"Hmm??? What do you mean, 'Complete forty-nine rounds of Thunder Body Tempering by attracting lightning'?! Can I already withstand lightning? How come I didn't know!"
After reading the task, Yu Hengqing's hair practically stood on end. This task was downright inhuman!
Setting aside how Yu Hengqing was supposed to find lightning and get himself struck, even if he managed to do that, how was he supposed to complete forty-nine rounds of Thunder Body Tempering?!
For now, Yu Hengqing could only turn to Leiyi for help, hoping he could offer some advice.
"Leiyi, do you know how to attract lightning?"
As soon as he entered the spiritual space, Yu Hengqing hurried over to Leiyi and asked in a hushed voice.
"Attract lightning? I do know how, but with your current physical strength, you can withstand no more than three strikes. Any more, and you'll be seriously injured."
Leiyi had been refining the Seven-Colored Lightning just now and didn't know that Yu Hengqing had begun his Second God Trial.
Learning that Leiyi knew how to attract lightning, Yu Hengqing secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
"My Second God Trial is to attract lightning and complete forty-nine rounds of Thunder Body Tempering. I'm trying to figure out how to complete it."
"I didn't expect your Soul Power quality to meet the requirements so soon!"
Hearing Yu Hengqing explain the Second God Trial's task, Leiyi was a little surprised. He'd originally expected Yu Hengqing to finish tempering his Soul Power in two months.
He hadn't expected that the Nine-Grade Purple Ganoderma they'd obtained by chance would not only speed up the process, but also help Yu Hengqing break through to level twenty Soul Power.
"Fine, I'll teach you the Lightning Attraction Technique now. But with your current strength, you can't affect the weather, so you'll have to attract lightning during a thunderstorm."
"A thunderstorm? But thunderstorms are rare in Heaven Dou City this time of year!"
Hearing that he'd need a thunderstorm, Yu Hengqing felt as if his head had grown two sizes.
"Have you forgotten Thunder Valley? The lightning there is far more active than anywhere else. Even this time of year, it thunders from time to time."
Leiyi knew the danger Yu Hengqing faced, and he didn't want to waste time on this matter either.
"Thunder Valley is in Star Dou Forest. If we want to go, we'll need someone strong to accompany us. This task definitely won't be over in a day or two."
If Yu Hengqing were just going to obtain his Second Soul Ring, it would be fine for Yu Yuanzhen to accompany him, since it wouldn't take long.
But Yu Hengqing now needed to attract lightning and temper his body in Thunder Valley, which would take far longer than obtaining his Second Soul Ring.
That meant Yu Yuanzhen couldn't accompany him to Thunder Valley. He still had matters to handle in the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect and couldn't be away from the sect for long.
"Tomorrow morning, I'll ask Dad and see if he can arrange for someone to accompany me to Thunder Valley."
The following morning.
"You want to go to Thunder Valley to attract lightning and temper your body? That's a little too dangerous, Xiao Qing!"
Faced with Yu Hengqing's request to go to Thunder Valley, Yu Yuanzhen couldn't understand it. This wasn't his First God Trial; failing to complete it right away wouldn't affect his future cultivation.
He could simply wait until the rainy season arrived in Heaven Dou City to complete this God Trial's task! It wouldn't interfere with his usual cultivation anyway.
"Dad, of course it's better to complete a God Trial sooner rather than later! What if I finish it early and Thunder God thinks I'm diligent, then gives me some extra rewards?"
Hearing Yu Hengqing's words, Yu Yuanzhen suddenly wondered if his son's dementia had flared up.
Thunder God was already going to pass his divine position on to him. How could completing the task early or late possibly change the rewards?
"Since you insist on going, I'll arrange for someone to accompany you. But before you leave, you need to choose your Second Soul Ring and tell me what you've decided."
"Okay, I should have chosen by dinner."
Ever since the day Yu Hengqing awakened his Martial Soul, Yu Yuanzhen had felt that his son was always in a hurry to do one thing or another, as if something were pushing him forward without letting him rest.
But since his son hadn't told him anything, Yu Yuanzhen didn't want to pry as his father.
Yu Yuanzhen said nothing more. He simply gave Yu Hengqing a few words of advice, then got up and left.
"Rest if you're tired. Even if the sky falls, I'll hold it up."
Watching Yu Yuanzhen walk away, Yu Hengqing furrowed his brow. He'd lived with Yu Yuanzhen for so long that he naturally understood his father had noticed something.
"Leiyi, am I that bad at acting?"
"You've lived with him for so long that you can tell something's off with him. How could he fail to notice something's off with you?"
Leiyi was right. Yu Hengqing and Yu Yuanzhen had lived together for so long that Yu Yuanzhen would naturally notice the changes in Yu Hengqing.
Back in his room, Yu Hengqing began poring over the Encyclopedia of Lightning-Type Soul Beasts and the map of Soul Beast territories in Star Dou Forest that a sect disciple had delivered that morning.
"What kind of Soul Skill are you planning to choose this time? Quick Attack gives you good mobility, but your defense and ranged attacks are still weak points."
Through Yu Hengqing's manifested Martial Soul, Leiyi could expend some of his own power to temporarily take physical form and move about normally.
Yu Hengqing had grown used to Leiyi borrowing his Martial Soul to take physical form. He simply turned the Encyclopedia of Lightning-Type Soul Beasts to page seventy-eight.
"The Thunderstorm Lark is a flying Soul Beast that lives in mountains, on cliffs, or in valleys where thunderstorms are frequent. It attacks by drawing in or creating small thunderclouds. After absorbing lightning, it can move at incredible speeds, making it difficult for ordinary Soul Masters to catch."
"Whenever a thunderstorm arrives, Thunderstorm Larks gather together. At that time, one can lure them down to the ground with their favorite food and hunt them."
After reading the Thunderstorm Lark's description, Yu Hengqing flipped forward a dozen or so pages. The Soul Beast described there was the Thunderstorm Lark.
Unlike the Thunderstorm Lark he'd just read about, the Thunder-Clap Bird was a small, territorial Soul Beast that lived in groups.
Whenever breeding season arrived, male Thunder-Clap Birds would leave their current flock and go to a new one, where they'd fight other males for the right to mate.
Thunder-Clap Birds attacked by releasing their thunder feathers. A single one was manageable, but if an entire flock released their thunder feathers, everyone would die unless their defenses were extraordinary.
So to hunt Thunder-Clap Birds, one either had to find their roost and ambush them, or wait until breeding season, when they went out to fight, and hunt them then.
After reading about the Thunder-Clap Bird, Yu Hengqing continued flipping through the book.
The first two types of Soul Beast would most likely grant Yu Hengqing a ranged attack Soul Skill. The one described here was different.
"The Thunder Shell Turtle is a Soul Beast that lives in aquatic environments rich in lightning-bearing minerals. It has a mild temperament, but when attacked, it gathers a coat of lightning over its shell. Its defenses are extremely strong."
"But for this very reason, the Thunder Shell Turtle's numbers have already fallen sharply. If a disciple of our sect encounters one while hunting Soul Beasts, remember not to hunt it indiscriminately, lest it become impossible to find one in the future."
After describing the Thunder Shell Turtle, Yu Hengqing introduced Leiyi to several more types of Lightning-Type Soul Beast, but all the rest were marked as rare or dangerous.
After listening to Yu Hengqing's descriptions, Leiyi asked a question he'd wanted to ask for a long time.
"Xiao Qing, do you really have to hunt Soul Beasts to cultivate? Is there no other way to break through your bottleneck?"
Yu Hengqing wasn't surprised that Leiyi would ask this. As an elf, Leiyi was also considered a Soul Beast on Douluo Continent, just like Snow Empress.
"For now, that's how it is. If we don't hunt Soul Beasts to obtain Soul Rings, the only other option is a God-Bestowed Spirit Ring. But only people who have received a God Trial can obtain one."
"Is there really no other way at all?"
Leiyi pressed Yu Hengqing for an answer, feeling a kinship with Soul Beasts. He knew that Yu Hengqing had some understanding of the world's future.
"Tens of thousands of years from now, when Soul Beasts are on the brink of extinction, humans will develop something called Spirit Souls to replace Soul Rings. But that's still in the future."
Before you continue