Spirit Realm Chapter 503-506

Chapter 503: Thunder Crystal Beast

After obtaining the Wood Race’s inheritance, Xie Jingxuan’s ability to sense a person’s life force rose to completely new heights.

Now she could analyze a person’s life force and use that to easily deduce the toughness of their physique.

She could more or less identify a person’s realm and tell how strong they actually were.

In her eyes, Du Xiangyang and Xue Moyan were literally naked.

Terrifying blood spirit energy flowed inside of Xue Moyan’s body because she secretly cultivated the Blood Spirit Art. Instead of her dantian’s spirit sea, it was her small, delicate figure that housed that energy.

Even if her dantian’s spirit sea were thrown into disarray, preventing her from unleashing the spirit arts of Illusory Demon Sect, she would still be able to battle Yan Min with just the Blood Spirit Art.

As for Du Xiangyang…

Qin Lie, Song Tingyu, and the others subconsciously looked at him, unable to hide the curiosity in their eyes.

“Alright, alright.” Du Xiangyang raised his hands and smiled bitterly. “I admit that Miss Xie’s eyes are as bright as a torch. Once upon a time… I put quite a lot of effort into tempering my body.”

Du Xiangyang admitted to the deed, yet he still hadn’t explained how or why.

However, it was at this moment that the situation before the desolate hill changed once more.

Once the eastern barbarian called Yan Min finished running wild in locations that martial practitioners of Black Voodoo Cult and the three great families were gathered, he turned his attention to Ten Thousand Beast Mountain’s Yu Men and moved in that direction.

Noticing this, several Ten Thousand Beast Mountain martial practitioners retreated to Yu Men’s side with grim expressions.

Yu Men unleashed a guttural roar. Every bone in his body began to crack in succession as he instantly grew in size, swelling up like a balloon.

In just ten short breaths of time, Yu Men grew to become over two meters tall. Thick hair now adorned his neck, his cheeks, and his half-exposed arms.

Even his bones had swelled to become abnormally large.

A fierce, domineering aura of bloodlust gushed from every pore in Yu Men’s body.

His eyes resembled those of a ferocious beast, cruel and inhuman. Even his teeth seemed to resemble be the fangs of an animal, protruding from his lips and giving him a frightening appearance.

“Beast Manifestation!”

Ye Yihao frowned deeply as he subconsciously gestured for his men to move away as far from Yu Men as possible.

“Stay away from Yu Men. Transforming into a beast completely exposes his bloodthirsty nature. It’ll be extremely difficult for him to control his madness,” Su Yan told her people.

Even when Yu Men first began his beast transformation, the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain martial practitioners by his side retreated from him step by step.

Yan Min, the eastern barbarian giant, lumbered over to Yu Men like a walking mountain.

For the first time since his unbridled rampage through the three forces of the Land of Chaos had begun, a serious expression appeared on this frightening man’s face. His eyes, the color of which constantly alternated between gray and white, focused on the opponent before him.

He too had noticed how abnormal Yu Men was.

Then, in the next moment, the howl of an ancient predator erupted from Yu Men’s throat as he suddenly charged Yan Min.

Soul shadows of dozens of terrifying beasts appeared behind Yu Men. Among those beasts, one could make out the shapes of a Purple-eyed Flame Lion King, a Deep Seawater Jade Dragon, and a Bloodmane Giant Ape. Every single one of the soul shadows was a violent, berserk creature, all of which roared toward the sky in an astounding display of ferocity.

These were the unbending beast souls hidden within Yu Men’s body!

Yu Men had refined these beast souls into his blood and bones. If he lost his temper and transformed into this bestial shape, they would automatically appear and greatly enhance his combat power.

As if he were the king of beasts, Yu Men joined the cacophony of beast souls behind him and let out a ferocious, feral roar.

He charged directly at Yan Min.

Like the clash of metal, or a meteor striking a mountain, the two men collided in a deafening shower of sparks.

It was like a fight between two ancient ferocious beasts.

“Amazing! Yu Men practically isn’t human!” Song Tingyu inwardly clicked her tongue.

“Actually, there’s a rumor that claims Yu Men… really does have the bloodline of an ancient beast inside of him,” Du Xiangyang said, his eyes narrowed.

“What?” Song Tingyu covered her mouth as surprise appeared on her lovely face. “He actually has such a bloodline?”

“…according to the rumors.” Du Xiangyang shrugged.

Qin Lie rubbed his chin, a pensive look on his face, then turned to look at Xie Jingxuan.

“Can you sense any proof of this?” he asked.

“Yu Men’s blood does vaguely release howls of a ferocious beast as he fights. It’s almost as if a relentless soul of an ancient beast is influencing him,” Xie Jingxuan said after a moment of thought, but she wasn’t sure of herself. “He may actually possess the bloodline of an ancient beast, but I can’t really confirm it…”

“With Yu Men suppressing the evil flame that is Yan Min, it shouldn’t be too hard for the remainder of the three forces to eliminate the eastern barbarians,” Qin Lie said indifferently.

Yan Min and Yu Men continued to clash against each other like savage beasts, tearing and biting one another. They actually fought each other to a standstill.

Ye Yihao, Feng Yiyou, Huang Zhuli, and the martial practitioners of the rest of the forces coordinated with Luo Chen’s sword and Chu Li’s golden sandstorm to begin attacking the eastern barbarians in return.

The individual combat power of each eastern barbarian was obviously weaker than those of each Land of Chaos elite. As a result, the eastern barbarians constantly retreated from the attacks of the three forces in defeat.

Judging from the current situation, the martial practitioners of the three forces were not at a disadvantage at all. They might even be able to slaughter all of the eastern barbarians after a span of blood-soaked fighting.

Of course, the three great forces would have to pay a price to do so.

“Boom boom boom!”

The terrifying sound of thunder erupted from the dark gray sky. An instant later, heavy rain and thunder fell from the sky all at once

This sudden downpour stretched across several hundred kilometers.

Everyone present had no choice but to summon shields of light for protection and watch out for lightning bolts as they fought.

“Huh!”

Joy suddenly leaped to Qin Lie’s eyes as he looked at the thunder and lightning in the sky above. A smile appeared at the corners of his lips once more.

“What is it?” Du Xiangyang exclaimed softly.

“Let’s move!” Qin Lie said in a low voice. “We’ll retreat, circle around the fighting, then head back to the thunder lagoon!”

Qin Lie’s group reacted to his commands, distracted from the battle below.

“The eastern barbarians are most likely assaulting the thunder spirit and forcing it to lose its grasp over the thunder and lightning energy in the Forbidden Land of Thunder,” Qin Lie explained with a grin. “I’ve regained control of the thunder and lightning!”

This news made everyone jump for joy.

As they were now, if they avoided the struggle between the three forces and the eastern barbarians and charged over to the thunder lagoon, Qin Lie’s group would most likely fail to face Sen Ye and his hundred or so eastern barbarians.

However, having regained his control over thunder and lightning, Qin Lie would be able to work with the thunder spirit to fight the eastern barbarians on two fronts. Since this was the case, they wouldn’t necessarily be at a disadvantage.if Qin Lie regained control of thunder and lightning, he could join hands with the thunder spirit and fight the eastern barbarians both from the inside and outside. In that case, they might not necessarily be at a disadvantage.

“The thunder spirit may be the reason I can now control the power of thunder and lightning. Even if I challenged its authority, it probably thought of me subconsciously in the face of danger. Since my aura is similar to its own, it must consider me the easiest to trust!” Qin Lie said confidently.

“This is great news!” Du Xiangyang’s eyes lit up.

“What about Chu Li? He’s still fighting the eastern barbarians!” Song Tingyu reminded everyone.

“Let’s ignore Chu Li for now. Considering his strength, the eastern barbarians won’t be able to harm him. Besides… in his mind, there probably isn’t anything more important than killing as many of those savages as possible,” Luo Chen said coldly.

As Luo Chen spoke, his sword finished rampaging amidst the eastern barbarians and flew back from its distant location, returning to his hand.

He obviously wasn’t planning to engage these eastern barbarians any longer.

“Alright. We’ll pretend to retreat until we’re out of range of everyone’s tokens, then circle around and return to the thunder lagoon!” Qin Lie exclaimed.

Having come to a consensus, Qin Lie’s group turned tail and pretended to run from the thunder lagoon.

As soon as they were out of range of token detection, they circled around and headed to the thunder lagoon from another direction.

After an hour, they were once again at the outskirts of the thunder lagoon.

Thirty or so eastern barbarians stood guard outside of the thunder lagoon and saw Qin Lie’s group the moment they arrived. All of those barbarians immediately nocked arrows to their huge bows and aimed at them.

Behind the barbarians, all kinds of divine lights shot from the thunder lagoon into the sky. A colorful rain of arrows, harsh sword beams, and various types of spirit energy constantly flashed at the bottom of the lagoon.

“Capture the Thunder Crystal Beast alive! Alive!” Sen Ye’s yells continuously echoed from the lagoon.

Having appeared in the Graveyard of Gods out of nowhere, these eastern barbarians seemed to be familiar with the thunder spirit, its strength, its value, and how to deal with it.

Huang Zhuli, Ye Yihao, Feng Yiyou, Yu Men, and other elites of the Land of Chaos weren’t able to do anything to the thunder spirit. These eastern barbarians, however, seemed to have found a way.

Qin Lie could hear the thunder spirit’s angry roars, but the thunder and lightning in the thunder lagoon were clearly weaker than they had been earlier. They were much weaker than when they had been used against Feng Yiyou and the others.

And it only continued to weaken.

“The eastern barbarians seem to have a way to weaken the thunder and lightning inside the thunder lagoon!” Du Xiangyang cried out.

“These savages actually came prepared. It would appear that they entered the Graveyard of Gods a long time ago… they also knew about the seven spirits and the secrets of the Graveyard of Gods!” Luo Chen said grimly.

Luo Chen’s words made everyone come to a realization.

The eastern barbarians were extremely familiar with the secrets of the Graveyard of Gods! If they weren’t, they wouldn’t have used the thunder spirit’s true name—Thunder Crystal Beast!

The eastern barbarians were obviously trying to capture the Thunder Crystal Beast. They even knew how to weaken the thunder and lightning inside of the thunder lagoon. This meant that they might know more about the Graveyard of Gods than the forces of the Land of Chaos!

Everyone in Qin Lie’s group grew wary as a result of this revelation.

“My renewed control over thunder and lightning might have nothing to do with what the thunder spirit wants… it may have already lost control of the situation!” Qin Lie exclaimed in terror.

The thirty odd eastern barbarians gathered at the edge of the thunder lagoon continued to aim their colorful arrows at Qin Lie’s group.

Yet they didn’t shoot them.

“I think they may be too far from us,” Du Xiangyang said. “The moment they believe we’re close enough for their arrows to destroy our shields of light, they’ll attack!”

“Let me throw their plan into chaos!” Qin Lie exclaimed in a serious voice.

With that, he circulated Heavenly Thunder Eradication.

“Prak prak prak!”

The thunder and lightning covering the sky and the earth became violent once more. All of it boomed and sparked, converging on Qin Lie from every direction.

After a moment of surprise, everyone else in Qin Lie’s group had no choice but to leave his side.

Qin Lie trembled.

Shock appeared on his face as he raised his head and looked into the dark gray sky. Dazzling streaks of lightning twisted through the sky like dragons with glittering eyes.

“Help me! Please, help me!”

Qin Lie could sense a weak, fleeting aura in every bolt of lightning. The traces of this aura were clearly from the Thunder Crystal Beast inside of the thunder lagoon.

It seemed to be using some unfathomable method to summon him, hoping that he would help it fight off the eastern barbarians.

“Alright! I’ll help you!” Qin Lie focused and unleashed his soul energy, unconcerned with whether or not the Thunder Crystal Beast could sense it.

Immediately afterward, lightning flashed and thunder roared. Dazzling lightning bolts swept toward the group of eastern barbarians as Qin Lie launched himself in their direction.

Chapter 504: Electrical Dampening Field

“Kill him!”

The leader of the thirty or so eastern barbarians smiled coldly and waved his hands, ordering his men to shoot.

All of a sudden, dozens of colorful arrows flew toward Qin Lie like an iridescent meteor shower.

Chilling cold, burning heat, and immeasurable sharpness instantly locked onto him.

Every arrow was imbued with the spirit energy of an eastern barbarian. Some were even engraved with complicated patterns, like the shape of a snake, turtle, or dragon. These were spirit diagrams that contained exceedingly mysterious spirit energy.

Qin Lie’s expression went icy cold as he streaked closer to the eastern barbarians, eyes glowing with electricity.

He could feel the violent soul intent of poisonous pythons, profound turtles, and dragons seep into his mind and head for his True Soul.

Inside of his soul consciousness, he could see a poisonous python several dozens of meters tall, a spirit turtle the size of a small hill, and a dragon entangled in colorful rays of light.

Soul fragments of the strange beasts flooded his mind, attempting to destroy his True Soul to distract him from the threat of the arrows that had locked onto him.

“I guess these savages have some ability after all,” Qin Lie thought to himself with a cold smile.

“Burst!”

Balls of lightning exploded from his True Soul, transforming into pairs of gigantic, godlike hands of intertwining lightning.

These gigantic hands closed in on the python, turtle, and dragon, grabbing each one and tightening their hold.

The Soul Shadows formed by the soul fragments of these three beasts burst into dazzling particles of light, crushed by the electrical hands.

Three of the eastern barbarians in front of Qin Lie each spat a mouthful of blood at the same time, the light in their eyes growing dim.

The first arrows that had been shot at Qin Lie, the ones engraved with the patterns of a snake, turtle, and dragon, instantly exploded into bits of wood.

“Heh. You imbued the soul fragments of ferocious beasts into arrows and actually tried use them to kill a martial practitioner that cultivates a thunder spirit art. What wishful thinking.”

Qin Lie swung the Astral Thunder Hammer with a strange chuckle, sending several hundred lightning bolts hurtling toward the center of the eastern barbarians.

Thunder and lightning flooded the arrows along the way, shattering one after another.

The colorful arrow rain of the eastern barbarians became an actual rain of arrows as their bits and pieces fell from the sky.

Not a single one came close to touching Qin Lie.

“Thunderstrike!”

A ball of lightning appeared in Qin Lie’s mind, then suddenly formed beside his body as well. It resembled a cluster of numerous tiny suns that radiated raw, violent energy as it descended upon the group of eastern barbarians below.

The ball of lightning broke apart as it fell through the sky, spreading into a shower of meteoric light. Each light blasted the eastern barbarians into bloody pieces of flesh and bone, scattering the gore in every direction amidst bloodcurdling screams that resembled wailing ghosts and howling wolves.

Exhilaration shone in Qin Lie’s eyes.

With this act of destruction, he discovered that his control over thunder and lightning in the Forbidden Land of Thunder had become even better than before.

He felt as if he had become the eye of the Forbidden Land of Thunder’s formation.

That’s when he came to a sudden realization.

When Qin Lie had unleashed his soul consciousness earlier, expressing his intent to help the Thunder Crystal Beast, the lightning in the Forbidden Land of Thunder had formed a strange connection with him.

The Thunder Crystal Beast was using an unfathomable method to empower him!

“You guys deal with the barbarians out here.” Qin Lie turned to the rest of his group, exclaiming in a grave voice. “I’m going down into the thunder lagoon!”

With that declaration, Qin Lie flew past the screaming eastern barbarians and charged straight into the thunder lagoon.

Upon hearing his words, Luo Chen, Xue Moyan, Du Xiangyang, Song Tingyu, Xie Jingxuan, and Pan Qianqian immediately plunged into battle and attacked the remaining eastern barbarians.

Sen Ye, the eastern barbarian leader, noticed their approach and cried, “Ma Tuo!”

An eastern barbarian that was as thin as a stick released a low, strange howl, then charged toward Qin Lie’s group. Tattoos of evil ghosts covered his body, and his eyes glowed with a malevolent, eerie light. Loose-fitting clothing draped his intimidating body, flowing as he made threatening movements.

At first glance, this Ma Tuo looked like a wraith from the depths of hell

Qin Lie spared Ma Tuo a quick glance, then turned his attention to the depths of the thunder lagoon. As soon as he saw the Thunder Crystal Beast at its base, his expression underwent a sudden change.

Eight enormous logs of wood sat upright inside the thunder lagoon. Metallic silver threads entangled the wood, crisscrossing to form a gigantic silver web that filled the area.

At the bottom of the thunder lagoon, the thunder and lightning that the Thunder Crystal Beast unleashed struck the expansive silver web. The web glowed with light as the electricity soaked into it, running along its metal strands to its wooden anchors.

The giant, dark gray logs of wood seemed to absorb thunder and lightning energy through the web, greatly weakening the might of the Thunder Crystal Beast’s attacks.

The six Pure Soul Springs that were originally suspended in the air of the thunder lagoon were now floating above the Thunder Crystal Beast in the depths of the lagoon.

On the other hand, Sen Ye and his group of eastern barbarians hovered above the giant silver web. They didn’t dare to carelessly approach the depths of the lagoon.

But they still continued to taunt the Thunder Crystal Beast and attack it with their spirit arts and arrows.

Their goal was to anger the thunder spirit to the point that it would unleash its electric flames and lightning bolts in retaliation.

Unfortunately for the Thunder Crystal Beast, the attacks it formed would immediately be dampened and dispersed by the silver web. The eight giant wooden logs would then devour all of the resulting thunder energy.

Using this method, the eastern barbarians were gradually weakening the Thunder Crystal Beast, exhausting its strength until it would no longer be able to fight.

Qin Lie’s expression changed when he took this scene in because he immediately understood what was going on.

All eight logs of wood were made from Thunderblitz Trees. These logs of wood and the metallic threads that entangled them made up a formation that felt extremely familiar to Qin Lie.

This formation of wood and metal threads was exactly the same as the formation that his grandfather had constructed in the belly of Herb Mountain!

In the past, Herb Mountain housed a formation of eight stone pillars and metallic silver threads that formed an enormous silver web just like this one.

That formation dampened lightning that descended from the sky, decreasing its terrifying might to a tolerable level that Qin Lie could use to cultivate.

Although they had replaced the stone pillars with the wood of eight Thunderblitz Trees, the eastern barbarians were obviously using the same method to dampen and absorb the thunder and lightning. These logs of wood made it extremely difficult for the Thunder Crystal Beast’s attacks to function correctly, continuously weakening the violent lightning within the thunder lagoon.

Qin Lie understood all of this in just a glance.

As of that moment, the eastern barbarian named Ma Tuo had finally made his way to Qin Lie.

“Someone like you who cultivates a thunder spirit art actually dared to recklessly enter this place… How foolish. You’re just throwing your life away!” Ma Tuo said with an evil smile. “God knows how much effort we’ve put into gathering these eight thousand year old logs of Thunderblitz wood! If the Thunder Crystal Beast can’t unleash its full power, someone like you won’t be able to do anything either! There’s no way we’ll let you ruin our plans to obtain the Pure Soul Springs and soul crystals! I’ll kill you right now!”

Ma Tuo thrust his hands in Qin Lie’s direction, arms straight. Seven spring-loaded bone arrows shot from his loose sleeves like flashes of light.

These seven bone arrows were eerily white and bore engravings of evil ghosts. The stench of poisonous rotting corpses emanated from them.

Seven terrifying wraiths appeared alongside the tips of the arrows and emitted strange howls.

“Krak!”

Thick shields of ice suddenly appeared five meters away from Qin Lie and blocked all seven bone arrows.

“Ice burst!”

The ice shields exploded outward, sending dozens of icicles shooting in every direction like the sharp quills of a porcupine.

The bone arrows that had embedded themselves into the shields of ice contributed to the explosion, scattering in other directions along with the icicles.

Curses erupted from the cloud of eastern barbarians hovering above the thunder lagoon as they rushed to protect themselves or find a place to hide.

Two bone arrows shot back in Ma Tuo’s direction, hurtling toward his chest. He swore as well, turning his body sideways to avoid them.

Qin Lie looked down into the depths of the lagoon once more.

Noticeable cracks now marred the crystalline body of the thunder spirit and the surfaces of the soul crystals covering the lagoon’s floor. Under the constant attacks of the eastern barbarians, as well as the continuous weakening of its own attacks, the Thunder Crystal Beast getting wounded as it found itself at an increasing disadvantage was inevitable.

“Continue attacking the Thunder Crystal Beast! Grievously injuring it is fine as long as it remains alive!” Sen Ye yelled coldly.

A rain of colorful arrows threaded through the gaps of the giant silver web and descended upon the Thunder Crystal Beast.

A symphony of clanging metals and scattering sparks resounded from the Thunder Crystal Beast’s body.

Suddenly, the thunder spirit raised its head and gazed at Qin Lie with intelligent eyes.

The Thunder Crystal Beast’s eyes overflowed with sadness, wordlessly begging Qin Lie to help it escape its miserable situation.

“I’ll do my best,” Qin Lie thought, placing his intent into a wisp of soul consciousness.

Sending that wisp into the electric flames around the Thunder Crystal Beast, he looked at it again.

Gratitude actually appeared in the Thunder Crystal Beast’s eyes, clearly understanding his thoughts through any form of lightning or thunder present.

The sight made Qin Lie harden his resolve.

Chapter 505: Seal Broken!

The Thunder Crystal Beast was the thunder spirit of the Forbidden Land of Thunder.

As the eye of the Forbidden Land of Thunder’s formation, even if the Thunder Crystal Beast wasn’t able to slaughter the eastern barbarians because of the electrical dampening field, it could still greatly empower Qin Lie.

Qin Lie could sense the Thunder Crystal Beast’s aura and understand the expectations it had for him from the electric flames and dazzling lightning bolts.

All of the thunder and lightning in the Forbidden Land of Thunder now resonated with Qin Lie in a strange way. He could sense with his True Soul that all of the electrical energy seemed to have become tame.

It seemed that Qin Lie was able to control the Forbidden Land of Thunder in the thunder spirit’s place…

“Flame Arrow of Seven Dragons!”

The giant curved bow in Sen Ye’s hands burned with ferocious scarlet fire. An arrow of flame the size of an arm swiftly formed inside the bow like a scorching pillar of heat.

If one were to pay close attention to the flame arrow, they would discover that seven writhing miniature dragons intertwined to form it.

Eerie howls continuously echoed from the dragons as the flame arrow burned.

“Swoosh!”

Sen Ye launched the flame arrow, and its seven writhing dragons locked onto Qin Lie’s aura, rushing toward him with a roar.

A terrifyingly intense heat that threatened to burn the world gushed from the draconic arrow. It seemed as if it would overwhelm Qin Lie like a sea of fire.

Qin Lie grinned as flames approached him, their shine reflecting in his eyes. He prepared to activate the Frost Art and circulate the refined frost energy in his three frost natal palaces.

However, when the flame arrow came within thirty meters of Qin Lie, his expression twisted in shock.

An unspeakably strange energy entered his dantian’s spirit sea like a formless and shadowless wave. In an instant, all of the spirit energy in his dantian’s spirit sea became chaotic. The thunder, earth, and frost energy in all nine of his natal palaces twisted up into a useless ball.

Qin Lie actually lost control of his dantian’s spirit sea for a moment, rendering him incapable of summoning a shred of energy to defend himself against the flames that were about to flood over him.

This was the same bizarre method that Yan Min used!

When Yan Min and the martial practitioners of the three forces were clashing against each other earlier, anyone who got within ten meters of him would lose control of their spirit energy. Regardless of how refined or powerful their spirit art was, that person’s spirit sea would fall victim to an abnormal effect and they wouldn’t be able to unleash their power.

Even powerful spirit artifacts would be reduced to common steel, losing all spirit energies upon entering that giant’s vicinity.

Qin Lie originally thought this was caused by a unique talent that Yan Min possessed, and that he was the only eastern barbarian capable of nullifying spirit energy.

He hadn’t thought that Sen Ye would be capable of the same thing.

In fact, Sen Ye was even more terrifying than Yan Min!

The Flame Arrow of Seven Dragons he fired would disrupt the spirit energy of its targets right before it overwhelmed them!

Such a turn of events would surprise even the calmest person, causing them to panic and be flooded by flames.

Anyone who fell victim to this would be burned to dust.

This method was even more cruel and wicked than Yan Min’s!

Having shot a Flame Arrow of Seven Dragons at Qin Lie, Sen Ye no longer paid attention to him. Instead he turned and shot another one at the Thunder Crystal Beast.

He had given up on capturing the Thunder Crystal Beast alive. Now he just wanted to quickly take care of everything inside the thunder lagoon.

Sen Ye was very confident that he would succeed.

He was certain that Qin Lie and the Thunder Crystal Beast would die horrible deaths after firing both flame arrows .

These two divine arrows would put a nail in both their coffins.

“Save me!’

Every electric flame transmitted the soul cries of the Thunder Crystal Beast.

It could sense terrible danger from that arrow.

At the same time, since his dantian’s spirit sea was in disarray, Qin Lie couldn’t use the frost energy in three of his natal palaces.

And the seven draconic flames soaring through the air were about to reach him.

How could Qin Lie split his concentration and try to protect the Thunder Crystal Beast when he couldn’t even protect himself?

“Ma Tuo! That person cultivates a thunder spirit art. His body will be useful if we preserve it. Remember not to cut his head off; I want his corpse intact!”

Sen Ye stared at the Thunder Crystal Beast in the depths of the thunder lagoon and snorted coldly, his back to Ma To.

“Zzzt!”

The buzz of an electric current radiated from the giant silver web, attracting the attention of the eastern barbarians.

They suddenly realized that Qin Lie had struck the web, his body shrouded in flames.

The moment the flame arrow came into contact with his body, the seven dragons that formed the arrow had slipped into his body like seven fiery lights.

Flames had covered Qin Lie’s body, and the seven tiny dragons had charged inside of him. He had lost all of his energy and fell toward the bottom of the lagoon.

But instead of falling to the lagoon’s muddy floor, he had fallen onto the giant silver web. Electricity soaked into his body as he fell through gaps in the web, crashing against thread after thread of metal and descending toward the Thunder Crystal Beast like a fiery meteor.

At the bottom of the lagoon, the Thunder Crystal Beast continuously moved around like a bolt of lightning, not daring to stop for even a moment.

The other flame arrow chased it like a ray of burning light. It had locked onto the Thunder Crystal Beast’s aura, relentlessly pursuing the thunder spirit as if it had a mind of its own.

The Flame Arrow of Seven Dragons was extraordinarily vicious. As soon as Sen Ye locked onto his prey with his mind consciousness, that poor soul wouldn’t be able to avoid it in any way. No matter how much his target ran, if they couldn’t forcefully destroy the arrow, they would be pursued until they were struck.

Simply dodging it wouldn’t put and end to their crisis.

“Boom boom!”

Qin Lie’s flame-covered body slammed into the floor of the lagoon, shattering numerous soul crystals.

“Dammit! He shattered a lot of soul crystals! What a waste!” the eastern barbarians swore.

“Are we almost done?” someone asked Sen Ye.

“The Thunder Crystal Beast hasn’t collapsed yet. Just wait. Keep waiting!” Sen Ye smiled savagely. “Heh, this is good. As long as the Thunder Crystal Beast doesn’t stop, neither will my Flame Arrow of Seven Dragons . Once I’ve exhausted all of its strength, I will be able to capture it alive and unharmed. That is the best case scenario!

“We eastern barbarians have finally turned the situation around with this trip. We’ll kill all the elites of the Land of Chaos and seize all the precious treasures in the Graveyard of Gods! Hehe! Next time we invade the Land of Chaos, we will achieve a historic victory!

“For too long have we waited for this day! The Land of Chaos will soon be ours! Those nine great Silver rank forces, whatever they’re called, should’ve been slaughtered down to the last man a long time ago!”

All of the eastern barbarians above the thunder lagoon laughed wickedly from behind the giant web of silver metal.

They treated the situation as if everything had been settled, like they’d gained complete control of the Forbidden Land of Thunder. It was clear that they no longer considered Qin Lie and Thunder Crystal Beast threats.

“Eh?! Something’s wrong!” Ma To screamed.

The eastern barbarians, all of which were imagining a bright future, looked at him with skeptical eyes.

“That guy! The flames on that guy’s body have gone out!” Ma To pointed at Qin Lie.

Every eastern barbarian’s gaze turned to the bottom of the lagoon.

The flames that had been burning Qin Lie’s body, which currently lay at the bottom of the soul crystal covered lagoon, actually seemed to miraculously seep into his flesh bit by bit.

It was as if he had absorbed the tiny, fiery dragons.

Then, although he should’ve drawn his last breath and been scorched to ash, Qin Lie sat straight up.

He raised his head and grinned at the eastern barbarians, eyes full of bone-chilling cold.

“Whoosh whoosh!”

Two translucent blood drops of blood emerged from the palm of his left hand, floating into the air and expanding continuously. Matching their increase in size, they burst into flames and grew hotter and hotter.

They slowly took on the shape of two ferocious Fire Qilins!

Under the utterly shocked gazes of the eastern barbarians, the two Fire Qilins turned into wisps of fiery light and shot forward, enveloping the Flame Arrow of Seven Dragons that was chasing the Thunder Crystal Beast. Like a giant whale sucking tons of water into its mouth, the Fire Qilins absorbed the intense flames emanating from the seven intertwining dragons that made up the arrow.

“Fire Qilins! Those are the essences of the Fire Qilin, the first spirit of the Forbidden Land of Flame!” Ma Tuo went pale with fright. “He captured the Fire Qilin in the Forbidden Land of Flames! God dammit!”

Sen Ye’s face was grim. His earlier confidence instantly disappeared from his face.

In addition to that, the fire spirit energy that had been gushing from his body became weaker after Qin Lie absorbed the flames of both flame arrows.

“Shoot him! Shoot him now!” Sen Ye roared angrily.

As he did, the third blood essence finished absorbing the flames on Qin Lie’s body.

Then Qin Lie coincidentally walked next to one of the logs of Thunderblitz wood.

“This piece of Thunderblitz wood is the key of the electricity dampening field… heh.” Qin Lie smiled, then reached out and touched the giant log of wood.

Thunderblitz Trees were extraordinary trees that could absorb thunder and lightning.

As a result of this unique characteristic, the Thunder Crystal Beast couldn’t do anything. Even though it knew that the electricity dampening field could be destroyed as long as it the Thunderblitz wood formation was disrupted, there was nothing it could do.

The Thunder Crystal Beast was made up of thunder and lightning energy. The only spirit energy it could use was thunder and lightning energy.

That was its only attribute.

Whether it was the thunder and lightning that circulated inside of its body or the thunder and lightning it controlled separately, the logs of Thunderblitz wood were capable of indiscriminately absorbing all of the thunder spirit’s energy.

For someone else, moving the wood of a Thunderblitz Tree wasn’t hard..

For the Thunder Crystal Beast, however, such a thing was harder than reaching the highest point in the sky.

This was why it hadn’t dared to touch any of the eight logs of wood this entire time.

Not only did it not dare to touch them, it basically couldn’t touch them because it only had one type of power.

Qin Lie, on the other hand, was different.

“Shoot him! Quickly! Shoot him to death!” Sen Ye roared madly.

Every eastern barbarian present gathered their strength and attempted to overwhelm Qin Lie with waves of fire arrows of all kinds of colors.

Unfortunately, arrows formed through the condensation of one’s spirit energy weren’t easy to fire. One needed to spend a decent amount of time to fill the arrows with power.

Before any of the barbarians could loose their arrows, both of Qin Lie’s hands already pressed against the log of Thunderblitz wood he was next to.

“Rise!”

Bright yellow haloes filled with the immense power of earth erupted from Qin Lie’s body.

“Boom!”

Qin Lie forcefully lifted the dark gray log of wood with both of his hands. As his body slowly leaned backward, so too did the wood of the Thunderblitz Tree.

Eventually, the log of Thunderblitz wood at the center of the formation toppled over, and the giant silver web of metallic threads was instantly torn to pieces.

“Prak!”

Countless sparks of electricity and dull explosions flashed across the giant metallic web.

Amidst the explosions, the strange energy of the electricity dampening field swiftly fell apart. The lockdown on the thunder lagoon quickly vanished.

At the other end of the lagoon, the Flame Arrow of Seven Dragons that had been chasing the Thunder Crystal Beast lost its power as the two Fire Qilin flames absorbed it.

The Thunder Crystal Beast had finally been saved from disaster.

It came to a sudden stop, raised its head, and stared at the giant silver web responsible for locking down its small world up to this point. As the log of Thunderblitz wood fell and crumbled to pieces, the thunder spirit’s shiny, crystalline eyes shone with a cold light.

“Boom boom! Prak!”

The dull rumbling of thunder resounded from every direction in the Forbidden Land of Thunder. Rainbows of lightning that resembled giant dragons gathered in the thunder lagoon like shooting stars.

It seemed as if the god of the Forbidden Land of Thunder had become furious and was now intent on cleansing this tainted, filthy world with a baptism of thunder and lightning and eliminating all beings who dared to challenge its might.

“Retreat! We’re leaving this place!” Sen Ye looked into the sky and swore angrily. Yet his eyes still held a look of calm.

Sen Ye knew that the Thunder Crystal Beast had regained control of the Forbidden Land of Thunder, and that the broken metal threads he had brought could no longer be used to form a new electricity dampening field.

This meant he could no longer seal the Thunder Crystal Beast’s power.

Regardless of how reluctant he was or how angry he felt, he couldn’t do anything but escape.

“Oooooooooo!”

A horn suddenly resounded, its harsh tone echoing throughout the area. Every barbarian, from the ones inside the thunder lagoon to the ones outside clashing with the three forces, turned pale with fright as soon as they heard the sound.

And they all retreated toward the Forbidden Land of Ice.

Chapter 506: The Thunder Spirit’s Confession

The destruction of the electricity dampening field signaled the failure of the eastern barbarian operation in the thunder lagoon.

Sen Ye was well aware of this fact.

As the blare of the horn resounded throughout the Forbidden Land of Thunder, every eastern barbarian that could hear it roared in anger, reluctantly retreating in the direction of the Forbidden Land of Ice.

At the same time, the Thunder Crystal Beast commanded all of the thunder and lightning in the Forbidden Land of Thunder to target the skulking barbarians, sending every lightning bolt and rumble of thunder into a frenzy.

It was as if a thunder god had erupted into a violent rage, determined to cleanse the world of filth with electric flames.

Berserk lightning washed over the retreating eastern barbarians, blowing scores of them to pieces.

In one part of the Forbidden Land of Thunder not far from the thunder lagoon, Yan Min and his group of eastern barbarians were still fighting the three forces.

Despite his sturdy physique, Yan Min was covered in bloody wounds that were bone-deep. Still engaged in pitched combat with Ten Thousand Beast Mountain’s Yu Men, the barbarian giant wore an expression of insanity. He howled madly, preparing to fight Yu Men to the death.

But the blaring barbarian horn jolted Yan Min from his violent rage. After looking to the thunder lagoon for a few seconds in disbelief and hesitation, he suddenly roared, “Retreat to the Forbidden Land of Ice!”

This order stunned the eastern barbarians who were in the middle of fighting the three forces. They stopped for a moment, dazed, then turned and ran toward the Forbidden Land of Ice.

All of this only took an instant. The eastern barbarians that had been locked in battle against the three forces were suddenly receding tides in the sea.

One of the last to retreat, Yan Min was at the back of the retreating barbarian forces. He grinned as Yu Men chased him, roaring, “You won’t be left alive! All martial practitioners who go deeper into the Graveyard of Gods shall be killed one after another! You will all die!”

As these words echoed throughout the area, Yan Min bellowed angrily, barreling off into the distance like a giant boulder.

His actions left every martial practitioner of the three forces surprised and confused.

“What happened?”

“What the hell happened?”

“Look at the sky! The thunder and lightning of the Forbidden Land of Thunder are assaulting the eastern barbarians… almost as if they’ve become sentient! This is… this is unbelievable!”

Ye Yihao, Huang Zhuli, Yu Men, Feng Yiyou, and everyone else of the three forces stood perfectly still, yet the lightning pouring from the sky seemed to ignore them.

On the other hand, thick arcs of lightning would strike the heads of the escaping eastern barbarians, leaving deafening rumbles of thunder in their wake.

These fierce attacks were precise, only targeting the eastern barbarians.

“Where are Qin Lie and his companions?” Huang Zhuli asked in sudden realization.

The moment she spoke, vacant looks adorned the faces of the martial practitioners of Ten Thousand Beast Mountain, Celestial Artifact Sect, Black Voodoo Cult, and the three great families.

However, someone had noticed Qin Lie’s movements and picked this moment to bring it up.

“They snuck away while we were mired with bloody combat some time ago,” they said.

“They left?” The cogs in Huang Zhuli’s mind turned as she shook her head, frowning. “That can’t be right! They would never give up so easily!”

“Maybe Qin Lie caused the strange change in the Forbidden Land of Thunder. That guy could control this place’s thunder and lightning, so could he be the cause?” Feng Yiyou exclaimed in shock.

“The thunder lagoon! He must be at the thunder lagoon!”

“The Pure Soul Springs! He probably went back to acquire the Pure Soul Springs!”

“Dammit!”

Many martial practitioners came to these realizations, and after a moment of hesitation, all three forces turned back and headed for the thunder lagoon.

Only a golden sandstorm remained on the battlefield, which slowly faded to reveal Chu Li. After a moment of silent contemplation, he wordlessly followed everyone back to the thunder lagoon.

……

Du Xiangyang, Luo Chen, Xue Moyan, Song Tingyu, Pan Qianqian, and Xie Jingxuan stood just outside the thunder lagoon. They craned their necks, peering into its depths.

At this point in time, Sen Ye had long since led his eastern barbarian companions in a terrified retreat.

Dozens of eastern barbarian corpses lay scattered around the perimeter of the thunder lagoon. Having beaten a hasty, laborious retreat, the remainder of their forces had clearly failed to bring those corpses with them.

“Qin Lie!” Du Xiangyang cried out from above.

From the bottom of the lagoon, Qin Lie looked up and called out, “Are you guys okay?”

“We’re all fine. How about you? Are you okay?” Song Tingyu asked worriedly.

“I’m fine.” Qin Lie smiled calmly and pondered for a moment. Then he said, “Don’t come down yet. Help me by guarding the entrance and preventing anyone from entering.”

“Alright,” Du Xiangyang agreed, calmly turning around to sit at the edge of lagoon.

Song Tingyu, Xie Jingxuan, Xue Moyan, and Pan Qianqian followed his lead, sitting down one after another to guard the lagoon. They had no problem with letting Qin Lie take care of the situation down there.

However, Luo Chen’s face was rigid and full of reluctance, and he was unwilling to look away from the depths of the lagoon.

“It’s time to sit and rest, Luo Chen.” Du Xiangyang patted the ground beside him, beckoning him with a smile.

“He won’t let us go down there. Is he trying to take the Pure Soul Springs for himself?” Luo Chen clearly took no comfort in this arrangement.

Du Xiangyang laughed loudly. “The thunder spirit is still down there. Even if he actually wanted to take all the Pure Soul Springs for himself, would you be able to stop him?”

Luo Chen frowned.

“We’ve done all we can. As for whether we’ll get any of the Pure Soul Springs… heh. That’ll depend on our luck. It can’t be forced,” Du Xiangyang said calmly.

After hesitating for a moment, his face grim, Luo Chen finally moved beside Du Xiangyang and sat down.

At the bottom of the thunder lagoon, its floor covered in bright soul crystals, Qin Lie sighed.

“I’m here to seal you with the Demon Sealing Tombstone,” he said.

Crouching in front of him, as clear as the six flowing Pure Soul Springs floating around it, was the Thunder Crystal Beast. Its intelligent eyes shone with the light of helplessness and sorrow.

A wisp of mind consciousness in the form of electric light shot from its pupils.

“I know. I… understand. You have the essences of the fire spirit and wood spirit inside of you. I know you have the Demon Sealing Tombstone.”

“I have also come for the Pure Soul Springs and the soul crystals here.” Qin Lie had no intention of hiding his motives.

“You aren’t the only one. Every being who entered the Forbidden Land of Thunder to seize the Pure Soul Springs, pilfer the soul crystals, and seal me.” Every bolt of lightning that the Thunder Crystal Beast seemed to contain a sigh. Qin Lie watched silently as cracks appeared on the beast’s crystalline body.

—They were signs of how grievous its injuries were.

After long period of deliberation, Qin Lie calmly said, “Tell me about your… circumstances.”

“Thunder Crystal Beasts such as I are born in violent, thunderous lands. We inherently posses the power of the world’s thunder and lightning within us, and are able to control that power from birth. We live for the thunder and lightning, and it lives in us.

“For as long as I can remember, I was a captive of this place, imprisoned as the eye of the Forbidden Land of Thunder’s formation. I didn’t know what I was when I was younger. But I did know that I could control the Forbidden Land of Thunder and use its thunder and lightning to cultivate and grow.

“However, just as I am able to control the Forbidden Land of Thunder, it and the Graveyard of Gods control me. I am only allowed to move around this domain of thunder and lightning, unable to leave.

“As I slowly grew, an incredibly powerful being threw the souls of elites into this domain and told me how to refine them, how to use lightning to temper them one by one.

“I have never seen that person. I have only heard his voice. He told me that, as long as I obeyed his orders and refined nine Pure Soul Springs from the souls of elites he gave me, he would free me and allow me to leave.

“Souls of elites were thrown to me one after another. Many of them couldn’t endure refinement by thunder and lightning and were instantly destroyed. Upon destruction, portions of these powerful souls formed soul crystals.

“After countless years and so many souls… I was only able to refine six Pure Soul Springs.

“Three are still needed to complete a set of nine.

“Unfortunately, that person hasn’t thrown any souls in here for a very long time, and I haven’t heard his voice either. It seems that the person who imprisoned me here, the master of this place, has encountered some kind of accident…

“That person once told me that, if he didn’t show up for long period of time, someone with the Demon Sealing Tombstone would come. If that were the case, he said I needed to be obedient, give the person with the tombstone everything in the Forbidden Land of Thunder, and allow myself to be sealed. He said that was my only shred of hope in escaping this place.”

At this point, the Thunder Crystal Beast paused and stared at Qin Lie deeply.

“I sensed the auras of the wood spirit and the fire spirit in your body from the moment you arrived here. I know you possess the Demon Sealing Tombstone. You are the person he spoke of.

“But I do not wish to believe that person’s words. I do not wish to be sealed. I do not wish to be trapped in the tombstone.

“I wish to try and see if there is another way. I wish to escape this place and reach the outside world on my own.

“That is why I prevented you from controlling the power of thunder and lightning. I hoped that you would be killed by others, resulting in the tombstone becoming masterless once more. I thought this would help me become free.

“Perhaps everything was long ago ordained by fate.

“People more aware of this place’s secrets than you are came.

“They even brought something that could restrain me, saying that they would capture me alive and take me from the Graveyard of Gods to refine me. To use me as a living sacrifice.

“In the end, I was grievously injured, and my strength was exhausted. I sense that a huge change had occurred in the Forbidden Land of Thunder. I… probably do not have the ability to leave this place any longer. I do not wish to be captured by those people either.

“Now… I submit to fate. I will allow myself to be sealed by the Demon Sealing Tombstone. I will act according to that person’s plans.”

After everything that had occurred, the Thunder Crystal Beast resigned itself to its fate and attempted to merge with the Demon Sealing Tombstone. It did so willingly, just like the fire spirit of the Forbidden Land of Flame.

Perhaps the fire spirit, the wood spirit, and the thunder spirit were all promised the same thing.

—As long as they willingly submitted and allowed the Demon Sealing Tombstone to seal them, there may yet be hope for freedom.

This was the promise that the master of the Graveyard of Gods made to them.

The wood spirit had resisted, attempting to leave the Graveyard of Gods using Ye Yihao, but failed. The Demon Sealing Tombstone ultimately sealed it.

The Thunder Crystal Beast resisted like the wood spirit had. However, it also failed. In the end, it submitted to fate as well.

“Is your knowledge limited to just his land? What secrets does it hold?” Qin Lie asked, unwilling to give up so soon.

Everything he knew about the Graveyard of the Gods came from Feng Yiyou and Chu Li’s explanations.

Chu Li’s understanding of the Graveyard of the Gods was even worse than Feng Yiyou and Yu Men’s. Those two were more familiar with the secrets of the Graveyard of Gods because they both lived in the Heavenly Fissure Continent, which hosted its entrance.

If Qin Lie could truly learn the secrets of this mysterious place, he would know about the plans for it and why they were made. If he knew these things, they could give him an edge later on.

“I am not the only spirit. Like me, the others exist only as the eyes of their respective formations. We are all trapped. We are all imprisoned within our own domains.” The Thunder Crystal Beast sighed deeply. “Although we have been here for so long, we do not understand this place.

“That is all I know.”

The thunder spirit’s confession caused Qin Lie to frown deeply.