The moment he set foot in Thunder Gorge, a far more violent and oppressive aura than the outside world pressed down on Chen Yi's face, making one hold their breath.
He looked around—the inside of the gorge was wider than it appeared from the outside, but the scene was bleak. On both sides, charred, steep rock walls were covered in ugly scars left by lightning. Aside from the endless thunder and the crackle of electric arcs, the entire gorge was silent—no insects, no birds, not even a hint of green. It was like a Jedi, completely deserted by life.
"No wonder this is where that clan originated…" Chen Yi inhaled deeply, feeling a slight tingling in his lungs, and thought to himself, "In such a harsh environment, only exotic species born of thunder and earth could survive. For other creatures, this place is nothing but purgatory."
Chu Shanhe sharply surveyed their surroundings, his voice clear even amidst the thunder.
"After the Spirit Hall left, one of my Body Sect's uncle-masters, relying on his keen eyesight, ventured to the periphery of Thunder Gorge to investigate."
Chu Shanhe signaled Chen Yi to follow, and the two of them delved deeper into a relatively calmer area.
"That uncle found a hidden spot here and secretly occupied it for over half a month."
Chu Shanhe continued revealing the sect's secrets. "The emperor paid a reward, and finally, on the night of the fiercest thunderstorm, he witnessed a blurry figure!"
There was recollection in Chu Shanhe's tone. "That figure was neither beast nor bird—huge as a python and as ancient as a vine, floating strangely in the air."
"It triggered lightning from the sky, drawing terrifying thunder as thick as buckets onto its body, using the power of heaven to temper itself. The sight was thrilling!"
At first, the uncle-master wanted to stay longer to observe and gather information, but the soul beast's senses were sharper than expected, and it sensed his presence.
Chu Shanhe's voice dropped. "In the end, he only escaped thanks to his Martial Soul's special traits, but was still injured by scattered thunder, and didn't dare linger any longer. He had to flee the Thunder Gorge in haste."
Chen Yi couldn't help but feel that this soul beast recorded by the Body Sect's patriarch was truly an ancestor-level existence. He wanted to see it for himself.
Chu Shanhe went on, "Based on his judgment, that soul beast is extremely strong—its power probably rivals a hundred-thousand-year soul beast, and its dominance over thunder is overwhelming."
"But strangely, he vaguely felt the soul beast's age and cultivation hadn't truly reached a hundred thousand years."
Chen Yi thought to himself, Senior truly had poor eyesight. That was one of the limitations of this era: everyone assumed a soul beast's bloodline determined everything, and as long as it was strong, it could break through a hundred thousand years. No one imagined something as strange as the Thunder Hell Prison Vine could exist.
This species bore the blood of the Thunder God, making its power overwhelming—sometimes matching or even surpassing an ordinary hundred-thousand-year soul beast. Yet, its bloodline was both its strength and its curse: it was too antagonistic to the heavens, so breaking the fifty-thousand-year limit was extremely difficult, and reaching a hundred thousand years required a nearly impossible opportunity…
As they spoke, the two had already penetrated deep into the periphery of the Thunder Gorge. The thunder here was even denser—arcs of electricity almost visible to the naked eye, with stray lightning occasionally striking nearby and blasting shallow holes in the ground.
Chu Shanhe's invisible soul power flared, easily blocking the scattered lightning. He stopped, scanning the increasingly harsh environment with sharp eyes, then turned to Chen Yi with a serious expression.
"Xiao Yi, this soul-hunting is unlike any before. The target is extremely special and dangerous."
"Whatever happens, do not leave my sight."
Chen Yi nodded solemnly. "Understood, Sect Master!"
He knew why Chu Shanhe was so cautious: this soul beast's records were terrifying, and more than one Soul Douluo or quasi-Title Douluo had perished here.
Just as they were about to go deeper, Chen Yi suddenly stopped, his body tensing.
"What's wrong?" Chu Shanhe immediately noticed, watching him with wary eyes, his soul power ready to protect against potential danger.
Chen Yi closed his eyes, frowning slightly, as if sensing something. In that instant, his mind sank completely into his sea of consciousness.
At the center of his vast consciousness, the divine bead symbolizing the inheritance of the Thunder God's position now emitted a faint, unusually clear light. It wasn't strong, but it had a strange rhythm, as if responding to something outside.
"This is…" Chen Yi's mind condensed before the Thunder God's stance, curiosity and confusion on his face. Since inheriting the god position, he had only ever passively received information during cultivation—never before had such a clear change occurred on its own.
"Heavenly Father—"
As Chen Yi was lost in confusion, a distant, desolate voice echoed in his sea of consciousness, as if traveling through eternal space and time, filled with reverence and longing.
The voice was not heard with the ears, but acted directly on the soul, transmitted clearly to the depths of his consciousness with the help of the faintly glowing Thunder God stance.
"Heavenly Father?" Chen Yi was shocked, whispering to himself. "Is it calling me?"
But he quickly denied the thought. The reverence in this voice, the faint call from the depths of his bloodline, was never aimed at Chen Yi, the inheritor who hadn't even activated the legacy yet.
The next moment, Chen Yi looked up and stared at the shining Thunder God in his mind, his eyes blazing.
"It's calling out to the original owner of the God's Throne… the Thunder God who fell so many years ago?!"
He immediately realized: "That's the Thunder Hell Prison Vine in the gorge! With its own thunder bloodline, it sensed the Thunder God's breath in my sea of consciousness."
Messages about the Thunder Hell Prison Vine flashed through his mind like lightning. This species was a soul beast with the Thunder God's blood. Its strength was great, but it was tormented by the heavens' jealousy. It could rarely break through the hundred-thousand-year bottleneck—if it tried, it might revive the Thunder God bloodline and face even more terrifying tribulation.
"The aura from the Thunder God stance is seen as a response from the Thunder God himself."
"It's not calling me, but its 'creator' and 'father'!"
Enlightenment struck Chen Yi; the clues all connected. This was not an illusion, but a transmission across race and time, born from the call of blood.
A moment later, Chen Yi suddenly opened his eyes; the light within them faded.
"What just happened?" Chu Shanhe asked immediately, noticing the abnormality.
Chen Yi didn't hide it—he explained everything about the changes in his consciousness and the "Heavenly Father" call from the Thunder Hell Prison Vine.
Hearing this, Chu Shanhe was shocked too.
"So that's it! No wonder!"
"No wonder this soul beast is so powerful, can summon thunder and lightning, and keep so many experts at bay. Who would have thought it was a heaven-and-earth oddity with the blood of a god?"
After the shock, Chu Shanhe's eyes instantly blazed with excitement. A soul beast with the Thunder God's blood—a soul ring perfectly suited for Chen Yi, the Thunder God's heir, with compatibility and potential far beyond that of an ordinary hundred-thousand-year soul ring.
"Alright! Wonderful!"
Chu Shanhe made his decision on the spot. "Xiao Yi, can you pinpoint the exact direction with your perception?"
Hearing this, Chen Yi focused, recalling the vague direction indicated by the Thunder God's stance. He pointed firmly to the right front, where the rock wall was even steeper.
"That way! It feels… very close!"
"Let's go!" Chu Shanhe shouted in a low voice, no longer hesitating. He grabbed Chen Yi's arm, his soul power erupting to form an unbreakable protective barrier around them.
The next moment, their figures shot forward like arrows loosed from a bow, heading straight for the heart of the danger, ignoring stray lightning as they moved at blinding speed.
Was this a trap set by the Thunder Hell Prison Vine after sensing a threat? Chu Shanhe sneered inwardly. Before absolute power, no amount of cunning mattered.
He yearned to see for himself just what was different about this stunning soul beast with divine blood.
His gold-level, triple-awakened Body Martial Soul had longed for an opponent heavy enough to test his true strength.
Like birds flying against the storm, the two of them charged straight into the most dangerous core of Thunder Gorge, without the slightest hesitation.