"Da da da da da..."
The sound of thunder caused the large flower bowl containing the pork elbow on the table to shake violently. After a while, the quiet room began to hear sounds again, but no one dared to talk about the monster anymore.
As the old saying goes, don't talk about people during the day and don't talk about ghosts at night. At this moment, the old village chief's home has a similar taboo.
Niu Kui Mountain stretches for more than 200 miles, crossing the edge of Desheng Prefecture, crossing Dingyuan Prefecture, and passing Tianyue Prefecture. As the area of thunderclouds in the deep mountains increases, some special beings also frequently look in the direction of Niu Kui Mountain.
In Ning'an County and Baoshun County of Desheng Prefecture, Chengze County and Caiming County of Dingyuan Prefecture, and Dakang County of Tianyue Prefecture, these large counties close to Niukui Mountain, golden statues of Dharma gods appeared on the City God Temples in the county towns. The City Gods of all the counties appeared high up in the temples, gazing at the rolling thunderclouds deep in the Niukui Mountain.
Among them, Ning'an County is closest to the center of the thundercloud.
"Boom..."
The sky and the earth were bright, and another bolt of lightning with extraordinary power struck from the thunderclouds, falling straight into Niukui Mountain like a sharp sword.
On top of the Ning'an County City God Temple, the old City God Song Shichang stood solemnly, looking at Niu Kuishan with a heavy face without saying a word.
"Lord City God, this thunder does not seem to be caused by an ordinary thunderstorm. It may be a strange phenomenon in heaven and earth. Either a treasure has been found in Niu Kui Mountain, or something unusual has happened! It is not impossible that there is a terrifying evildoer who wants to achieve enlightenment!"
The chief officer of the Yin and Yang Department gave advice to the old City God with a worried look on his face.
"Yes, this thundercloud is indeed unusual, and it does look like some kind of calamity cloud, but the power of heaven is hard to predict in this situation!"
At this time, silver snakes were dancing in the distance, some thunders were loud, some were weak, and some thunders made even ghosts like them feel pressured.
The old city god subconsciously looked in the direction of a certain place in the county town. At this moment, in the city after nightfall, visibility was very low due to dark clouds and heavy rain, but in a corner of the city, there was still a faint light flashing.
That direction was exactly Ju'an Pavilion.
"But there's no need to worry too much. That gentleman lives in Ning'an County, and he often goes to Niukui Mountain. If there really is something evil in the mountain that is about to achieve key results, how could it escape his eyes?"
Judge Wu on the other side stroked his beard and said.
"Who knows, it may have something to do with that person!"
"Could it be that red fox? No, that fox's ability is far from good enough, right?"
"How can we criticize the actions of such beings without authorization? Even if that person is calm and peaceful, you should be careful about what you say!"
"Well, don't discuss it."
. . .
At this moment, under the Longyan Island in the southeast corner of the North Sea, Ji Yuan was lying on his side in the guest house for rest, his eyes slightly closed and his eyelids twitching constantly. As he concentrated his mind, the mountains and rivers in his body appeared in a misty state.
Ji Yuan felt like he was in a dream at the moment. This was a special state that had appeared several times before. In a trance, he felt a telepathic connection with Niukui Mountain in the west of Jizhou.
The sight seemed to penetrate the mountains and rivers, and I could see the scene there, which was filled with rolling leaden clouds, lightning and thunder.
What's strange is that in other places in Niukui Mountain, and even in the surrounding villages, towns and counties, where the dark clouds covered the area, there were thunder and rain, but in this place there was only wind and thunder but no heavy rain.
There was lightning entwining and flowing in the clouds, some below, some above, some inside and some born from the void, converging in the center of the thundercloud from all directions, brewing distorted and unstable thunder.
"Crack... Boom..."
There was a white light between heaven and earth accompanied by a loud noise. A bolt of lightning fell from the thunderclouds in the sky, twisting and flashing, and in an instant it touched somewhere in the mountain.
"Roar--"
When the lightning illuminated the mountains, a roaring beast face faced the sky, as if it turned into a faint light and rushed towards the thunder.
"Boom..."
A large amount of lightning was flowing in the surrounding mountains and forests, and it was like silver snakes moving on the mountain walls and hills.
"What a courage! He didn't even try to avoid the thunderbolt!"
When Ji Yuan saw this scene in a trance, he couldn't help but admire it in his mind.
Cultivating spiritual power is against the will of heaven, and thunder is a symbol of heaven's might. Plants, birds, and beasts are especially afraid of thunder. Some spirits with spiritual intelligence will instinctively hide everywhere during thunderstorms, as if there is a fear deep in their souls.
Once a monster, especially an evil one, is about to become powerful, thunderstorms are often more likely to occur where it is, and sometimes even heavy thunderstorms occur out of season, as if it is against God's will.
But to take a step back, no matter how terrible this thunder is, it is only a weather condition. Real monsters have a high level of intelligence, and they don't have to be struck by thunder when it is at its most powerful. They can completely avoid it and consolidate their cultivation. By the time their cultivation is successful, their aura will be much calmer, and the regenerated thunder will be much weaker.
It would be much safer to find a more suitable place to receive the thunder at that time.
But Lu Shanjun was obviously not like that. Ji Yuan knew this tiger of his own very well. It was not so much that he did not know when to advance or retreat, but that he was extremely confident and proud.
Niu Kui Mountain, on the platform where Ji Yuan preached to Lu Shanjun, a giant hairless tiger was crawling on a disc-like boulder and looking at the sky. There were many burn marks on the tiger's body, but it seemed to have no effect on him.
But there were only three real thunders, each one stronger than the last, and the thunderclouds in the sky were still expanding.
“Boom… .” “Boom… .” “Boom… .”
Ordinary lightning kept falling, and occasionally struck the tiger, but the tiger did not dodge or evade. Although it was a little painful, he knew that compared to the real test, ordinary thunder was just a tickle.
“Roar~~~”
The roar of the tiger resounded throughout the mountains. The already strong wind seemed even more violent. The clouds in the sky seemed even heavier. Looking up from the platform, one felt as if all directions were rolling towards the center.
At this moment, the charred skin on his body felt itchy and painful, but Lu Shanjun couldn't care less.
“Sizzle… Sizzle…”
The sky was covered with dark clouds and thunder was rolling. The sound of electric current could be clearly heard on the ground.
Lu Shanjun's pupils shrank because he found that the central thunder was actually faintly blood-colored, and a feeling of extreme palpitations surged into his heart.
'Run, run, run...'
This thought arose uncontrollably, but the giant tiger's facial expression became more and more ferocious and terrifying.
"Hohohoho..."
The tiger's mouth corners were raised, revealing its pale fangs and surrounding sharp teeth. The beast bared its teeth threateningly at the sky, and the sharp claws on the soles of its limbs popped out one after another. The skin all over its body seemed to roll over layers of waves, and its muscles were all bulging ferociously.
The next moment, the tiger's four claws slowly left the ground, and a gust of wind wrapped around the tiger, lifting it up dozens of feet and leaving the platform. Lu Shanjun, who was supposed to be unable to fly yet, raised his body as if stepping on air, and roared fiercely at the blood-red lightning that was about to fall from the sky.
"Roar-"
"Crack... Boom..."
The thunder suddenly fell at almost the same moment as the tiger roared, piercing through the black wind entangled with the tiger and hitting the tiger's body.
"Boom..."
The tiger was directly drenched in blood-red thunder and smashed onto the platform below. Not only was there endless lightning entangled around it, it also covered the entire platform.
Immediately afterwards, another blood-red lightning fell and directly hit the tiger on the huge stone platform.
"Crack... Boom..."
"Ah..."
Lu Shanjun screamed in extreme pain.
At this moment, all the beasts in the entire Niu Kui Mountain were silent and the birds retreated into their nests. Countless animals tried their best to hide in places that could shelter them from the wind and rain, trembling in the face of the thundering power.
Hu Yun was also huddled in his fox cave. His cave was on the hillside of a high peak. In addition to the warm nest in the center, there were two entrances, one large and one small, in front and back. One faced Ning'an County, and the other faced the depths of Niukui Mountain.
Now Hu Yun was looking through the cave entrance towards the depths of Niukui Mountain, watching the thunder falling with worry, but from his perspective, he could not see the blood-red thunder, instead it looked like the color of ordinary lightning.
"Shanjun, Shanjun, please don't get into trouble. The master is not here. If anything happens to you, no one can save you!"
"Ah..."
A faint roar of a tiger could be heard, and Hu Yun was so scared that he trembled and his red hair swelled up.
. . .
When he came out of the platform, Lu Shanjun was half lying and half falling on a huge rock. Half of his face was charred, and there was not much intact skin on his body. The charred skin in some places fell off little by little with the electric arc on his body. His body would tremble from time to time, and wisps of tiger blood would seep out from the wounds all over his body. He looked devastated.
“Ho…ho…ho ho ho…”
Half of Lu Shanjun's lips had already charred and fallen off, so his fangs were always exposed. He propped himself up with his forelimbs and looked up again. The charcoal and blood on his head had fallen off one after another. In addition to flesh and blood, there were also deeper stripes inside. His tiger eyebrows were more obvious and longer, and his tiger nose was longer and narrower...
The sixth real thunder was brewing in the sky. This thunder was twisting and changing in Lu Shanjun's sight, and its color was also changing, like blue and red...
"Even if I misjudged the power of your thunder tribulation, even if I, Lu Shanjun, will die here today... I will not, will not bring shame to Master..."
The tiger shook its body, trembling and standing up with difficulty, shaking off the blood on its body.
Although he had clearly realized the mystery of enlightenment and was only one step away, Lu Shanjun was somewhat unwilling to give up. However, looking at the thunder in the sky, he had a strong feeling that it was inevitable, as if even escaping back to the cave would be of no avail.
"If I could hear the truth every morning, I could die in the evening... Huh..."
The whole tiger stood up straight with its cold body, looking coldly at the thunderclouds in the sky. The remaining demonic energy in its body was boiling, and its momentum reached its peak since the catastrophe. It was not a tiger roar, nor a sharp yell, but a roar towards the sky.
"On behalf of my teacher, please ask the heavens, who is the one in charge of thunder?"
“… Who is Si Leizhe?”
“… for whom?”
Lu Shanjun's roar echoed throughout the entire Niukui Mountain and even between heaven and earth.