Beneath the bright moon, several people sat around a stone platform in the quiet village, their eyes all fixed on the scraps of paper in Zhu Zhuqing's hand.
"Young master, what kind of writing is this? How do you know how to read it? And is this a cemetery?"
Dugu Yan voiced her doubts. She was a top student at Heaven Dou Royal Advanced Soul Master Academy, but standing before Su Zhen, she felt like a complete novice in the Soul Master World.
"This isn't writing from Douluo Continent, so of course you don't recognize it. And this place is both a cemetery and not a cemetery. It's called a cemetery because the remains of a certain being are here, making it something like a cenotaph. But it isn't a cemetery because that being hasn't truly died in the fullest sense. If they aren't dead, you can't call this a cemetery."
Su Zhen glanced at the puzzled faces before him and explained slowly.
"Then where is this writing from?"
"Young master, you know how to get out, don't you?"
Dugu Yan asked another question, but before Su Zhen could answer, Zhu Zhuqing interrupted her.
Dugu Yan gave Zhu Zhuqing a cold glance and snorted, turning away. As the granddaughter of a Titled Douluo, she had suffered more over the past few days than she had in all the years before she turned twelve. Being interrupted by a Soul Grandmaster while she was asking a question left her deeply annoyed.
Su Zhen glanced at Dugu Yan. He had no intention of answering her question. Sometimes, knowing too much was a bad thing.
"I've more or less figured out the method. I just need to confirm it."
With that, Su Zhen led the others away and stopped beneath the stone platform, gazing up at the ancient-looking structure that stood out in the middle of the village.
"I never expected to stumble upon your remains just by going on a casual trial. This is truly exciting."
As Su Zhen spoke, the power of thunder surged around him, and his entire body transformed into a humanoid bolt of lightning. Black lightning crackled around him, forcing those nearby to retreat.
"Young master, you're still undergoing your trial. You can't use Soul Power!"
Yang Fan knew the requirements of Su Zhen's trial. Of course, he thought they were the Great Enshrined's requirements and knew nothing about Su Zhen receiving the Thunder God's inheritance.
"I didn't use Soul Power."
Because this isn't Soul Power. It's divine power!
Su Zhen supplied the rest of the answer in his mind.
Black lightning suddenly spread in every direction. Yang Fan and the other man carried Dugu Yan and Zhu Zhuqing into the air, sparing them the ordeal of being tempered by the lightning.
Countless bolts of lightning turned into serpents and slithered through every corner of the village. Through their eyes, Su Zhen saw the village's other face.
In the eyes of the lightning serpents conjured by Su Zhen, the ordinary, deserted village had transformed. Wooden houses became stone walls, village paths became streams, and the stone platform before him became a grand, ancient stone hall.
"Lightning, come!"
Su Zhen threw his head back and roared. Countless bolts of black lightning gathered above him, intertwining to form a fearsome thunder dragon.
Roar~
The thunder dragon seemed alive as it roared, then plunged straight down toward the stone hall before them.
Boom!
The thunder dragon struck the hall and burst into a sea of lightning that swept across the entire village.
Yang Fan and the others watched from the air as the village's true appearance emerged after the sea of lightning passed.
"Where are we?"
With Yang Fan's help, Dugu Yan landed on the ground. She stared at the stone walls and stream before her, stunned.
"I can't believe this place is actually a valley. What an incredible illusion! Were there really mental-type experts this powerful in Douluo Continent's history?"
Dugu Yan looked around at everything and couldn't help exclaiming in wonder.
Su Zhen paid no attention to Dugu Yan's amazement. His focus remained fixed on the ancient stone hall before him.
"Yang Fan, Li Hao."
"Your subordinate is here."
Yang Fan and Li Hao immediately saluted in response to Su Zhen's call.
"I'm going inside to take a look. You two guard the entrance. No one is allowed in. No one."
"Yes."
They answered in unison, then took up their posts on either side of the hall and kept watch.
After speaking, Su Zhen turned and entered the hall. Before going in, however, he discreetly glanced at Dugu Yan and Zhu Zhuqing, who were looking around. No one else could learn anything about the Thunder God—not even his two newly recruited subordinates.
"Hmph. If we're not allowed in, then we're not allowed in. What's with the attitude?"
Dugu Yan snorted at Su Zhen's orders, then began wandering around the valley.
Su Zhen pushed open the heavy stone doors, revealing the scene inside. Empty, plain, and dilapidated—those three qualities filled every corner of the hall. It was exactly like the Thunder God Temple where he had previously received the Thunder God's inheritance, except that the Thunder God Pillar in the center had been replaced by a scarlet ancient spear standing in the middle of the hall.
The ancient spear was two zhang and four chi long. Its shaft was blood-red, forged from an unknown metal, with two black symbols branded across its center. The spearhead was more than nine cun long, its two curved, sharpened edges shaped like lightning. Its tip gleamed with a cold metallic sheen, as if it might pierce an enemy's body like a bolt of thunder at any moment.
Su Zhen walked slowly toward the ancient spear and examined it closely, circling around it. His fingertips brushed over its scarlet shaft. The cold touch made his body shiver. The metal alone made Su Zhen's heart quail. It was easy to imagine how powerful the Thunder God must have been when he wielded the Thunder God Spear.
Su Zhen stepped up to the two symbols in the middle of the shaft. They were the same as the symbols Zhu Zhuqing had found outside, ancient characters from the ancient Divine Realm.
"Divine Spear. It seems part of this is missing."
Su Zhen gazed at the two ancient characters on the shaft and spoke slowly. He reached out and touched the chipped section above the character for "divine." That missing piece was what had left this mighty divine spear, once renowned throughout the Divine Realm, as dormant as ordinary iron.
Su Zhen took a scrap of paper from his Soul Guidance Ring. It was the one Zhu Zhuqing had found earlier, with the character for "thunder" written on it.
As soon as the scrap was taken out, it glowed scarlet. The ancient spear standing before him did the same, the two resonating with each other. Their light grew brighter and brighter, until it illuminated the entire stone hall.
The scrap slowly rose from Su Zhen's hand and floated toward the space above the character for "divine" on the spear shaft. It moved swiftly; in the blink of an eye, it was stamped into place above the character, transforming into a black ancient character and joining the two already on the spear.
"Thunder God Spear."
The moment Su Zhen read the characters on the shaft, the Thunder God Spear awakened. A bolt of lightning fell through the round dome above the hall and struck the spear.
The lightning turned into a scarlet sea that enveloped the area within five meters of the Thunder God Spear. Stimulated by the lightning, the spear slowly pulled free of the ground and floated in midair.
Boom!
A rumble of thunder burst from within the Thunder God Spear. The spear, suspended in midair, began absorbing the lightning coiling around its shaft. Once it had absorbed every last bolt in the hall, it fell from the air and came to rest horizontally before Su Zhen.
Su Zhen released a trace of the Thunder God's aura to draw the Thunder God Spear toward him. Sensing the aura of its source, the spear transformed into a scarlet streak of light and plunged into the thunder-shaped mark between Su Zhen's brows.
"Thunder God Spear, return to your place!"
A deep, resonant voice sounded in Su Zhen's mind.
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