197: Thunder Essence Fruit, Heavenly Thunder

After Lu Chen departed, he cautiously navigated through the jagged rocks and charred wood, his spiritual senses fully open, not daring to be the least bit careless.

A journey of three hundred miles would take him only a moment in ordinary territory.

But deep within the peril-filled outskirts of the Thunder Roar Ruins, he had to advance step by step.

What he found most troublesome and irritating was that cunning Shadow-Hunting Leopard from before.

It had persistently reappeared and launched another ambush.

Although it failed to land a hit again, Lu Chen was also unable to keep it there.

The leopard's speed was astonishing and its reactions extremely fast; if a strike missed, it would flee without a trace.

Yet it continued to follow him from a distance, like a maggot on a bone.

Lu Chen tried setting ambushes or launching surprise attacks several times.

But the beast was exceptionally alert; at the slightest unusual movement, it would immediately flee, leaving only a blurry afterimage.

And when Lu Chen was dealing with other Yao Beasts or potential dangers, it seemed to blend into the environment, vanishing without a trace, leaving only a chilling sensation of being watched.

Lu Chen knew it must be lurking nearby.

But with his current abilities, it was difficult to accurately flush out this hunter so skilled in concealment.

He spent three consecutive hours traveling and staying on guard, during which he encountered four or five waves of Yao Beast attacks.

Though their strength was mediocre, Lu Chen had to divide his attention to watch for the Shadow-Hunting Leopard in the shadows, making him feel somewhat constrained, and both his magic power and mental energy were significantly depleted.

He found a relatively flat, charred boulder and sat cross-legged to adjust his breathing for a moment, but his gaze remained as sharp as an eagle's.

He inconspicuously swept his gaze over a patch of slightly dense, low shrubs dozens of yards away that had survived the thunder fire.

Between the gaps in the shrub branches, a pair of cold, emotionless eyes was firmly locked onto him.

This time, Lu Chen finally relied on the Nine Heavens Thunder Lure's vague sensing of subtle energy fluctuations in the environment.

Combined with his own keen spiritual sense, he truly determined the beast's hiding place for the first time.

A cold light flashed in the depths of Lu Chen's eyes, but he did not act immediately.

Pretending his fatigue had not yet faded, he slowly rose and seemingly casually swayed his body to the side.

He flashed to the back of the boulder, moving out of the Shadow-Hunting Leopard's direct line of sight.

Behind the boulder, Lu Chen restrained his aura, becoming as still as a rock.

The Shadow-Hunting Leopard did not act immediately; it possessed the patience a predator should have.

Lurking in the bushes, only its cold eyes shifted slightly, watching the direction of the boulder.

After waiting for about a dozen breaths, there was still no sound from behind the boulder, as if the person had quietly departed.

The Shadow-Hunting Leopard's patience seemed to be worn down by the silence, and it began to move.

Its movements were as light as if it had no weight, silently sliding out of the bushes and using the shadows of the jagged rocks on the ground to inch closer to the boulder where Lu Chen was hiding.

It was exceptionally cautious, stopping again when it was still a dozen yards from the boulder, pricking up its ears to listen, its nostrils twitching slightly.

Another moment passed, and it remained silent behind the boulder.

The last trace of hesitation vanished from the Shadow-Hunting Leopard's eyes, replaced by the decisiveness and murderous glint before a hunt.

Its hind legs crouched slightly, and in the next instant, its body was like a bolt of true black lightning, suddenly leaping from its hiding place and pouncing onto the boulder to gain the best vantage point.

However, just as its four paws touched the top of the boulder—

"Swoosh!"

A point of purple cold light, condensed to the extreme, thrust out from behind the boulder without warning, aiming straight for its soft underbelly!

It was Lu Chen's purple brilliance spear, which had been accumulating power for a long time!

The Shadow-Hunting Leopard's fur stood on end instantly; at the moment of life and death, its animal instincts kicked in during the awkward moment when its old momentum was spent and new power had not yet been generated.

Relying purely on its powerful core strength, it gave a violent twist and kicked off the stone surface with its four paws, intending to spring away to the side and rear.

It seemed to have experienced similar perils more than once, and its response had already become a near-instinctive habit.

But this time, appearing simultaneously with that life-taking spear light was a silent shadow whip that seemed to possess a life of its own!

The long whip lunged out like a venomous snake from the shadows on the other side of the boulder, its timing perfect to the extreme, just sealing off the path the Shadow-Hunting Leopard was most likely to use for evasion.

Mid-air, seeing the whip shadow sweeping toward it with a fierce wind, a trace of genuine horror finally flickered in the Shadow-Hunting Leopard's amber beast eyes.

It tried its best to curl its body in the air, attempting to take the hit with its back.

"Crack!"

With a crisp explosive sound, the long whip lashed heavily against the Shadow-Hunting Leopard's waist.

Its tough hide could not withstand this strike imbued with magic power; instantly, its flesh was torn open and blood sprayed.

The Shadow-Hunting Leopard let out a shrill howl of pain, its body losing control.

Before it could fall, the long whip, like a living creature, used the momentum after the hit to coil around, deftly and swiftly binding the Shadow-Hunting Leopard's injured waist and tightening suddenly!

At the same time, intense lightning power erupted from the whip, and Lightning Light crazily surged over the leopard's entire body.

"Sizzle—"

The smell of charring permeated the air, and the Shadow-Hunting Leopard's screams stopped abruptly as its body twitched, emitting green smoke.

It was slammed hard onto the ground by the whip, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Lu Chen's figure only then slowly stepped out from behind the boulder, his expression cold and stern.

He flicked the long whip in his hand, releasing the restraint.

The purple brilliance spear already held in his other hand did not hesitate, turning into a bolt of purple lightning.

It accurately pierced the skull of the still-twitching Shadow-Hunting Leopard on the ground, pinning it firmly to the scorched earth.

This cunning and troublesome Yao Beast that had followed him for so long gave a few final struggling twitches of its limbs before falling completely silent.

Lu Chen pulled out the long spear and shook off the bloodstains, the gloomy feeling of being watched finally dissipating from his heart.

He quickly processed the valuable parts, took a Medicinal Pill to slightly adjust his breathing, and then continued toward the north, where the thunderclouds were lower and heavier.

Without the Shadow-Hunting Leopard's gaze like a thorn in his back, Lu Chen's mind relaxed slightly, and his travel speed was significantly faster than before.

He no longer engaged too much with the Yao Beasts he encountered along the way, avoiding them if he could and bypassing them if possible.

For those he truly couldn't avoid, he strove for a quick resolution, never lingering in battle, only wishing to reach his destination as soon as possible.

Racing along and hiding carefully.

When Lu Chen finally reached the location Qing Cang had pointed out, the scene before him lifted his spirits.

It was a small valley surrounded by several low, scorched mountains; in the center of the valley, there was only one tree.

The tree was not tall, about two or three yards, its entire body a dark purple-black, its branches gnarled and twisted in an ancient form, as if it had undergone countless ages of lightning baptism.

There were no leaves on the tree; only on the tips of a few sparse branches hung three fist-sized fruits, their entire bodies flowing with a warm golden halo.

Faint, dense natural Thunder Runes were on the surface of the fruits; even from a distance, one could feel the pure, surging, yet exceptionally restrained aura of the lightning Origin within.

It was precisely the thunder origin fruit!

Lu Chen suppressed the heat in his heart and did not step forward immediately.

He cautiously lurked behind a scorched rock, carefully observing the surroundings.

The valley was silent, except for the occasional dull rolling sound from the low-hanging thunderclouds in the sky.

But he knew well that beside spiritual treasures of heaven and earth, there must be guardians, whether they were Yao Beasts or dangerous terrain; he absolutely could not be careless.

With a thought, Qing Yi's faint figure floated out from the soul nurturing pearl.

"Investigate the surroundings, especially the ground and the crevices of those scorched mountains, to see if there are any Yao Beasts or abnormal Restriction fluctuations."

Lu Chen instructed in a low voice.

Qing Yi nodded, her body turning into a nearly imperceptible light smoke, silently gliding along the ground toward the area around the thunder origin fruit tree.

She carefully investigated every inch of scorched earth and every strange rock.

As a soul body, she was particularly sensitive to life auras and Qi fluctuations.

After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Qing Yi returned and lightly shook her head at Lu Chen: "Young Master, there are no signs of living creatures nearby, nor have I detected any obvious Formation or Restriction traces. It's just... the Thunder Baleful Qi in this valley seems a bit more solid than outside, especially around that fruit tree."

Lu Chen nodded slightly; this might be a field naturally formed by the growth of the thunder origin fruit tree.

He no longer hesitated and said to Qing Yi, "You stay on guard here; I will go fetch the fruit."

With that, his figure moved like lightning, reaching the tree in a few bounds.

He looked up at the three enticing golden fruits, and without further delay, he tapped his toe on the charred trunk and his body lightly pulled upward.

One in each hand, he quickly plucked the three thunder origin fruits and placed them into a pre-prepared jade box.

Just as his fingers touched the last thunder origin fruit, and he had just plucked it, at the moment before his toes completely left the treetop—

"CRACK!!!"

A terrifying bolt of heavenly thunder, brilliant white and as thick as a child's arm, tore through the low-hanging thunderclouds without any warning.

At a speed exceeding the limit of Divine Sense perception, ignoring distance as if it were meant to explode right here, it crashed down!

The target was precisely Lu Chen on the treetop!

It was too fast!

So fast that he didn't even have time for a thought of horror to arise before that destructive white light completely swallowed him!

Even though he possessed a Thunder Pool and Cultivated thunder arts, Lu Chen simply could not withstand this sudden, close-range, and violent heavenly might!

He only felt an indescribable, terrifying power instantly penetrate his entire body; his limbs and bones felt as if they were being pierced and torn apart by hundreds of millions of red-hot steel needles at the same time!

His protective Qi shattered like paper, his internal Meridians let out a groan of being overburdened, and blood almost burst through his throat.

The Thunder Pool within his Dantian boiled and rotated crazily, like a volcano on the verge of eruption, desperately swallowing the destructive energy pouring into his body.

But this bolt of heavenly thunder was too violent, far exceeding any lightning he had absorbed before; the speed at which the Thunder Pool absorbed and transformed it could not keep up with the speed of destruction.

"Ugh—!"

Lu Chen let out a muffled groan suppressed to the extreme, and his vision went black.

His entire body was wrapped in blinding Lightning Light, and like a kite with a broken string, he fell straight down from the treetop.

"Young Master!"

In the distance, Qing Yi cried out in alarm, wanting to rush forward.

But that ball of brilliant white Lightning Light wrapping Lu Chen emitted a destructive aura that made the Divine Soul tremble.

Just by getting within a few yards, her soul body felt a needle-like stinging pain and a strong crisis of dissipation.

She simply could not step forward and could only circle the perimeter in extreme anxiety.

"Thud!"

Lu Chen's body slammed heavily onto the charred, hard ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

He lay there motionless, fine and violent electric arcs still dancing around his body, making crackling sounds.

The clothes on his body had already turned to ash the moment the lightning struck, and the Storage Pouches hidden inside his clothes were also scattered to the side.

His exposed skin was completely charred, like charcoal burned by a fierce fire, emitting the smell of scorched flesh, a sight too miserable to behold.

Qing Yi was frantic with worry but helpless.

Time passed bit by bit, every breath feeling exceptionally long.

Just as Qing Yi was about to despair, the fingertips of that charred human figure moved almost imperceptibly.

Immediately following that, the thick, charred "shell" covering his body made a faint "crack" sound and began to show a series of cracks.

The cracks spread, and finally, this layer of charred shell, like a broken eggshell, crumbled and fell away.

Beneath the charred shell was skin that looked brand new.

It wasn't the tender white one would imagine, but rather it glowed with a healthy, jade-like warm luster.

Vaguely visible beneath the skin was a faint, flowing purple halo, as if it contained even greater strength and toughness.

Lu Chen slowly and with some effort used his arms to prop up his body and sat up.

A trace of undried blood still hung from the corner of his mouth, his face was pale, and his aura was withered; he had clearly suffered significant internal injuries.

But those opened eyes were exceptionally bright, and deep within them even danced a trace of uncontrollable, almost fanatical excitement.

He looked down at his new arms, clenched his fists, feeling the sense of power coming from them—more solid and full of explosive force than before—and then inspected his Dantian.

He saw that Thunder Pool; although its size hadn't changed.

The color of the thunder liquid in the pool seemed to have deepened a bit as it slowly rotated.

The thunder aura it emitted was purer and heavier, faintly carrying a trace of the majestic heavenly power from that bolt of heavenly thunder just now.

"Cough, cough..."

He coughed up two mouthfuls of stagnant blood with a charred smell and raised his hand to wipe the bloodstains from the corner of his mouth.

He actually began to laugh lowly, his voice hoarse but filled with relief: "This heavenly thunder... although the taste was a bit overbearing and almost took my old life... this 'flavor' is truly... not bad."

As he spoke, he had already painfully stood up, took out a set of clean clothes from a scattered Storage Pouch, and changed into them.

He then picked up the Storage Pouches from the ground one by one and stowed them away again.

Only after doing all this did he look up, his gaze sharp as lightning, toward the still gloomy and heavy sky where Lightning Light flickered, his expression complex.

There was lingering fear, there was relief, and even more, there was a burning heat that was almost a challenge.