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Chapter 32: Lightning Array

To reach temperatures above six thousand degrees, ordinary combustion is naturally insufficient. Even with strenuous methods to produce oxy-acetylene, the temperature only reaches about three thousand two hundred degrees. Moreover, six thousand degrees is just a minimum estimate; the temperature of heavenly fire could very well be higher!

“What to do?” Li Xian furrowed his brow. He had finally found a viable path, but it seemed too rugged.

“It’s just wires, isn’t it? Just a bit of wire! What if... I first develop some electrical technology to promote the advancement of cultivation and formation techniques?” This thought flashed through Li Xian's mind. However, developing electrical technology would require teaching a lot of foundational knowledge to everyone, which would take at least three to five years!

Looking up at the “strange and different” starry sky, Li Xian's thoughts drifted; the Big Dipper and the North Star were present, as well as the moon. But the 365 stars of the surrounding heavens and the four cardinal constellations shone exceptionally bright, and there was also a dazzling Zi Wei star!

“Oh, brilliant stars, brilliant stars…”

That night, Li Xian didn’t meditate but fell into a tired sleep; he had been busy enough, and the issue with the wires had him even more stressed.

In his dreams, Li Xian found himself dreaming—of course, when dreaming, people often don’t realize they are in a dream, and Li Xian was no exception.

“Where is this? How did I end up here?” Li Xian looked around in confusion; white clouds floated about, with no ground or sky in sight, drifting and hazy like a dream. He stood in mid-air, his feet perched on a one-meter-wide piece of white cloud, swaying unsteadily.

Looking down at his feet, up at the sky, and around at the endless azure and white clouds, Li Xian was suddenly frightened, letting out a gasp, cold sweat instantly soaking his clothes.

But what was more terrifying was below him—the white cloud beneath his feet was rapidly dissipating. As the cloud disappeared, Li Xian could clearly feel his footing becoming soft and loose, gradually unable to support his weight.

“It’s over, it’s over! What to do?” Li Xian looked around; the nearest white cloud was about a hundred or eighty meters away. “At least eighty meters! That's deadly! If it were ten or eight meters, with my cultivation at the eighth level of Qi Refining, I might still have a chance; but a hundred or eighty meters? Not even a small master in Foundation Establishment could manage that!”

Suddenly, Li Xian felt that the white cloud beneath him was starting to collapse.

“Oh no! Good people don’t live long; calamities last for a thousand years. I’m the calamity! I’m the calamity! I bring disaster to the nation; I deserve to die a thousand times—please don’t let me die like this; that would be too easy on me!”

Muttering this unprecedentedly absurd plea for protection, Li Xian closed his eyes and jumped toward a piece of white cloud below. Luckily, he remembered a bit of physics just in time.

Thud... Li Xian landed safely, but he was dumbfounded. The white cloud was too fragile; he ended up impaled in it like a javelin, with his knees to shoulders embedded in the cloud, his lower legs dangling below, and his head above the cloud.

“What the hell is this place?” Li Xian's temper flared, his stubbornness erupting. Unfortunately, he couldn't climb out!

He had to wait until the white cloud began to dissipate before he could wiggle his body and struggle to crawl back onto the cloud. As the cloud continued to vanish, Li Xian kept fleeing for his life.

Step by step, he had no idea how long he had been running, but Li Xian finally felt the despair of near-certain death. Below him, he could see the green earth, probably about ten miles down, while the last piece of cloud he was clinging to began to dissipate.

“It’s over, it’s over! There’s nowhere to land.” Looking at the semi-transparent cloud beneath him, Li Xian’s face turned pale.

“What the hell is this place!”

Suddenly, the heavens responded. A bolt of lightning shot down, grazing the edges of countless clouds, expanding rapidly, and finally crashing down on Li Xian’s head like a waterfall.

The lightning came fast and left just as quickly, leaving Li Xian momentarily “transformed” into a singed version of himself, with a charred smell. He felt as though he had been roasted over a fire and then buried in charcoal for “warmth.”

One bolt of lightning struck, and then more followed; the sky was filled with drifting clouds, tiny bolts of lightning exploding in succession. Countless lightning strikes converged into a “lightning waterfall,” overwhelming Li Xian.

“Damn it! Thunder from the heavens, I’m really dead for sure...” Li Xian's singed lips parted in a powerless shout, his heart consumed by fear.

Suddenly, a massive roar erupted from beneath him. Looking down, Li Xian realized he had somehow reached the seaside, where a volcano was erupting. Red-hot lava shot into the sky, boiling the entire sea, and countless steam clouds rose high.

These clouds collided and rubbed against each other, producing numerous tiny bolts of lightning. Then, a torrent of lightning rained down from the sky, striking the ground. Each strike stimulated the volcano, making it even more ferocious, as the lava rapidly transformed into a golden-yellow molten flow, drying up the sea inch by inch.

Suddenly, a torrential downpour began, enveloping the world in a misty haze, as the great river roared into the ocean.

“Wait, this is... the Heavenly Thunder igniting the Earth Fire, the Earth Fire Wind Water Four Elements Great Formation!” Li Xian suddenly realized.

It seemed that the heavens were aware of his discovery. Golden lava, resembling the sun’s fiery essence, erupted towards him, threatening to incinerate him. Above, purple lightning burst forth like a snake, wrapping around Li Xian.

A wave of searing pain shot through him, deep to his soul, and he felt as if the thunder and fire had ground him to ashes.

“Ah, it hurts so much!” Li Xian shouted, jolting awake and banging his head against the wall. It was a brutal impact, leaving him bleeding and in even more pain.

His shout startled the guard on duty. “Thud thud... Young Master, it's Chen Jinbing.”

“I’m fine, I just suddenly thought of a solution for the wires and got a bit too excited. You can carry on with your patrol.”

“Congratulations, Young Master.” After this, Chen Jinbing resumed his rounds.

Li Xian had no idea that his shout had also startled a shadowy figure secretly guarding him. Upon hearing that he was fine, the figure quietly vanished.

Li Xian got up from the floor, feeling embarrassed as he rubbed his head. “What a blunder! How am I supposed to face people tomorrow?”

Sighing, he mused, “Wait... did my cultivation just break through again? And in such a muddled way! What on earth is going on?”

Feeling the genuine energy of the ninth layer of Qi Refining, he was both thrilled and inexplicably fearful. This chaotic feeling was driving him crazy!

But... it seemed that there were no immediate downsides—quite the opposite, in fact. However, receiving benefits without clear reasons made him anxious. Would he have to repay this fortune later? Would there be a price to pay? Such mysterious gains were always worrisome.

Still, being able to “dream” of how to generate thunder and lightning filled him with joy. As long as he could produce lightning or electricity, countless problems would be solved. Generating high temperatures would be much simpler; using electromagnetic induction could create thousands of degrees of heat.

Li Xian switched on the lamp and began to work, arranging small jade pieces to simulate a formation.

The Earth Fire Wind Water Four Elements formation differed fundamentally from the Five Elements of Water, Fire, and Earth; they were two entirely different foundational formations. However, during his time in the imperial capital, Li Xian had grasped the meanings behind all foundational formations, making it easy for him to set this up now.

Earth and fire complemented each other; water represented the power of reincarnation—sea, cloud, rain, and rivers in cycle—while wind acted as the driving force of the formation, generating lightning that connected heaven and earth.

As Li Xian was about to press the switch, he suddenly hesitated. He remembered the tragic experiences from his dream, and unease crept back into his heart.

“I should be cautious. I’ll wait until dawn.” In the end, Li Xian made the wisest choice.

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