Comprehension

Roar! Roar!

In a large dark forest that was spread over a radius of 50 jin, in which the trees and plants were all grey, a large Demonic Beast was brought down swiftly. Its huge size of over five meters didn't mean anything, in the face of a youth in white.

The youth of sixteen, had his hands behind his back, as his ice-cold expression didn't change from the beginning, until the end. As an icy, baneful aura was being emitted from an ethereal blue sword flew out from the Demonic Beast, and hovered in the air behind him.

With a single stroke of his sword, the Demonic Beast was instantly brought down. Its eyes were still open, as it didn't even know how it had died. The blue sword that was transparent, was made purely out of Qi.

It shrunk in size and returned into the body of the youth in white, as a youth in black came out and joined him. "That was fast." the youth in black spoke. His voice was very deep, but sounded very sexy, not only women; but even men would find his voice attractive.

"En." Yan Lenglei, who was obviously the youth in white nodded. Mo Jidong walked right against the Demonic Beast and lifted it in the air, over his body. It was truly a strange sight to behold, as a young man of merely 183cm, was carrying a huge Demonic Beast over five meters.

Every step he took, caused the ground to tremble, as deep footprints were left behind with each step he took. Yan Lenglei walked ahead of him, as they dumped the body of the Demonic Beast into a pile that they had collected over the course of half a day.

By now, they had already killed dozens of powerful Demonic Beasts along the outskirts of the Blackcloud Forest. It was the combined work of both Yan Lenglei and Mo Jidong, they had both found some large and powerful Demonic Beasts to test themselves with.

Mo Jidong used his powerful physical body to defeat them, while Yan Lenglei used a single sword stroke to end their lives. How was this possible? Yan Lenglei gathered the Qi inside his body, forming a sword that he could control in a radius of one hundred meters.

Inside the radius of a hundred meters, nothing could escape from Yan Lenglei's sword. His sword was extremely sharp and domineering, while his eyes shined with golden light while he observed the domain in which he controlled.

With a single thought, his sword flew out like a meteor, cutting down anything in his path. It was as if nothing could get in his way. Leaving behind another corpse, Yan Lenglei and Mo Jidong were bored.

So far, they had fought all kinds of Grade One Demonic Beasts. From Low Tier to High Tier, whether they were physically strong, agile, or tough and durable. They had fought against them all, verifying their own prowess.

Since it was getting dark, they brought the corpses and disembodied them, so that they could bring it back. The bones and skin could be made into weapons, while the blood and other parts also had different uses.

The entire body of a Demonic Beast was useful, which also meant they were worth money. While they weren't lacking in money, it was still a good idea to bring them back for the family to benefit.

After all, they would soon leave Blackcloud City, and venture outside the kingdom, as well as the entire world. Since they had only been cultivating for a while, it would be weird for them to bring back so many Demonic Beasts, hence they separated them and stored them inside their Spatial Rings.

What was a Spatial Ring? It was a special ring made of a special ore, capable of storing space within them. For a cultivator, it was a common item, hence it was natural for Yan Lenglei and Mo Jidong to have one too.

As the young masters of their respective families, their Spatial Ring was of a slightly higher grade, storing double the amount of storage that a regular Spatial Ring did. With the Demonic Beast's remains inside their Spatial Ring, Yan Lenglei and Mo Jidong returned to their own homes.

******

"Lei, how is your cultivation going?" Yan Tianxian, who is Yan Lenglei's father asked. "It's not bad." he replied. A slimmer of his cultivation base was revealed, showing the First stage of the Awakening Realm.

"Good, you're making good progress, you'll make it in time for the annual Four Great Families gathering at the end of the year." his father smiled.

The Four Great Families Gathering was held every year. The members of the younger generation of the four families would all gather and spar amongst each other. Despite being four large and separate families, the four families actually got along quite well.

Each family was into a different kind of business, not getting in each other's way. The Yan family sold Weapons and Armor, the Mo family sold Medicine, the Jing's sold Clothing and Embroidery, while the Su family owned many large restaurants.

The children would spar, while the older generation would gather to talk about the past year, and tell stories or brag about their young ones. However, this year was special.

A Ninth Grade Sect, known as the Divine Dao Mountain, would be recruiting disciples this year. It just so happened that this year, the recruitment was held at the same time as the family meetings in Blackcloud City.

Envoys from the Divine Dao Mountain would watch the sparring of the four families, and recruit them as disciples if they were found worthy enough. The Divine Dao Mountain, while only being a Ninth Grade Sect, was actually a subsidiary sect of a Fourth Grade Sect, called the Heavenly Dao Shrine.

Sects were categorized in the same levels as Demonic Beast ranks, with Ninth being the lowest, and First being the highest, only one rank less. The higher the grade of the sect, the stronger the disciples and elders, the greater the resources for disciples to use, enabling them to grow faster.

According to the rules of the previous assessment, those that were born at least a Knight Piece, would be able to be directly accepted into the sect without needing to go through any tests.

Despite being the second weakest piece after the Pawn, not mentioning the King who is the ruler of the board, a Knight Piece was quite uncommon amongst cultivators. Only one in a hundred cultivators were born as a Knight Piece, which was considered quite rare.

A Knight Piece was also generally stronger and grew faster than a Pawn, though this is not always guaranteed. While some Pawns can become powerful and overtake the Knight and even the Bishop, it was considered impossible to overtake a Rook.

Those that are Knights, can automatically enter the sect, and be selected by a few King's, however, they were extremely rare even in Sixth Grade and above sects, let alone a subsidiary sect such as the Divine Dao Mountain.

For those that were able to be accepted into the Divine Dao Mountain, they must be under twenty years old and have a cultivation base at the Fifth stage of the Awakening Realm at the bery least.

For those that had just reached sixteen and awakened their Divine Rune, the requirement was the Third stage of the Awakening Realm. Yan Lenglei and Mo Jidong already met the requirements, so they weren't worried.

In fact, they didn't care if they were able to join the sect or not. After all, it still depended on the individual themselves. With their talents, whether they joined a sect or not, it wouldn't affect them too much.

Rather, joining a sect would restrict them instead. There was nothing greater than freedom. For the next few days, Yan Lenglei cultivated peacefully by the cliffside, gathering icy Qi and devouring it into his body.

So far, both his Qi Refining and Body Tempering have both reached the Third Stage of the Awakening Realm, he was also strong enough to defeat even High Tier Grade One Demonic Beasts without expending too much of his energy, as for a Grade Two, he would need to face one before he could judge.

After all, the difference between a High Tier Grade One Demonic Beast, and a Low Tier Grade Two Demonic Beast was extremely vast. It was like comparing a pigeon to an eagle, or a weed and a tree.

With his cultivation reaching a minor bottleneck, Yan Lenglei went to another location to cultivate. He climbed up a high cliff on a rainy day, in which thunderstorms were the norm.

Sitting on the cliff, he sat cross-legged in a lotus position, waiting for thunder to strike his body. Why was he doing this? Simple, it was so that he could comprehend the Concept of Thunder, one of the many kinds of Concepts such as Fire and Ice, Earth, and Wind.

He had already comprehended the Concept of Ice by sitting on the cliffside for a month, allowing him to devour it, and make it his own. After mastering the Concept of Thunder, his combat prowess will improve to another level.

Rumble! Rumble!

Bang! Clap!

As he sat atop the steep cliff, the sound of thunder looming from dark clouds could be heard erupting above him. Slowly, thunderclouds gathered all in one place, as a loud lash of thunder had struck nearby.

Bang!

A nearby boulder was blown to smithereens, soon enough, thunder gathered and aimed directly at Yan Lenglei who was sitting on the cliff, close to the thunderclouds.

Bang!

As thunder struck him, Yan Lenglei didn't budge, his expression remained the same, as he felt pain all over his body. This thunder wasn't just any ordinary thunder, the area he was sitting in, was a well-known danger zone within the surrounding cities.

Powerful thunder from the heavens, filled with Qi within would randomly strike an area within the zone. It didn't matter whether one was on the ground, or high up on the cliff like Yan Lenglei was, it was all up to the heavens to choose where to strike.

As thunder struck his body, Yan Lenglai's clothes were torn apart, revealing his torso that was brimming with explosive muscles. Just by looking at them, one could tell that his body contained explosive power. Despite being so, his build wasn't large but was rather on the thin side. It was hard to imagine all the power he hid within his body, just by looking at his frame.

While he was being struck by thunder, Yan Lenglei continued to cultivate. Heavenly thunder was drawn through his flesh, into his meridians. He felt as though his meridians would burst and rupture at any time if he didn't control it properly.

As the thunder coursed through his meridians, he slowly drew it towards his Divine Rune to be devoured. A moment later, he had completely devoured the thunder that had struck him.

It took him several minutes, but he didn't quite comprehend the full Concept of Thunder. Only a little more than a slither was comprehended, he would need to sit and be struck more if he wanted to learn it.

Bang! Bang!

As he prepared himself, Yan Lenglei was then struck by two thunderbolts at the same time. Since one strike wasn't enough to kill him, the Heavens sent down two instead.

As he was struck by two bolts of thunder at the same time, Yan Lenglei grit his teeth on the inside. His expression didn't change, and neither did any sweat drip down his forehead.

Only pain was felt throughout his entire body. Despite being cultivated in the path of the Body Refiner, being struck by thunderbolts was still extremely painful. Even though his body was impervious to swords and knives, or any weapons, in fact, the thunder wasn't just any thunder but came from Heaven itself.

Sitting on the cliff, Yan Lenglei slowly cultivated and absorbed the thunder into his body. As the heavenly thunder entered his meridians like blood inside veins, his flesh was being tempered further, while a small amount of Thunder Qi was being formed within his Divine Rune.