Contracting the Thunderclap Hellvine

Yu Tianheng's Adam's apple bobbed violently as he swallowed the metallic sweetness rising into his mouth.

The pride of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan made him instinctively want to argue, but when his gaze fell on the charred, bent vine beneath Su Bai's foot, every word caught in his throat.

Among his peers, he had considered himself invincible.

Yet today, not only had an unknown soul beast driven him into a desperate corner, but this blond youth who had appeared out of nowhere had ground his pride into the dirt.

Pure strength. There had been no flashy exchanges of soul skills. Strength alone had stripped Yu Tianheng of even the slightest thought of resistance.

Yu Tianheng clenched his fists, veins bulging on the backs of his hands.

He drew a deep breath, forcibly suppressed his humiliation, and said hoarsely, "Lesson learned. The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan will remember that you saved our lives today."

Su Bai offered no response. His gaze passed over him and settled on the two girls behind him.

An unusual gleam flickered in Dugu Yan's emerald eyes. "With your strength, you would be a prodigy at any academy. May I ask your name?"

"Su Bai," he replied, neither servile nor arrogant. For now, he had little interest in befriending them. Contracting the Thunderclap Hellvine was what mattered.

Ye Lingling tugged at her torn cuff and walked over to Dugu Yan. Her voice was soft, yet exceptionally clear. "Thank you. Ye Lingling of the Nine Heart Begonia Sect."

As her words fell, a begonia blossom radiating gentle white light bloomed in her palm.

Its petals drifted down, dissolving into motes of white light that flowed into Yu Tianheng's body.

The charred wounds on Yu Tianheng's body healed at a visible pace, and his turbulent soul power gradually settled.

Su Bai glanced at the begonia blossom. The Nine Heart Begonia truly was a supreme healing martial soul.

If it could be combined with the Blue Silver Emperor's vitality...

As he considered this, Su Bai lifted his foot from the main stem and turned toward the three of them. "It isn't safe here. You should leave first."

The meaning behind his words could not have been clearer.

This soul beast belonged to him, Su Bai. They needed to get the hell away.

Hearing this, Yu Tianheng's face alternated between green and white. He could not stomach handing the soul beast he had set his sights on over to someone else just like that.

But he also knew he was no match for Su Bai.

"Let's go." Yu Tianheng gritted his teeth, turned, and darted down the slope.

Dugu Yan glanced back at Su Bai, committing his face to memory, then pulled Ye Lingling along and hurried after him.

Before leaving, Ye Lingling met Su Bai's eyes. His savage bearing moments earlier had branded itself deep into her mind.

No matter how she thought about it, she could not understand how someone like him had caught the Nine Heart Begonia's attention.

The three figures soon vanished into the torrential rain.

After confirming there were no other presences for several miles around, Su Bai let his tense shoulders relax slightly.

He raised his right hand and snapped his fingers.

The dark golden fur covering his body rapidly receded, and his bulging muscles returned to their lean, well-proportioned form.

The majestic Golden Lion Mastiff did not dissipate. Instead, he became a tiny, translucent lion, affectionately rubbed against Su Bai's cheek, then turned into a streak of light and slipped between his brows.

Su Bai looked down at the Thunderclap Hellvine, the corners of his lips lifting.

"You're lucky you ran into me."

This supreme lightning-attribute plant soul beast was now barely clinging to life. His main stem had snapped, and his blue-violet lightning was so faint it could go out at any moment.

Sensing Su Bai's gaze, his vines instinctively shrank back, emanating intense fear.

Su Bai slowly raised his right hand. A glimmer of dark golden light quietly bloomed in his palm.

Within that light, a small nine-story pagoda gradually took solid form.

The entire pagoda was dark gold, every story carved with intricate, ancient patterns. Its bottom three stories shone with different lights.

These patterns did not belong to this era. They exuded a boundless, ancient, majestic aura.

Whenever the torrential rain came within three feet of the pagoda, it slid aside on its own, unable to touch its surface.

His martial soul, the Spirit Pagoda.

With the Spirit Pagoda's appearance, the Thunderclap Hellvine began trembling violently.

It was a suppression of rank that reached into the depths of his soul.

Under the Spirit Pagoda's pressure, he could not even muster the thought of resisting.

"Submit, or die." Carried by his spiritual power, Su Bai's voice penetrated directly into the depths of the Thunderclap Hellvine's consciousness.

Lightning-attribute soul beasts were always fierce and hot-tempered, preferring death to submission.

His main stem suddenly went rigid. His remaining lightning gathered wildly, as though he intended to self-destruct in one final act.

"You have a death wish." Su Bai's gaze turned cold.

He channeled his soul power into the Spirit Pagoda. The doors on its fourth story burst open with a thunderous crash. An irresistible devouring force swept out.

Under this pressure, the lightning the Thunderclap Hellvine had gathered instantly scattered.

He finally realized that the being before him was utterly beyond his ability to oppose.

His instinct to survive overwhelmed his savage nature.

A slender vine slowly rose, then bowed toward Su Bai, conveying his submission.

"Good."

Su Bai sat cross-legged, suspending the Spirit Pagoda before him. As the contract began, the lightning elements between heaven and earth erupted into turmoil.

The Thunderclap Hellvine let out a shrill cry filled with pain, yet tinged with relief.

His enormous body began dissolving in the formation's light, turning into the purest lightning energy and motes of soul light that poured endlessly into the Spirit Pagoda.

Su Bai closed his eyes and guided this immense energy.

Savage lightning-attribute power flowed back into his body through the Spirit Pagoda.

Lightning tore his meridians apart, only for them to rapidly reconstruct under the nourishment of his soul power.

His bones crackled like beans roasting in a pan, and fine blue-violet lightning patterns surfaced across his skin.

It was an agonizing process of tempering his body.

Su Bai gritted his teeth without letting out a single groan.

Time ticked by, second after second.

The Thunderclap Hellvine on the ground had completely disappeared, leaving only a charred, hollow husk.

On the Spirit Pagoda, the doors of the fourth story slowly closed.

A totem of the Thunderclap Hellvine had appeared on their surface, lifelike and flickering with deep blue light.

A deep purple soul ring emerged from the Spirit Pagoda and settled around Su Bai.

Then the purple light deepened, gradually turning black.

The Thunderclap Hellvine himself had been only a little over two thousand years old, but with the Spirit Pagoda's refinement and the reinforcing power of the contract, the soul ring's age was climbing at a frenzied pace.

Nine thousand years.

Nine thousand five hundred years.

Ten thousand years!

The deep purple transformed completely into profound black. A Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring!

Su Bai's eyes snapped open. Two bolts of blue-violet lightning shot from his dark golden pupils, smashing a boulder ahead into pieces.

He rose to his feet, feeling the soul power surging through his body.

Level fifty-two!

Absorbing a ten-thousand-year soul spirit had raised his soul power by two whole levels.

More importantly, the Thunderclap Hellvine had retained his consciousness and could continue cultivating and growing within the Spirit Pagoda.

In the future, this soul ring's age would continue to rise.

Feeling the immense soul power coursing through him, Su Bai broke into a smile.

"The contract finally succeeded..."