Chapter Twelve: Duty and Mission

“Don’t—!” Lei Dong finally managed to shout, but in an instant, the battlefield vanished, the winged being disappeared, and the pair of lovers faded away. What appeared before Lei Dong was a pair of eyes that seemed to fill the entire universe.

Those eyes had appeared countless times before. Whenever Lei Dong broke through in his cultivation, they would emerge in his dreams. But now, the eyes glowed with an intense, blood-red hue, the boundless crimson radiance almost tangible, as though it could peer into the deepest recesses of Lei Dong’s soul, illuminating every corner.

“Remember your responsibility, remember your mission…” The ancient voice rang out, perhaps from the edge of the heavens, perhaps from within Lei Dong himself. The eyes fixed their gaze upon him, and after a long moment, slowly withdrew.

“Ah!” Lei Dong jolted upright from his bed, the moon outside shining full and bright, casting a hazy glow across the room.

Bathed in moonlight, Lei Dong fell into contemplation: If he were truly on that battlefield, what choice would he make? Would he agonize over the injustice of slaughter, or would he do everything possible to kill his opponent, to save his companions? Or would he, like those lovers, charge unhesitatingly at the enemy, embracing mutual destruction?

Lei Dong had no clear answer. He did not know what the “mission” and “responsibility” in his dream truly meant, but his eyes were gradually brightening, life returning to them.

Sleep had deserted him. Lei Dong simply turned over and sat up, assuming the posture of “five hearts facing the sky,” beginning his first cultivation session in over ten days.

Soon, Lei Dong entered a meditative trance, his expression serene, neither sorrowful nor joyous—yet perhaps both.

With the circulation of his energy, Lei Dong’s internal vision revealed every meridian with exquisite clarity. Within those broad and resilient channels, powerful, nearly liquefied true essence surged—slow in appearance, but in truth racing with incredible speed, swirling and churning. As it circulated endlessly, it crashed against the walls of his meridians like stormy waves, cleansing impurities, tempering their toughness and strength.

The waves of pain emanating from within forced even Lei Dong, whose mental fortitude was immense, to concentrate fully on the flow of his energy in order to ease the agony threatening to crush him from the inside.

Yet Lei Dong did not resent the pain. He knew this was the unique feature of the Chaotic Heart Technique he practiced.

Yes, the Chaos Technique—though its name sounded somewhat vulgar—was the very method Lei Dong had cultivated for nearly fifteen years, rapidly rising from an ordinary person to the Golden Core stage.

Its greatest strength lay in its “chaos.” It did not select for spiritual roots, nor did it confine itself to any particular attribute. Anyone whose meridians were unobstructed, regardless of their innate talent, could practice it. Unlike ordinary methods, the Chaotic Heart Technique caused the internal force, energy, and true essence to constantly bombard every meridian, making them tougher, stronger, purer, and wider. The benefits for future cultivation were indescribably vast. The deeper one’s cultivation, the faster and higher the quality of progress. For this reason alone, this technique far surpassed all others.

Moreover, because the true essence ceaselessly assailed the meridians, the pain was unparalleled. Practitioners developed an abnormal tolerance for suffering, whether internal or external—much like the super soldiers in science fiction whose pain nerves had been severed. External agony became almost imperceptible, yet unlike those soldiers, danger could still be sensed. To Lei Dong, this technique seemed tailor-made for warriors of every kind.

After three rapid cycles of true essence through his meridians, Lei Dong shifted his focus, guiding the unending, circulating energy to converge at his chest, attacking a location he had often cursed as unjust—the Celestial Lock.

Ever since he began cultivating at age three, the old Daoist master had regarded him as a prodigy not seen in a thousand years. For most, spiritual energy entered the body through specific meridians and circulated accordingly, but Lei Dong absorbed energy through every pore, making his progress astonishingly swift.

Yet after breaking through the Qi Refining barrier at six, Lei Dong’s cultivation changed dramatically.

Though his speed remained undiminished and his energy grew stronger, he found himself completely unable to wield it. After many inspections, the old master discovered that Lei Dong’s meridians had formed a strange dead knot at the chest’s central point, manifesting as a bright red mark on the skin. While energy flowed freely within, any attempt to channel it outward was blocked by this knot.

It was as though his meridians and skin had woven an impenetrable net, or a silken cocoon, trapping all energy within. Spiritual energy could enter—but never exit.

This made Lei Dong, a “genius” with unparalleled cultivation speed, simultaneously a “cripple” who could only cultivate but never use his power.

Lei Dong had always believed the key to breaking the net and being reborn lay in that red mark on his chest.

The Celestial Lock! The old master, who had reached the Ascension stage a century ago, could only sigh at this legendary constitution, having never seen it in reality. He explained to Lei Dong that the lock would only break under the immense force of the tribulation encountered upon ascending to the immortal realm.

The good news: the Celestial Lock held great secrets, and cultivators possessing it would display extraordinary combat power after ascending.

For Lei Dong, the benefits were obvious. Whether sleeping or training, the mysterious lock, regardless of its origin or function, continuously absorbed spiritual energy from the world, nourishing every meridian and strengthening his true essence.

Effectively, Lei Dong cultivated every hour of every day.

The speed and capacity with which he absorbed energy were astonishing—by the early Golden Core stage, a single session matched the intake of his master, who had reached Ascension centuries before but refused to ascend.

This was why, in this era of dwindling spiritual energy, Lei Dong’s cultivation soared.

Most importantly, the Celestial Lock itself seemed to contain boundless energy. Though normally undetectable, whenever Lei Dong approached a critical breakthrough and the world’s energy was insufficient, the lock would unleash inexhaustible power, allowing him to break through in one surge.

Still, Lei Dong was never one to accept fate, even when it favored him.

When his master was powerless, from the day he learned of his constitution, Lei Dong tried every method, mobilized every resource, to break through the barrier holding him back.

Year after year passed—from Qi Refining to Foundation Establishment, and now Golden Core. Lei Dong’s cultivation and essence deepened, but the Celestial Lock remained unchanged.

Yet Lei Dong never thought of giving up. Every day, he launched an unrelenting assault against his greatest foe.

“Why can others use their power, but I cannot?”

With a speed many times faster than before, Lei Dong’s true essence surged madly towards the tangled knot in his chest, towards the invisible Celestial Lock, launching a fierce attack.

Once, twice, thrice…

His essence crashed against the lock like relentless waves against a cliff—each surge higher and stronger than the last, the next coming before the previous had faded.

Lei Dong had developed this method himself, inspired by military formations and the rhythms of ocean tides. Each assault concentrated maximum force from one meridian, while the next wave followed before the previous had subsided, and always kept one meridian’s essence in reserve to handle emergencies.

After more than an hour and over thirty waves of assault, Lei Dong exceeded his limits of pain tolerance yet again, then restored the normal circulation of his energy.

An internal inspection revealed the Celestial Lock unchanged, unmoved, still guarding his chest and blocking his power’s release.

Yet Lei Dong was not discouraged, for he noticed that after this assault, his meridians were tougher and stronger, his control of essence sharper, his endurance for pain greater—even if only by a tiny margin.

For a cultivator, the higher the realm, the harder each further step. Though tonight’s progress was nearly imperceptible, for Lei Dong, already at the late Golden Core stage, it was a great success.