Midnight

Chapter 30: Midnight

Outside the Thunder Mist Cavern, the secret realm's unknown anomalies filled many direct descendants of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan with anxiety.

After obtaining their soul rings, they had completely lost any desire to continue staying here.

Otherwise, the opportunities within the Thunder Secret Realm were hardly limited to the large numbers of sub-dragon species of soul beasts breeding and thriving here.

Deep within the cavern, there was also a deep-blue thunder crystal ore.

Such thunder crystals offered immense benefits to the cultivation of orthodox Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Soul Masters.

In previous years, these were items that everyone fought over and scrambled to seize.

This year, they were unlucky enough to encounter a beast tide the moment they entered the secret realm, and they didn't dare to venture into the Inner Region of the Thunder Mist Cavern at all.

Yu Tianheng's expression looked particularly ugly.

After he and Yu Tianxin beat back those two Purple Lightning Horned Dragons, he discovered that several people were missing from the team.

Especially Dugu Yan and her group, who had all vanished.

This made him burn with anxiety.

If Dugu Yan and her brother really suffered any mishap, that old poison Dugu Bo would definitely fight him to the bitter end.

"Your cultivation is the highest here alongside mine. Will you come with me to search for people?"

After the fierce battle with the beast tide, both cousins looked somewhat disheveled.

What brought Yu Tianheng a measure of comfort was that this cousin of his, whose behavioral style was always unconstrained, had unusually put away his bantering smile and joined him in delving deep into the Thunder Mist Cavern to find Chen Zhuo and the others who had gotten lost.

Along the way, Yu Tianheng slaughtered a 3,500-year-old Purple Lightning Thunder Lizard to serve as his fourth soul ring, officially becoming a Soul Ancestor.

Then, they ran into Meng Yiran and Ye Lingling, who were heading back.

The hearts of these two twin stars of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan settled down quite a bit.

Behind Meng Yiran stood the Dragon Duke and Snake Granny, and behind Ye Lingling stood the lineage of the Nine Heart Begonia.

None of these people were simple characters.

If they were all to perish here in the Thunder Secret Realm, it would spell serious trouble.

Even as direct descendants of the Upper Three Sects, they couldn't afford to shoulder such consequences.

There was no need to worry about their own lives, as the elders in the clan would protect them.

However, they could kiss any thoughts of the position of next-generation clan successor goodbye.

Ye Lingling kept her head lowered slightly, putting on an act of being thoroughly frightened.

This was because Meng Yiran had lied to Yu Tianheng and Yu Tianxin.

She had already pieced these matters together roughly in her mind, and without Meng Yiran's prompting, she would have cooperated with the other girl's act.

She just wondered whether the terrifying omen in the vault of heaven was also part of Chen Zhuo and the others' plan.

She hoped so.

She did not want anything to happen to Chen Zhuo; otherwise, her Ye Family's crisis would become even harder to handle.

Originally, Yu Tianheng and Yu Tianxin wanted to escort Meng Yiran and Ye Lingling to the safety of the outer region first.

However, Yu Tianheng and Yu Tianxin watched as Meng Yiran didn't even use a soul skill.

Using only the Dragon-Snake Scepter in her hand as a spear, she pinned a Thundervine Demon Serpent of around 1,600 years to death in one strike.

The two brothers' eyelids twitched wildly, completely reshaping their inherent perception of Meng Yiran.

"Yiran, leave this soul beast to me."

For a Soul Master of the Nine Heart Begonia, they only needed to consider whether the soul beast's age was suitable, without having to consider whether the soul beast's species and attributes matched their own martial soul.

Anyway, regardless of what kind of soul beast was absorbed, the resulting soul skill effect would ultimately be the same.

Nine rings shared a single skill.

Ye Lingling absorbed the thousand-year soul ring of this Thundervine Demon Serpent.

Her soul power level reached level 31.

The search party thus grew from two people into four.

Over the course of several consecutive days, they ran through numerous locations without finding a single trace of Dugu Yan and Chen Zhuo.

Yu Tianheng and Yu Tianxin never would have guessed that the people they were looking for were not in this area frequented by thousand-year soul beasts on this layer at all.

Just as they were about to give up, Dugu Yan and Chen Zhuo appeared on their own at the outer periphery of the Thunder Mist Cavern.

Next came a round of theatrical acting.

They still used the excuse of being scattered by the beast herd as a shield.

"It's good that you're all right!"

"Yanyan, I am already a four-ring Battle Soul Elder now. Your soul ring is on me!"

Yu Tianheng's eye rims turned red, and when he mentioned that he had already broken through to a Soul Elder, he couldn't help showing off in his words.

He looked precisely like a peacock spreading its tail.

Yet the words Dugu Yan uttered next made his enthusiasm droop right back down.

"I've said it many times, don't call me Yanyan."

"Besides, the matter of the soul ring has already been resolved by me."

Seeing Yu Tianheng take a hit to his ego, the surrounding direct descendants of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan burst into a wave of cheerful laughter.

Yu Tianheng felt a complex array of emotions, left speechless for a moment.

He still remembered that when he first entered the secret realm, he had made up his mind in his heart to help Chen Zhuo's group hunt for soul rings.

As a result, he hadn't managed to help a single person.

A nameless, indescribable feeling of stifled frustration choked his chest.

He felt like an incompetent husband...

Originally, the secret realm trip could have lasted for three months.

It concluded in just one month.

Upon exiting the Thunder Secret Realm, Yu Tianheng and Yu Tianxin, acting as team leaders, considered their primary task to be reporting the matter of the secret realm's anomalies to the higher-ups of the clan.

Before long, powerhouses at the Soul Saint level entered the secret realm, heading to the Third Layer, the True Dragon's Heart, to investigate.

The Dragon Duke and Snake Granny also let out a breath of relief upon seeing Chen Zhuo and the others emerge safely from the secret realm.

The group declined the banquet invitation proposed by the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and directly set off on their return journey to Heaven Dou City.

Along the way, Meng Yiran seized the opportunity to report everything about her and Ye Lingling's experiences training in the Thunder Mist Cavern to Chen Zhuo.

This in itself was a task Chen Zhuo had assigned to her beforehand.

Ye Lingling still didn't know that she had deliberately approached Chen Zhuo, and that Chen Zhuo had also noticed her long ago.

Inside the luxurious carriage, Ye Lingling and Dugu Yan appeared outwardly on harmonious terms, but inwardly they were anxious to the point of desperation.

She had the lingering sensation that this trip to the secret realm had been a waste of money.

It wasn't even about grudging the money.

Mostly, this completely differed from the script she had imagined in her head.

In her scenario, shouldn't they have teamed up together, coordinated with one another, overcome all kinds of hardships, and finally obtained their soul rings?

During this process, friendship, hard work, and victory were all indispensable.

Yet the result turned out muddled and confusing, carrying a sense of déjà vu that it had already ended before it even began.

Her friendship hadn't warmed up by a single degree.

Reviewing the entire process, Ye Lingling felt even more like she had been manipulated and arranged.

It was an utter and complete defeat.

Inside this carriage were only her, Dugu Yan, and Chen Zhuo.

Yet she didn't dare to look at Chen Zhuo in the slightest.

Amidst an animated chat, Ye Lingling first showcased her newly acquired third soul skill, and then with supreme casualness asked about Dugu Yan's fourth soul ring.

Until black radiant light saturated the entire carriage cabin.

Ye Lingling forgot to maintain her lady-like posture, her mouth gaping wide enough to swallow a goose egg.

She had already made psychological expectations that Dugu Yan's fourth soul ring might be deep purple.

Just like Meng Yiran, approaching the limit age of the soul ring for the next boundary.

Yet what Dugu Yan displayed to her directly shattered the limit.

Amidst the shock, this once again verified the conjecture in Ye Lingling's heart.

Chen Zhuo and the others must have mastered some sort of secret method capable of increasing a Soul Master's capacity for soul rings of limit-breaking ages!

She had always been someone who disliked passive waiting.

The group returned to the Dugu Manor.

At midnight, Ye Lingling knocked on the door of Chen Zhuo's room.