"Better play it safe and set up a Faraday Cage against the lightning."
As long as it was not a million-year Godhood Tribulation, Qian Xunji had nothing to fear from the lightning that fell during an ordinary Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast's or Ferocious Beast's Heavenly Tribulation.
His gaze fell on the tiny Thunderclap Nether Vine, which was not even as tall as Klee.
It was so small, so weak. If a bolt as thick as a bowl struck it, would it not be split in two?
He had only one One-Step 100,000-Year Spirit Beast Cultivation Card, and there was only one Thunderclap Nether Vine.
He had one chance.
First, he put together a few lightning rods and grounding wires for emergencies.
Half a day later, the work was done.
Qian Xunji immediately took out the card and aimed it at the Thunderclap Nether Vine.
One-Step 100,000-Year Spirit Beast Cultivation Card—activate.
The Thunderclap Nether Vine's aura began to soar.
System Appraisal.
[Species: Thunderclap Nether Vine] [Cultivation: 300 years, 466 years, 633 years, 1,000 years... 10,000 years...]
As the Thunderclap Nether Vine reached ten thousand years, a deafening crack suddenly rang out from the already cloud-choked sky.
Faster than the sound, a bolt of lightning as thick as a thumb struck down.
It hit Qian Xunji, crackling across his body.
It still failed to break through his defenses.
The Eight Spider Lances spread behind him, devouring the power of the lightning that kept falling.
Eager to taste "Sprite" again, the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King threw himself into the task with everything he had.
"What kind of Spirit Beast is this? The lightning coming down feels almost as strong as the Heavenly Tribulation Spirit Beasts face every hundred thousand years."
For some reason, the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King felt a prickle of unease.
As a Spirit Beast, he ought to have dreaded Heavenly Tribulation lightning and kept as far from it as possible.
But this bamboo stalk before him was anything but normal. It was actively directing lightning to strike itself.
It was madness.
"It inherited the bloodline left behind when the Thunder God fell."
"It's like the Dragon Clan bloodline in the Sky Azure Bull Python, the Titan Bloodline in the Titan Giant Ape, or the Titan and Ice God Bloodlines in the Titan Snow Demon. Judging by the nature of its abilities, though, it's closer to Bo Saixi's Sea God Martial Soul."
The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King was astonished by Qian Xunji's explanation.
This bamboo stalk, so purple it was nearly black, had abilities similar to the Sea God Martial Soul?
The Sea God Martial Soul changed the weather and controlled the sea.
The Thunderclap Nether Vine changed the weather and controlled lightning.
When the Thunderclap Nether Vine's cultivation passed fifty thousand years, Qian Xunji's divine sense detected something watching him.
When its cultivation reached ninety thousand years, lightning bolts as thick as bowls struck him. At last, they began to have an effect.
His hair stood on end as he drew the power of lightning into his body.
The surface shed its impurities; flesh and skin were cleansed.
Clogged channels opened; his meridians were scoured clean.
His organs were purged by fire; hidden toxins were rooted out.
His marrow was forged anew; grime was stripped from his bones.
His soul was cleansed in the Purple Prefecture; the stains upon his heart were swept away.
After he drew lightning into his body to cleanse his marrow and remold his flesh, his body changed noticeably.
Compared with before, Soul Power flowed through him without the slightest obstruction.
With the impurities cleared, his meridians grew wider and sturdier. He could clearly feel that his Soul Power output had risen by at least thirty percent.
That mattered.
In plain terms, a battle between Spirit Masters came down to this: whoever had more Soul Power, recovered it faster, and could release more of it at once had the better chance of winning.
"Fuck, that hurts."
When the Thunderclap Nether Vine reached a hundred thousand years, a bowl-thick bolt of purple-gold lightning fell from the sky and struck Qian Xunji, causing him genuine pain.
It almost matched the pain of the injuries he had suffered when Tang Chen used Ring Detonation with the Great Sumeru Hammer and clashed with him head-on.
Still, he could grit his teeth and keep from crying out.
Just as Qian Xunji continued taking lightning strikes to refine his Indestructible Body into the so-called Flawless Golden Body—or Divine Body—something unexpected happened.
The dark clouds dispersed.
The void split open, revealing a huge eyeball.
"Asura Successor, you have achieved your goal of tempering your body. Please leave this place."
"A hundred-thousand-year Thunderclap Nether Vine is not permitted to exist in this world."
"That is the decision of the lords of the God Realm Committee."
[Unlucky Douluo Plane Consciousness]
System Appraisal was being cheeky.
In this world, Tang San had not yet been born. He had not inherited the positions of both Asura God and Sea God, much less turned the Douluo Plane into the Tang Family's backyard.
Ah Yin had not taken over the Life Core, and Tang Hao had yet to become the Douluo Plane Lord.
The Douluo Plane Consciousness was not yet that "unlucky, miserable" fellow.
Qian Xunji struck without hesitation. A Getsuga Tensho launched with no windup severed the vine's stem from its body as neatly as a scythe cutting chives.
The crimson light of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Spirit Ring lit up heaven and earth. Qian Xunji reached out, touched it, and drew it in with his Soul Power, absorbing the Spirit Ring released by the Thunderclap Nether Vine as his First Soul Ring.
With his level of cultivation, he had no need to sit and refine a Hundred-Thousand-Year Spirit Ring for ages.
His Divine Origin Realm spiritual power, on the level of a Third-Level God's, seized it and fitted it into place. Simple.
He kept the leg Spirit Bone it dropped.
As for the Thunderclap Nether Vine's body, he naturally let the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King, now the spirit of the Eight Spider Lances, devour it completely.
A hundred-thousand-year Thunderclap Nether Vine had fully awakened its Thunder God Bloodline.
Not a scrap of such a creature could be wasted.
"Douluo Plane Consciousness, I did your job for you. Don't I get a reward?" Qian Xunji looked up at the Big Eyeball and demanded payment.
The Douluo Plane Consciousness had wanted to destroy the hundred-thousand-year Thunderclap Nether Vine. He had done the job, so surely it owed him something.
As for how that job had come about, do not ask.
If asked, his answer was simple: he had done the job.
"..." The Douluo Plane Consciousness was speechless.
It had seen all kinds of humans, but Qian Xunji was a first.
He had caused the problem, solved it himself, then turned around and demanded a reward.
"Asura Successor, stop fooling around. You caused this in the first place. Of course you should have dealt with it."
"Douluo Plane Consciousness, that's where you're wrong. If I hadn't done it, you would have had to. I did your job, so shouldn't you pay me?"
Qian Xunji smiled confidently, then changed tack. "A friend gives you another road to travel. Invest in me before I inherit the Asura God Position. Once I ascend to the Divine Realm, you'll be a plane consciousness with someone in high places."
"If anyone bullies you later, come to me. I'll remember your kindness and help you."
"It's only right to return a favor."
After hearing Qian Xunji out, the Douluo Plane Consciousness found his argument remarkably persuasive.
Persuasive or not, though, it had nothing particularly valuable on hand.
It understood that investing early brought greater returns.
"What do you want?"
"I want a Spirit Beast over a hundred thousand years old with an ultimate life attribute."
"Oh, and not the Emerald Swan in the Lake of Life in Star Dou Forest."
Qian Xunji was genuinely afraid that absorbing the Spirit Ring and Spirit Bone of a brain-addled, self-righteous female Spirit Beast would infect him with that same sanctimonious stupidity and make him do one foolish thing after another.
He instinctively despised sanctimonious fools and wanted nothing to do with them.
Before you continue