171: Chapter 171 Golden Thunder Ocean

Originally, after the Jianghai City Planning Bureau finalized the blueprint for the construction of Ye Yang's habitat, they immediately mobilized a large amount of equipment. However, they encountered a problem: most of the operators for that massive amount of heavy machinery were afraid to come to the outskirts of Jianghai City.

Even though the compensation this time was extremely high and exorbitant insurance had been purchased, very few people came. After all, even children in Jianghai City knew that the outskirts were a forbidden zone for humans. Not to mention the existence of an Ancient Creature, the lightning giant bird, those hundreds of thousands of wild beasts were their nightmares.

Ultimately, only after repeated official guarantees and with high-level leaders from Jianghai City personally leading the team were those operators willing to come here to work.

...

Over the course of three months, there were no incidents of beast attacks, which allowed everyone to relax and focus on their work. Because for this large-scale project, the sooner it was completed, the greater the reward they would receive; the officials would even grant them benefits related to Spiritual Qi cultivation.

No one knew what the benefits were, but everyone was looking forward to them.

"It's been three months, working over ten hours a day. Fortunately, the Spiritual Qi in the outdoor air is abundant, otherwise, I'd really be exhausted to death!"

"Yeah! The concentration of Spiritual Qi in the wild air is extremely high. I feel like my physical condition is improving every day!"

"Hehe... if it weren't for the Jianghai City leaders pushing the project so hard, I'd really want this project to take ten or eight years. Being able to stay here, I wouldn't trade it even for mountains of gold and silver!"

"You're dreaming! Do you think those monster-like beasts in the wild are vegetarians?! If we weren't building a habitat for the Divine Phoenix, how could we be safe and sound in the wild?"

"Sigh, that's true. I should be content..."

"And don't forget, it's truly a miracle that our Jianghai City managed to build such a large-scale architectural project in just three months..."

Looking out across the landscape, massive, somber stone statues stood tall upon the earth. These stone statues were enormous, the smallest being over two hundred meters high. Most of these giant stone statues were crafted from mountainsides obtained through mountain blasting.

Furthermore, the statues were of various powerful creatures from the Classic of Mountains and Seas, including a Savage Bull covered in mysterious patterns, a Winged Giant Tiger, a standing Giant Ape... but these massive statues all bowed their heads toward the distant mountain in unison, presenting a posture of a multitude of beasts guarding a center.

Moreover, these statues were not simple decorations; each one was covered with special lightning rods.

A lightning rod, also known as a strike-leader, does not actually prevent a building from being struck by lightning as people traditionally imagine. Instead, it guides the lightning to discharge towards the rod, then directs the lightning current into the ground through grounding leads and devices, thereby protecting the object from a lightning strike.

This was also a specific requirement requested by Ye Yang.

At this time, various grounding devices had already been installed under the ground for a hundred miles around.

These huge stone statues within a hundred-mile radius were like giants, standing tall between heaven and earth. Humans are so small, yet so creative.

There were forty-nine of these large rock sculptures in total.

Furthermore, the core area of the construction project was the mountain guarded by the giant stone statues. This mountain was over three thousand meters high and covered ten miles, resembling a Pillar of Heaven.

Most importantly, this was a mountain that Jianghai City had forcibly constructed using various types of equipment. It was extremely majestic and massive, standing on the Qinling Mountains like a grand pass, separating two regions.

This was clearly something the leaders of Jianghai City had put their hearts into creating.

Just as many equipment operators were feeling a bit reluctant for the project to end, the previously cloudless and clear sky was abruptly covered by dark clouds appearing in the distance.

"Strange—the weather forecast didn't say it would rain today?"

"That is..."

When someone looked up at the sky covered by dark clouds, they suddenly discovered a trace of golden electrical light mixed within the clouds...

"What is that?! There seems to be a golden light in the dark clouds!"

"Golden light?! That's a sign of an Ancient Creature transforming!"

"Heavens! Could it be that the Ancient Divine Phoenix is going to transform again?!"

The sky was like a pool of clean, blue lake water, and the dark clouds were like a drop of ink, quickly masking the sky as the earth grew dark.

An oppressive aura filled the air, and golden lightning flickered in the dark clouds from time to time.

"Report! The Ancient Divine Phoenix is suspected of undergoing another mutation and evolution!"

As soon as the situation occurred, the leaders of Jianghai City received a report from the reconnaissance troops stationed in the mountains and forests outside Jianghai City.

"What?! Evolved again?!"

Mayor Lin's face was filled with shock as he put down the satellite phone in his hand.

To know that the Ancient Giant Bird was already powerful enough, for such a powerful creature to be able to mutate and evolve continuously and rapidly was completely beyond everyone's cognition.

Worry surfaced in his eyes.

"I don't know how strong this Ancient Giant Bird will become after this mutation and evolution..."

...

The mountains and forests outside Jianghai City.

The beasts sensitive to aura had long since prostrated themselves on the ground, watching the distant hilltop with fearful eyes.

Shock appeared in the fearful eyes of many beasts that originally lived in this territory...

This familiar feeling—their lord was going to evolve and become stronger again?!

At Ye Yang's temporary habitat, on the peak of the azure mountain.

A golden giant bird stood on the mountain peak, a golden light flashing deep within its golden pupils. The golden Lightning Energy within its body was boiling violently, and bursts of golden electric arcs appeared around its body surface.

The sound of "sizzle, sizzle, sizzle" from the electric current constantly echoed in the air.

Little White Fox Ah Li, who was still holding her phone and playing, stopped her movements. Her pink eyes, the size of a small dog's, looked toward Ye Yang's golden body.

The boiling golden energy caused the little white fox's eyes to squint involuntarily.

"Chirp chirp... Big Brother is about to evolve..."

Even though she knew her Big Brother wouldn't hurt her, the golden energy overflowing from Ye Yang's body still made her feel uncomfortable at close range, her skin stinging.

Hou Lingling, still an infant, rolled her clever little eyes and sensibly hid in Monkey King Wukong's embrace.

Xiong Da, Xiong Er, and Monkey King Wukong also looked at the golden figure nearby with fear.

Their physical instincts were frantically warning them. If they didn't know that their boss wouldn't hurt them, they certainly wouldn't want to stay here for a single moment.

"Prompt: Detected 100,000 Supreme Aura Cells in your body, meeting the conditions for Racial Atavism... Do you wish to undergo atavism?"

"Racial Atavism..."

Ye Yang looked up and saw that the dark clouds in the sky had already expanded to several hundred miles, a dense mass. The lightning magnetic field was already abundant, and the dark clouds contained a massive and startling amount of golden lightning.

It was as if everything was ready, all conditions were in place, just waiting for him, the protagonist, to take the stage.

"Atavism!"

Boom!

As Ye Yang spoke to himself in his mind, the golden ocean of thunder that had been lurking in the sky was fully activated!

Golden thunder rolled, illuminating the entire forest!

Ye Yang's figure on the mountain peak disappeared, having already rushed into the golden ocean of thunder...