The news of the "Twin Stars of Clear Sky" spread through the sect like a wildfire, but for Tang Feng, the hype was a distraction. While the elders argued over whether his mutated hammer was an omen of prosperity or disaster, he was focused on one thing: survival.
In the original timeline, Tang Chen was powerful but reckless. His strength was "limitless," yet he fell to the schemes of the Slaughter King and the emotional torment of his missed connection with Bo Saixi.
I won't let him walk that path alone, Tang Feng vowed.
Three days after the awakening, the two brothers stood in a secluded gorge behind the sect's main peaks. A massive waterfall roared behind them, providing a rhythmic backdrop to their first official training session.
"Again!" Tang Chen roared.
He swung his heavy black hammer in a wide arc. It was a simple, vertical strike, but the sheer physical force behind it compressed the air, creating a visible shockwave.
Tang Feng didn't meet the strike head-on. He couldn't—not yet. In terms of raw physical mass, the standard Clear Sky Hammer was superior. Instead, he channeled a thin thread of spirit power into his legs.
Thunderbolt Stimulation.
His nervous system flared. To the outside observer, Tang Feng's body blurred. He stepped to the left, the black hammer whistling past his ear so closely he could feel the wind pressure.
"Too slow, Brother," Tang Feng teased, his voice calm.
"Slow?" Tang Chen grunted, pulling his hammer back with a surge of strength that tore the ground beneath him. "It weighs sixty pounds! How can it be fast?"
"That's where you're wrong," Tang Feng said, holding up his translucent blue hammer. Sparks hissed along the edges of the crystal. "Force is mass times acceleration. You have the mass, Chen, but you're fighting the air. You're pushing the hammer. You should be becoming the hammer."
Tang Chen narrowed his eyes. "You sound like the elders, talking in riddles. If you're so smart, show me what that blue glass can do."
Tang Feng took a deep breath. He didn't have a spirit ring yet, but he had something better: a modern understanding of electromagnetism. He began to rotate the spirit power within his hammer, creating a high-frequency vibration.
The hum of the blue hammer changed from a low buzz to a high-pitched scream.
"Watch."
Tang Feng didn't swing with his shoulders. He twisted his waist, using the "Disorder Splitting Wind" foundation technique of the Tang Sect, but with a twist. As the hammer moved, he released a burst of lightning from the rear of the hammerhead—a literal thruster of electrical energy.
BOOM!
The blue hammer moved so fast it vanished from sight, leaving a streak of ionized air in its wake. It slammed into a jagged boulder the size of a carriage.
There was no sound of crushing stone. Instead, there was a blinding flash and a crack of thunder. The boulder didn't break into pieces; it disintegrated into fine dust, the internal structure of the rock shattered by the high-frequency vibration and the heat of the lightning.
Tang Chen stood frozen. His jaw dropped. "What... what kind of power is that?"
"It's not just power," Tang Feng said, his chest heaving slightly. The strike had drained a significant portion of his Level 10 reserves. "It's frequency. Everything in this world has a rhythm, Brother. Your hammer is the mountain—unmovable and heavy. My hammer is the lightning—fast and piercing. If we combine them..."
"We'd be unstoppable," Tang Chen finished, a wild, hungry light appearing in his eyes. He looked at his own black hammer, then back at Tang Feng. "Teach me. Teach me how to make my hammer 'scream' like yours."
Tang Feng smiled. He spent the next few hours explaining the concept of centrifugal force and leverage, translating modern physics into terms a six-year-old martial prodigy could understand.
As the sun began to set, casting long shadows across the gorge, a shadow detached itself from the trees.
"A formidable display," a deep voice echoed.
The brothers spun around. Standing there was their father, the current Sect Master, Tang Bluebow. His expression was unreadable, but his eyes were fixed on Tang Feng's blue hammer.
"The elders want to restrict your training, Feng'er," his father said solemnly. "They fear your mutation is unstable. They want you to focus on support roles, using your lightning to numb enemies while your brother delivers the finishing blow."
Tang Chen stepped in front of his brother, his small frame radiating a fierce protectiveness. "Support? Father, did you not see? Feng's strike was faster and more destructive than mine! He isn't anyone's support!"
The Sect Master looked at Tang Feng. "And what do you think, Feng'er? Will you be the shadow to your brother's light?"
Tang Feng gripped the handle of his hammer. The blue sparks leaped onto his skin, but they didn't burn; they felt like a pulse.
"In the sky, the clouds bring the darkness," Tang Feng said, his voice steady. "But it is the lightning that commands the fear of the gods. I will not be a shadow. I will be the Tribulation that even the heavens cannot ignore."
The Sect Master let out a booming laugh, his aura erupting and shaking the very leaves on the trees. "Good! Then tomorrow, we head to the Star Dou Forest. It's time you both got your first spirit rings. Let's see if the world is ready for two hammers."