Chapter 8

Only when the first bolt of lightning struck above my head did everyone realize something was wrong.

They stared at me in disbelief.

“Heavenly lightning? How is that possible?”

“She’s only forming her Golden Core!”

After a moment of shock, Shen Du immediately cast a protective shield around me.

Ah Yuan grabbed his hand in displeasure. “Master, she isn’t your disciple. Why are you protecting her?”

Shen Du pressed his lips into a tight line and studied me with a deep gaze.

“She is a child of destiny.”

By the time the second bolt fell, the other elders of the Changheng Sect had gathered on Canglan Peak.

They added another protective barrier around me. Only after confirming I could withstand at least three bolts did they relax, then begin studying me with unsettled astonishment.

“Ordinarily, a cultivator summons heavenly lightning only upon reaching the Nascent Soul stage. Since antiquity, only two people have drawn it while forming their Golden Core. If memory serves, the first was Fu Ning, the child of destiny from five hundred years ago. But he vanished after failing his ascension a century ago. The second was you, Ah Du.

“I thought this child merely had some talent. I never imagined she would also be a child of destiny. Ah Du, how many bolts did you summon when you formed your Golden Core?”

As they understood it, the more bolts one attracted, the greater one’s talent and the more one enjoyed the favor of the Heavenly Dao.

Another bolt crashed down with a tremendous boom. Shen Du raised his eyes to the dark, heavy sky, which showed no sign of clearing, and slowly answered, “Three.”

“…Three. Then she…”

Everyone looked at me again with complicated expressions.

I was immersed in my sea of consciousness, savoring the pain and exhilaration as my meridians were washed clean again and again. After an unknown length of time, a ray of golden light suddenly blossomed in my previously pitch-black dantian.

I opened my eyes and saw an enormous Golden Core floating there, lustrous and perfectly rounded like a crystal sphere.

This was my first time forming one, but I had heard other sect disciples describe theirs. A Golden Core was normally the size of a chicken egg. Mine was… absurdly large.

At last, I understood why Shen Du would insist on carving out my Golden Core to give Ah Yuan immortal bones.

Immersed in my dantian, I was about to examine it more closely.

Suddenly, a commotion reached my ears.

“Out of the way! My disciple is forming her Golden Core. As her master, shouldn’t I go in and protect her?

“So what if I’m useless? Zhao Fuqu is still my disciple. Am I not even allowed to cheer her on?”

That grating voice, like a duck being strangled…

I opened my eyes and saw Li Yuan, blocked by two immortal attendants, darting into the crowd like a monkey.

I also saw more than a dozen elders turning toward me in unison, their faces making me feel like pork on sale.

“You’re Zhao Fuqu, yes? Interested in changing masters?”

“Move aside! I arrived first. If she chooses anyone, it will be me!”

While they argued, Li Yuan finally squeezed his way to me.

In the smug tone of a petty man who had suddenly come out on top, he said,

“Give it up. She turned down even Shen Du. What makes you think she’d choose any of you?”

“…”

I blinked and rose, my gaze passing over Li Yuan to Shen Du and Ah Yuan.

For some reason, each wore a uniquely ugly expression.

I had no idea what had happened, but in high spirits, I asked Li Yuan, “What’s wrong with them? Why do they look constipated?”

Li Yuan patted my shoulder. “Your Golden Core attracted heavenly lightning and shattered certain people’s legends of genius. Naturally, they’re unhappy.”

I paused and looked at Shen Du.

He was the second child of destiny in five hundred years. I, too, had heard how the three bolts he summoned while forming his Golden Core had shaken the cultivation world.

I immediately asked, “Then how many did I summon?”

Li Yuan began counting. “One, two, three… nine.”

He emphasized, “Nine full bolts.”

Ah Yuan’s expression grew even uglier.

Delighted, I pointed at the two of them and declared, “The world contains countless talented people. Unfortunately for you, I am not only more talented than Ah Yuan, but more talented than her master as well.”

The two of them: “…”