Chapter 112: Absorbing a Soul Ring and Triggering a Lightning Tribulation—What Sin Did I Commit?
"What is this?!"
Bibi Dong's expression shifted slightly. She immediately pulled Lin Qingmo behind her.
Soul power surged outward, forming a faint violet barrier that enveloped the two of them.
The berserk lightning slammed against the barrier with sharp crackling explosions, but failed to break through.
Lin Qingmo peeked out from behind Bibi Dong and looked toward the vine.
Within the cracks along its surface, lightning surged wildly, as if struggling… or perhaps venting.
"Teacher, something's wrong with it!"
Lin Qingmo shouted.
"Yes."
Bibi Dong nodded, her violet eyes fixed tightly on the vine.
"It's releasing the lightning power accumulated inside its body, but the method is incorrect. It's too violent, as if... It's out of control."
The sky-piercing lightning continued for roughly ten minutes.
Finally, it began to weaken.
Then it vanished entirely.
And the life aura of that charred vine began to fade rapidly.
The blue arcs, once flickering within its cracks, now dimmed into near darkness.
The vine itself began to wither, like a branch drained of all moisture.
"It failed."
Lin Qingmo blurted out. "That was a lightning backlash just now. It couldn't control the lightning power it absorbed and suffered a backlash!"
Bibi Dong sensed it as well.
She withdrew the barrier and felt the vine's rapidly weakening life force.
"Indeed."
She said softly. "It can't hold on any longer. Its vitality is draining quickly. At most… a few breaths remain."
Lin Qingmo stared at the vine, and for some reason, felt a faint bitterness in his heart.
Such a tenacious life.
Struggling for over ten thousand years.
Surviving lightning tribulation after lightning tribulation.
Only to die in the very power it absorbed.
Fate was truly ironic.
"Ah Qing."
Bibi Dong's voice sounded.
"Shall we act?"
She looked at him calmly.
"This is the best opportunity. It is on the verge of death; its resistance is at its weakest. The danger of absorbing the soul ring may also be reduced."
Lin Qingmo took a deep breath and nodded.
"Yes, Teacher. I'll trouble you."
Bibi Dong raised her hand.
A powerful surge of soul power condensed into a massive violet hand and reached toward the vine on the cliff.
Sensing danger, the vine instinctively released its last trace of lightning power.
Weak arcs flickered in futile resistance.
But before Bibi Dong's soul power, such defiance was no more than a mantis trying to stop a chariot.
Crack.
The giant soul power hand gave a light tug, and the entire vine was uprooted.
Soon, Bibi Dong cast it to the ground before them.
At this moment, the Thunder Hell Prison Vine had completely lost the ability to resist.
More cracks spread across its surface. Its life aura flickered like a candle in the wind, ready to extinguish at any moment.
"Ah Qing, do it."
Bibi Dong said.
"Alright!"
Lin Qingmo stepped forward.
He released his Blue Silver Grass martial soul toward the charred vine lying on the ground.
Emerald vines flowed from his palm, slowly coiling around the Thunder Hell Prison Vine.
Soul power surged.
The Blue Silver Grass tightened abruptly!
"Crackle—!"
A faint sound rang out.
The Thunder Hell Prison Vine trembled one last time and then completely lost its life aura.
A dense black soul ring slowly rose from its body.
It hovered in midair, radiating a vast and oppressive energy fluctuation. Its color was extremely deep black, shining faintly.
Occasionally, blue arcs of lightning flickered along its surface with crackling sounds.
"As expected… It's a ten-thousand-year one."
Lin Qingmo felt the violent power contained within the soul ring, his heart pounding wildly.
Within that energy lay both the ferocity of lightning and the resilience of life.
Two entirely different attributes intertwined, forming a uniquely destructive beauty.
…
Deep within the Star Dou Forest, the storm had just ceased.
Lin Qingmo sat cross-legged on the ground.
He needed to bring himself to peak condition.
As for this ten-thousand-year Thunder Hell Prison Vine soul ring, who knew its exact cultivation age?
He could not afford carelessness.
With a low shout, he activated his First Soul Skill: Sky Azure Soul Nourishing Barrier, and his Third Soul Skill: Blue Silver Spirit Tree!
The barrier unfolded.
Soul power surged, and a luminous blue tree grew from the ground, spreading a gentle restorative field of vitality.
Buffs are fully stacked.
His entire body was now enveloped in a dense life aura. Compared to the surrounding charred branches still crackling faintly with residual sparks, it was as if he stood in an entirely different world.
"Teacher."
Lin Qingmo opened his eyes and looked at Bibi Dong, who had been standing guard beside him.
"I'll have to trouble you to watch over me."
Bibi Dong did not speak, only nodded faintly.
An invisible soul power barrier silently expanded, isolating this area from the outside world.
"Rest assured. With me here, no one will disturb you."
Her voice was cold, yet carried an undeniable reassurance.
"Alright then… I'm starting."
Lin Qingmo inhaled deeply, no longer hesitating.
With a thought, he guided the floating black soul ring slowly toward himself.
The moment the soul ring touched his skin—
"Crackle—!"
Lightning surged throughout his entire body.
The sensation was indescribable.
Lin Qingmo clenched his teeth so hard they ground audibly. Veins bulged across his forehead. Cold sweat poured down like rain, instantly soaking his clothes.
He felt as if his very soul was being electrocuted.
"Damn... this thing is really strong…"
He cursed inwardly.
Yet relying on sheer ruthlessness and the continuous warm current of recovery surging from his life aura, he forcibly endured the assault on his soul.
The soul ring's energy was gradually absorbed and fused into him.
It seemed the cultivation age of this soul ring was still within his tolerable range.
An hour passed.
Success seemed within reach.
And then—
Mutation struck abruptly!
"Rumble!"
The sky above, which had already cleared, suddenly darkened without warning.
Dark clouds surged from all directions like a gathering tide, piling thick within moments.
"Rumble…"
Muffled thunder rolled within the clouds, like a colossal beast roaring.
Blinding blue-white lightning snakes darted wildly through the ink-black cloud sea.
A terrifying pressure descended from the sky and locked firmly onto Lin Qingmo below.
The sensation was like having the Grim Reaper aim a sniper rifle at his head.
"A lightning tribulation?!"
Bibi Dong's face changed instantly.
She could not understand why absorbing a soul ring would trigger heavenly lightning.
Her soul power erupted. All nine soul rings lit up simultaneously, preparing to forcibly intervene.
"Don't! Teacher!"
Lin Qingmo squeezed the words out through clenched teeth.
He looked up at the increasingly oppressive thunderclouds, yet a trace of madness flashed in his eyes.
"Let me try!"
The Thunder Hell Prison Vine itself had grown by absorbing lightning.
If its soul ring attracted a lightning tribulation…
Perhaps… it wasn't necessarily a bad thing?
With that thought in mind, Lin Qingmo decided to withstand this tribulation head-on.
Bibi Dong paused, stunned as she looked at him.
The young man's face was solemn, yet his eyes blazed with reckless brilliance, almost as if the words "I want to court death" were written across them.
She bit her lip, ultimately refraining from intervening.
However, her soul power gathered to its peak, her fingers tightening slightly, ready to snatch him out of the lightning the instant he failed to endure.
"Crackle… crackle…"
The lightning within the clouds grew denser and denser, energy building to its apex.
For a brief moment—
The entire world seemed to fall silent.
Then—
"CRACK—!!!!!"
A bucket-thick bolt of violet heavenly lightning tore through the sky, carrying the aura of utter destruction as it struck downward in a straight line!
Its target—Lin Qingmo!
End of Chapter