Chapter 91: Thunder God Scroll & Getting Away With It!
Jiang Zhe carefully spread out the scroll on the stone table.
The scroll was a milky white, seemingly as thin as paper. But as soon as Jiang Zhe touched it, he realized it was actually made of a special kind of hide — incredibly tough and flexible.
Suddenly, a thought popped into his mind:
"Skin is also a body tissue. If I tore off a piece, could I forge a third-body clone from it? After all, anything A'Shu gives is never ordinary, even the scraps."
But the idea quickly faded as Jiang Zhe shook his head.
"My second clone should be a main combat body — preferably humanoid, so it can use all my fighting techniques freely. Size or clarity of origin law insights doesn't matter — what matters is sheer combat power and vitality!"
"So, unlike with the Candlelight Clone, I can't just gamble blindly. I need to know exactly what I'm dealing with."
When he chose to nurture the Candlelight Clone, it was for its enhancements to comprehension and time-space law insights — he hadn't cared what shape it might take.
In the end, the "blind box" revealed a golden card: a clone with ten thousand times life gene level and a massive physique.
Now, who knew what creature this hide came from? Better not to gamble.
The thought quickly passed, and Jiang Zhe focused on the scroll, instantly awed by the divine figure depicted on it.
The scroll was about two feet wide and five feet long, painted in dark hues that formed a background of thick thunderclouds and raging lightning.
At its center was a powerful dragon-man deity: scales, horns, glaring eyes. One hand held a cone-shaped thunderbolt, the other pounded on a circle of twelve drums.
It looked somewhat like the Japanese thunder god…
No — it was exactly the traditional Chinese thunder god image.
But an early version, predating the familiar "Lei Zhenzi" form, the kind often seen in ancient murals.
This painting combined the thunder god from The Classic of Mountains and Seas with later depictions of muscular divine figures, resulting in this forceful dragon-man thunder god.
""Thunder God Scroll"?" Jiang Zhe had already obtained its information.
This was a scroll containing endless mysteries of thunder arts, essentially a source of countless marvelous techniques. Everyone who gazed upon it would gain something different.
Some might comprehend a meditation method.
Others might see a fundamental cultivation technique of thunder laws.
Or perhaps insights to control lightning, mastering catastrophic strike techniques…
The scroll was imprinted with the truths of heaven and earth — what one could gain depended entirely on their own perception.
For example, Jiang Zhe himself, staring at the dragon-man's powerful muscles, subtly adjusted how he exerted force — and instantly felt his power multiplier increase dramatically.
Ever since advancing to the Universe level, he'd had about a 70–80x power amplification. Now, after this new insight, he'd need to test it at the "Immortal Altar" to find the exact figure.
"Interesting… but does practicing thunder laws in this world really have a future?" Jiang Zhe frowned slightly.
Because in this origin world, "thunder" itself wasn't particularly high in standing.
Pure thunder wasn't enough — thunder + time was a bit more promising.
Beyond that, it was all about combining laws.
By the time one reached the Eternal True God level, even grasping a trace of the universe origin — say, the thunder origin — only placed it alongside light & dark origin, water & fire origin. Still below space-time origin or life-death origin.
"Forget it. No need to overthink. If it's useful for now, I'll use it." Jiang Zhe shook his head. "At the very least, it can help me comprehend thunder origin laws now, spark inspiration, maybe even let me create a technique to boost physical amplification."
He kept studying the scroll, and soon noticed subtle changes.
The dragon-man thunder god was becoming more vivid!
On its horns, scales, and skin, faint, intricate patterns unique to this world were emerging — much like the "Beast God Stele"'s thunder beast god patterns.
Staring at these evolving, clarifying patterns, Jiang Zhe couldn't help exclaiming:
"Huh! It's not just thunder — I see traces of light, wind, time, even space and the five elements."
"Could it be… it's imprinting this world's origin rules, using thunder as the main conduit to command many laws, forcibly raising the thunder god's level and making it better fit this origin world?"
Jiang Zhe murmured in surprise and delight.
If that was true, the upper potential of this "Thunder God Scroll" would increase dramatically.
Even if he changed to another origin world in the future, as long as he carried this scroll, he could still become a top expert in thunder laws there.
"I'd better seize this opportunity!"
Jiang Zhe calmed his mind and focused entirely on the evolving law patterns, insights into the world's origin laws continuously imprinting themselves into his mind.
He even asked Oriana to request leave on his behalf from Mopo Sang's regular tutoring sessions.
It wasn't until April, Year 2074 on the Hanxia calendar, that Jiang Zhe finally emerged from this trance.
"Marvelous! Absolutely marvelous!" Jiang Zhe was overjoyed, feeling the gains from this past year. "The "Thunder God Scroll" aids comprehension of origin laws even more effectively than the Chaos Tablet!"
"After all, the Chaos Tablet only holds insights of a Universe Lord on the laws, whereas the "Thunder God Scroll" captures traces of the origin laws themselves — there's a fundamental difference in level."
A smile spread across Jiang Zhe's face, and he no longer felt so attached to the Chaos Tablet.
The Chaos Tablet's benefits were actually quite limited for true geniuses.
Take Luo Feng for instance:
After seriously finishing the first three pictures of the Nine Universe Chaos Tablet and mastering 108 spatial intricacies, he switched to comprehending the Beast God Statue, cultivating the "Beast God Seven Killings". Then, after training on the outer battlefield, he received the Ancestor God's inheritance, later went to the Beast God Realm to create secret techniques under Sitting Mountain Guest's arrangement. After all that, he became a major figure in the original universe.
Jiang Zhe left the bracelet space and returned to the ship.
He greeted Sha Wu and the guards, had a drink with Luo Feng to chat about recent progress, then logged into the Virtual Universe to finally visit his teacher Mopo Sang — after ghosting him for nearly a year.
Even a near-Seal King Immortal like Mopo Sang, who valued him greatly, couldn't be endlessly patient. If not for official duties, he'd have left long ago.
So when Jiang Zhe visited, Mopo Sang immediately dragged him to the training field to test his progress.
If he didn't meet expectations, he was sure to get an earful.
After a while, Mopo Sang's soft face finally relaxed.
"Good. It seems you didn't waste this year. Your insight into the thunder origin law surpasses most domain lords, only below those acknowledged by the laws themselves."
"Yes, teacher. I've fully grasped 72 thunder intricacies."
"Thunder God Scroll" — as its name implied, its core was thunder. This was Jiang Zhe's biggest gain over the past year.
Mopo Sang nodded. "I have no doubt that if you focused on thunder for all 30 years in the initial universe, you'd definitely gain recognition by the thunder origin law when you emerged. But I don't want you to do that."
He then explained:
"When a Universe level gains recognition by the origin law, their talent shines too brightly — they'll rocket to the top of the hit lists for alien assassins. You'd be exposed, they'd be in the shadows. Honestly… we couldn't guarantee your safety. I had a grand-uncle…"
Suddenly he smiled wryly. "Never mind why I'm telling you all this. In short, your thunder law comprehension is sufficient. From now on, shift your main focus to the time origin law."
"As you command, teacher."
"You've grasped over 20 time intricacies by now, right?"
"Teacher, your sharp eyes never miss anything — I've comprehended 21."
"Excellent. Watch closely as I demonstrate this new spear technique. You'll have to work hard over the next few days to catch up on the lessons you missed this past year."
"I wouldn't dare slack off. I must trouble you instead, teacher."
"Enough chatter! Watch!"
Time flew, and another four months passed.
In the ship's small bar, Jiang Zhe and Luo Feng sat side by side on high stools at the counter, while Oriana mixed drinks behind it.
Jiang Zhe swirled his glass, curious.
"How's your progress? Have you mastered a spatial intricacy yet?"
"Sigh." Luo Feng shook his head. "It's such a hard path. I'm still far off. Later, I switched strategies — first broadly comprehending all nine intricacies."
"Two years ago, I bought half of "Gold Origin" for 4000 points on discount, so half my focus is also on comprehending gold law."
"Senior brother… is that okay?"
"A very wise choice. But once you enter the Initial Universe, still focus on higher laws." Jiang Zhe first affirmed, then advised.
Luo Feng relaxed and smiled. "Thank you, senior brother."
"Once inside, there'll be many powerhouses. Try to quickly find a teacher — my advice may not always be perfect."
Luo Feng frowned. "But I already have a teacher…"
Before Jiang Zhe could respond, Babata was already roaring in Luo Feng's mind, explaining the universe's rules on apprenticeship.
When Babata learned two years ago that Jiang Zhe was receiving long-term personal instruction from a near-Seal King Immortal, its face was quite a sight.
It often muttered that if its old master had been willing to bow his head back then and join the Virtual Universe Company, their fates would have been completely different.
Jiang Zhe felt the same way in his heart.
If Huyan Bo had entered the Virtual Universe Company's environment, as long as he hadn't fallen, he might really have had a chance to become a Universe Venerable.
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