Naruto: Cultivating to Immortality

Chapter 1 Artificial Lightning Tribulation

Summer of 2024.

The chirping of birds came from the woods, seemingly announcing the approaching thunderstorm.

This is Danxia Peak in Longhu Mountain, a sacred Taoist site.

The Danxia landform of Longhushan consists of two Danxia mountains developed on the southern edge of the central section of the Xinjiang Basin in southeastern China, composed of Late Cretaceous terrestrial piedmont alluvial-proluvial fan-shaped red sandstone and conglomerate.

This area is generally mild in summer and winter, with a warm and humid climate and distinct seasons. On rainy days or at dawn, the misty mountains are shrouded in clouds and mist, resembling celestial peaks separated by a sea of ​​clouds, or jade belts connecting rosy ridges. When you climb to a high point and look out, the scene before you makes you feel as if you are in a fairyland.

At this moment, the sky was filled with gray, and the whole world seemed dim and oppressive.

Standing atop the mountain was a handsome young Taoist priest dressed in a blue robe, his eyes filled with fervor as he gazed at the sky, his fingers constantly caressing the ancient jade in his hand.

Zhang Xiaonan, also known as Daoist Jianan, is a legitimate Daoist successor who has been cultivating in seclusion on Longhu Mountain. He is also the first Daoist of the "Jia" generation. The ancient jade in his hand has been passed down for thousands of years and is the personal jade pendant of Zhang Daoling, the head of the Longhu Mountain sect. It records the Daoist cultivation methods, but it requires strong spiritual abilities to explore.

Zhang Xiaonan had been interested in this kind of knowledge since he was a child, and after graduating from university, he returned directly to Longhu Mountain to cultivate. His parents did not have much talent for cultivation, so when Zhang Xiaonan was twenty years old, they passed on all the family's knowledge to him.

Zhang Xiaonan became the forty-second generation successor of Zhang Daoling, the sect leader. Upon coming into contact with the Dao Ancient Jade, his spiritual energy unconsciously entered the inheritance space of the jade pendant, where he received the Daoist lineage of Zhang Daoling. This space contained numerous records of Daoist cultivation methods, from the initial stages of cultivation to breaking through the void and ascending to immortality, all meticulously documented.

It records Zhang Daoling's cultivation process from an ordinary person to the patriarch of Taoism. Until he sensed the subtle rejection of heaven and earth, and could no longer make any progress, he finally shattered the void, ascended to immortality, and was expelled from this world by the power of heaven and earth, leaving behind the last legacy.

Zhang Xiaonan cultivated himself on Danxia Peak of Longhu Mountain for over ten years. The passing of his family members intensified his yearning for immortality. This also made him extremely knowledgeable about Taoist cultivation texts, and he was particularly fascinated by the Taoist concept of the unity of heaven and earth. He wanted to follow the path of his ancestors, break through the void, and then ascend to immortality.

However, ideals are often lofty, while reality is often harsh.

Since the Dao Ancestor shattered the void, a change has occurred in the world. The energy between heaven and earth began to decrease rapidly, no longer able to supply the cultivation of immortals. Since then, no cultivator has ever reached a high level.

The cultivation system has been continuously replaced by other things, such as martial arts and qi cultivation. However, the energy of heaven and earth is becoming increasingly scarce, no longer sufficient even for basic cultivation.

The Industrial Revolution brought about massive environmental pollution, rendering the energy of heaven and earth almost imperceptible, which dealt a huge blow to cultivators. The cultivation system thus came to an end; in China, this is called the 'End of Dharma Era,' while in the Western world it is called 'Ragnarok.'

Zhang Xiaonan learned about the helplessness of cultivators in this era from the texts left by his family. However, from his twenty years of cultivation, he also sensed a slight revival of the energy of heaven and earth. But the revival was too slow; it might take hundreds or even thousands of years to reach the level required for cultivators to achieve immortality.

However, every cloud has a silver lining. Zhang Xiaonan's more than twenty years of cultivation had not been entirely fruitless. His spiritual energy could now be transformed into soul power, allowing him to use it to explore his surroundings and even his own body. According to the records of cultivation traditions, this was already at the stage of refining Qi into spirit. The next step was to use his soul power to communicate with the power of heaven and earth to reach the Innate Realm. After that, he would have to overcome the obstacles of heaven and earth, specifically the first 'Heavenly Tribulation.' Once the tribulation passed through his body, he could glimpse the Golden Core Realm and achieve a lifespan of five hundred years.

However, it seems that Heaven and Earth have lost the will mentioned in the inheritance, and will not mobilize the thunder of Heaven and Earth to block the breakthrough to the next realm. But without the entry of the thunder of Heaven and Earth into the body, it is impossible to receive the infusion of the energy of Heaven and Earth to achieve the Golden Core realm.

The will of this world seems to have been extinguished, no longer governing the laws of the natural environment and the cycle of life and death, turning it into a cage of heaven and earth.

Therefore, Master Zhang Xiaonan of the Chianan School made the most important, and also the most audacious, decision of his life: to use scientific methods to draw lightning into his body, mimicking the will of heaven and earth to block the tribulation of lightning.

Over the course of a year, Master Zhang Xiaonan of the Chianan Daoist School traveled around observing the natural lightning of thunderstorms to see whether thunder on rainy days or simple thunderstorms during dry weather were more suitable.

And just like that, a year passed quietly.

After a year, Master Zhang Xiaonan of Jianan had made all the necessary preparations and stood alone on the mountaintop.

The wind howled through the mountains, making Zhang Xiaonan's Taoist robe rustle in the wind, but he remained in the same position, ignoring the oppressive and gloomy environment around him, waiting for the thunderstorm he had been looking forward to.

"I have no one to care about, only the path to immortality." Zhang Xiaonan looked at the distant horizon and murmured, "This is my only pursuit in this life. Whether I perish or be reborn depends on this."

"Boom!" A flash of light ripped across the sky, followed by a rumble of thunder.

"Yes, the moment we've been waiting for has finally arrived!" Zhang Xiaonan saw the lightning on the horizon, and the corners of his mouth involuntarily curled up slightly. At the same time, he couldn't help but feel excited.

He immediately put his ancient jade into his bosom, set up the lightning-attracting device he had purchased at great expense, and sat cross-legged beneath it, fastening the iron ring connected to it to his body. At the same time, he adjusted his qi, his soul power continuously surging from his sea of ​​consciousness, circulating throughout his body, and, according to the cultivation and body-refining techniques, mobilizing the qi vortex in his dantian to rotate continuously, making full preparations.

Fifteen minutes later, the lightning flash seemed to have detected the lightning-attracting device, and followed the device down directly to Zhang Xiaonan's body.

A deafening roar echoed as the lightning-attracting device collapsed, but Zhang Xiaonan seemed oblivious. At that moment, electric currents flickered across his body, causing it to convulse uncontrollably. His clothes were charred, and the smell of burning flesh emanated from them, but his heaving chest suggested he was not in mortal danger.

Zhang Xiaonan's soul power continuously guided the lightning energy towards his dantian, causing the vortex within his dantian to spin rapidly, constantly absorbing the power from the lightning to compress it. As the lightning was continuously absorbed to compress the vortex, its volume decreased, gradually converging into a sphere.

The power of the soul continued to circulate within the body, guiding the absorbed lightning power. Finally, this lightning power was exhausted, but the vortex of energy in the dantian was still a little short of gathering into a pill.

"It's still a little short, and this thunderous power just doesn't feel right!" Zhang Xiaonan felt that the vortex of energy in his dantian, which was about to form a pill, was missing something.

Before he could think it through, a series of thunderbolts followed.

"Boom!" The lightning between heaven and earth seemed to have discovered something, and even without a lightning-attracting device, it continued to surge towards Zhang Xiaonan's body.

For a full 15 minutes, lightning struck continuously in one direction. When the lightning stopped, all that remained were the surrounding trees and rocks, all charred black.