Following that faint yet unique sensation, Yu Yuanchen immersed his entire consciousness into investigating these hills. His Spiritual Power, like the most delicate of tentacles, brushed over every inch of soil, every rock, and every plant. He ruled out several sources of interference caused by geological structures or other lightning-attribute plants, and eventually, all clues and that mysterious pull pointed toward a hill surrounded by others—a hill that appeared no different from the rest, yet was unusually steep and majestic, more akin to a mountain peak.
This peak did not belong to the famous, rugged mountains of the Star Dou Great Mixed Zone; it stood there quietly, as if forgotten by time. But as he approached, he could feel a restrained, vast Thunder Power, like a dormant volcano. The surface of the mountain was covered in dense vegetation, but the higher he climbed, the sparser it became, replaced by a peculiar, deep purple rock that shimmered with a Metallic Sheen.
Yu Yuanchen restrained all his aura, climbing upward as silently as a spirit ape. The higher he went, the purer and more active the Lightning Element in the air became, even carrying a faint, intangible pressure. When he finally climbed to the summit, the scene before him made his breath hitch and his mind reel in shock!
The summit was not pointed, but rather a relatively flat and open platform, about a hundred meters in circumference. In the center of the platform, a strange plant stood proudly!
Its entire body was a deep, dark purple. The main stem was not the softness of an ordinary vine, but rather gnarled and vigorous like a Dragon Body, shimmering with a metallic luster and covered in naturally formed, strange patterns resembling Thunder Runes. Countless dark purple vines, like living Lightning Snakes, spread from the main stem; some coiled around it, while others took root in the surrounding rocks like tentacles. As they writhed slightly, they triggered the free-roaming Lightning Element in the surrounding air, causing faint "crackle" sounds. On the vines and leaves, tiny, deep-black electric sparks leaped incessantly.
Most striking was its top; it was not a flower, but a mass of swirling, deep purple Thunder Clouds that seemed to contain countless roaring thunder dragons within! The energy radiating from the clouds was no longer ordinary Lightning Element fluctuations, but an aura of Ultimate Thunder—a power that stood above all living things, carrying the dual artistic conceptions of Destruction and creation!
This was exactly what he had been searching for: the Thunderclap Nethervine!
Yu Yuanchen held his breath, not daring to be the least bit careless. He observed carefully, and relying on his powerful spiritual perception and familiarity with thunder, he judged that the Cultivation Level of this Thunderclap Nethervine had already reached over 49,000 years! It was only a little over a hundred years of accumulation away from that legendary 50,000-year Chasm!
Forty-nine thousand years... With its heaven-defying ability to cultivate by devouring Heavenly Thunder, combined with the vast Lightning Element gathered on this peak, I fear that in little more than a year, it will attempt to break through to 50,000 years of cultivation and trigger that ten-death-no-life Thunder Tribulation! Yu Yuanchen felt a chill in his heart. At the same time, he was even more certain that this was his target; only such a heaven-defying object could possess such terrifying momentum before reaching 50,000 years.
He cautiously attempted to approach, wanting to more clearly experience the Life Force and the true meaning of thunder it contained. However, the moment he stepped within a range of about 300 meters of the Thunderclap Nethervine, a sudden change occurred!
The seemingly dormant Thunderclap Nethervine seemed to be startled by this unfamiliar aura. The deep purple thunder cloud at its top suddenly paused, and then, a bolt of lightning—only as thick as an arm but condensed to the extreme and as dark as ink—tore through the air without warning. Like a Spear of Judgment descended from the heavens, it instantly crossed the distance of several hundred meters and smashed down toward Yu Yuanchen's head!
The speed of this lightning surpassed thought, and the Ultimate Destruction power contained within it made Yu Yuanchen's scalp tingle!
"Not good!"
At the critical moment, Yu Yuanchen's combat instincts exploded! Thunder God Mode was activated instantly, Dragon Scale Armor covered his entire body, and his Lightning Strike Robe vibrated at high speed. He pushed his defense to the limit while simultaneously exerting his Dragon Swimming Steps to dodge to the side with all his might!
"BOOM--!!!"
Even so, that bolt of Ultimate Thunder still grazed the edge of his defense! The terrifying thunder-storm energy exploded. Yu Yuanchen felt an irresistible, massive force slam into him. His Dragon Scale Armor flashed wildly, his Lightning Strike Robe was instantly torn apart, his Qi and Blood churned violently, and a sweetness rose in his throat. He couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of blood as he was blasted away for dozens of meters, smashing heavily into the ground.
He quickly flipped up, circulating his Soul Power to suppress his churning Qi and Blood, and checked himself. Fortunately, his reaction had been fast enough; with his defenses fully open and having avoided a direct hit, he had only suffered slight internal vibrations and minor external injuries, with no damage to his core. But this also made him deeply experience the terror of Ultimate Thunder! If a casually triggered bolt of lightning had such power, what kind of world-destroying scene would it be if it erupted with its full strength or triggered a true Thunder Tribulation?
It truly is a super Spirit Beast possessing the Thunder God Bloodline! Yu Yuanchen was horrified, yet even more excited. He did not continue to approach rashly, knowing that with his current strength, clashing head-on with this nearly 50,000-year-old Thunderclap Nethervine would be no different from throwing an egg against a rock.
He retreated to a relatively hidden boulder about a kilometer away. At this distance, he was on the edge of the target's alert range, yet still able to barely perceive its unique artistic conception through his powerful Spiritual Power.
Since I cannot defeat it by force, I shall take it by wit. My goal was always to comprehend the mystery of the Life Force contained within its thunder.
He sat cross-legged, his Spiritual Power like a gentle tide, slowly spreading toward the summit. He dared not carry a shred of hostility, only purely feeling and drawing close to the Thunderclap Nethervine.
He felt the pure Destruction contained within that Ultimate Thunder, enough to annihilate all things. But at the end of this destruction, in the core of the deep purple lightning, he captured a trace of something more obscure, yet incredibly tenacious, as if born from Nirvana—a vibrant Life Force! This was the foundation of the Thunderclap Nethervine's act of going against the heavens; it was the miracle of life it nurtured within its own body after devouring destructive Heavenly Thunder!
Nurturing new life within destruction... Thunder is not just about Termination; it is also a beginning... Yu Yuanchen immersed himself in this profound realization.
The sun rose and the moon set; time flowed by. Yu Yuanchen sat like an old monk in meditation, one kilometer away from the Thunderclap Nethervine, for two full months.
He no longer thought about hunting, no longer worried about time, and devoted himself entirely to comprehending the artistic conception of thunder where destruction and life force coexisted. He observed how the Thunderclap Nethervine drew in the Lightning Element between heaven and earth, how it maintained its own Life Fire amidst that violent energy, and how it transformed the thunder that represented divine punishment into provisions for its own growth.
During these two months, his Spiritual Power and that plant-type Spirit Beast developed a subtle resonance. The faint artistic conception of life force within his body, originating from the "Awakening Spring Thunder," was drawn and nourished by the vast source of life force from the Thunderclap Nethervine. Like a seed meeting sweet rain, it began to grow vigorously, becoming clearer and more dense. His Soul Power also broke through from the peak of level 66 to level 67 during this period.
He attempted to use this strengthened, life-force-infused lightning power to cautiously guide it toward his liver.
At first, the liver was somewhat repelled by this external power, which was of the same origin but possessed a special nature. But he was extremely patient; like a spring breeze moistening things, he guided this gentle, life-giving lightning bit by bit to nourish every minute structure of his liver.
Gradually, he was pleasantly surprised to discover that once his liver was nourished by this special lightning power, the four types of lightning nature forces he had previously simulated through the quenching of his heart, spleen, lungs, and kidneys (using wind for metal)—"Fire Ascendancy," "Earth Heaviness," "Wind Agility," and "Water Nourishment"—seemed to be pulled by some invisible force. They began to spontaneously and extremely slowly follow the flow of his Qi and Blood, forming a faint cycle among his five viscera!
The warmth of the Heart Fire Lightning, the stability of the Spleen Earth Lightning, the lightness of the Lung Wind Lightning, the nourishment of the Kidney Water Lightning, and the newly added growth of the Liver Wood Lightning—these five lightning forces, each with different natures yet sharing the same origin, began to circulate slowly among his internal organs along with his rushing Qi and Blood, like five-colored rays of light, cycling back and forth!
Once this cycle was formed, a mysterious change occurred. The five special lightning forces blended and complemented each other within the cycle, and began to seep out of his organs bit by bit. As they traveled through his body with his Qi and Blood, they began their initial contact and Fusion with the relatively single-attribute lightning Soul Power surging through his meridians!
"Hum--"
When the first wisp of special Soul Power, which had fused the five nature transformations, was born, Yu Yuanchen's entire body shook violently! He felt as if his Soul Power had been injected with brand-new vitality, becoming more agile, more substantial, and filled with infinite possibilities! Although this fusion was still extremely weak and only an initial sign, he had a strong, mysterious premonition—
If his lightning-attribute Soul Power could perfectly fuse these five lightning nature transformations, each representing a different aspect, then, through quantitative change leading to qualitative change, his lightning might be able to break its limits and ascend to become true—Ultimate Thunder!
This discovery made him ecstatic! An Ultimate Attribute was the pinnacle of power that countless people in the Soul Master World dreamed of! He had originally thought he would only be able to touch it by absorbing the Soul Ring of the Thunderclap Nethervine; he never expected that by combining Viscera Quenching with nature transformation, he would carve out his own path toward the Ultimate!
He immediately began to try and actively guide it, accelerating this fusion. However, reality dealt him a heavy blow.
The process of fusion was far more difficult than imagined. The five nature transformations originated from different organs and represented different facets of thunder. To perfectly integrate them required extremely high control and a deeper understanding of the Essence of Thunder. No matter how hard he tried, once the progress of the fusion reached about one-third, it was as if it had encountered an invisible barrier and could not advance another inch! No matter how he urged his Soul Power or guided his Qi and Blood, those five nature forces were always missing a certain trigger, unable to completely merge like water and milk to achieve perfection.
Yu Yuanchen fell into deep distress. He deduced repeatedly and discovered that the problem might lie in the "foundation." The five nature transformations he simulated were, after all, "imitations," lacking the "original" artistic conception of a true Ultimate Attribute to act as a trigger and binder. Especially the core—the meaning of life force represented by the "Wood" attribute—although strengthened, still appeared immature and shallow compared to the vast life force the Thunderclap Nethervine nurtured from its destructive Thunder Tribulation.
It is missing that most crucial bit of 'True Meaning'... Yu Yuanchen's gaze turned once again to the Thunderclap Nethervine standing quietly on the distant peak, yet radiating an aura that made his heart palpitate. A trace of madness and resolution flashed in his eyes.
Since the life force artistic conception I comprehended is not enough, then I shall experience it personally! What better way to comprehend the true essence of Ultimate Thunder than to face its destruction and rebirth head-on?
A thought, so bold it was nearly suicidal, took shape in his mind—actively draw the lightning! Let the Thunderclap Nethervine trigger lightning to strike him; on the Edge of Life and Death, he would capture that glimmer of life born from destruction and experience the most original rhythm of Ultimate Thunder!
He knew this was incredibly dangerous, and a moment of carelessness would result in the destruction of both body and soul. But on the path to becoming the strongest, how could one lack the courage to stake everything on a single throw?
He took a deep breath, adjusted his state, and raised his Soul Power, Qi and Blood, and Spiritual Power to their peak. Then, he slowly walked out from behind the boulder where he had been hiding and took a step once more toward that mountain, toward that Thunderclap Nethervine. This time, he was not going to fight, nor was he going to watch from afar; he was going to—attend a baptism of thunder!
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Translated by: randomtranslator.com
Proofread by: GodKun-Chan