Wild Boars

"Xiao Ming, I have decided on your punishment: you must choose the 8th peak when you successfully become a disciple of the Purple Cloud Palace."

Lei Kongming breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this, but still asked curiously, "What if I fail?"

"Then you could end up like your cousin."

At first, Lei Kongming couldn't understand what Su Zhiyuan was talking about. Then he saw her pointing towards the area where Lei Longwei was still hiding. He felt a chill run down his spine as he realized she was referring to Lei Longwei's seal.

'Although I want to rid myself of the crotch cannon, I don't want to become a half-eunuch like Lei Longwei.'

Lei Kongming didn't ask anything else because he had the confidence to enter the Purple Cloud Palace, and the previous inquiry was just out of curiosity.

"Xiao Ming, don't try to feign death like this in the future. Golden Core cultivators can sense your life force directly. Unless you can temporarily conceal it, pretending to be dead like this is no different from seeking death."

Upon hearing this, Lei Kongming was initially shocked, realizing that his previous actions were foolish. Then, he felt embarrassed and asked, "Life force? Elder sister, could you tell me more about it?"

"Uh, it's difficult to explain in words, but you can think of it as a type of Qi. You should know that when a cultivator breaks through to the Foundation Building realm, they open up their divine consciousness, which helps them sense their surroundings. It's like they have eyes everywhere and can perceive everything within a certain range depending on the strength of their divine consciousness."

"Yes, elder sister, I am familiar with this concept."

"Similarly, when a cultivator breaks through to the Golden Core realm, their divine consciousness undergoes a qualitative change and can perceive different kinds of Qi. A living person's life force is also a kind of Qi, and in the eyes of a Golden Core cultivator, it is no different from the moon in the night sky."

Lei Kongming was struck by realization. His parents had only told him about the divine consciousness of Foundation Building cultivators, so he had assumed that the divine consciousness of a Golden Core cultivator should be the same.

His parents are also innocent in this case because Lei Kongming isn't even a foundation-building cultivator, so telling him about the Golden Core realm makes no sense. More importantly, they never thought that he would encounter a fight involving Golden Core cultivators.

"Xiao Ming, it's time for me to leave. I will be taking the book back; otherwise, someone might snatch it from you before you even become a disciple of the Purple Cloud Palace. You can get it back once you enter the 8th peak."

Initially, Lei Kongming did not know which book Su Zhiyuan was talking about. Then he felt the Black Dragon Immortal Arts disappear from under his armor.

Suddenly, Lei Kongming became very nervous, but then he relaxed because he felt his black orb resonating with Su Zhiyuan. He also heard Su Zhiyuan say that she was taking the book "back," instead of taking it away.

Lei Kongming finally realized that Su Zhiyuan is probably the owner of the green orb and the reason why he didn't feel any resonance in the beginning should be because she had used some method to block it. He also realized that she is the person who gave him the Black Immortal Art and helped him acquire the crotch cannon.

Lei Kongming's face darkened as he wanted to ask about the cure for the crotch cannon, but Su Zhiyuan had already flown away. He could only silently watch her departing figure while admiring her moon and wondering about its elasticity and bounciness.

Suddenly, Lei Kongming felt a sharp pain in his forehead, causing him to sit down and hold his head. He also realized that it was Su Zhiyuan who had caused it.

"Brother Kong? Are you actually relieving yourself here in the bushes? I was worried about you for nothing."

Lei Kongming came to his senses as he noticed Lei Longwei peeking at him from behind the adjacent bushes. He also realized that his current sitting posture had caused some misunderstanding.

"Stop with the nonsense, I was just engaging in conversation with someone truly beautiful."

Lei Longwei glanced around at the partially destroyed forest and then gave Lei Kongming a disdainful look, saying, "Where would you find beauty in such a broken place?"

Lei Kongming also snorted and said, "Believe it or not, I was indeed talking to a beauty. She is as stunning as a celestial immortal visiting the mortal realm."

"Hehehe." Lei Kongming heard laughter in his ear, realizing that Su Zhiyuan had stopped eavesdropping and had finally left.

Lei Longwei rolled his eyes and said, "Brother Kong, it seems those Golden Immortals have already left. I think we should also hurry to the Purple Cloud Palace."

"Let's first find the horses and carriage; otherwise, we won't be able to reach the Purple Cloud Palace in time."

Lei Kongming and Lei Longwei found the carriage not far from where they had abandoned it, but the horses were missing.

"Brother Kong, do you know any tracking techniques? Otherwise, it will be difficult to find those horses."

"We have to improvise. Let's find any beast that can either pull the carriage to the Purple Cloud Palace or at least take us to a nearby city."

...…

Purple Cloud City is a settlement established by the Purple Cloud Palace to serve as a communication hub between the Purple Cloud Palace's disciples and outsiders. Because this city is under the complete control of the Purple Cloud Palace, it is not officially recognized by the Wei royal court. This absence of official acknowledgment means that on official maps, the city appears as a barren land under the control of the Purple Cloud Palace.

However, thankfully, most unofficial maps do mark Purple Cloud City. Therefore, it was not difficult for Lei Kongming and Lei Longwei to find it.

At that moment, two wild boars entered Purple Cloud City, drawing curious looks from nearby residents. Two individuals rode the boars, each person on one, dressed entirely in black with their faces covered by black cloth. While it was common to dress like this in Purple Cloud City, the reason for the strange looks was the boars themselves. There were poor residents in the city, but no matter how impoverished they were, they would never ride boars within the city limits. Doing so would make others view them as country bumpkins.

These two people were none other than Lei Kongming and Lei Longwei. After a long search, they were able to find and capture the two boars. However, since neither of them knew how to tame wild beasts, they could only store the carriage in Lei Longwei's space ring and ride the boars themselves to reach Purple Cloud City.

Of course, the space ring attracted envious glances from Lei Kongming because it was a second-grade treasure, even though its only function was having a large storage space.

"Brother Long, you said you only have a second-grade sword. Where did this space ring come from?"

"Brother Kong, you're still focused on the space ring? Quickly, let's find a way to dispose these wild boars without letting anyone know we're from the Lei family."