25: Chapter 25 The Inheritance of the Thunder Emperor

"Show yourself!"

The Thunder Emperor's eyes, which seemed to contain the Reincarnation of the sun and moon, narrowed slightly.

He raised a finger. As if receiving an imperial decree, the boundless thunder across the sky gathered from all directions like tens of thousands of lightning serpents, wrapping around his finger.

Though the lightning was thin, the pressure it emitted made the entire World of Thunder tremble.

Then, he flicked that bolt of lightning toward the space between Wang Shouren's brows.

Wang Shouren let out a tragic scream, one he had never heard himself make before.

The lightning struck the black lotus, and its charred petals trembled violently in the lightning. A large amount of black Qi seeped from the cracks, like blood dripping from a wounded beast.

Immediately after, an unprecedented, excruciating pain exploded from between his brows, spreading along his Meridians to every part of his body. Every single pore felt as if it were being filled with boiling lava.

His illusory body rolled, convulsed, bounced, and crashed down in the World of Thunder, like a fish thrown onto the shore.

He watched himself shatter into specks of light, only to slowly reassemble, shatter again, and reassemble, over and over. Every shattering was accompanied by the piercing pain of lightning exploding from within his body.

But the black lotus did not shatter.

The petal that had been struck by the Thunder Emperor had its cracks widen a bit, but it never completely broke apart.

After the black Qi dissipated, the petals were still slowly fluttering. A faint, extremely subtle eerie light shimmered on the charred edges, and then it healed again at an extremely rapid pace.

The Thunder Emperor withdrew his finger and stared at the crack, falling silent for a long time.

"Undying and indestructible."

"I struck it with a wisp of my innate thunder source, yet I couldn't damage it in the slightest. Could it be a Spirit Treasure of heaven and earth?"

The gaze he directed at Wang Shouren also held a hint of astonishment. "Not controlled by a demonic creature, and even able to endure the pain of a torn Soul... How strange, how strange."

Struggling to regain a sliver of consciousness from the intense pain, Wang Shouren heard this great figure's name for the black lotus. This was the first time anyone had told him what the black lotus actually was.

"A Spirit Treasure? Senior... I have only ever heard of Magical Artifacts, Spiritual Artifacts, and Magic Treasures. A Magic Treasure is already a top-tier treasure that only great Core Formation Cultivators are qualified to use. Could this Spirit Treasure... be even more powerful than a Magic Treasure?"

"Ignorant Junior."

There was no mockery in the Thunder Emperor's tone, only a calm indifference that looked down upon the vast passage of time.

"Magic Treasures are merely a crude classification of your remote little realm. True Spirit Treasures are born of heaven and earth, nurtured in Chaos. Even I, at my peak, possessed only three of them."

"One of them was my lifebound Spirit Treasure, which accompanied me in battles across ten thousand realms and was bathed in the blood of countless Immortals. The fact that I cannot destroy your black lotus explains everything."

Wang Shouren was stunned. Before he could digest the weight of these words, the Thunder Emperor's gaze suddenly narrowed, and a Divine Thought descended, directly probing into his Sea of Consciousness.

There was no violent intrusion. The Divine Thought was like turning the pages of a book, flipping through his memories page by page.

From his birth as a crying infant, to his Family's harmony and happiness, to being ambushed and surrounded on Qinhu Mountain, the sword strike in front of the Dadao Sect's mountain gate, the deep resentment in Tian Zhen's eyes, and the metaphor of a cup of water he proposed in the side hall.

Everything flashed rapidly before the Thunder Emperor's eyes.

After a moment, the Thunder Emperor withdrew his Divine Thought.

"In the cultivation world, the strong prey on the weak. I do not think you were in the wrong."

His voice was as flat as before, but it immediately grew a bit cold and sharp.

"But using the black lotus to plant a Soul and control a person's Dao Heart is the path of falling into demonic ways. Do you know why this black lotus has been in your Sea of Consciousness for twenty years without completely bewitching you?"

Wang Shouren shook his head.

"Because you are not greedy."

His illusory figure was reflected in the Thunder Emperor's eyes.

"You use it to kill, but not for the sake of killing. You use it to devour Divine Souls, but you do not obsess over the pleasure of devouring. You plant the lotus to control minds, but it is for the survival of your Family rather than your own desires."

"I have lived for countless tens of thousands of years and have seen innumerable prodigies bewitched by demonic entities. Some fell into the path of slaughter, some indulged in lust, and some coveted eternal life."

"For a child like you to maintain your original heart under the parasite of such a demonic entity, without falling into the Demonic Path, is rare indeed."

He paused, then slowly continued.

"I have intended to find a suitable Disciple, but for a thousand years, I have been unable to find anyone with a resilient Heart-Nature. You are much better than that Tian Zhen. That child had decent Aptitude, but with just one look from me, he was scared to death and did not even dare to practice my cultivation."

"On the other hand, despite the synchronized backlash from hundreds of miles away, you managed to hold out until you reached the secret chamber before collapsing, and you could even endure my thunder source's attack without dispersing. This level of resilience is rarely seen."

Wang Shouren barely managed to stabilize himself. Kneeling in the sea of thunder, he bowed deeply to that majestic figure.

His voice was still trembling, but he did his best to pronounce every word clearly.

"Since Senior has such means, could you teach this Junior a way to rid myself of this black lotus? I do not seek to be invincible under heaven; I only wish to protect my clansmen and let them live out their years in peace. If Senior is willing to bestow your teachings, I am willing to perform the etiquette of a Disciple and never betray you."

"Protect your clansmen? Is that your Dao?"

"Yes. My Family has been as gracious to me as a mountain. Without the Wang Family, there would be no Wang Shouren."

The World of Thunder suddenly fell silent.

The rumbling thunder across the sky seemed to be drained in an instant, leaving only silent, wandering, fine arcs of electricity.

The Thunder Emperor sat in the center of the thunder pillar, remaining silent for a long time—so long that Wang Shouren thought he hadn't heard clearly.

Then, the Thunder Emperor suddenly burst into laughter.

The entire sea of thunder surged and billowed with his laughter, whipping up thousand-zhang waves of thunder, nearly shattering Wang Shouren's illusory figure once more.

There was no ridicule or coldness in that laughter, only a deep sense of relief, as if he had witnessed countless eras and finally encountered something novel.

"Do you know," as his laughter subsided, a trace of its lingering resonance remained in the Thunder Emperor's voice.

"When I underwent tribulation and ascended in the past, ten thousand Immortals came to pay homage. Later, countless geniuses and prodigies knelt before my steps, begging me to accept them as Disciples."

"I asked hundreds of people about their Dao, and not a single one answered that seeking longevity was for the sake of others."

He lowered his head, his eyes reflecting Wang Shouren's illusory figure.

"We Cultivators seize the fortune of heaven and earth, acting against heaven's will. Most do so for themselves. Yet you, on the other hand, mention your clansmen in every breath."

"Very well. This Divine Soul of mine in the Iron Scroll is about to dissipate. Before it does, to meet a potential talent like you is indeed a stroke of luck."

He fell silent for a moment, as if recalling something extremely distant.

"My Dao is called the 'Ten Directions Fierce Thunder Transformation'. This Cultivation Technique is different from all the thunder techniques you have ever seen."

"It does not cultivate the thunder of the Five Elements of heaven and earth. Instead, it cultivates my unique Dao of fierce thunder, using one's own Qi and blood as a guide, and the world's Evil Qi as fuel, drawing thunder to temper the body and condense the Fierce Thunder True Body."

"On the day of Major Achievement, you will be the ancestor of all thunder, and tribulation thunder or divine thunder will be nothing more than child's play."

"And when paired with your black lotus, it will have an even more miraculous effect."

There was a hint of profound meaning in the Thunder Emperor's tone.

"My Dao primarily cultivates the Physical Body, but does not strengthen the Divine Soul much. The black lotus devouring Divine Souls is originally a shortcut of the Demonic Path. However, if you suppress it with the Dao of fierce thunder and restrain its demonic nature with thunder techniques, you can instead use its devouring power to rapidly temper your Divine Soul."

"Once you step into the Core Formation realm, you will be able to completely control the black lotus and no longer suffer its backlash."

Wang Shouren listened in silence, then suddenly raised his head.

"Senior, this Disciple would like to ask one more question."

"Speak."

"The functions of the black lotus to devour Divine Souls and plant lotuses to control minds... can they still be used now?"