"If I open this lid, there is no guaranty that I will not be struck by lightning!" Old Iba protested.

"No choice! Do it!"Tie Nse ordered fiercely. Breaking out in cold sweat, Old Iba steeled his heart, his old face crunching up into stone, he flexed his muscles and pulled together his energy. With one swift motion, he opened the lid and swiped the pill from the pot, throwing it into the jade box.

But the heavenly lightning in the sky had long retained a mind of its own. As though remembering the insult of Ed's last breakthrough it had come prepared. It struck out at the pill the moment the lid of the alchemy pot opened. As the pill flew towards the jade box in the air, it was right on time to catch it with its electric finger and destroy the abomination. Just as its crackling streak almost touched the pill, it connected with an invisible shield. This was enough time for Tie Nse to close the box.

Tie Nse needed not ask to know who made the shield. He glanced at the boy leaning on a tree behind them and looked away, straining his eyes at the veil of fog. He took out a paper slip from his space and released it into the air. The strip burned away to reveal an array, glowing in the sky, before Tie Nse.

"The box is coming in!" Tie Nse communicated to Ed and threw the box into a teleportation array. The next moment, it appeared on Ed's lap.

As though challenging the sky, Ed glanced at the crackling clouds with indifference. The next moment, he opened the box and turned it into his open mouth. As the pill settled into his stomach, Ed heard something pop in his head.

He felt his bones complain as they hardened, and his consciousness lifted to a different height. It was as though he was floating in a sea of energy. His head felt light for a second. Was this the spirit-awakening stage? If so, then what came next was...

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The sky crackled and light crashed down with a fury.

A deadly bolt of lightning descended upon Ed without delay. He felt the electricity tear through his being, into his core. The moment it touched his sea of consciousness, the dark water within got darker. He could feel his cultivation stabilize.

Boom!

Another bolt struck directly unto his crown chakra at the top of his head. He felt light-headed even more as he felt his cultivation rise.

At that moment, when the lightning saw that it had no destructive effect on Ed, instead, his cultivation seemed to be rising, it wished to retreat into the heavens. It was as though it had noticed it was helping Ed, so it tried to leave. As the clouds tried to clear, something held them back. Its lightning kept on hitting on Ed's head regardless of its desire to leave.

Bolt upon bolt descended unto Ed, but Tie Nse was not impressed.

"It had done nothing and it wanted to leave? This lightning being released now is nothing compared to his first breakthrough," Tie Nse said.

"At this rate, it would take forever for him to rise in cultivation. The lightning is not strong enough," Old Iba said.

"It will be. When it notices that it is being held back because of the one breaking through, it will get angry," Nti Anem said.

As though the heavens had heard his words, the clouds no more tried to retreat. It returned, darker than it had come.

"We need to leave!" Tie Nse said, grabbed the other two and blinked far away.

A bolt stronger than any that had ever come descended. It was so large, that it created a small crater in its wake. After the first bolt came down, the rest followed rhythmically.

Perched on a tree a few meters away from the strike zone, they could hear the lightning descending in a rhythm.

"What is it doing?" Old Iba asked.

"Let me send you to go ask it," Tie Nse answered.

"I'm serious!"

"It doesn't matter, it is good for the boy," Tie Nse said.

"Is he still alive in there?" Old Iba asked.