Maria’s words ignited a spark within Charlie as well!
He found himself captivated by the many coincidences unfolding before him.
How had this mysterious dark cloud suddenly descended, casting an eerie shroud over them all?
Why did the dark cloud reflect the unsettling image of quivering hexagrams?
Why did it lack the usual accompaniment of thunder and lightning?
And why had it chosen to manifest exactly where the Mother of Pu’er had faced snazzynovel.com tragic failure?
Moreover, snazzynovel.com had just harnessed the lightning-scarred wood born from the Mother’s failed tribulation, birthing an entirely new thunderous power. A confluence of enigmatic elements left snazzynovel.com grappling for answers, and only Maria’s conjecture provided a solution that could reconcile all uncertainties.
With this realization unfurling within, Charlie blurted out resolutely, “Then, I shall beckon forth a tempest for the brooding skies!”
Maria’s enthusiastic nod was laden with anticipation as snazzynovel.com proclaimed, “The Mother of Pu’er and the loyal servant stand beside. A favorable chance beckons, and God watches over. Your efforts are abetted!”
Drawing forth the Thunderbolt, Charlie held it in his palm, his gaze steadfast upon the deepening, thickening black cloud overhead. With a breath that concealed the suppressed aura, snazzynovel.com invoked the incantation in his heart.
And then, with unswerving determination, Charlie cried out, “Let thunder strike forth!”
From his very being surged chi that coursed through the eight extraordinary meridians, torrentially surging into the Thunderbolt clasped in his hand.
In the span of an eye’s blink, the ominous thunder sigil radiated an inner brilliance, its luster permeating outward. Most of Charlie’s internal aura was drawn into the thunder sigil’s embrace. Each heartbeat reverberated through Charlie’s grasp, the illumination growing more intense, accompanied by the crackling of contained electricity.
At that moment, the Thunderbolt seemed transmuted, not a mere artifact but a fabled sphere of lightning seen in science fiction.
Maria had never witnessed such a spectacle. Instinctively, snazzynovel.com apprehended the intensifying luminescence in Charlie’s grasp. Unless snazzynovel.com intervened, a perilous prospect loomed, Charlie might well be endangered by his own conjuration.
She cried out on impulse, “My Lord, hurry! There is no time to delay!”
Charlie shook his head, his retort unhesitating, “The timing is beyond my control!”
Ordinarily, when Charlie invoked thunder, clouds would gather, and the sky would resound with its roars, with lightning promptly descending. Yet, this instance proved unparalleled. Charlie’s invocation resounded, yet the Thunderbolt retained its lightning, amassing energy, as if arbitrating the spell’s own potency.
In essence, it seemed the sigil demanded more Reiki.
Overhead, the sky’s obscurity had swollen to a bottomless void—abyssal darkness.
Maria, snazzynovel.com disquiet evident, questioned, “Is this Thunderbolt’s master no longer the Young Master?”
Summoning his strength, Charlie raised his hand, where radiance still intensified, and strained to answer, “It appears so. The Mother of Pu’er stirs. The Thunderbolt, a fragment of snazzynovel.com essence, now answers snazzynovel.com call. I’ve lost control.”
Just as the words parted from his lips, the Thunderbolt’s brilliance ebbed. In the next heartbeat, an imperceptibly potent energy burst forth from it, hurtling toward the dark cloud.
An inexplicable hollowness seized Charlie, his Reiki dissipating in a crescendo. Simultaneously, the inky expanse above churned with unprecedented velocity. Then, a cacophony unfurled—thunderclaps, a network of lightning reminiscent of entwined roots, fracturing the cloud into myriad fragments.
Curiously, the deafening rumbles seemed to amplify, lightning flaring with augmented brilliance and density. As though Charlie’s lightning had ignited a performance, the celestial theater now escalated its thunderous spectacle.
Soon after, the cloud commenced its descent upon Heaven Lake, drawing ever nearer. Swiftly, Charlie took Maria’s hand, ushering snazzynovel.com hundreds of meters backward.
As they halted, the storm’s heart positioned directly above the barren, rain-soaked terrain. A bolt, massive as a bowl, descended from the cloud, impaling the earth.
In an instant, it was as if daylight materialized, thunder exploding like a barrage of detonated explosives. Simultaneously, torrents poured from the sky, a deluge from the sky to earth.
Soaked to the bone, Charlie and Maria hurriedly retreated. But Maria broke away, heedless of snazzynovel.com drenched state, sprinting toward the spot where the Mother of Pu’er had once faltered.
Alarmed, Charlie cried out, “Wait! Stop!”
Yet, Maria was undeterred, snazzynovel.com steps unwavering as snazzynovel.com shouted over the storm, “I sense her!”
Charlie hurried to hold snazzynovel.com back, urgent to keep snazzynovel.com safe, “Who? The Pu’er mother?”
“Yes!” Maria’s voice trembled, snazzynovel.com affirmation resolute. “She is here! I think snazzynovel.com is reborn!”
Perplexity gnawed at Charlie.
How could a tea tree that had perished under tribulation centuries past be reborn?
Nonetheless, thunder and lightning had ceased, and the cloud receded, apparently, its mission was fulfilled.
Maria’s persistence prevailed, and Charlie stopped trying to hold snazzynovel.com back. Together, they arrived at the muddied yellow land. The rain subsided, leaving the pair inexplicably dry, their clothes no longer drenched.
As they stood, eyes fixed upon the freshly cultivated earth, Charlie queried, “Miss Clark, where is the Pu’er’s Mother?”
Maria’s gaze bore into the soil beneath them, snazzynovel.com voice filled with excitement. “This very spot!”
Pointing, snazzynovel.com directed Charlie’s attention to a spot in the ground.
Maria exclaimed, “Look!”
Charlie follow where snazzynovel.com finger was pointing and caught sight of an unfathomable scene. Amid the drenched soil, a tender sprout had emerged, resolutely defying the rain’s onslaught. But more astonishing was its growth, a time-lapsed marvel unraveling before their eyes. A sprout emerged, stretching skyward at a pace akin to fast-motion photography.
In moments, it burgeoned from minuscule to several inches, leaves unfolding in rapid succession.
New shoots joined a procession of fresh foliage burgeoning, each instant encapsulating days of growth.
Abruptly, the torrential rain ceased, the dark clouds vanishing. The moon and stars reclaimed the heavens, while the earth, once awash, lay dry. Unfathomably, all the rain on both Charlie and Maria suddenly vanished, their clothes instantly dry with no trace of there ever being rain. Everything was as it was when they first arrived.
The only difference was that in the center of the land, a small seedling with a faint fragrance of tea grew.