# Chapter 4: Trial by Lightning
The construction site feels surreal after last night's underground revelations. I'm hauling rebar with the same crew I've worked alongside for two years, listening to Old Wang complain about his wife's spending habits, while internally cataloging the seventeen different ways I could kill everyone here with my bare hands.
It's a disturbing realization. Body Refinement Stage 2 hasn't just made me stronger—it's fundamentally altered my relationship with violence. Where I once feared confrontation, I now analyze threat patterns. Where I once avoided conflict, I now see opportunities for combat practice.
"Zhang, you listening?" Boss Liu's voice cuts through my introspection. "I asked if you can handle overtime today. Big concrete pour scheduled for tomorrow."
"Sorry, Boss. Can't do overtime today. Have... medical appointment."
It's not entirely a lie. Getting mauled by interdimensional creatures probably counts as a medical situation.
Liu frowns but doesn't push. I've been a reliable worker for two years, never missing shifts or causing problems. One afternoon off isn't going to damage my employment prospects—assuming I survive long enough for employment to matter.
[Combat preparation recommendations,] the system chimes in my mind as I head home after lunch. [Suggested pre-fight cultivation: 4 hours meditation, 2 hours technique practice, 1 hour combat visualization. This will maximize your survival probability.]
"What are my actual odds against a C-Class monster?"
[Current assessment: 67% survival probability against standard C-Class entities. Variables include specific monster type, arena conditions, and host's ability to maintain combat focus under pressure.]
Sixty-seven percent. Better than a coin flip, worse than I'd prefer for something that could end with my death. But the potential rewards—both financial and cultivation-wise—make the risk worthwhile.
I spend the afternoon following the system's recommendations, pushing my techniques to their current limits. Lightning Palm has evolved beyond simple electrical discharge into something approaching actual mastery. When I strike the makeshift practice dummy I've set up in my apartment, the resulting explosion of energy leaves scorch marks on the concrete walls.
Lightning Step has become second nature, allowing me to teleport up to ten meters in any direction with barely a thought. More importantly, I've learned to chain multiple teleportations together, creating unpredictable movement patterns that would confuse even experienced fighters.
But it's the new technique I've been developing that might make the difference tonight. The family notes contain references to something called "Thunder God's Judgment"—an advanced application of lightning cultivation that combines mobility, power, and precision into a single devastating attack.
I've managed crude approximations during practice, but never under combat stress. Tonight might be my first real opportunity to test it.
---
The Underground feels different when you're not a tourist. Liu Mei meets me at the entrance wearing form-fitting tactical gear that emphasizes both her professionalism and the weapons concealed throughout her outfit. Her greeting nod contains a subtle assessment of my condition—checking for signs of fear, hesitation, or second thoughts.
"You look ready," she says, leading me through the crowd toward the fighter preparation areas. "Confident but not cocky. Good. Overconfidence kills more newcomers than monster claws."
The preparation room resembles a cross between a gym locker room and a military armory. Other fighters stretch, meditate, or inspect their equipment with the focus of people preparing for mortal combat. I recognize the C-Class Hunter from two nights ago—the one who survived his match against a Void Stalker by the skin of his teeth. He's here again, apparently addicted to the adrenaline rush of near-death experiences.
"Your opponent tonight is a Crimson Howler," Liu Mei explains, handing me a tablet displaying grainy footage of the creature. "Captured three days ago from the Guangzhou Tear. Roughly the size of a large dog, but faster and considerably more aggressive. Primary attacks are sonic-based—it can shatter glass with its voice and disorient humans with subsonic frequencies."
I study the footage, watching the creature move. It's built like a wolf that's been redesigned by someone with a fetish for predatory efficiency. Six legs for maximum stability and speed, a elongated skull filled with teeth designed for tearing flesh, and patches of what looks like natural armor along its back and flanks.
But it's the way it moves that catches my attention. The Howler doesn't run so much as flow, its body rippling with liquid grace as it navigates obstacles. Fast, yes, but following predictable patterns based on its anatomy and hunting instincts.
"Weakness?" I ask.
"Besides killing it?" Liu Mei's smile is sharp. "Electrical attacks disrupt its nervous system more effectively than conventional weapons. Lucky for you, considering your specialty."
[Combat analysis confirms vulnerability to lightning-based attacks,]*m the system notes. [Recommended strategy: Use mobility advantage to avoid sonic attacks while delivering targeted electrical strikes to nerve clusters.]
"How long do I have?"
"Standard match duration is five minutes maximum. Most fights end much sooner—one way or another." She checks her tablet. "You're on in twenty minutes. Final preparations?"
I find a quiet corner and slip into meditation, not the deep cultivation trance I use for advancement, but the combat-focused awareness state described in my family's notes. My spiritual energy settles into optimal flow patterns, ready for instant deployment. My muscles relax while remaining coiled for explosive action. Most importantly, my mind enters the strange state of calm alertness that precedes violence.
When I open my eyes, the world seems sharper. Colors more vivid. Sounds more distinct. The subtle electrical hum of the Underground's power systems becomes clearly audible, and I can feel the spiritual signatures of everyone in the room like warm spots against my skin.
"Time," Liu Mei says.
---
The arena hasn't changed since my last visit, but experiencing it as a participant rather than observer creates an entirely different psychological effect. The reinforced walls that seemed reassuring from the audience now feel like a cage. The bright spotlights that illuminated the action now create harsh shadows and blind spots. The cheering crowd that provided entertainment now sounds like bloodthirsty spectators at a gladiatorial execution.
I step into the designated starting circle, feeling the rough concrete beneath my feet. Across the arena, a reinforced gate begins to slide upward with mechanical precision.
"Ladies and gentlemen," the announcer's voice booms, "tonight's featured newcomer match! In the blue corner, making his Underground debut, the mysterious construction worker with lightning-fast reflexes—Zhang Wuji!"
The crowd's response is lukewarm. I'm an unknown quantity, probably boring compared to the established fighters they're used to seeing.
"And in the red corner, fresh from the Guangzhou incident, one of nature's perfect predators adapted for interdimensional hunting—the Crimson Howler!"
The creature that emerges from the gate exceeds the footage's ability to convey its alien menace. Standing four feet at the shoulder but stretching nearly eight feet from nose to tail, it moves with the fluid precision of a machine designed for killing. Its crimson fur seems to absorb the arena lights, creating patches of living shadow across its form.
When it sees me, it goes perfectly still. Not the stillness of hesitation, but the focused immobility of a predator selecting the optimal moment to strike. Its eyes—six of them arranged in pairs along its elongated skull—reflect the spotlights like mirrors.
"Fight begins in three... two... one... BEGIN!"
The Howler's response is immediate and terrifying. Its mouth opens impossibly wide, revealing rows of teeth like crystallized darkness, and it releases a sound that bypasses my ears entirely. The sonic attack hits me like a physical blow, disrupting my balance and sending spikes of pain through my skull.
I stagger, momentarily disoriented, and the creature launches itself across the arena in a blur of crimson motion. Six legs provide incredible stability and acceleration, allowing it to change direction mid-leap in ways that defy physics.
But I've been preparing for exactly this scenario.
Lightning Step activates just as the Howler's claws reach the space where I was standing. I reappear ten meters to the left, already charging Lightning Palm for a counterattack. The creature's momentum carries it past my original position, but it recovers with inhuman speed, twisting in midair to land facing my new location.
We circle each other for a moment, predator and prey both assessing the other's capabilities. The Howler's six eyes track my movements with mechanical precision, while I analyze its movement patterns for exploitable weaknesses.
It attacks again, but this time I'm ready. Instead of relying purely on Lightning Step to avoid its charge, I use the technique offensively—teleporting directly above the creature as it passes beneath me.
Thunder God's Judgment activates for the first time in actual combat.
I fall from above like a living thunderbolt, my right palm crackling with concentrated electrical energy. The technique combines the impact force of a ten-meter drop with the devastating power of my strongest Lightning Palm attack, all focused into a single point of contact.
My hand strikes the Howler between its shoulder blades, driving the creature to the arena floor with bone-crushing force. Electricity erupts through its nervous system, causing its muscles to spasm and its limbs to thrash uncontrollably.
But C-Class monsters earn their rating through resilience as much as aggression. The Howler rolls away from my follow-up attack, shaking off the electrical trauma with disturbing speed. When it regains its feet, its eyes burn with predatory fury.
The sonic attack that follows nearly ends the fight. Instead of the focused beam it used before, the creature releases an omnidirectional howl that hits me from all angles simultaneously. The sound doesn't just affect my hearing—it disrupts my inner ear, making balance impossible, and sends vibrations through my bones that feel like being struck by hammers.
I collapse to one knee, struggling to maintain consciousness as the world spins around me. Through the haze of pain and disorientation, I see the Howler gathering itself for a final charge.
This is it. Do or die moment.
I pour every point of available spiritual energy into Lightning Step, not for movement but for power. Instead of teleporting away from the creature's attack, I teleport directly into it—appearing in the space between its open jaws just as it commits to its killing lunge.
At point-blank range, Lightning Palm becomes something beyond a mere technique. The electrical discharge that erupts from my hands has nowhere to dissipate except through the creature's skull and into its brain. The Howler's nervous system, already stressed from our earlier exchange, simply shuts down under the massive electrical overload.
The creature drops like a puppet with severed strings, its body twitching with residual electrical activity. After a moment that feels like eternity, it goes completely still.
The arena falls silent except for the ringing in my ears and my own labored breathing. Then the crowd explodes into cheers, and I realize I've won.
[Combat Objective Complete: First Arena Victory Achieved]
[Experience Gained: Significant. Technique Mastery Increased.]
[Rewards Processing...]
I remain standing over the Howler's corpse, electricity still dancing across my skin, until Liu Mei enters the arena with the medical team. Her expression contains approval mixed with something that might be respect.
"Clean kill," she says, checking the creature's vital signs with professional efficiency. "No unnecessary cruelty, minimal arena damage, excellent technique application. The crowd loves an efficient predator."
The payment—five thousand yuan in cash—feels almost anticlimactic after the life-or-death intensity of the fight. But it's the system notifications that truly matter.
[Arena Combat Complete: Victory Achieved]
[Rewards: +100 System Points, Combat Mastery (Basic), Underground Network Access Unlocked]
[Body Refinement Stage 2 Progress: 94% (Combat pressure accelerated advancement)]
[New Technique Available: Thunder God's Judgment (Combat Tested)]
[Special Achievement: First Kill Bonus - Additional rewards processing...]
[Stage 3 Breakthrough Available: Requires suitable cultivation environment and 48 hours of intensive meditation]
Stage 3. Finally within reach.
But as I leave the arena amid cheers and congratulations, I'm already thinking beyond tonight's victory. The Underground offers access to stronger opponents, better resources, and cultivation opportunities I never imagined. But it also represents a path that leads further from normal human society with each step.
My phone buzzes with a text from Boss Liu: "Hope your medical appointment went well. See you Monday."
Monday. Construction work. Hauling concrete and pretending to be a normal human being who can't kill interdimensional predators with his bare hands.
The disconnect is becoming impossible to maintain. Soon I'll have to choose between the mundane life that offers security and the cultivation path that offers power.
But not tonight. Tonight, I have five thousand yuan in my pocket, Stage 3 advancement within reach, and the satisfaction that comes from facing death and emerging victorious.
The grind continues. And I'm starting to love every dangerous minute of it.
[Underground Status: Recognized Fighter]
[Next Recommended Challenge: B-Class Opponent or Team Combat Scenario]
[Warning: Advancement beyond Stage 3 will make concealing your true nature increasingly difficult.]
A problem for future me. Right now, I have cultivation to complete and power to consolidate.
After all, grinding never hurt anyone. Even when it involves mortal combat against interdimensional monsters.
Especially then.