Chapter 267: Lightning Pool!
Five soaring mountain peaks were situated in the center of the thick nether demonic energy. An oppressive, profound, mysterious, and strange presence continuously swirled between them.
From afar, the five mountains resembled five giants that were roaring at the world and seemed to be challenging the heavens.
If one moved closer, they would find that the five mountain peaks were carved in the forms of enormous demons. Each giant demon was extremely lifelike and even the bulging muscles on their bodies were clearly defined.
These were the five ancient, evil gods that the Horned Demon clan worshipped!
At this moment, at the border of the Demon God Mountain Range, there were many members of the Horned Demon Race gathering.
Some of these people had two horns on their head, while others had three, four, and even five. They were gathered on the outskirts of the Demon God Mountain Range. Their expressions were feverish as they kowtowed continuously towards the Demon God Mountain Range.
Multiple days earlier, the Demon God's shadow with its curled horns and vast wings furiously made its way through the evil nether passageway with Gao Yu. It passed by many towns and the Horned Demon clansmen saw them.
So these people came and gathered next to the Demon God Mountain Range. They hoped to see the shadow of the evil god and to receive orders from it... they had come in sincere worship.
"The Son of the Demon God!”
"The Son of the Demon God has come!”
"Our clan will rise again! We will finally step back onto our homeland!”
Many Horned Demon warriors cheered in the surroundings of the Demon God Mountain Range. Their expressions were excited and filled with fanaticism.
At this time, an ear-splitting roar of thunder came from a remote corner of the mountain range.
Within the roars of thunder, a thick dragon-like bolt of lightning carried a person. It shot towards the Demon God Mountain Range.
The Horn Demon warriors that were at the corners of the Demon God Mountain Range looked at the sky in a daze. They saw the dazzling lightning flash by and yelled out in shock. They were all puzzled.
"This... is this another Son of the Demon God or an evil god awakening?”
"Out of the five great evil gods, is there one shrouded in lightning?”
"Yes!”
“……”
The noise travelled among those pilgrims. Many Horned Demons grew even more excited and shouted loudly in the language of the Nether Realm.
"Another Son of the Demon God!”
"Another Demon God awakening!”
"The heavens have blessed our clan!”
"This is a miracle!”
Among the furious cheers of the Horned Demons, Qin Lie was carried to the center of the Demon God Mountain Range by the lightning formed by the enormous python.
Amidst the light of the blinding lightning, Qin Lie looked down. He found that the five mountain peaks were all carved into the appearances of the ancient demon gods. They were all waving their claws and baring their teeth with vicious expressions, looking ferocious and terrifying.
One of the Demon Gods was like the one that Gao Yu had woken up in that stone forest. There were wings on his back and curved horns on his head. This one was mid bellow, roaring at the heavens.
Just as this sight astonished him, the lightning pulled Qin Lie and landed on another mountain peak.
This mountain peak was carved into a head that seemed to belong to a dragon or a snake but the body was that of a giant person.
The muscles on the surface of the giant were like mountain ridges. All of them were long and thick. Its body also had mysterious patterns that resembled lightning. There were black scales on its neck and under its arms. There were strange spikes on its shoulders that were like hedgehog spikes—this was an evil god with a snake head.
"Krrk, krrrk, krrrk!”
Qin Lie's feet landed and the stone under him shattered to pieces.
Rumbles of thunder emerged from his body and floated towards the head of the evil god with a snake head.
Snake-like plants had originally been growing on the top of the mountain. When they grew together, they looked like thick hair of the evil god.
As Qin Lie landed, the python on his neck suddenly flew out. It immediately released thousands of bolts of blinding light. The electrical light was filled with a violent lightning power that could destroy life, instantly killing off those plants.
"Bam! Bam! Bam!”
The python that was formed continuously released fluctuations of thunder and used heavenly thunder to strike the head of the snake.
Rocks started to crumble and the top of the mountain, the head of this evil snake, gave out a shocking boom. Shattered fragments of stone rolled down the mountain.
Qin Lie's heart was beating quickly. He looked at this ancient python that was using its soul to destroy the head of the evil god. He did not know what this vicious beast really wanted to do.
The five mountain peaks that were carved in the figures of the demon gods were covered up by the thick nether demonic energy. Here, Qin Lie's mind was suppressed. He needed to continuously circulate his Frost Arts and use the extreme ice to freeze and protect his body to prevent the nether demon energy from corroding him.
Yet this enormous python that was covered in lightning, the nether demonic energy did not affect it at all. Its pure soul power, and the thunder and lightning it formed, would not run out because of the nether demonic energy.
"Boom!"
An earth-shaking explosion suddenly came from the stone next to him. Qin Lie turned to look and found that the enormous python had used the power of thunder and lightning to create a giant hole in the head of this demon god.
—A hole that reached into the head of the demon god!
"Whoosh whoosh!”
The enormous python that was in a soul state, but was shrouded by lightning, suddenly looked at Qin Lie.
The meaning in its eyes was clear—Follow me in!
It wanted Qin Lie to go into the hole with it, into the head of the evil god and inside the mountain.
Qin Lie's brow furrowed slightly.
"Enter!”
A furious soul fluctuation suddenly came from the enormous python. In the next moment, before Qin Lie could react, he found that a bolt of lightning had wrapped around his waist and he was pulled inside the hole.
He landed in the head of the evil god—the inside of the mountain.
"Zzzt zzt zzt! Pak pak pak! Boom boom boom!”
Once he entered, he could hear all sorts of sounds. Thunder roared, lightning flashed, and explosions rang out when they collided.
An enormous rock cavern full of blinding light suddenly appeared in his eyes. The rocks in this cavern were like white pieces of jade. They appeared clear and transparent when reflected in the brightness of the lightning and refracted blinding light.
The stone cavern was several acres large. There was a small pool in the center and statues set up around the pool—all of them were the statues of the snake-headed evil god!
They were like the evil god except shrunk by a few hundred times. Nine of them surrounded the pool and spat lightning towards it.
The enormous python that had summoned Qin Lie and forcibly pulled him here flew straight into the pool as soon as it entered. It twisted in the pool and changed as it furiously swallowed the pool’s blinding liquid.
Qin Lie took a glance and his expression changed drastically. He suddenly yelled, "Lightning pool! This is lightning pool!”
He had heard his grandfather mention the lightning pool before. According to his grandfather, if the power of lightning was condensed to an extreme, it could turn into liquid. The liquid was lightning!
Qin Shan once said that, in the deepest part of the nine cloud layers, at the core that was covered in furious heavenly lightning, there was a lightning pool—the Lightning Pool of the Ninth Heaven!
The thunder and lightning of the Ninth Heaven were tempered hundreds of times, repeatedly purified and condensed. This formed the Lightning Pool of the Ninth Heaven—the core of the thunder and lightning.
If Qin Lie, who cultivated Heavenly Thunder Eradication, could cultivate to the state that he could cause thunder and lightning to appear with a thought, he would be able to pass through the deepest part of the clouds and search for the Lightning Pool of the Ninth Heaven in the most restless place in the sky. He could immerse himself in that lightning pool to cultivate.
That way, Heavenly Thunder Eradication could be cultivated to a degree that even its creator could not measure!
If thunder and lightning power could be likened to spirit energy, then a lightning pool was a martial practitioner’s spirit sea. It was a martial practitioner’s Natal Palace—the place where one's power was condensed and purified.
The lightning pool was the true essence of lightning!
"This lightning pool... it is not formed from lightning of the Ninth Heaven, but there was a being that cultivated thunder and lightning power who had tempered their power repeatedly and, after refining it countless times, formed this power source!" Qin Lie looked at the pool of liquid lightning. He looked at the nine evil gods that were spitting liquid and suddenly understood.
The Horned Demons worshipped an ancient demon god. This demon god was skilled in the power of thunder and lightning. It gathered its pure thunder and lightning to form the lightning pool and put it in this mountain peak. The enormous python tracked it down.
"This enormous python..."
Qin Lie stilled and looked at the python in the lightning pool. He then looked at the nine evil god statues around the lightning pool. He wanted to confirm if these two were connected or if they were the same being.
Yet when he looked closely, he found that the enormous python and the snake-headed demon being were not the same—there were clear differences in their appearances.
"Hoosh, hoosh, hoosh!”
When the enormous python swallowed the pool’s liquid, it made strange sounds. It twisted around in the lightning pool and clearly seemed very pleased. Its eyes that shone with intelligence suddenly glanced at Qin Lie.
Its meaning was clear—enter the lightning pool!
It wanted Qin Lie to also go into the lightning pool!
Qin Lie's body shook. He did not hesitate at all as his expression turned into one of excitement. He hurriedly approached the lightning pool and reached out to touch the liquid in the lightning pool.
When his fingertip touched the liquid, countless bolts of dense lightning turned to wisps of pure power that climbed up his finger. They went from his finger to his palm, then his arm, upper body, abdomen, and lower body...
He just had one finger in the pool but, in a short few seconds, his entire body was wrapped in lightning.
A few moments later, an enormous lightning ball shrouded his entire body.
Thousands of streaks of lightning coursed through his muscles, veins, blood, flesh, cells, fibers, and bones. Countless booms of thunder roared in his heart, chest, brain and mind; his body instantly started to tremble.
He suddenly seemed to see a great ancient era when the world had not formed yet and thunder and lightning rampaged through the void like a storm. Here, even the sun, moon, and stars had yet to form. There were no living beings, no plants, nor mountains or oceans—just empty space, an eternal void...
Yet in this era that was so long ago it could not be measured, the first hint of thunder and lightning had formed. They moved through the void and rampaged across the empty world. They brought life to this eternally empty void.
The thunder and lightning were like a typhoon that endlessly ravaged the void. Many strikes collided and produced blinding sparks. When the sparks spread, they shot through space in a direction that was an unknown distance away. When they merged with unknown vibrations, they seemed to create a chaotic consciousness!
In the very beginning, vicious lightning that could annihilate all souls and destroy the world seemed to have created life and wondrously stimulated living consciousness!
Qin Lie was completely veiled in an enormous ball of lightning. Under the blows of the lightning and the roars of thunder, he was in contact with the core essence of the lightning. He was seeing wonders that beings of this era would probably never get to witness.
This Chapter’s Teaser