Ordinarily, enamel pearls should have been extremely hard to digest.
But after swallowing them, Uchiha Yoru felt the two pearls suddenly soften.
Before the octopus pearls had even dropped into his stomach acid, they were wrapped by the natural energy inside his body, and seemed to melt and break down almost instantly.
But Yoru quickly realized that this was an illusion.
The softening and melting were all illusions.
The two pearls had quite literally fallen into his stomach, dropped onto the stomach wall, and stopped there.
All the sensations he had experienced during swallowing had been false impressions. What was actually happening was that the lightning-aspect chakra inside the pearls had been released, and the immense lightning-aspect natural energy within them had poured into his meridians, greatly increasing the proportion of lightning. The new balance of energy had begun to rebuild.
Only after one full great circulation did Uchiha Yoru realize that the amount of lightning-aspect natural energy hidden inside the pearls was not actually that great. It was simply extraordinarily pure and incredibly concentrated.
Among natural energies, lightning was even more active than wind. And because of the powerful repulsive force between its particles, lightning-aspect natural energy in its free state was extremely diffuse and of very low concentration, making it hard to attract.
But once he possessed that highly concentrated lightning-aspect natural energy from the octopus pearls, everything changed.
When the concentration of lightning-aspect natural energy reached a certain level, its nature reversed. Instead of mutual repulsion, it transformed into an incomparably powerful attraction.
Just like thunder in the sky could stir and draw together all the charges within an entire cloudbank.
This thread of lightning-aspect natural energy inside Uchiha Yoru produced an attraction range far beyond what he could perceive. Lightning-aspect natural energy far exceeding his expectations gathered around his body at astonishing speed, then entered it.
As huge quantities of lightning-aspect natural energy amassed, they gathered on the surface of his body, manifesting as tiny arcs and electric sparks.
The instant the purple arcs and blue-white sparks appeared, they were absorbed by Uchiha Yoru. His body was craving lightning-aspect natural energy at that very moment, greedily pulling in and devouring lightning like an endless electromagnetic black hole.
The speed at which lightning-aspect natural energy gathered was extremely fast. Before long, a small crimson cloud had formed above the reef.
That was the result of lightning-aspect natural energy reaching a visible density. The powerful static charge it generated had attracted water vapor into a concentrated mass.
Within that intense electrostatic field, every hair on Miwa Masayo's body stood on end. She looked like an oversized fluffy toy—adorable, but dangerously so.
Even at the crucial point of his advancement, Uchiha Yoru still noticed that his dao companion was in danger.
He did not fling the tabby far away. In an electrostatic field like this, doing so would only make it easier to trigger lightning in advance, placing her in even greater danger.
So he bent his back slightly, leaned his head forward, and curved his hands around his feet, using his own body to form a Faraday cage.
There was no doubt that Uchiha Yoru, who was currently drawing in lightning-aspect natural energy, was the best conductor of electricity available.
The instant that Faraday cage formed from the ideal human conductor, the effect of the electrostatic field on Miwa Masayo was cut off. Her fur settled back down, returning to normal.
Just as Miwa Masayo opened her mouth to say something, a dazzling bolt of lightning exploded right in front of her.
It was simply too close.
The blinding brilliance of lightning flashing before her eyes left the tabby temporarily blind.
Even though she could not see for the moment, she could hear the continuous succession of explosive thunderclaps. Dense lightning and thunder were erupting one after another, yet all of them were being received by her human and absorbed into his body.
She understood already—this was not Lightning Release.
This was natural lightning.
Its power and speed were not on the same level as Lightning Release at all. It was impossible for her not to worry about Uchiha Yoru.
But Uchiha Yoru was genuinely not afraid right now.
On the contrary—
He felt amazing.
Lightning was the densest natural collection of lightning-aspect natural energy in all of nature. Every bolt that struck Uchiha Yoru gave him the sensation of swallowing a huge mouthful of delicious food.
There was no taste in his mouth, but his body was filled with the satisfying fullness of having eaten well and eaten his fill.
In only a few short seconds, the storm cloud triggered more than twenty bolts of lightning. Once they struck Uchiha Yoru's body, he absorbed enough lightning-aspect natural energy to successfully complete the balance of four natural attributes.
That almost instantaneous completion of balance restored the natural energy in his meridians to a stable state of circulation, and strengthened it enormously in every aspect.
The intensity of the natural energy increased, fully achieving pressure equilibrium with the chakra inside his cells. It even showed the faint tendency to seep back outward and further drive the chakra out of his cells.
With a slight restraint, Uchiha Yoru stopped that tendency, continuing to maintain the two separate extraordinary energy systems, inside and out.
Now, without having to constantly keep watch over the state of his meridians, he could free up a huge amount of mental strength, making it far easier to discipline that little monster in his heart and suppress the heart-aspects.
That feeling of fullness in the body and ease in the mind could only be described with one word.
Wonderful.
Uchiha Yoru also noticed that Lightning Release chakra had successfully been nurtured within his body's cells, and the progress was even faster than during his previous breakthrough.
For some reason, at that moment, he just wanted to laugh.
He bared his teeth and burst into laughter.
"Hahahaha—"
In the next instant, that carefree laughter was drowned out by an unending explosion of thunder.
Full of confusion, Uchiha Yoru suddenly realized that his hair had all stood on end. He looked up into the sky, and his face changed immediately.
The crimson cloud born from the gathered lightning-aspect natural energy had not dispersed.
Instead, it was growing bigger and bigger, pressing lower and lower.
A genuine thunderstorm belonging to the real environment was clearly about to erupt.
In his heart, Uchiha Yoru understood at once—this disaster had been drawn in by his advancement.
It was his own negligence.
After sensing that the nearby lightning-aspect natural energy was insufficient, he had forgotten to examine the state of water and wind again. He had overlooked the possibility that an entire rising current system could form here.
No wonder the gathering of lightning-aspect natural energy had produced a crimson cloud earlier. The conditions for a thunderstorm had already been present. All it had needed was a trigger to set off a lightning shower.
And he had happened to break through at exactly this moment. The gathered lightning-aspect natural energy became that trigger, just like silver iodide used in artificial rainfall.
At that moment, lightning flashed within the thundercloud, thunder rolled continuously, and although no direct bolt had yet fallen, the air already carried a strong smell of ozone. The static in his hair grew stronger and stronger.
Uchiha Yoru realized that now that he no longer needed lightning-aspect natural energy, he had changed from a perfect conductor back into an ordinary human body, and that was why the lightning had not yet been directly drawn down onto him.
But now, if lightning struck him, it would no longer recharge him.
It would be real damage.
This was natural lightning, with voltages in the hundreds of millions.
The thundercloud's pull was far stronger than the little bit of natural energy inside his body. At this point, lightning-aspect natural energy from who knew how large an area had already been drawn together. The environment was no longer suitable for most ninjutsu and sage arts. Perhaps only something like Kirin, a Lightning Release technique of that type, could still be used properly.
If he and Miwa Masayo tried to use things like flame-jumping or reverse summoning now, the outcome would definitely be ugly.
Uchiha Yoru sucked in a cold breath, snatched Miwa Masayo into his arms, leaped down from the reef, and began sprinting wildly over the sea.
He did not delude himself into thinking that hiding in the mountains on the island would completely spare him from the thunderstorm.
But such a huge mountain, and such dense trees… surely they could block at least part of the power, right?
While running for his life, Uchiha Yoru quickly discovered that the situation was the worst possible one. The storm cloud was moving along with him. The natural energy within his body had vaguely linked up with the sky above, forming an intermittent connection.
"Damn it. I've never heard that breaking through the Foundation Establishment stage requires a heavenly tribulation!!"
Uchiha Yoru knew he could not avoid it anymore.
With all his strength, he hurled the tabby far away.
"Miwa Masayo, get as far from me as possible! Trust me—I can endure this!!"
"Do your best, nya!"
The tabby did not say any of that useless nonsense. She dropped cleanly to all fours and immediately bolted in another direction, disappearing from Uchiha Yoru's sight in no time.
Uchiha Yoru was very satisfied with his dao companion's response.
He ran in one breath to the top of the island's mountain before finally coming to a stop.
Now that he was alone and would not drag Miwa Masayo down with him, he decided to try saving himself.
Uchiha Yoru could feel very clearly that ninjutsu and sage arts were unusable. In the domain of the extraordinary, he trusted his intuition deeply.
But just because his instincts said so, was he supposed to stop struggling?
What a joke.
A cornered rabbit would kick an eagle. Even at death's door, one still fought to the end.
There was no way Uchiha Yoru was going to stand there obediently and be struck by lightning.
What was the best way to deal with a lightning attack?
Of course, to hide inside the largest and best shelter possible.
And that was the earth beneath his feet.
Sage Art: Earth Release Technique.
Under the influence of earth-aspect natural energy, the rock liquefied. Uchiha Yoru felt the ground vanish beneath his feet, and his body began to sink downward.
When only his head was still above the surface, he could not help lifting it and sneering at the heavens.
"Thieving old heaven, your grandpa here knows how to burrow underground. What can you do to me?"
Before the words had fully left his mouth, the abnormal concentration of earth-aspect natural energy attracted the lightning-aspect natural energy gathering inside the thundercloud to its limit, and a near-perfectly straight channel was formed at last.
Just as Uchiha Yoru's head submerged into the liquefied rock, a bright bolt of lightning struck directly where he had sunk.
Boom—
Thunder exploded.
The liquefied rock shattered instantly, blasting upward like water. In midair, the lightning-aspect natural energy drove away the earth-aspect natural energy, and the droplet-like splashes of stone returned to hard rock, clattering back down to the ground.
Because it had been softened, the ground had been blown open into a crater more than thirty meters across and two meters deep. The re-hardened rock retained the shape of splashed water.
Uchiha Yoru, who had already sunk underground, was exposed to the open air once again.
The rock beneath his feet was now filled with the lingering power of lightning, and there was no way to liquefy it again.
Still unwilling to give up, Uchiha Yoru brought his hands together and shouted,
"Earth Release: Earth Prison Dome of Magnificent Nothingness!"
Crack—
"Ahhh!!"
"Damn it! Lightning Release: Swift Running Ground!!"
Crack—
"Ahhh!!"
"Bastard! Even using lightning to draw lightning doesn't work? Then… Water Release: Great Gushing Spray!!"
Crack—crack crack crack crack—crack—
"Ah! Ahhhh! Ah!!"
Water conducted lightning.
After taking seven or eight bolts in a row, Uchiha Yoru was charred black all over. Every strand of hair in his exploded hairstyle was releasing thin streams of smoke.
"Wind overcomes lightning, wind overcomes lightning… Wind Release: Tornado Kill!!"
"Hm? It really works! I—holy shi—!!"
After a moment of unnatural silence, the thundercloud erupted as though charging up for a final strike. A bolt visibly thicker than the previous ones twisted downward like a dragon, instantly smashing apart the enormous tornado, then struck Uchiha Yoru directly.
Although most of the natural energy had been scattered at the moment of impact by the burst of wind-aspect natural energy, he still felt pain throughout his body, even from the inside outward.
Uchiha Yoru knew that his internal organs had already been scorched by lightning-fire. This strike had clearly broken through the multiple layers of his defenses. If this continued, his life really would be in danger.
He looked up at the sky.
The thunderclouds were heavy, lightning flashed within them, and it was obvious that the storm still held abundant power. There was no sign of it ending.
Could it really be a lightning tribulation?
Could it be that he, a dignified transmigrator, a cultivator pioneering a brand-new immortal path, was really going to die under a Foundation Establishment lightning tribulation?
Uchiha Yoru was filled with utter unwillingness.
There were plenty of things in the shinobi world stronger than he was.
The Great Toad, the Great White Snake, the Great Slug, the ghostly immortal of Six Paths, and that lofty Rabbit Goddess above them all.
And no one had ever said those things got struck by lightning.
So why was heaven singling him out?
[Wait… the giant toad hides in a cave, the giant white snake's whole family hides in even bigger caves, the giant slug never leaves Shikkotsu Forest, and the Sage of Six Paths hides in the Pure Land… could it be… they've all been struck by lightning before too?]
Crack—
"Ahhh—… ah?"
Uchiha Yoru suddenly discovered that amidst the violent pain in his body, an itching sensation had started at some point.
That itch began in his internal organs and spread steadily.
Inward, it passed beyond his hard bones and invaded deep into the marrow. Outward, it spread through his muscles and skin.
This was true itch.
The kind that could not be relieved no matter how much one scratched.
Uchiha Yoru watched as he scratched his own arm until it bled, yet the itching did not diminish in the slightest. In the end, he could only forcibly restrain himself and stop clawing at his body.
What made him despair, however, was that the itching was spreading toward his head.
Even his brain was starting to feel itchy.
[This is bad. Am I growing a brain, or am I dying in the brain?]
Just then, another bolt of lightning struck him.
Crack—
"Ah!"
Uchiha Yoru's scream rang out through the thunderstorm, sharp and high.
But in the very next moment, the sound changed.
"Ahhh—ha, haha, good! So good!!"
Miwa Masayo, who had hidden herself far away, was still full of worry at first. But when she heard that bizarre cry of "so good," the little cat's face immediately twisted into a speechless expression.
"What is Yoru doing, nya? Why does this feel so embarrassing, nya?"
Right after that, lightning continued falling into the crater, and Uchiha Yoru's cries of "Good, good, good!" and "That feels great!" followed one after another.
The more Miwa Masayo listened, the more ashamed she became. She covered her triangular ears with her front paws, crouched against the trembling earth, and muttered to herself,
"Can a human this embarrassing still be kept, nya?"
...
Uchiha Yoru genuinely felt amazing now.
The sensation of itching from the marrow all the way to the brain was simply too terrifying. It had been enough to make him want to die. Luckily, another bolt had struck him in time.
The damage from the electrical shock moved from the inside outward, perfectly wiping away the itch throughout his body. Compared to that hellish itch from before, the sensation of pain was almost happiness itself.
The strange part was that the pain caused by the lightning faded very quickly.
Almost immediately, Uchiha Yoru felt as though grass were sprouting all over his body, countless little itches budding out everywhere at once.
His expression changed drastically.
Before the itch could fully explode again, he hurriedly climbed out of the crater, which had now reached a depth of four meters.
Standing upright on the wave-shaped rock at the edge of the pit, he raised his… left hand high into the air. Since he was right-handed, he could only make his left hand suffer a little more.
Before the itching arrived in full force, he was still somewhat afraid of the lightning. After all, the pain of smoking from the inside out was no joke. So for the moment, raising one hand was the most he dared.
But as the violent itching erupted and multiplied, Uchiha Yoru began to long for pain again.
For the first time, he actively circulated lightning-aspect natural energy.
He did not form any technique with it. He merely constrained it and stretched it toward the thundercloud above, just like Franklin flying a kite.
He was going to draw down lightning himself.
The lightning came exactly as he wished, striking Uchiha Yoru until his whole body convulsed. The pain once again drove away the itching, and the sheer relief of it made him howl at the top of his lungs.
"It hurts like hell, and that's exactly why it's good!"
Crack—
"Good! So damn good!"
Crack—
"Not enough! Hit me again!"
Crack—
"Good!!"
As the unending thunder continued to strike his body, Uchiha Yoru's body was not destroyed.
Instead, it was thoroughly cleansed from the inside out.
Among all Daoist schools, thunder was held in extraordinary reverence. It was regarded as the pivot of heaven and earth, the outline of yin and yang. It possessed the power of great destruction and great annihilation, yet at the same time was the source of budding life and the creation of all things.
Protected by the lightning-aspect natural energy in his meridians, what the lightning brought to Uchiha Yoru was not destruction, but an elevation in the level of his life.
Tempered by thunder, he forged the sturdiest Dao foundation of all. He even began to show traces of a higher life-form—such as a physical resistance to lightning strong enough to withstand natural lightning head-on.
If, in the future, some blind fool from Kumogakure ever attacked Uchiha Yoru with Lightning Release or Storm Release, they would finally understand what true despair felt like. Even if they developed an S-rank Lightning Release technique like Kirin, Uchiha Yoru could probably receive it with his chest without changing expression, enough to knock countless jaws to the ground.
Such a miraculous resistance was enough to stand shoulder to shoulder with Six Paths-level beings.
Of course, true monsters of that level were this strong in every attribute, while Uchiha Yoru could only resist thunder for now.
But Yoru also had his own unique advantage.
His resistance to thunder came from his Dao foundation—that is, from his body itself. Even if his chakra and natural energy were completely exhausted, thunder still would not be able to harm him.
The Six Paths-level powerhouses who relied on chakra manipulation, on the other hand, did not possess such a body. If their chakra ever ran short, their resistance to ninjutsu was actually not much better than that of ordinary shinobi.
But right now, Uchiha Yoru had not realized any of that.
The thunderstorm was still going on.
The itching was still being born.
And he was still bouncing back and forth between two different forms of agony, savoring the brief moments of pleasure between each exchange.
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