Punishment

"Xiao Ming, I have decided on your punishment: you must choose the 8th peak when you successfully become a disciple of the Purple Cloud Palace."

Lei Kongming breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this, but still asked curiously, "What if I fail?"

"Then you could end up like your cousin."

"?" At first, Lei Kongming couldn't understand what Su Zhiyuan was talking about. Then he saw her pointing towards the area where Lei Longwei was still hiding. He felt a chill run down his spine as he realized she was referring to Lei Longwei's seal.

'Although I want to rid myself of the crotch cannon, I don't want to become a half-eunuch like Lei Longwei.'

Lei Kongming didn't ask anything else because he had the confidence to enter the Purple Cloud Palace, and the previous inquiry was just out of curiosity.

"Beside Xiao Ming, don't try to feign death like this in the future. Golden Core cultivators can sense your life force directly. Unless you can temporarily conceal it, pretending to be dead like this is no different from seeking death."

Upon hearing this, Lei Kongming was initially shocked, discovering that his previous actions were foolish. Then, he felt embarrassed and asked, "Life force? Elder sister, could you tell me more about it?"

"Uh, it's difficult to explain in words, but you can think of it as a type of Qi. You should know that when a cultivator breaks through to the Foundation Building realm, they open up their divine consciousness, which helps them sense their surroundings. It's like they have eyes everywhere and can perceive everything within a certain range depending on the strength of their divine consciousness."

"Yes, elder sister, I am familiar with this concept."

"Similarly, when a cultivator breaks through to the Golden Core realm, their divine consciousness undergoes a qualitative change and can perceive different kinds of Qi. A living person's life force is also a kind of Qi, and in the eyes of a Golden Core cultivator, it is no different from the moon in the night sky."

Lei Kongming was struck by realization. His parents had only told him about the divine consciousness of Foundation Building cultivators, so he had assumed that the divine consciousness of a Golden Core cultivator should be the same.

His parents are also innocent in this case because Lei Kongming isn't even a foundation-building cultivator, so telling him about the Golden Core realm makes no sense. More importantly, they never thought that he would encounter a fight involving Golden Core cultivators.

"Xiao Ming, it's time for me to leave. I will be taking the book back; otherwise, someone might snatch it from you before you even become a disciple of the Purple Cloud Palace. You can get it back once you enter the 8th peak."

"Book?"

Initially, Lei Kongming had no idea which book Su Zhiyuan was referring to. Then he noticed the Black Dragon Immortal Arts had vanished from under his armor.

Lei Kongming finally realized that Su Zhiyuan was probably the owner of the green orb, and the reason he didn't feel any resonance, in the beginning, was likely because she had used some method to block it.

'Wait a minute, isn't she the one who gave me the Black Immortal Art and helped me acquire the crotch cannon?' Thinking of this, Lei Kongming's face darkened. He wanted to ask about the cure for the crotch cannon, but Su Zhiyuan had already flown away. He could only silently watch her departing figure while admiring her silhouette and wondering about its elasticity and bounciness.

Suddenly, Lei Kongming felt a sharp pain in his forehead, causing him to sit down and hold his head. Although no one was around, his instincts told him it was Su Zhiyuan's doing.

"Brother Kong? You are actually relieving yourself here in the bushes! I was worried about you for nothing."

Lei Kongming came to his senses as he noticed Lei Longwei peeking at him from behind the adjacent bushes. He also realized that his current sitting posture had caused some misunderstanding.

"Stop with the nonsense, I was just talking to a very beautiful woman."

Lei Longwei glanced around at the partially destroyed forest and then gave Lei Kongming a disdainful look, saying, "Where would you find beauty in such a broken place?"

Lei Kongming also snorted and said, "Believe it or not, I was indeed talking to a beauty. She is as stunning as a celestial immortal visiting the mortal realm."

"Hehehe." Suddenly, Lei Kongming heard laughter in his ear which was gradually going away, realizing that Su Zhiyuan had stopped eavesdropping and had finally left.

Lei Longwei rolled his eyes and said, "Brother Kong, it seems those Golden Core cultivators have already left. I think we should also hurry to the Purple Cloud Palace."

"Let's first find the horses and carriage; otherwise, we won't be able to reach the Purple Cloud Palace in time."

Lei Kongming and Lei Longwei started searching for the carriage and found it not far from where they had abandoned it, but the horses were missing.

"Brother Kong, do you know any tracking techniques? Otherwise, it will be difficult to find those horses."

"I don't know any tracking techniques, but we can improvise."

"Improvise? How?"

"Let's find any beast that can either pull the carriage to the Purple Cloud Palace or at least take us to a nearby city."

...…

As soon as Lei Ying entered Lei Kongming's courtyard, he released his divine consciousness and quickly found the location of Lei Kongming's hidden magazine collection. Opening the lowest compartment of the closet, Lei Ying looked at the first magazine.

"Where did this brat get his hands on this limited edition magazine... no, maybe this is Senior Huang's magazine."

Then he looked at the other magazines and said, "Tsk, Xiao Ming really has a pretty good collection. I wonder how he will react when he knows his secret collection is exposed."

Quietly, Lei Ying put all the magazines into his space ring, thinking righteously, 'To prevent my son from going astray, I will seize and destroy this collection.'

Returning to the patriarch hall, Lei Ying looked at Senior Huang sadly. "Senior Huang, I didn't find any magazine in his courtyard. Are you sure he is the one who took your magazine?"

'Don't worry, Senior Huang, I'll return your magazine after reading it. But you'll have to wait, or you can scold my son—I won't get angry,' thought Lei Ying.

"That brat left a letter on the table saying he seized the magazine to prevent my health from deteriorating!" complained Senior Huang angrily, his beard bristling.

Lei Ying was a bit surprised. "Xiao Ming stole it from your office? How is that possible? Did you forget about Xunyu Pavilion's security? Maybe someone is slandering him."