Above a boundless, seemingly primordial sea of thunder—
Chen Yi's body floated like a small boat, rising and falling with each surge of purple-gold lightning waves, the roar of thunder never ceasing in his ears.
This wasn't ordinary lightning, but a sacred thunder containing the very laws of thunder—striking directly at the essence of a being's soul.
Though Chen Yi was versed in the ways of thunder, and normal thunder sounded like heavenly music to him, the profound resonance of this Sea of Thunder was of a wholly different order.
Overwhelming, tyrannical... It bore the dual intentions of destruction and purification. This was the ultimate trial left by Thunder God himself, meant to test and temper the spirits and wills of his successors.
Even though Chen Yi had honed his spiritual power to the realm of the soul itself, remaining long in this thunderous maelstrom was perilous. A single lapse could mean mental collapse or outright destruction—at best, reduced to a walking husk; at worst, one's soul scattered to nothingness.
He had drifted, for an unknown time, across this desolate sea where only the destructive peal of thunder sounded.
Here, time lost meaning. Through relentless training and countless confrontations, only his spirit grew ever tougher—ever closer to some unseen boundary.
At last, in a certain moment—
Chen Yi's tightly shut eyes suddenly opened!
His gaze was bloodshot, but in their depths countless tiny purple-gold lightning runes flickered and faded, a strange rhythm of destruction and stillness pulsing through them.
In the next instant, he threw his head back and roared at the limitless thunder sea above!
"Roooar—!"
At first, his voice was hoarse and human—but it soon changed, uniquely resonating with the surrounding thunder, echoing with its destructive intent.
Chen Yi's roar began to mimic not just the frequency and rhythm of the thunder, but even its underlying essence.
Gradually, his thundering cries merged seamlessly with the thunder surges surrounding him. At first it was awkward, stilted, but as time passed, the boundary between the two blurred.
Simultaneously, the majesty and awe of thunder began to infuse his own voice. Now, every pulse of thunder seemed enhanced by the indomitable will of a living soul.
The thunder and his own roar grew ever stronger and more harmonious—until ultimately, they melded completely. It was as if he was now a part of the endless sea of thunder himself, his will perfectly aligned with that of the thunder.
Boom—!!
Roar and thunder at last became one, transforming into a still deeper and more imposing wave that swept throughout the vast thunder sea. The churning sea grew all the more turbulent, massive bolts of purple-gold lightning slamming into the void barrier like angry beasts.
Standing at the heart of this storm, Chen Yi's eyes gradually calmed, the initial pain and struggle fading until there was only serenity. The blood streaks on his skin slowly disappeared in the lightning's glow.
He understood.
In that instant, he grasped the ultimate secret: within this annihilating thunder—this Thunder of Destruction—was the mystery of both Annihilation and Rebirth!
For an unknown stretch, this resonant state continued.
At length, the roar receded like the tide. Chen Yi's thunderous cries faded into stillness with the thunder itself. The once-turbulent sea of thunder gradually calmed, the riotous lightning disappearing. In the end, only a quiet, purple-gold sea surface remained, shining in tranquil silence.
And in that stillness, a grand and boundless voice suddenly sounded, without warning:
"In the ceaseless thunder of the God's roar, through human spirit and power, one truly comprehends the meaning of the 'Sound of Annihilation.'
The Nine Trials of the Thunder God—Third Trial: Listen to the Silence in the Sea of Thunder—passed.
Reward: All spirit rings increase by 5000 years; all spirit bones increase by 5000 years; soul power rises by one level."
The moment the voice finished, the seven soul rings swirling around Chen Yi glowed simultaneously, brilliant. Most striking was the first soul ring, originally a deep purplish-black, but now rapidly darkening until it became jet black.
At this point, all seven of Chen Yi's soul rings had reached the ten-thousand year tier.
The second soul ring too turned black, then the third, fourth, and fifth deepened further, while the sixth's ruby shade grew ever more dazzling. Simultaneously, pulses of warmth radiated from his fused soul bones, the contained energy and laws now growing increasingly complete.
His soul power surged from rank 76 to 77—he had truly stepped into a new realm as a high-level Soul Sage.
Chen Yi slowly floated down from midair, his feet finally touching the now-peaceful thunder sea. Gazing at the changes in his soul rings and soul bones, sensing the surging power within, a look of satisfaction and deep relief dawned across his face.
"To feel your soul power grow ever stronger… what a truly glorious sensation!"
Since the massacre of Thunder Dragon Valley, Chen Yi had taken only a short break upon his return to his sect before immediately plunging into the "Nine Trials of the Thunder God."
His affinity with Thunder God's legacy was already at its peak, so the first two tests had been little more than formalities.
The first, The Test of the Heart of Thunder, examined whether the candidate possessed the qualification and character to inherit Thunder God's divine seat and wield the power of thunder. With both his bloodline and connection deeply linked to Thunder God, Chen Yi passed the moment he touched the divine seat.
The second, The Tempering of the Body by Thunder, required candidates to endure nine days and nine nights of lightning bombardment, whose might doubled each night, forging both physique and will. Under normal circumstances, this would be a dangerous and agonizing ordeal. But Chen Yi, having cultivated his Immaculate Golden Body to its peak, found that even the incredible heavenly lightning only brought him prickling stimulation and nourishment—inflicting virtually no damage.
Thus he took the opportunity to stabilize his golden body realm even further, passing this ordeal with near ease.
And so, several days before, he officially entered the third trial: Listening to the Stillness of the Sea of Thunder.
To pass, one had to endure endless godly thunder, and ultimately comprehend the true meaning of the silent thunder from Thunder God's legend. The sound drilled into the very roots of his soul, posing extreme risk. Though Chen Yi was initially completely unaccustomed, in time he mastered the rhythm and finally grasped its essence after tremendous effort.
Of course, the rewards of Thunder God's nine divine trials were truly worthy of a God Kings—staggeringly bountiful. With each trial cleared, the age of every soul ring and spirit bone increased by thousands of years, with later tests bestowing even greater increments. This third trial alone instantly boosted even the hardest-to-advance soul bones by five thousand years.
Compared to the stingy rewards of some lesser gods, these prizes were on a different level entirely.
"That's a God-King's divine test for you—so generous!" Chen Yi exclaimed to himself with heartfelt joy.
What he didn't know was that the standard rewards for the Nine Trials of a God-King, though generous, were not normally this extravagant. Chen Yi's current bounties had all been subtly augmented by Thunder God himself, as a "special favor" within the gods' rules. Ordinarily, if a god distributed such excessive rewards, the Godworld Committee would summon and punish them for upsetting the balance of Heaven. But Thunder God… simply didn't care.
The reason was simple:
Right now, they were beyond anyone else's control.
Chen Yi stretched his limbs, basking in the upwelling power within his body, quietly pondering the timing.
"If my calculations are right… the Elite Tournament for the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academies should be starting soon."
A glint of both anticipation and amusement flashed in his eyes.
"I've secluded myself for so long—it's about time to go see the wider world…"
Bzzz—
As this thought crossed his mind, the infinite expanse of the inheritance space in the sea of thunder began to ripple. In the next instant, Chen Yi's figure rapidly dissipated and vanished entirely from within the inheritance world.