“Alright, so this is enough for now. Need to get the little ones’ shock therapy ready.”

  I got up off the ground, dusted my butt and headed in the direction that the Destiny Scale said it would take the kids.

  ****

  Jia Yan, Tie Lang and Feng Yu were all cultivating bitterly inside the domain of the Destiny Scale when all three of them shuddered at the same time.

  The destiny scale noticed this and wondered what was wrong.

  [Did something happen?]

  “No,” Feng Yu answered. “It just felt like… a scourge of some kind has just decided to descend upon us. Is that weird?”

  The Destiny Scale, now aware of who was on the way towards them remained silent, but it did think to itself.

  [You all did nothing to deserve this, but something tells me it will be funny. So I will just remain here looking ominous and sagacious.]

  A few minutes later…

  “Here I am.”

  [You’ve arrived. Are you all set?]

  “Meh, more or less. Can you open your territory, please? It’s pretty hot out here.”

  [Give me a moment.]

  Long Di stood in front of a fiery red dome with moving runes atop the surface and studied them while he waited.

  ‘Something tells me I’m not going to find A/C in there. Then again, my uncle never did get A/C, so no need to spoil myself. Though the goddess did get A/C after the whole internet fiasco. Those were swell days.’

  Vrrmm

  As Long Di ruminated about his best life, which came after death cause life hated him, the area of the dome he stood before opened up.

  A powerful heatwave assaulted him, causing his hair to blow back wildly. ‘This is either the world’s worst A/C or the Destiny Scale has a penchant for sadism. Change my mind.’

  [Enter quickly.]

  Whoosh!

  Without Long Di’s consent, an irresistible force dragged him inside the domain.

  “I feel violated”

  [Bite me.]

  “You’re getting nasty.”

  Long Di was not prepared for what he saw, for inside the domain was like a scene from hell.

  Fire-attributed spiritual energy rampaged like a wild horse within the domain. Even Long Di who was at a higher realm could feel the effects.

  He quickly covered his body in a thin film of spiritual qi. Utilising his heavenly gaze, he could see the three figures sitting cross-legged within the fiery inferno.

  His vision wasn’t impeded in the slightest when he did this. In fact, his vision went beyond the norm when utilising his heavenly gaze, but he focused the power of his gaze upon the cauldrons and the changes they were undergoing.

  “Interesting.”

  Long Di could see the rustic bronze of Tie Lang and Jia Yan’s cauldrons already starting to lighten.

  Moreover, the carvings upon them were also being dug out as they became even more exquisite and complex.

  Feng Yu’s cauldron was already showing a pinkish hue on its white surface.

  His attention was momentarily drawn to an area of darkness in an inconspicuous corner within the domain.

  ‘I wonder what Shen Ling’s situation is like in there.’

  [Your cultivation technique has taken one step further towards its completion. It's even more profound than before.]

  “You can tell?” Long Di asked when he heard the Destiny Scale’s comment.

  [Of course. I’ve been with you for a while now and I have been studying its intricacies. You truly are a genius in this regard. The young ones are ready. I had them slow down the refinement of their cauldrons a bit so that we could have them undergo a pseudo-divine lightning tribulation to give their foundation a good start.]

  “This is them at a slow pace?” Long Di was a bit surprised that the refinement of their cauldrons was going so fast.

  It wouldn’t be strange for a cultivator to take years to refine a single cauldron to a high grade. Of course, this usually applies to those with mediocre talent without a sect at their back.

  However, even those with a demonic talent would still take months to get their cauldron to a high grade, and this was only for one cauldron. This was also why many cultivators had cauldrons of varying grades.

  Because they lacked patience, they would lock their cauldrons at a grade they weren’t even aware would severely limit their future prospects. Of course, this wasn’t something allowed for the scions and young masters of the top sects and families. They had very experienced sages to help them along their cultivation path, as well as access to resources that made everything easier.

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  However, Long Di could already see changes in the cauldrons of everyone here, and this included the two boys who just stepped into the cauldron-forging-realm, and another who is stepping into a higher grade.

  “Hold on, what did you mean by pseudo-divine lightning tribulation?” Long Di had only just realised that the Destiny Scale’s wording to describe his lightning was a bit off. “Are you trying to say that my lightning is not genuine tribulation lightning?”

  [Your cultivation technique needs to be recognised by the Heavens first. There is no need to contest its rank at the moment, however, it still needs that recognition to be counted as truly complete. Once that happens, its true potential will be unleashed.]

  “Something tells me it won’t be that simple,” Long Di pointed out.

  [That old relic you call your master already explained it well. I need not say anymore.]

  “Oh, so you know about him, huh? Can you tell me about him? Or is it that I am not ready?”

  [You’re not re—]

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I didn’t think so.” Long Di waved off it and its cryptic secrets, no longer thinking of it.

  “Still, is this seriously just them pushing their physiques to their absolute limit?” Long Di wondered to himself as he turned his attention back to the disciples.

  [No. Whilst their talent is incredible and their cultivation technique is… unusual. I am also expending some of my divine energy to speed up the process.]

  “You can do that? You’re willing to do that?” Long Di didn’t think that the Destiny Scale would go that far.

  He knew, based on the many cultivation novels that he read, that divine energy is never something easy to come by, especially in the early stages like now. The mere fact that it was using this currently rare commodity to help the three of them actually moved him somewhat.

  [I can, however, I have paused my expenditure at the moment since I was waiting on you. You can take your seat, I’m going to begin.]

  “Got it.” Long Di sat cross-legged where he was. He was in the centre of the dome so he would be able to reach everyone with no trouble.

  After all, he never used his lightning to try to help people before, so he didn’t want to make it harder on everyone.

  Krrssh!

  Grey lightning danced all over Long Di’s body as he urged his cultivation technique to its limit in an instant!

  D-D-Dum!

  Several cauldrons burst into existence behind him as they rotated soundlessly with a horrifying pressure.

  [Use your spiritual force to lock on to the three of them. Then force the tribulation energy to flow along those paths.]

  The Destiny Scale helped Long Di in his endeavour to not kill Tie Lang and the others.

  KRRRRRSSSH!

  The lighting from Long Di’s body roared like a dragon leaving the sea as it crashed into the body of Feng Yu and everyone else!

  Ack!

  They all coughed up a mouthful of blood after the impact!

  [Rein in your energy!]

  Long Di could hear the Destiny Scale’s flustered warning and knew that he came on too strong. He focused and quickly drew in the majority of his energy.

  When they felt the energy receding, the three disciples sighed inwardly with relief. That was a scary situation for them.

  After all, the Destiny Scale had brought them to a location where the fire-attributed spiritual energy was much more abundant.

  Even though a portion of it was being kept at bay by the domain, it was still a large amount being drawn in.

  Now combine that with being struck by Long Di—since we’re likening him to a natural disaster—almost killed them.

  The energy that Long Di was releasing was brought down to a lazy trickle.

  [Give it a bit more.]

  Crackle!

  The lightning slowly increased in intensity as it flew off Long Di’s body.

  [More.]

  Crash!

  The lightning took a leap forward in power and ferocity as it collided with the body of Feng Yu, Tie Lang, and Jia Yan!

  [RIght there. Perfect. Keep it at this level.]

  The Destiny Scale was pleased with Long Di’s judgement in his sudden jump. This lightning served as much-needed nourishment for their body and had benefits in other ways.

  “Hngh!”

  It was obvious that the Destiny Scale made sure to have the lightning touch upon the very limits of their abilities.

  [Key holder. Input a portion of your energy into this orb for me.]

  A transparent orb appeared above Long Di’s head. “Are you truly treating me like a discount Duracell battery?”

  [I don’t know what any of that means, but please hear me out and do this.]

  “Fine.” Listening to the Destiny Scale’s strange request, Long Di sent a surge of his energy into the transparent orb. This continued for a while as the orb began to fill up.

  [Good, that’s enough.]

  Long Di stopped feeding the orb and went back to put his full focus on the disciples.

  [You don’t have to deal with them at the moment.]

  “What are you talking about?” Long Di asked, a bit confused.

  [I will use the orb of energy to continue their tempering. In the meantime, I want you to take care of our guests.]

  “Guests?” Long Di’s brow raised at the word.

  [Yes, guests.]

  A path opened up within the fiery inferno, showing a vision through the dome quite some distance away.

  Several figures could be seen racing towards their location. It was obvious where they were headed towards.

  “I thought we would be undisturbed here,” Long Di complained. He didn’t like too many people around him.

  [Well, there were a series of explosions that took place quite some time ago. I don’t know what caused it, but I believe this is why they are here.]

  Long Di’s expression didn’t change when he heard this, however, he simply got up and started walking through the path cleared by the Destiny Scale.

  “I will go and handle them.”

  [With no complaints?] The Destiny Scale thought for sure that Long Di would make a bigger deal out of this.

  “What do you take me for? Some lazy, can’t-be-bothered-with, would rather shock people than do anything else type of person? Cause you’d be right. However, there are times when I believe that I should break the status quo and do something right to protect my precious frie—”

  [You caused the explosions didn’t y—]

  “I refuse to answer that.”

  …

  “Boss, what did I tell you? I told you there was something strange going on here.”

  Some distance away, a group of demon race cultivators could see a brightly glowing red dome with fire-attributed spiritual energy swirling around inside.

  The largest of them, the one called boss, stared at the dome with undisguised greed.

  “You did well, Gu Bao. I can tell that this is a treasure being born. This will certainly sell for a lot no matter what it is. Come on, we’ll kill whoever tries to stop us.”