After leaving the Shade Abyss, Jared and Gwendolyn didn''t return to the Moonshade Realm.


    They flew straight for Thunderpeak instead.


    Thunderpeaky in the southeastern reaches of the Nether Mountain Range, about a day''s journey from the Shade Abyss.


    Jared worked through the timing.


    Today was the thirteenth. Magnus Storme wouldn''t go to Thunderpeak until the fifteenth.


    That left them two full days to get there first and make their preparations.


    "How are you nning to kill him?" Gwendolyn asked.


    Jared considered it for a moment. "Mchy said Magnus Storme cultivates a lightning discipline. On the fifteenth of every month, he goes to Thunderpeak to absorb the power of heavenbolt."


    "You''re nning to use thunder arts against him?" Gwendolyn froze for a beat.


    Jared nodded.


    Gwendolyn nced at him, caught off guard. "You know thunder arts too?"


    "A little."


    Jared smiled. "Back in the Ethereal Realm, I ate a stormfruit. That left lightning nascence inside me. I also know a set of Thunderp Palm, but I haven''t used it in a long time."


    Gwendolyn went quiet for a moment.


    Then the corner of her mouth lifted a little.


    "How many things do you even know?"


    Jared only smiled and said nothing.


    The two of them picked up speed and flew straight toward Thunderpeak.


    Thunderpeak was a lone mountain, towering into the clouds, wrapped in lightning all year round.


    Legend said that in ancient times, a mighty thunder cultivator had died there.


    The lightning power he left behind had lingered over that mountain for tens of thousands of years without ever fading.


    Above the mountain summit, ck clouds packed the sky.


    Purple lightning twisted through them like countless giant dragons in a frenzy.


    Every moment, bolts crashed down and sted the rocks ck, splitting them apart.


    An ordinary cultivator couldn''t even think about getting close. Even from 100 miles away, they could still feel that crushing thunder pressure.


    Any cultivator below the True Immortal Realm who took even one heavenbolt head- on would be lucky to escape with severe injuries.


    If luck ran out, body and soul were both wiped away.


    Jared and Gwendolynnded on the low hill 100 miles from Thunderpeak.


    "Wait here," Jared said.


    "You''re going up there alone?"


    "The lightning on Thunderpeak can hurt you," Jared said, looking at her. "The Frost God''s power doesn''t counter lightning. If you go up, it''ll only be more dangerous. I can handle it alone."


    Gwendolyn stayed quiet for a moment, then nodded.


    "Be careful."


    Jared smiled, turned, and flew toward Thunderpeak.


    The closer he got to Thunderpeak, the denser the lightning became.


    Purple lightning shed down through the clouds, ripping the air apart with sts of thunder that hit like the sky was breaking open.


    Chaotic force moved across Jared''s skin in steady currents.


    A violet radiance wrapped around him and sealed the lightning outside.


    Those heavenbolts were strong enough to st True Immortal Realm cultivators into ash.


    In front of him, they couldn''t even brush the edge of his robe.


    He dropped onto the mountainside halfway up Thunderpeak, found a hidden cave,


    and sat down cross-legged inside.


    There were still two days left until the fifteenth.


    He meant to use those two days well.


    He needed to recall the method behind Thunderp Palm and wake the lightning nascence in his body again.


    He closed his eyes and sank his spirit sense inward.


    Inside the spirit well, the vortex of chaotic force turned slowly.


    At the edge of that vortex, a cluster of purple light hovered.


    Then Jared''s spirit sense entered a vast cosmic river of stars.


    Some of the stars there were dim. Some burned bright.


    Every one of them was one of Jared''s Origin Stars.


    One of them shimmered with flickering light.


    That was the Storm Star, Jared''s lightning nascence Origin Star.


    It had been asleep all this time, and he hadn''t used it in ages.


    Jared sent a thread of spirit sense into the Storm Star.


    The instant it entered, it was as if he had stepped into an ocean of lightning.


    Countless bolts of purple lightning whirled around him.


    Every single one carried enough force to ruin everything in its path.


    He didn''t draw back from it.


    Instead, the lightning nascence and the chaotic force inside him answered each other like they hade from the same root, both reaching toward fusion.


    He began guiding the lightning nascence out of the spirit well and through his meridians.


    Wherever the lightning nascence


    passed, faint purple markings appeared along the walls of his meridians, as if lightning itself had been branded into them.


    Those markings held the power of lightning within them.


    Under that power, his meridians grew tougher and wider.


    Once. Twice. Three times...


    The lightning nascence circted through his body eighty-one full cycles.


    Only then did it finally settle into a certain bnce with the chaotic force inside him.


    He opened his eyes and raised his right hand.


    A mass of purple lightning gathered in his palm.


    This lightning was no longer ordinary heavenbolt.


    It was chaos lightning, forged from the fusion of lightning nascence and chaotic


    force.


    Its color ran deeper than ordinary heavenbolt, so dark it was almost ck. Violet radiance flowed over its surface, and it crackled without stop.


    Jared closed his hand into a fist and drew the lightning back into his body.


    Just as he expected, the chaotic force could contain all things. Any kind of power could be fused into it and held there.


    Then he began to recall the forms of Thunderp Palm.


    He had learned Thunderp Palm back when he was still in the Ethereal Realm,


    from the old tome in the Library Pavilion of Yuven Crown City.


    At that time, his cultivation had still been weak, and Thunderp Palm had been the


    strongest killing move he possessed.


    Now things were long since


    different. His strength had already risen far beyond what it used to be, and the power of Thunderp Palm had climbed right along with his cultivation.


    He rose and walked out of the cave.


    Above Thunderpeak, thunder roared and lightning rolled.


    Jared stood on the mountain summit. Facing the lightning spread across the sky, he began to run through Thunderp Palm.


    The first form: Thunderfall Unbound.


    He struck out with one palm, and the force of lightning burst from his hand. It turned


    into a thick purple pir of lightning and mmed into the sky.


    The lightning pir crashed into the lightning above and detonated with an earthshaking roar. The whole of Thunderpeak trembled with it.


    The second form: Storms Across the High Heavens.


    Both palms shot out together. In front of him, lightning force condensed into


    countless lightning spears, then fired in every direction.


    Where the spears passed, the air tore apart, mountain stone shattered, and even


    the lightning overhead was sted clear from a whole section of sky.


    The third form: Heavenbolt''s End of Days.


    He pressed his hands together and pulled all the lightning nascence and chaotic


    force inside him into his palms.


    Then he slowly spread his hands apart.


    A ball of purple light appeared between his palms. Lightning shed inside it,


    carrying enough force to wipe out an entire city.


    He pushed the sphere toward the sky.


    It flew into the clouds and exploded with a thunderous burst.


    All the lightning across the sky was swallowed into it and turned into a massive


    purple vortex. It spun for several breaths before it gradually faded away.


    Jared drew his palm back and let out a long breath.


    There wasn''t a drop of sweat on him, but the lightning nascence inside his body had


    already been awakenedpletely.


    He could tell his control over lightning had climbed to an entirely new height.


    "That should do it," he murmured.


    Then he returned to the cave and kept waiting.


    On Thunderpeak, the lightning was denser than usual.


    Every month, on the fifteenth, the power of the heavenbolt on Thunderpeak reached


    its peak. It was the best time to cultivate thunder arts.


    Every month, Magnus Storme came to Thunderpeak on that day to absorb the


    power of the heavenbolt and temper his own thunder arts.


    Jared stood on the mountain summit and watched the distant sky.


    He waited.


    After about 2 hours, more than a dozen golden motes appeared in the distance.


    They drew closer and closer, growingrger as they came, until they turned into


    more than a dozen celestial cultivators in golden robes.


    Their cultivation levels ranged from True Immortal Realm Level Two to the fourth


    tier. Tribunal tokens hung at their waists, and they came on strong.


    At the very front was a tall middle-aged man, broad-backed and thick-waisted, with a hard face, heavy brows wide eyes and ahead


    of short hair standing straight up like


    steel needles.


    Golden lightning curled around him with constant crackling, and the air carried a


    scorched smell.


    His cultivation level-True Immortal Realm Level Seven.


    Magnus Storme.