Lord of Thunder

Lord of Thunder is a long wuxia-fantasy novel by Xiao Shu, a top author on Yuewen Group's Qidian Chinese Network. It was serialized from June 2018 and completed in June 2019, running to about 2.52 million characters and 1,191 chapters. The protagonist, Leng Fei, was a modern civil servant who went out hunting for antiques to please his superior, chanced upon a broken ancient seal, and after being struck by lightning was transported to the Dayu dynasty, a world where martial arts flourished. His reincarnated body has supreme spiritual power, yet is so frail that he cannot practice martial arts. At eighteen, he is struck by heavenly lightning in the back garden of his residence in Qingyu City; the thunder seal awakens and grants him the power of "Lightning Speed." Leng Fei tempers his body with thunder and strengthens his spirit, grasps a fortuitous insight before the cliff face of Fengming Mountain, and rises from a menial at Dengyun Tower, repeatedly defeating the strong while weak and outwitting brute force. He goes on to navigate the arenas of Jingxue Palace, Prince Yu's Mansion and the Tianhua Sect, contending with great houses and court powers, climbing all the way to the peak beyond the Divine Realm until he finally wields the authority of thunder. Built around the core concept of the "thunder seal," the book follows the classic growth path of a traditional web-novel wuxia, with brisk pacing and solid fight scenes. It is one of Xiao Shu's representative works (alongside others such as The White-Robed Steward, The Sword Comes from Heaven, and Great Qian Longevity).