Cultivation Begins with Daily Intelligence Reports

274: Goodbye Mysterious BoySuddenly, from above the Nine Heavens, thunder boomed, and a magnificent sword light, whose terror and majesty were indescribable, abruptly slashed down from the core area where the thunderclouds were densest and the lightning snakes were wildest.

This sword light was not aimed at anyone; it seemed like an Unparalleled Existence on the mountain peak casually waving their hand, practicing a Move. However, its power was beyond what mortals could imagine.

Where the sword light passed, space twisted, emitting a groan of unbearable strain. The unparalleled Sword Intent, mixed with the magnificent might of heaven that judged all things, pressed down like a colossal, material tidal wave.

Lin Jingyu suddenly realized something: no wonder this place was so smooth, wide, and flat, unlike other areas filled with jagged, strange rocks.

It turned out someone had been practicing swordsmanship here.

”A Foundation Establishment Cultivator! And a terrifying existence specializing in the Dao of Thunder Sword!”

Lin Jingyu and the Burly Bearded Man were simultaneously shaken to the core, their faces turning pale. A deep sense of dread emanated from their Divine Souls. The purity and dominance of the Thunder Sword Intent contained within this sword light...

far surpassed Zhan Tai Mingyue, and was closer to the Primal Thunder Might that governed punishment at the dawn of the Universe!

In the face of this will, Cultivators in the Qi Refining realm were like ants looking up at the sky, feeling an overwhelming sense of insignificance and powerlessness.

The Burly Bearded Man was already scared out of his wits, the color draining from his face; how could he still care about the greed he felt moments before?

He let out a strange cry, pushed the Spiritual Qi throughout his body to the limit, and scrambled behind a large rock nearby, only hoping to avoid this unexpected calamity and save his life.

Lin Jingyu’s scalp also tingled, the crisis of life and death washing over him like ice water. He didn’t hesitate to push the Flowing Cloud Steps to their absolute limit, his vital Qi and blood slightly burning, his figure turning into a nearly transparent wisp of green smoke.

At the same time, the Spirit Refining Art circulated frantically, the three Mental Lakes surging violently, fully activating the nascent Thunder True Intent.

He attempted to briefly merge his aura with the surrounding violent thunder environment, hoping to minimize the possibility of being targeted by the terrifying sword light’s aftershock.

However, the sword light came too fast! Too fierce! It almost transcended the limits of space and time; the moment the thought arose, destruction was already upon him!

Although Lin Jingyu had exerted all his strength and performed an evasion beyond his limits, the marginal aftershock of that terrifying sword light still swept over him like an invisible wall of collapsing heaven.

”Boom!”

An irresistible massive force struck him. The layer of Protective Spiritual Light condensed around Lin Jingyu’s body instantly dispersed without a trace, like a bubble in the sun.

He only felt as if his chest had been violently struck by a ten-thousand-jin sledgehammer; his muscles and bones felt like they were tearing, and his internal organs churned.

His entire body was like a tattered leaf torn by a gale, completely out of control, violently flung away by that unmatched power.

The direction was precisely off the steep mountain ridge, toward the bottomless abyss, shrouded in clouds and mist, where only destructive energy eternally raged.

”Oh no! My life is over!”

A chilling wave of despair instantly surged from his feet to his head. Lin Jingyu’s consciousness began to rapidly blur, his vision filled with boundless lightning and the weightlessness of a rapid fall.

He was about to fall into that legendary Forbidden Land, which even Foundation Establishment Cultivators dared not easily enter, to be torn to shreds by endless thunder and chaotic spatial force, utterly destroyed in body and soul.

Just at this critical moment, where life and death hung by a thread, another anomaly occurred!

In a certain spot in the Void Realm in the direction he was falling, space produced an extremely subtle, almost imperceptible ripple, gently fluctuating and twisting like a calm lake surface brushed by a breeze.

It was as if an invisible, immaterial, and profoundly mysterious water membrane had been silently touched.

The next moment, the blinding lightning filling the sky, the whistling gale in his ears, the heart-stopping fatal weightlessness, and the intense pain that gnawed at his bones and tore at his Divine Soul... vanished instantly!

All sounds ceased, as if the world had instantly switched.

Lin Jingyu felt his vision blur momentarily; the scene instantly shifted, becoming both vague and clear, as if he had passed through an invisible boundary and arrived at another strange place.

The terrifying pressure around his body, enough to crush a Cultivator into dust, suddenly lessened. It was replaced by an indescribable tranquility, as if he had returned to the womb of the Universe.

He stumbled slightly, his feet landing on incredibly solid ground.

Hurriedly steadying himself and suppressing the vital Qi and blood still churning within him along with the severe dizziness, Lin Jingyu quickly looked around, filled with surprise and uncertainty.

This was no longer the extremely treacherous mountain path where light raged, but an extraordinary platform, seemingly located atop the absolute, unreachable peak of Thunder Mountain.

The platform was small, only a few Zhang square. The ground was smooth as a mirror, neither gold nor jade, cool to the touch, yet faintly emitted strange fluctuations resonating with thunder. It was unknown what kind of Heaven And Earth Treasure it was forged from.

In the center of the platform, the most eye-catching thing was a small tree, only three Chi high, its entire body seemingly carved meticulously from the finest purple jade.

Spiritual Qi permeated the tree, which bore only one fist-sized fruit. Its surface was covered in naturally formed, complex, and profound Thunder Patterns that slowly flowed, emitting pure energy fluctuations that made one’s Divine Soul tremble.

Although he didn’t know what it was, it was certainly extremely valuable.

What caused even greater turmoil in Lin Jingyu’s heart was that at the edge of the platform, standing with his back to him, was a person.

That person was wearing a luxurious robe that seemed simple but secretly contained endless Dao rhythm. His figure was tall and straight like a pine tree. Standing with his hands behind his back, he was quietly gazing up at the terrifying Sea of Thunder above the platform, which continuously poured down destructive thunder energy like a boiling ocean.

The pressure from that Sea of Thunder was hundreds, even thousands, of times stronger than the thunder on the mountain path!

Just glimpsing it out of the corner of his eye, Lin Jingyu felt his Divine Soul was like a flickering candle in the wind, threatening to be extinguished, as if looking for another second would cause it to completely collapse.

When that person seemed to sense his arrival and slowly turned around, the moment Lin Jingyu clearly saw his face, he was struck by lightning, his heart shaking violently, nearly crying out in surprise!

This face was fresh in his memory!

It was none other than the Mysterious Youth who, back in the mixed black market of the Southeast Market Town, had traded three “Small Thunder Fiend Talismans”—talismans of extraordinary power that had helped him escape danger multiple times—for his hundred-year mountain sweet potato!

At this moment, the other party’s appearance was unchanged. He still looked like an aristocratic Young Master of fifteen or sixteen, with skin like white jade, eyes like polished lacquer, a faint smile playing on his lips, and an ethereal, detached aura of a Banished Immortal, as if he didn’t belong to the mortal world.

When the youth saw Lin Jingyu, a bright and pure smile appeared on his face. As if encountering something interesting, he gently clapped his hands and said with a laugh:

”Oh? How much time has passed? You have actually cultivated all the way from that little Qi Refining Second Layer Cultivator back then to the realm of the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining. Your cultivation speed is quite fast. And...”

As he spoke, his eyes became incredibly deep, as if containing the entire starry sky. Vast scenes of the Universe’s creation and destruction, the Reincarnation of stars, and the Creation of Thunder flashed faintly within them.

His gaze fell upon Lin Jingyu, carrying a subtle sense of scrutiny and... a sense of destiny that even he himself could hardly describe.