Chapter 168 - 146: Solution

Chapter 168: Chapter 146: Solution

"What’s going on?"

In the distance, Xiao Mingyue and the other two watched as the thundercloud above Ji Zhixing suddenly stalled. It stopped raining lightning down upon him, leaving them all with expressions of sheer astonishment.

"What happened?" Seeing this, a pleasantly surprised look appeared on Xu Cheng’s face. "Could it be that the power of this thundercloud is limited, and it’s simply run out of lightning to strike him with?"

The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. Ji Zhixing had endured beneath it for so long, taking who knows how many bolts of lightning. Perhaps he really had exhausted all the accumulated Thunder Power within the cloud.

"Wait for me, I’ll go in and take a look," Xu Cheng said. He stepped forward briskly, walking directly beneath the thundercloud.

"Wait!" Xiao Mingyue tried to stop him, but Xu Cheng had already rushed in.

BOOM!

The instant Xu Cheng stepped under the thundercloud, it immediately became violent again. Lightning surged wildly within the dark clouds. Countless sparks of electricity gathered, quickly condensing into a thick, purple-gold bolt of lightning that struck straight at Xu Cheng.

"Oh no!"

Xu Cheng’s expression drastically changed, and he hurriedly mobilized his own power to block the incoming strike. Purple lightning shot from his palms, colliding with the descending thunderbolt with a muffled explosion.

However, the lightning unleashed by the thundercloud was countless times stronger than what he had conjured. His Purple Thunder-Attracting Technique lasted for merely a split second before being completely shattered. The residual lightning crashed into his body, causing him to tremble violently. His hair stood on end, and another scorched, blackened mark appeared on his combat suit.

"Run!"

Not daring to hesitate for even a moment, Xu Cheng spun around and sprinted, swiftly escaping the thundercloud’s range. Once he was out, he touched his hair—which had become even more scorched and curly—and smiled bitterly. His hair had already been slightly singed, but now it was completely reduced to curled, charred cinders that crumbled at the slightest touch.

"Why?" He looked up at Ji Zhixing, who was standing safely beneath the thundercloud, completely unable to figure it out. Why did this thundercloud spare Ji Zhixing? Why did it strike him the moment he stepped inside? He thought, "This is simply unfair!"

Witnessing this scene, a glint flashed in Xiao Mingyue’s eyes as she wore a thoughtful expression. Beside her, Jiang Qingqian was equally baffled, looking back and forth between Xu Cheng and the distant Ji Zhixing.

"Zhixing," Xiao Mingyue suddenly called out. "How are you feeling right now?"

Hearing Xiao Mingyue’s question, Ji Zhixing turned his head and replied, "I feel great.

"Also, I feel like I’ve developed some sort of inexplicable connection with this thundercloud.

"It feels like this thundercloud—this entire thundercloud—is like a rare artifact.

"But I can’t control it, and I don’t know how to either."

"A rare artifact? An entire thundercloud?" Xu Cheng and Jiang Qingqian looked up at the high-altitude thundercloud in disbelief. An entire thundercloud was a rare artifact? They thought, "How is this possible?" Both of them found it somewhat unbelievable, but they also knew that Ji Zhixing wouldn’t lie to them.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Mingyue immediately suggested, "Since this thundercloud is no longer striking you, you can go up and take a look."

"Go up and take a look?" Ji Zhixing raised his head to gaze at the thundercloud.

The thundercloud hung more than twenty meters in the air. Pitch-black and dense, it looked like a black mountain suspended in the sky. With his current strength, if he used his gigantification ability, he might be able to jump that high, but he wouldn’t be able to stay up there for very long at all. After all, he couldn’t fly; jumping up would only allow him a brief stay before he would quickly plummet back down.

Right at that moment, Xiao Mingyue took out a scroll from afar and tossed it to him. The scroll was entirely cyan. A faint glow flowed across its surface, revealing the vague outline of a pair of wings.

"This is a Wind Wing Scroll. It can grant you the ability to fly for a short period of time. Refine it and give it a try," Xiao Mingyue said.

"A Wind Wing Scroll?"

Ji Zhixing’s eyes lit up as he caught it. Without standing on ceremony, he directly tossed the scroll into his Genetic Melting Furnace and began refining it. While he was refining the Wind Wing Scroll, the thundercloud above his head constantly rumbled, faintly giving off the impression that it was about to leave. At the same time, Ji Zhixing felt that the connection between him and the thundercloud was becoming increasingly weak.

He thought, "I have to speed up!"

Ji Zhixing’s heart tightened, and he hastily pushed his Genetic Melting Furnace to full capacity, rapidly refining the Wind Wing Scroll. An Eight Trigrams Map spun madly within the furnace. Eight-colored lights intertwined, enveloping the scroll as it was swiftly refined.

A few minutes later, the refinement was finally complete. With a single thought, he retrieved the scroll from the Genetic Melting Furnace and activated it using his Genetic Source Power.

The next moment, the Wind Wing Scroll transformed into a streak of cyan light that surged into his body, forming a pair of translucent wind wings on his back. The pair of wind wings had a wingspan of about two meters. Entirely cyan, they were condensed from pure wind power, though they appeared quite flimsy.

With a thought, the wings fluttered gently, stirring up a refreshing breeze.

"Good stuff!" Ji Zhixing took a deep breath. In the next instant, the wind wings vibrated rapidly, carrying him upward into the sky.

"I’m in."

Ji Zhixing flapped his wind wings a few consecutive times and flew into the thundercloud above. Upon entering the thundercloud, the scene before his eyes made his heart tremble.

The interior of the thundercloud was a chaotic space. Churning dark clouds and flashing lightning were everywhere. The lightning here was much thicker than what had just struck his body. Streaks of purple-gold lightning darted through the clouds like massive thunder snakes, letting out deafening rumbles.

"Such strong lightning..." Ji Zhixing looked around, a wave of palpitation washing over his heart. Every single bolt of lightning here was countless times stronger than those he had previously endured. If these thunderbolts struck him, he feared he wouldn’t be able to last even a second.

He wondered, "How am I supposed to control this thundercloud?"

His gaze swept around the space within the thundercloud. The interior was vast—much broader than he had imagined. Dark clouds rolled and lightning flashed, making it seem like an independent little world.

ROAR!

Suddenly, a ferocious roar rang out from not far away. The sound was loud and deep, hurting Ji Zhixing’s eardrums. He quickly turned his head and saw a bizarre genetic beast crouching on top of a distant bolt of lightning, glaring fixedly at him.

The genetic beast wasn’t large—only about the size of an ordinary lion—but it exuded a terrifying aura. Its appearance was similar to the legendary Qilin. It had two horns on its head, eyes like brass bells, and a body covered in purple-gold Scale Armor, with fine, dense lightning patterns flowing across each scale. Most eye-catching of all was its back, where a pair of purple-gold thunder wings actually grew. Those wings were entirely condensed from lightning, possessing a wingspan of four to five meters wide.

"What kind of genetic beast is this?" Ji Zhixing’s pupils slightly constricted, his heart tightening. He could feel the formidable aura radiating from this beast; it was undoubtedly a Tier Three Genetic Beast.

ROAR!

The next moment, before Ji Zhixing could react, the genetic beast flapped its wings and flew straight at him. Its speed was astonishingly fast. With a flap of its purple-gold thunder wings, its figure turned into a bolt of lightning, arriving in front of Ji Zhixing in the blink of an eye. It extended its sharp claws, and a purple-gold thunderbolt condensed at the tips. Carrying an ear-piercing shrieking sound as it tore through the air, it swiped straight at Ji Zhixing’s chest.

"Sea Burial!"

Ji Zhixing didn’t dare to be slow. He immediately summoned the Nine-Tiered Tide Rod and directly unleashed the Sea Burial stance, smashing it toward the genetic beast. The long rod carried an indomitable momentum, violently colliding with the genetic beast’s sharp claws.

BOOM!

A loud explosion rang out, sending sparks flying in all directions. Ji Zhixing felt a tremendous force transmit through the rod, numbing the webbing between his thumb and forefinger and sending his body flying backward uncontrollably. His wind wings flapped frantically, and he barely managed to stabilize himself.

"What incredible strength!" Ji Zhixing was alarmed. He had used his full strength for this strike, layering on the bonuses from his Innate Divine Power and Boulder Physique, yet he was actually sent flying by a single swipe of this genetic beast’s claw.

However, the genetic beast was also knocked back a few steps, though it quickly regained its balance. It shook its head, seemingly a bit surprised that Ji Zhixing could block its attack.

ROAR!

It let out another roar, flapped its wings, and pounced at Ji Zhixing again. This time, its attacks were even more ferocious. Its sharp claws swung out continuously, each swipe carrying purple-gold lightning as they chopped toward Ji Zhixing.

"Vortex!"

Ji Zhixing executed the Vortex stance, spinning the long rod in front of his body to form a massive cyclone that sucked the thunderbolts into it. But the genetic beast’s speed was far too fast; his long rod simply couldn’t keep up with its movement trajectory. After swinging his rod several times in succession without hitting the genetic beast, he was forced into passive defense.

He thought, "This can’t go on..."

Ji Zhixing gritted his teeth, his mind racing for a countermeasure. The genetic beast was just too fast for his Nine-Tiered Tide Rod to land a hit. Meanwhile, its attacks came wave after wave, an endless barrage that left him exhausted just trying to cope.

He thought, "What should I do?"

Ji Zhixing stared fixedly at the Purple Gold Thunder Wing Beast. The duration of his wind wings was limited, making it impossible for him to stay up here for very long. And if he didn’t deal with this Purple Gold Thunder Wing Beast, he wouldn’t have the time to figure out how to control the thundercloud.

"Huh?"

But just as Ji Zhixing was pondering this, he suddenly noticed that the longer he flew within the thundercloud, the closer his connection to it seemed to become.

He thought, "As long as I stay here, I’ll be able to subjugate this thundercloud?"

This idea suddenly popped into his mind. It was both a guess and a gut feeling, but this intuition wasn’t of much use to him. He had no idea how long it would take to actually seize control of the thundercloud. If it took too long, the duration of his wind wings would run out first.

SCREECH!

Right then, Ji Zhixing’s ears twitched as he suddenly heard a sharp screech from the distance. Turning his head, he saw that outside the thundercloud, Xiao Mingyue had flown high into the sky at some unknown point, manifesting a massive, crimson-gold flaming giant bird. The flaming giant bird let out a sharp cry, actually flapping its wings to crash directly into the thundercloud, pouncing straight toward the Purple Gold Thunder Wing Beast in front of him.