Chapter 234: Chapter 4: Heart of the Thunder Marsh
[Thunder Marsh]
Beneath the large, archaic oracle bone script characters was an annotation in simplified characters.
And these two simple words were the name of this inheritance.
It seemed somewhat plain, but for anyone with even a little knowledge of myths and legends, it needed no further embellishment.
That was because the name "Thunder Marsh" represented the very source of thunder techniques in the Divine Land. One could even say it was one of the origins for the many Extraordinary Power Systems on the Zhengguo Divine Continent.
Moreover, it was also slightly related to dragons!
[—The ancient Thunder God resided in the Thunder Marsh. With the body of a dragon and the head of a man, the drumming of his belly was thunder—]
As the former personification of heaven, the earliest dragons embodied numerous concepts such as gales, light, clouds and rain, lightning, and mountains and rivers. Naturally, the most ancient Thunder God also possessed certain dragon and serpent elements.
Although later in history, the dragon gradually lost many of its halos, and the position of Thunder God was also taken over by other Immortal Gods, leaving the dragon with only the concepts of calling the wind and summoning the rain, as well as mountain dragon veins. Still, one could see a shadow of its former control over the Thunder Marsh in various common phrases and descriptions.
In the eyes of the public, Su Zhou had awakened Dragon Blood and an extremely powerful thunder talent. He and a Cultivation Method like Thunder Marsh were a perfect match, complementing each other perfectly. The Zhengguo government’s claim that it was the "most suitable" Cultivation Method for him was clearly not an empty boast; they had truly found what was, on the surface, the most fitting inheritance for him!
"Not bad. This is really good!"
Flipping through the e-book, Su Zhou found its various points of knowledge laid out in a clear, progressive, and thorough manner. He used his foundation in the Five Extremes Divine Thunder True Technique to interpret Thunder Marsh, another Cultivation Technique of the same thunder element. Instantly, he felt as if a whole new door had opened for him. All the different pieces of knowledge resonated with each other, birthing a new vitality that made him laugh out loud. "Excellent! I thought this would just be another Cultivation Method for disguise, but I never expected it to be so suitable!"
The Demon Dynasty State Preceptor’s Five Extremes Divine Thunder True Technique was all about the Immortal Spirit Path, a technique for controlling thunder and ascending to the heavens.
The so-called Immortal Spirit Path involved treating the physical body as a mere shell. Starting from the stage between the Awakening and Extraordinary Tiers, one would gradually discard their original body. Using the Spiritual Energy and Spiritual Power from that body as a foundation, they would then strengthen their soul, transforming it into a nearly tangible Immortal Spirit Body. This was like shattering one’s original shackles and rebuilding the body’s entire spiritual power circulation system from scratch, as if on a blank slate.
This was the origin of what was generally known as Corpse Dissolution Immortality.
The Immortal Spirit Series of inheritances had its pros and cons. The pro was that this path’s cultivation of the soul was truly unparalleled among all methods. After all, it involved abandoning the physical body to seek only the soul’s transcendence and sublimation, and in this regard, it was truly pushed to the extreme.
The con was that anyone who wasn’t a generational talent would get stuck at the beginning and middle stages of the Extraordinary Tier for many years. Only then could they slowly reconstruct their body’s entire spiritual power circulation system and become a true Extraordinary Life.
This was unlike those with physical bodies, where even someone with average aptitude could gradually sublimate their flesh by progressively modifying it, using their natural organs as a foundation.
Of course, if one was a generational talent who had already conceived a complete spiritual power system without any flaws before undergoing corpse dissolution, then the Immortal Spirit Path allowed for a single-step ascension to the heavens. So long as enough Spiritual Qi was provided, the moment the cultivator discarded their body and shattered their shackles, they could cross three tiers in one go and directly reach the Extraordinary High-tier.
The National Preceptor was, of course, one of these so-called generational talents. During the nearly two hundred years he was trapped at the Awakening Tier, he had already devised a complete, grand circulation system for his spiritual power. If he had absorbed the Wood Qi and broken through to the Innate realm, then using the jade-like wooden armor he had initially accumulated as a source of Spiritual Qi, he might have truly been able to ascend directly to the Extraordinary High-tier on the spot!
’Ah, I get it now.’
Connecting this to the Thunder Marsh Inheritance, Su Zhou had a sudden epiphany. ’If I hadn’t posed enough of a threat before we reached Taibai Mountain, the National Preceptor wouldn’t have made a move. After he advanced to the Extraordinary Tier, he would have directly become an Extraordinary High-tier. At that point, he would no longer have needed the Divine Wood’s Wood Qi, nor would he have cared about any Blade of Annihilation. He would have naturally left the Demon Dynasty and, just as he said, roamed the world freely. The players would never have even encountered him.’
’And the existence of the Innate National Master was probably just a boss forcibly created by the game designers after they realized this possibility—one that was meant to be defeated... An Extraordinary High-tier? How could anyone fight that? I couldn’t beat him, let alone anyone else!’
’Only by getting a perfect score ending, just like I did, could one unlock the achievement for eliminating both the National Preceptor and the Demon Emperor!’
At this moment, Su Zhou finally understood what Yara had meant by a "perfect score ending." He had originally thought he had just fought his way through in a very ordinary fashion. He never expected that such a simple and brutal approach to battle would have perfectly satisfied all the conditions, completely eliminating all possible threats for the people of the Divine Wood World.
Thinking this, he once again felt the pleasant satisfaction of being indirectly praised. ’This is practically a world-saving achievement. Heaven knows how much merit that’s worth!’
Meanwhile, Yara lay sprawled on top of Su Zhou’s head. It gazed at the faint, shimmering golden radiance around Su Zhou’s body—a light he himself could not yet see—and smiled without a word.
Returning to the inheritance.
The difference between Thunder Marsh and the Five Extremes Divine Thunder True Technique was that it included a method for shaping Spiritual Qi Organs based on the physical body. Just as the ancient Thunder God "drummed his belly for thunder," its method of creating lightning didn’t just rely on manipulating Spiritual Qi or guiding real lightning from storm clouds. Instead, like various creatures capable of bio-electrogenesis, the body itself could generate its own thunderbolts!
And the most important part of this was the Spiritual Power Organ created by reshaping and transforming the heart and lungs.
[Heart of the Thunder Marsh]
According to the inheritance, the Heart of the Thunder Marsh was one of the most supreme cultivation methods for a Spiritual Power Organ, even among the many Immortal God Inheritances held by Zhengguo. Those that could compare could be counted on one hand.
However, this Cultivation Method required a physique far stronger than a normal person’s and a natural talent for thunder. Furthermore, because it involved the heart, a single mistake could be fatal. For these reasons, no one had dared to cultivate this inheritance to this day.
’But thanks to my Dragon Blood inheritance, I was born with a strong body and have a powerful thunder-element talent. On top of that, I even have a strong regeneration ability, making me practically immortal! All the drawbacks of the Thunder Marsh Inheritance are non-issues for me!’
’It’s practically tailor-made for me!’
Su Zhou compared the Thunder Marsh Inheritance and the Divine Thunder True Skill, finding that the two did not conflict. He immediately made a decision. ’These two inheritances are both excellent. There’s no need to choose—I’ll take them all! From now on, they’re both mine!’
’I can use the Divine Thunder True Skill to mainly cultivate my Divine Soul, the Thunder Marsh Inheritance to cultivate my physical body, and Sacred Geometry: Pentagram as my fundamental Cultivation Method and my ace in the hole. Essentially, my Spiritual Power is still of the Fire Element, but since the fire and thunder attributes are so similar, it’s incredibly easy to conceal.’
After making this decision, Su Zhou began his cultivation on the spot.
By now, he had already reshaped the organs in his ’digestive system’ and ’eyes,’ and had also cultivated a total of forty-five Body-Encompassing Mist Seeds—the maximum number of Gale Seeds that could be instantly activated with the support of two Spiritual Qi Organs.
To the many Transcendents on Earth, this speed was absurdly fast. Even if they took Spirit Pills every day, they likely couldn’t match Su Zhou’s pace. He had enough energy and stamina to practice other Secret Techniques while simultaneously modifying his body.
For his next step, Su Zhou planned to directly shape his ’lungs’ and ’heart.’ By the time he successfully cultivated the ’Heart of the Thunder Marsh,’ he would also be able to achieve minor achievement in the ’Circulation Mist Armor.’
But there was no need to be so tense... Even cultivation required a balance of tension and relaxation. After setting his cultivation plan for the near future, Su Zhou also scheduled some time for a break.
A trip to the South Sea in three days: beaches, summer, sunshine, seawater, and beautiful coastal scenery!
Su Zhou was looking forward to it.
