Villain Cultivator (Web Novel)
chapter-161

Jia Shan and Jia Wenhe didn't dare to offend this garden master. They cupped their fists and bowed to this tranny.

"Sir, he went south."

"Hmm. Normally, I would have chased after him. But I have many questions to ask you, brother Jia Wenhe and brother Jia Shan," Zhang Junyi glanced at Ju Chen and the thick lightning cloud. "I'm afraid you guys might be in trouble if I'm not around. There are too many outsiders here."

Zhang Junyi gazed at the onlooking cultivators, who were eyeing the lightning cloud around Cao Mao.

"I don't know what kind of tribulation this little man went through, but I won't allow my colleague's pupil to be taken advantage by any silly goon here. If you know the drill, leave before this elder sister gets angry."

The onlooker sweated profusely. They glanced at the lightning Qi in greed and envy before they flew away.

Still, Jia Wenhe was on guard. Ju Chen also glared at Zhang Junyi in wary.

"Relax, everyone. I'll act as the boy's protector. Nobody can steal his fortune and his lightning Qi. Also, I won't allow any fool to harm the pretty ladies and their babies," Zhang Junyi affirmed his stance. He came in peace. He had already spread his sense within his domain, and he already found the girls and their babies.

The girls in the carriages were in shock when they heard the comment. They trembled in fear as their lives depended on this person's mood now.

Jia Wenhe canceled his skills as he didn't want to escalate the situation. White Album and KQ rushed back to their previous location to hide in fear of the womanliness garden master.

White Album's appearance didn't escape the eyes of Zhang Junyi. He snickered and pretended not to notice the connection between Cao Mao and Xu Xiuying.

With the protection of Zhang Junyi and his subordinates, passing by rogue cultivators didn't dare to linger in the area. Everyone turned silent, waiting for either Zhang Junyi to speak or the tribulation to finish.

The awkward silence didn't last long. While everyone was waiting for Cao Mao to finish reaping his rewards, Zhang Junyi began interrogating Jia Wenhe.

"Sir Jia, why are you moving away? Did the sect wrong you?"

Jia Wenhe grumbled. He glanced at Jia Shan and came up with an excuse, "My older brother has been poisoned by a Poison Pavilion's agent. He lost his dantian, but he's lucky enough to keep his nascent soul. I'm planning to grow blood bamboos, so I can exchange it for a rare pill with the holy land's representatives at the next selection tournament."

"Ah!" Zhang Junyi looked at Jia Shan, who stood in front of the yin slaves' carriages, "I heard he joined the sect as a guest elder for almost a year. Now, I see. I see! That makes sense. But is 5 years enough for the blood bamboo to grow? The next selection tournament will happen in the next 5 years, right?"

"… Yes. And the Myriad Cauldron Sect will be the next host," Jia Wenhe gave Zhang Junyi a meaningful look to reprehend him since it was something that the latter should already know. Moreover, the movements of Yuan Shaoqing might relate to the next tournament.

The garden master pretended not to notice the look and nodded. He didn't pursue the matter since he didn't care.

Zhang Junyi's real attention was on Cao Mao's whose strength was superior to ordinary 4th-stage cultivators. He could even cultivate wood Qi and lightning Qi. However, his leaked aura revealed that he hadn't reached that stage yet.

This contradiction interested Zhang Junyi. He wanted to know how Cao Mao cultivated or what kind of cultivation technique he was using.

"Say, brother Wenhe."

"Yes?"

"Who is that boy's master?"

Jia Wenhe raised his eyebrows since he didn't know. Still, he pointed his thumb at Jia Shan, "My brother."

Of course, Jia Wenhe didn't tell Zhang Junyi everything. Jia Shan was merely a sword instructor. Therefore, technically, he didn't lie.

"Oh, my! That's even more interesting," Zhang Junyi cupped his fist and bowed to Jia Shan. "Could you tell me what kind of cultivation technique the young man is cultivating? You don't have to tell me the details. Just tell me the technique name."

"…"

Jia Shan and Jia Wenhe frowned as they hesitated if they should answer the question. They were aware that Cao Mao practiced an unorthodox dual-cultivation art, but they didn't know what the technique name was.

While the two elders were hesitating, Kang Yan stepped up. She boldly cupped her fists and participated in the conversation, "It's Moon Yin Meridian, senior."

It was a blatant lie. Kang Yan wanted to save the elders from trouble, in case Zhang Junyi might want to extort a technique scroll as a protection fee.

Unfortunately, Zhang Junyi knew the technique, "My dear. Only women can cultivate Moon Yin Meridian. It's an old demonic technique from an oni clan. You shouldn't lie."

Kang Yan gulped. She kowtowed and apologized, "I-I'm sorry! We don't know what kind of skill he cultivates, but he gave us a scroll of this technique."

"My dear. I'm not like one of those greedy fools. I don't extort cultivation techniques from juniors."

"…"

Jia Shan sighed and confessed to distract Zhang Junyi's attention from Kang Yan, "I only teach him sword arts and goose tongue. I don't know his secrets."

The muscular tilted his head tranny mumbled, unsatisfied with the answer. Then, she came up with another approach, "Let's change the question. Just answer me with either yes or no. Is he one of the demons?"

"… No."

"Well, that's good enough. He must have offended the Will of Heaven or some sort to get that odd tribulation, right?"

"Probably."

Zhang Junyi giggled. He teased the group enough, "Relax. As I said, I'm not one of those greedy fools. I don't harm juniors."

Jia Shan and Jia Wenhe cupped their fists and bowed, "Thank you…"

.

.

.

As Cao Mao had calculated, it took him 3 and a half hours to increase his compatibility with lightning Qi to 100%. Now, every strand of lightning element Qi stayed inside his dantian when it completed a round of circulation.

Cao Mao changed his approach. Instead of wasting his time moving each strand of Qi to all of his meridians, he directed them into his dantian.

The fog of lightning Qi entered Cao Mao's pores, nostrils, and mouth as if they were a vacuum. Lightning element Qi strands gathered within Cao Mao's dantian space. They hovered over his life essence pond as the wood Qi conflicted with the new power.

Using what he had learned from the birth of wood element crystal, Cao Mao pushed the bundle of lightning Qi strands into his pond of life essence. Then, the water merged with the element power.

Element crystal condensing without the help of a cheating tattoo seal or the heavenly fate blessing power was as difficult as trying to teach a cat to say mama. Lightning Qi and Cao Mao's life essence didn't merge as one like what the heaven fate fragment did to his wood Qi.

Still, Cao Mao never gave up. He continued to gather more lightning Qi from the fog.

6 Hours passed since the tribulation reward started. Yet, there was no sign that all fog could be consumed within today even though Cao Mao's mental strength, perception, and cognitive speed surpassed that of a mortal because of various item buffs. With such a buffet, Cao Mao's dantian bloated with a hundred thousand strands of lightning element Qi. Half of them were inside the life essence pond while the other half was unorganized.

Dizziness and sluggish feeling overwhelmed Cao Mao. For the first time, he sensed the limit of his dantian space.

'Everything is a mess. Gather in one place, dammit!'

Being greedy and ambitious was good and all, but Cao Mao had to restrain himself before his dantian explode. He decreased the pace of the lightning Qi gathering and shifted his focus to digest the devoured Qi.

More lightning Qi above the pond entered the life essence water, concentrating around the condensed energy that Cao Mao had been compressing.

After more power was gathered inside the pond, the requirement for life essence increased. Without realizing the changes, 70% of Cao Mao's life essence water merged with the compressed lightning energy inside the pond.

The dantian acquired more free space from the rampaging lightning Qi, but Cao Mao's essence energy almost depleted. At this rate, he would run out of life essence to control the lightning element Qi within his pond.

Cao Mao gulped several mouthfuls of spring water to quench his thirst and calmed his racing heart.

'I'm lacking something. What do I need to do next? System, any advice?'

The system never replied. Either his luck ran out or the system tested him again.

Cao Mao shut his eyes tight, thinking hard about what he could use as a catalyst to materialize the lightning element crystal.

'Ah! There's one!'

Cao Mao recalled the broken crystal of the Heaven Eye. It had merged with the fragment of heavenly fate, but he wanted to use it.

As soon as Cao Mao thought of the broken crystal particles, the heavenly fate fragment spat out a speck of dust, which was the remaining of the Will of Heaven's crystal. The tiny dust entered Cao Mao's dried pond, merging with the condensing energy between life essence water and lightning element Qi.

BOOM

A shockwave blasted from the compressed lightning element ball, scattering pond water everywhere. However, the wood element crystal pulled them back and gathered the remaining life essence around itself.

After the detonation, another element crystal was completed. Stray lightning element Qi flew toward the orb and became one with it.

Different from the wood element crystal, lightning crystal didn't return life essence water to the dantian. It consumed everything nearby as if it was a black hole, but it didn't leak out gas or miasma. The element crystal floated and rose to the ceiling of Cao Mao's dantian space, gathering more lightning Qi into itself.

With the lightning element crystal, the cloud around Cao Mao rushed into his dantian at once. He became the center of the giant whirlpool that sucked everything into his stomach. Yet, the tribulation cloud self-regenerated and replenished its lost energy, making it impossible to absorb them all.

Cao Mao could do nothing at this point as the suction force was out of his control since the lightning element crystal seemed to have a will of its own. He could only divert the element Qi to the right path and not harm his internal organs.

Another 6 hours passed, Cao Mao's lightning element crystal couldn't absorb any more Qi. That was when he could finally feel the connection between his mind and the lightning element crystal. He could move it around within his dantian space or generate electric force through his body.

Ding

[You have successfully constructed a lightning element crystal in your dantian.]

[This is your second element crystal. Please assign which power will be your primary element.]

'Huh?'