The qigong within his body was circulating rapidly, and a voice in his mind told him: Run quickly! Otherwise, if the guards of Yandu City catch up, not only will he bring shame to his family, but he will also suffer a miserable fate.

But just as he circulated his qigong for a while and had barely regained the ability to move—swish, swish, swish! Several sounds came in quick succession, and then a few figures filled with a wild, violent aura appeared before him.

One of the men was wearing at least a hundred jin of cold iron armor, yet moved with ease, like a steel beast. When James Walker saw this, despair instantly filled his heart.

This was a guard from the City Lord’s mansion of Yandu City, Samuel Reed. His qigong cultivation far surpassed the fifth stage of the Violent Qi Realm, and he looked fierce and menacing.

“James Walker, you stole the Fulong Pill. Hand it over now, and you’ll be spared death!”

Samuel Reed’s eyes showed not a trace of human emotion. With the chilling aura of his cold iron armor, he walked up to James Walker and suddenly struck out with his hand—aiming directly at the dantian and qi sea deep in James Walker’s lower abdomen.

Pfft! James Walker spat out another mouthful of blood, feeling as if all the strength in his body was leaking away like air from a punctured ball. All the qigong he had cultivated from the age of five to eighteen was completely destroyed.

“You… destroyed my qigong!” James Walker’s face turned ashen, filled with utter despair. Once his qigong was destroyed and his dantian and qi sea shattered, he would never be able to gather qi again. From now on, he could only live as an ordinary person.

“The Fulong Pill isn’t on you!?” After searching James Walker, Samuel Reed said coldly, “You stole the Fulong Pill. Destroying your qigong is only to lessen your guilt. Considering you’re the young master of the Yang family and for your aunt’s sake, I won’t kill you on the spot—that’s already mercy. Everyone, tie him up, bind him to the tree. I’ll return to the city and report this to the City Lord, and await his decision. Don’t touch the scene, protect it, and let the Yang family come and see for themselves.”

“Yes!”

Several guards quickly tied James Walker to a tree, then began patrolling and keeping watch all around.

Meanwhile, Samuel Reed, clad in over a hundred jin of cold iron armor, leapt up and glided through the air like a great bird, heading toward Yandu City.

Boom!

At that moment, countless bolts of lightning roared madly in the sky. The thunderstorm that had been brewing for so long finally arrived. It was a summer night, the weather hot and prone to thunderstorms.

Bolts of silver lightning tore through the pitch-black sky, and torrential rain poured down like a waterfall.

“This rain is intense! And there’s so much lightning.” One of the guards watching over James Walker looked up at the downpour and the wildly dancing silver lightning, shuddering as thunder crashed again and again.

Crack!

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck the distant forest. An ancient tree was hit and immediately burst into flames despite the pouring rain, the water vapor swirling as silver snakes darted everywhere—a terrifying sight.

“Hiding under a tree in a thunderstorm—we’d better get out of this forest first.” One guard jumped in fright, his heart pounding. “The thunder tonight seems unusual. I’ve never seen it this bad. If we stay under the trees and get struck, we’ll have nowhere to complain. They say even masters beyond the Qi Sect can’t withstand heavenly lightning.”

“What about this kid?”

“Don’t worry, his martial arts are crippled and he’s tied up. You think he can fly away?”

The guards hurriedly darted out of the forest.

Crackle!

Just as they left the woods, an extremely bright bolt of lightning suddenly struck down, landing right on the tree where James Walker was tied.

Instantly, electric currents surged through James Walker’s body, crackling wildly. His whole body gave off a burnt smell.

Chapter 0002: Blessing in Disguise

James Walker was utterly disheartened.

All his qigong had been destroyed by Samuel Reed’s palm, shattering his dantian and qi sea, leaving no hope for cultivation in this life.

But he never expected to be struck by lightning.

The blinding explosion and the suffocating power of the electricity tearing through the air made him close his eyes. “Am I dead? Maybe it’s better this way—at least I won’t have to live half-dead and be ridiculed.”

But the wild lightning entered his body, and he felt an unprecedented pain and torment, as if thousands of tiny blades were slicing his flesh and cutting his bones.

Yet he did not die. The lightning transformed into a violent force, surging through the gaps in his muscles, bones, and meridians, finally swirling into a vortex that gathered deep in his dantian and qi sea.

The originally shattered dantian and qi sea suddenly underwent a strange transformation. The spiraling current in his qi sea was like a rampaging giant elephant, churning up waves. This giant elephant resembled a dragon, creating a scene of “turning rivers and seas upside down.”

If someone with keen eyesight were present, they would see a giant elephant of lightning trumpeting long and loud in James Walker’s damaged qi sea.

Buzz!

Lightning continued to strike, and the tree burned fiercely.

In the end, James Walker saw, deep within the lightning in the sky, what seemed to be a golden little figure suddenly flying into his brow. Then, his entire consciousness exploded in a dazzling flash, and he completely passed out.

“What should we do?”