Chapter 86 Manifestation of the God of Thunder

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The torrential rain had poured without pause for an entire day. It was not until dawn the following morning that the moisture finally dispersed. Clouds and rosy light drifted across the sky, while faint, elusive bands of five-colored rainbow illuminated the countless muddy potholes below.

Chen Yu left the Taoist temple early. First, he cleared away the debris from the mountain fields, gathering great clumps of broken branches and withered leaves into sodden heaps and tossing them aside. Then, carrying a hoe over his shoulder, he followed the winding path down the mountain.

He was heading toward the place where a landslide had blocked Qingtai Mountain.

Yesterday’s violent wind and rain had caused several slopes on the eastern and southern sides to collapse. Sand and earth, mixed with fallen timber and stubborn boulders, had accumulated at the foot of the mountain, severing the road leading outward into two sections.

Chen Yu had planned to visit the county town in the near future, so naturally he could not simply leave the blockage unattended. Yet the torrent of earth and stones he had witnessed yesterday had been immense, covering a vast area. If he relied on his own strength alone, he had no idea when he would finish digging it out.

Fortunately, he had prepared in advance. He weighed the dozen or so stone talismans in his robes, their substantial heft easing his expression somewhat.

Thanks to the natural qualities of stone, carving stone talismans was slightly more difficult than carving wooden ones. However, they could contain a greater number of formation patterns. Within a stone egg three fingers wide, he could reproduce two or three Three Powers Formations.

With a little refinement, he could construct them in layered tiers, linking and embedding multiple Three Powers Formations together. A single stone talisman could thus be transformed into a simple spell formation.

Just like the ones in his hand.

They were centered on [Scorching], supplemented by numerous highly offensive formation patterns. Although he had tested them only a handful of times, their success rate was remarkably high. Only once had a carving error prevented activation.

Earlier, when he had been preparing to begin fishing, he had specially made two of them alongside several dozen water-controlling wooden talismans. He had intended to improve the black fish’s meals and give it a few extra servings. In the end, however, they had gone unused. It was only after witnessing the mountainsides collapse and the peaks cave in yesterday that he realized the area below the mountain would certainly be a complete mess. Thus, while the storm raged, he carved several more at the temple.

Stone talismans were more difficult to make than wooden ones, but the qi stored within them lasted longer and was more abundant. Once activated, their effects were naturally a little more powerful.

He had barely reached midway up the mountain when he spotted the small pond beside the road, the one used for drawing water, concealed among the reeds. The weeds on either side had grown lush, and the water level had risen considerably.

Moving closer for a look, he found that the small nest he had noticed before had been submerged beneath the water. The birds that had built it had presumably abandoned the place.

A thin layer of muddy water overflowed from the pond, joining the mountain runoff that trickled beneath the stones and vegetation. It soaked the narrow path beneath his feet, making it somewhat slippery.

Chen Yu hurried onward, and before long he stopped.

Before him stood a wall of jumbled stones, nearly sixteen or seventeen feet high. Thick, wet earth clung to it, pierced by broken tree trunks, while branches and limbs stretched chaotically in every direction.

The sight reminded him of the landslide in March. There had been a collapse then as well, but only a small section had given way, nowhere near the scale of what lay before him now.

This time, too, it had occurred in a mountain forest scarcely touched by human habitation.

It was also some distance from Cloud Crane Abbey.

Raising his eyes, he followed the layers of earth upward. A deep depression cut across the mountainside, and beneath the piled stones, mud, and soil, he could still make out several mountain animals protruding halfway from the rubble, long since lifeless.

He tried digging with his hoe. Since the rain had only recently stopped, the iron blade became clogged with mud after just a few strikes.

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Standing on the ground, he gathered himself and crossed several steps to the top of the earthbank, then surveyed the surroundings.

The area struck by the landslide was somewhat larger than he had expected. Not far behind the rocks, he could vaguely see several other blockages where earth and stones had rolled down. The trees at the foot of the mountain had slowed the slide somewhat, but most of Qingtai Mountain had still been drenched by it. The original emerald-green canopy was nowhere to be seen; only a murky yellow remained.

Under these circumstances, clearing everything would be difficult. The blockage in March had not been severe, and with a carrying pole he had dealt with it in less than two days. What lay before him now clearly could not be handled by the old method.

Chen Yu thought for a moment, then jumped back to the ground. He decided to clear the section near the mountain path first. The remaining mud and rocks on either side could be left for the time being.

This area did not involve any farmland, so there was no need to worry about crops being destroyed. All he needed was a passage for traveling up and down the mountain.

Once he had made up his mind, he spent some time digging a depression of moderate size in the very center of the accumulated debris, roughly as deep as a person was tall.

He looked up at the sky. Seeing the hour, he wasted no more time. Several blocked sections in this area still needed clearing, and even if he opened only a central passage, excavating it bit by bit would still require considerable effort and time.

He took out a stone talisman. Qi had already been stored within it, and once activated, it gradually began to emit wisps of pale white mist visible to the naked eye.

It was exceedingly faint, and a cool warmth spread across his palm.

Whoosh!

He threw the stone talisman into the soft mud, then retreated several paces with his hoe in hand.

After only five or six breaths, a soft, white, fluffy halo like cotton suddenly burst forth from the gaps between the excavated earth and stones.

Boom!

Hearing the dull impact, he waited a little longer before stepping forward again. He did not enter to inspect the result, but directly threw in three more stone talismans.

Boom, boom! Bang!

The final blast sounded slightly clearer than the others. Chen Yu raised his brows, then finally smiled. The rocks before him had been blown apart, sending mud and stones spraying through the air. Wisps of residual qi drifted upward, only to disperse rapidly an instant later.

A passage, now wider by a considerable margin, appeared and extended all the way to the other side. One after another, the four stone talismans had blasted a clear tunnel through the entire accumulation.

Chen Yu had anticipated this. The stone talismans he called Mountain-Crushing Talismans had only just been created, and their power was still ordinary. Even soft mud and fractured stone required several of them to be effective, placing them a far cry from the words “mountain-crushing” in their name.

Still, that name represented an aspiration. As he continued adding to and perfecting the corresponding formation patterns and spell formations, he believed that sooner or later, a single talisman would truly be capable of crushing a mountain.

Afterward, he cleared away the remaining rubble. Once the road was open again, he continued toward the next section.

…

Boom!

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“What kind of wretched sky is this? Why has it started thundering again?”

At the foot of Qingtai Mountain, in an area buried beneath mud and stones, seven or eight villagers were scattered about. Each held a hoe or a rake, hooking, scooping, and digging the earth away.

“The thunder yesterday was the real thing. It was so loud it nearly frightened my little Doggie into wetting himself,” the villagers chatted among themselves. They packed the excavated soil into carrying baskets while others came over, hoisted the baskets onto their shoulders, and dumped the earth elsewhere.

“No kidding. It nearly shook the rice jar in my house apart.”

“And that yellow dog at the village entrance—whining the whole night through. What a racket.”

“That’s nothing. The eldest son of the Li family said several of his chicks were so frightened they kicked their legs and died. His wife was heartbroken and couldn’t sleep all night.”

Rumble, rumble!

As they spoke, another peal of thunder arose, followed by one after another in rapid succession. This time, it was not only the first group who heard it; everyone else looked around as well. One man raised his head toward the sky, only to see clear weather above, not a trace of cloud obscuring it.

What was going on?

Why were there so many dry thunderclaps today?

Then one sharp-eared farmer seemed to notice something. He turned his gaze toward Qingtai Mountain, partially hidden behind the trees.

The thunderous tremors were coming from there.

Boom! Boom!

The sound was drawing closer, growing louder and louder. Everyone could not help recalling yesterday’s lightning—the terrifying might that had been seared deep into their hearts.

At that moment, it seemed as though thunder itself had struck down beside them.

Then, accompanied by one final explosive roar, the mound of earth and stones before them began to tremble in succession before slowly collapsing.

Smoke and mud burst in every direction. The farmers at the front had never witnessed such a scene. Wide-eyed and dumbstruck, one of them muttered to himself:

“The Thunder Lord… has shown his power!”

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