142: Chapter 142 Even if you're deaf, you have to listen; there's an echo in my fist.

As the molten-gold pupils exploded open on the stone platform, Chen Fan’s fingertips trembled before his consciousness even registered it.

He watched the tear mole at the corner of Su Shuang’s eye flutter gently with her breath, like a star stirred by the wind, and the words emerging from her parting lips passed through his deaf eardrums, striking his spiritual body and causing ripples—the translucent phantom suddenly lit up with golden patterns, like a lake struck by a stone, the waves precisely reproducing the lingering sound of her calling his name, 'Fan.'

"It’s the spiritual body..." Chen Fan’s throat bobbed, blood oozed from the cracked wounds on his scorched skin, yet he felt nothing.

He could clearly sense the spiritual body vibrating; those sound wave frequencies that should have dissipated were being captured and translated by the spiritual body, weaving into threads as fine as gossamer in his mind.

It turned out Su Shuang hadn't heard him; it was her consciousness, carrying the unique spiritual energy of the Fox Demon Bloodline, feeding back along his spiritual trajectory.

"I heard you." Su Shuang’s voice pierced his bones like the wind; this time, Chen Fan 'heard' even the tremor in the tail end of her voice clearly.

He gazed at the molten gold swirling in her eyes and suddenly recalled the memory that flooded his mind a century ago—the Fox Clan woman kneeling before the thunder core, the blue flame crystal embedded in her chest, perfectly coinciding with the light currently pulsing on Su Shuang’s neck.

She wasn't a vessel; she was the Lamp Keeper, receiving the thunder core with her bloodline.

"Thunder should not kill, nor should the hammer sound for battle." The Silent Thunder Monk's voice suddenly boomed.

Chen Fan looked up and saw the old monk approaching, stepping on the stagnant thunder clouds; as his withered hands clasped together, the thunderous storm churning above them seemed to shrink as if its throat had been grasped.

His gaze swept over Su Shuang cradled in Chen Fan's arms, and a hint of pity surfaced in his cloudy eyes: "She can 'hear' because the thunder core's seal coexists with her bloodline.

If you seize the hammer..."

"It’s equivalent to tearing open her last shield," Chen Fan finished for him, his knuckles turning pale as he gripped the handle of the hammer of the thunder god.

He could feel Su Shuang’s body temperature coming through the charred clothes, like a fiercely burning fire, scorching his heart.

Chen Fan understood what the Silent Thunder Monk said, but when he saw the deep blood marks Su Shuang had dug into the stone surface with her fingertips, when he saw the color returning to her pale cheeks at a visible rate, all those admonitions to 'put down the hammer' became mere wind in his ears.

He bent down and gently hoisted Su Shuang onto his back, the blue flame shooting up from the hammer handle to his fingertips, injecting into the bloodline mark on her nape.

His spiritual body suddenly left his physical form, clinging to his ear like a transparent snake—this was the first time he had actively used his spiritual body as an 'ear.'

The Silent Thunder Monk’s words transformed into shockwaves that hit his skull: "Put down the hammer, and she might live."

"Live?" Chen Fan sneered, slamming the hammer of the thunder god heavily onto the ground, shaking dust and debris from the Thunder Abyss, "I want her to live, and to stand tall."

Before the words faded, the Black Crow’s communication device suddenly vibrated.

Chen Fan caught a glimpse of the black figure curled up in the corner of the Thunder Abyss; blood seeped from its mouth, yet it forced itself to maintain the connection, its voice broken like torn silk: "The Thunder Abyss... is collapsing! The system has initiated self-destruct protocol!"

The earth shook violently.

The thunder pillars before Chen Fan collapsed one after another, purple lightning rushing toward the core at the bottom of the abyss like a reversed waterfall.

The Silent Thunder Monk roared and slapped the ground with both palms, attempting to draw the thunder flow back to seal the exit, but the thunder veins beneath his feet were constantly cracking due to the nuclear-explosion-like vibrations.

Chen Fan looked at Su Shuang’s trembling eyelashes on his back, and suddenly poured his entire spiritual body into the hammer of the thunder god—the purple lightning on the hammer body actually began to pulse with the rhythm of the spiritual body, no longer a violent, chaotic current, but a precisely guided weapon.

"critical hit system, explode for me!" he roared internally.

The golden light from the system prompt burst before his eyes; before the text 【Skill Critical Hit × 4.9】 could dissipate, the seven fractured thunder beams were precisely nailed back into place.

Crushed stones rattled against the spiritual body's shield, but Chen Fan stared at Flash Skin, who was unconscious near the edge of the abyss—that fellow's arm suddenly twitched, and the residual electric light flickered faintly like a dying candle flame.

"He showed the way." Chen Fan remembered three hours ago, how Flash Skin used the last bit of lightning to illuminate the entrance of the Thunder Abyss for him.

He handed control of the hammer of the thunder god to his spiritual body and rushed toward Flash Skin, tearing off the scorched cloth strip from his left arm to wrap around the other's wrist, letting the blue flame surge through the cloth into the opponent's meridians: "You lit the way once; this time, I’ll light it for you."

The cloth strip instantly turned into a conductor.

The residual electricity and the blue flame resonated the moment they touched, erupting in a blinding flash.

The spiritual body used this light to lock onto the thunder vein node beneath the Silent Thunder Monk's feet, and the phantom holding the hammer of the thunder god smashed down fiercely—the prompt sound of 【Equipment Critical Hit × 5.3】 made Chen Fan’s temples throb, and the thunder seal shattered in response.

"Go!" Chen Fan carried Su Shuang on his back, slung Flash Skin over his shoulder, and transformed his spiritual body into a shield protecting the three of them.

The Silent Thunder Monk did not stop him again, merely murmuring as he watched Chen Fan’s retreating back: "You use thunder to kill, and you use thunder to save... but the thunder will eventually backlash."

Backlash, so be it.

Chen Fan gritted his teeth and charged toward the gradually widening exit, tasting the metallic tang of blood in his throat.

The critical hit system suddenly vibrated violently: 【Dual Source Resonance Detected (thunder core + Fire Seed), Spiritual Body Combat Sustained + 5 Seconds, Cost: Vision beginning to blur】—the prompt made his vision go black.

When he opened his eyes again, the world was like paper dipped in ink; outlines and light spots blurred on his retina, yet only the warmth of Su Shuang pressed against his back was as clear as a fire burning through darkness.

"Hold on," he murmured hoarsely, but his steps did not slow in the slightest.

The light at the exit of the Thunder Abyss grew closer, but Chen Fan’s field of vision was shrinking visibly.

He could feel his spiritual body detaching, feel the weight of the hammer of the thunder god lessening, feel Su Shuang’s breath on the back of his neck, so warm it was unsettling.

The next second, he smashed through the final layer of the thunder curtain.

The world collapsed into grey shadows before his eyes, only the outlines and light spots stubbornly remaining bright.

Chen Fan looked at the blurry exit ahead and suddenly laughed—as long as the warmth on his back remained, as long as the weight in his arms remained, let the backlash and the system come, damn them all.

(In the distance, the red-robed figure on the Shadow Pavilion observation deck brushed a finger across the communicator, his molten-gold pupils gleaming coldly under the moonlight. Behind her, thirteen dark figures knelt on one knee, one of them swallowing hard: "The Thunder Abyss is collapsing, and the target is still inside." The red-robed figure, however, brought the communicator close to her ear, listening to the gradually fading heartbeat, a faint smile curving her lips: "No, he’s coming out.")