Thunder Debt

In the cultivation world, you can hire someone to take a lightning tribulation for you. The wealthy pay spirit stones, the shops take a cut, and the substitutes risk their lives to face the lightning. Xu Zhao took lightning for others for three years, and now seven marks scar his body. Each mark holds a bolt of lightning; release one, and one fewer remains. Once he gathers nine, the lightning will belong to him.

Three years ago, his name was pawned to the Tribulation Vault of the Xuanxiao Sect, and he was sold to a contract shop. His older sister became a living hostage in the Thunder Prison, with only three months left on the term. Buying back his name would cost nine thousand spirit stones. He had saved four hundred.

During a rainy night's tribulation, his own name suddenly appeared on the talisman. He scraped away part of the stroke, diverting the lightning to strike his employer's protective jade. The price was that the lightning recorded a mark against his name. After three marks, he would never be able to reclaim it.

The mountain gate would open the day after tomorrow, and the nameless could not enter. He bought a dead man's name, endured a bolt of lightning that tested his identity, and joined the line entering the Xuanxiao Sect. The bell rang once, and the Second Elder called out the true name no one had spoken in three years.