Nine Astra Skies

Seeing how resolute Ye Chen was, Ye Zhantian could only relent.

“I’ll admit, that The Thunder Emperor Technique is no ordinary technique… In fact, there’s something I would like your thoughts on: I wish to share the first grade of Thunder Emperor Discourse with the rest of the clan so that everyone could benefit from it. What do you think of that?” Since Ye Chen was the one who had passed the discourse to him, Ye Zhantian decided to ask him before making any decision in fear that their ancestors might have some qualms about spreading the knowledge.

There were nine chapters in the Nine Astra Skies, with Thunder Emperor Discourse being just one of them. Of course, the advanced grades of that technique should always be safeguarded from the average person but there were likely more benefits than harm to spread the first grade of Thunder Emperor Technique to everyone within their clan. After all, if every member of the family became stronger, then in unison, the family would also become stronger and remain a secure stronghold to its members in this fatalistic world.

“Since I passed the discourse to you, Father, it is up to you to decide what to do with it as you see fit,” Ye Chen replied. He had faith in his father’s judicious nature.

“Why, that is good!” Ye Zhantian laughed in relief but the laughter faltered as soon as he remembered something else. Solemnly, he asked, “Chen, I’ve noticed that you and Rou have been getting closer. Tell me, do you have a crush on her?”

Prior to Ye Chen’s recovery, all that was in Ye Zhantian’s mind was the welfare of his son’s meridian channel; Now that that issue had been taken care of, his mind was finally freed from the clouds of worries— and inevitably, the father’s attention now turned to his son’s prospective marriage.

“I’ve always thought of Rou as my little sister,” Ye Chen replied. Quietly, however, he had to admit that Ye Rou had gotten more and more beautiful each time he laid his eyes on her, while the girl herself seemed to be acting more and more affectionate toward him. Sometimes, Ye Chen even caught his heart pounding at the sight of her.

Ye Zhantian studied the young man for a while before finally saying, “It’ll very much ease my mind if you and Rou stay that way. She may have been adopted by the Ye family but her true background is very, very complicated. Don’t let your feelings for Rou develop beyond what you should feel towards a sibling if you know what’s good for you.”

Ye Chen was a little baffled by his father’s words. He guessed that the girl had a complicated background because many young lads in the House had a crush on her, yet no one ever truly took an effort to get to know her personally. Previously, Ye Chen had never really thought of it but maybe…

‘No. Not now. I should focus on improving myself for the upcoming match during the Grand Ceremony. Everything else takes second place,’ Ye Chen reminded himself.

“Here, this is one of the most formidable, ultimate martial arts techniques of our family— the ‘Primordial Thunder Body’. I’ll pass you its discourse today but I don’t expect you to be able to use it immediately. What I’m hoping for is that it could give you some insight or idea into your own training.” Ye Zhantian advised at length as he produced a book from his hidden drawer. “Remember to take care of this book at all times, alright? This is a family treasure. Moreover, if you have difficulty wrapping your head around a problem, you can always just come to me. You must remember that for these few days, your priority is to train as much as possible.”

“Yes, I understand,” Ye Chen answered, nodding firmly. In his heart, he was pleasantly stunned. ‘Father is actually passing me the discourse on Primordial Thunder Body!’ This was one of the solitaires among all of Ye clan’s martial arts techniques. Only top-level personnel of the clan such as Ye Zhantian and Ye Zhanlong were allowed to learn it. Not even Elders, such as Ye Moyang, was ever granted permission to learn it.

“The beauty of Thunder Emperor Technique is truly indescribable. Triggering Primordial Thunder Body by circulating your Celestial Chi as per the teachings in Thunder Emperor Discourse is capable of drawing out more than its average power. Indeed, even if I have to face a Ninth Stage fighter right now with my current Stage, I would still fear nothing; What more to say when I finally make a new breakthrough into the Ninth Stage? Son, I’ve been caught in a plateau of the Eighth Stage for five years… But now, I’m finally seeing signs of improvement!” Ye Zhantian said in earnest jubilance.

“Congratulations, Father.”

“And when I’ve finally attained the Ninth Stage, believe me— I’ll eliminate every single parasite within the House of Ye, even if that would void whatever left of that thin courtesy between us and the House of Yun.” As the image of Ye Moyang’s face surfaced in his head, Ye Zhantian’s heart grew fatalistically cold.

“Now that we think about it, Inner Thunderclap Energy Cultivation is indeed woefully incomplete. There are already thirteen mistakes in the first grade alone, and now I’m going to explain their problems to you so that you can avoid these pitfalls and practice the first grade of Thunder Emperor Technique more correctly.”

With that, Ye Zhantian started to explain every cultivation-based error he could find in the Inner Thunderclap Energy Cultivation discourse to Ye Chen.

Yet, Ye Chen’s eyebrows were furrowed at his father’s claim. ‘There are only thirteen mistakes? But I myself have uncovered thirty-five mistakes in that grade… Have I gotten it wrong? After all, Father is an experienced fighter now at the peak of the Eighth Stage. His understanding of the cultivation should be much more profound than mine.’

“Something’s confusing you there, Chen?” Ye Zhantian noticed Ye Chen’s perplexed expression.

“I’m…thinking hard,” Ye Chen quickly said.

“You’re a martial arts prodigy, Son. Once you’ve thought this through, I’m sure that your cultivation speed would only accelerate, allowing you to quickly rise to the Fifth Stage in a month and attain the Sixth Stage in a year.”

All thirteen errors his father pointed out had already been discovered by Ye Chen. However, the rest of the errors he discovered were left unanswered by his father.

“Father, regarding the last dictum in the first grade of Inner Thunderclap Energy Cultivation, it says we should ‘thrust through Tianchong’ under the guise of abandoning Shenmen’ ¹ . Did you… notice something odd about that dictum?” Ye Chen asked very carefully.

Ye Zhantian gave it some thought. “Nope, I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

‘Did I make a mistake?’ Ye Chen was perplexed at the contradiction between his understanding and his father’s prognosis on this particular dictum, yet he was somehow adamant that he was not wrong in the slightest. Nevertheless, he did not voice his doubt as he was dissuaded by his own uncertainty.

“I’ll… have to think about it after I’ve returned to my quarters.”

“Well, when you’ve returned, remember not to bargain your time for idleness! You must be even more dedicated to training now that you have an important goal to fight for,” Ye Zhantian said sternly.

“Understood,” Ye Chen replied somberly.

Since leaving his father’s residence, Ye Chen had not been able to free his mind from his earlier confusion. ‘Those were pretty egregious errors. Why didn’t Father notice them? Had my understanding of cultivation gone astray?’

Yet, Ye Chen realized that his mind seemed to have been too hardened by his own opinion and understanding to believe his father’s claims. Left without closure, Ye Chen decided to dismiss the issue entirely and continued with his training following his own way.

He trained with the Thunder Emperor Technique for a few hours and practiced his family’s basic martial arts techniques. After that, he took out the book with the Primordial Thunder Body discourse.

Primordial Thunder Body, being the mightiest and most ruthless of all Ye clan martial arts, was created with Inner Thunderclap Energy Cultivation as its foundation by one of the most ingenious ancestors the Ye clan had ever seen. When activated in a battle, one could create a Thunder Body by materializing their internal energy via Inner Thunderclap Energy Cultivation, therefore adding many times more impact to the practitioner’s every attack. Ye Chen’s father may have only been an Eighth Stage fighter but with the enhanced attack buffs provided by the Primordial Thunder Body, even Ninth Stage fighters would think twice before labeling Ye Zhantian an easy target.

When Ye Zhantian first started his training in the Primordial Thunder Body, he had to struggle for three years to fully bring out the technique’s full potency despite already being a Seventh Stage savant at that point. Thus, the reason why Ye Chen was given the discourse right now despite being in mere Fourth Stage was not because his father wanted him to learn it within seven days but because he had hoped that by showing Ye Chen how Primordial Thunder Body was to be performed, the young man could be inspired by the processes behind it as well as his ancestors’ masterful utilization of internal energy.

“A practitioner would actually be able to manifest their own Thunder Body, as well as accelerating the speed of Celestial Chi circulation within their body three or even many more times their usual rate! That forefather who invented this technique was truly a virtuoso!” Thumbing through the pages of the discourse and reading on the magnificent anthology of different kinds of internal energy cultivating methods, Ye Chen felt that he had already gained some sort of epiphany.

In order to master Primordial Thunder body, one must first learn to be able to circulate their Celestial Chi at a rapid speed to meet the monstrous demand of energy just to support the materialized Thunder Body.

An average person might inevitably find the aforementioned prerequisite a top-tier challenge to get right but Ye Chen was already predisposed to bypass this problem— every time he triggered the Flying Dagger in his mind, the Celestial Chi within the blade would burst out in an unbridled torrent. The speed of this Celestial Chi torrent that raged through his channels was already, by default, several times higher than the circulation of ordinary Celestial Chi!

“Hmm. I can actually try to learn this!” Since that the Thunder Emperor Technique was a lot more profound and advanced than the Inner Thunderclap Energy Cultivation this particular technique had usually relied on, Ye Chen was sure that he could use the former to activate the Manifestation of his own Thunder Body too.

After memorizing the methods of the Primordial Thunder Body by heart, Ye Chen once again triggered the Flying Dagger with his will and revolved his Celestial Chi around. In a sudden burst, an enormous wave of powerful, pure Celestial Chi once again exploded out of the Flying Dagger as it sprinted through every meridian channel within the young man’s body in a matter of seconds. With that, Ye Chen growled in a low voice. “Primordial Thunder Body!”

Ye Chen’s body was coated with a silvery-white luster the likes of metallic glimmer as if his body had ballooned several times over; A cocoon of formidable Thunder-style energy flourished all over him and made his body look like it was about to turn transparent at any second.

It lasted only three seconds before Ye Chen fell short of breath due to the deficit of Celestial Chi within his dantian. As his face paled, Ye Chen quickly ended the technique, his hand clutching onto the edge of a table as he panted in large gasps.

‘The Primordial Thunder Body’s reputation as a ‘ruthless’ technique isn’t an exaggeration at all!’ Imagine using other martial techniques while under the influence of Primordial Thunder Body— the impact of an attack with any possible technique would have been increased to lethal levels!

Quite unfortunately, the limits of someone with Fourth Stage Celestial Chi managed to cut the duration of the Primordial Thunder Body such that the Thunder Body manifested could only last three seconds at most.

Nonetheless, Ye Chen was beyond being elated. After all, even an Eighth Stage master like his father had exhausted three years just to get the Thunder Body to start!

“If I intend to apply this into an actual battle, then my Thunder Body would have to last a few seconds more!” Ye Chen thought. Three seconds was obviously too short for it to be useful, and what’s more: Despite the endless supply of Celestial Chi from the Flying Dagger, activating Primordial Thunder Body required all of the Celestial Chi to course through the practitioner’s dantian. If it was not for the existence of that Flying Dagger, it would have been impossible for Ye Chen to even bring its effect into a physical form.

It seemed that Ye Chen’s body was still not used to the high toll Primordial Thunder Body was accustomed to exerting… yet!

He quickly sat down into a cross-legged position and absorbed every ounce of wildly-coursing Celestial Chi the Flying Dagger provided. It did not even take a long time before Ye Chen’s empty dantian was once again completely filled with Celestial Chi again.

Normally, a Fourth Stage cultivator would have to meditate for hours as they try to gather as much Celestial Chi from nature to cover the Celestial Chi deficit in their dantian. In fact, the higher a person’s Celestial Chi Stage was, the longer this replenishing process would take. Yet, for Ye Chen, all it took was just fifteen minutes.

His eyes sprang open as soon as his dantian was ready—’Time to practice Primordial Thunder Body again!’

‘This Flying Dagger is incredible!’ Ye Chen’s mind raced. The Flying Dagger would surely avail his cultivation speed by ten or even more folds!

‘Primordial Thunder Body!’

Hence, every time Ye Chen executed Primordial Thunder Body, he would immediately sit down to recover his Celestial Chi so that he could launch into another session again and again. As the amount of time he practiced increased, Ye Chen could sense that the Celestial Chi became compact as it swirled in his dantian. If he was not mistaken, he should already be in the middle of Fourth Stage Celestial Chi. Even the duration of his Thunder Body had improved from three seconds to around four seconds.

For some reason, despite the repetitive nature of his training regimen, Ye Chen had not felt a single pang of fatigue. As a matter of fact, he felt more and more spirited and energized. A quick glance at the clock showed that it was already past midnight, yet the young man had a feeling that he could do this until dawn.

…

In Ye Moyang’s private quarters.

“Father, what did you make out of that punk, Ye Chen’s words? Do you think Ye Zhantian and his son prepared a strategy?”

Frankly, Ye Kongyan was already quite ecstatic at the thought of being this close to the title of Successor Patriarch. At that point, the person who would eventually possess that title could not be anyone but him. Yet, he was still clear-headed enough to know that before he obtained the ancestral stamp seal, his dream as a Successor Patriarch remained unfulfilled.

“Ye Chen’s meridian channels had already been completely severed, so he’s completely out of commission no matter what. As for the rest of the contenders… They are simply below you, so they shouldn’t pose as a threat either. However, we cannot risk being too self-assured as I’m sure Ye Zhantian, Ye Zhanlong and the rest of his gang would try to raise some competition from your juniors. This is why, after giving this some thought, I’ve come to conclude that we should neutralize absolutely any chance of unsolicited outcome of the match. To make sure that happens, I’m to ensure that you attain the Sixth Stage by the end of this seven-days-wait.” A flash of cruel glimmer flickered in Ye Moyang’s eyes.

“What? It’s impossible to attain the Sixth Stage within seven days!” Ye Kongyan cried out, horrified.

“Oh, but why would it be so…when you have this?” Ye Moyang smiled briefly and took out a box with an embroidered silk cover. When he opened it, there was only a singular red pill sitting in the middle of the box spreading its palatable aroma.

Recognizing the pill, Ye Kongyan was moved. “F-father, this can’t be a Chi Deposition Pill, can it?”

“You’re right. This is a Chi Deposition Pill.”

There was a sharp intake of breath from Ye Kongyan. “B-but I heard that a single Chi Deposition Pill could trade in hundreds of Chi-amassing Pills. Where did you get this from, Father?”

It was hard to not be this motivated. Ye Kongyan was already at the height of the Fifth Stage, with only a very small gap to close in before he attained the Sixth Stage. With the help of a Chi Deposition Pill, he might be able to truly cross the line this time, right before the big match.

“Not as hard as you might think. All it takes is perfecting the art of forming a pact…This is but a gift in advance from the House of Yun,” Ye Moyang replied, his voice cold of antipathy.

“What sort of pact?”

“When you’ve become the Patriarch of the House of Ye, you’ll automatically transfer ownership of the mining hill behind Ye Castle to the House of Yun.”

“But there’s no way I can be the Patriarch right now!”

“No way?! Tell me. When you’ve assumed the role of a Successor Patriarch and that bastard Ye Zhantian will die of a sudden, unnatural cause. Who would automatically assume the position of the Patriarch according to ancestral laws?”

Hearing Ye Moyang’s words, Ye Kongyan felt a chill in his heart as sweat broke out from his back. He finally understood his father’s plan.

Ye Moyang stared straight into Ye Kongyan’s eyes and uttered, “Do not fail me, son.”

“U-understood!” Ye Kongyan fell to his knees and groveled before his father.

Then, after receiving the pill from Ye Moyang, Ye Kongyan tipped his chin backward and swallowed it.

The night was quiet and dark but lights were still flickering in Ye Chen’s cabin.

He was still practicing both the Thunder Emperor Technique as well as the Primordial Thunder Body, and when he needed a change in pace, he revised on his other two techniques until his body could perform them skillfully. Although he was still in the Mid-Fourth Stage, Ye Chen believed that he could actually match any Fifth Stage pugilist in power by now due to how condensed his Celestial Chi had become as well as being increasingly adept in all three martial techniques he had learned.

To be honest, Ye Chen was not even sure how strong he had become because the Celestial Chi coursing in his body was quite unlike the Celestial Chi most fighters usually gathered from nature. At that moment, Ye Chen could not find someone to spar with without risking the fact that he was healed; he simply could not. Before the day of the Grand Ancestral Worshipping Ceremony, Ye Chen would have to continue his pretense so that Ye Moyang would never know that his meridian channels had already recovered!