Chapter Ninety-Nine: Introduction to the Five Elements Thunder Transformation Technique — The King of Soft Rice

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“By now, I have asked Senior Shen, Brother Xiu, and the Immortal Lady Luoxia to gather information. Senior Shen is backed by the Shuiyun Immortal Sect, and Brother Xiu has the support of the Qingyuan Sect. News should arrive soon. As for the Immortal Lady Luoxia, though top-tier Five Elements cultivation techniques are enticing, she is three thousand miles away, and the journey between is fraught with risks and uncontrollable factors... Still, no matter what, it’s currently the only place with definite information. That’s better than none.”

Back in the small courtyard, Zhou Changwang pondered silently. He understood this couldn’t be rushed. If there was good news, that would be best; if not, his current Five Elements technique at the perfected level was by no means weak. Its cultivation speed was even comparable to some advanced techniques. The only limitation was its ceiling, which wasn’t as high as more advanced methods.

“Let’s wait. At the shortest, it will take about ten days; at most, a month for news to come through. Meanwhile, there’s another matter that demands my attention.”

Zhou Changwang slowly walked toward the backyard.

“Techniques must not be disseminated lightly! It’s obvious that top-tier cultivation methods come at a high price. Even advanced Five Elements techniques are beyond my current means. A single volume of high-level technique costs at least ten thousand lower-grade spirit stones.”

He considered his finances. Though he had just sold the Spirit Gathering Grass for four thousand five hundred lower-grade spirit stones, and had over one thousand already, totaling about five thousand five hundred, after paying two hundred seventy for the three seats at the Immortal Pavilion banquet and a hundred each to two brokers, he was left with...

“Five thousand lower-grade spirit stones.”

Zhou Changwang frowned. That was far from enough—at least five thousand stones short, and likely more.

“I still need to earn more spirit stones. The vacant spirit fields cannot lie fallow. But in a few months, conflict will erupt between the Bai and Chen families, and even Shuiyun Pavilion will withdraw for safety. I must also leave temporarily... so I can only plant short-term harvest spirit plants.”

He picked up his spirit hoe and began loosening the spirit soil. Each strike turned the hard earth, laying it aside in a flat spread.

The “Heavenly Origin Eight Techniques” had greatly enhanced his constitution. Physically, he estimated himself on par with a second-level Qi Refining cultivator. Digging spirit soil was no trouble; it was quite easy for him.

“First choice, naturally, is Spirit Gathering Grass. It matures in three months. If I apply the acceleration technique diligently, the cycle can be shortened considerably.”

As he worked, he carefully set aside any spirit worms uncovered, letting them slither away. These spirit worms were rare beneficial insects in spirit fields, living off the soil, capable of turning and aerating the earth. Their excrement was excellent fertilizer. Having enough spirit worms would speed up spirit plant growth.

After an afternoon’s work, he had turned over all five acres of spirit fields.

The next day, Zhou Changwang went out again, buying large quantities of spirit beast fertilizer from the Beast Master’s Workshop to spread over the fields. He also purchased four thousand Spirit Gathering Grass seeds—far more than last time, from experience.

Without hesitation, he repeatedly used the perfected-level acceleration technique. Each seed began to glow brightly, plump and translucent. Soon, tender shoots emerged, pushing upward bit by bit.

Only when his spiritual energy was nearly depleted did he stop. Then he dug small holes and planted each sprouted seedling.

After three days, he finally finished planting the second batch of Spirit Gathering Grass.

But soon, another problem arose—the weather was cooling.

The first batch had been planted at summer’s end, already not ideal for Spirit Gathering Grass. Now it was autumn; in a month or two winter would arrive.

The winter in the cultivation world was bitterly cold.

While cultivators were less affected, spirit plants were vulnerable. Unless they were perennial, most couldn’t survive the seasonal cycle. The growth period for Spirit Gathering Grass was only three months, making it unlikely to endure the harsh winter.

“Fortunately, this isn’t much of a problem for me. In my past life, greenhouse cultivation was well developed. Applying that here should be effective. At worst, I can use formations. The art of formations is vast and profound. Among the basic formation manuals, there is one that simulates seasonal weather, naturally reproducing climatic changes. Though I don’t have that formation set, it’s sold in shops and shouldn’t cost too many spirit stones.”

Zhou Changwang looked to the sky and quickly devised a solution. He marveled at how the myriad arts of cultivation always provided a way to solve problems that seemed impossible.

But for now, it was only early autumn, not yet bitterly cold, so he did not rush to set up seasonal formations. Instead, his attention turned to the Thunder Spirit Rice trees in the backyard.

“It’s been almost ten days, and I still haven’t entered the initial stage of the Five Elements Thunder Transformation technique.”

Thunder spells were immensely powerful but notoriously difficult to cultivate.

Since purchasing the Five Elements Thunder Transformation technique nearly ten days ago, he had yet to master even the basics. The difficulty came not only from the complex sequence of runes but also from the degree of affinity between the spell and the cultivator.

Only with sufficient affinity could one resonate with heaven and earth and truly cast the spell.

Zhou Changwang had Five Elements spiritual roots but lacked a thunder attribute root, so his affinity with thunder spells was low. Even after thoroughly understanding the rune structures, something felt missing, preventing true mastery.

“This affinity, frankly, means my body lacks thunder attribute spiritual energy to resonate with the world, making it difficult to properly cast thunder spells.”

He already understood this well.

For example, a cultivator with metal, wood, and water roots who tried to learn a fire spell—even a simple fireball—would find it far more difficult than a cultivator with a fire root but inferior aptitude.

Spiritual root attributes directly affected cultivation efficiency. Having the corresponding root often meant twice the result with half the effort. Without it, one faced twice the effort for half the outcome, with frequent failures.

“Actually, the last time I successfully cast Thousand Thunder Flash was due to luck. At that time, the Thunder Spirit Rice was ripe, and after eating it, residual thunder energy in my body allowed me to successfully enter the basic stage.”

Recalling this, Zhou Changwang realized his prior success had some fortuity. Without the Thunder Spirit Rice, he might have taken much longer to begin mastering the technique.

“So, to enter the initial stage of Five Elements Thunder Transformation, I must rely on Thunder Spirit Rice again.”

He looked at the many Thunder Spirit Rice trees, planning to focus energy on hastening the ripening of one tree to harvest Thunder Spirit Rice as soon as possible.

Selecting a quickly growing tree, he repeatedly cast acceleration techniques and frequently activated thunder talismans. Crackling lightning struck the tree, promoting rapid growth.

Within half an hour, the Thunder Spirit Rice began to swell visibly. After four rounds of stimulation, the tree was fully ripe.

“One Thunder Spirit Rice tree bears 230 grains, weighing about four and a half catties—much more than last batch.”

The previous harvest from three trees yielded 552 grains. This time, just one tree produced 230 grains.

After harvesting all the Thunder Spirit Rice, Zhou Changwang had no intention of saving seeds. That night, he cooked a pot of it.

Paired with some top-grade mid-level spiritual insect meat he had left, the meal’s flavor rivaled any banquet at the Immortal Pavilion.

Immediately, a strong sensation of fullness spread through his body. The abundant spiritual energy surged rapidly inside him, as if about to burst.

He sat cross-legged, quickly circulating the Five Elements technique to refine the spiritual energy.

After one, then two full cycles, his cultivation level increased by one.

Startled, he felt his cultivation rise again.

The spiritual energy in Thunder Spirit Rice was so rich it rivaled low-grade spiritual pills. Combined with his previous cultivation foundation, this allowed a slight breakthrough.

After a while, when he opened his eyes, he felt unprecedented ease and lightness throughout his body, along with an inexplicable affinity for the thunder spiritual energy drifting in the world.

“Indeed, after consuming Thunder Spirit Rice, thunder energy remains in my body for some time. Under these conditions, whether cultivating thunder techniques or spells, I gain certain bonuses.”

Elated, Zhou Changwang leapt up and hurried to the cultivation chamber. Facing the spell wall, he began practicing the Five Elements Thunder Transformation spell.

One time, two times, three times...

Eating Thunder Spirit Rice didn’t mean he could cast the spell perfectly right away. Rather, it provided a certain level of assistance during practice.

He could clearly perceive the surrounding thunder spiritual energy and detect previously unnoticed problems while practicing.

With each attempt, he corrected errors and edged closer to success.

Finally, on the seventh casting, inspiration struck. He traced the last rune sequence perfectly.

Then—

A buzzing sound filled the chamber as five elements spiritual energy converged above, rapidly transforming into a bolt of thunder.

The thunderbolt was fierce, terrifying, filled with violent energy.

As it formed, it emitted intense and dreadful spiritual energy fluctuations.

Five Elements Thunder Transformation +1

“It’s done. I’ve mastered the Five Elements Thunder Transformation technique.”

Zhou Changwang’s heart leapt as he checked his attribute panel, which displayed: Five Elements Thunder Transformation (Entry 1/100).

He immediately controlled the thunderbolt and struck the spell wall.

Crack! The thunder tore the air as the bolt, as thick as a baby’s arm, crashed into the wall, raising a cloud of dust.

Of course, despite its power, the spell wall’s enchanted spirit stones rendered it immovable, unaffected by the strike.

Still, Zhou Changwang roughly gauged the spell’s maximum power:

“Stronger than the Great Accomplishment-level Metal Finger Technique, but slightly weaker than the Perfected Metal Finger Technique. Equivalent to a full-strength strike from a sixth-level Qi Refining cultivator.”

He quietly assessed the power, realizing it was far from weak and worthy of its thunder magic name.

More importantly, this was only the entry stage of Five Elements Thunder Transformation.

If he mastered it to proficiency, small accomplishment, or great accomplishment, its power would soon surpass his strongest current technique, the Perfected Metal Finger.

“However, casting this spell consumes a lot of mana. With my spiritual energy depth, I can only cast three bolts at once; in ‘cultivation mode,’ six bolts. Also, the casting time is relatively long—fifteen breaths. It’s hard to use in combat.”

Zhou Changwang analyzed this and knew it was normal. Spells of the same rank were generally more powerful than those using spiritual tools, but because of their large consumption and long casting times, they were less practical in battle.

This was why most high-level cultivators preferred spiritual tools over spells for combat.

For Zhou Changwang, this wasn’t a big problem.

Thanks to the attribute panel’s traits, he could quickly cultivate the Five Elements Thunder Transformation technique to proficiency, small accomplishment, and great accomplishment stages.

Though the entry stage’s casting time was long, it would shorten significantly at higher levels.

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Given time, he would naturally be able to wield this spell freely in battle.

“Continue!”

After a brief rest, Zhou Changwang resumed casting.

One bolt, two bolts, three bolts...

By the sixth bolt, his spiritual energy was exhausted.

He stopped and returned to the cultivation chamber, circulating his technique to restore his spiritual energy.

After two full cycles, his energy replenished, and he returned to practicing spells.

This cycle repeated.

The next morning, Zhou Changwang awoke and opened his attribute panel.

Spell: Five Elements Thunder Transformation (Entry 24/100)

This marked the progress made overnight.

To achieve this, he even forwent his daily routine of drawing talismans.

“Still, I should practice this spell in the afternoon. I can’t stop drawing talismans. Thunder Spirit Rice can’t be sold; Spirit Gathering Grass needs two to three months before harvest again, and talisman drawing is my only current income source. To save enough spirit stones—over ten thousand—to buy Five Elements techniques, I need talisman drawing.”

Muttering to himself, Zhou Changwang rose.

His gaze then fell upon a small oval egg.

This egg had been scavenged from the lair of the insect king Xue Tong. Though he didn’t know what creature lay inside, the fact that Xue Tong had carefully placed it in the cultivation chamber suggested it was no ordinary thing.

Moreover, he could feel the vibrant vitality emanating from the egg.

He cast a soothing spell again.

Instantly, a feeling of joyful closeness reached him.

Zhou Changwang gently touched the egg but paid no further attention.

The egg was clearly some time from hatching; he was in no rush.

After completing several sets of the Heavenly Origin Eight Techniques, he entered the kitchen to cook a bit of spirit rice porridge.

Only ordinary spirit rice was used.

He wasn’t willing to eat Thunder Spirit Rice frequently, reserving it for cultivating the Five Elements Thunder Transformation technique—specifically, at midday.

Perhaps after harvesting all the Thunder Spirit Rice trees in the backyard, he could enjoy it freely. For now, he was careful.

After planting the Spirit Gathering Grass, Zhou Changwang was meticulous, repeatedly using acceleration spells, then casting Spirit Rain to sprinkle spirit energy-infused dew, ensuring each sprout received care.

Then he moved to the Thunder Spirit Rice trees, casting Thousand Thunder Flash spells repeatedly.

After several casts, watching the trees stretch and grow rapidly, Zhou Changwang felt satisfied.

By his estimate, these Thunder Spirit Rice trees would mature in about twenty days.

“Twenty days isn’t long. It’s very fast.”

He muttered, casting Spirit Rain once more.

As gentle spirit rain fell, the trees grew even more swiftly.

He then returned to the pavilion.

First, he moved his spirit, inflicting a self-cut.

The sharp pain twisted his face, but to improve his spiritual power, this small suffering was necessary.

After burning an incense stick, he recovered and pulled out jade slips and books, beginning to read and study.

Cultivators of immortal arts didn’t rest easy just by learning techniques and spells.

Many foundational common-sense matters, if ignored, could cause great losses. Some techniques, spells, and cultivation methods, even if not practiced, should be understood.

After all, who knew what one might face in the future?

The more one learned in peace, the fewer tears shed in battle.

Thus, Zhou Changwang took out a jade slip and silently studied.

The jade slips and books had been scavenged from the insect king Xue Tong’s manor, including cultivator biographies, cultivation insights, spell derivations, and records of secret realm explorations—all eye-opening.

Currently, he read a cultivator’s biography.

It told of Liu Qiantan, a seventh-level Qi Refining cultivator.

Liu Qiantan had four-element spiritual roots, came from a mortal family, and was a prince of a mortal kingdom. That kingdom knew of cultivation early on and measured his roots from childhood, allowing him to cultivate smoothly.

Leveraging royal status, he reached the third Qi Refining level, but realizing his country could no longer help him, he embarked on a path seeking the Dao.

In fact, such privileged mortal cultivators naturally had allies in the cultivation world.

His emperor father mentioned an imperial uncle practicing in a market town called Luoyun Valley within the Milky Way Domain.

However, that uncle had been schemed against by his father early on, losing the throne and forced to enter the cultivation world to train wholeheartedly.

The uncle bore a grudge against his father and, upon Liu Qiantan’s arrival, sold him for fifty lower-grade spirit stones to the local Beast Master’s Workshop, treating him as a female cultivator’s furnace vessel.

Fortunately, luck favored him. After years of fear, a noble female cultivator took him as a concubine, and surprisingly, she became pregnant—a feat none of his predecessors had achieved.

He enjoyed several comfortable years, but misfortune struck when the female cultivator died unexpectedly during an outing. His privileges, tied to her, vanished, and he was driven away by other concubines.

Without her support and lacking skills, he drifted back to the Beast Master’s Workshop, where another female cultivator took him in as a servant.

This one was a sect disciple, a widow who valued his ‘talents’ and married him.

Yet, within three months, she was summoned on a sect mission and never returned. He ended up back at the Beast Master’s Workshop.

This cycle repeated several times—five or six female cultivators in all.

Though they all passed away, Liu Qiantan endured hardships and eventually reached seventh level Qi Refining.

The biography ended with mention of a foundation establishment-level female cultivator showing interest, claiming she would take him home...

“Is this the so-called ‘soft rice king’?” Zhou Changwang mused, feeling enlightened.

He even speculated whether the last female cultivator would also die soon, as the biography portrayed Liu Qiantan not only as a soft rice king but also as a jinx to wives.

No matter how capable, once married to him, one would die within a few months.

Of course, the entire biography was just a summary of Liu Qiantan’s life, from which Zhou Changwang couldn’t learn much.

The only slight gain was the information about some sects and market towns within the Milky Way Domain.

He also learned that the so-called Beast Master’s Workshop belonged to the Shuangxiu Sect’s Yuhe Sect, and the cultivation technique Liu Qiantan practiced, “Golden Cauldron Combined Cultivation,” purportedly aided in intimate relations...

(End of chapter)