Chapter 219: Thunder Qi Body Refinement, Late Stage of Second Body Refinement

Even from a great distance, he could hear the explosions.

A moment later, Qi Sheng, a cultivator at the third level of the Core Formation Realm, successfully landed at the bottom of the Thunderfall Abyss. The complete darkness somewhat hampered his vision.

He casually summoned several fireballs, distributing them evenly within a dozen meters around him. They provided a very bright view of the area, which was not only deep but also wide, with the pit bottom having a diameter of nearly a hundred li. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it another underground world.

He wasn't sure which direction Wang Yu would flee, but judging by where he jumped down, the nearest cave entrance in the wall shouldn't be far.

"Scented Bat."

"Squeak, squeak, squeak—"

As expected, the spirit beast confirmed Wang Yu's location with almost no interference, ignoring the nine illusory clones he had released and flying directly towards his true body.

Seeing this, Qi Sheng quickly followed, but not before taking out several talismans with black backgrounds and gold patterns, carefully attaching them to himself. These were Lightning-Resist Talismans. When faced with a sudden lightning attack, they would swiftly generate a protective layer to prevent continuous lightning strikes, which could cause paralysis and make escape difficult. This was a result of his extensive experience. Although there were no signs of a thunderstorm when he entered, who knew if it would suddenly rain? Summer sun showers often came in bursts. If this place's unique mechanism were triggered, he would be able to react quickly.

Not long after, before even a stick of incense had burned, Qi Sheng discovered an issue ahead. The Scented Bat was continuously circling the area, giving warnings.

"A concealment array? Heh—naive!"

Qi Sheng instinctively flicked his sleeve, and his spiritual power, accompanied by a howling gale, swept forth. Pale green wind blades formed a dense net of blades, instantly shattering the concealment array. He instinctively sensed something was wrong, and just as he was about to retreat, a large number of pre-laid talismans exploded with a roar. Among them were many second-tier talismans, and he even recognized talismans commonly used by disciples of the Yellow Springs Monastery.

"Ninefold Netherblade Talisman, Ice Spear Talisman, Wind-Sand Talisman, Smoke Corroding Poison Talisman..."

There was no doubt Wang Yu had set them. By merely activating his protective aura, Qi Sheng could withstand most of the talismans' explosive power. When his protective aura reached its limit, he could effortlessly block the remaining force.

"Wang Yu—"

Qi Sheng was now quite angered. A swift wind blew at his feet, enhancing both the Scented Bat and his own body. He was about to accelerate!

Far away, in an unknown cave.

Wang Yu suddenly heard the explosion. He silently calculated the time, keeping track of his pursuer's progress, though his heart felt heavy.

"He triggered my traps so quickly. This means that from the moment he landed at the bottom of the abyss, he didn't hesitate and pursued me directly in the correct direction."

Murmuring to himself, Wang Yu's movements rapidly sped up. He even used the Frost Moon Wings, a perfected evasion art, to accelerate. Without a doubt, the enemy's formidable pursuit ability had struck him hard.

Currently, his spiritual sense was spreading out, continuously using the perception abilities of the Mountain Search and Demon Hunt Secret Art to imprint the dark cave's terrain into his mind. By constantly calculating the intersections of various passages, when he slipped into a small, transit-like hollow, Wang Yu unhesitatingly blew up the area. Activating the Minor Accomplishment stage of the Purple Dragon Earth Evasion Art, he directly skipped this section, causing a certain degree of information loss and confusion for his pursuer.

However, the idea was good, but there was a problem during the attempt. The environment of the Thunderfall Abyss was exceptionally unique. For many years, thunderstorms had constantly occurred, and it frequently encountered lightning storms, being continuously struck by natural lightning. The rocks and soil here contained massive amounts of latent lightning energy.

When Wang Yu burrowed in using the Purple Dragon Earth Evasion Art, it was as if he had entered an ocean of lightning. Every step he took, he was electrocuted, almost interrupting the art's operation. Fortunately, his body was strong enough to ignore low-power lightning, and moreover, his arms were engraved with Wind-Lightning Spirit Marks, making him highly adapted to lightning energy.

After barely evading for a thousand meters, he finally couldn't bear it anymore and emerged from underground.

"Damn it!"

Unable to stop himself from cursing, Wang Yu rubbed his numb body, then abruptly paused.

"Eh—"

He discovered that the Dragon Blood Elixir accumulated in his body had once again begun to be absorbed at an accelerated rate. The speed at which vital essence and blood condensed in his spine had doubled.

"That's right, there have long been legends of lightning refining the body. Facing heavenly lightning directly would be a bit overconfident, and gathering scattered lightning energy from nature would be too slow. The lightning power contained in the Thunderfall Abyss is just right; it can affect the physical body without being excessive and harming one's foundation or life."

Thinking of the pursuers behind him, Wang Yu felt a pang of regret. Not seizing such an opportunity made his heart itch unbearably, like a cat scratching.

"Snow Jade!"

His rapidly moving figure paused, and Wang Yu released the Three-tailed Snow Fox. As it looked at him with a bewildered expression, Wang Yu then took off his hair ornament, putting the Yin Corpse-Nourishing Coffin and corpse puppet, which were attached to it, into Snow Jade's mouth. At the same time, he took off his clothes and draped them over it, instructing:

"Just run forward, with all your might! If you feel exhausted, take this top-grade pill from the pocket. If you're caught, throw out the corpse puppet to entangle them."

Spirit beasts were intelligent, especially a cunning and clever demonic beast like a fox. It felt as if its master had tricked it, but couldn't quite pinpoint why. A long race that couldn't end anytime soon awaited Snow Jade.

"Oh, wait."

Wang Yu rummaged inside his inner robe and pulled out an old storage bag. This was a standard issue storage bag for outer disciples of the Blood Spirit Sect, heavily imbued with his aura. It contained items of sentimental value, including a somewhat withered arm, which carried the strongest lingering aura of Wang Yu. It was the Divine Strength Corpse Arm that he had discarded. He had Snow Jade wrap its tail around it, and he instructed again:

"If you encounter a lightning storm, hide inside the Corpse-Nourishing Coffin; it absolutely won't be able to harm you. Run... give it your all."

The Three-tailed Snow Fox looked back repeatedly as it ran. At the corner, it finally took to the air, dashing low to the ground on icy mist. It didn't know where it was going or what it was doing, only that running forward was the right thing to do!

Wang Yu also burrowed into the rock and soil, feeling the constant invasion of lightning energy into his body. He went two thousand meters deep in one go, and when he truly couldn't hold on anymore, he activated the Wind-Lightning Spirit Marks to actively devour the lightning energy. This made the lightning patterns on his arms grow brighter, gradually covering his entire arms. After going another three thousand meters deeper, the Wind-Lightning Spirit Mark secret art also reached its limit, and Wang Yu quickly took out his Starfall Cold Furnace.

He voluntarily entered it. The Ice Dragon Pill Flame surged from within him, forming chains of fire that sealed the pill furnace. He was using the pill-sealing method from the Cold Dragon Alchemy Art. The higher the grade of the pill, the longer it took to refine. Especially during the pill-nourishing stage, even violent fire refining methods sometimes couldn't complete it quickly. At such times, the pill-sealing method was needed to seal the furnace and slowly complete the pill's maturation. At this point, it wasn't a big problem even if the alchemist left. Advanced pill-sealing methods could prevent any trace of pill aura from leaking. Used here, wasn't it a clever breath-concealing art?

As a third-tier incomplete alchemy art, the Cold Dragon Alchemy Art, even after being restored to the perfected second-tier, was still kept in Wang Yu's cultivation list, gradually being completed and recovered. The pill-sealing method it provided barely reached the third-tier. Coupled with his invisibility spell and breath-concealing charm, and the Three-tailed Snow Fox's movement, he was confident he could evade his pursuers.

When the Ice Dragon Pill Flame vanished and everything returned to silence, Wang Yu slowly began to absorb the lightning energy surging into his body. Drops of vital essence and blood condensed at an astonishing speed. His body refining cultivation grew rapidly and swiftly, almost without limit.

Qi Sheng continued to pursue Wang Yu's traces. When he encountered a blocked passage, he scoffed, clearing all obstacles with a single Gusting Palm. When he arrived at an empty passage node and sensed the end of the aura there, he patted the Scented Bat, and a thousand meters were covered in an instant. As long as there was wind in the passage, the Scented Bat could pick up the scent no matter how far, let alone a mere thousand meters.

After reaching this point, the Scented Bat suddenly became restless.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak~"

Qi Sheng communicated with it using his spiritual sense for a while, nodding repeatedly: "Yes, I understand... Wang Yu's aura became stronger after reaching here, didn't it? The corpse puppet's aura and the fox's aura are both present? Mm-hm, it seems we're not far from him. Keep pursuing!"

After Qi Sheng left, Wang Yu, underground, sensed the ground vibrations gradually fading. He quietly breathed a sigh of relief. If the other party could track him, he naturally could sense them too. Realizing there was only one person, his urge to leave immediately diminished. He wasn't sure where the opponent's companions were; if they were guarding the entrance to the Thunderfall Abyss, he'd be in trouble. Furthermore, the Three-tailed Snow Fox, the Yin Corpse Puppet, the Corpse-Nourishing Coffin, and other items were things he couldn't abandon. Leaving now would not only involve unknown risks but also severe losses. It would be better to absorb lightning energy underground for body refining until he reached his limit.

Thus, through the pill furnace, Wang Yu began absorbing the latent lightning energy in the earth. The digestion of the Dragon Blood Elixir in his body entered a high-speed channel, continuously generating vital essence and blood in his spine. Once the accumulated elixirs in his body were fully digested, he took out more from his Sea Heart Ring to consume. Such an opportunity for lightning-infused body refining was rare. His vital essence and blood quickly broke through a bottleneck, surging towards nine hundred and ninety-nine drops.

What Wang Yu didn't know was this: As he actively absorbed the lightning energy, the Wind-Lightning Spirit Marks also had a similar gathering effect. This caused a thick layer of lightning to condense outside the Starfall Cold Furnace. It crackled and flashed continuously. Only the portion approved by Wang Yu's spiritual sense could penetrate into the furnace, making him seem like a ball of lightning. Accumulating, accumulating... and accumulating even more!

Once a certain limit was reached, the entire Thunderfall Abyss was triggered. The lightning storm mechanism activated, and simultaneously, arm-thick bolts of lightning burst forth from the walls of all the caves. They intertwined and flashed, forming a terrifying electric net that continuously moved towards the center of the Thunderfall Abyss. As they passed through passages and converged at various nodes, they immediately formed a larger-scale lightning storm. When they reached the hundred-li wide cavity at the bottom of the abyss, they would trigger a sea of lightning, making it impossible for Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators to survive. Even Core Formation Realm cultivators would struggle to guarantee survival; they would need corresponding countermeasures.

After the lightning storm began, the lightning energy in the abyss became increasingly active. This was reflected in Wang Yu as a significant surge in his body refining efficiency. The moment his vital essence and blood condensed into nine hundred and ninety-nine drops, they instantly fused, then scattered again. This process was repeated, and after three condensations and three dispersions, they finally solidified into a single drop of fused true blood.

The Underworld Demonic Flood Dragon Art operated at its peak.

"Disperse!"

With a soft shout, the Underworld Demonic Flood Dragon, formed from vital energy and blood, suddenly appeared. Its size rapidly grew to over thirty meters, and Wang Yu's physical strength soared.

Body refining, second-tier late stage, achieved!

(End of chapter)