Recaps

Xu Zi learned that the place marked Thunderclap Strait on his map was locally known as Funnel Cliff in Dark Cloud Strait, where lightning had reportedly struck more than a century earlier. Before he could explain his purpose there, a commotion arose at the edge of the camp.

• Xu Zi spoke with an ice cream vendor, who recognized him as a powerful Soul Master because Wolf Bandits roamed the nearby woods.
• The vendor explained that the townspeople were camped outside town while the kingdom’s knight orders fought the Wolf Bandits.
• Xu Zi sampled the vendor’s green-apple and pineapple ice cream and heard why local makers stayed in the kingdom instead of selling their craft elsewhere.
• Xu Zi showed the vendor his map, and the vendor identified its marked location as Funnel Cliff in Dark Cloud Strait, where lightning had reportedly struck over a hundred years ago.
• Xu Zi began to say he was going there to hunt for a Soul Ring, but a disturbance at the edge of camp interrupted him.

Xu Zi and Ling Yuan encountered a Wolf Bandit tribe surrounding a coastal camp, but Xu Zi refused to help the residents because they served kingdoms opposing Spirit Hall. As the bandits attacked, they left by Soul Tool Boat with a small group of townspeople, while the fate of those remaining was uncertain.

• Xu Zi and Ling Yuan learned that Haagen-Dazs’s cavalry had failed to suppress the Wolf Bandits, who had surrounded the camp.
• Xu Zi returned the ice cream maker’s money and refused to help the townspeople, explaining that saving them would strengthen Spirit Hall’s enemies.
• The ice cream maker asked Xu Zi to evacuate five children, but Xu Zi refused and offered to take the ice cream maker instead; the man chose to stay and protect the town.
• As the Wolf Bandits began their attack under the full moon, Xu Zi and Ling Yuan departed aboard a Soul Tool Boat with some of the townspeople.
• Ling Yuan wished the residents lived under Spirit Hall, while Xu Zi hoped they might someday become subjects of Sun Moon.

Xu Zi used the divine skill Crimson Sun Over the Heavens to destroy most of the Wolf Bandits attacking the town, then let the survivors flee to deter future threats. As he prepared to leave for Funnel Cliff to hunt a Soul Beast for his fifth soul ring, an old sailor revealed he had guided the last Soul Master team there 140 years earlier.

• Xu Zi changed his mind about leaving and rose above the shore to unleash Crimson Sun Over the Heavens on the Wolf Bandits.
• The divine skill killed more than two-thirds of the Wolf Bandits, and Xu Zi ordered the surviving alpha wolves to leave.
• Xu Zi explained to Ling Yuan that the attack was a divine skill bestowed by the Angel God, then let the surviving bandits flee so their reputation would protect the town.
• The townsfolk praised Xu Zi as he and Ling Yuan prepared to leave for Funnel Cliff in Thunderclap Strait.
• The old sailor told Xu Zi that he had guided the last Soul Master team to Funnel Cliff 140 years earlier.

Xu Zi traveled toward Funnel Cliff to investigate renewed lightning in Dark Cloud Strait and reflected on how to improve the Angel God's Great Sun Angel divine skill. After lightning struck the same forested cliff twice, he chose to continue to Funnel Cliff first, leaving the cause of the strikes uncertain.

• Xu Zi questioned the mayor and two sailors, learning that lightning had returned to Dark Cloud Strait and that a Spirit Hall group had once seen it strike south of Funnel Cliff.
• Xu Zi took Ling Yuan Douluo and the two sailors by Soul Tool Boat toward the strait, while considering how to refine his fourth Soul Skill using the principles behind Great Sun Angel.
• The group reached the darkened strait, where lightning struck a forested cliff that the sailors said was several bends from Funnel Cliff.
• Ling Yuan asked whether Thunderclap Blue Vine might be where the lightning struck, but Xu Zi decided they should investigate Funnel Cliff first.
• After the Soul Tool Boat submerged and headed deeper into the strait, lightning struck the same spot again.

Xu Zi discovered that a lightning-law secret realm hovered above Funnel Cliff’s thunderclouds and learned that the Thunderclap Yama Prison Vine was likely its key. After Ling Yuan left with the sailor, Xu Zi began expanding his nascent Purple Sun Domain to search the area.

• Xu Zi and Ling Yuan inspected Funnel Cliff’s cave and found four cracked corpses but no Thunderclap Blue Vine.
• Xu Zi asked Zi to search for divine remnants, and Zi detected a lightning-law secret realm inside the clouds above them.
• Zi explained that the secret realm likely required a Thunderclap Yama Prison Vine as its key, so Xu Zi realized he still had to find one.
• Zi told Xu Zi to combine his domain with Zi’s divine sense to search the strait, and Xu Zi sent Ling Yuan and the sailor back toward the Soul Tool Boat.
• Xu Zi poured Soul Power into the Purple Sun Martial Soul and began extending his embryonic domain beyond its apparent range.

Xu Zi formed his exclusive Purple Sun Domain, and Zi located the Thunderclap Yama Prison Vine near Thunderclap Strait. Xu Zi and Ling Yuan reached the vine, leaving Xu Zi determined to claim it and explore the Thunder God Secret Realm after becoming a Soul Saint.

• Xu Zi created the Purple Sun Domain and briefly expanded it across thousands of meters under Zi's guidance.
• Zi swept the surrounding area and found the Thunderclap Yama Prison Vine southwest of Thunderclap Strait.
• Xu Zi and Ling Yuan flew to the vine's location, where they saw it draw down lightning before curling against the scorched ground.
• Xu Zi identified the vine and learned that it had recently matured enough to summon lightning and reveal its location.
• Xu Zi declared that he would claim the vine, obtain a powerful divine-grade Soul Skill, and pursue the Thunder God's legacy.

Xu Zi and Ling Yuan captured a thousand-year Thunderclap Yama Prison Vine, which Xu Zi wanted to raise into a key to the Thunder God's inheritance. After rejecting a costly shortcut that would consume Angel Divine Power, he planned to replant it at Funnel Cliff, but Zi suggested he could enter the Thunder God Secret Realm immediately.

• Xu Zi identified the Thunderclap Yama Prison Vine and estimated that it had around a thousand years of cultivation.
• Ling Yuan used her Martial Soul Avatar to break through the vine's electrical barrier, suppress it, and spit it out for Xu Zi.
• Xu Zi considered absorbing the vine as his fifth Soul Ring, but Ling Yuan warned that it was much younger than his existing fourth ring.
• Zi explained that Angel Divine Power could rapidly increase the vine's Soul Ring age, but Xu Zi refused to waste so much power or harm Qian Daoliu.
• Xu Zi decided to replant the vine at Funnel Cliff and bring it to the Thunder God Secret Realm after reaching Soul Saint, but Zi said he could go there now.

Xu Zi flew into the thunderclouds to cultivate the Thunderclap Yama Prison Vine and discovered the hidden entrance to the Thunder God Secret Realm. He entered the realm and saw the words “Azure Thunder Divine Thunderclap Realm!”

• Xu Zi followed Zi’s advice to fly above the clouds and let the Thunderclap Yama Prison Vine absorb lightning derived from thunder laws.
• Xu Zi asked Ling Yuan Douluo to take the others back to town, then flew toward the thunderclouds with the vine.
• Xu Zi searched the cloud sea and used the lightning appearing from nowhere to trace the hidden secret realm’s outline.
• Xu Zi touched the outline with the Thunderclap Yama Prison Vine and was pulled into a transparent space.
• Xu Zi emerged in a realm filled with towering lightning and heard the name “Azure Thunder Divine Thunderclap Realm!”

Xu Zi endured the Thunder God Secret Realm’s lightning until his physique reached Soul Saint level and the Thunderclap Yama Prison Vine grew close to ten-thousand-year cultivation. As he prepared to leave, his Purple Sun Martial Soul began devouring the secret realm’s Thunder God power, nourishing the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon and the Progenitor of Sub-Dragons.

• Xu Zi let the Thunderclap Yama Prison Vine grow as lightning coursed through his body and fed it pure lightning power.
• The lightning tempered Xu Zi’s body and Martial Soul, helping him realize that Zi had sought the Thunder God Secret Realm’s power to awaken her Thunderclap Law bloodline.
• Xu Zi broke through to a Soul Saint-level physique, which he recognized would help him survive Slaughter City, where Soul Skills were suppressed.
• Xu Zi decided to preserve the Thunderclap Yama Prison Vine’s sentience after absorbing its Soul Ring.
• As Xu Zi prepared to leave the lightning waterfall, the Purple Sun Martial Soul devoured the Thunder God power and strengthened the Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon and Zi’s divine consciousness.

Xu Zi met the Thunder God's heroic spirit after the Progenitor of Sub-Dragons absorbed much of the secret realm's divine power. The Thunder God invited Xu Zi to undergo a divine trial and inherit his mantle.

• The Progenitor of Sub-Dragons devoured enough Thunder God's power to extinguish one of the secret realm's eighty-one lightning pillars, while Xu Zi let her continue.
• The Thunder God's remnant soul appeared as a purple-armored man and confronted Xu Zi for consuming his divine power.
• Xu Zi guessed the man was the Thunder God's heroic spirit and explained how he had obtained the Angel Holy Sword without accepting the Sunlight God's inheritance.
• The Thunder God clarified that the Sunlight God was not a true Sun God, then asked Xu Zi how he would repay him for the lost divine power.
• The Thunder God said he had taken a liking to Xu Zi and invited him to undergo a divine trial to inherit his mantle.

Xu Zi learned why the Thunder God had chosen him and agreed to inherit the Thunder God Godhood. The Thunder God admitted he lacked experience creating God Examinations and warned that he could offer few cultivation rewards.

• The Thunder God explained that Xu Zi’s ability to withstand and absorb lightning made him the ideal successor, unlike someone merely attuned to lightning.
• Xu Zi admitted he had hoped to create his own Sun God Godhood, but the Thunder God’s heavenly pillars had sealed the secret realm and left him unable to leave.
• The Thunder God revealed that his death, the destruction of his divine core, and the loss of his inheritance artifact had left him with no other way to preserve his godhood.
• Xu Zi accepted the Thunder God Godhood inheritance and asked the Thunder God to give him the Nine Examinations.
• The Thunder God admitted he had no experience issuing examinations and said he could provide few rewards to raise Xu Zi’s cultivation, beginning to explain why.