Heavenly Tribulation

"Oh my! Xiao Ming, do you really want to see the Mei sisters naked? How could you even think of such a thing?" said Su Zhiyuan with a shocked expression.

Lei Kongming's eyes twitched. He knew he was no match for Su Zhiyuan's teasing. Unless he said something outrageous, he wouldn't be able to get her to stop. But if he dared to say something too shameful, he'd probably end up getting a beating.

"Elder sister, can I borrow some seasoning?"

"Seasoning?" Su Zhiyuan became puzzled and asked, "Why do you need seasoning?"

"I just caught some fish and want to grill it, but without any good seasoning, it might not taste very delicious."

"Well, Xiao Ming, I don't have any seasoning," said Su Zhiyuan as she started looking through her storage ring, "...but you can use these. They taste just like different kinds of seasoning."

Lei Kongming looked at the bunch of different herbs Su Zhiyuan had given him and asked, "But elder sister, what are these?"

"They are just some spiritual herbs," said Su Zhiyuan nonchalantly.

Lei Kongming looked at Su Zhiyuan suspiciously and asked, "Elder sister, are you trying to sell me some expensive herbs?"

Su Zhiyuan rolled her eyes and said, "Don't worry, they're for free. Their Qi has dissipated and they're only comparable to some mortal herbs."

Lei Kongming breathed a sigh of relief and then examined the herbs. He realized they were very oddly shaped. One of them looked like grass but actually had tiny spikes like those on a cactus. Another one was an azure dew flower, which he was very familiar with, but it was oddly red in color and gave off a very spicy smell.

Lei Kongming looked at Su Zhiyuan with some hesitation but still asked, "Elder sister… why do they look somewhat… strange?" he asked hesitantly.

"They're failed experimental herbs," Su Zhiyuan explained. "I was trying to create new kinds of herbs, but I haven't had any success yet."

"Elder sister, even if they are failed experiments, they might still have some research value. Are you sure you want to give them to me?"

"Xiao Ming, I have already said that you can take them. I usually feed these failed experimental herbs to the fish. If you don't want them, you can help me dump them into the lake."

"...…."

Lei Kongming seemed to have unintentionally discovered the reason why that Electrophorus eel mutated.

'So, it was you, Su Zhiyuan, who made those pitiful fish mutate.'

Now he started worrying about whether it was safe to eat these herbs.

"Elder sister... are they safe to consume?"

Su Zhiyuan looked at Lei Kongming with slight displeasure and said, "Xiao Ming, I would not have given them to you if they were harmful."

"But elder sister, I caught an eel with very sharp teeth that can't give electric shocks. As far as I know, that species shouldn't have sharp teeth but instead should be able to give strong shocks. Its abilities are completely reversed."

"Oh, that fish might have eaten one of my failed experimental pills."

"Pills?"

"Yes, I also dump some failed pills into the lake. I can't sell them because of minor side effects which everyone considers as deadly."

"..."

'It seems I should be very careful while approaching the lake in the future.'

"Elder sister, I'll bring some fish once I'm done," said Lei Kongming as he turned to leave.

"Wait! Xiao Ming, you haven't taken your identity token yet."

Hearing this, Lei Kongming felt a little embarrassed because last time he was too worried about his virginity *cough* his inability to use a space ring that he forgot about it.

"Drop some blood on it."

Lei Kongming followed Su Zhiyuan's instructions and soon felt a connection with his identity token.

"Elder sister, I will be leaving then."

...…..

Returning to the place where he had set up the grill, Lei Kongming smashed the herbs into a paste and covered the fish with it. Soon, the slight fragrance of grilled fish spread through the air, making Lei Kongming swallow his saliva. He was also a little surprised because he had never heard in his second life that Electrophorus eel smelled this good.

'Maybe because of those strange herbs or the weird mutation this eel had.'

As soon as the eel was cooked, Lei Kongming raised his chopsticks to take a bite, but then…

"!!!"

A large amount of lightning flashed on Lei Kongming's body, making him feel like he was experiencing a heavenly tribulation. His meridians started throbbing as the lightning traveled through them, and soon his skin burned black as the smell of burned meat spread through the air.

Lei Kongming quickly ran the cultivation technique, which somewhat helped him as the lightning gradually stopped hurting his meridians, but it still violently traveled all over his body without any signs of stopping.

Suddenly, Lei Kongming remembered the body refining technique he had unlocked and decided to give it a try. He started running the body refining technique, and soon his body began absorbing the violent lightning. Although it started hurting even more badly, thankfully, all the violent lightning started to disappear.

If not for the body refining technique he had unlocked from the Black Dragon Immortal Art, he might not have been able to tame the violent lightning and would have died on the spot.

After some time, the lightning slowly disappeared, leaving Lei Kongming with messed-up hair, burned clothes, and a charcoal-covered face which is probably due to his burned skin.

"...…Who can tell me why this eel is giving me electric shocks after being cut, cleaned, and cooked?"

After a long silence, Lei Kongming stood up with a sigh and walked to the lake to wash his face. He then walked into the nearby bushes to change into the backup clothes he had brought. Then he placed the remaining cooked eel on a clean stone slab, then made his way back to Su Zhiyuan's courtyard, and knocked on the door.