Chapter 4: Palm Thunder

Gu Zhao had assumed he had stumbled upon a scene straight out of a chivalrous tale — a heroine with a heart for justice, punishing the wicked and eliminating evil — and was just thinking about what excuse he could use to strike up a conversation with her, to chat a bit, and see if he could pick up some general sense of what this world was like.

He hadn't expected that before he could even speak, the woman was actually more forward than he was, and even came straight out to say she wanted to "chat a bit" with him.

Only upon hearing the woman's words, the villagers who had just been looking at her with gratitude instantly had their eyes clear up, and in a flash they scattered in all directions; even the old man who had just been tottering and needing others to support him was now limping as he bolted into a nearby house.

"Bang bang bang!"

A string of doors slammed shut in an instant.

"Caw caw caw…"

Apart from two crows perched on a tree branch at the village entrance, the entire village fell deathly silent in an instant.

Gu Zhao was stunned for a moment before he caught on.

Running into bandits coming down the mountain to loot didn't necessarily mean death, but running into someone who could wipe out dozens of bandits in an instant and who didn't seem to be a good person — that was the real danger!

One could only say that these ancient villagers, who could barely read a handful of characters, had a far better sense of danger than he did.

But by now it was too late for Gu Zhao to run. Not only was the woman's target clearly him, but he also saw the woman blow another gentle breath toward him.

Gu Zhao's pupils contracted sharply. "I'm done for!"

The next moment, he felt a gust of yin wind blow into his body, as if it were going to freeze him stiff.

"Don't be afraid." The Green-robed Woman had already come to Gu Zhao's side and was leaning slightly forward; Gu Zhao could not only see the gentle tremor at her chest, but could even smell the sweet fragrance on her. "What I blew wasn't Soul-Scattering Wind — it won't scatter your soul."

The woman said with a seductive smile, "Don't move, let me help…"

Before she could finish, she saw Gu Zhao suddenly leap backward, putting distance between them.

Woman: ⊙_⊙???

"It seems I misjudged you." The woman's eyes narrowed as she looked Gu Zhao up and down with great interest. "So you're actually a mage."

"I'm not a mage, I'm a Daoist Priest!" Gu Zhao struck a defensive stance, his body still trembling slightly. "Who are you?"

That gust of yin wind that had just blown into Gu Zhao's body had in the blink of an eye transformed into a stream of cold qi, seemingly trying to freeze him solid — but the moment that cold qi stirred, it triggered a stress response from the magic power within him.

Although the magic power in his body at this moment was still not much, the moment that cold qi so much as brushed against it, it instantly melted away like ice and snow, so naturally he wasn't bound by the cold qi.

"Daoist Priest?" A flicker of confusion passed through the woman's eyes, as if she had never heard the term.

But she didn't mind. Instead, she covered her lips with a jade-like hand and laughed softly, "You couldn't even tell I wasn't human — you really are just a little mage fresh out of the cradle."

Gu Zhao's pupils contracted sharply. "You're not human?"

"I am the Holy Maiden of the Golden Wind Sect. On ordinary days, only cult members who have performed great merit may enjoy my body. Today you get the bargain — why aren't you overcome with gratitude? Come quickly into my arms?"

The woman walked toward Gu Zhao as she laughed.

At the same time, the woman's eyes had actually turned pure black, her complexion pale, her vermilion lips like blood; her entire being had become both chilling and seductive, and a wave of icy cold qi instantly spread out, wrapping Gu Zhao within it.

"Little mage, just obediently submit to…"

The woman had only gotten halfway through her words when she saw Gu Zhao extend his left hand, thumb pressed inward, four fingers clenched tight, five nails hidden within.

The next instant, a surge of grand, majestic qi erupted wildly from within Gu Zhao's body, directly driving out all the surrounding yin-cold qi.

Woman: ⊙_⊙!!!

A faint tingling numbness suddenly ran through the woman's body, as if some great calamity were about to befall her. She hastily stopped in her tracks and asked, "Who are you?"

Gu Zhao's right hand twitched slightly, and he opened his mouth as if wanting to speak, but nothing came out.

A glint stirred in the woman's expression, and the corner of her mouth curved into a smile, as if she had noticed something.

Gu Zhao opened his mouth again, his right hand frozen in midair, as if straining with effort, but still unable to utter a single word.

The smile in the woman's brows and eyes grew three parts deeper, and she laughed knowingly, "Little mage, your magic power is too weak — don't force yourself, you'll only hurt yourself. Wouldn't it be better to just submit to big sister here, and enjoy the supreme pleasure of the mortal world?"

The next moment, Gu Zhao's right hand suddenly moved; as his fingertips formed a hand-seal, his lips began to murmur an incantation.

"Thunder and lightning pursue each other; Heaven and Earth are the eyes. The qi of the eight directions — flash of lightning!"

After those four lines, four phrases, sixteen characters, Gu Zhao raised his right hand in a vertical palm, then with a slight twist, aimed his palm at the woman.

"By decree!"

The moment Gu Zhao suddenly spoke, the woman had already sensed something was wrong and hastily leapt backward.

Just as Gu Zhao finished speaking and aimed his palm at her, she too fixed her gaze on his palm, summoned a plume of black smoke, and prepared her defense.

But, as the word "decree" rang out, she only saw a flash of purple light and golden radiance before her eyes, heard a thunderous crash at her ears, felt as if her mind had been struck by a heavy hammer, and her entire body suddenly went rigid…

Then her vision went black, and she knew nothing more.

……

Gu Zhao stared at the scene before him — a pile of charred black powder, with a set of green robes falling from empty air — and was somewhat dumbfounded himself.

Then he couldn't help raising both hands, his eyes full of surprise and disbelief.

"Heavenly Thunder Seal, Palm Thunder, Rising Thunder Spell…"

"Oh my heavens! It actually works!"

Earlier, when the magic power within his body had dissolved the opponent's cold qi and suddenly taken effect, Gu Zhao had felt a flash of inspiration.

Since the Five Thunder Token had activated the innate qi he had cultivated over ten years of Daoist cultivation, as well as gradually filling his body with A Body Full of Techniques, it proved that the Dao Scripture he had been cultivating actually worked.

Since the cultivation method in the Dao Scripture worked, wouldn't other Daoist arts work as well?

So Gu Zhao instinctively formed a Heavenly Thunder Seal — also called the Heavenly Thunder Art — and at once his entire being felt a sense of sublimation, as if he had become the righteous qi of Heaven and Earth, the Thunder God of the Nine Heavens.

So Gu Zhao, brimming with confidence, prepared to chant the 【Heavenly Thunder Duke Spell】.

But he couldn't get it out!

Not only could he not get it out, he also felt the magic power within his body roiling restlessly, and his spirit wavered in a daze.

Gu Zhao knew right then that with his current strength, he still couldn't cast this powerful Thunder Spell, so he switched to a 【Five Directions Savage Thunder Spell】 — but still couldn't cast it.

So Gu Zhao, not daring to delay any longer, decisively switched to the most basic 【Palm-Rising Thunder Spell】, and finally managed to cast it.

And then he saw that the Green-robed Woman, who had just killed dozens of bandits with a single breath, had absolutely no power to resist against the bolt of lightning that shot from his palm.

The gathered black smoke dispersed in the thunder's roar, the fair, supple body crumbled in the flash of lightning — a beauty who had just been both pure and wanton was now nothing but a pile of black powder, no longer recognizably human.

"Alright, as expected, he's not human!" Gu Zhao muttered.

No sooner had he spoken than he suddenly sensed the Five Thunder Talisman in his mind tremble, emitting a suction force; then a wisp of aura drilled into his mind and was absorbed by the Five Thunder Talisman.

In the next instant, he felt the lightning around the Five Thunder Talisman in his sea of consciousness seem three parts brighter, slowly stimulating the magic power circulating within his body, making the magic power flow much faster.

"Golden Finger!"

"Kill monsters, level up!"