As they absorbed the power of the lightning, the cultivation of Diao San and his men began to soar at a breakneck pace.
When Diao San felt that the cultivation inside his body had reached its peak, he took out the breakthrough pill for the Golden Core stage that Lu Ming had given him earlier.
He popped it into his mouth, preparing to break through to the Golden Core stage...
As for the environment, with the Three Sect Masters guarding them, what was there to fear?
At the same time, he couldn't help but feel incredibly excited. How long had he been following the Sect Master and the others? Yet, his cultivation had already surged all the way to the Golden Core stage.
This was something he wouldn't have dared to dream of in the past.
Similar to Diao San, Niu Er and the others also used this lightning energy to break through to the Golden Core stage.
Meanwhile, the Punishment Lightning was about to explode with rage—literally.
Its power was being dispersed among the various lightning rods and then absorbed by those cultivators...
These lightning rods were something Lu Ming had prepared beforehand.
He had noticed that he was frequently struck by lightning, so he had made preparations. He couldn't keep letting Grandfather take the lightning strikes for him forever!
If Grandfather couldn't handle it one day, he couldn't just sit around and wait to die!
Thus, he had thought of the lightning rods.
Only when the lightning's power was completely drained did the group finally stop.
The Punishment Lightning once again turned into a faint, transparent arc.
Upon its return to the Thunder Pool, the Tribulation Lightning was utterly dumbfounded: “I say, how did you end up in such a miserable state again?”
The Punishment Lightning plunged headfirst into the Thunder Pool. It didn't want to speak; it felt like it had fallen into a deep depression.
It desperately needed some mental therapy.
Looking at the dejected Punishment Lightning, the Tribulation Lightning was also at a loss. It couldn't really help either!
Suddenly, the Tribulation Lightning's eyes lit up: “What's his cultivation level? When he's about to break through, I'll go strike him and avenge you...”
“Boom...”
The Punishment Lightning suddenly stood up from the Thunder Pool, causing the entire pool to shake violently.
It felt as though its depression had vanished.
“He's currently in the Nascent Soul stage. His next step is Soul Transformation, and then you can strike him!”
“What? The Nascent Soul stage?”
The Tribulation Lightning couldn't help but cry out in shock. It had assumed that anyone capable of beating the Punishment Lightning into such a pathetic state would at least be at the Unity stage, if not the Mahayana stage.
To think a mere Nascent Soul stage cultivator had reduced the Punishment Lightning to this.
It even began to suspect that the issue lay entirely with the Punishment Lightning itself.
Seeing the Tribulation Lightning's reaction, the Punishment Lightning didn't bother to argue. Instead, it used lightning to trace out Lu Ming's portraits.
One was his ordinary human appearance, one was his pale-faced look with dark circles, and the other was his Great Sage Equaling Heaven form...
Staring at the three portraits, the Tribulation Lightning was somewhat confused: “These are all the same person?”
“Yes! When the time comes, no matter which form he takes, you just strike him with all your might. Strike him to death...”
“This monkey form looks a bit tough to mess with. I have this strange feeling that he's going to trample me under his feet...” the Tribulation Lightning said, pointing at the portrait of the Great Sage form.
“No matter what he looks like, it's just that damned human's disguise! What are you afraid of?”
“This time, I was striking him while he was in his monkey form...”
Speaking up to this point, the Punishment Lightning paused. Could its failure this time have something to do with that form?
Then, it shook its head. How could that be possible?
It was merely a disguise and had nothing to do with the form itself.
Besides, if it was related to that, how could it explain its previous failures?
The Tribulation Lightning nodded in agreement. It also felt that it was overthinking things.
It was just a monkey form, after all...
While the two lightnings were discussing Lu Ming's monkey form, Lu Ming and the others had finished packing up.
“Hurry up and change your clothes. Let's go back and look for my grandfather...”
Hearing Lu Ming's words, Diao San and the others quickly changed.
They knew Lu Ming had a grandfather. Although he was a corpse, he was incredibly powerful and could block lightning...
To be honest, they wished they had a grandfather like that too.
Just a moment ago, they were wondering why the old man hadn't come out to take the lightning strikes this time.
After packing up, the group headed straight back to the Xiaotian Imperial City.
By now, the rebellion inside the imperial city had been quelled.
The Ancestor of the Variegated Tiger clan had been killed by the combined efforts of the Demon Emperor and his allies.
Meanwhile, General Dog had also left the demon race, his whereabouts unknown.
He had likely fled, fearing that the Demon Emperor would settle old scores with him.
Upon hearing from Lu Ming that his grandfather was lost, the Demon Emperor took the matter very seriously.
Although he didn't understand how a monkey could have a human corpse as a grandfather, he still dispatched demons to help search the entire city...
Lu Ming, Big Yellow, and the others returned once again to the place where Grandfather had gone missing.
Without wasting any words, the group dug three feet into the ground to search the area once more.
Sure enough, the corpse of the old man wearing large boxers was dragged out by Zhu Wuneng with a sweep of his rake.
“Great Sect Master, who is this?” Zhu Bajie asked, hooking the corpse with his rake.
“No idea,” Lu Ming replied.
Just as his voice fell, the patterns on the floral boxers worn by the corpse suddenly flashed with light.
“Whoosh...”
The space rippled, and it vanished on the spot.
“Ah... Ah... Great Sect Master, save me!”
Zhu Wuneng cried out as he was pulled into the air, still gripping his rake.
“Let go!”
Lu Ming shouted. He quickly soared into the air and grabbed Zhu Wuneng's pant leg.
Big Yellow and the others rushed to help as well.
Riiip...
Zhu Wuneng's pants were ripped right off. Then, with a flash of light, the entire pig, along with his nine-tooth rake, vanished completely.
Lu Ming, Big Yellow, and the others were completely stunned. What just happened?
Not only did they fail to find who they were looking for, but they had also lost another companion in the process.
Left with no choice, Lu Ming summoned the Demon Emperor to have them take a look.
After examining the depths of the ground and listening to Lu Ming's description, Minister Fox stroked his beard and spoke:
“This is an evil array. It absorbs the fortune of the entire demon race to feed the Spring Autumn Gu in order to resurrect someone...”
Hearing Minister Fox's words, the Demon Emperor's face turned grim. That was a close call. If the Little Ancestor hadn't brought Lu Ming and the others here, the demon race would have been completely ruined under his rule...
He felt even more deeply grateful to Lu Ming and his companions: “Great Sage Sun the Lesser, if there is any reward you desire, please do not hesitate to ask...”
Lu Ming had originally wanted to say that he wanted a massive amount of spirit stones.
But considering this was Big Yellow's home, he decided to let it go.
“What about Zhu Wuneng?”
“You need not worry too much. There were likely array patterns or some secret technique on that corpse that triggered a teleportation, and Zhu Wuneng was swept away along with it...”
Hearing this, Lu Ming, Big Yellow, and the others exchanged glances. Why did they feel even more worried after hearing that explanation?
That corpse belonged to the Southern Frontier, which meant Zhu Wuneng had definitely been teleported there as well.
For a member of the demon race to be teleported to the Southern Frontier, how could things possibly end well for him...
Yet, at this moment, they could only fret in vain.
Seeing their anxious expressions, the Demon Emperor said, “Do not worry too much. Our grudge with the Southern Frontier will not be easily forgotten. Once I have properly settled the affairs of the demon race, I will launch a retaliation against the Southern Frontier. At that time, we will help you search for Zhu Wuneng...”
However, in his heart, he thought that by then, Zhu Wuneng would probably already be dead...
Lu Ming and the others could only accept this for now. After all, they couldn't just rush off to the Southern Frontier immediately.
Lu Ming cupped his fists and asked, “I would like to ask, what exactly is the situation with my grandfather?”
Hearing Lu Ming's inquiry, Minister Fox's lips twitched. To have a corpse massage him—only a true eccentric could come up with such an idea.
“Based on what you've described, your grandfather certainly wouldn't have run away on his own. I suspect that something triggered the Teleportation Talisman on your grandfather's body, causing him to be teleported away...”
“As for what happened during the transmission, your grandfather was probably lost somewhere along the way...”
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