At the bottom of the canyon, lightning mist swirled, and time seemed to lose all meaning.
Yu Yuanchen sat cross-legged before the towering Thunder God Statue, his eyes tightly shut, his body enveloped in a dense, cocoon-like layer of purple-gold divine radiance. At the center of his brow, the newly born Thunder God Seal shone brilliantly, echoing the ancient aura emanating from the statue to form a profound resonance.
A massive torrent of information poured into his sea of consciousness from the seal like a breaching river. It was a collection of lightning mysteries far beyond anything he had previously known—how the Thunder Law maintained the balance of heaven and earth, how it governed destruction and new life, the countless derivations and variations of lightning attributes, various methods for controlling all lightning, and even fragmented shards of knowledge regarding the God Realm and the origin of laws...
This knowledge was as vast as the sea and as profound as the starry sky. Most of it was sealed away like a database, to be accessed only when needed, but the portion he directly inherited was still incredibly substantial. Yu Yuanchen absorbed it hungrily, drinking in the nutrients like a parched sponge.
His understanding of lightning deepened and sublimated at an unprecedented speed. The Thunder True Essence within his body circulated autonomously, becoming purer and more refined, carrying a trace of sacred, inviolable majesty. His bones, meridians, qi and blood, and even his soul were being baptized and tempered by this divine power, undergoing a transformative change.
He did not know how long this process lasted; it felt like an instant, yet also like ten thousand years.
When the final stream of information merged into his sea of consciousness and the light of the Thunder God Seal at his brow gradually retracted, becoming archaic and deep, Yu Yuanchen slowly opened his eyes.
Purple-gold lightning flashed in his pupils and vanished, his gaze becoming sharper and more profound, as if he could pierce through the void to see the essence of all things. He felt that his power had not increased explosively, but his foundation had become incredibly solid, and his control over his power had reached a brand-new realm; every movement he made now faintly harmonized with the lightning laws of the world.
More importantly, he felt an incredibly close connection established between himself and the statue before him, this canyon, and even the distant Thunder Great Dao.
"The inheritance... is it about to begin?" An irrepressible excitement and anticipation surged in Yu Yuanchen's heart. After enduring countless hardships and passing through layers of trials, he was finally about to touch the ultimate mystery—the complete Thunder God Position!
Following the final guidance received in his mind, he slowly raised his right hand, aiming his palm at the base of the Thunder God Statue. The Thunder God Seal at his brow lit up once more, and a condensed beam of purple-gold divine light shot out, precisely sinking into an inconspicuous indentation on the base.
"Hum—!!!"
The entire canyon shook violently! It was as if a giant god who had slept for eons had suddenly awakened!
The Thunder God Statue erupted with unprecedented, brilliant light, illuminating the entire bottom of the canyon as if it were day. On the surface of the statue, countless ancient and mysterious Thunder Runes lit up one by one, moving like the stars in the sky and emitting a vast, peerless divine might. On the purple-crystal rock of the ground, huge, crisscrossing light paths emerged, forming a massive and complex array.
At the center of the array, right in front of Yu Yuanchen, space began to distort and ripple, as if something were being summoned from the void.
Yu Yuanchen held his breath, staring intently at the rippling space. He could feel a terrifying power, far exceeding any energy he had encountered before and of an indescribably high essence, gathering! That power was filled with supreme majesty, the will to judge all things, and... a sense of indescribable fragmentation and decay?
Finally, the moment the light of the array reached its peak, a strange crystal about the size of a fist, purple-gold in its entirety, slowly emerged from the void and hovered before Yu Yuanchen.
The crystal was irregular in shape, its surface covered in countless tiny cracks and pits, as if it had endured unimaginable, brutal impacts and the erosion of long ages. It emitted a faint yet incredibly pure light, flickering like a candle in the wind.
Inside the crystal, one could vaguely see countless hair-thin purple-gold law chains struggling to flow and intertwine, but many of the chains were already broken and dim, making the entire structure of the crystal appear shattered and teetering on the brink of collapse.
A weak yet undeniably real pressure of a god position emanated from the crystal, making Yu Yuanchen's soul tremble and his heart fill with awe; he confirmed that this was undoubtedly the status of a god! But at the same time, a much denser aura of deathly silence, decay, and fragmentation, seemingly originating from the very source, rushed toward him, causing his heart to sink to the bottom.
"This... is this... the Thunder God Position?!" Yu Yuanchen's eyes widened, the excitement and anticipation on his face instantly freezing, replaced by incredulous shock and even a sense of absurdity.
What kind of inherited god position is broken?! It looked like a piece of cheap junk that had been smashed and barely glued back together, ready to collapse and dissipate at any moment! That weak light, those pervasive cracks, those intermittent law chains... all signaled that this was a god position that was broken to the extreme, almost completely ruined!
The massive psychological gap left him momentarily stunned. The god position he had envisioned should have been a perfect creation, radiant with light, with complete laws and infinite power; who could have imagined it would be in such a miserable state?
Just as he was dazed, the broken god position crystal trembled slightly, turned into a stream of light, and sank into his brow, merging directly with the Thunder God Seal.
"Boom!"
Yu Yuanchen's entire body shook violently, and his consciousness was pulled into a peculiar realm.
He seemed to be standing in a boundless, shattered Thunder Star Domain. Beneath his feet were countless broken star fragments, flickering with residual lightning. In the sky, huge, pitch-black spatial rifts looked like hideous scars, constantly devouring the remaining light and energy. The Thunder Law Great Dao, which should have spanned the heavens and earth, was now broken into countless segments, like snapped lute strings, floating powerlessly in the void and emitting wailing fluctuations.
The entire God Position Origin Space was permeated with a sense of sorrow and deathly silence, the feeling of a hero at the end of his road and a glorious era passed.
At the same time, a fragmented piece of information, accompanied by endless sorrow and unwillingness, flooded into Yu Yuanchen's mind.
The images were broken and blurry: an unimaginable, world-sweeping spirit-level war... countless powerful figures falling... the sky being torn apart, the earth sinking... a towering, supreme figure who wielded lightning, in order to protect something, burned his own godhead origin and unleashed a final strike, perishing together with countless terrifying enemies...
The Thunder God Position was completely shattered in that strike. The core of the god position could only carry the vast majority of the fragments, fleeing into the void and falling into this world. Although it instinctively absorbed the Power of Faith generated by the Douluo Plane (this book sets that elemental gods do not need to actively spread faith; as long as someone feels reverence for the element corresponding to their god position, faith will be generated), because no one was there to oversee its repair, after countless ages, it had barely condensed into its current form, waiting for the arrival of an inheritor...
The information stopped abruptly there, filled with gaps and fog.
Yu Yuanchen's consciousness returned to reality, his complexion shifting constantly. He finally understood that this Thunder God Position was not born broken, but was the remaining fragment after its owner had actively burned and shattered it to fight the enemy in an ancient god war! That it could be preserved and barely maintain the god position without dissipating was already a miracle.
The emotions of excitement and disappointment gradually subsided, replaced by a sense of realization and heaviness.
"So that's how it is... the inheritance isn't cut off, the god position itself is broken..." Yu Yuanchen muttered to himself, a helpless, bitter smile appearing at the corner of his mouth. This was truly... an unexpected "surprise."
But soon, light reignited in his eyes, a flame of greater determination and persistence.
A broken god position certainly meant the road ahead would be more difficult, but at least it was better than starting from zero. One must know that in the original work, the Angel God and the Sea God had to gather nearly a thousand years of faith to create their own god positions. Although it could not provide the boundless divine power of a complete god position and could not directly grant him the authority of a god...
But it was, after all, a true foundation for a god position! It was the key to the Spirit-level Domain! It contained the mysteries of the most fundamental Thunder Law; even if it was just a small fragment, its value far exceeded most treasures in the world. It was also a hope, a proof that his path was correct and that he had received the recognition of the ancient Thunder God!
Most importantly, it pointed to an unprecedented path—to repair and transform it into the god position most suitable for himself!
"Broken... so what?" Yu Yuanchen slowly clenched his fists, his eyes as sharp as knives, staring straight into his own heart. "A complete inheritance can certainly allow one to reach the heavens in a single step, but it ultimately means walking the old path of predecessors. And this broken god position, while difficult to start, requires me to understand, to mend, and to reshape it! This path might be more compatible with my own Dao, allowing me to walk a Thunder God path that belongs to Yu Yuanchen!"
He thought of the "Five Thunders Orthodox Law" he had created himself, his exploration and fusion of the different properties of lightning, and the core he had realized during the heart-questioning trial: "Using a human heart to wield the power of lightning."
Relying on a complete god position would be easy, but it might not be the path most suitable for him. And this broken god position, while difficult, was full of infinite possibilities! It would force him to understand the essence of lightning more deeply, to mend those broken laws, and even... in the process of repairing it, to integrate his own insights and philosophy, shaping an unprecedented Thunder God Position that was more suitable for him!
Thinking of this, Yu Yuanchen's heart suddenly cleared. All disappointment and shock were swept away, replaced by unprecedented fighting spirit and anticipation.
"The path of predecessors eventually comes to an end. My path must be created by myself!" His gaze was firm, and he had already made his decision in his heart. "I accept this broken Thunder God Position! Not only will I accept it, but I will not only repair it completely, I will also... surpass the past and shape an even more powerful Thunder God Position that belongs to me!"
He closed his eyes again, his mind sinking into his brow, and began to carefully perceive the broken god position that had merged with the seal.
Communication was more difficult than he had imagined. Although the god position had accepted him, its internal laws were broken, and the energy flow was obscure and blocked, like a complex network full of holes and broken lines.
According to the knowledge about repairing god positions transmitted to him by the Thunder God Seal, he needed to use his own soul power and spiritual power as a guide to carefully nourish those broken law chains and use his own insights to combine the corresponding fragments. This process was extremely slow and consumed a huge amount of spiritual power; of course, this was also because his current understanding of lightning was still shallow, and his cultivation level was not high enough.
But he enjoyed it. Every time he connected a tiny broken part, and every time he understood a bit of the mystery contained in the broken laws, he felt his understanding of lightning deepen, and the circulation of his own Thunder True Essence become more harmonious. The combat experience and law insights belonging to the ancient Thunder God that remained in the broken god position were even more precious treasures.
He did not know how much time had passed. When he had initially stabilized a small area at the very edge of the god position and felt a trace of weak yet incredibly pure divine power begin to feed back into his own body, he slowly exited his cultivation state.
Opening his eyes, feeling the Thunder True Essence within his body—which, while not having exploded in growth, was now more pure and refined, carrying a trace of true divine aura—and the fragmented yet incredibly profound lightning knowledge that had been added to his mind, Yu Yuanchen curled the corner of his mouth into a confident smile.
The path ahead was now clear—repair the divine throne and walk his own Divine Path of Thunder!
He stood up and bowed deeply to the Thunder God Statue, which seemed to have fulfilled its mission as its radiance gradually faded inward.
This bow was to thank the predecessor for their legacy and recognition.
After rising, he swept his gaze across this Ancient canyon, his eyes no longer clouded by confusion.
It was time to leave. The road ahead required more accumulation, more Training, and more enlightenment to seek the opportunities and materials needed to repair the divine throne.
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Translated by: randomtranslator.com
Proofread by: GodKun-Chan