Following that Strange away from the city center , Zhou coiled through the streets , his tongue periodically sticking out , homing in on that smell , he crossed street after street , each one becoming slightly less lavish until eventually he arrived in the slums where the smell was strongest.
Zhou finds that the source of the scent is in one of the dilapidated and run down buildings , squeezing into a crack on the door , he enters the building , feeling the damp and dusty air in contains
As Zhou continues tracking the source of the smell , numerous cobwebs constitute a minor obstruction. Zhou pressed on , trying to find that smell .
Zhou's tongue flicked, catching a strange pulse beneath the rubble. Not blood. Not flesh. Something deeper. He pressed his coils against the cracked stone until a rotten panel gave way with a snap.
A trap door.
From the dark below, two scents surged upward — one sharp and cold, like frozen water biting scale, the other violent and hot, like storm‑fire. His Core quivered, hunger rising.
He slid down into the hollow. Two stalks grew from a fissure in the earth, nourished by hidden Qi veins. One bloomed pale blue, frost clinging to its petals. The other glowed faintly, arcs of purple light crawling along its veins.
Before he could strike, a blur cut across his vision. The rat. he hadn't even noticed it tailing him.
Its greedy eyes locked onto the flower and in a quick motion snatched the blue flower with its claws
Zhou hissed , launching himself at the rat , trying to catch it but the rat reacted in time , darting away from the attack , causing the pouch on its body to brush along its fur — the same pouch it stole from him.
A soft glow came from something on the rats hand. a ring , its metallic scent was similar to one he smelt in the pouch. the glow was bright causing Zhou to instinctively cover his eyes but his nose still twitched , ready to sniff out any attempt the rat made
Then— the rat presence just seemed to vanish , no trace ,just vanished . Zhou tongue flickered around the room , trying to find a trace at all , just vanished .
Zhou's hissed violently , scurrying around the room trying to find any trace of the rat but he had no such luck , to his surprise however , the sound of squeaking was heard , it was heard from the walls.
As quickly as he could , Zhou started checking wall to wall , as the squeaking got fainter , Zhou found something ... a crack , one large enough to escape with.
The distant squeaking now sounded more like ... snickering . Zhou felt something boiling up from deep inside him ,
Anger .
Primal anger .
Zhou hissed at the top of his lungs , his scream dripped with Qi —something he didn't know he could do , His core convulsed and something deeper became ... brighter? . The scream caused the stone walls nearby to crack slightly under the force.
Continuing with his rampage , he thrashed his body on the wall repeatedly , blood dripping from his fore head as he couldn't control himself . First the rat stole its pouch and now its treasure and even its prey
''Kill. Thief. Death."
Zhou thought , releasing Qi burst in fury, blue sparks lingered on his scales , expanding outwards , slightly sparking with the walls.
As Zhou's sparks danced across the stone, another light answered. The storm‑flower trembled, arcs crawling along its veins, as if stirred by his fury.
Zhou eyes , still plauged with rage now calmer , curios? his tongue flicked, tasting the same crackling scent now spilling from the petals. His eyes fixed on it. Not prey. Not foe. Something else. Something his rage had woken.
Carefully approaching the flower , Zhou slithered up the vine , his head approaching the herb . In a single moment , he consumed it.
Silence.
Then— Pain.
Purple Lightning erupted from his own core . His body convulsed , thrashing on the floor, arcs of Purple lightning Qi racing across his scales . His core swelled , pulsing with overflowing Purple Lightning Qi , then a glow emanated from his core ... No something lower. It sapped the excess Purple lightning Qi away from his core and then imbued it into his body.
Then white cracks spread across his scales like cracks in jade, the same as when he first broke through into The Mortal Beast Realm's Third Layer . Yet this was far worse , far more painful as if his body was being baptized by the thunder.
The cracks spread wider, glowing white against his dark scales, each one splitting with a sound like stone breaking. His body writhed, torn between collapse and rebirth.
Then the storm forced itself deeper. The lightning no longer only burned his Core — it carved through his flesh, his bones, his very marrow. Every nerve screamed. Every coil spasmed.
Zhou slammed against the ground, sparks exploding outward. The hollow shook, dust raining from the ceiling. His tongue lashed wildly, tasting only ozone and blood.
And then—vision.
Not his own.
Stone walls. Human hands. Robes marked with sect sigils. Voices muttering: "Seal it here . Do it properly , or Young Master Guima will have our heads .We'll return when the tide breaks. The blood of the perished humans and beasts will nourish the flower" Panic. Shouts. The roar of the beast wave. The humans fled, locking the chamber with a formation , one that repels humans
But not beasts.
The vision shattered , yet the cracks did not relent
They dug deeper. His bones groaned, splintering under the weight of the lightning. His Core convulsed, swelling until it felt ready to burst.
Zhou roared — a sound more storm than hiss — and the chamber shook. Dust rained from the ceiling, stone split beneath him. The storm was not killing him. It was remaking him.
The cracks engulfed him fully, his body a lattice of white fissures glowing with thunder's light. For a heartbeat, he was nothing but a shell of breaking stone.
Then—he shattered.
The shell of cracks burst apart in a storm of sparks, and from within, Zhou rose anew. His scales gleamed with faint violet lines now far stronger, lightning etched into his flesh. His Core pulsed steady now bigger and better, no longer fractured, but reforged.
The storm had baptized him.
He had broken through.
Fourth Stage.
Zhou, now stretched to twenty‑five inches, crackled with Purple Lightning Qi. Every coil, every subtle shift of his body, bled arcs of storm‑fire that danced across his scales.
Testing his newfound power, he gathered the storm within and released it in a violent burst from his pathways. Purple thunder exploded outward, jagged bolts lashing in all directions. The chamber shook as stone walls split and scorched beneath the crackling fury.
Above the chamber , In the city below , Other beasts stirred .The storm had been loud . Too loud. The white fox stood stoically , her white hide now healed but still carried residual scars , Her eyes narrowed into the distance. then whispered , "They are coming".