Chapter Eighty-Five: The Heaven-Cleaving Palm Covers the Earth, Thunder in the Palm Shakes the Heavens

  "Are you saying that the two of you have already...?" On the mountain slope, Sun Yuan couldn't help but rub his eyes and carefully look at Lao Yanzi's face, which was flushed with excitement, wondering if he was dreaming!

  For several days, the matter of Lao Yanzi and Zi Xia seemed to have made no progress at all. Sun Yuan, who had been paying attention to their situation, could only sigh in dismay upon discovering this. After being tempted by Long Xuzi a few times, he finally abandoned his idea of learning the Palm Thunder Secret Technique and instead followed Long Xuzi to learn the Split Heaven Divine Palm.

  After several days of hard work, Sun Yuan only had a general understanding of the Split Heaven Palm, but as for its application, it was still far from enough. However, he could see that if he wanted to master this palm technique, the requirements for his physical body would be extremely high, and it was not something they could achieve at present. Fortunately, this palm technique could temper his physical body during the practice process, so it wasn't completely useless.

  Relying on the hundreds of years of demonic elixir cultivation, Sun Yuan's progress in the Heaven-Cleaving Divine Palm was rapid. His demonic body, tempered by the Heaven-Cleaving Divine Palm, became increasingly formidable. At this point, Long Xuzi was no longer his match in close combat, and the gap between their physical strength grew even wider.

  With the attitude of learning and practicing in a timely manner, Sun Yuan has been practicing the Heavenly Splitting Palm whenever he has time. He doesn't expect to master it, but hopes to further strengthen his physical strength as a foundation for future practices. In Sun Yuan's view, this Heavenly Splitting Palm is a very good foundational skill.

  If this idea were known to the great witch who created this set of kung fu back then, I don't know if he would be so angry that he'd come back from the dead. At the time when this kung fu was first created, it was given extremely high expectations, although later on because of some flaws, it was abandoned and not used, but among the younger generation of witches, it still had a bit of a reputation, now it's actually being used by Sun Yuan as a basic kung fu.

  It's not bad to say that this set of exercises is extremely painful when practicing, and if the soul is not strong enough, reckless practice will inevitably lead to a devastating blow. However, due to Sun Yuan's exceptionally hard core soul, practicing this exercise didn't pose any threat to his life, but instead made his body even stronger, until now, Sun Yuan finally had some of the demonic tribe's feeling of dominating the world with his physical strength.

  Actually, the two demons are also considered to be reckless and arrogant. Since the witch tribe does not have a yuan Shen (original spirit), most of their cultivation methods affect not only the body but also the cultivator's yuan Shen. However, since witches do not have a yuan Shen, they naturally don't suffer from anything except physical pain. But for those who have a yuan Shen, practicing this method can be tragic. Once they over-practice, their spirit and soul will perish before their body does, so it's said that this cultivation method is not suitable for just anyone to practice.

  The Bodhi Old Ancestor passed on this set of kung fu to Long Xuzi, precisely because Long Xuzi's physical constitution was extremely suitable for this set of techniques. If it were someone else, they might have died or been crippled by now. This is why Sun Yuan would often faint during his training process. It can be said that if not for his exceptionally resilient core spirit and soul, Sun Yuan would have died who-knows-how-many times while practicing this set of techniques. However, because of this, his progress in mastering this technique far surpassed Long Xuzi's speed back in the day.

  "Ah! This time I really have to thank Brother Sun, if it wasn't for your methods, I might have missed Zi Xia and my Dao heart would have been shattered. At that time, it wouldn't be just a matter of losing Zi Xia, my cultivation might have also disappeared. So, Brother Sun has helped me out greatly!" Lao Yanzi exclaimed excitedly, pulling on Sun Yuan's arm.

  "Are you saying that you took it down in just seven days?" Sun Yuan blinked, still not daring to believe the reality before his eyes. Happiness seemed to have come too suddenly! "How did you manage to do it in seven days? According to my plan, either we would take it down quickly or we wouldn't be able to take it down at all. What's going on here?"

  "Hehe, to be honest, it was actually because of my brother's fault at first. When I went there, everything else was remembered clearly, but just this one thing about the face skin couldn't pass, so my brother's plan lost its most crucial part and had little effect." Long Xuzi smiled awkwardly and said, "Fortunately, after thinking it over later, I felt that this face skin probably can't be kept, otherwise when looking back in the future, it will definitely be too late for regrets."

  "I knew it! Since Shixiong has succeeded, I'll just congratulate him here first. Wishing you both a harmonious cultivation and an early ascension to the Immortal Path." Sun Yuan revealed a look of sudden realization, no wonder things had made no progress in these days, the root cause was actually on this Shixiong's body all along! However, since things have succeeded, Sun Yuan didn't want to say anything more.

  "Thanks for the auspicious words, brother. I'll thank you first." Labor Yanzi cupped his hands and bowed slightly to Sun Yuan, saying, "This time I came, firstly to share this great news with my younger brother, secondly, it's to fulfill my promise, but do you really want to learn this Palm Thunder technique?"

  "Is there something holding you back?" Sun Yuan's face suddenly cleared up, and he regained his composure from the excitement, as if thinking deeply.

  "Junior brother is indeed a talented individual, and I had already noticed this. Labour Yanzi nodded slightly, with a hint of praise on his face, and continued to say: "If it were any other skill, junior brother would have done me a great favour, and by rights, I shouldn't be making excuses. However, the Palm Thunder is different, as there are some issues within."

  "This Palm Thunder is vastly different from the external Palm Thunder, this one is instead a thread of innate thunder power cultivated from within one's own body to stir up the thunder energy between heaven and earth, in order to achieve the purpose of killing enemies and protecting oneself." Lao Yanzi swallowed his saliva, paused for a moment, his face changed color, and solemnly said "However, precisely because of this, this Palm Thunder is exceptionally difficult to practice, and it also has very high requirements for the practitioner themselves."

  "In the early stages of cultivation, practitioners must condense a thread of Purple Thunder Force. Without a certain foundation, it's fundamentally impossible to succeed, and this is only the first hurdle." Labor Yanzi looked at Sun Yuan's increasingly gloomy face, sighed, and continued, "After passing this hurdle, what follows is continuously summoning the thunder power between heaven and earth, slowly cultivating and expanding one's own Purple Thunder Force. When the Purple Thunder Force grows to a certain extent, this Palm Thunder can be considered to have achieved some small success."

  "Is it referring to the Purple Thunderbolt's power that Big Brother Shifu mentioned as the key point?" Sun Yuan asked with a slightly furrowed brow, as if hinting at something.

  Lao Yanzi shook his head and sighed, "Originally, the Purple Thunder Force was an important pass, but what I'm worried about isn't this. The Purple Thunder Force is indeed difficult to obtain, and only a great master can take it. However, my Purple Thunder Force has already reached a certain level, so I can separate a thread of it as the foundation for my junior brother, therefore it's not because of the Purple Thunder Force."

  "What's this?" Sun Yuan asked hesitantly.

  "I suppose I don't need to say it, but my junior brother will soon understand on his own. Just like the Heaven-Cleaving Palm of our senior brother, this Thunder in My Palm is a technique that, when practiced, attracts the power of the Purple Cloud Thunder due to its drawing effect. The first target of attack is actually the practitioner himself. Therefore, for ordinary people, this technique is one that hurts oneself before hurting others."

  "At the initial stage, due to the practitioner's own weak thunder power, the attracted thunder power is not very great, and it can be endured. However, if it reaches the middle or late stage, the practitioner breaks through the thousand-thunder limit and reaches the ten-thousand-thunder realm, then each time this set of techniques is performed, it is equivalent to withstanding a heavenly tribulation, but his body cannot withstand it at all."

  "As for me, first, I accidentally ate a thunder fruit when I was young, so ordinary lightning has no effect on me; second, my body is of the thunder attribute, and I have a certain immunity to lightning; third, the cultivation method 'Ten Thousand Thunder Heaven's Secret' that I cultivate is the method used by the Thunder God, which is also very helpful in controlling lightning power; fourth, my master once said that I and this method have a predestined relationship, and I am its innate practitioner."

  Even so, I have encountered several life-and-death crises while cultivating this technique. If my luck hadn't been good, you probably wouldn't be seeing me now. In the past few years, my Palm Thunder has reached the limit of a thousand thunders, but I no longer had the courage to continue practicing, which is why I've had these two peaceful years. If you came a few years earlier, you would have found that none of my fellow disciples dared to approach me, and I wasn't like this either. At that time, I was always disheveled and embarrassed, it can be said that I was in a sorry state." Lao Yanzi let out a long sigh, looked at Sun Yuan seriously, and asked "Now that you know all this, do you still want to cultivate?"

  After a moment of silence, Sun Yuan's eyes showed a struggling expression. Suddenly, he gritted his teeth and nodded fiercely, saying: "A great man born in the world, if he is afraid of wolves in front and tigers behind, what taste will he have? Although Palm Thunder is fraught with danger, can this life be smooth sailing? If I refuse this opportunity now, I know I will regret it for a lifetime. Therefore, even if I am torn to pieces later, I must seize this chance, only then will life have some flavor!"

  "Ah! You really think you're ready? Once you start practicing this technique, it's hard to stop before reaching the limit of a thousand thunderbolts. Many of my fellow disciples have died in the Three-Star Cave due to this very technique. It's good that you young people are enthusiastic, but don't let your emotions get the better of you." Lao Yanzi's expression was complex, and he didn't respond to Sun Yuan's bold words, or perhaps he had just heard such boasts too many times in his life.

  "No need to say more, I naturally have a scale in my heart. Please pass on the skills to me, Brother Sun. In the future, if there's anything wrong, I absolutely won't blame you." Sun Yuan said resolutely, his expression stern and determined.

  In his heart, if even the Palm Thunderbolt is shrinking and not daring to practice, how can he practice the 72 Transformations that only a few people in legend have achieved? According to Journey to the West and its preceding and succeeding legends, the danger of practicing the 72 Transformations is no less than that of the Palm Thunderbolt. Therefore, Sun Yuan must now firm up his courageous heart, only by keeping a brave heart and a wise mind can this outsider monkey, Sun Yuan, have a chance to perform his magnificent life on the stage of Journey to the West.

  "Alright, I recall Master saying that those who dare to go against the flow will either end up with a broken head and blood flowing, or reach an unprecedented height. I hope you are the latter." Lao Yanzi nodded, but didn't say anything else. His relationship with Sun Yuan was only tied to the success of their marriage, and at most, they could be considered ordinary fellow disciples. Since Sun Yuan insisted on this, Lao Yanzi couldn't bring himself to be the bad guy.

  "The scenery here is just right, and there are no eavesdroppers around. Rather than choosing a day, it's better to strike while the iron is hot; rather than selecting a location, it's better to follow one's nature. Never mind, listen carefully." Labor Yanzi looked around, swept his sleeve across the ground, clearing away a nearby rock, and sat down cross-legged, gesturing for Sun Yuan to sit opposite him.

  Having obtained this opportunity, Sun Yuan naturally would not miss it. He hastily sat down cross-legged and listened attentively to Lao Yanzi's explanation. Although the Palm Thunder sounded like the Seven Injury Fist, Sun Yuan also had a hint of luck in his heart - hadn't he seen Zhang Wuji practice the Seven Injury Fist without being injured at all? Sun Yuan believed that as his cultivation increased, he would definitely be able to control the Palm Thunder.

  Five periods later, the sun sank and the moon rose to its zenith. The night fell, and Liang Yanzi stood up and said, "I've done all I can do for you. From now on, your cultivation depends on yourself. If you encounter any difficulties during your cultivation, you can come to Huapu to find me. As long as I can help my brother, I will not decline."

  Sun Yuan exhaled, opening his slightly closed eyes, where a purple light flashed and disappeared. He stretched out his hand and said, "Senior brother, please go ahead, I've just obtained the Purple Thunder Force and need to practice for a while to prevent any accidents from happening. Sorry, junior brother can't see you off far."

  "Take care of yourself." Labor Yanzi swung his sleeve and turned to walk quickly, but suddenly turned back and hesitated for a moment before saying "If you feel that the Palm Thunder is progressing too fast and beyond your control, then I'll give you some advice. Try to cultivate in dry environments, never practice on rainy days. That's all, I'm leaving."

  The swallow-like figure waved its sleeves vigorously, with long sleeves fluttering, and disappeared from Sun Yuan's line of sight in the blink of an eye.

  "This guy is indeed kind-hearted, but in this Western world, such a personality will probably suffer losses!" Sun Yuan looked at the distant figure of Labor Yanzi and thought to himself.