Chapter 56: Thunder Beast Pill (Revised)

Bones littered the valley—some belonged to humans, others to various beasts. A towering humanoid creature sat with its broad back to the entrance, even while seated it measured seven or eight feet tall. Its entire body was covered in black, shaggy fur, and beneath it pooled a thick, unidentified liquid.

Ling Chi took a deep breath, picked up a stone, and hurled it squarely at the creature’s head.

A deafening crack resounded. The stone, infused with spiritual energy, shot forth like a cannonball and crashed into its skull with tremendous force.

With a roar, the beast spun around, fixing its gaze on Ling Chi’s hiding place. Its black fur bristled like armor, its arms were long and powerfully built, but its face was eerily human, marred with scars, resembling the legendary mountain demon. Its breathing was thunderous, and even from a distance, the stench was overpowering.

But from the waist down, it was simply gone—its lower half bitten clean off, leaving jagged wounds behind.

Whatever had bitten it must have been even more fearsome. Sensing a chance to finish off a wounded foe, Ling Chi moved in for the kill.

He sprang from hiding, lightning crackling around him, and sent several massive bolts crashing down onto the creature. The monster sizzled under the barrage, black smoke curling from its fur, yet it swung a massive fist at Ling Chi in retaliation.

“Nine Palaces Dragon Dance”—Ling Chi’s body twisted and flowed like a dragon, slipping behind the creature in a blur. Righteous Thunder flashed, arcs of electricity snaking through the air and slamming into the beast’s neck.

The black fur was sheared away by the blade’s gleam; Ling Chi’s sword struck again. With its legs gone, the monster could only pivot awkwardly on its arms—no hope of escape against the Nine Palaces Dragon Dance. Ling Chi circled, his blade slicing through flesh and fur, blood spraying in torrents as the demon howled in agony.

With a snort, twin dragons of thunderous mist shot forth, striking the creature squarely in the face. Its head rocked as if struck by a sledgehammer, vision plunging into darkness. Ling Chi’s sword, Righteous Thunder, arced through the air—a hundred slashes converged into one, severing the monster’s neck.

The inky head flew skyward on a fountain of fetid blood, hundreds of streams of spiritual energy flowing back into the sea of thunder. The mighty body collapsed, shaking the earth with its fall. Ling Chi drew a short blade and began to dissect the corpse, eager to see if the legendary beast core lay within.

The body was soon in pieces, but both the dantian and the cranial cavity were empty. Disappointed, Ling Chi burned the remains and pressed onward, determined to discover what manner of beast had sheared the demon’s legs so cleanly.

Given the creature’s size, its attacker must have been even larger—a terrifying prospect for any nearby village. Ling Chi scouted the surroundings but detected no trace of demonic energy, so he forged deeper into the valley.

In the pitch-black forest, venomous snakes and insects slithered everywhere. Ling Chi’s sea of thunder whirled around him, golden light flickering in his eyes, allowing him to see far ahead. The path was eerily quiet; lesser ghosts and monsters cowered among the trees, too afraid to move. The unlucky ones that drew his attention were swiftly dispatched, their spiritual energy claimed.

He wondered where the watcher from before had gone. Every beast above the Vein Opening realm he encountered, he killed; the only one at the Sea of Qi level had been the mountain demon—none others had appeared.

Ling Chi steeled himself: he would not leave until he had slain three Sea of Qi beasts. The sea of thunder spun ever faster, and his pace quickened, leaving a funnel-shaped vortex in his wake as he pressed deeper.

As the ancient trees thinned, his view broadened, revealing a small lake. On its shore, a black and a blue serpent—both mighty Sea of Qi beasts—faced off. Each was several yards long and thicker than a barrel, their breath sending ripples across the water’s surface.

Ling Chi hid himself, holding his breath. His opportunity had arrived—he would play the fisherman waiting for the spoils.

The two serpents circled each other, heads raised high, yellow vertical pupils locked in a deadly stare. Suddenly, the black serpent’s scales bristled and it surged forward, tongue flickering, its body crackling with electricity. Its gaping jaws lunged at the blue serpent.

The blue serpent’s tail shimmered with icy blue energy, lashing out with a gust of frigid wind. The blow shattered some of the black serpent’s scales, which immediately froze into ice, knocking its body askew. But the black serpent twisted back, entwining itself with its foe as lightning flared.

The blue serpent sizzled under the electrical onslaught, black smoke curling from its scales. It spat a plume of dense blue frost, freezing the lake’s surface to solid ice as the two beasts grappled in a deadly knot.

Ling Chi watched with relish, Righteous Thunder poised in his hand, ready to strike at any moment. The battle grew ever more furious—scales littered the ground, blood splattered everywhere.

Suddenly, the black serpent, driven to desperation, braved a blast of icy breath, electricity surging over its body, and clamped its jaws onto the blue serpent’s neck.

With its vital point seized, the blue serpent coiled tightly around its attacker, hoping to crush the life from it. Ling Chi knew—his chance was at hand.

Indeed, the black serpent refused to release its grip. The two massive bodies twisted together, locked in a struggle so intimate an outsider might have thought they were mating.

This was the moment for the fisherman to act.

Ling Chi activated his Shadowstep, slipping silently close to the entwined serpents, then struck without warning.

The lightning around him vanished, replaced by the blazing force of the ultimate sun. Righteous Thunder glowed a brilliant crimson, its tip parting the air in transparent waves as it plunged deep into the blue serpent’s belly. Ling Chi drove the blade forward, slicing open a gaping wound, spilling the creature’s entrails onto the earth.

The sudden attack broke the serpents’ deadly embrace. The black serpent instantly let go, gathering lightning in its maw and spitting it at Ling Chi.

The blue serpent collapsed, blood pooling around it, its breath fading rapidly.

Ling Chi was delighted—this meager bolt of lightning was nothing compared to the tribulations he’d endured while tempering his body. He pressed the crimson blade into the black serpent, undaunted by the serpent’s discharge, which was wholly absorbed by his sea of thunder.

His blade found the serpent’s throat, muscles bulging as he drove it through—piercing the neck from one side to the other, severing the spine in a single stroke.

The black serpent convulsed and slumped to the ground, yellow eyes dilating until they became a murky haze.

Ling Chi swiftly finished off the blue serpent as well. His thunder pearl spun furiously, drawing in the spiritual energy of over eight hundred bolts of lightning.

He sat in meditation, cultivating with all his might, the sea of thunder churning ever faster and growing wider. Yet the final breakthrough to the third level of Sea of Qi still eluded him.

Rising, Ling Chi drew his short blade and meticulously skinned and dissected the black serpent. Inch by inch, he searched, and at last, inside its skull, he found what he sought—a beast core the size of a dove’s egg, swirling with electric light.

Mystical patterns crisscrossed its surface. As Ling Chi stroked it with his thumb, his thunder pearl transmitted a thread of consciousness—perhaps an emotion. It was the first time he’d ever felt such a thing.

The thunder pearl yearned to devour the beast core—or perhaps wanted Ling Chi himself to consume it.

He hesitated no longer. In one swift gulp, he swallowed the core. The moment it entered his mouth, it dissolved from solid to pure, concentrated spiritual energy, surging straight to his dantian. The thunder pearl spun, drawing in the electric energy until it was wholly absorbed.