I Am Overlord c1-962
Page 47
"Who is trying to spoil the Young Lightning King's plan?" a voice rang out.
Next, two figures shot over from a different direction and blocked the path of Elder Zhen Peng and Xiang Shaoyun.
"We are only here to borrow a bit of the lightning power here. I hope you can allow us passage." Elder Zhen Peng did not know the two before him, but since they were both King Realm cultivators as well, he decided to not charge through with force.
"Piss off right this moment. The Young Lightning King is going to make the lightning condor king his mount. None of you can approach. Obey or die!" shouted one of them.
Elder Zhen Peng was about to reply when Xiang Shaoyun spoke, "Cut the crap. If they refuse to move aside, charge through them."
Xiang Shaoyun was already losing his patience as a sense of thirst was spreading out of his lightning bone, causing him to nearly lose his mind. After hearing Xiang Shaoyun's command, Elder Zhen Peng charged over without even pausing to consider it.
The two immediately moved; their kingly aura surged out as they attacked Elder Zhen Peng and Xiang Shaoyun. Without a second thought, Elder Zhen Peng took out the king weapon given to him by Xiang Shaoyun and slashed at the two.
Fortunately for him, the two were either similar in strength to him or even slightly weaker. Thus, the moment he attacked with his king weapon, the two were forced into retreat. After forcing the two away, Elder Zhen Peng flew away as he did not intend to waste his time with them.
"Bastard! If you somehow affected Young Lightning King's taming process, your entire clan will be exterminated!" the two cultivators cried out in fear behind them. They mustered all their strength and attacked again, sending numerous attacks capable of turning even stones into dust toward Elder Zhen Peng and Xiang Shaoyun.
As for Elder Zhen Peng, he increased his speed and continued flying. Occasionally, he slashed with his weapon. He did not forget to use all his strength to protect Xiang Shaoyun from any sort of harm. But since he had to focus on protecting Xiang Shaoyun, he was unable to fully break free of the two's pursuit.
"Put me down. You will deal with them while I'll go alone." Xiang Shaoyun made a prompt decision. He was clear that while protecting him, Elder Zhen Peng wouldn't be able to fully unleash his strength while battling the two. Thus, he had to first separate himself from Elder Zhen Peng.
Hearing the resolute tone of Xiang Shaoyun, Elder Zhen Peng stopped hesitating. After dodging another attack, he flew down and gently placed Xiang Shaoyun on the ground. Doing so nearly caused an attack to hit him. Fortunately, he was still able to narrowly avoid it. The attack still scraped through his shoulder, however, leaving a wound there.
"You want to fight? Let's do it!" Elder Zhen Peng said. He had yet to have a proper fight after entering the King Realm. Now that there were two opponents as strong as him, his battle intent was ignited. He himself was also very curious as to how powerful his current battle prowess was.
With the king weapon in hand, he unleashed the high-grade battle technique Xiang Shaoyun taught him, pushing his combat prowess to a new height and forcing his two opponents to defend themselves with all their power. They couldn't even split off to deal with Xiang Shaoyun anymore.
Of course, they also regarded Xiang Shaoyun as a normal weak Astral Realm cultivator. Thus, they assumed that Xiang Shaoyun wouldn't be able to pass through the lightning condors and that he would never be a threat to their master's plan.
Because of that, Xiang Shaoyun headed toward the place where lightning congregated unobstructed. He did not want to waste too much time here. There was no saying when the next thunderstorm would come if he missed this one.
He activated his Heaven Conquering Overlord Manual as he streaked forth, leaving numerous afterimages in his wake as he moved at a speed comparable to an eighth- or even ninth-stage Astral Realm cultivator. Before long, several lightning condors dove down at him.
These were the weaker lightning condors in charge of the outer defensive network. They weren't qualified to go inside to protect their king. Using their claws and beaks, they attacked Xiang Shaoyun, their attacks accompanied by light traces of lightning energy that further sharpened their attacks.
Xiang Shaoyun activated his gift of instincts to get a clear look at their flying trajectory before stabbing forth with his Lightning Spear.
"F*ck off!" With a spear in hand, Xiang Shaoyun attacked like a tiger attacking its prey. Numerous spear lights shot straight toward the incoming condors.
Sphhhlt! Sphhhlt!
Xiang Shaoyun had also grown stronger. He was much faster now, and he attacked with great accuracy. After a few stabs, his attacks pierced through all the condors. Blood splattered his face, filling his sense of smell with blood.
He licked some of the blood on his face as he muttered with a resolute expression, "I need to go up there!"
Xiang Shaoyun started running, and like the wind itself, he became faster and faster. He traveled amid the trees; not even the lightning condors could surround him. The condors might be the kings of the sky. But on the ground and amid the dense trees, they were greatly disadvantaged.
Xiang Shaoyun kept dodging the condors as he approached his target. Above him, numerous lightning condors were still battling the Young Lightning King. The Young Lightning King was rather overbearing as well, as he was able to charge all the way to the lightning condor king's side to subdue the condor king. Because of that, the pressure the condors placed on Xiang Shaoyun lessened considerably.
"I can't keep on advancing or I will encounter Great Demons," Xiang Shaoyun muttered as he started climbing a tree.
Right this moment, a bolt of lightning streaked across the air toward him.
Chapter 99: Strike by Lightning
The lightning bolt arrived in the blink of an eye, and Xiang Shaoyun wasn't even ready to face it. Fortunately, a few lightning condors had arrived on time and were directly above him when the lightning bolt shot down.
Rumble!
The merciless lightning bolt struck a lightning condor that was almost a Great Demon, instantly turning the condor into a mass of blood that splattered on Xiang Shaoyun. The blood carried strains of lightning energy that assailed Xiang Shaoyun with numbness and pain.
The lightning bone in his body reacted, and a devouring force appeared to draw in all the lightning energy. With the appearance of the devouring force, Xiang Shaoyun looked at the lightning energy as if they were his prey rather than a catastrophic disaster.
A pure thirst rose from the depths of his heart, a thirst for the lighting energy. With the death of the lightning condor, the nearby Minor Demons and Intermediate Demons were all frightened and no longer dared to attack him, giving him an opening to do what he was here for. He took out the lightning strike wood and removed the piece of cloth wrapped around it. He pointed the wood at the sky and shouted, "Come at me, lightning!"
That action of his was crazily suicidal.
In the beginning, Xiang Shaoyun had not planned to act so crazily. Based on his original plan, he was supposed to approach the area before setting the lightning strike wood down to attract the lightning bolts. He would be by the side, absorbing the remnant of the lightning energy leaking out the wood after it was struck by lightning.
But when he was finally here, he suddenly had a sensation that he could definitely take on the entirety of the lightning bolt. The thirst of the lightning bone filled him with greed.
Rumble!
One particular lightning bolt suddenly streaked across the sky, and as if it had sensed the lightning strike wood, it shot down toward the tree Xiang Shaoyun was at.
"Holy shit!" Xiang Shaoyun could see clearly the trajectory of the incoming lightning bolt. The destructive force brought by the lightning bolt was something even a King Realm cultivator would suffer from.
Fear filled his heart, yet he still stood there with the lightning strike wood in hand. It was already too late for him to retreat.
Bang!
The lightning bol
t struck the lightning strike wood, and the impact caused Xiang Shaoyun to fall off the tree. At the same time, the tree he was on collapsed. The dense layer of lightning energy covering the lightning strike wood numbed his senses. It caused him no small amount of suffering since he had both his arms wrapped around the lightning strike wood. The lightning energy then spread across his body, turning him into a charred person.
The lightning energy was overbearingly powerful, and even a tiny strain of it was already sufficient to electrocute a person to death. Xiang Shaoyun felt like he was dying. It was at this moment that the lightning bone started greedily devouring the lightning energy.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Instantly, all the lightning energy in his body was pulled into the lightning bone. The lightning bone seemed to possess an extremely mysterious power that allowed it to devour all the lightning energy in the blink of an eye. The pain Xiang Shaoyun was feeling receded.
Even so, he was still numb all over and could no longer move. Even worse was the fact that his arms were still wrapped around the lightning strike wood. It wasn't that he did not want to let it go but that he couldn't discard it even if he wanted to, as he felt like the lightning strike wood was now completely stuck to him.
"Oh f*ck! I screwed myself royally this time! Lightning bone, don't fail me now!" Xiang Shaoyun felt like crying.
Yet another bolt of lightning struck the lightning strike wood. What happened before repeated with Xiang Shaoyun being incapable of doing anything except for suffering helplessly. Fortunately, he was better prepared this time. His Heaven Conquering Overlord Manual was fully activated, his nine stars all activated, and even his astral cosmos sea activated, all in hope of surviving the lightning strike.
One ought to know that the lightning strike wood in his arms was like a magnet for lightning bolts. If the lightning bone failed him right now, the only thing that would happen to him was death. The overbearing lightning bolt finally slammed down, flooding his immediate surrounding with lightning energy. This time, apart from the lightning bone, the nine stars and the astral cosmos sea within him also worked hard to absorb the lightning energy.
The lightning energy caused Xiang Shaoyun's body to twitch repeatedly, with smoke rising from his hair, and his entire body looked horribly damaged. Before he was even done devouring the energy from the second bolt of lightning, a few more bolts headed toward him.
Meanwhile, the lightning condor king was at its final stage of breakthrough. It shrieked and flapped its wings repeatedly as it rushed toward the newly formed lightning bolts. Its demonic core was forming; thus, it could not afford any mistakes. So long as it could complete this final step, it would be a true Demon King. But right as it was about to reach the lightning bolts, they suddenly shifted their trajectories as the lightning strike wood attracted them. Missing the lightning bolts, the condor king felt extremely gloomy.
"You won't be able to escape! Bow before me or die!" said the Young Lightning King as he stabbed in the direction of the lightning condor with his spear.
With that one stab, numerous lightning spears formed in the air and rained down upon the world below. Each of the lightning spears was extremely powerful and destructive. Fortunately, the naturally formed lightning bolts near the lightning condor king were much more powerful. Thus, the Young Lightning King dared not approach them. Otherwise, the lightning condor king would have been subdued by now.
The lightning condor king also shifted its trajectory and dove straight into the midst of the lightning bolts. Its body was badly damaged, but it was much more powerful than other condors. Thus, it survived despite the heavy damage it suffered.
Thanks to the lighting condor king taking on a majority of the lightning bolts, the pressure on Xiang Shaoyun lessened considerably. The lightning bone continued devouring the lightning energy greedily. The nine stars had also absorbed a large amount of energy, building a large deposit of lightning energy within Xiang Shaoyun's body.
The current him had electrical currents all over his body, making him look like a person built out of lightning. He lay on the ground, gasping for breath repeatedly. Anyone else would have died by now. Xiang Shaoyun was the only freak that could survive this. Even so, if he was struck by even one more lightning bolt, he would probably die for real. Alas, he really was quite unlucky as yet another lightning bolt formed in the sky.
"AHH! You stupid bird! This is your actual fate tribulation, not the lightning bolts earlier. F*ck!" yelled the Young Lightning King, whom the new lightning bolt struck. He only realized that this was a tribulation lightning of the lightning condor king after he was struck and greatly injured.
To enter the Demon King realm, all demonic beasts had to suffer the lightning tribulation from the heavens. With the lightning tribulation, they would cleanse their body and form their demonic core, becoming a Demon King. Lightning tribulations were very dangerous, and if one failed to resist it, death was certain.
All along, the Young Lightning King had assumed that the lightning condor king was already resisting its lightning tribulation. He was waiting for the condor king to finish the breakthrough before subduing it.
Unexpectedly, all the lightning bolts earlier were merely natural lightning bolts from the thunderstorm. The actual lightning tribulation had just begun. Even worse for him was the fact that since he had intruded upon the lightning condor vicinity during the breakthrough, he became a target of the lightning tribulation as well.
Rumble! Rumble!
The lightning tribulation merged with the natural lightning bolts, turning into even more powerful lightning bolts. Unluckily for Xiang Shaoyun, the condor had landed beside him, sharing the lightning tribulation with him as well.
"F*CK!" Xiang Shaoyun's mind went blank from shock.
Chapter 100: Lightning Liquid
Rumble! Rumble!
Numerous bolts of lightning rained down from the sky, filling the world below with broken branches and burning trees. As for the Young Lightning King, due to the lightning condor's setup, he was forced to help resist the tribulation as well. The realization frightened him greatly as he started trying to escape with all his might.
But it did not matter how far he ran. The tribulation had already locked on to him. Thus, the tribulation lightning would still come for him, and his distance from the center of tribulation would only cause the lightning bolts to weaken slightly.
As for Xiang Shaoyun, his current predicament was simply a tragedy. He couldn't even lift an arm anymore and could only lie there helplessly. It would seem like his risky venture had backfired.
Numerous bolts of lightning rained on the lightning condor king while a small number of them were drawn toward Xiang Shaoyun by the lightning strike wood. Everything around him was already completely destroyed, the entire area filled with nothing but berserk electrical currents.
The trees had all been blasted into smithereens, the grasses were all burning, the ground was now filled with craters, and flesh and blood was flying everywhere. The lightning condor king shrieked repeatedly as it had been gravely injured. Even so, its demonic core was growing more and more solid. So long as it survived this, it would be reborn as a Demon King.
Xiang Shaoyun was lying on the ground expecting death even as his lightning bone was growing incessantly. The growth here wasn't the growth of a new bone. Rather, it was the purple spot on his spine, which was spreading along the spine.
As the purple spread, his spine turned incomparably solid. At the same time, it started emitting a primordial aura as it devoured every single shred of lightning energy coursing through Xiang Shaoyun's body.
Strains of pure lightning energy coursed along the lightning bone while the nine stars and astral cosmos sea shone brightly, filling Xiang Shaoyun's inner body with a boundless and dazzling expanse of light. This situation seemed to have further provoked the tribulation. It sent more and more lightning bolts down at them.
The lightning condor king was filled with distress at the sight
of even more lighting bolts. It shrieked in grief and kept on struggling. The lightning tribulation should have ended by now, but for some reason, there were still so many lightning bolts coming from the sky.
Fortunately for the condor king, the tribulation seemed to have shifted its target, as all the lightning bolts were now heading toward Xiang Shaoyun. The lightning bolts bombarded the lightning strike wood until finally, the entire wood blasted apart. From inside the wood, some sort of purple liquid dripped out.
If anyone else saw this, they would definitely cry out the term "lightning liquid" in surprise.
The so-called lightning liquid was a top-quality liquid that could be formed by concentrating lightning energy. Every single drop of this liquid contained an unimaginable power within. It was unknown if this tiny bit of lightning liquid flowing out of the wood belonged originally to the wood or if it had formed during the bombardment of the lightning bolts.
Regardless, it was a great opportunity. The moment the lightning liquid appeared, the lightning bone within Xiang Shaoyun grew mad as a terrifying devouring force appeared to pull the liquid into his body.
And the moment the lightning bone absorbed the lightning liquid, the lightning energy within Xiang Shaoyun grew greatly, to the point even the river of stars within him surged violently.
"Roar! Roar!"
Suddenly, the projection of a purple dragon formed. The dragon howled at the sky furiously, seemingly trying to break free of its cage to soar in the nine heavens above. With the appearance of this purple dragon, the nine stars and astral cosmos sea within Xiang Shaoyun became even more abundant with energy.
Once again, Xiang Shaoyun's strength rose sharply. The cleansing of his body by the abundant lightning energy had squeezed out even more of his potential. With the addition of the pure energy contained within the lightning liquid, it would be impossible for him to not grow.