mentioned this.

“The ninth-stage lightning tribulation, in particular, is one of the highest order. Legends say that only the last..."

He paused here, as if trying to find the right word to continue.

"… Ruler…" The word finally came to mind, and he went on, "was capable of calling down such a thing.”

As he finished speaking he stared at Long Di once more. “When are you going to leave?”

He wasted no time in asking this question.

“Wait, leave? Why do I need to leave?” Long Di didn’t expect this question from the old man at all.

“What do you mean? You’re an eleven-year-old brat with a cultivation base some cultivators never reach in their lifetime. Swimming in your body is the literal embodiment of a cultivator’s bane. You possess a relic refining this energy for heaven knows what reason, and you want me to keep you in the village? Do I look like a fool to you!? If your presence here turns out to be bad, I can tell it won’t be slightly bad, but an all-out disaster! Nothing about you tells me it’ll end in the middle of any scale! It’s either extremely good or extremely bad, and we’re good enough as is. So you need to leave now!”

Long Di nodded in understanding, “Okay… I understand, but I do have a counter proposal though.”

Uncle Tian Lu’s brow shot up in suspicion. “Is it similar to what I said?”

“Yes,” Long Di stated immediately.

“Oh!” Uncle Tian Lu was surprised he was so easy to deal with. “Well, then, what is it?”

If he needed only a few days to heal before he left, Uncle Tian Lu didn’t mind having him stay here for a while. That could easily be arranged.

Long Di cleared his throat. “Accept me as your disciple.”

Uncle Tian Lu vomited blood in anger, “Which part of that is even REMOTELY similar to what I just said!?”

“… Sooo, that’s a yes, then?”