Artifact, Divine Beast Bai Ze

"Thunder God Spear, return to your place!"

The Thunder God's deep voice resonated within Su Zhen's mind, and the retrieval of the Thunder God Spear made the aura surrounding him feel even more profound.

"After the ancient War of the Thunder Gods, the Thunder God unfortunately fell. The super-divine artifact he controlled, the Thunder God Spear, descended upon the Douluo Continent amidst a spatial turbulence, appearing in a damaged state. For tens of thousands of years, the Thunder God Spear transformed this place into a ruin, while its fragments wandered endlessly within. To activate the Thunder God Spear, one must possess both the Power of the Thunder God and the fragments of the Thunder God Spear. Possessing both allows one to awaken the Thunder God Spear, summon it to its rightful place, and complete the Thunder God's divine trials."

The deep voice sounded once more, this time explaining the loss of the Thunder God Spear and the conditions for its acquisition. The fragment was that very scrap of paper inscribed with the character 'Thunder'. Because the fragment had been constantly shifting its position within the previous village, they had failed to detect its presence during their first exploration. As for the Power of the Thunder God, it was a bolt of lightning Su Zhen had absorbed from the Sorrow of the Thunder Spirit while undergoing the divine trials; this lightning was both the source of his trial content and rewards, as well as the manifestation of the Thunder God's divine power. Having gathered both, Su Zhen had awakened the long-dormant Thunder God Spear.

Perhaps stumbling into the Thunder God Spear ruins this time was also the Power of the Thunder God attracting me in the dark.

Su Zhen recalled the moments before entering the village; there had been a mysterious force pulling him toward this location.

"Because the examinee has retrieved the Thunder God Spear, the reward for the second trial of the Thunder God is hereby modified: your lightning purity shall be refined, the Heart of the Thunder God shall be condensed, your insight into the Law of Thunder shall increase by fifteen percent, and the age of all your spirit rings shall increase by one thousand years. The content for the third trial and all subsequent trials has been altered; both the rewards and the difficulty have been increased. May the examinee continue to strive. The content of the third trial will be released upon the completion of the second."

The Thunder God announced the changes to the subsequent trials, which stirred Su Zhen's thoughts.

Since finding a Thunder God Relic can improve the trial rewards, how many more relics must I find to return to the peak of the Thunder God's era? And how many have been lost across this tiny Douluo Continent?

Su Zhen suppressed these thoughts, wanting to summon the Thunder God Spear to test it out.

Yet, no matter how Su Zhen called upon it, or even when he utilized a sliver of the Thunder God's divine power, he could not summon the Thunder God Spear from his brow. If not for the notification of the increased rewards for the second trial, Su Zhen would have suspected that everything that just happened was a hallucination.

"It seems the Thunder God Spear, much like the Sea God Trident of the Sea God, is a reward for the later trials."

Having figured this out, Su Zhen abandoned the attempt to summon the spear and pushed open the stone door to walk out.

"Young Master, how did it go?"

Seeing Su Zhen emerge from the hall, Yang Fan and Li Hao, who had been guarding outside, immediately gathered around. They carefully checked Su Zhen's condition, and upon finding him unharmed, they breathed a sigh of relief and asked about the situation inside.

"It went well; the harvest was good. Where are the two of them?"

Su Zhen replied casually and asked about the whereabouts of Zhu Zhuqing and the other woman, as he had not seen them outside the stone hall upon exiting.

"After you went in, Dugu Yan went to explore outside the valley, and not long after she left, Zhu Zhuqing grew worried for her safety and went out to find her. Right now, the two of them are poking around in some bushes at the valley entrance."

Li Hao said slowly, having kept a constant watch on their movements.

"Let's go. Matters here are concluded. Li Hao, raze this place to the ground."

After giving the order, Su Zhen led Yang Fan toward the valley exit. Li Hao activated his Martial Soul Possession, rose into the air, and gathered his strength. With a single punch, he completely annihilated the stone hall and the fifty-meter radius surrounding it, leaving a deep crater in its place.

The valley was not very deep, and the three of them walked out in just over ten minutes. With the Thunder God Spear gone, this was now a valley as ordinary as any other, and no one would ever wander here by mistake again.

At the valley entrance, Dugu Yan and Zhu Zhuqing were crouching in a patch of grass, petting something. When Su Zhen approached, they were startled and stood up to look at him.

"What are you holding?"

Su Zhen noticed a furry bundle in Dugu Yan's arms and asked.

"We found it in the grass just now. It seems to be some kind of spirit beast. It's very docile, a breed we've never seen before."

Dugu Yan replied while stroking the furry creature.

"A spirit beast?"

Su Zhen projected his spiritual power toward the creature in Dugu Yan's arms, but he could not detect any biological aura at all. It was clearly right before his eyes, yet under the scrutiny of his Titled Douluo-level spiritual power, he felt nothing.

"Put it down, let me take a look."

Dugu Yan complied, placing the furry spirit beast on the ground. At that moment, the mysterious creature revealed its true form.

It was a robust white lion, about a foot and a half long, covered in fine, silver armor that resembled dragon scales. Its body was frost-white, save for its four paws, which trod upon faint, cyan electric light. The mane around its neck was not hair, but countless tiny, unyielding threads of lightning that shimmered and emitted a soft "crackling" sound as they swayed in the breeze. Its tail was like a steel whip, splitting into three electric lashes at the end, which sparked with lightning when flicked. On its forehead grew a translucent, dark-blue crystal horn, wrapped in naturally formed golden lightning patterns. Its eyes were liquid gold, deep and clear, forever reflecting a flowing, ceaseless bolt of lightning.

The Emperor toured the hunt, reaching the eastern sea, ascending Mount Huan, and obtaining the divine beast Bai Ze on the seashore. It could speak and understood the emotions of all things. When asked about the ghosts and gods of the world, it spoke of the 11,500 types of spirits and wandering souls that have existed since ancient times. The Emperor ordered it to be illustrated and shown to the world.

The moment Su Zhen saw the full appearance of the strange beast, he recalled a description of a creature from a volume titled Seven Slips of the Cloud Satchel in his past life.

"Bai Ze, how could it appear on the Douluo Continent?"

Su Zhen murmured in confusion, watching the Bai Ze curled on the ground, docilely licking its fur.

"Su Zhen, do you recognize this little white lion?"

Seeing Su Zhen staring at the Bai Ze in a daze, Dugu Yan asked.

"If I am not mistaken, this should be an extremely rare spirit beast. It is possible that there is only one such beast in the entire Douluo Continent. Its name is: Bai Ze."

Su Zhen shifted his gaze from the Bai Ze and looked at Dugu Yan, introducing it slowly.

Just then, an unexpected change occurred. The divine beast Bai Ze, lying on the ground licking its fur, suddenly spoke in a human voice.

"Young man, you recognize me. It seems you do not belong to this world either."

The Bai Ze's voice was filled with gentleness and kindness, like that of an elderly man in his twilight years.

Su Zhen was not surprised to hear the Bai Ze speak; according to the ancient records of his past life, the ancient divine beast Bai Ze possessed the ability to speak human language. However, he noticed that the others did not seem to hear the Bai Ze's words. He looked at the creature in confusion, not responding to its statement.

"Do not 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 could communicate with me."

The Bai Ze seemed to possess mind-reading abilities, answering the question in Su Zhen's heart.

"You are also from Blue Star, aren't you? How long have you been here?"

"Eighteen years."

"Eighteen years... then it was you who awakened the Kirin martial soul eighteen years ago."

"How did you know?"

Su Zhen voiced his confusion, though he regretted it the moment the words left his lips. In his past life, Bai Ze was a powerful divine beast that understood the workings of all things in the world; even here on the Douluo Continent, it would instantly perceive the past, present, and future of this realm.

Bai Ze did not speak, merely rolling its golden eyes at Su Zhen as if looking at an idiot.

Su Zhen did not mind the disdain from Bai Ze, simply asking again with an expressionless face.

"Since you knew of my existence, why have you only appeared now?"

"You were too weak before, and someone was always watching you. Even with the scales of that black lizard masking your presence, my appearance would have exposed your location. You are stronger now, that little girl helped to conceal you, and you have just obtained the artifact of the Thunder God. You finally have enough ability for me to come and find you."

As Bai Ze spoke, it licked its fur clean before leaping onto Su Zhen's shoulder.

"Kid, pick up the pace. There are even greater crises waiting for you ahead."

Bai Ze gazed deeply at the thunderbolt mark on Su Zhen's brow, its words heavy with solemnity and urgency.

"Will I succeed?"

"I cannot say. The future is ever-changing; the moment after I speak, the future could split into countless different endings."

"Give it your all. I will guide you."

After saying this, Bai Ze curled up on Su Zhen's shoulder and slowly drifted off to sleep.