Chapter 136 The Palm Thunder Reveals Its Might

It was a little past five in the afternoon at the Riverfront Gallery residential compound.

Zhang Ziying brought Li Yunfei and Honghong to her doorstep and pressed the doorbell.

"Click."

The door swung open, and Li Yunfei smiled warmly at the person inside, greeting, "Uncle."

The one who opened the door was Zhang's father, Zhang Yingzhong. When he saw Zhang Ziying and Li Yunfei outside, each holding the hand of an exquisitely sculpted little girl who looked even prettier than a foreign doll, he was momentarily dazed.

Why did this scene look... so much like a family of three?

The key was how harmonious and well-matched they appeared!

The feeling was exactly like a young married couple bringing their child back to visit her parents—nothing out of place at all.

"Dad, what are you spacing out for?" Zhang Ziying let go of Honghong's hand and playfully waved it in front of Zhang Yingzhong with an amused smile.

Zhang Yingzhong snapped back to reality, a faint smile touching his lips. He stepped aside and said, "Come on in!"

Zhang's mother, Li Xiuyun, poked her head out from the kitchen. Seeing the young pair who looked like a match made in heaven, her face naturally blossomed into a smile. "Have a seat for a moment, dinner is almost ready," she said.

"Alright, thank you, Auntie," Li Yunfei replied, placing the gifts he was carrying onto the storage rack above the shoe cabinet.

Zhang Ziying took slippers out of the shoe cabinet, and after changing into them, the three of them sat down on the sofa.

Zhang Yingzhong looked at Zhang Ziying, tilted his head slightly, and asked, "Tell me, why are you suddenly back?"

Zhang Ziying replied casually, "I've graduated early and officially become a full member of the Zenith."

Zhang Yingzhong was stunned, asking in bewilderment, "Why? No matter how high your aptitude is, it's impossible to complete your training in just two months!"

Li Yunfei chimed in, "Actually, she didn't technically graduate in the traditional sense; it's just that she no longer needs to cultivate at the academy."

The graduation requirement for the Cultivator Academy was for a qi practitioner to reach the Light-Access Stage and a martial artist to break through to the Spirit-Refining Realm, which was Li Yunfei's level 20.

Upon graduation, one became a formal member of the Zenith. While their primary focus remained cultivation, they would also begin undertaking missions when assigned.

The Light-Access Stage was already capable of resolving many matters; the Qi-Guidance Stage could handle ordinary malevolent ghosts and resentful spirits, while the Light-Access Stage was fully sufficient to deal with ferocious ghosts and evil spirits.

It might seem that graduation would delay cultivation due to occasional missions, but in reality, that was not the case at all. Cultivation speed only increased after graduation.

At the academy, students only received basic cultivation resource subsidies, but formal Zenith members enjoyed salaries and welfare, granting them access to far more cultivation resources than staying at the academy would provide. Completing missions well also earned additional rewards.

Zhang Yingzhong looked at Li Yunfei with lingering confusion and asked, "What do you mean? Since she hasn't fully graduated, why doesn't she need to cultivate at the academy anymore?"

Li Yunfei grinned and said, "Because she is cultivating under my guidance now, enjoying one-on-one instruction."

"You?" Zhang Yingzhong stared at Li Yunfei in astonishment. "Don't you lack cultivation aptitude? What... what is going on here?"

Zhang Ziying cast a coquettish, sidelong glance at Li Yunfei and said, "He tricked everyone in the entire Zenith. He doesn't lack aptitude at all; he is clearly the person with the highest aptitude in the entire Great Xia. You know about the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, right?"

Zhang Yingzhong nodded blankly and said, "I know. The Heavenly Stems Venerables and Earthly Branches Elders represent the group with the highest martial might in the Zenith! Could it be that..."

Zhang Ziying shrugged and said, "You guessed it. He is currently Chen, the Dragon Elder among the Twelve Earthly Branches, ranking in the top ten powerhouses in the Great Xia cultivation world."

Zhang Yingzhong felt his brain struggling to process this information and needed a moment to sort it out. "Wait a minute. Are you saying that out of hundreds of thousands of cultivators in the entire Great Xia, Xiao Fei is one of the top ten most powerful people?"

"Yes!"

"But didn't he lack aptitude?"

Li Yunfei gave a light cough and smiled awkwardly, "I deliberately concealed it. During the national medical and aptitude checkup, I actually already possessed a very high level of cultivation."

"However, my cultivation was still advancing in leaps and bounds during that period. I was afraid that if I joined the Zenith immediately, I would be tied down by various missions and my cultivation would be delayed."

"So I chose to hide it temporarily and only joined the Zenith once my cultivation progress began to slow down."

With this explanation, Zhang Yingzhong fundamentally understood.

Though he didn't know how Li Yunfei had acquired his cultivation—and as an ordinary person, it wasn't his place to dig into the bottom of such matters—the details didn't really matter.

He only needed to grasp a few key facts: Li Yunfei possessed immense cultivation, standing among the peak powerhouses; he was an Earthly Branch Elder of the Zenith, holding a very high status; his own daughter was cultivating under his guidance; and the two of them were childhood sweethearts with a very deep affection for each other.

Summing it all up, it boiled down to a single sentence: he was immensely powerful, and since his daughter was following him, she was destined to be immensely powerful as well.

Li Xiuyun had also overheard their conversation from the kitchen, and her face was practically beaming with joy.

"Heh."

"Heh-heh."

As Zhang Yingzhong thought further, a chuckle involuntarily escaped his lips. He looked at Li Yunfei and laughed, "Not bad, kid, you hid that deep. Back then, when Yingzi found out you had no cultivation aptitude, at home..."

"Anyway, Dad, aren't you curious about who this little girl is?" Zhang Ziying interrupted before Zhang Yingzhong could finish, hastily cutting him off as she threw an arm around Honghong's shoulders.

Zhang Yingzhong chuckled heartily and dropped the subject. He looked at Honghong, about to speak, when Honghong shrewdly beat him to it. "I am quite curious, actually. Back when you found out big brother had no cultivation aptitude, what on earth did you do at home?"

Big brother?

Zhang Yingzhong looked in utter bewilderment between Li Yunfei and Honghong. Now that he looked closely, their facial features actually bore a six- or seven-tenths resemblance.

But how could that be possible? Li Kuijun only had Li Yunfei as an only son; he had watched Li Yunfei grow up and had never once heard of Li Kuijun having a daughter!

Zhang Ziying cast a stealthy glance at Li Yunfei and, seeing his expression of pure amusement, said with feigned annoyance, "What could I possibly have done? I was just feeling gloomy and drank a bit too much wine! Is there anything worth talking about?"

Honghong asked skeptically, "Was it really just that?"

Zhang Ziying glared at her. "What else could it be? Did you expect me to wail, beat my chest, and seek death? Is that necessary?"

Seeing that Zhang Ziying was showing signs of genuine embarrassment, Honghong hastily raised her hands in surrender and giggled, "Okay, okay, whatever you say goes."

***

Seeing this, Zhang Yingzhong burst into laughter. This little girl was interesting, and he liked her quite a bit.

After the laughter subsided, he asked Li Yunfei, "Who on earth is this little girl? Why do you two look so much alike?"

Li Yunfei looked at Honghong and teased, "Of course we look alike; she transformed based on my appearance."

"Transformed?"

Li Yunfei said casually, "The little fox I raised at home gained sentience and turned into this appearance."

Zhang Yingzhong was completely bewildered, staring at Honghong as he asked, "You're saying she's the transformation of Honghong?"

Zhang Ziying corrected, "To be precise, it's taking human form, not just changing."

Zhang Yingzhong had also read immortal-hero fiction in his youth, so he naturally understood what taking human form meant.

However, wearing an expression that clearly said, "Are the two of you pulling my leg?", he asked, "Are you serious? Honghong became a vixen?"

Hearing this, Honghong pouted coquettishly and retorted, "Oh, Uncle Zhang, I am a fox immortal, not some low-class vixen."

"Uh..."

Even Li Xiuyun couldn't help poking her head out of the kitchen once more to closely inspect Honghong.

All she could see was obedience and cuteness; she couldn't detect a single trace of a vixen's seductive allure. Could it be because she was still too young?

To prove their words was actually quite simple. Without even needing to reveal her true form, Honghong simply displayed her four tails, and Zhang Yingzhong and Li Xiuyun had no choice but to believe it.

Honghong was a creature they had helped raise together. When Li Yunfei was busy, they were the ones who helped feed her and take her for walks, so their bond with her was naturally different, and they felt no sense of repulsion toward her whatsoever.

Dinner was soon ready, and the family sat together, happily enjoying the meal.

During dinner, Honghong even brought up the two giant panda spirits Li Yunfei had brought back, leaving the elderly couple endlessly amazed and full of spirited curiosity. They planned to go for a walk to aid digestion after dinner and take a peek at the two panda spirits along the way.

Having lived for half their lives, let alone panda spirits, they had never even seen a living giant panda up close!

After dinner, the group went over to Li Yunfei's apartment, where Abao and Xiaobei were diligently cultivating.

Each of them held a spirit stone in their palms, sitting cross-legged side by side on the bed in the bedroom. Their chubby, plump appearances resembled traditional New Year painting dolls, looking quite festive.

Well, that would have been even more perfect if not for the dark circles around their eyes.

Zhang Yingzhong and Li Xiuyun simply peeked in from the doorway and left without disturbing them, planning to come back the next day during daylight when the pandas were finished cultivating.

At 7:00 PM, the entire city quieted down as citizens headed home before seven and refrained from going out.

The Zenith's operation to purge the mortal realm had only just begun and had not yet spread to this area.

Since the situation hadn't been fully resolved or announced to the general public, the citizens still strictly followed the rule of returning home before the Hour of the Dog.

Yet at this very hour, Li Yunfei flew toward their hometown of Qingyuan Village together with Honghong.

Dozens of kilometers were traversed in the blink of an eye, and the two of them landed right at the entrance of the village.

"Attention host: Instance dungeon 'Qingyuan Deserted Village' discovered, rated level 51 to 55. Please select the dungeon difficulty."

This time, Li Yunfei didn't bother going to the trouble of setting up a formation. Qingyuan Village covered a much larger area and couldn't be compared to the tiny scope of a pauper's graveyard; setting up a formation here was simply too much work.

With his and Honghong's current strength, they no longer needed to go through that trouble.

Without further ado, he simply took out the Bone Spirit Banner, summoned forty-one Super Skeleton Warriors, and chose to enter the dungeon.

"Select level 55 Qingyuan Deserted Village dungeon."

"Dungeon level selection complete. Enter?"

"Enter."

"Confirmed entering dungeon. Initializing dungeon program."

Absolute strength brought absolute confidence. Instances like this were rare and hard to come by—unlike low-level dungeons that were easy to track down—so Li Yunfei directly selected the highest level.

It was the same surreal scene as entering any ghostly-type dungeon: roiling black qi surged to form a wall of chaos around the perimeter of the village, enclosing the entire settlement within.

The desolate village, which had been dead silent just moments before, instantly "came alive."

Within the boundaries of the entire village, countless pinpricks of firelight materialized out of thin air. Gazing outward, clusters dotted the east and west in dense formations, numbering no less than ten thousand.

The sacred-looking golden-white soul fires burning in the eyes of the Super Skeleton Warriors stood in sharp contrast against the leaping, flickering orange ghost fires.

Li Yunfei put away the Bone Spirit Banner, waved his hand, and declared in high spirits, "Charge! Trample them."

With that, he walked empty-handed, striding boldly into the village. Honghong walked side-by-side with him, while the forty-one Super Skeleton Warriors followed close behind with uniform, rhythmic steps.

That highly rhythmic and orderly marching sound gave Li Yunfei, a former soldier, a wonderful sense of nostalgia.

Upon reaching a cluster of dilapidated wooden structures, they finally encountered their first batch of dungeon monsters.

It was a group numbering over a hundred: skeleton monsters with entirely crimson bodies, their bone frames glowing like white-hot iron bars.

These skeletons were vastly different from ordinary ones; their hands burned with dual clusters of orange-red flames, and the soul fire in their sockets wasn't the usual eerie green, but orange as well.

"Clack, clack..."

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."

The moment they spotted Li Yunfei's group, the skeletons simultaneously raised their hands and thrust them forward toward the intruders over a dozen paces away.

Basketball-sized fireballs flew toward Li Yunfei's group in a torrential barrage, giving somewhat the impression of a volley from a rocket launcher.

"Damn, they're actually skeleton mages," Li Yunfei cried out in pleasant surprise.

Skeleton mages was what Li Yunfei called them; in reality, the names hovering above these monsters' heads were "Blazing Skeletons."

Li Yunfei pushed his left palm forward, bringing up a hemispherical barrier suffused with shimmering golden light to shield both himself and Honghong.

It was none other than the exclusive magical treasure unique to the primordial Ziwei—though it would soon become commonplace—the Sun Golden Wheel from the Twin Golden Wheels.

The Sun Golden Wheel could be wielded in two ways: one was forming a hemispherical shield pushed out in front, used just like a traditional shield.

The other was forming a complete sphere, enveloping the wielder entirely within it.

Both methods had their pros and cons. The hemispherical form possessed greater defensive strength, and its defensive intensity could be flexibly adjusted so it wouldn't be easily shattered by concentrated attacks targeting a single point.

This was because the master could concentrate defense power onto that exact point at any moment. However, the hemispherical form could not provide omnidirectional defense and was less useful when surrounded.

The spherical form offered all-around, dead-zone-free defense, but its defensive strength was slightly weaker and it was more susceptible to tactics designed to break a structure through a single point.

However, as long as one could flexibly and smoothly transition between the hemispherical and spherical forms, this drawback practically ceased to exist.

"Swish, swish, swish..."

"Boom, boom, boom..."

The Super Skeleton Warriors gauged the incoming trajectory of the fireballs and slashed out blades of vital energy, causing the fireballs to detonate mid-air into gorgeous bursts of flame.

Meanwhile, the fireballs that slammed into the Sun Golden Wheel's spiritual barrier only caused ripples to spread across the fluid-like golden light.

Li Yunfei didn't feel even a fraction of the recoil force himself and praised, "As expected of the reputed strongest defensive magical treasure currently available. Truly formidable."

Seeing that the opponents also played with fire, Honghong grew somewhat competitive.

She raised her palm toward the group of Blazing Skeletons, and crimson fireballs continuously erupted from her palm like a machine gun.

After leaving her hand, the crimson fireballs rapidly expanded to the size of washbasins. After brutally smashing through the enemy's fired projectiles, they slammed fiercely into the Blazing Skeletons.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

In an instant, shattered pieces of bone flew in all directions across the sky. The fragmented bones of the Blazing Skeletons, scattered about, actually blazed fiercely upon the ground, creating a sea of fire right in front of Li Yunfei's group in the blink of an eye.

Li Yunfei said helplessly, "Don't clear them out so fast! At least leave a few for me to test the new Daoist arts I just learned!"

Honghong rolled her eyes, motioned with her chin toward the front-left, and said, "There you go, your sparring partners have arrived."

Li Yunfei cast his gaze forward and saw roiling black qi to the front-left. A group of ghostly entities wielding old-fashioned firearms, dressed and styled unmistakably like bandits and outlaws, were floating three feet off the ground and surging toward them.

These hundreds of bandit ghost spirits, clearly just low-ranking mobs, were actually all malevolent-spirit-grade entities.

With even the minor mobs being malevolent spirits, the elite monsters and bosses were eighty percent likely to be wicked spirits or evil rakshasas.

Wicked spirits and evil rakshasas were only equivalent to the ghost king level, meaning a level 55 boss equaled a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator.

Even if wicked spirits and evil rakshasas possessed slightly greater combat prowess than ghost kings, at most they were on par with Zhao Kuo. But they currently commanded the combat strength of six Golden Core great cultivators—what was there to be afraid of?

From over twenty paces away, the bandit spirits used the dilapidated wooden cabins as cover, raised various weapons in their hands at Li Yunfei, Honghong, and the others, and opened fire with a flurry of cracks and bangs.

The bandit spirits mostly wielded World War II-era firearms like bolt-action rifles and broomhandle mausers, though in reality, they were all condensed from yin energy.

A ghost's weapons were formed entirely from condensed yin energy. As modern ghosts, they lacked the melee combat prowess of ancient military souls, so they naturally materialized the weapons they were most familiar with.

The muzzle velocity of those yin energy bullets was just like real firearms; even the agile Super Skeleton Warriors couldn't react in time, and sparks flew wildly as their protective qi shields were pelted.

Sparks were also flying from the Sun Golden Wheel spiritual shield in front of Li Yunfei. With a cold snort, he transformed the Sun Golden Wheel into its spherical form, encasing both himself and Honghong inside.

Although those yin energy bullets also belonged to single-point penetration attacks, their baseline power was simply too weak, at most causing Li Yunfei a minor consumption of spiritual power. How could they possibly shatter the defense of the Sun Golden Wheel?

Li Yunfei planted his feet apart, dropped into a horse stance, and struck a posture that looked ready to unleash the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms.

With the sword-fingers of his right hand, he traced a virtual Taiji diagram in the palm of his left hand while chanting the incantation: "Heaven and earth are boundless, heaven and earth lend me their power."

Upon finishing the brief incantation, he brought his palms together, then parted them, continuously thrusting them forward in alternation.

"Boom, boom, boom, boom..."

A series of continuous explosions erupted where the bandit spirits had taken cover, resembling a concentrated artillery bombardment.

The already dilapidated wooden cabins were completely reduced to ruins, and then the ruins were blasted apart once more, ultimately being leveled completely.

Amidst that dense bombardment, the bandit spirits vanished in patches. By the time Li Yunfei stopped after thoroughly satisfying his craving for destruction, the hundreds of bandit spirits had disappeared without a trace.

The casting method for the Divine Empyrean Sect's Palm Thunder was simply that straightforward and brutal: a Taiji diagram in the palm, an eight-character incantation in the mouth, and the Palm Thunder was ready.

Of course, that was only the superficial part; the crucial element lay in the method of channeling and driving spiritual power.

As long as one followed the spiritual circulation technique of the Palm Thunder, channeled spiritual power into the Taiji diagram in the palm, and recited the eight-character incantation, such formidable attacks could be unleashed.

Even a qi practitioner who had just stepped onto the path of cultivation could wield it.

If the Taiji diagram in the palm was drawn using the practitioner's own blood, its power would multiply exponentially.

"Haha, this Palm Thunder is truly wonderful to use; it's simply too convenient."

Li Yunfei said cheerfully. Seeing yet another wave of Blazing Skeletons and bandit spirits charging forward, he immediately cast another Palm Thunder, continuously releasing volley after volley.

While he was joyfully obliterating skeletons and bandit spirits to his heart's content, his and Honghong's levels quietly rose, instantly replenishing their depleted spiritual power.

Farming monsters like this was sheer exhilaration. The difference between having powerful mystic arts and not having them was truly glaring.