"Thunder God Spear, return to your place!"
The Thunder God's deep voice surfaced in Su Zhen's mind. With the Thunder God Spear recovered, the aura around him grew even more profound.
"After the ancient battle of the Thunder Gods, the Thunder God tragically fell. The Super Divine Artifact he commanded, the Thunder God Spear, came to the Douluo Continent with the currents of space and time, damaged and incomplete. Over tens of thousands of years, the Thunder God Spear transformed this place into a ruin, while its fragments wandered through it. To activate the Thunder God Spear, one must possess both the Power of the Thunder God and the fragments of the Thunder God Spear. Once both are gathered, the Thunder God Spear can be awakened and returned to its place, completing the divine examination of the Thunder God."
The deep voice rang out again, this time explaining how the Thunder God Spear had been lost and what was required to obtain it. The fragment of the Thunder God Spear was the scrap of paper bearing the character "thunder." It had kept changing locations in the village, which was why they hadn't found it when they first explored the place. As for the Power of the Thunder God, it was the thunderbolt contained within Sorrow of the Thunder Spirit when Su Zhen accepted the Thunder God's divine examination. That thunderbolt was both the source of the examination and its rewards, and the embodiment of the Thunder God's divine power. Having gathered both, Su Zhen had awakened the long-dormant Thunder God Spear.
"Looks like the Power of the Thunder God was secretly drawing me here, leading me to stumble into the Thunder God Spear's ruins."
Su Zhen recalled the moments before entering the village. Some unseen force had been guiding him here.
"Because the examinee recovered the Thunder God Spear, the rewards for the Thunder God's Second Trial have now been changed: purify the quality of your own thunder, condense the Heart of the Thunder God, increase your comprehension of the Law of Thunder by fifteen percent, and raise the age of all Soul Rings by one thousand years. The contents of the Thunder God's Third Trial and all subsequent trials have also been changed. The rewards and difficulty of every trial have been increased. May the examinee continue striving. The contents of the Third Trial will be revealed upon completion of the Second Trial."
The Thunder God announced the changes to the future trials, setting Su Zhen's thoughts racing.
If recovering the Thunder God's Relics is enough to improve the trial rewards, then how many relics will I need to recover to restore the Thunder God to his peak? And how many have been lost on this tiny Douluo Continent?
Su Zhen pushed the thought aside and tried to summon the Thunder God Spear.
But no matter how he called for it, or even whether he drew upon a trace of the Thunder God's divine power, he couldn't summon the Thunder God Spear from his brow. If the rewards for the Second Trial hadn't improved, Su Zhen might have suspected that everything he'd just experienced had been an illusion.
"Looks like, just like the Sea God's Sea God Trident, the Thunder God Spear is a reward for one of the later trials."
Having figured it out, Su Zhen gave up trying to summon the Thunder God Spear and pushed open the stone doors.
"Sir, how did it go?"
As Su Zhen stepped out of the hall, Yang Fan and Li Hao, who had been waiting outside, hurried over and carefully checked him over. Seeing that he was safe and sound, they breathed a sigh of relief and asked what had happened inside.
"Pretty well. I came away with a decent haul. Where are the two of them?"
Su Zhen answered casually, then asked where Zhu Zhuqing and Dugu Yan had gone. He hadn't seen them outside the stone hall when he came out.
"After you went in, Dugu Yan went to explore beyond the valley. Not long after she left, Zhu Zhuqing went after her, worried about her safety. They're crawling around in some bushes near the valley entrance right now."
Li Hao spoke slowly. He had been keeping an eye on the two women the whole time.
"Let's go. We're done here. Li Hao, level this place."
After giving his order, Su Zhen led Yang Fan toward the mouth of the valley. Li Hao activated his Martial Soul and rose into the air, gathering his strength before throwing a punch. The stone hall and everything within fifty meters of it were obliterated, leaving a deep pit in their place.
The valley wasn't very deep. The three of them reached the exit after walking for a little over ten minutes. With the Thunder God Spear gone, this was now just an ordinary valley, no different from any other. No one else would stumble in here again.
At the valley entrance, Dugu Yan and Zhu Zhuqing were crouched in some bushes, stroking something. They only noticed Su Zhen when he came right up to them, then stood and turned to face him.
"What are you holding?"
Su Zhen noticed a fluffy bundle in Dugu Yan's arms and asked.
"I found it in the bushes just now. It seems to be some kind of Soul Beast. It's very docile, and I've never seen anything like it."
Dugu Yan replied as she stroked the fluffy creature in her arms.
"A Soul Beast?"
Su Zhen directed his spiritual power toward the fluffy creature in Dugu Yan's arms, but couldn't detect any sign of life. It was right before his eyes, plainly visible, yet even his Titled Douluo-level spiritual power couldn't sense the slightest trace of its presence.
"Put it down. Let me have another look."
At his words, Dugu Yan set the fluffy Soul Beast on the ground. Now, the mysterious creature revealed its true form.
It was a sleek white lion, a foot and a half long, its body clad in fine silver armor like Dragon Scales. Its coat was snow-white, and faint blue-green lightning flickered beneath its four paws. Its mane wasn't made of hair, but countless fine strands of thunder woven together, solid and undispersed; they danced in the breeze with soft crackles. Its tail was like a steel whip, splitting at the end into three strands of lightning that could unleash bolts when it flicked. A translucent, dark cyan crystal horn grew from its forehead, wrapped in naturally formed golden patterns of thunder. Its eyes were liquid gold, deep and clear, each forever reflecting a rushing bolt of lightning.
"When the Emperor made a tour of inspection in the east, he reached the sea and climbed Mount Huan. By the seaside, he encountered the divine beast Bai Ze. It could speak and understood the nature of all things. He asked it about the affairs of all the ghosts and spirits beneath heaven. Since ancient times, there had been eleven thousand five hundred and twenty kinds of things formed from vital essence and souls that wandered and transformed. Bai Ze told him of them, and the Emperor ordered that they be illustrated and shown to the world."
The moment Su Zhen saw the creature in full, he recalled the description of a mythical beast from a scroll he had read in a previous life, the Seven Slips of the Cloud Satchel.
"Bai Ze... How could you have appeared on the Douluo Continent?"
Su Zhen murmured in confusion as he watched Bai Ze curl up on the ground and obediently lick its fur.
"Su Zhen, do you know this little white lion?"
Seeing Su Zhen staring at Bai Ze, Dugu Yan asked him.
"If I'm not mistaken, this should be an extremely rare Soul Beast. It might even be the only one of its kind on the entire Douluo Continent. Its name is Bai Ze."
Su Zhen looked away from Bai Ze and slowly explained to Dugu Yan.
Just then, something strange happened. The divine beast Bai Ze, lying on the ground and licking its fur, suddenly spoke.
"Young man, you know who I am. Looks like you don't belong to this world either."
Bai Ze's voice was gentle and kind, like that of an old man nearing the end of his life.
Su Zhen wasn't surprised to hear Bai Ze speak. Ancient texts from his previous life said that the ancient divine beast Bai Ze could speak human language. But he noticed that the others seemed not to have heard a word. He looked at Bai Ze, but didn't answer.
"Don't doubt it. No one in this world can hear what I say. Even though I learned the language here as soon as I arrived, no one can communicate with me."
Bai Ze seemed to read minds, answering the question in Su Zhen's thoughts.
"You're from Blue Star too, right? How long have you been here?"
"Eighteen years."
"Eighteen years... So you're the one who awakened a Kirin Martial Soul eighteen years ago."
"How do you know that?"
Su Zhen asked in confusion, but regretted it the moment the words left his mouth. In his previous life, Bai Ze was a powerful divine beast who understood the workings of everything in the world. Even on the Douluo Continent, it could instantly see its past, present, and future.
Bai Ze said nothing. It merely rolled its golden eyes at Su Zhen, as if looking at an idiot.
Su Zhen didn't mind Bai Ze looking down on him. Expressionless, he asked another question.
"Since you knew I existed, why did you only appear now?"
"You were too weak before, and someone was always watching you. Even with the scales of that black lizard concealing your presence, my appearance would still have exposed your location. You're a little stronger now, and that young lady helped conceal you. You've also just obtained the Thunder God's divine artifact, so you're finally strong enough for me to come find you."
As Bai Ze spoke, it finished licking its fur and jumped onto Su Zhen's shoulder.
"Kid, pick up the pace. There's an even greater danger waiting for you ahead."
Bai Ze gave the thunder patterns on Su Zhen's brow a deep look. Its words were filled with solemn urgency.
"Will I succeed?"
"I can't say. The future changes in an instant. The moment I speak, it could branch into countless different outcomes."
"Fight with all you've got. I'll guide you."
After Bai Ze spoke, it curled up on Su Zhen's shoulder and slowly fell asleep.
Before you continue