Chapter 142: Struck by Lightning!

Although the harvest this time was huge, Yu Tianyun couldn't help furrowing his brows and feeling a wave of worry when he thought of having vanished silently for a full seven days; he wondered how frantic his wives must be.

His longing to return was like an arrow, his mind filled with the gentle smiles of his beloved wives and concubines at home, each blossom‑like grin flashing in his heart like a series of beautiful paintings.

So he unleashed his full power to fly, employing the Blue Silver Domain, the Blue Silver Emperor Right‑Leg Bone Soul Skill, Dragon Wings, the First Soul Ring, the Fourth Soul Ring and the Fifth Soul Ring—any means that could boost his flight speed, he used them all.

At that moment, anyone who saw Yu Tianyun soaring in the high sky would think he was a blue meteor dragging a long tail of flame across the heavens; its dazzling light illuminated the firmament, and the clouds that tried to block him were torn into massive fissures that could not close for a long time.

Half an hour later, looking down at the increasingly dense villages and towns below, Yu Tianyun, still high in the sky, gradually slowed his speed.

He knew in his heart that he was getting closer to Tiandou City, yet for some unknown reason a vague uneasiness rose within him, as if an invisible hand were gently tugging at his heart.

Suddenly, he noticed that the ground ahead was shrouded in shadow, becoming pitch dark as if it were a moonless night.

He looked up at the sky; the previously clear, cloudless firmament had become densely overcast, the thick clouds hanging like heavy mountains pressing down, threaded with flickering bolts of lightning that darted through the clouds like slender silver snakes.

"I probably won't get struck by lightning, right? By the way, I wonder if a bolt now would hurt me—what's the true power of naturally born thunder?"

"In stories of past lives, cultivators bathe in thunder to temper body and soul; I don't know if that works in this world either!"

Staring at the looming clouds, Yu Tianyun briefly entertained a reckless thought, but he shook his head quickly: "Better not. My wives and children on a warm bed are more practical; staying steady is better. But these clouds can't be bypassed, so I'll fly lower."

Yu Tianyun gradually lowered his altitude; to avoid drawing attention, he suppressed the thunder coiling around him and used the Blue Silver Domain to conceal his Soul Rings.

Thus, he silently flew into the night‑like darkness of the clouds.

The cloud mass was vast and extremely dense, resembling a huge black vortex, clearly brewing a breathtaking storm.

Just a kilometer after entering, a gale slammed at him; the trees below swayed wildly in the howling wind, their leaves rustling.

Flying tens of thousands of meters further, a torrential downpour cascaded like a waterfall, the rain pouring as if the Milky Way were reversed, enveloping the world in a heavy curtain of water.

The rain did not affect him; it formed a transparent shield around him, and Yu Tianyun seemed to tear a passage through the sky, racing forward.

Suddenly, the whole land lit up like daylight as a blinding bolt of lightning streaked down from the clouds; its crooked path was hard to read, yet it struck directly at Yu Tianyun.

The lightning's speed was terrifyingly fast, the fastest in the world, impossible for anyone to evade.

The bolt resembled a raging silver dragon, bearing endless destructive power, instantly enveloping Yu Tianyun.

Its dazzling light illuminated the entire dim world, accompanied by a deafening roar that seemed to tear everything apart.

In an instant, Yu Tianyun felt a searing pain as an unimaginably powerful current surged wildly inside him, like countless steel needles stabbing every muscle and nerve.

His hair stood on end, his face twisted in agony, and his body involuntarily trembled. Every cell endured the raging current as if he were in a furnace of hell.

Yu Tianyun's body was blasted downward, but he quickly steadied himself.

His mortal body is stronger than that of an average Title Douluo; although it hurt, he sustained no serious injury.

"Nai nai di xiong, niang xi pi de, ma le ge ba zi..." Yu Tianyun cursed nonstop, his eyes instantly bloodshot. Though the damage was minor, he was a mess; his clothes had turned to ash and drifted away, leaving only a charred body.

In an instant, he unleashed his soul power at full force, a blue‑purple aura bursting from his body to form a soul power shield, attempting to fend off any forthcoming lightning strikes.

The natural lightning differs from the lightning he creates by condensing soul power; the latter requires a Soul Master to actively control it before it can strike, making it naturally slower.

But natural lightning travels at pure light speed.

Yu Tianyun doesn't know the realm of gods, but he knows humans cannot possibly dodge it; the reaction time is insufficient, and even if it were, one would need instant‑movement or similar spatial skills to evade.

Just as Yu Tianyun raised a soul power shield, more lightning gathered in the clouds, twisting like snarling silver snakes, interweaving into a massive electric net.

It seemed his curses angered the storm cloud; immediately, the lightning struck him repeatedly with even greater ferocity. Each bolt carried a chilling force, as if the heavens' wrath poured down at once.

Seeing this, Yu Tianyun's heart jolted; he realized his simple soul power shield couldn't hold, so he prepared to use the Mountain Dragon King Soul Bone Skill — Mountain Dragon Yu — for defense.

But before he could release the soul skill, the thunder was already striking him.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

Each bolt's impact made his body convulse violently, and the flow of his soul power suddenly faltered.

The lightning surged through his muscles and meridians like a wild, untethered horse; his body went numb, his mind scrambled, and he could no longer stay aloft, plummeting straight down.

Yu Tianyun's body fell like a meteor, the gale howling past his ears.

At the last hair‑trigger moment before impact, he harnessed his strong will to forcefully redirect his chaotic soul power, flapped his Dragon Wings with all his might, and finally regained control, barely landing on the ground.

Now his whole body was not only charred but also skin‑cracked, the fissures resembling dried earth, making him look terribly miserable.

"Sss!" The barely‑surviving Yu Tianyun tried to smile, but a wave of excruciating pain hit, forcing him to grimace.

Because his resistance to lightning was extremely high, he had fully regained control of his body. Still shaken, he didn't bother checking his wounds; the First, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Soul Rings on his body ignited simultaneously to boost soul power and defense, and he finally unleashed the Mountain Dragon King Soul Bone Skill — Mountain Dragon Yu.

Only after completing all this did he finally exhale, look up at the sky, and think to himself, "I've landed; they shouldn't strike me again, right?"

"Boom—rumble—" The clouds crackled with even more intense thunder, the rolling thunder sounding like countless war drums striking together, shaking hearts with dread.

This made the freshly relieved Yu Tianyun's heart race wildly, "It can't really be striking me again, can it?"

Instinctively, he wildly churned his soul power, the Soul Rings blazing, no longer using the Blue Silver Domain to conceal them, pushing the Mountain Dragon Yu Soul Bone Skill to its limit, forming a solid shield.

Moments later, bolts of lightning rained down, illuminating the whole world; oddly, the lightning seemed to have eyes, striking directly at Yu Tianyun's position again.

Seeing this, Yu Tianyun's face turned pale, his white teeth clenched; there was no way to dodge, only to endure.

At that moment, he felt a slight relief, having preemptively unleashed his defense at full strength.

The thunder struck the shield repeatedly, sending rippling waves across it.

Yu Tianyun's soul power was depleting rapidly; although the Mountain Dragon Yu Soul Bone Skill's defense was formidable, it drained soul power immensely.

After holding out for five minutes, Yu Tianyun gradually felt fatigue; during those five minutes, half‑foot‑thick bolts of thunder continuously hammered his shield, the onslaught seemingly endless, wave after wave.

Then the thunder finally ceased, and Yu Tianyun looked up again; instantly he felt a urge to vomit blood, his eyelids twitching, as the thunderclouds still showed no sign of dispersing, continuing to gather massive lightning as if to deliver a final brutal strike.

Yu Tianyun wanted to cry but had no tears, yet he now noticed something odd.

If the first and second thunder strikes hit him because he was flying in the sky, that naturally attracted lightning, which makes sense.

But now he's on the ground, no longer aloft; how could he still attract lightning? It's absurd! "Could it be because I've sworn too much lately? Is Heaven fed up with my trash? Impossible!" Yu Tianyun began to doubt himself.

"No, attracting lightning, attracting? …" Just as Yu Tianyun was about to find the answer, a bucket‑thick blinding bolt struck straight down, like an angry giant dragon lashing out. The Mountain Dragon Yu shield rippled violently, seeming on the verge of shattering, and Yu Tianyun's soul power drained rapidly.

He dared not spare any concentration, fully driving the Mountain Dragon Yu; as long as its attack power stayed below god‑level, it couldn't break his defense, provided his soul power was sufficient.

But under the relentless lightning, his soul power fell below twenty percent.

Yu Tianyun's muscles tensed, his bones creaked, his gaze filled with bitter anger and despair, yet he still held on stubbornly.

The ground around them turned blackened under the lightning's barrage, with earth and stone splashing. Yu Tianyun's soul power light flickered on and off, like a dying candle in the wind, ready to go out at any moment, yet they gritted their teeth and persisted, letting out a low roar.

"Crack!" a Break sound rang out, and Yu Tianyun's heart thumped in response.

"Is it over? Yan Yan, Rong Rong, Zhu Qing, Zhu Yun, Er Long, Ling Ling, and Xiao Yue… I'm sorry, again…" Yu Tianyun's mind finally recalled the women who were calling him home.

But before they could finish the words in their heart, their vision went black and they lost consciousness.

At that moment, dozens of lightning bolts as thick as water jars fell in an instant over the area, all striking Yu Tianyun.

After the barrage of those lightning strikes, the area finally quieted, the thunderclouds in the sky gradually dispersed, and the sky began to clear.

The area was barren, leaving only a pitch‑black crater.

Yu Tianyun's body did not vanish in the thunder, but their appearance was horribly mangled, lying silently in the black crater like a shattered doll, a sight too dreadful to behold.

From a top view, their head was unrecognizable, scars interlaced, blood gushing, not a single hair left, the scalp peeled back, the skull appearing fractured.

The crosswise wounds on their face were deep enough to expose bone; the once handsome visage was now unrecognizable, their lips cracked dry like a drought‑parched riverbed, dried blood clinging to the corners of their mouth, a horrifying sight.

Looking at their body, their chest was a smear of blood and flesh, ribs clearly visible, arms and legs blackened like charcoal, skin peeled away, muscles exposed, tendons twisted, as if a demon had brutally ravaged them.

The blood mixed with rainwater at the wounds formed dark‑red streams, emitting a nauseating scent of gore.

The only relatively better part was the giant dragon; although it had not suffered severe damage, its massive body was swollen and red, covered with fine scars, and its pinkish head dripped blood, appearing especially fragile and pitiful amid the carnage.

Clearly, in the final moments, their body's instinct protected the vital area as much as possible. The man indeed regarded that spot as more important than his own life.

The rain gradually ceased, yet Yu Tianyun remained motionless, their fate uncertain, as if abandoned by the whole world, sinking alone in endless pain and darkness.

After an unknown amount of time, a footstep echoed through the desolate place, followed by a woman's startled cry: "His Highness, there's a person here!"

Then came a chaotic shuffle of footsteps and a shocked male voice: "Hm? Yu Tianyun? Someone, quickly take him away and rescue him with all force!"

Soon, a group gathered, carefully lifting the unconscious, grotesque Yu Tianyun and hurrying toward the distance. Their silhouettes, bathed in sunlight, cast long shadows, as if bearing Yu Tianyun's uncertain fate, gradually fading into the barren land.

And Yu Tianyun, lying on the stretcher, remained motionless; their shattered body, as the others moved them, bled anew at the wounds, staining the stretcher red, though it was unknown whether any thread of life remained.

…

(End of Chapter)