Chapter Five: The Art of the Dao

"Are you Chinese?"
Lan Yi spoke in Mandarin, every word clear and precise with the accent of Tianjing, not the stiff pronunciation of Dongyang people who could not distinguish R from L. Instantly, Koichi Tadaso's face turned ashen, his attitude shifting from utmost respect to disdainful irritation.

Tall stature, handsome features, extraordinary bearing—what did any of that matter?
A citizen of a ruined nation would always be looked down upon.
To think he had actually shown such deference to a Chinese man just now—if word of this reached Puhai, his peers would mock him mercilessly, especially since he was currently desperate to integrate into the Transoceanic Trade Club.

"That's right, I did just call you a sick man of East Asia. But you are tall, so do not take offense."
His attitude had changed completely.
Koichi Tadaso’s tone grew impatient, his gaze toward Lan Yi turning unfriendly. Yet, for now, it was only mildly so, because Lan Yi’s short hair, well-tailored shirt, and obvious signs of having studied abroad made Koichi decide to probe further before making a scene.

But Lan Yi, already offended, had no intention of waiting to settle accounts.
He slowly raised his hand, splaying his five fingers toward the man from Dongyang.
This Koichi Tadaso was daring indeed. It had been a long time since Lan Yi had seen anyone behave so arrogantly before him. He was even considering sending him off with full honors.

It happened in an instant.
Koichi Tadaso's pupils shrank violently, while the Dongyang woman beside him gaped in shock. Not only them—the porters, carriage drivers, gang members, patrolmen, merchants, and foreigners nearby all widened their eyes and froze in place.

Lan Yi's black cropped hair transformed in a flash into a mane of otherworldly, writhing, snowy white locks!
Life Cluster: Azure Radiance.
Location: Hair. Ability: Finer than spider silk, supremely sharp, controls magnetism and ill fortune, seals supernatural powers.

Azure Radiance was one of the seventy-two Life Clusters required for the Destiny Diagram: Celestial Treasury of the Nine Heavens, and also Lan Yi’s personal cluster. With ample spiritual energy and profound mastery of Taoist arts, Azure Radiance served as an all-purpose medium for rituals, enough to handle almost any situation in this world.

Driven by Lan Yi, in the year 1909, it appeared nothing short of demonic!
With a slight twitch of his finger, a strand of fine white hair spun loose into his palm. Instantly, the ends joined to form a high-speed spinning ring, which transformed into a mass of plasma superfluid, emitting a light as dazzling as the midday sun!

Daoist Magic of Divine Firmament Peak: Thunder in the Palm.

A basic Taoist technique reengineered by the head of a certain artificial divine sect—now unleashed by Lan Yi with thousands of times the usual power!
Boom!!!
Like thunder from the heavens, it roared and crashed! Within a kilometer’s radius, all present lost control of their bodies, paralyzed with terror, collapsing to the ground! Their minds went blank, as helpless as startled quail!

A blinding flash swept past, and the crowd’s vision shifted from blinding brightness to pitch blackness and finally back to normal. As they wiped away tears, struggling to see what happened next, they found themselves kneeling, not merely sitting.

Koichi Tadaso stood unharmed where he was.
Lan Yi shook his hand lightly, and Koichi Tadaso exhaled.

Whoosh—
In the next moment, Koichi Tadaso, unharmed just before, turned instantly to white ash, as if petrified and then blown away by the wind, vanishing without a trace. This Thunder in the Palm had not even harmed the Dongyang woman clinging to his arm; she shrieked hysterically and fled headlong into the river.

Lan Yi was very satisfied.
Though he had lost many Life Clusters and this body retained only the basic spiritual core, with his cultivation set back to the starting point, nothing stopped him from wielding high-powered Taoist arts. The power of the earth’s magnetic field was his to command!

"The God of Thunder has manifested!"
"An immortal has descended!!"
"Lord Thunder, please smite these foreign devils!"
"Immortal, grant us justice—strike down those beasts!"
"Heaven has finally opened its eyes, heaven has opened its eyes!!"

The directness of this thunder surpassed any charlatan’s tricks, any curse of a spirit medium. In this age of ignorance—and even in modern times—people would have proclaimed him a deity. Within a kilometer, the entire crowd dropped to their knees, bowing their heads against the ground repeatedly.

They kowtowed so hard that their heads bled and flesh was torn; some, once dazed and numb, were now seized with fervor.

They hated!
Humiliated, their country’s honor lost! Treated as less than human! On their own land, foreigners acted with impunity—plundering property, violating wives and daughters, even committing murder without anyone to uphold justice! Those who could have stood up had long since been broken, reduced to little more than snarling dogs!

"Let me consider what other arts would be suitable…"

Lan Yi ignored the reverent cries around him, his gaze fixed on the ironclad warship maneuvering on the river, its guns beginning to turn.
At present, there were few Divine Firmament arts capable of destroying a warship outright.

"Yes! This one will do!"
A look of delight crossed his face.
The writhing white hair shed more strands, but this time, instead of falling into his hand, they floated behind his head, suspended by magnetic force. The white hair linked end to end, forming rings that quickly grew more intricate.

Within the rings, layer upon layer of thin cavities appeared, each maintained by Azure Radiance’s control over magnetism, storing powerful electrical energy like crystalline batteries. When needed, a simple disruption of electromagnetic balance would release it all.

To use the basic spiritual furnace to manipulate the energies of light, fire, earthquakes, landslides, electromagnetism, and cosmic rays—this was required study for every spiritual energy cultivator.
Electricity and magnetism are inseparable.
Ninety-nine percent of phenomena in this world can be explained by electromagnetic force or magnetic rotation.

Two bolts of lightning shot out from the crystalline rings—
One struck the quay, shattering the paving and exposing steel rebars.
The other hit the river, instantly ionizing the water into vapor.

"At the moment, Azure Radiance can’t handle the instantaneous output needed. I’ll use electrochemical means instead of electromagnetic propulsion. Since there are no other cultivators to interfere, the effect will be about the same," Lan Yi muttered, his hands moving faster as he manipulated the energies.

The rebar was melted by high-resistance current into iron spheres the size of lychees; the ionized water vapor was further compressed and heated by the current into a swirling, ionized torrent!

Lan Yi even began to float in midair!
White light gleamed in his eyes as he swept his arms wide. Instantly, the ring behind him crackled with blue electricity, and a violent electromagnetic force surged into the ionized vapor, propelling it explosively forward! The many iron spheres, magnetically fixed by Azure Radiance, shot toward the ironclad warship a kilometer away at ten times the speed of sound!

Daoist Magic of the Southern Saint Sect: Divine Thunder of Steel and Armor (Imitation).