Thunder Hellvine

The God of Destruction would not set a trial without purpose. Since he had deliberately used a bit of divine power to teleport Lin Yao directly to this location, there had to be some soul beast nearby that he had chosen as the target of the trial.

Just as the Sea God had chosen the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King as a trial target, some unlucky soul beast must have caught the God of Destruction's eye.

Having figured this out, Lin Yao summoned his Ender Dragon Martial Soul and began surveying his surroundings.

Anything that had caught the God of Destruction's attention was probably no small fry.

Lin Yao had only taken a couple of steps when he suddenly heard some strange sounds.

"Crackle, crackle."

It sounded like electrical arcs. Why would there be electrical arcs in a forest? Following the sound, Lin Yao soon spotted a massive plant flickering with arcs of electricity.

The plant had bamboo-like stalks and dark, vine-like branches. Upon seeing Lin Yao approach, several vines lashed about in front of him, seemingly warning him that it was not to be trifled with.

Lin Yao recognized what this unusual plant-type soul beast was almost immediately.

It was a Thunder Hellvine. Whether the God of Destruction had deliberately sustained it to the thirty-thousand-year level, or whether this was a miracle born of chance, was impossible to tell.

Every lightning vine the Thunder Hellvine waved was wrapped in heart-pounding electrical arcs.

But Lin Yao was intrigued. Rolling his wrists, he said to the Thunder Hellvine, "Interesting. Come on, let's give it a try and see whether you're stronger or I am."

As a transmigrator, Lin Yao naturally knew the traits of the Thunder Hellvine. It was a legendary plant-type soul beast said to possess the bloodline of the Thunder God. Because of that bloodline, it was born intelligent. Its only means of cultivation was to draw lightning down upon itself. In its earliest stage, when it was still no more than a bamboo shoot, it could only cultivate through naturally falling lightning.

While other soul beasts could cultivate for one year, it might need ten years just to accumulate a hundred lightning strikes. Its cultivation was more than ten times slower than that of ordinary soul beasts.

However, as time passed, once a Thunder Hellvine reached the hundred-year level, things would undergo a dramatic change.

A Thunder Hellvine with a hundred years of cultivation could actively draw lightning to itself during thunderstorms, allowing the bolts to strike its body.

It could often endure a hundred lightning strikes in a single night. Although by then it no longer advanced by merely enduring a hundred strikes per year, its cultivation speed would still increase greatly.

Due to its innate traits, once a Thunder Hellvine cultivated to a certain extent, its destructive power became terrifying. It would often create the spectacular sight of a whole region turning into a lightning pool.

That lightning pool would continuously expand as the Thunder Hellvine grew stronger, until it swallowed everything around it.

A Thunder Hellvine with ten thousand years of cultivation was enough to alter the weather, call lightning down upon the world, and wield the power of thunder to destroy everything outside.

As he recalled the Thunder Hellvine's characteristics, Lin Yao suddenly noticed that there was no sign of any lightning pool around this Thunder Hellvine. Yet it undeniably emitted the vicious aura unique to a ten-thousand-year soul beast.

After a brief moment of thought, Lin Yao wondered, Could it be that the God of Destruction moved the lightning pool away, or simply relocated its main body here?

Either was possible. After all, Lin Yao had not dealt much with the God of Destruction, so he had no way of guessing what the god had been thinking.

While Lin Yao pondered the Thunder Hellvine, his movements did not slow in the slightest. With a great leap, he landed beside it.

Yet the instant his feet touched the ground, he felt his legs sink downward. Then came the sensation of lightning striking his body, along with the helpless feeling of his legs sinking into water with nowhere to brace himself.

So this was what it had been waiting for, Lin Yao cursed inwardly. The Thunder Hellvine the God of Destruction had chosen for him was far too clever. It had actually found a way to conceal the lightning pool it created, making the place appear like ordinary ground.

But if you really treated it as solid ground and came leaping over with a James leap, you would be stepping right onto a landmine.

With such a high-purity lightning pool, an ordinary soul master would have both legs instantly charred. Even a flying-type soul master would struggle to take off, because the lightning pool produced a sticky, swamp-like suction force.

However, this was not much of a problem for Lin Yao, because his Ender Dragon Martial Soul naturally granted him powerful elemental resistance when he used Martial Soul Possession.

Lin Yao no longer held back. With one hand, he took out an ordinary Golden Apple he had prepared beforehand.

After wolfing down the Golden Apple in two bites, Lin Yao violently flapped the Ender Dragon's wings and flew into the air.

The Thunder Hellvine had clearly not expected Lin Yao to have such a trick up his sleeve. It hesitated for a moment before reacting.

With a flick of its whip-like vine tip, as though wielding a conductor's baton, the sky above the reach of the whip instantly changed color. A mass of black clouds then appeared out of nowhere.

Lin Yao twisted aside to dodge the incoming lightning, and his temper flared as well. He spat a mouthful of dragon breath directly onto the Thunder Hellvine.

The damage carried by the dragon breath was tremendous, a persistent burn that clung like a parasite to the bone. Though the Thunder Hellvine immediately plunged into the lightning pool, even the pool's liquid lightning could not extinguish the flames of the dragon breath.

Watching from above, Lin Yao saw all sorts of light continuously flashing within the lightning pool like firecrackers exploding. It was the dragon breath at work, scorching the Thunder Hellvine's plant body.

No matter how strong the Thunder Hellvine was, it was ultimately a plant-type soul beast. Faced with this special dragon-breath flame that could ignore its fire immunity, it no longer looked much like a dignified ten-thousand-year plant-type soul beast.

And Lin Yao had run out of patience. This was still his divine trial, after all. He could not slack off too much.

Diving straight into the lightning pool, Lin Yao activated Dragon Transformation. Enduring as much as he could against the searing pain of lightning raging around his body, he grabbed the struggling Thunder Hellvine and immediately beat his wings, soaring into the sky.

Just as Lin Yao was uncomfortable in the lightning pool, the Thunder Hellvine was equally uncomfortable after leaving the ground and entering the air. Unfortunately, it did not possess the overwhelming strength Lin Yao had used to yank it from the pool. Though it tried to force Lin Yao down with lightning, every attempt ended in failure.

Lin Yao raised his dragon claws and lunged directly for the Thunder Hellvine's core...