Nine Heavenly Thunder Manual Chapter 3 – Painstaking cultivation

Ch 3 – Painstaking cultivation
After three months, Lei Yu had broken through the first stage “Lightning Foundation“ and advanced to the early 2nd stage of “Body Refining.” At a different stage, the method of cultivating had also changed.
“Body Refining,” by definition, was to allow the outside body to become solid and tough, but not for big explosive power. For someone like Lei Yu who relies on those big explosive speed and power for attacks, this body refinement method seemed a bit contradictory.
After doing daily physical exercises, Lei Yu would leave himself an extended period of time to relax. This will allow the muscles to relax and not become overworked. Overworking the muscles without downtime could cause necrosis. Maintaining a certain balance in training was one of the most important aspects of martial arts practitioners.
Every muscle on Lei Yu had become toned with defined lines on them, not the overly big bulky muscles. Even so, Lei Yu’s muscle still gave people a feeling that it contained explosive power like a fierce leopard.
Reaching the “Body Refining” stage, Lei Yu was able to freely control his body’s internal energy along with the inherent power of lightning attribute. Circulating this power throughout the body including all the large and small meridians, bone structure, skin and muscles, all would be enhanced by the power of lightning. At each critical refinement stage, there would be significant changes. One could hear a “pak pak” sound from the bones, while the skin and muscle would have the crackling sound of lightning. The pain was intolerable to Lei Yu, but all he could do was clench his teeth and deal with it. In his heart, he held onto a belief, one that had taken root and could not be swayed. (T/N: probably to become strong for revenge)
Using the internal power of lightning to refine his body was like doing homework at night. While during the day, he would work on a series of physical fitness training.
Loaded running was basically an essential part to training. Lei Yu carried a bundle of logs on his back weighing over 100 jin (1 jin 斤 = 1.33lb or 640g). Of course he had a difficult time at first, but combining his evolving body with his own adaptability, Lei Yu eventually was able to jog at a slow pace. Then ultimately, he was able to run like the wind.
Unloading the heavy logs off his back, Lei Yu flopped down onto the river’s edge grasping for air. Watching fishes swim by in the river, Lei Yu thought to himself, “the fruits were really good, but eating vegetarian all the time gets tiring. Wouldn’t it be great if I could eat a bunch of meat instead…”
There’s always a big difference between fantasy and reality. With a helpless smile, Lei Yu came back to his senses. The first thing to do was to raise his current strength, then he can think about other things later.
Picking up the bundle of logs weighing over 100 jin, Lei Yu continued to run and train.
The process of refining one’s body was difficult. It was also the hardest stage to cultivate amongst the 6 stages. Lei Yu was unable to let go of the anger in his heart. For an adolescent teenager who had experienced years of humiliation and abuse, he had already forged a strong and determined mind. But the boiling anger of a teenager would sometimes escape, this would give Lei Yu a surge of momentum. This momentum was also the push to make him reach new heights.
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Inside the forest, a teenager with some leaves wrapped around his body stood still. Across from him, a fierce beast was using its tongue to lick its sharp fangs. This beast had the appearance of multiple animal parts making up his unique body. It had a tiger’s head, but did not have the tiger’s stripes, a mane of hair on its chest instead of the back was touching the ground, there was a sharp horn on top of its head similar to a rhino’s horn, six spikes on its back that protruded from its spine, and claws like a majestic eagle soaring through the air. Finally, this beast was covered in dark fur with a pair of blood red eyes.
The teenagers body slightly vibrated as all his internal energy started boiling inside. Condensing the energy into both his arms, this teenager was careful not to make a single mistake. Facing a unnamed fierce beast, he could feel the oppressive aura emanating towards him.
Suddenly, the fierce beast stood up, blood red eyes staring straight at the teenager, eyes giving off the impression “you are going inside my stomach.” Stepping forward with his powerful claws, he pounced towards the teenager.
The teenager immediately sidestepped.
Whoosh!
Like a gust of wind, the teenager’s body maneuvered around a few trees. Not just evading the beast’s pounce, he gripped a small tree with one hand and using the momentum, kicked upwards at the beast in mid-pounce, striking it in the abdominal area.
Having escaped serious injury from the teenager’s heavy kick, the fierce beast was now seriously pissed off. Planting all four legs on the ground firmly, it arched its body up high for elevation. The beast turned around and one can see the vibration from the six spikes on his back. The spikes were searching for their target and once it located where the teenager was standing…
“Click!” The teenager rapidly retreated. The next moment, the tree he was originally next to split into 2 with very neat cuts. We can see how dangerously sharp the beast’s spikes were.
The teenager was rapidly breathing. In order to beat this fierce beast, he definitely had to formulate a strategy.
Changing his method of fighting, the teenager went head-on instead of retreating. Copying the stance of the fierce beast, both parties clashed together in a heap. The teenager turned his head to the side, narrowly avoiding the beast’s attack with its rhino horns. The teenager then used both hands to grasp onto the 2 front paws of the beast. After several months of training, this teenager not only had a powerful body, both his hands and legs had become very powerful as well. The teenager was very confidant in his hand’s grasping power.
As the beast’s claws clashed together with the human hands, the beast had to push forward in order to be not pushed back. The beast attempted multiple times to use its fangs to bite the teenager, but the teenager was able to easily avoid them.
His lips slightly upturned in a smirk, the teenager’s reserved internal energy immediately burst forth in both arms. The fierce beast’s 2 front paws immediately had a numb feeling.
“Aaooo!”
A loud howl could be heard. The fierce beast forcefully retracted its claws from the grasp, then rolled backwards. The beast stood back up and one could see the trembling in those 2 front paws.
The teenager laughed out loud, “it seems quite powerful once reaching the Integration stage!”
The fierce beast was now completely enraged, it needed a few seconds to recover. After his 2 front paws recovered, the beast’s body became a blur sprinting to the side, it wanted to attack the side of this difficult to deal with teenager instead of facing him head on.
Standing motionless in place, the teenager warily watched the beast for any flaws. Once the beast reached him around the 1 meter distance, the beast suddenly pounced over. At this time, the teenager also reacted, squatting down to the ground, using the power of over 1000 jin in his legs, he jumped up and used his shoulder to ram into the fierce beast’s solar plexus area (between chest and abdominals).
A “crack” sound could be heard. The fierce beast roared in pain, a few of its lower ribs were broken.
When the teenager trained his internal energy and his external physique, he also inadvertently trained the power of his shoulders. That’s how those bundles of woods weighing over 100 jin were lifted up and carried over his back. Once one releases those powers in the shoulders and legs, its outcome was quite natural.
While the fierce beast was rolling on the ground, the teenager approached the beast and wanted to finish it off. Unknowingly, the beast’s tail resting on the ground caught the teenager by surprise and he wasn’t able to dodge. The tail wrapped around the teenager rendering him immobile. Taking advantage of this situation, the beast used his hind claws and randomly attacked the teenager. Even with a strong external body, the teenager was unable to resist this random fierce attack. The teenager sustained multiple scratches and cuts with blood dripping everywhere. In a surprise move, a spike from the back of the fierce beast fired “whoosh!” stabbing into the teenager’s thigh.
The piercing pain made the teenager’s power explode. Using both hands, he blocked the attacks of other incoming spikes. With the aid of his internal energy, he smashed at the spike protruding from his thigh. A “crack” sound could be heard, the spike broke apart and could be easily pulled out now. Holding a piece of the spike, the teenager aimed it at the eye of the beast and thrust forward. The aim was true and penetrated deep down, through the eye and straight into the brain. After a burst of struggle, the fierce beast gradually lost its life. The teenager then collapsed, lying on top of the fierce beast’s body while recuperating his own.
This teenager was indeed Lei Yu who had cultivated over year in this unknown paradise. And the fierce beast was his first encounter with something dangerous. This encounter proved that Lei Yu succeeded, he had the ability to protect himself in in the face of danger.
After recuperating, Lei Yu opened his eyes and stared up into the clear blue skies. Inside his brain, he was thinking: What should I do now? Remain here to cultivate? Or go to the city? Should I go back to the Lei family to prove himself to them, to show how strong he had become? At least beating up Lei Yun now is as simple as a side dish (T/N: as in “piece of cake”).
Lei Yu shook his head, no! I hate the Lei family’s narrow mindset, I hate everyone inside the Lei family! Standing up with a slap of his hands, Lei Yu decided that since his mother left him at an early age, he wanted to go look for her and figure out why she would drop him off and then leave him. Except… where would he start looking? Whatever, first he would return to the city and then figure something out.
Turning around and looking at the dead body of the fierce beast lying on the ground, Lei Yu realized the spikes on the fierce beast were extremely sharp. Using them as weapons would be a good choice. Lei Yu then pulled out the spike that had penetrated the beast’s eye. As he was pulling out the spike, Lei Yu happened to see a brief sparkle of light in the eye socket area.