The Secret Technique Pavilion was located in the deepest part of the Magic City Ability Academy, a standalone seven-story tower.
The entire building was constructed from dark green ancient stone. When the morning light hit it, it shimmered with a faint, dark gold luster.
The tower had no windows, only a dome at the very top embedded with a fist-sized white crystal, casting a halo over the entire structure.
Lin Yuan stood at the entrance of the tower and looked up.
“I thought the Secret Technique Pavilion would be like those grand, sutra-filled libraries in xianxia novels,” Lin Yuan muttered. “Is it really this plain?”
The building before him looked more like an ancient tomb that had been silent for millennia, carrying a heavy sense of age.
Shen Man did not follow Lin Yuan inside.
The Secret Technique Pavilion had an ironclad rule: only authorized individuals were allowed to enter alone. There had been no exceptions for hundreds of years.
She leaned against the Glowgrass slope outside the tower, took out her phone, and sent Lin Yuan a message.
“Don’t be nervous once you’re inside. The Secret Technique Pavilion will automatically sense your ability and match you with something. You can’t choose. Just focus and feel; don’t let your mind wander.”
Lin Yuan glanced at the message from Shen Man and then put his phone into his space ring.
He took a deep breath and pushed open the heavy bronze doors.
The doors slowly closed behind him, letting out a series of low, heavy thuds.
The space inside the tower was far more vast than it appeared from the outside.
It wasn't just spacious; it was a vastness created by folded space, with a dome so high the top was invisible.
The air was filled with a dry, ancient scent.
Beneath Lin Yuan’s feet was a solid black stone slab engraved with complex array patterns that pulsed with light in sync with his breathing.
“So this is the Secret Technique Pavilion...”
Lin Yuan whispered to himself.
As soon as he spoke, the crystal on the dome suddenly flared with light!
The runes throughout the entire tower were instantly awakened, collectively bursting with a piercing dark gold glow.
Following that, countless beams of light converged from all directions, firmly enveloping Lin Yuan.
The Secret Technique Pavilion’s sensing mechanism had been activated!
A gentle yet powerful force surged from the array beneath his feet into Lin Yuan’s body.
This force was not aggressive; it was simply conducting a thorough investigation of him.
His ability type, quality, cultivation realm, bone tempering rounds, and combat style were all scrutinized one by one.
Lin Yuan’s heart skipped a beat.
In the next second, the surrounding runes began to spin frantically, and countless streams of light zipped through the tower at high speed, causing the entire building to vibrate slightly.
The light swept past the first floor without stopping.
Second floor, third floor, fourth floor—the runes lit up floor by floor and then extinguished just as quickly, clearly undergoing a filtering process.
On the fifth floor, the speed of the rune flow began to slow down. Several streaks of light circled above Lin Yuan’s head for a moment before finally floating upward.
On the sixth floor, the entire level blazed with light as a massive energy fluctuation pressed downward.
Lin Yuan could sense that at least three S-rank lightning-system secret techniques were hidden here.
But the Secret Technique Pavilion still did not stop.
The light from these S-rank secret techniques shone for only three seconds before being forcibly suppressed and extinguished by a power from the floor above.
The seventh floor—the top floor!
Suddenly, all the runes in the Secret Technique Pavilion went dark.
For a moment, Lin Yuan was plunged into absolute darkness.
It was so dark he couldn't see his own hand, and the surroundings were so silent that the only thing he could hear was the sound of his own heartbeat echoing through the tower.
Then, a speck of dark gold light slowly lit up from the highest point of the dome.
The light descended slowly, coming to a steady rest in front of Lin Yuan.
It was a tattered piece of animal hide scroll, only about the size of a palm, with jagged edges.
The hide was covered in golden patterns that moved slowly, each one containing a heart-palpitating power of lightning.
Suddenly, an ancient and overbearing aura rushed toward him.
The Profound Gold Pale Thunder inside Lin Yuan’s body instantly became restless.
【S-rank secret technique detected—Law of the Thunder Emperor - Fragment】
【This secret technique is an ancient fragment of the Thunder Emperor’s inheritance, containing only the first three forms. Though it is a fragment, its quality far exceeds ordinary S-rank secret techniques. Do you accept the inheritance?】
The system’s notification rang in Lin Yuan’s mind.
Lin Yuan stared at the tattered scroll, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl upward.
“Accept!”
The moment those words left his mouth, the tattered animal hide scroll burst into a blinding light!
Countless beams of dark gold light poured out, transforming into three streaks of light that shot directly into the center of Lin Yuan’s brow.
As the first streak of light entered his body, Lin Yuan’s consciousness exploded.
An endless sea of lightning appeared before his eyes. Standing in the middle of that sea was a blurred giant, clad in dark gold thunder armor and wielding a long weapon.
Just by standing there, the lightning surrounding him distorted the entire world!
【First Form: Thunder Emperor's Descent: Enter the Thunder Emperor state, a short-term burst of concentrated power.】
【Thunder Emperor state base buffs: Lightning power +15%, increased speed, enhanced physical toughness, reduced source energy consumption, and a significant increase in mental and illusion resistance.】
【Duration: 5 minutes (increases with proficiency)】
【Cooldown: 60 minutes】
Next, the second streak of light entered Lin Yuan’s brow.
【Second Form: Myriad Decas: Concentrate power while in the Thunder Emperor state to launch a fatal blow. Includes an Armor Break effect, ignoring all defenses, armor, and shields of the same tier or lower. If the quality of your lightning ability is higher than the opponent's, you can break armor across tiers.】
Soon, the third streak of light also poured in.
【Third Form: Thunder Emperor's Armor: Condenses dark gold thunder armor on the body surface, capable of tanking a full-power strike from the same tier. When the armor is shattered, it triggers a Thunder Burst, dealing lightning damage to enemies within three meters and inflicting a paralysis effect.】
With all three streaks of light inside him, the ancient and overbearing aura filled Lin Yuan’s entire consciousness space.
His dantian, meridians, and bones frantically absorbed this power.
The ‘Profound Gold Pale Thunder’ was completely ignited, and dark gold lightning illuminated the entire Secret Technique Pavilion.
This was the source lightning power of the ancient Thunder Emperor, a gift that came with the inheritance, automatically pouring into Lin Yuan’s body.
Lin Yuan immediately sat cross-legged, putting all his effort into guiding this violent energy.
The dark gold lightning raced through his meridians, breaking through layer after layer of bottlenecks wherever it went.
Crack.
With a crisp sound...
【Lightning Ability: Tier 2, Level 1 → Tier 2, Level 2】
The residual energy had not yet dissipated; it charged straight into the domain of his space-time ability.
Instead of repelling each other, the lightning power and space-time power produced a mysterious resonance.
The space-time ability began to operate on its own, with silver halos and dark gold lightning power intertwining and spreading throughout his entire body.
【Space-Time Ability: Tier 1, Level 8 → Tier 1, Level 9】
The light within the Secret Technique Pavilion slowly faded.
Only around Lin Yuan’s body did the dark gold halo continue to flow, and his aura was now several times more powerful than before.
The inheritance of the Law of the Thunder Emperor - Fragment was completely imprinted!
...
Outside the Secret Technique Pavilion, on the Glowgrass slope.
Shen Man leaned under a broad-leaved tree and checked her phone. It was already 10:00 AM.
She let out a yawn, having just finished the last sip of her milk tea.
Suddenly, she felt an extremely overbearing aura erupt from the top floor of the Secret Technique Pavilion.
Though the aura vanished quickly, it caused her to tighten her grip on her milk tea cup.
“This aura... it’s definitely not an ordinary S-rank secret technique. Could it be... that century-old fragment?!”
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