Oath of the Thunder God, Heavenly Tribulation Descends

Just as Yu Yuanchen completed his transformation and felt the surging Ultimate Thunder within him, along with the Vast Power of the Thunder Sacred Dragon Martial Soul, a vast, ancient will seemed to cross endless ages and resounded directly in the depths of his mind.

"Human... you have succeeded."

It was the Thunderclap Nethervine! Its will no longer carried its initial indifference and rejection, nor its later anger and warnings. Instead, it held complicated emotions—admiration, scrutiny, and a trace of... resolute expectation.

Yu Yuanchen's heart tightened. He restrained his aura and replied with Spiritual Power, "This junior merely got lucky. Thank you, Senior, for helping me achieve this." He knew perfectly well that without its seemingly cooperative guidance of lightning later on, he could never have attained Ultimate Thunder so smoothly.

"Help you achieve it? Hmph, we merely took what we each needed." The Thunderclap Nethervine's will carried a trace of self-mockery. "You used my lightning to comprehend the Dao, while I... need your help in the coming Heavenly Tribulation."

Yu Yuanchen fell silent. He had long expected that whatever it sought from him would be extremely difficult, but he had not expected something so dangerous—interfering with a Heavenly Tribulation! And the Heavenly Tribulation of a Thunderclap Nethervine, a being rejected by heaven and earth!

"Senior, how can the might of a Heavenly Tribulation be something this junior, who has only just entered the Soul Sage realm, can interfere with? I fear I would not only fail to help, but might instead bring disaster upon myself and lose my life for nothing," Yu Yuanchen replied cautiously. Though he had made a promise, he valued his life even more.

"Under normal circumstances, you could at most withstand the aftershock." The Thunderclap Nethervine's will brimmed with unquestionable confidence. "But here, within my domain, I can temporarily share my Thunder-Eating talent with you! Then, with Ultimate Thunder in your body and my talent empowering you, you can devour the tribulation lightning as I do and turn it into your own power!"

It continued explaining, its tone carrying the tragic resolve of fighting heaven for survival. "This Heavenly Tribulation targets my defiance of the heavens. Yet because I possess only fifty thousand years of Cultivation Level, and because the Heavenly Dao must demonstrate impartiality, its instantaneous power is weaker than an ordinary Fierce Beast's Heavenly Tribulation. But as long as I do not die, this Heavenly Tribulation will be endless, giving me no chance to catch my breath until it bursts me apart! The reason I have remained at Forty-Nine Thousand Years for three thousand years is not because I could not break through, but because I did not dare! Over these three thousand years, I continuously devoured Heavenly Thunder, but instead of using it to raise my Cultivation Level, I converted all that destructive energy into the purest Life Origin to cleanse and temper my body, build my foundation, and hone my base to an unprecedented extreme, all to seize a sliver of life in the true Heavenly Tribulation!"

"However, my accumulation has reached its limit. I can feel that the chains of the Heavenly Tribulation have already tightened and may descend at any moment. When that happens, endless lightning punishment will follow. I need moments to catch my breath! I need time to convert the Heavenly Thunder I devour into power and repair my injuries so that I can endure longer!"

"And you!" Its will suddenly locked onto Yu Yuanchen. "You are that variable! You bear Ultimate Thunder, sharing the same origin as me, and can better withstand the empowerment of my talent. With your current strength and my enhancement, you can last about the time it takes an incense stick to burn without harming your foundation. When my strength is exhausted, you can temporarily take my place, devouring the Heavenly Thunder and holding on for one incense stick's worth of time! That will allow me to recover. Once you can no longer endure, I will have regained part of my strength and can take over again! If we repeat this cycle, we may have hope of enduring all the way through, until I break through the fifty-thousand-year barrier and strike toward the legendary... hundred thousand years!"

Yu Yuanchen was deeply shaken. So that was its plan! The Thunderclap Nethervine intended to take turns with a human Soul Master in bearing the Heavenly Tribulation, gaining precious time to recover and forcibly outlasting this mortal predicament! The method was utterly fantastical, but upon careful thought, if it truly worked, there might indeed be a sliver of hope!

"This method... may indeed be possible." Yu Yuanchen pondered for a moment. "But Senior, the Heavenly Tribulation's power is unpredictable. This junior can only promise to help with all my strength within my capabilities, provided my life is not endangered. If the situation becomes impossible, I will prioritize protecting myself." This was the bottom line he had decided on long ago.

"Agreed." To Yu Yuanchen's surprise, the Thunderclap Nethervine accepted readily, but it immediately raised a stricter demand. "However, you must swear an oath to the supreme existence that governs thunder—the Thunder God! Use the trace of Divinity within your body and my bloodline as the medium, and swear before the God Realm Laws: while helping me overcome this tribulation, you must give your all as long as your life is not endangered. You must not cut corners, act obedient in public while defying me in private, or stab me in the back and kick me while I am down!"

It paused, its tone turning grim. "Beings like you and me, who bear Divinity, are witnessed and bound by the God Realm Laws when we swear oaths to Gods! Those who break their oaths will suffer backlash from the laws. Their Divinity will collapse, and their Cultivation Level will be completely destroyed!"

Having said that, to show its sincerity, it was the first to swear to the unseen existence with its own bloodline. "I, Thunderclap Nethervine, hereby swear that if this human, Yu Yuanchen, helps me overcome my tribulation, then regardless of success or failure, I will never drag him down with me. If I succeed by fortune, I will never discard him once he has served his purpose or repay kindness with enmity! Should I violate this oath, may my bloodline wither and my consciousness be annihilated!"

An invisible ripple of laws swept past, signifying that the oath had been formed.

Yu Yuanchen felt that solemn, mysterious binding force and knew there was no longer any room to turn back. He took a deep breath, drew upon the newly formed Law Imprint in his body and that trace of Divinity, then faced the heavens and solemnly swore, "I, Yu Yuanchen, hereby swear to the Thunder God that in helping Senior Thunderclap Nethervine overcome this tribulation, I will give my all as long as my life is not endangered. I will never cut corners or betray my word! Should I violate this oath, I willingly accept the punishment of my Divinity collapsing and my Cultivation Level being utterly lost!"

Another invisible ripple of laws spread outward, and the oath was established. An intangible bond connected him, the Thunderclap Nethervine, and the unseen Heavenly Tribulation.

Afterward, the man and vine both began to quietly Regulate Breath, preparing to "welcome" the coming Heavenly Tribulation. The Thunderclap Nethervine made up its mind. Since heaven had given it this opportunity, it would either cross this insurmountable barrier or perish completely! At the same time, it secretly rejoiced that it had not driven Yu Yuanchen away back then, but had instead chosen to cooperate with him.

When Yu Yuanchen had first approached, in its long and lonely life, he had been nothing more than a slightly stronger insect. It had casually summoned a bolt of lightning, believing it would reduce him to ashes. Yet unexpectedly, the insect endured it and retreated. It had not cared, assuming it was merely luck.

But later, that insect actually returned and approached again. In its eyes, such behavior was no different from provocation! A trace of anger rose in it at being offended by an ant, so it took the matter a little more seriously and summoned lightning once again. In the end, Yu Yuanchen still survived and retreated again.

It began to sense that something was wrong. As a Plant Spirit Beast in the critical accumulation stage before confronting the boundary between life and death, it was unwilling to casually leave the place where it had taken root and expend Origin Qi. But this little thief's repeated provocations had become unbearably irritating.

Amid its anger, its powerful intelligence keenly noticed that this human was actually using its lightning to comprehend some profound mystery! What shocked it even more was that it sensed within him a trace of Divinity—weak, yet not inferior to its own in essence!

"A human bearing Divinity... actually wishes to use my lightning to comprehend the path of Ultimate Thunder?" Its heart stirred. Its original killing intent faded, replaced by a hint of interest and... calculation.

It began to "cooperate," controlling the lightning's power and frequency. It neither allowed Yu Yuanchen to succeed too easily nor struck him dead at once. Instead, it resembled a harsh mentor using the cruelest methods to spur a student forward.

It was gambling! Gambling that this human could succeed! Gambling that after attaining Ultimate Thunder, he could become its sliver of hope in overcoming the tribulation!

It had been trapped before the fifty-thousand-year threshold for too long! Three thousand years of accumulation had already reached the limit this world could tolerate. It could clearly sense that the Sword of Judgment hanging above its head could fall at any moment. Relying on itself to withstand the endless Heavenly Tribulation? The hope was faint. But if it had the aid of someone who also controlled Ultimate Thunder and could temporarily receive its Thunder-Eating talent, allowing them to take turns resisting and buy time to recover... the situation would be entirely different!

Yu Yuanchen's appearance was an opportunity for him, but was it not also timely rain for the Thunderclap Nethervine?

After taking the oath, Yu Yuanchen hesitated no longer. With a flash, he arrived at the mountain peak and stood beside the ancient, mysterious Thunderclap Nethervine.

At that moment, without any reminder, he could clearly feel the suffocating oppression permeating heaven and earth.

The once-clear sky had, at some unknown time, been covered by boundless lead-gray Tribulation Clouds. They were so heavy that they seemed capable of crushing the heavens. Dark as ink, they churned endlessly, and within them were not ordinary flashes of lightning, but countless terrifying Electric Snakes of deep purple bordering on black, intertwined with crimson gold and even tinged with chaotic colors, darting about madly! The low rumble of thunder was no longer sound; it was a terrifying roar that acted directly upon the soul, shaking one's sea of consciousness into turmoil.

Within a hundred li, all light had completely dimmed, as though night had arrived ahead of time. Violent winds rose, yet they could not disperse that seemingly solid aura of Destruction. The Lightning Element in the air became incomparably violent and chaotic. An ordinary lightning-attribute Soul Master here would likely be unable to circulate even Soul Power properly. A fear and sense of insignificance born from the instincts of life arose naturally.

This was not Heavenly Might that human strength could resist. This was the fury of the world, the erasure of laws!

Yu Yuanchen raised his head toward the Tribulation Clouds that seemed close enough to touch and were steadily pressing down. As he felt the vast energy within them, enough to destroy everything, the Ultimate Thunder in his body began to hum excitedly on its own. The Thunder Law Brand also grew faintly hot, conveying a will of yearning and challenge.

He drew in a deep breath of air filled with the aura of Destruction. Not only was there no fear in his eyes, blazing battle intent and boundless curiosity burned within them instead.

"Then let me see... what true Heavenly Might really looks like!"

As his words fell, a chaotic bolt of lightning that stretched across the horizon, seeming to tear the entire sky apart, gathered fiercely at the center of the Tribulation Clouds like the Sword of Judgment wielded by a world-destroying giant god!

The Heavenly Tribulation had begun!