"That's... a Lightning natural treasure...", Wu Long's eyes narrowed at the distant flashes of lightning at the highest peak.
The three beauties knew his lightning skills were slightly stagnating, since they did not automatically improve with his cultivation, and he has been busy with other things as of late, so this was perhaps even more important than the Yin attribute treasure.
They moved to the base of the largest and tallest mountain relatively quickly, and from there started making their way up while cutting down the beasts.
Wu Long made sure to collect cores of the lightning-attribute beasts if they had one.
But as they got closer to the peak, Wu Long had to step in to fight more as 1st-tier Profound Grade beasts showed up three times.
He was also shielding them with Lightning Rune from the Lightning Qi that permeated the air as they climbed higher. It was an ambient Lightning field that the beasts here found comfortable, but was harmful in long-exposure to non-lightning cultivators.
"Stay here", Wu Long then found a good spot near the summit, where he released talismans covering the beauties and concealing them from any other beasts that might roam around, as well as for some time shielding them from the Lightning Qi.
They couldn't proceed with him since there was now too much concentrated Lightning Qi ahead. Sparks of Lightning spontaneously appearing in the air, and arches flashing between black stone surfaces covering the peak.
He proceeded with caution, but relatively quickly.
The saturation of Lightning Qi in the surrounding air was getting high enough for him to start circulating his own Lightning Qi within his body, no longer relying on just his physical resistance.
Lightning Strikes from the thunder clouds above continuously fell in the small area ahead of him, and being up close he finally was sure, it was not just a normal lightning.
At least, it was not the lightning he controlled... yet.
There was also a strange absence of lightning beasts, which put him on alert along with an intuitive feeling, as well as a certain sensation from the Lightning Qi around.
His own lightning covered a small spherical area around him as he proceeded, and with the first clash, he felt most of that protection being overpowered, channeling more Lightning Qi into it, mixing in some of the Tribulation Lightning which instantly alleviated some of the burden.
But as he moved on, more and more Lightning struck his protection, and eventually, he had to seep even Annihilation Lightning.
From the contact with this Lightning he understood a bit of its power, it was also a destructive, violent force, but only by the nature of overwhelming energy, not by its 'intended purpose'.
Unlike the Dao of Annihilation, which even his normal lightning followed, just not to the extent of the Annihilation Lightning of Heavenly Punishment, that sought to reduce anything it touched to ash and return it to the earth, this one was connective... seeking a sustained cycle and to perpetually persist in its current state by looping in that cycle.
Even now, it was connecting with his Lightning Qi from his lightning shield, trying to pry it away, change its inherent destructive nature and then channel it into the continuous loop, expanding its presence.
This was the reason that unlike before, he did not allow it to fall directly onto him, as then it could disrupt his ability to put up resistance by connecting to Lightning Qi directly in his body, and perhaps take over control over his own lightning.
And then he sensed it, a Lightning Rune. Or rather, he sensed its presence, not the Rune itself. It was the first time he sensed a Rune's presence before comprehending it. It was like a feeling of anticipation, as he knew there was something he could obtain, even if he did not know the details of exactly what it was.
His eyes caught a small stone the size of a fist covered by a ball of lightning, with a continuous connecting arc to the thunder clouds above, and several continuous connecting arcs to the ground below, as it send a charge upward into the sky, and then as it fell to the ground, collected it back.
He knew, the moment he touched that sphere of lightning around the stone his Lightning Qi would start being sucked into this loop incredibly fast.
However, he also now knew how to obtain the treasure.
There were three ways to do it.
One, was comprehend the Dao within this lightning right here and now, but that could take days of meditation he did not really have.
Second and third ways were linked, all boiling down to...
"Cut the loop, huh... easier said than done", he chuckled, realizing he had to basically take up so much lightning from the clouds that it disrupted the flow of charge from the ground up into the stone.
One way was to just wait, as he was already disrupting the flow, so eventually it would not be able to sustain the loop.
However, that again took too much time.
Thus, he came up with another way. One which used an amount of Lightning Qi he was not yet able to control that freely without full concentration, and using a profound Qi control technique. In other words, something he could only do in situations outside of combat.
His eyes closed and his hands made flowing rotating motions as if he had an invisible sphere before him around which his hands gently brushed.
Soon, arcs of his own lightning started forming, creating a similar sphere to the one around the stone, and as his pose changed with a slow and profound step to the side, his palms passed by each other in opposite ways, one going upwards, and one downward.
He then channeled the Yin part of the Lightning Rune's power where Yin part of the lightning loop created by the treasure was and Yang part of his Lightning Rune's power where Yang part of the lightning loop was.
Bright flashes spread into the surroundings as the lightning from the ground and up in the sky instantly started forming a concentrated mass on both ends, not touching against two small walls of lightning he created, repelled from them and thus going around in bright arcs.
And as he started quickly expanding those walls horizontally, the two charges from above and below found less and less ground to meet, eventually becoming insulated.
And as soon as he disrupted the large loop, the lightning arches around the stone disappeared, as if they were sucked into it, no longer charging up the clouds above or receiving anything from the ground.
His hands made a continuation of the fluid motion from before as they came together as if he made a big clap from up and down toward the lightning natural treasure, the two walls he created shrinking and changing shape to trap the treasure in an interconnected cage of lightning, trapping the loop inside, as talismans flowed out from his Spatial Ring in hundreds and then thousands, eventually creating a tight sphere of thickly layered talismans.
Wu Long straightened up again in a graceful move while continuing the fluid motions of his hands, eventually bringing both hands up above his head, to both sides of his forehead, and then down simultaneously to the level of his abdomen, making a long exhale at the end.
His eyes opened up, delightfully observing his prize, which he promptly hid away into a separate Spatial Ring, and swiftly returned to the three ladies waiting a bit below the summit of the mountain, and then continuing their journey.