Thunderfall

Records stated that Thunderclap Hellvines grew in places dense with lightning and possessed the Thunder God Bloodline. When newly born, they resembled bamboo shoots and fed on thunder. For their first hundred years, they aged one year for every hundred lightning strikes they endured. After a hundred years, they drew lightning onto themselves, forming pools of thunder and creating lands of Destruction. At ten thousand years, they could alter the weather. Yet once the thunder within them grew excessive, they would destroy themselves and perish.

As Lin Yi recalled the records on Thunderclap Hellvines, he could barely contain his delight. Wasn't this his ideal Soul Beast? Plant type, top-tier Soul Beast, lightning attribute.

As for why he had sensed the illusion of a Thunderclap Hellvine earlier, Lin Yi now understood. It was likely the ability—or perhaps the opportunity—granted by the Child of the Plane that the Golden Tree had mentioned. When he had searched for the Thousand-Year Blue Silver Grass, it had been the Golden Tree that guided him. This sudden impulse was likely another perception bestowed by the Golden Tree.

Lin Yi told Mu En what he had sensed. Mu En naturally remembered the guidance Lin Yi had received from the Golden Tree before. Hearing that Lin Yi had received another sign, he no longer hesitated and immediately decided to follow the Golden Tree's guidance to search for it.

After all, it was a Thunderclap Hellvine. Since most entered a countdown to self-destruction upon becoming Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, this type of Soul Beast was extremely rare on the continent. If they truly found one, then as it was also a Plant Soul Beast, Lin Yi would have an easier time absorbing it.

Yet as he sensed the guidance coming from the Golden Tree, Lin Yi did not move for a moment.

"What is it?"

"Master, the guidance is pointing into the Thunderfall."

Mu En fell silent before saying, "Given the nature of Thunderclap Hellvines, it is only natural for one to be within the Thunderfall. Let us go."

"Master, but your injuries..."

"It is nothing. I have, after all, reached the limit. This Thunderfall cannot do much to me for the time being."

Hearing Mu En's words, Lin Yi could only set his worries aside for now.

Seeing the concern hidden in his disciple's eyes, Mu En's heart warmed. He reassured him, "Your master still has Spirit Gold. It will be fine."

Lin Yi nodded reluctantly.

Mu En then shielded Lin Yi and Beibei. This was, after all, the central region of Lightning Strike Valley. Rather than leave Beibei here with the level of danger uncertain, it was better for Mu En to bring him along personally. Keeping him in sight gave greater peace of mind; it would merely cost a bit more effort.

Following the Golden Tree's guidance, the group gradually ventured deeper. The violent thunder seemed to sense the intrusion of outsiders, and Lightning Serpents continuously crashed down upon them. Seeing how thick and long those Lightning Serpents were, Lin Yi had no doubt that if one even grazed him, he would probably struggle to leave behind an intact corpse.

Yet under Mu En's protection, they encountered danger without suffering harm.

Mu En's hunched figure appeared incomparably tall to Lin Yi at that moment.

The Soul Power Shield glowing with faint golden light looked exceedingly fragile. He could even see the scenery outside clearly through it. Yet that very thin curtain of light kept every bolt of thunder outside.

"So this is the strength of a Limit Douluo..." Lin Yi muttered.

Mu En was already so powerful despite his severe injuries. Lin Yi could not imagine what kind of overwhelming might this Limit Douluo possessed at his peak.

At that moment, Lin Yi silently made up his mind. Once they returned, he had to begin treating Mu En's body as soon as possible. There could be no further delay. He had to hold on to this powerful supporter.

After some time, Lin Yi finally saw the target of this journey.

Deep within the Thunderfall, a vine spread itself wide, wrapping the surrounding thunder within itself as much as possible. With a motion resembling swallowing, the thunder around the vine actually vanished for a brief instant before being replenished by the surrounding lightning.

Beneath the vine was Lightning Slurry formed from thunder so densely packed it had reached an extreme.

As the vine moved, the Lightning Slurry below rippled faintly like stirred mercury.

This vine was naturally the Thunderclap Hellvine.

"What do you seek here?"

The moment the group approached, a voice rang out, like the electronic sound from Lin Yi's Otherworld Memories.

Caught off guard by it, Lin Yi nearly started dancing along.

Once he realized it was the Thunderclap Hellvine, he hastily controlled his body.

"Is this a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast? It can actually speak!" Beibei's voice carried both surprise and fear.

"The Thunderclap Hellvine is a top-tier Plant Soul Beast. It is born with intelligence. Having lived for so many years, is it strange that it can speak?"

Seeing these two human hatchlings chatting among themselves, ignoring it entirely and even beginning to discuss it, how could the Thunderclap Hellvine endure it?

The vines shifted slightly, and a stream of Lightning Slurry shot upward from below, hurtling directly toward Lin Yi and Beibei.

The Lightning Slurry failed to accomplish anything and was blocked by Mu En's Soul Power Shield.

Seeing its Lightning Slurry easily stopped, the Thunderclap Hellvine immediately became much more cautious. The vines around it contracted, guarding its main trunk.

"Humans, why have you come here?"

"To obtain a Soul Ring." Lin Yi's answer was as direct and honest as ever.

"Then why seek me? My Soul Ring is not suitable for you."

"How is it unsuitable?" Lin Yi asked curiously.

"Of the three of you, only the blue-haired human hatchling possesses the aura of the lightning attribute. But he is too young to absorb my Soul Ring."

Even in such circumstances, the Thunderclap Hellvine remained calm and analyzed the situation. Lin Yi could not help but feel some admiration.

But...

"Not him. Me."

The Thunderclap Hellvine fell silent at Lin Yi's claim that he was the one who wanted it.

After all, this human hatchling looked even younger, and he had no lightning attribute—not even a trace.

"You do not possess the lightning attribute."

"I will after I absorb you."

The Thunderclap Hellvine had even less to say, but the increasingly violent thunder aura around it showed that it had prepared itself for a fight to the death.

Lin Yi summoned the Golden Tree, drawing the Thunderclap Hellvine's attention.

"This is..."

"My Martial Soul, the Golden Tree. It resonates with the Golden Ancient Tree, the Plane Core, and is born with Extreme Light and an extreme life attribute. To strengthen my Martial Soul Origin, I need your Power of Lightning to break through that bottleneck and rise to another level."

Unexpectedly, the Thunderclap Hellvine did not cry out for battle. Instead, it withdrew its aura. "You are actually one chosen by the Plane Core."

"So?"

"I can become your Soul Ring." The Thunderclap Hellvine's voice was calm.

"May I ask why?" Caught somewhat off guard by its casual words, Lin Yi was filled with curiosity.

"Because you are one chosen by the Plane Core."

"I know that. Can you be more specific?" Lin Yi's face was full of helplessness.

"Those chosen by the Plane Core naturally do things beneficial to the plane. Since it benefits the plane, why should I begrudge giving up this one life?"

Hearing the Thunderclap Hellvine's words, Lin Yi and Beibei stared in utter disbelief, while Mu En's eyes were likewise filled with astonishment.

What kind of creature would give up its own life for such a reason?

"Do you really have no ulterior motives?" Lin Yi asked directly. "Don't you have any other intentions? You're making me feel a little uneasy..."

"Do you know of my race?"

"Thunderclap Hellvines, possessors of the Thunder God Bloodline, top-tier Plant Soul Beasts. Of course I know."

"Since you know, then you should also know that few of my race live beyond fifty thousand years."

"I know. You absorb thunder and compress it all within your bodies. Thunder is inherently powerful, and once compressed, its destructive force becomes exceedingly terrifying. You could self-destruct at any moment."

The Thunderclap Hellvine seemed to chuckle softly. "You know quite a lot. That is right, just as you said. I am already forty-five thousand years old. I do not know when I will die. Rather than die in obscurity, I might as well use this broken body to contribute something to this plane."

There was a trace of unwillingness in the Thunderclap Hellvine's voice, but even more than that, there was freedom and acceptance.

"Isn't it a pity to leave like this because of your race?"

The Thunderclap Hellvine did not answer Lin Yi's question directly. Instead, it asked, "Do you know how this Thunderfall was formed?"

Lin Yi shook his head.

"This place was created by the remains of my race."

"Perhaps tens of thousands of years ago, or perhaps even longer, dozens of Thunderclap Hellvines grew here. Some withered away in their early stages because they failed to draw down heavenly lightning. Others destroyed themselves while actively drawing in thunder later on. In the end, only nine Thunderclap Hellvines remained here, all at the ten-thousand-year level."

"Have you ever seen nine Thunderclap Hellvines drawing in thunder together?"

Lin Yi imagined the scene, wondering how shocking it must have been, but at the question, he could only shake his head.

"A Ten-Thousand-Year Thunderclap Hellvine can alter the weather. When nine draw in thunder together, they create the Thunderfall you see now. Because they drew thunder here continuously for who knows how long, the weather here became completely fixed. Even without drawing in thunder, endless lightning still crashes down."

Lin Yi's eyes were filled with shock. To continuously draw in thunder here for centuries or even millennia, fixing the weather of this place forever—it was truly extraordinary.

"Since there were nine, why is there only one of you now? Where are the other eight?"

"To be precise, it should be those nine."

"Those nine? You were not telling your own story?"

"No. My race is said to last fifty thousand years, but those of us who actively draw in thunder and absorb it need only half that time, or even ten thousand years, to grow to the fifty-thousand-year stage. Then we face unavoidable destruction. So those nine are all dead."

The Thunderclap Hellvine's voice was calm, but Lin Yi seemed to hear something shattered within it.

"So you are...?"

"Perhaps a seed left behind by them took root and sprouted. I only learned those things from inherited memories. Thanks to the environment here, I reached my current forty-five-thousand-year cultivation in just three thousand years. Among the members of my race in those inherited memories, I am the fastest to grow."

"Then why not stop absorbing thunder, or absorb it more slowly?" Beibei suddenly asked.

"Thunderclap Hellvines have their own pride. We are born in thunder, and we die in thunder. The thunder will prove that we once existed."