Under the rainy sky, Ning flicked his hand, and in front of him appeared a small plate.

On the plate were three grilled fish. They were the three Lightning carps he had found during 'his' chance encounter. They were said to greatly increase the chance of forming lightning Qi, even going so far as to directly condense it if one were lucky enough.

Ning had tried to breed the red lightning carp with other fish as well, but the result was nothing. He even searched the market for fish breeding manuals, eventually acquiring a few and putting them into practice, but it all ended in failure. The carp just refused to breed with other fish as if disdaining their presence.

It had gotten so bad that Ning had even asked his master if there was a pill to gender-bend something. Unfortunately, aside from getting an increasingly complex look from his master, he didn't get anything.

While there was some mention of such pills, they were above Tier Three, so it was but a wish to acquire them. Especially since tier three pills may have greater value than the individual carp itself.

With all of his ventures failing, Ning finally decided to eat the fish himself. The fish feed required for the red lightning carp he had obtained from Li Tianhe was already on the verge of running out, and he had already tried and failed to obtain any other fish feed. So he decided to cook it and eat it.

At first, Ning wanted to pair the fish with spiritual rice to make something like a poke bowl, but he had once read in an article that it was best to use such relics grilled, so he refrained from it.

Still, the fish turned out better than he expected, even though he just grilled it with a bit of salt.

Ning smelled the soft waft of aroma coming off the ancient relics and gulped audibly. The aroma was whetting his appetite.

This sweet aroma once again reminded him of that stew...

"Well, let's eat," Ning took the first grilled fish and ate it.

Boom!!

The flavor overwhelmed his taste buds, and Ning almost couldn't control himself from gorging down the rest.

If it were an ecchi anime about food, without a doubt, he would be shirtless right now. Because that taste was simply divine.

"Delicious." With his face full of tender fish meat, Ning almost shed a tear of joy without caring about etiquette at this moment.

Not only that, but after eating the fish, a huge burst of lightning spiritual energy suddenly gathered in his body. It was not enough to condense lightning Qi on its own, but this energy was like nectar for the Golden Heaven Stream technique, as it operated on its own and assimilated with the lightning spiritual energy.

To be honest, Ning was so taken aback by the delicious flavors that he almost forgot the purpose of this trip. After all, this single meal could probably be one of the best he ever had. He would not mind being a bear if he could catch and eat such fish.

"Still, I failed to condense the Lightning Qi. Oh well, I have two more chances left."

Ning was optimistic. With good food, his mentality was also very good. Especially since, like a starving ghost, Golden Heaven Stream was easily accepting the foreign spiritual energy and digesting it at a rapid pace.

Not only was it impeccably delicious, but Ning could also feel his realm rising once again. So, he set his eyes on these second fish.

Without further ado, Ning took the grilled fish and ate it with such enthusiasm that it could be compared to that one famous chips-eating scene by the god-complex maniac.

Fudging delicious!!

But this time, Ning didn't savor the taste as much as he could because he focused on trying to condense the Lightning Qi with the help of the excessive lightning spiritual energy in the body.

Compress, compress, compress...Ning tried his best. His control was precise and refined, the gathered spiritual qi tried to give birth to something new altogether until it disappeared at the last moment.

It was a dud this time as well. He was unlucky.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Each red lightning carp had a chance to automatically condense lightning Qi. Moreover, the chance was not that low, reaching as high as 50%.

Ning had always considered himself lucky, but it seemed as if there was a dark sky above his head today. Both literally and metaphorically.

"My luck can't be that bad, right? I still have one more chance..." Ning hesitantly glanced at the last piece of meat.

All this reminded him of playing those gacha games in his previous life.

The first time he ate the fish, he was confident. The second time, while his morale was slightly affected, he still retained a bit of hope.

But now that he has finally reached the last chance, it would be wrong to say that Ning was not worried.

After all, he had spent enough money already, but he failed twice. Even so, the hope of acquiring a 5-star was always luring him to the darkness.

"Maybe it's because I didn't pray enough?" At this point, Ning could only pray to those gods above to get blessed and condense the Qi in one go.

"I pray to the Heavenly Dao to grant this foolish mortal enough luck."

"I pray for the Jade Emperor to bless me to reach success."

"I pray Buddha..."

"I pray..."

At this point, Ning didn't have any reservations, praying to all the gods he knew from his previous life, even going so far as to pray to the Heavenly Dao itself.

In the end, Ning still felt it was not enough, so he turned to the final entity.

"Finally, I pray to the Goddess Of Gacha to bless me to get a good roll."

With that, Ning no longer hesitated and ate the last piece of red lightning carp.

At once, the lightning spiritual energy overwhelmed his meridians, like a true dragon, they flowed forward, unremitting and unhesitating. Ning used all the knowledge and experience he had to go forth in condensing the Lightning Qi.

After a few seconds, Ning could feel it. The spiritual energy had the tendency to coalesce and condense to form something anew.

Was this it?!

Just as he was one step short, Golden Heaven Stream circulated suddenly, absorbing the Lightning Qi as if it were the tastiest thing in the world.

NOOOO!!!!!

...

..

In the end, he still fell a step short.

Ning's eyes darkened as he realized.

"Huhuhu!! I see you were no goddess, after all, just another demon asking for sacrifices!"

...

..

Ning sighed sadly.

Of course, that was just a bit of theatrics, but it helped blow a bit of steam. In the end, he was just venting.

After all, anyone would be in a bad mood experiencing what he had felt. Like a lucky dude who won the lottery but was unfortunate enough to lose the lottery ticket that could claim the prize.

"Man proposes, and Heaven disposes, I feel like I understand this statement now," Ning muttered, his expression a bit downcast.

*Slap*

"Well, I still have the final card up my sleeve. It's no time to get depressed." Ning hyped himself up, not forgetting that there was still work to be done.

Hope for the best, and prepare for the worst. Ning always had this type of mentality. So, he still had a backup plan.

After all, the combined chance to directly get the Lightning Qi was not foolproof, even with three carps.

So, for Ning, it was natural to prepare some contingency plans in case he didn't hit that jackpot. For this, he not only compiled a jade slip full of insight into Lightning Qi from his previous life and various books, but he also forced himself to feel the Lightning intimately.

Otherwise, there was no need to force himself to go through that shock therapy method if he was self-assured. Rather, even if he was confident, Ning would do all those things just in case.

So, currently, Ning only had a single thought.

If I can't rely on luck, then I can only rely on my talent (knowledge)!

Refreshing his mind with the Clear Soul technique, Ning took out a jade slip and reviewed it thoroughly for a couple of minutes.

After that, he took a meditative stance and returned to the state of observation. He glanced at the sky above.

The dark clouds at the moment were already covering the entire sky.

Countless insights he had compiled about the lightning Qi, be it either from his own research, from the various novels he had read, or from the sparse information he had pieced together from the library, seemed to come alive right at this moment.

All that knowledge seemed to reflect in those blue eyes as Ning watched those dark clouds and the occasional lightning that stirred them.

Ning was patient, his thoughts were concentrated with the clear soul technique, as he focused on the rainstorm with total calm.

After waiting for a while, as predicted, something big happened.

Boom!!

A resplendent bolt of lightning, akin to the celestial brushstroke of a divine artist, tore apart the black clouds and illuminated the whole world.

It was a breathtaking scene, but perhaps due to its ephemeral beauty, it was short-lived. The once-scattered clouds converged once more, their unity seemingly fortified, as if everything that just happened was a big lie.

Silence...

At this moment, beneath the sky, there was no one, devoid of any presence—neither sentient nor inanimate, everything seemed to come to a standstill.

Only, 'he' was present.

With the lightning spiritual energy as his foundation, his trained senses as an unwavering tether, and his myriad insight as his anchor, Ning captured the scene, even forgetting to blink for a moment.

Unknowingly, Ning ran the Clear Soul Technique, his mind clear and sharp as they came, the scene he had just seen was etched into his mind and seemed to play in an endless loop.

Ning seemed to be isolated at this moment, his spirit trying to comprehend something unknown.

After an unknown amount of time,

Suddenly, Ning raised his head, his blue eyes seemed to flash with an arc of lightning.

"Haha! I understand."

Ning laughed like a madman, as his body unwittingly seemed to generate a short burst of lightning.

Way Of Heaven Is Lightning.

Its essence is destruction, destroying all those unworthy.

Its essence is recreation, blessing all those worthy.

All Heaven is bound with Lightning.

And today, Ning has come in contact with it.