Lin Chen slowly floated down from mid-air, his toes lightly touching the lightning crystal ground.
Even though victory was assured, he remained tense, not daring to relax in the slightest.
He narrowed his eyes, activating his Insightful Divine Eye to carefully scan the collapsed Thunderous Hell Vine.
A flash of purple-gold lightning disappeared in his pupils, clearly revealing the remaining power and life force within the opponent's body.
After confirming that the divine-level soul beast had no power to fight back, Lin Chen gripped the humming Thor's Hammer and slowly stepped forward.
He did not deliver a fatal blow directly, but instead raised his hand and unleashed several condensed bolts of lightning, precisely striking the nodes, roots, and core of the Thunderous Hell Vine.
Each strike perfectly neutralized its power while leaving it with its last breath.
"Humans! You despicable and shameless creatures! Give me a quick death!"
Thunderous Yama Vine was engulfed in a chaotic surge of lightning, its body charred and cracked, writhing madly in agony, uttering angry curses of resentment, its voice hoarse to the extreme.
Lin Chen smiled faintly, his tone relaxed yet playful: "No rush. Before I die, I have to see what good things you, this 'god-level guardian,' have left me."
As soon as he finished speaking, he stopped looking at the wailing Thunderous Hell Vine, gently spread his blue silver wings, and flew straight towards the huge corpse of the Thunder Dragon King in the distance with a light blue streak.
During the flight, Lin Chen secretly breathed a sigh of relief and thought to himself: Thanks to the bloodline and divine core left by Senior Thor, otherwise I would have definitely been killed by this guy and his sneak attack would have left me with nothing but bones.
This seemingly overwhelming victory was, from beginning to end, a narrow escape from death.
As Lin Chen flew toward the dragon corpse, the information about the Thunder God's legacy became completely clear in his mind, and he instantly understood the truth behind all the opportunities.
The crimson-gold divine blood that flew out of Thor's corpse was no ordinary bloodline. It was pure Thor's original blood, forcibly extracted from his last divine essence before his death. This drop of divine blood had been completely stripped of its violent divine backlash, allowing even a mortal body to directly fuse with it, instantly awakening the Thor's bloodline. For a short time, it could draw upon the power of heaven and earth's lightning, causing his strength to surge to a level sufficient to contend with a pseudo-god. This was the key to his victory just now.
That cracked, purplish-gold divine core was the most essential vessel of divine essence after the Thunder God's fall, much like the divine core of the Golden Dragon King in the legends of Douluo Continent—the foundation of divine power. The difference was that the Golden Dragon King's divine core was intact, while the Thunder God's body was destroyed and his core severely damaged in his battle with the Thunder Dragon King, leaving it riddled with unhealable cracks.
To ensure that future generations could safely absorb these two treasures, Thor exhausted his last bit of divine power to modify them: not only were Thor's complete inherited memories burned inside the divine core, but a vessel to carry power was also condensed at the core—the cracked purple-gold divine ring behind Lin Chen's head, which was the symbol of Thor's former divine position.
Unfortunately, Thor eventually ran out of energy and died.
He barely managed to stabilize the divine blood, allowing the inheritor to fuse safely, but he no longer had the strength to repair the damaged divine core, and could only let the divine ring appear in the world with cracks.
In fact, this very damage might be Thor's deliberate act—only a shattered divine core could prevent a mortal inheritor from being instantly destroyed, thus allowing for gradual fusion and eventual reshaping of their divine position.
Having figured all this out, Lin Chen looked at Thor's remains with a newfound sense of awe.
This fallen ancient deity had already paved a path for those who came after him, a path fraught with peril yet capable of defying fate and achieving godhood.
The true origin of the Thunderous Hell Vine lies hidden within that ancient, world-destroying war of gods.
In the past, the Dragon God rebelled, leading the Dragon Clan to unleash a cataclysmic war that swept across the divine realm, scorching all the heavens and myriad worlds. The Thunder God, as a human deity and the strongest warrior below the God-King, wielded the purest laws of thunder and was the absolute main force suppressing the Dragon Clan. To counterbalance this Lord of Thunder, the Dragon Clan dispatched the Thunder Dragon King, a fellow cultivator of thunder and second only to the Nine Dragon Kings—the most ferocious weapon under the Dragon God's command, whose thunderous power was enough to tear apart the barriers of the divine realm.
A man and a dragon engage in a fateful duel above the clouds of the heavens.
Thor, clad in purple-gold divine armor and wielding his innate divine weapon, the Thunder God's Hammer, unleashed countless bolts of divine lightning with each strike, pulverizing clouds and creating boundless black holes in the void. The Thunder Dragon King, its body spanning ten thousand feet, its scales forged from stars, spewed forth world-destroying lightning bolts with a single breath, its claws tearing through the laws of nature, causing even time to stand still in its wake. The deafening roar of colliding lightning shattered stars, divine light and dragon breath intertwined to create a world-destroying storm, plunging the heavens and earth into darkness, obscuring the sun and moon, and causing the divine realm to crumble inch by inch. Countless star fragments were reduced to ashes in the sea of lightning.
This battle caused the stars to hang upside down and all realms to tremble.
In the end, at the cost of his semi-divine artifact shattering and his divine body being severely injured, Thor shattered the heart of the Thunder Dragon King with a single blow, completely slaying this peerless ferocious beast.
Just as Thor was about to perish, he was horrified to discover that the remnant consciousness of the Thunder Dragon King had not completely dissipated. Instead, it had silently slipped into a vine on the edge of the battlefield, nourished by his thunderous bloodline, and survived.
That vine was the Thunderous Hell Vine.
At that time, Thor could not even maintain his divine form and was powerless to fight again.
He knew that after his death, this Thunderous Hell Vine would become a great scourge to the region.
Thus, this fallen god used the last bit of his remaining divine essence to transform the thunder god's original divine blood and broken divine core within his corpse, laying out these two heaven-defying opportunities for future inheritors.
What He wanted to do was not only leave behind a legacy, but also a thunderous blade capable of completely slaying the remnant soul of the Thunder Dragon King!
"I see..."
Lin Chen's figure, flying towards the dragon corpse, appeared exceptionally upright in the wind.
This legacy, from the very beginning, has been a revenge saga spanning millennia.
And this wait lasted for countless ages.
Standing before the corpse of the Thunder Dragon King, Lin Chen absorbed the long-forgotten memories of this divine war into his heart. When he looked at the dying Thunder Yama Vine, his eyes were completely cold.
What lies before me is not the 70,000-year-old Thunderous Hell Vine, but clearly the last remains of that ancient ferocious beast, the Thunder Dragon King.
Lin Chen thoroughly digested the truth within the inherited memories, and the turmoil in his eyes gradually subsided.
From seeing through Lei Ming Yan Yu Teng's scheme at the beginning, to deliberately showing weakness and luring it to devour lightning, and then using the Thunder God's divine skills and the power of the Thunder Pool to prop it up until it collapsed—in this round, he won by knowing himself and his enemy.
Thunderous Hell Vine evolves by absorbing lightning, but once overloaded, it will inevitably suffer a backlash. This is its fatal weakness ingrained in its bones, which is why this kind of soul beast almost never lives for more than 100,000 years.
Having figured everything out, Lin Chen looked up at the towering skeleton of the Thunder Dragon King before him, as majestic as a mountain.
The dragon bones are a deep purple-black color. Although they have been withered and desolate for thousands of years, they still exude a terrifying dragon aura. The remnants of thunder from the ancient war between the gods still remain in the crevices of the bones.
A slight smile played on his lips, and anticipation flickered in his eyes.
"Let me see what good stuff you, the ancient dragon king, can drop for me."
The next instant, Lin Chen activated the Thunder God bloodline.
Beneath his skin, the purple-gold divine lightning patterns instantly lit up, flowing and spreading along his meridians like lightning that had come to life.
The cracked, purple-gold divine ring behind his head reappeared, rotating slightly and radiating an ancient and majestic aura.
His hair was gently lifted by the power of lightning, his robes fluttered, and tiny sparks of lightning exploded deep within his pupils, making him seem as if he had transformed from a mortal into a thunder god incarnate.
Although he was only a level 30 Great Soul Master, his aura was now approaching that of a Soul Douluo, and even touching the edge of a god.
Lin Chen raised his hand and clenched his fist in mid-air.
A massive amount of divine power from the Thunder God surged from his bloodline, echoing the Thunder Pool in the sky, and quickly condensed into a long and sharp Thunder Blade that flowed with purple-gold divine lightning.
The blade trembled slightly, emitting bursts of thunder, easily slicing through the flesh of a god.
With a flick of his wrist, the Thunder Blade, carrying unparalleled sharpness, slashed fiercely towards the Thunder Dragon King's skeletal chest.
With a hiss—like cutting through glass, the dragon bone split open.
Three deep purple streaks of light shot into the sky from the shattered remains of the Thunder Dragon King. After circling briefly in the air, they landed steadily on the thunder crystal ground in front of Lin Chen with three soft "tap tap tap" sounds.
The first item was the bead. It was a deep, dark purple, like a solidified, ancient star core, with a soft halo flowing across its surface like the breath of a sleeping dragon. The bead was not solid inside, but rather had countless fine purple-gold patterns interwoven into mysterious totems. With each slight pulsation, one could feel a majestic and domineering aura of dragon power, as if it were the core of a sleeping dragon.
The second item was the pair of dragon horns. Long and straight, they were made of a translucent amethyst, with ancient dragon patterns engraved on their surface, resembling flowing clouds and water. The tips of the horns were slightly curved, with a point of dazzling purple-gold lightning condensed at the tip, exuding a sharp and fierce aura. They were clearly the core source of power in the Thunder Dragon King's head, radiating a noble aura that made the surrounding lightning submit.
The third item was the crystal. It was about the size of a palm, irregularly shaped, like an amethyst cracked by Thor's hammer. Liquid-like purple-gold lightning flowed within, the dense cracks resembling a golden spiderweb, yet instead of weakening its power, they added a flawed and broken beauty. The power sealed within was violent and pure, faintly echoing with the sounds of dragon roars and thunder.
The moment the three treasures landed, the air in the entire space seemed to freeze.
At that very moment, the Holy Dragon Martial Soul within Lin Chen's dantian was instantly activated!
The previously dormant martial spirit suddenly stirred, and a blazing, holy golden light burst forth from Lin Chen's body. Immediately afterward, a phantom of a holy dragon, over ten feet tall and covered in pure white holy fur, roared and charged out of his body! This holy dragon had a single horn on its head, piercing eyes, and its body radiated golden light. It was the true form of the holy dragon, which had fused with the bloodline of the Holy Dragon of Light and resembled Luo Sanpao, yet was majestic and awe-inspiring.
It seemed to be attracted by this supreme dragon-type essence, letting out an excited low hiss. Completely disregarding Lin Chen's presence, it opened its dragon mouth and pounced on the dark purple dragon core, clearly wanting to swallow it whole and complete its final evolution.
"Hmph, you can't rush things!"
Lin Chen had anticipated this. After all, the Holy Dragon before him was merely a rudimentary form evolved from Luo Sanpao's bloodline devouring, and it simply couldn't withstand the primordial power of an ancient dragon king like the Thunder Dragon King.
He moved with lightning speed, appearing before the Holy Dragon like a ghost, and with one hand, he swiftly and precisely grabbed the sacred fur on the Holy Dragon's neck.
"Now is not the time to eat this stuff!"
Lin Chen shouted to stop it, instantly channeling his soul power to forcefully suppress the Holy Dragon's berserk instincts.
The captured holy dragon let out a pitiful whimper, its massive head nuzzling against Lin Chen's palm, its eyes filled with longing and reluctance for the bead. It reluctantly turned back to gaze at the bead for a long time, and finally, soothed by Lin Chen's gentle yet firm soul power, it let out a long, unwilling roar, transforming into a golden light and reluctantly retreating back into Lin Chen's body, returning to its dormant martial soul form.
Lin Chen breathed a sigh of relief, his gaze falling on the three treasures radiating terrifying pressure, a burning desire flashing deep in his eyes.
The Thunder Dragon King's legacy is indeed a tremendous surprise!
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