Once the demonic aura was fully unleashed, heavenly lightning drenched Hele Mountain throughout the night, and the lightning tribulation grew ever more ferocious.
The struggle between the toad and the white crane paled beneath the heavenly lightning that followed, as though even a great monster like the Great Toad King was insignificant before the might of heaven and earth.
Though unconscious, Han Shiyong had not entirely lost his ability to perceive. It was as though half his soul had left his body, watching the night of lightning tribulation in the mountains in terror. Many of the thunderbolts were even aimed at him.
When the lightning reached its fiercest in the latter half of the night, what fell from the sky was no longer rain. To Han Shiyong, it felt like lightning and fire pouring down, setting all of Hele Mountain thoroughly "ablaze."
Unconscious though he was, Han Shiyong suffered pain worse than death, but gradually he grew numb, his perceptions weakening until he sank into utter darkness.
Boom!
With all of Hele Mountain shaking, an earth-shattering crash jolted Han Shiyong awake.
"Croak... hahahahaha, croak, hahahahaha! I survived! I survived! Five hundred years, another five hundred years! I must thank you for helping me, Fellow Daoist! Hahahahaha!"
"What does another five hundred years amount to? You're only running away. Take a shortcut today, and you'll repay it twice over another day!"
"Hahahahaha! With five hundred years, I have five hundred years of possibilities! Better than dying today! Croak~ I'm off-"
Han Shiyong opened his eyes groggily. The lightning flashing over Hele Mountain seemed to be weakening. The wind still howled, but the thunder was no longer so overwhelming. A dark shape swelled amid the mountains, while enormous wings and white light blotted out the sky.
On a scorched peak at