Only after an unknown length of time did Xu Zhengyang gradually regain consciousness and open his eyes again.
Even so, Xu Zhengyang seemed to have lost all feeling throughout his body. A scorched stench rose from him, and he seemed to have suffered some devastating ordeal. Especially after being struck by lightning, who knew how many of his bones had broken? Even the Class 5 defensive Soul Tool his father had prepared for him had been destroyed outright.
Xu Zhengyang twitched his fingers slightly and used all his strength to take medicine from his storage Soul Tool and stuff it into his mouth. Yet even such a simple movement nearly exhausted all his strength, to say nothing of the Soul Power now running wild inside him. He felt as though he had suffered some grievous injury, as though he had walked through the gates of hell and back.
"This is trouble. This is the worst injury I've ever suffered. I never thought it would turn out this disastrous."
After he swallowed the medicine, his breathing grew noticeably steadier. Only then did Xu Zhengyang notice that, although he was still on Azure Thunder Mountain, the area within a meter of him seemed somewhat different. He could also sense a tremendous vitality.
Xu Zhengyang turned to look. Beside him lay a golden object the size of a baby's fist, and that vitality was radiating from it. If not for this golden object, the endless lightning would probably have killed him long ago.
"Gold of Life? It looks like I failed at the final hurdle after all. I took things a little too much for granted. Although Gold of Life can merge into a Martial Soul, a Martial Soul is, after all, something between the tangible and the illusory. My Martial Soul can return to my body, but the Gold of Life can't return with it. It looks like I really have no choice but to go to the Illustrious Virtue Hall."
Still, nourished by the Gold of Life, both his disordered Soul Power and his grievously injured body recovered at an extremely rapid pace, while Xu Zhengyang himself used all his strength to sit up on the ground.
This was the worst injury Xu Zhengyang had ever suffered. Even when fighting Soul Beasts in the Soul Beast forest, he had never been hurt this badly.
Xu Zhengyang carefully reviewed everything that had happened on Azure Thunder Mountain. "How strange. Why did I feel as though that lightning was alive? It seemed like that purple lightning giant looked at me before it dissipated. Could something be wrong here?"
"And with heavenly lightning of such overwhelming might, killing me and destroying my Martial Soul would have been no trouble at all. What exactly happened just now?"
Only after resting for a full hour did Xu Zhengyang begin to recover a little strength, and only then did the Soul Power within him gradually begin to stabilize.
Only then did Xu Zhengyang summon his Martial Soul, the Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear. It looked exactly as it always had. Although the Gold of Life had merged into the Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear when the lightning struck, after Xu Zhengyang was gravely injured, lost consciousness, and withdrew the Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear, the Gold of Life had ultimately failed to merge into his body.
"No, that's not right. My Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear seems to have changed. Aside from its original supreme hardness and supreme yang, and its tiger-like ferocity, it seems to have gained some inexplicable power."
Only then did Xu Zhengyang examine it closely. Some ancient-looking black patterns had actually appeared on the Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear, and they looked somewhat familiar.
Ever since obtaining the Soul Devouring Carving Knife, although Xu Zhengyang had not used it lightly, he had carefully examined it many times. Now, the more he looked, the more he felt that these black patterns on the Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear closely resembled those on the Soul Devouring Carving Knife. They even vaguely resembled some extremely advanced formation.
At this thought, the corners of Xu Zhengyang's mouth twitched. Then he recalled the scene of the Link Knife contending against the lightning at the very end. "No way. Could this thing be an Evil Soul Master's curse? Can this curse even transfer onto my Martial Soul?"
The more Xu Zhengyang looked, the more alarmed he became, and the more his blood ran cold. He felt utterly helpless.
"To think I racked my brains and came up with using heavenly lightning against the evil curse, only to miscalculate in the end. I never imagined this curse would be even stronger than I thought. The Evil Soul Master who made the Soul Devouring Carving Knife back then was far too powerful. He might well have been at least a Super Douluo."
"Even heavenly lightning didn't wipe him out completely. Instead, it let this curse run onto me. Now I'm really in trouble."
The more Xu Zhengyang thought about it, the more speechless he felt. After Huo Yuhao obtained the Soul Devouring Carving Knife, he had used Electrolux and the Skydream Iceworm to suppress the curse. I don't have either of them now. Moreover, the Evil Soul Master's strength far exceeded his imagination, and the curse had actually transferred onto his Martial Soul. How could something this screwed-up happen?
Xu Zhengyang's expression abruptly changed. "Wait, that's not right. Wasn't this curse supposed to be extremely powerful, with thirty-seven owners already suffering its backlash? If this curse really is that terrifying, I should be dead. Why am I only badly injured and half-dead instead?"
At this thought, Xu Zhengyang hurriedly calmed his mind and carefully examined his Sea of Spirit.
Within his Sea of Spirit, the Tiger-Head Zhan Gold Spear still stood proudly, its entire body radiating scorching light. However, a layer of black aura shrouded it. This aura somewhat resembled that of the Soul Devouring Carving Knife, as well as the aura of the Evil Soul Master who had contended against the lightning.
But unexpectedly, aside from the Soul Devouring Carving Knife, there were actually other changes within his Sea of Spirit. The powerful vertical eye now had an additional mass of gray aura.
This aura seemed extremely powerful, utterly impossible to touch.
"What is this thing? Why is there an additional gray power in my Sea of Spirit, and why is it connected to the Devil Tiger's Eye?"
Xu Zhengyang could not help recalling the words he had heard before passing out. A voice seemed to have mentioned Gold of Life, as well as dark power. Although that voice had only flashed past, it seemed to have penetrated the depths of Xu Zhengyang's soul. It did not sound at all like a voice that could exist in this world.
After thinking carefully for a while, Xu Zhengyang found it somewhat unbelievable.
"That can't be possible, can it? In the entire Douluo World, the only one who describes dark power this way is Huo Yuhao's third Martial Soul, Electrolux, the Holy Necromancer. Could this gray power be Electrolux?"
The more Xu Zhengyang thought about it, the more something felt wrong. He recalled how, when the Soul Devouring Carving Knife collided with the heavenly lightning, even heaven and earth had seemed to collapse, as though a heavenly tribulation had descended. This gray power had appeared at precisely that moment, seemingly out of nowhere, and seemingly not something that belonged to this world.
The more Xu Zhengyang studied this gray power, the more unfathomable it felt, like an abyss. Even when he tried to touch it with his spiritual power, that spiritual power vanished into nothingness in an instant.
"Forget it. If it's a blessing, it isn't a calamity. I never expected so much to happen on this trip to Azure Thunder Mountain. Not only did I get a curse for free, I also got something that might be similar to Electrolux."