Chapter 579: The Temple of the Thunder God

“Junior Wu Ming greets his senior.”
When Su Che landed from the sky, the Cultivator at the Divine Transformation stage was the first to bow in greeting, though his expression revealed obvious tension and wariness.
This was the way things were in the cultivation world—often, disasters would strike out of nowhere, with no logical explanation.
Su Che returned the greeting and said gently, “Wu Ming, I’ve come to ask you a few questions. There’s no need to be nervous.”
Wu Ming secretly breathed a sigh of relief and replied respectfully, “I will certainly tell you everything I know and speak the truth.”
Su Che nodded and asked, “How many years have you been cultivating on Thunder Star?”
“Nearly two hundred years.”
Wu Ming understood the purpose behind Su Che’s question and replied proactively, “I am quite familiar with Thunder Star.”
“That’s good.”
Su Che asked further, “Are there any special places in the vicinity? Or any locations you consider extremely dangerous or significant?”
“Two!”
Wu Ming nodded without hesitation. “One is the ‘Temple of the Thunder God,’ known to most Thunder Cultivators. The other is the ‘Heavenly Thunder Pool.’ Both are only a few ten thousand miles away, so they’re easy to find.”
“Oh?”
Su Che pretended to show curiosity, paused for a moment, then said, “Wu Ming, if you have time, could you take me to visit these two places? If not, you can at least explain them to me here.”
Feeling that Su Che seemed amiable and not like those unreasonable so-called senior experts, Wu Ming hesitated little and immediately agreed, “It would be an honor for me to serve as your guide.”
“Good, thank you.”
Su Che nodded in satisfaction. He would surely reward Wu Ming later—this was an unspoken rule in the cultivation world, requiring no explicit mention.
However, Wu Ming added, “Although I am a Thunder Cultivator, my cultivation level is too low. I still can’t fly swiftly in the air like you on Thunder Star. So, I’ll need your help.”
“Don’t worry. As long as you stand beside me, nothing will happen to you.”
Su Che took out a flying magic artifact, enlarged it, and stood side by side with Wu Ming on it. Following Wu Ming’s directions, they flew toward the Heavenly Thunder Pool, which was closer.
In fact, even among Thunder Cultivators, aside from someone like Wu Ming at the Divine Transformation stage, even Cultivators at the Void Refining stage wouldn’t dare fly freely in the air like Su Che.

Generally speaking, even those advanced Thunder Cultivators who have practiced on Thunder Star for thousands of years must travel quickly on the surface, relying on various plants capable of absorbing the power of celestial thunder for protection. With nothing to block them in the sky, if they happen to be struck by one of the most powerful types of celestial thunder from the Spirit Realm, no matter whether they are Thunder Cultivators or not—unless they have reached the Great Vehicle stage—they will suffer greatly. The Great Vehicle stage refers to those who have endured the trials of great celestial calamities and are on the verge of ascending to the Immortal Realm; they possess a certain degree of immunity to the power of the Spirit Realm. However, if they are bombarded by too many strikes of celestial thunder, it can still harm them. Su Che’s Great Thunder Technique is a supreme art unique to the Immortal Realm, so controlling mortal celestial thunder is a trivial task for him. Moreover, now that he is at the Refining Void stage, he can basically summon mortal celestial thunder to fight enemies, making it impossible for those thunder strikes to harm him instead. Although Su Che is not a Thunder Cultivator, thanks to his Great Thunder Technique, he can easily surpass those Thunder Cultivators in controlling thunder—which is rather unfair, to be honest. At this moment, Wu Ming, standing beside Su Che, watched him with envy and even a hint of admiration, his respect for this senior being indescribable: It seemed as though all the celestial thunder was avoiding him—what a profound level of control over thunder! Those who are obsessed with a certain skill often develop feelings of admiration and respect when they encounter a master in that same field whom they must look up to. If the master is only slightly better than them, they might even feel jealous; if they are far superior, jealousy hardly arises at all… The Thunder Pool is the area on Thunder Star with the densest concentration of celestial thunder. Within dozens of miles, the density of thunder can be described as “impossible to insert a needle” or “seamless.” The denser it gets the further inward one goes. From hundreds of miles away, it truly resembles a pond of celestial thunder, giving people an utterly astonishing feeling. “Normally, many Thunder Cultivators at the Refining Void stage or above choose to practice near the Thunder Pool because the energy of thunder here is the strongest.” At this moment, Wu Ming was hundreds of miles away, gazing at this enormous Thunder Pool with anticipation and longing in his eyes: “My cultivation level is not high enough yet, so I dare not approach it…” After expressing his thoughts, he added, “But now, because of the Wu Clan, all seniors at the Refining Void stage and above have hidden away. On Thunder Star, their figures are temporarily nowhere to be seen.”

Su Che then asked, “So, apart from facilitating cultivation, what other characteristics does this Thunder Pool have?”
“There are many legends, but throughout history, no one has ever been known to enter the central area of the Thunder Pool. As a result, there are countless guesses and hypotheses about that mysterious core region…”
Wu Ming was also quite talkative. Having the fortune of meeting a gentle and easy-to-get-along senior like Su Che, he became highly enthusiastic and began to recount in great detail all the various legends and stories related to the Thunder Pool.
This narration lasted for over three hours. While listening attentively, Su Che didn’t stay still; instead, he slowly explored the outer perimeter of the massive Thunder Pool.
“The outer area really doesn’t seem to have anything special—it doesn’t seem connected to any opportunities for me…”
Su Che thought to himself, “If nothing else works, I’ll have to take the risk of entering the center of the Thunder Pool to find out.”
“Let’s not rush, master,” Lao He immediately suggested. “Through Wu Ming, we’ve gained a preliminary understanding of this Thunder Pool. It’s been here for countless years and can’t run away. Let’s go check out the Thunder God Temple first. If we still can’t sense any opportunities there, it won’t be too late to explore the Thunder Pool.”
Su Che agreed and asked Wu Ming to show him the way, then flew toward the Thunder God Temple.
The Thunder God Temple wasn’t far away. It took less than fifteen minutes to reach it.
The Thunder God Temple wasn’t a single temple or shrine as imagined, but a giant structure over twenty thousand zhang tall, with an unknown area. It resembled an enormous ancient castle. Inside the castle were countless labyrinthine complexes of halls, rooms, and caves, giving one the impression that it would be impossible to fully explore this castle in a lifetime…
“Who could have built such a magnificent structure?”
As soon as he saw the Thunder God Temple, Su Che felt a strange sensation. In his vague and somewhat playful way of expressing it, it could be said: “This place is fated for me!”
“The junior doesn’t know.”

Standing on the ground, Wu Ming also gazed up at this magnificent building with reverence, responding in a low voice, “As far as I know, since millions of years ago when someone first discovered Thunder Star, the Thunder God Temple has already stood here. No one knows who built it. Of course, there are rumors that this temple itself is a high-grade immortal artifact. However, ordinary cultivators in the mortal world simply don’t have the qualifications to uncover its true nature—even those at the Great Vehicle stage cannot.”

“I don’t think it’s some kind of immortal artifact…”

Su Che’s muttered words reflected Lao Hei’s judgment. As the spirit of an artifact, Lao Hei had an especially keen sense for magical treasures. Whether this temple was an immortal artifact or a Dao artifact, it should not escape Lao Hei’s detection. Nowadays, Lao Hei’s understanding was no longer as limited as it was on Qi Yuan Star; even if he encountered some ancient rare treasure, he wouldn’t miss it.

Lao Hei’s judgment was that this temple itself was definitely not a magical treasure, but that didn’t mean it should be underestimated. It seemed its nature was even more special than that of a magical treasure…

On a mound outside the Thunder God Temple, Su Che brought out tables and chairs and sat down with Wu Ming. They sipped tea while listening carefully to the various rumors about the temple. After all, there was no distinction between day and night on Thunder Star; time was measured only by hours. After hearing these rumors, Su Che casually gave him a few pointers, which shocked Wu Ming greatly, leaving him in a state of dazed enlightenment.

In fact, when it came to the path of thunder cultivation, Su Che was far inferior to him. The reason he could give pointers was simply that he picked out a couple of sentences from his own understanding of the Great Falling Thunder Technique and shared them with Wu Ming.

The great techniques of the immortal realm were impossible for ordinary cultivators in the mortal world to learn, unless they were exceptions like Su Che or reincarnated immortals. However, just a few easily understandable ideas and theories could indeed bring endless inspiration to ordinary cultivators. Perhaps some genius individuals could use these insights to develop their own unique cultivation methods. Even if they couldn’t compare to the true great techniques, they would still be among the highest-level cultivation methods in the mortal world.

In truth, all the various magical spells and cultivation techniques in the mortal world originated from ordinary cultivators who were fortunate enough to come into contact with one of the Three Thousand Great Paths and then developed them on their own.

After giving his advice, Su Che took out a few more top-grade lightningattribute spirit stones and handed them to Wu Ming as recognition and reward for his competent guidance. Top-grade spirit stones were also quite rare in the Spirit Realm; usually only powerful cultivators at the level of Tribulation Heavenly Monarch or above would use them as a medium of exchange. This was because such a Tribulation Heavenly Monarch often controlled over a hundred resource planets, making them extremely wealthy. For someone like Wu Ming at the Transformation God stage, obtaining a few top-grade spirit stones that matched his zodiac sign would surely bring great joy. Unfortunately, he was now so shocked by the two true words casually spoken by Su Che that he had fallen into a state of obsession. He took the spirit stones and put them in his bag out of habit, his face still showing a dazed expression, as if his intelligence had suddenly dropped by hundreds of times…