The moment Thunder God's image finished speaking, the seemingly calm purplish-gold light around him suddenly erupted. Limitless divine radiance soared into the heavens — not merely thunder's brilliance, but a perfect fusion of two fundamentally opposed auras: destruction and sanctity, entwined together in flawless balance.
The power of destruction was fierce, capable of shattering stars and erasing all things. Yet the divine power was serene and vast, brimming with vitality and unstoppable majesty. These two ultimate forces achieved a miraculous equilibrium and unity inside Thunder God, transforming into an even greater, unpredictable, overwhelming pressure.
Chen Yi's consciousness quaked uncontrollably in the face of this newly manifested, terrifying presence.
When Chen Yi first encountered Thunder God during his Martial Soul Awakening, he had been too weak to sense more than a fragment of Thunder God's might. But now, with his spiritual power having reached the Spirit Sea Realm, he more clearly perceived the astonishing force residing in the figure before him.
"Destruction and rebirth… entangled, coexisting..."
Chen Yi was stunned. If he wasn't mistaken, Thunder God's original path had been the same as that of the God of Destruction — the ultimate pursuit of annihilation and the raw destructiveness of thunder. Yet, in later years, especially after encountering his own bloodline and being influenced by it, Thunder God's path fundamentally transformed.
From destruction emerged new life; order lurked behind rage. Thunder was not only a symbol of destruction, but also of purification, tempering, and the driving force behind life's evolution.
By this, Thunder God surpassed the bounds of a mere "God of Destruction" and embarked upon a path touching the fundamentals of the cosmos — creation and destruction, reincarnation itself.
Chen Yi could not precisely judge how far Thunder God ultimately reached, but at the time of his teacher's death, Thunder God possessed power at least equal to — if not greater than — the two Divine Kings of the God realm, one of good and one of evil.
"Amazing..."
Chen Yi was awe-struck from the depths of his heart. Within the relatively fixed rules of the Douluo Universe, to transmute a single, extreme attribute of destruction into the balance and symbiosis of "new life" and "order" — this itself was the opening of a path, a "Way to Heaven," at an even higher dimension.
"Perhaps… one day, there'll be a chance to fulfill the wish of those two masters…"
This thought flashed through Chen Yi's mind, but he quickly reignited his focus. Now was not the time for distractions: Thunder God's projection had already begun to act.
In the image, Thunder God lifted a hand in a mesmerizing, mysterious gesture. In an instant, infinite silver lightning, manifested from pure spiritual power and the laws of thunder, poured down into the sea of consciousness, converging at a single point.
Boom—
Within his spiritual core, silent nebulae and mist were scattered by the fierce lightning, changing the scene completely.
The vision Chen Yi had once glimpsed deep within his own bloodline resurged now — vivid beyond compare. His perception was filled with an endless lake of liquid lightning, and at its deepest heart rested an enormous, indistinct figure shrouded in mystery.
This was the manifestation of the Thunder God's bloodline — a form beyond words. It seemed the embodiment of thunder itself, the very source and sovereign of all cosmic lightning.
With each faint, nearly imperceptible breath from this entity, Chen Yi's sea of consciousness trembled violently. Even the infinite lightning, painted by the Thunder God's form, prostrated itself before him as though worshipping their king.
In this moment, the Thunder God's throne at the center of Chen Yi's spiritual sea suddenly blazed with light, unleashing boundless lightning bolts. The natural thunder-light emanating from the Thunder God resonated with the sacred radiance, producing a mysterious and magnificent harmony.
"Buzz… buzz… buzz…"
As the resonance grew, the movement of Thunder God's image became awe-inspiringly solemn and deliberate.
At the apex, atop the incredibly massive Thunder God's phantom, a speck of pure lightning — the size of a firefly — was gently peeled away by this resonant force, and began to drift slowly toward Chen Yi's consciousness below.
Though minuscule like fireflies, each dot contained a compressed world of thunder, dazzling with the oldest and purest origins of lightning.
Chen Yi immediately focused, closed his eyes, and opened his mind completely, preparing to wholeheartedly accept this gift from the highest source of his bloodline.
He felt the purplish-gold motes of light softly merge into his consciousness, then, via some mysterious link, inscribe themselves into the deepest part of his mortal flesh in the real world...
…
God Realm
An indescribably vast tree stood silently, its branches and leaves seeming to cover half the sky of the Divine Realm.
Its roots stretched deep into the land of the gods and vanished into the void, while its foliage extended up to the sky. Each leaf, like a star or a lake, seemed to contain a small world, each shining with a different life's brilliance.
This was the true form of the Goddess of Life, and also her ultimate legacy — the ancient Tree of Life.
The Tree of Life, more than just the source and symbol of life force in the God Realm, held the supreme ability to subdue the seven basic elements of the Divine World and preserve its overall energy order. At the same time, as one of the core foundations of the realm, it regulated and balanced the divine powers of all factions and stabilized the space-time structure of the God Realm.
At that moment, seated cross-legged on the throne beneath the ancient Tree of Life, the Goddess of Life herself sat with eyes closed, her form full and ethereal, enveloped in sacred emerald light.
Her brows were slightly furrowed, and fatigue lingered in her beautiful features.
"Little Thunder, oh Little Thunder..." the Goddess of Life sighed quietly. Her voice was otherworldly yet tinged with a trace of melancholy.
"Your disciple… is truly extraordinary. It's no wonder you went to such lengths, and endured so much hardship, to entrust him with a divine inheritance..."
After murmuring this sigh, she composed her expression, and, with both hands before her, began weaving a complex emerald-green divine seal.
With her action, the ancient Tree of Life overhead resonated with a solemn echo, spreading vast, infinite lifeforce which accurately eliminated the aberration on the Douluo Continent, completely blocking it beyond the God Realm's outer walls — ensuring the core authorities of the Divine Realm could not detect it.
This was no simple feat — the nature of the disturbance was truly profound. Even as mistress of the roots of the realm, for the Goddess of Life to conceal an event of this magnitude from the central authority required immense spiritual effort.
…
Simultaneously, as the ancient Life Tree was fully activated, the seven Elemental Gods who maintained the elemental array felt a temporary stagnation of their divine power.
"Hm? What's happening?" the Earth God asked in a low voice.
The golden eyes of the Goddess of Light immediately turned to the ancient Tree of Life's location, curiosity lighting up her beautiful face. "The ancient Tree of Life… it just activated at full power."
Because the Tree of Life had the ability to suppress other elements, whenever it operated at full strength, the seven Elemental Gods, based on the fundamental elements, were inevitably affected.
"How strange," the Water God's voice rang out, full of suspicion and confusion. "Even Sister Life, over tens of thousands of years, has never activated the ancient Tree this powerfully. What could have happened?"
After a moment's thought, the Space God shook her head. "Strange… She seems to be hiding something this time."
"If we weren't throwing everything into maintaining the array and hyper-sensitive to every current in divine power, we might never have noticed this brief fluctuation."
"There's no need to overthink," came the God of Darkness's indifferent voice from deep within the shadows. "The Mistress of Life is on our side. If she chose to act in such secret, she must have deeper motives. We merely need to fulfill our duties."
The other Elemental Gods nodded in agreement, saying no more and continuing to focus on the operation of the grand formation. Each god had their own mission and secrets, and so long as the foundation of the Divine Realm was not threatened, interference with one another was minimal.
…
On the other side of the Divine Realm, inside the Asura Temple, the God of Asura, who had been closely watching the seven Elemental Gods, was suddenly struck with surprise.
A hint of joy flashed in his eyes. Without hesitation, a faint glimmer of crimson blood quietly appeared at the tip of the index finger hidden beneath his divine garments.
Whoosh— With a flick, the Asura God disappeared from sight, leaving not the faintest ripple in the air.
…