Struck by Lightning

Chapter 20: Struck by Lightning

On the opposite side of the upstream cliff, three men and one woman stood like statues, motionless.

"There are people on the other side," the woman with long hair cascading down her shoulders whispered.

It was nighttime, the moon was bright and the stars were few, and the weather was fine, yet this woman was holding a Flower Rain Umbrella, which was very strange.

Beside her was a monk with a round face, round eyes, and a round head. A string of prayer beads hung around his neck, each bead the size of a fist, automatically rotating around his neck without touching his body.

"Third Sister, the people near Tianmen Town may not really be human."

The monk said expressionlessly, "Even the people in Shuofang City may not be human, let alone a strange place like Tianmen Town? The person opposite is accompanied by four Fox Demons. He is likely a demon who has taken human form, not a human."

"We came this time to see who dared to be so bold as to harm someone from my Tong Family, but unexpectedly encountered a Venomous Viper that had cultivated into a Flood Dragon."

The third person, a scholar with a dignified appearance, said unhurriedly, "The value of a Flood Dragon is extraordinary, and the value of a poisonous Flood Dragon is even higher. After this Venomous Viper transformed into a Flood Dragon, it became a highly poisonous Black Flood Dragon. It would be very good to keep it as a guard, use it as a mount, or give it to high officials and nobles in the Eastern Capital."

The fourth person was a young man, one of the scholars who had accompanied Tong Fan and Yang Sheng in the Ghost Market. However, his eyesight was too poor, and at the distance across the stream, he could not see Su Yun's appearance clearly in the moonlight, so he did not recognize him.

The young scholar said, "Uncle Xuan, Yang Sheng has already gone to catch that kid, but there has been no news for several days. I wonder if something has happened."

"Yang Sheng is a good young man, he can be promoted."

The scholar Tong Xuan said, "He is just a bit too eager for quick success. He can be useful after a few years of tempering. The Tong Family needs such people, but his ambition needs to be curbed."

He was an old hand, experienced and knowledgeable, and knew that Yang Sheng was working so hard with the intention of pleasing the Tong Family and using their influence to rise to prominence. However, he had not expected that Yang Sheng was already dead.

"The key is Tianmen Town."

The scholar Tong Xuan frowned, "It's strange that we haven't found Tianmen Town these past few days."

The monk said, "Tianmen Town is very evil. I heard that incident even alarmed the Great Emperor of the Eastern Capital..."

He frowned and did not continue. The others also seemed to recall something they were wary of, and fell silent.

Below, the Great Black Snake in the Snake Ravine suddenly began to breathe rapidly. The moonlight from the sky above gathered, forming a beam as thick as a bucket, shining diagonally towards the Snake Ravine!

The light was condensed, causing the surroundings to dim.

The beam of light shone on the Great Black Snake coiled on the reef. The light spot moved from the snake's head along its body, slowly moving to its tail, and then from its tail back to its head.

Wherever the light spot shone, there was a crackling sound, as if something was exploding.

The Great Black Snake's head and skin had cracked open at the spot where Su Yun had cut it with the Snake-Swallowing Sword.

At this moment, the Great Black Snake had extended its long snout from its skin.

It was called a snout because, compared to a true dragon, a flood dragon's mouth was slender and long, like a bird's beak, but it was covered with extremely sharp dragon teeth, making it look very ferocious.

The small dragon horns on the Great Black Snake's head also appeared. Its body under the snake skin wriggled bit by bit. Under the highly condensed moonlight, its black scales showed a metallic luster.

Although Su Yun could not see this scene, he immediately felt the change in the Great Black Snake's Blood Essence!

Originally, the Great Black Snake's Blood Essence was like a large egg. Now, he felt a creature wriggling within this egg, refining its Blood Essence.

The strangest thing was the way the Blood Essence flowed within the egg. The Great Black Snake's Blood Essence formed several peculiar patterns on the surface of this large egg.

In Su Yun's "vision," these patterns flickered on and off, and with their flickering, the Great Black Snake's Blood Essence was constantly being purified and sublimated, purified and sublimated again!

Each purification and sublimation of Blood Essence was accompanied by the Great Black Snake's breathing. It purified when exhaling and sublimated when inhaling.

What puzzled Su Yun was that the Great Black Snake's Blood Essence never decreased; instead, it showed a tendency to strengthen, which was absolutely contrary to common sense!

The "Essence" in Blood Essence referred to Origin Energy, and "Blood" referred to blood.

During the process of purification and sublimation, the total amount of Origin Energy should decrease, but the Great Black Snake's was increasing.

"Perhaps it is absorbing the essence of the sun and moon."

Su Yun pondered, "There is also a method of absorbing the essence of the sun and moon in the Great Furnace Transformation. I practice breathing every morning facing the rising sun to absorb the essence of the sun. However, the speed at which The Whole Village Eats absorbs it is many times faster than the Great Furnace Transformation!"

He meticulously recorded the patterns he "saw" on the Blood Essence egg and attempted to use the Alchemy Furnace within his body as a cauldron, his own Origin Energy as the large egg, and place it above the cauldron.

Su Yun tried to make the Origin Energy egg fluctuate with his breathing, and also tried to form those peculiar patterns on the Origin Energy egg, but he could not find the right method. He felt that something was still missing, and it was likely due to the Great Black Snake's extremely special cultivation technique.

At this moment, he suddenly sensed several weaker Blood Essence auras around him.

"It's the villagers nearby!"

Su Yun's spirit was lifted, "They have suffered greatly, so they are taking advantage of The Whole Village Eats' transformation and tribulation to take his life!"

As time passed, the Blood Essence auras in the surrounding forests increased, and soon Su Yun sensed hundreds of them.

"This is going to be lively!" Su Yun felt very excited.

Down in the ravine, the Great Black Snake had shed its skin from its head, revealing a head as large as an ox's. Its body writhed, and the Blood Essence egg suddenly became incredibly bright.

A buzzing vibration came from the egg, shaking the surrounding trees so that their leaves rustled. The water in the Snake Ravine immediately rippled!

Thunder suddenly sounded in the sky. The Flower Fox, the four people opposite, and the "villagers" hiding in the surrounding forests all looked up. They saw that the moon in the sky had been obscured by clouds at some point.

However, the moonlight pierced through the clouds, like shining threads, illuminating the transforming snake in the Snake Ravine.

The moonlight rubbed against the clouds, causing bursts of thunder from within the clouds. Occasionally, flashes of light appeared from the clouds.

That was lightning.

When the lightning flashed, shadowy figures resembling Flood Dragons could be vaguely seen swimming in the clouds, it was unclear whether they were real Flood Dragons or illusions caused by the shadows.

Su Yun couldn't see this scene, but he "saw" a surge of Blood Essence rise from the Blood Essence Great Egg, connecting with a cloud of Blood Essence in the sky.

The scene he "saw" was completely different from what everyone else saw!

"Gurgle--"

The Great Black Snake raised its Flood Dragon head, and a clear dragon's roar echoed through the mountains!

The Great Black Snake writhed its body and lunged forward, shedding a section of its skin. With a snap, a pitch-black, gleaming claw, full of power, emerged from the shed skin and dug deeply into the reef.

This half-snake, half-flood dragon monster raised its head and let out an even higher-pitched dragon's roar. The clouds in the sky seemed to obey its command as a bright blood-red light burst from the clouds and struck the monster!

Crack--

The lightning was like a sharp blade splitting the night, illuminating Snake Ravine. The light at this moment was as bright as day.

The half-snake, half-flood dragon monster was struck, its flesh torn and bleeding. Cheers erupted from the surrounding forests: "Good!"

The scholar Tong Xuan looked in the light of the lightning and saw demons dancing wildly in the surrounding forests. They were overjoyed to see the Flood Dragon suffering.

"Within a hundred miles of Tianmen Town, it truly is a no-man's-land. This place has completely become a world of demons!" he frowned.

Su Yun did not "see" the blood-red lightning strike. Instead, he saw a more refined and pure surge of Blood Essence from the Blood Essence cloud rushing towards the Blood Essence Great Egg!

He also didn't see the Great Black Snake being torn apart. Instead, he saw the Flood Dragon within the egg devouring this surge of Blood Essence to reconstruct its body, undergoing metamorphosis and evolution!

He couldn't see with his naked eyes; he could only sense Blood Essence. The scene he "saw" was completely different!

"This Blood Essence is too potent. Is this the Blood Essence that The Whole Village Eats used for its transformation?"

He felt a sense of sudden enlightenment. Transforming from a snake to a Flood Dragon was a leap from one life form to another. It wasn't enough to rely solely on cultivation and accumulation; one needed the power of heaven and earth to facilitate the transformation!

"The Whole Village Eats was borrowing the Blood Essence of heaven and earth to aid its transformation!"

Su Yun didn't know if the cloud of Blood Essence in the sky was the Blood Essence of heaven and earth, but he knew that The Whole Village Eats used it for its transformation, borrowing the power of heaven and earth to ascend to another life form and become a Flood Dragon!

"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, hadn't sensed it myself, I would have thought Tribulation was just about enduring lightning strikes. I never imagined there were so many intricacies involved!"

Su Yun became excited: "My Crocodile Dragon's Roar needs to transform Crocodile Dragon Blood Essence into Flood Dragon Blood Essence, to achieve the Flood Dragon Transformation. Can I also change like this?"

He was full of enthusiasm: "I don't understand how to gather the Blood Essence of heaven and earth, but The Whole Village Eats does! Perhaps I can try to borrow a little of its Blood Essence from heaven and earth!"

He immediately tried again to form a Great Egg of Origin Energy above the Heaven and Earth Great Furnace within his body, controlling the flickering of the Origin Energy.

At this moment, the second bolt of lightning descended from the sky, striking the transforming Flood Dragon in Snake Ravine.

Before this lightning bolt could reach Snake Ravine, for some unknown reason, it split into a small beam of lightning. In the terrified gazes of Flower Fox, Hu Buping, Qingqiu Yue, and Li Xiaofan, it struck Su Yun's head beside them.

Zhai Zhu: There are currently four characters in "Journey to the Empyrean," everyone remember to give a thumbs up. Currently, Zhai Zhu is organizing the information for the fifth character, who will be meeting everyone soon!