Chapter 42: Saint Dragon Slays Soul Saints, Traces of the Thunder Hell Vine
A purple-gold radiance flowed like liquid, enveloping Yu Yuanchen's body.
The lock of purple-gold hair on his forehead danced wildly without wind, as if it were burning lightning flames.
Behind him, the phantom of the Thunder Saint Dragon, its entire body covered in purple-gold rune scales with eyes as indifferent as if looking at ants, became incredibly solid, emitting a terrifying Dragon Might that caused the heavens and earth to lose their color!
The air in the entire desolate valley seemed to freeze, and the omnipresent lightning elements frantically gathered toward him, bowing in worship!
The grimaces and rage on the faces of the two Elephant Armored Academy Soul Saints froze instantly, replaced by boundless shock and disbelief!
"Th-this... what kind of Martial Soul is this?! No, this is not a Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon!"
The injured Soul Saint exclaimed in shock. From that purple-gold Saint Dragon phantom, he felt an absolute suppression originating from the level of Life and the Martial Soul Origin!
The heavy pressure that his Diamond Mammoth True Body was so proud of was as vulnerable as a clay dog before this Dragon Might!
The composed Soul Saint's pupils also shrank sharply, alarm bells ringing in his heart, and he roared: "Be careful! His state is strange! Defend with all your might!"
There was no need for his reminder; the two had already pushed their Soul Power to the limit. The light of their Diamond Mammoth True Body shone brilliantly, and heavy diamond armor stacked layer upon layer, like two real diamond fortresses, firmly protecting themselves.
They felt a fatal threat from that purple-gold figure!
Yu Yuanchen hovered in mid-air (briefly suspended), his purple-gold eyes coldly watching the two below who were facing a formidable enemy.
At this moment, his Soul Power, Life force, and Spiritual Power had briefly merged under the stimulation of his Bloodline, and his level of power had soared to a new Realm. Although he hadn't measured it specifically, he felt that he could face even an ordinary Soul Douluo head-on!
"Bloodline Soul skills, Thunder Saint Dragon, Descend!"
He whispered, and the massive Thunder Saint Dragon phantom behind him let out a dragon roar that shook the heavens. It suddenly detached from his body, turning into a purple-gold torrent of lightning that spanned the sky, carrying the Supreme will of judgment and ruling over all things, and crashed fiercely toward the two Diamond Mammoth True Bodies below!
This was not an attack simulated by Soul Power, but the power of his temporarily evolved Bloodline Origin, a Supreme strike formed by the sublimation of his first five Soul Rings' power! Its momentum far exceeded any of his previous Martial Soul Abilities!
"Diamond Barrier!" "Mammoth Shakes the Earth!"
The two Soul Saints roared hoarsely, unleashing their strongest defensive and counter-attacking Martial Soul Abilities.
The brilliant diamond radiance formed a heavy shield, and the giant mammoth feet stomped the earth, triggering violent shockwaves in an attempt to interfere.
However, in the face of the absolute power of the Thunder Saint Dragon's descent, all this resistance appeared pale and weak!
"Boom—!!!"
The purple-gold lightning dragon struck the Diamond Barrier with an unstoppable force!
There was no stalemate, no contest of strength; the Diamond Barrier, which could withstand the attack of a Soul Douluo, was like glass struck by a heavy hammer, instantly covered in spiderweb-like cracks, and then shattered with a boom!
The shattered diamond light splattered like fireworks!
The lightning dragon did not diminish in its momentum and slammed fiercely into the two Mammoth True Bodies!
"Pfft!" "Pfft!"
The two Soul Saints were struck as if by lightning, simultaneously spitting out large mouthfuls of blood. Their Martial Soul True Bodies vibrated violently, and their light instantly dimmed by more than half!
One of the front legs of the composed Soul Saint's Mammoth True Body was directly annihilated by the violent lightning, while the injured Soul Saint's True Body had its chest collapsed, covered in charred cracks!
With just a single strike, the two who had activated their Martial Soul True Body were already severely injured!
Yu Yuanchen did not let up, manipulating the slightly more illusory Thunder Saint Dragon phantom with his mind to launch another fierce attack.
The dragon claws swiped, tearing through the sky; the dragon tail swept across, shattering rocks; the dragon breath spewed, and the purple-gold lightning storm completely submerged the two!
The two Soul Saints could only rely on the powerful defensive capabilities of the Diamond Mammoth to barely hold on. Like two small boats in a storm, they were beaten without any power to fight back, their True Bodies constantly damaged, and their auras rapidly withering.
Their hearts were filled with despair and regret; had they known that Yu Yuanchen was hiding so deeply and possessed such a terrifying trump card, they would never have been so arrogant!
"Cannot drag this out anymore! This state consumes too much!" Yu Yuanchen felt the power rapidly flowing out of his body and knew he had to finish the battle quickly.
The Thunder Saint Dragon's descent was peerless in power, but to completely defeat two Soul Saints who excelled in defense, especially when they were defending for their lives, still required some time.
And time was exactly what he lacked most!
A fierce look flashed in his eyes, and he made a decision.
The deep, black-with-purple-hues Sixth Soul Ring at his feet suddenly lit up—Sixth Spirit Ability, Thunder Armor!
The purple-gold lightning light rapidly gathered and compressed in his hands, not condensing into close-combat dragon spear armor, but turning into two extremely condensed lightning spears that had destructive energy flowing through their entire bodies!
Effect Two: Lightning Spear Pierces the Sky, Exploding to Slay Evil!
"Go!"
Yu Yuanchen gave a low shout, and his arms swung out violently!
The two purple-gold lightning spears seemed to have crossed space, instantly disappearing from his hands, and the next moment, they appeared in front of the two Soul Saints who were desperately trying to resist the Thunder Saint Dragon phantom's attack!
The terrifying penetrating power and locking aura contained within the spears made the two terrified to the core!
"No—!" The injured Soul Saint's face showed despair, and he wanted to dodge, but his body was firmly suppressed by the Thunder Saint Dragon's aura, his movements sluggish.
"Pfft!" "Pfft!"
Two soft sounds, like a hot knife cutting through butter, rang out.
One lightning spear precisely pierced through the head of the composed Soul Saint's Mammoth True Body (corresponding to the center of his real body's forehead), while the other dove in from the huge crack in the injured Soul Saint's True Body, piercing straight into his heart!
Time seemed to stand still at this moment.
The two Soul Saints' movements froze, and the light in their eyes quickly dimmed and dissipated.
Their massive Diamond Mammoth True Bodies, like weathered sand sculptures, began to disintegrate and dissipate inch by inch, revealing the corpses inside with faces full of unwillingness and shock, and they collapsed to the ground with a boom.
The Thunder Saint Dragon phantom also dissipated, turning into specks of purple-gold light that returned to Yu Yuanchen's body.
Yu Yuanchen landed from mid-air, his face slightly pale, his aura somewhat chaotic.
Consecutively using the Bloodline Soul skills and the Sixth Spirit Ability for a finishing blow was an enormous drain on him.
He dared not stay, quickly cleaning up the battlefield, disposing of the two Soul Saint corpses and any traces that might expose his identity, and then immediately left the desolate valley.
...
After a short rest and recovering most of his Soul Power, Yu Yuanchen headed to the Star Dou Great Forest without stopping.
Entering this vast, boundless habitat of Soul Beasts filled with primitive and mysterious aura, Yu Yuanchen, based on clues analyzed from the materials of the five academies, locked his search range to the northwest direction of the forest, in the fan-shaped area near the edge of the mixed zone and the core zone.
The search process was far more difficult and tedious than he had imagined.
The area was still huge, with complex terrain, covering deep canyons, rushing rivers, dense primeval forests, and some dangerous places with chaotic energy.
He not only had to be vigilant at all times against the powerful Soul Beasts that appeared (thousand-year and ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts were not rare here), but also had to meticulously search for any clues that might be related to the Thunder Hell Vine.
Following the clues, he first found the valley mentioned in the records of the Divine Wind Academy where an abnormally deep purple lightning storm had once occurred.
The lightning elements in the valley were indeed active, but after Yu Yuanchen carefully perceived it, he found that the lightning here tended more towards natural accumulation and eruption. Although the power was concentrated, it lacked that unique rhythm of "stealing the Heavenly Tribulation" and the vast Life force contained within, which differed from the phenomena caused by the Thunder Hell Vine recorded.
He lingered here for two days and found nothing.
Next, he searched the area based on the Blazing Academy's records about "Lightning-Struck Stones".
He did find some Ore containing lightning elements, but most were just caused by ordinary lightning strikes, with violent internal energy, and he did not find that trace of unique Life aura.
After searching for several days, he only found a few Ore of lightning attribute that were of decent quality but irrelevant.
According to the hydrological notes of the Heavenly Water Academy, he went upstream, looking for that underground river.
The underground river was hidden very deep, and the entrance was secret, taking him quite some effort.
He could indeed detect trace amounts of active lightning elements in the river water, but its source seemed to come from deeper veins of the earth, not caused by the long-term influence of some creature, and the activity was too weak to track.
He also personally surveyed the area of abnormal geomagnetic field mentioned in the Rock Academy's report.
The magnetic field there was indeed active and had a unique rhythm, but after careful analysis, he found that it was more like a phenomenon caused by a naturally formed special geological structure, which was essentially different from the magnetic field changes induced by the Thunder Hell Vine's "Heaven-Defying" nature.
Half a month passed quickly in this way, setting out full of hope time and again, and changing locations with slight disappointment time and again.
Yu Yuanchen was like a tireless explorer, traveling through the forest where danger and opportunity coexisted, relying on his powerful Spiritual Power and keen perception of lightning to constantly rule out wrong options.
The dawn of hope appeared on the twenty-first day after he entered the Star Dou Great Forest.
At that time, he was resting in a seemingly ordinary depression surrounded by several hills.
After days of searching without results, even with a will as firm as his, he could not help but feel a bit anxious.
He casually released a wisp of lightning-attribute Soul Power containing the Concept of "Spring Thunder Awakening" to nourish his liver, which was slightly fatigued from days of travel.
Just then, a sudden change occurred!
When that wisp of weak, vibrant lightning light touched a seemingly inconspicuous piece of moist, moss-covered soil in the center of the depression, it made a slight "hiss" sound as if a water droplet had fallen onto a red-hot iron!
Immediately following that, under the soil, something seemed to be triggered, and a Spiritual fluctuation—extremely weak, yet pure to the extreme, and carrying a sense of pure "greed" and "longing" for the power of lightning—flashed and vanished!
Although the fluctuation was so weak that it was almost imperceptible and vanished in an instant, how keen was Yu Yuanchen's Spiritual Power!
He clearly captured that fleeting, unique rhythm—it was an aura that transcended ordinary lightning, seemingly pointing directly to the Origin of lightning, yet carrying a domineering Heavenly Tribulation-like power that was out of place with the whole World!
It was completely different from the lightning elements he had felt at all the suspected locations before!
More importantly, the "greed" and "longing" exhibited by that fluctuation when it touched his lightning containing Life force perfectly matched the characteristics of the Thunder Hell Vine, which devours lightning (especially special lightning) to cultivate!
Yu Yuanchen's heart jumped, and uncontrollable ecstasy erupted in his eyes!
"Found it! This is the place!"
He suppressed the excitement in his heart and did not act rashly.
The Thunder Hell Vine has extremely high intelligence and is good at hiding; that moment just now was probably just an instinctive reaction it revealed unconsciously. Its main body must be hidden somewhere in these hills, or perhaps deep underground.
He restrained all his aura, carefully spreading his Spiritual Power like a spiderweb to the surroundings, and began to probe this mysterious hill, which seemed ordinary but might hide the continent's lightning-attribute Supreme, inch by inch.
Want To Read More Chapters? Check Out 80+Advanced Chapters At PA Treon
patreon.com/SloppyGuy