Two days later, at dusk.
"Rumble…" The setting sun glowed warm, while mist rose with the mountain winds, climbing the ridges. The air pulled the water vapor into heavy clouds. At last, the saturated mass could hold no more. Rain poured down like a curtain, threaded with rolls of thunder.
Rainfall and sunset blended into one, painting the mountains in a masterpiece of nature.
The next afternoon.
"Mhm." Yang Yunhai stirred awake. Before opening his eyes, he heard the patter of rain dripping from the skies, while a cool breeze mixed with dampness swept into the cave.
Perhaps he had slept too long, or the chill wind triggered his body's reflexes. Yunhai suddenly shot upright. His eyes opened wide — near the cave mouth, water had pooled deeply, less than two meters from where he lay.
"Damn, I almost got flooded. Lucky I picked a higher cave." He exhaled relief. "The weather in these mountains really changes in a blink."
His gaze drifted outward.
"Rumble…" Though the rain had weakened, thunder still echoed faintly through the clouds.
"This storm must have lasted a long while," he thought.
Yet it was still raining — and thunder still lingered. Turning his head, his eyes narrowed. Against the cave wall lay the lead box, inside it the bamboo tube, from whose opening a small, vivid-blue sprout stretched out.
"Hm?" Yunhai's pupils shrank.
"So, it does have awareness after all?" He frowned, lifted the tube, and stared at the tender sprout in thought.
To be honest, he had considered grinding the Blue Silver Emperor into pulp and drinking it, hoping the crushing might shatter its soul. That way, the risk of a soul clash would drop.
But recalling the descriptions from the original story, when the Shrek Seven Devils consumed their immortal herbs, they swallowed them whole. If crushed by outside force, the efficacy might scatter.
He dared not take that risk. He didn't know pharmacology.
The one certainty: Blue Silver Grass had no poison. As a child, he had eaten its stalks raw. The village pigs, sheep, horses, even cattle chewed them daily without issue.
So this infant Blue Silver Emperor was unlikely to poison him. The danger was the hundred-thousand-year soul of the Empress lurking within.
What if swallowing it triggered a Soul Shock?
He would never endure it. The soul of a hundred-thousand-year beast against a child? Certain death.
He needed a way to counter it.
His answer was to eat it while bathing in thunder.
Lightning, by nature, was pure yang. Yang subdued yin. Against an exposed soul, lightning should bring suppression, perhaps even damage. Plants, moreover, were known to be weak against lightning. That much was common sense across the Soul Master world.
Soul Beasts had tribulation lightning. He believed that proved thunder's suppressive effect.
At least, that was his guess.
And he knew one thing firsthand — thunder refined the body. His years of lightning training had taught him so.
So, consuming the Blue Silver Emperor under thunder strikes might not only help suppress its soul, but also drive its energy into his bloodline, accelerating transformation. And the soul bone he'd just absorbed could merge more perfectly.
Most crucially, after fusing the Blue Silver Emperor's Right Leg Bone, his cultivation had leapt to rank 27, with his body toughness soaring. Alongside it came a soul bone skill he saw as key to surviving this gamble:
Wildfire Burns Without End, Spring Wind Brings Life Again.
Its immense regenerative effect might let him endure multiple strikes.
If one bolt wasn't enough, he'd take several! More thunder meant greater suppression, greater refinement.
Whether he lived or died, whether the bloodline awakened — that would be up to fate. But such an opportunity was rare. He couldn't let it pass.
"No matter what, I have to try."
"At worst, I die again. It's not like I haven't died once already."
Sometimes you hide. Sometimes you fight with everything. Opportunities like this did not come twice.
With resolve burning, Yunhai clenched his teeth, shot to his feet, and rushed out of the cave.
He jogged across the grass and sat down cross-legged.
His state was already primed from the soul bone fusion. No more adjustment was needed.
He raised his eyes to the thick clouds above, then lowered his head to open the bamboo tube, revealing the Blue Silver Emperor.
Next, he summoned his Martial Soul, guiding its thunder affinity.
Years of practice had taught him to restrain the aura, to avoid accidental lightning. Now, summoning thunder was his active skill.
All that training in divided concentration had not been wasted.
"Boom!" Barely had his soul power stirred when a bolt as thick as his arm crashed down, spearing into his back. The grass around him bristled upright.
The sprout in the bamboo tube twisted violently, as though frightened.
"I'm sorry," Yunhai whispered, glancing at it. "I had no choice. To be precise, many things in this world leave us no choice. You're a soul beast. I'm human. That's all there is."
With that, he pulled the plant free, rinsed its roots in a puddle, then stuffed it into his mouth, chewing and swallowing. A faint sweetness spread through his tongue.
At once, he drove his soul power.
"Boom!" A lightning serpent surged from the clouds. The second strike fell. Then the third. The fourth.
"Ahhh!" Thunder roared in his ears. His head throbbed with a wail — he couldn't tell if it was his own or another's, faintly feminine.
Needles pierced every inch of his body. His meridians felt on the brink of tearing apart. Then came waves of cooling relief, easing the agony slightly.
But the pain still reigned, drowning every thought.
He focused only on guiding his energy, forcing himself to activate his soul bone skill. Wildfire Burns Without End, Spring Wind Brings Life Again.
"Boom!" The sixth bolt slammed into him. This time the pain flared differently, heat coursing through every vein. His blood seemed aflame, especially around his heart.
"It's working?" he thought between screams. "This time… it feels different. The pain is worse, but it gives me hope."
Another strike fell. His skin, flushed crimson, steamed faintly before splitting apart. Black liquid oozed from the cracks.
Inside his body, the stabbing pain spread to new depths. It felt like an army of lances charging through his meridians, breaking barriers, opening new paths.
Then — "Boom!" Lightning again. The current speared into the back of his neck, exploding through his limbs. Bones crackled audibly.
"Pu!" A mouthful of blood surged up. He swallowed it down, forcing it back.
"I'm at my limit!" The power raged across his frame. His body trembled like a balloon about to burst. Even the soul bone's healing couldn't save him if he shattered.
But at that brink, the burning in his chest eased. A chill spread from his heart, resisting the flood of thunder.
Suddenly, an even sharper cold rushed from his lower abdomen to his right leg. Then vanished.
"???" Yunhai froze. A terrible thought rose — a hundred-thousand-year soul could lodge inside a soul bone. Like the Titan Giant Ape and Sky Azure Bull Python in the story.
And this soul bone was from the Blue Silver Emperor. He had just swallowed its body.
"It didn't disperse under thunder!?"
Before he could finish the thought—
"Boom!" Another bolt fell, striking his upper thigh directly.
His mind went blank.
His body convulsed and toppled sideways, unconscious.
The storm clouds slowly receded. Rain still fell, gentle drops pattering onto his scorched, blackened frame.
(End of Chapter)
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