Yun Yibai and Yang Wudi waited silently.
Boom!
Finally, after a long buildup, the Thunderhowl Hellvine drew down its final bolt of lightning.
This bolt was so red it turned purple—purple lightning like a serpent, crashing violently onto the Hellvine's massive body. The vine shuddered intensely. Though it couldn't make a sound, its writhing clearly conveyed its agony.
Eventually, its movements weakened, and its massive body slumped against a rocky cliff. Faint trembling in its body revealed that a trace of life still clung stubbornly to it.
The thick, black clouds above gradually began to dissipate.
"Looks like it survived… for now."
"But the real show is just about to begin."
To Yang Wudi and Yun Yibai, the Hellvine's behavior felt deliberate. Ever since they noticed some subtle clues, they both realized that this Thunderhowl Hellvine was not as simple as it appeared.
The dispersing of the clouds signaled that the final struggle was about to start.
ROAR!
The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon let out a thunderous roar and was the first to charge forward on its thick legs.
With what little intelligence and instinct it possessed, it understood: in moments like this, intimidate your enemies and strike first.
But running was no match for flying.
The Thunder Eagle had already taken to the skies, quickly overtaking the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon.
Enraged, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon let out a powerful sonic roar, disrupting the Thunder Eagle's flight path.
It sped up and lunged with jaws wide open, aiming to clamp down on the bird.
But the Thunder Eagle twisted away just in time, narrowly dodging the attack.
And it wasn't just the dragon and the eagle—all the other lightning-attribute soul beasts that had been biding their time now charged forward:
The Iron-Hoofed Rhino, the Swift Thunder Howl Wolf, the Rampaging Lightning Rock Leopard, the Purple-Crowned Thunder Python…
A massive battle broke out.
"This kind of soul beast war… I've never seen anything like it in my life!" Yang Wudi exclaimed, clicking his tongue in awe.
"Senior Yang," Yun Yibai said, pointing toward the ground near the Thunderhowl Hellvine, "with all these soul beast remains here, do you think some soul bones might be buried underneath?"
"Hah! You might be right!"
"Once the battle wraps up and we clean things up, we should take a proper look."
The chaos below was intense. Some beasts had already fallen and become soul rings, while others, seriously injured, had fled the battlefield.
Eventually, only four of the strongest Ten-Thousand-Year soul beasts remained:
The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, the Thunder Eagle, the Iron-Hoofed Rhino, and the Purple-Crowned Thunder Python.
But all of them bore wounds.
The earlier melee had prevented any of them from getting close to the Thunderhowl Hellvine.
Now that it was down to just the four of them, the outcome was close at hand.
At this point, none of them would back down. In their eyes, the Hellvine was already a helpless piece of meat on the chopping block.
As for sharing it? Heh—not even beasts of the same species would consider that, let alone ones from different species.
ROAR!
The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon let out another deafening roar. As the king of beasts, it would never allow any other creature to claim what it considered its prey.
Above, the Thunder Eagle circled, its sharp gaze locked onto the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon. With a beat of its wings, it dived suddenly, aiming its deadly claws and beak straight for the dragon's vital points.
The Iron-Hoofed Rhino charged forward like an unstoppable tank, its massive body and deadly hooves thundering across the ground toward the same target.
The Purple-Crowned Thunder Python was the most cunning of them all. It used its flexibility and potent venom to slither into position—also targeting the dragon.
To the other three, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon posed the greatest threat.
But just as these four soul beasts were locked in battle—
—the Thunderhowl Hellvine, which had been playing dead, slowly began to move.
Only Yun Yibai and Yang Wudi noticed this subtle shift.
Yun Yibai narrowed his eyes. "Looks like it's ready to clean up the battlefield."
"This Thunderhowl Hellvine… it's very intelligent."
"But—the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind."
Whoosh!
A long, whip-like vine lashed out like lightning, piercing straight through the Thunder Eagle.
Screee! The Thunder Eagle let out a sharp, mournful cry. It had just finished attacking the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon and was pulling back into the air to launch another strike.
Its attention had been solely on the three beasts—it never expected an ambush from behind.
On top of that, its prolonged fighting had left it drained.
And so, the Thunderhowl Hellvine succeeded in a lethal sneak attack.
As its purple lightning surged across the Eagle's body, its life force quickly faded. A black soul ring rose from its corpse.
The Hellvine flung the body aside.
It had targeted the Thunder Eagle first precisely because it could fly—and was the most likely to escape. The Hellvine wasn't about to let a meal slip away.
The sudden turn of events immediately made the other three—
the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, Iron-Hoofed Rhino, and Purple-Crowned Thunder Python—extremely cautious.
But before they could fully react, the Hellvine struck again—this time targeting the Purple-Crowned Thunder Python.
From past hunting experience, the Hellvine had learned that flying and serpentine soul beasts were the most troublesome to kill—and had escaped it in the past. Now, it would deal with them first.
Its vine lashed out like a bolt of lightning. Unlike with the Thunder Eagle, the Python had already grown wary and narrowly dodged the initial strike.
But the Hellvine immediately shifted strategy, coiling its tendrils around the snake's body.
The Python countered, wrapping around the vine in return, attempting to crush it with its immense constricting power.
But the Hellvine instantly discharged surging purple lightning through its tendrils, which flowed madly into the Python's body, causing it to writhe in agony.
The Thunderhowl Hellvine's lightning was on a completely different level—the Python's own lightning was pitiful by comparison.
Hissss!
The snake shrieked, its body twisting under the savage current—but it couldn't escape the Hellvine's grasp.
The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon and the Iron-Hoofed Rhino immediately launched attacks to try and stop the vine.
The dragon unleashed a blast of powerful lightning from its mouth.
The rhino sent a sharp thunderlight blade hurtling toward the vine.
In the end, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon escaped. Its resistance to lightning and its powerful physique were key to its survival.
As for the Iron-Hoofed Rhino, it became the dragon's stepping stone for escape.
These four wounded soul beasts never even got the Thunderhowl Hellvine to reveal its true power—and it had already finished cleaning up the battlefield.
"With what it just did… I still can't figure this thing out," Yang Wudi muttered.
"But one thing's for sure—this soul beast is insanely strong," he said, eyes narrowed.
"And even though they're all lightning-type soul beasts, those others couldn't even scratch it."