Cooperation

Mu Chen lowered his fist and stood still, the surging aura around him receding and settling like an ebbing tide.

Beneath his torn sleeve, his newly grown skin gleamed like warm jade. Occasionally, a tiny arc of electricity flickered out, then silently vanished beneath his flesh.

With the battle over, Nine Nether folded her wings, shrank back to the size of a sparrow, and landed on Mu Chen's shoulder.

Her black, beadlike eyes stared at his profile, filled with undisguised astonishment and even a hint of dazed disbelief.

...What a monster.

She murmured silently to herself.

The bald old man raised his withered fingers and lightly traced a line through the air before him.

Riiip-

Space tore as easily as thin silk, opening into a pitch-black fissure.

A drop of golden liquid, no larger than a thumb, slowly floated out of the rift.

Countless specks of light circulated endlessly within it, sometimes becoming the shadow of a kun, rising and sinking, sometimes taking the shape of a dragon giving a long cry. The cycle repeated, radiating ancient, immense fluctuations of vitality.

Bei Ming Dragon Kun's essence blood!

"You're refining Heavenly Thunder Beads here to exchange them for spirit value, buy essence blood, and help this little sparrow complete her evolution, aren't you?"

The bald old man flicked a withered finger, sending the golden essence blood streaking toward Mu Chen.

"No need to go through the trouble of exchanging for it. I'll give it to you directly."

"As for the reward I originally intended to give you... you already possess a better divine body-refining art, so I imagine you have no use for it."

Bei Ming Dragon Kun paused, his cloudy eyes turning toward Mu Chen as he said slowly:

"However, young friend, would you be willing to cooperate with me on something?"

"Please explain, Senior." Mu Chen caught the essence blood, stored it in a jade bottle, and tucked it into the Mustard Seed Sumeru at his chest, raising an eyebrow slightly.

He had already formed a few guesses about this proposed cooperation.

"I created this Thunder Domain space several hundred years ago."

The bald old man gestured at the deep, dark space around them, then toward the churning black Thunder Sea.

"This place originally contained unusual lightning. I then used my methods to gather the lightning power of the entire space here. Afterward, I traveled far and wide collecting black god thunder and casting it in, allowing it to develop on its own."

"But... as the years passed, things gradually slipped beyond my control."

A trace of helplessness entered his voice.

"The lightning power became so immense that it actually condensed on its own, giving birth to a strange living being."

"I call it the Thunder Spirit. This entire Thunder Sea can be considered its body."

"The Thunder Spirit has little intelligence, but whenever I attempt to approach, it unleashes its fiercest attacks on me."

"If I used my full strength, I could naturally destroy it. But then, the thing I want... would be annihilated along with it."

Understanding dawned on Mu Chen, and he followed up with a question. "What is it you want, Senior?"

Bei Ming Dragon Kun's gaze settled on the depths of the Thunder Sea, and he slowly uttered the name:

"The Thunder God Pill."

"Though called a pill, the Thunder God Pill isn't refined by human hands. It's formed by heaven and earth."

"Only when lightning power reaches a terrifying degree of immensity is there an exceedingly small chance of such a thing being born. My purpose in continually collecting and adding black god thunder over these several hundred years was to bring a Thunder God Pill into being."

"My luck was good. A Thunder God Pill did indeed form. But who could have known... that this troublesome Thunder Spirit would be born alongside it?"

"It guards the pill there, preventing me from claiming it even now."

"With the Thunder God Pill's help, I would have a chance to break through and enter the Earthly Sovereign realm."

"I can see that the divine body-refining art you cultivate is also related to lightning. The thunder marrow accumulated within the Thunder Spirit should be of tremendous benefit to you."

"When the time comes, I'll act first and hold the Thunder Spirit off while you slip into the depths of the Thunder Sea to find the Thunder God Pill. Once you have it, we'll join forces to subdue the Thunder Spirit and extract the thunder marrow from its body."

"I get the Thunder God Pill, and you take the thunder marrow."

"Of course, I'm clearly getting the better end of this arrangement. Once we succeed, I can grant you one request. As long as it isn't too excessive, I'll agree to it."

Having finished, the bald old man looked at Mu Chen expectantly.

"I want all the spiritual arts and divine arts in the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy. Can you authorize that, Senior?" Mu Chen asked.

"Of course."

Bei Ming Dragon Kun was momentarily taken aback, then readily agreed. They were only spiritual arts and divine arts, nothing particularly important.

"Good. Then I'm willing to cooperate with you, Senior. When do we begin?" Mu Chen smiled slightly and accepted.

"How about right now?" the bald old man said. "I'll regulate my breathing for a while, then draw the Thunder Spirit out. You can head straight into the Thunder Sea and find the Thunder God Pill."

"No problem." Mu Chen nodded.

The bald old man said no more and closed his eyes.

After regulating his breathing for a full two hours, the bald old man finally opened his eyes.

Pitch-black lightning flashed briefly in the depths of those cloudy eyes.

He slowly rose into the air. His movements were unhurried, yet carried a weight like the ominous stillness before a mountain collapsed.

ROOOAR!!!!!!!

A roar that shook heaven and earth tore through the lightning and ripped through space, even briefly drowning out the Thunder Sea's eternal rumbling!

The bald old man transformed into his true form and plunged fearlessly into the depths of the pitch-black Thunder Sea!

BOOM!

Deep within the Thunder Sea, it was as though a vicious beast that had slept for countless ages had been utterly enraged, unleashing a roar that shook heaven and earth!

Countless black lightning pillars, each thousands of feet tall, shot skyward from every part of the Thunder Sea!

The pillars were as thick as mountains, their surfaces entwined with hundreds of millions of roaring lightning serpents. Wherever they passed, they tore pitch-black fissures through space that refused to heal for a long time.

A black being without a definite shape slowly formed above the Thunder Sea.

Its entire body consisted of the purest pitch-black lightning, its form constantly shifting-sometimes like furious waves, sometimes like a storm, sometimes like a colossal beast woven from countless lightning dragons.

Thunder slurry dripped from its body, becoming rushing rivers of lightning that crashed into the lightning ocean below.

The Thunder Spirit.

A spirit of heaven and earth born spontaneously from the immense lightning power accumulated here over several hundred years.

It turned toward the diving Bei Ming Dragon Kun.

Though it had neither facial features nor expression, towering fury and savagery swept through the entire space as though given tangible form!

RUMBLE-!!!

The Thunder Spirit unleashed a soundless roar.

With it at the center, the black lightning within a radius of thousands of feet went completely berserk!

Thunder slurry surged upward, turning into lightning tornadoes that bridged heaven and earth; space shattered, exposing the twisted, writhing void beyond; destructive shock waves spread wildly in rings, sending lightning surging wherever they passed!

"BOOM-!!!"

The Thunder Sea surged madly, raising pitch-black lightning waves tens of thousands of feet high.

Those waves were not seawater, but hundreds of millions of black lightning bolts condensed to their utmost limit and compressed together. Every strike of their crests sent fragments of space splintering like glass.

The lightning waves blotted out the sky and earth, sweeping toward Bei Ming Dragon Kun as though to drown the world and crush him beneath them.

Bei Ming Dragon Kun slowly opened his enormous mouth, and an utterly pitch-black cold current poured out in torrents!

Wherever the cold current passed, space froze into patches of black ice crystals, and even the flow of time seemed to grow slow and viscous.

The towering lightning waves collided violently with the pitch-black cold current!

Mu Chen knew it was time for him to act!

Divine ability: False World, True Realm: Future-Taking Body!

Take from the future!

As long as that possibility existed in the future, he could take it in advance!

In an instant, a black lotus roughly ten feet across landed in Mu Chen's hand!

The lotus seemed liquid, flowing constantly, while at its center, a black bead about the size of an infant's head slowly rotated.

The Thunder God Lotus and the Thunder God Pill were directly in his grasp!

Putting both items away, Mu Chen let out a long cry and joined the battle!

"Senior, I'm here to help you!"