Chapter 504: Electrical Dampening Field
“Kill him!”
The leader of the thirty or so eastern barbarians smiled coldly and waved his hands, ordering his men to shoot.
All of a sudden, dozens of colorful arrows flew toward Qin Lie like an iridescent meteor shower.
Chilling cold, burning heat, and immeasurable sharpness instantly locked onto him.
Every arrow was imbued with the spirit energy of an eastern barbarian. Some were even engraved with complicated patterns, like the shape of a snake, turtle, or dragon. These were spirit diagrams that contained exceedingly mysterious spirit energy.
Qin Lie’s expression went icy cold as he streaked closer to the eastern barbarians, eyes glowing with electricity.
He could feel the violent soul intent of poisonous pythons, profound turtles, and dragons seep into his mind and head for his True Soul.
Inside of his soul consciousness, he could see a poisonous python several dozens of meters tall, a spirit turtle the size of a small hill, and a dragon entangled in colorful rays of light.
Soul fragments of the strange beasts flooded his mind, attempting to destroy his True Soul to distract him from the threat of the arrows that had locked onto him.
“I guess these savages have some ability after all,” Qin Lie thought to himself with a cold smile.
“Burst!”
b.a.l.l.s of lightning exploded from his True Soul, transforming into pairs of gigantic, G.o.dlike hands of intertwining lightning.
These gigantic hands closed in on the python, turtle, and dragon, grabbing each one and tightening their hold.
The Soul Shadows formed by the soul fragments of these three beasts burst into dazzling particles of light, crushed by the electrical hands.
Three of the eastern barbarians in front of Qin Lie each spat a mouthful of blood at the same time, the light in their eyes growing dim.
The first arrows that had been shot at Qin Lie, the ones engraved with the patterns of a snake, turtle, and dragon, instantly exploded into bits of wood.
“Heh. You imbued the soul fragments of ferocious beasts into arrows and actually tried use them to kill a martial pract.i.tioner that cultivates a thunder spirit art. What wishful thinking.”
Qin Lie swung the Astral Thunder Hammer with a strange chuckle, sending several hundred lightning bolts hurtling toward the center of the eastern barbarians.
Thunder and lightning flooded the arrows along the way, shattering one after another.
The colorful arrow rain of the eastern barbarians became an actual rain of arrows as their bits and pieces fell from the sky.
Not a single one came close to touching Qin Lie.
“Thunderstrike!”
A ball of lightning appeared in Qin Lie’s mind, then suddenly formed beside his body as well. It resembled a cl.u.s.ter of numerous tiny suns that radiated raw, violent energy as it descended upon the group of eastern barbarians below.
The ball of lightning broke apart as it fell through the sky, spreading into a shower of meteoric light. Each light blasted the eastern barbarians into b.l.o.o.d.y pieces of flesh and bone, scattering the gore in every direction amidst bloodcurdling screams that resembled wailing ghosts and howling wolves.
Exhilaration shone in Qin Lie’s eyes.
With this act of destruction, he discovered that his control over thunder and lightning in the Forbidden Land of Thunder had become even better than before.
He felt as if he had become the eye of the Forbidden Land of Thunder’s formation.
That’s when he came to a sudden realization.
When Qin Lie had unleashed his soul consciousness earlier, expressing his intent to help the Thunder Crystal Beast, the lightning in the Forbidden Land of Thunder had formed a strange connection with him.
The Thunder Crystal Beast was using an unfathomable method to empower him!
“You guys deal with the barbarians out here.” Qin Lie turned to the rest of his group, exclaiming in a grave voice. “I’m going down into the thunder lagoon!”
With that declaration, Qin Lie flew past the screaming eastern barbarians and charged straight into the thunder lagoon.
Upon hearing his words, Luo Chen, Xue Moyan, Du Xiangyang, Song Tingyu, Xie Jingxuan, and Pan Qianqian immediately plunged into battle and attacked the remaining eastern barbarians.
Sen Ye, the eastern barbarian leader, noticed their approach and cried, “Ma Tuo!”
An eastern barbarian that was as thin as a stick released a low, strange howl, then charged toward Qin Lie’s group. Tattoos of evil ghosts covered his body, and his eyes glowed with a malevolent, eerie light. Loose-fitting clothing draped his intimidating body, flowing as he made threatening movements.
At first glance, this Ma Tuo looked like a wraith from the depths of h.e.l.l
Qin Lie spared Ma Tuo a quick glance, then turned his attention to the depths of the thunder lagoon. As soon as he saw the Thunder Crystal Beast at its base, his expression underwent a sudden change.
Eight enormous logs of wood sat upright inside the thunder lagoon. Metallic silver threads entangled the wood, crisscrossing to form a gigantic silver web that filled the area.
At the bottom of the thunder lagoon, the thunder and lightning that the Thunder Crystal Beast unleashed struck the expansive silver web. The web glowed with light as the electricity soaked into it, running along its metal strands to its wooden anchors.
The giant, dark gray logs of wood seemed to absorb thunder and lightning energy through the web, greatly weakening the might of the Thunder Crystal Beast’s attacks.
The six Pure Soul Springs that were originally suspended in the air of the thunder lagoon were now floating above the Thunder Crystal Beast in the depths of the lagoon.
On the other hand, Sen Ye and his group of eastern barbarians hovered above the giant silver web. They didn’t dare to carelessly approach the depths of the lagoon.
But they still continued to taunt the Thunder Crystal Beast and attack it with their spirit arts and arrows.
Their goal was to anger the thunder spirit to the point that it would unleash its electric flames and lightning bolts in retaliation.
Unfortunately for the Thunder Crystal Beast, the attacks it formed would immediately be dampened and dispersed by the silver web. The eight giant wooden logs would then devour all of the resulting thunder energy.
Using this method, the eastern barbarians were gradually weakening the Thunder Crystal Beast, exhausting its strength until it would no longer be able to fight.
Qin Lie’s expression changed when he took this scene in because he immediately understood what was going on.
All eight logs of wood were made from Thunderblitz Trees. These logs of wood and the metallic threads that entangled them made up a formation that felt extremely familiar to Qin Lie.
This formation of wood and metal threads was exactly the same as the formation that his grandfather had constructed in the belly of Herb Mountain!
In the past, Herb Mountain housed a formation of eight stone pillars and metallic silver threads that formed an enormous silver web just like this one.
That formation dampened lightning that descended from the sky, decreasing its terrifying might to a tolerable level that Qin Lie could use to cultivate.
Although they had replaced the stone pillars with the wood of eight Thunderblitz Trees, the eastern barbarians were obviously using the same method to dampen and absorb the thunder and lightning. These logs of wood made it extremely difficult for the Thunder Crystal Beast’s attacks to function correctly, continuously weakening the violent lightning within the thunder lagoon.
Qin Lie understood all of this in just a glance.
As of that moment, the eastern barbarian named Ma Tuo had finally made his way to Qin Lie.
“Someone like you who cultivates a thunder spirit art actually dared to recklessly enter this place… How foolish. You’re just throwing your life away!” Ma Tuo said with an evil smile. “G.o.d knows how much effort we’ve put into gathering these eight thousand year old logs of Thunderblitz wood! If the Thunder Crystal Beast can’t unleash its full power, someone like you won’t be able to do anything either! There’s no way we’ll let you ruin our plans to obtain the Pure Soul Springs and soul crystals! I’ll kill you right now!”
Ma Tuo thrust his hands in Qin Lie’s direction, arms straight. Seven spring-loaded bone arrows shot from his loose sleeves like flashes of light.
These seven bone arrows were eerily white and bore engravings of evil ghosts. The stench of poisonous rotting corpses emanated from them.
Seven terrifying wraiths appeared alongside the tips of the arrows and emitted strange howls.
“Krak!”
Thick s.h.i.+elds of ice suddenly appeared five meters away from Qin Lie and blocked all seven bone arrows.
“Ice burst!”
The ice s.h.i.+elds exploded outward, sending dozens of icicles shooting in every direction like the sharp quills of a porcupine.
The bone arrows that had embedded themselves into the s.h.i.+elds of ice contributed to the explosion, scattering in other directions along with the icicles.
Curses erupted from the cloud of eastern barbarians hovering above the thunder lagoon as they rushed to protect themselves or find a place to hide.
Two bone arrows shot back in Ma Tuo’s direction, hurtling toward his chest. He swore as well, turning his body sideways to avoid them.
Qin Lie looked down into the depths of the lagoon once more.
Noticeable cracks now marred the crystalline body of the thunder spirit and the surfaces of the soul crystals covering the lagoon’s floor. Under the constant attacks of the eastern barbarians, as well as the continuous weakening of its own attacks, the Thunder Crystal Beast getting wounded as it found itself at an increasing disadvantage was inevitable.
“Continue attacking the Thunder Crystal Beast! Grievously injuring it is fine as long as it remains alive!” Sen Ye yelled coldly.
A rain of colorful arrows threaded through the gaps of the giant silver web and descended upon the Thunder Crystal Beast.
A symphony of clanging metals and scattering sparks resounded from the Thunder Crystal Beast’s body.
Suddenly, the thunder spirit raised its head and gazed at Qin Lie with intelligent eyes.
The Thunder Crystal Beast’s eyes overflowed with sadness, wordlessly begging Qin Lie to help it escape its miserable situation.
“I’ll do my best,” Qin Lie thought, placing his intent into a wisp of soul consciousness.
Sending that wisp into the electric flames around the Thunder Crystal Beast, he looked at it again.
Grat.i.tude actually appeared in the Thunder Crystal Beast’s eyes, clearly understanding his thoughts through any form of lightning or thunder present.
The sight made Qin Lie harden his resolve.