Chapter 544: Lei Wangtan

Li Luo and Lu Ming walked along the staircase. They had no idea how many steps they had climbed when, at last, a light appeared in the dimness ahead. The two exchanged a glance, quickened their pace, and stepped through into the light.

The view before their eyes instantly opened up.

Their gazes almost simultaneously dropped to a spot some ten-plus meters below, where a silver-colored pool sat.

No, perhaps it shouldn't be called a pool.

Because what lay inside was not ordinary water, but a kind of silver lightning pulp. Countless bolts of lightning leapt out from within, transforming into arcs of electricity, crackling and popping as they went.

"This is Lei Wangtan!"

Lu Ming stared at the silver pool, unable to hold back an exclamation, her beautiful eyes brimming with pleasant surprise.

"Lei Wangtan?" Li Luo's expression shifted.

Lu Ming nodded with some excitement, saying: "I've studied the Thunder Roar Tree of the Black Wind Empire. They say Lei Wangtan is the greatest benefit of the Thunder Roar Tree. The lightning pulp here is what the Thunder Roar Tree accumulates over the years by drawing in the thunder energy between heaven and earth. In the Black Wind Empire, Thunder Roar Mountain belongs to the imperial family, but ordinary members of the royal house—even if they earn the greatest of merits—can at most only obtain a Thunder Roar Fruit. Only the one who can ascend to the throne has the qualification to open the Thunder Roar Tree and enter Lei Wangtan for tempering and cultivation."

"You really know quite a lot," Li Luo said, surprised.

"Because I myself possess a Lei Xiang, I've naturally looked into all sorts of unusual things related to thunder energy, and the Black Wind Empire's Thunder Roar Tree is one of them. It's just that the Black Wind Empire never allowed outsiders into Thunder Roar Mountain in the past, so I could only read about it in some miscellaneous travelogues of the various kingdoms."

"They say this Lei Wangtan can not only temper the physical body, but anyone who enters it will surely be able to forge a Thunder Roar Physique!"

Hearing this, Li Luo couldn't help but feel his heart stir. He then cupped his fists toward the surroundings and said with a smile: "Many thanks for the gift, Tree Brother."

Clearly, the Thunder Roar Tree did not possess the complicated emotions of humans. In its view, Li Luo and the other had saved it, so naturally it had to give its utmost in return.

Li Luo and Lu Ming did not dawdle. Their figures leapt, and they landed just outside Lei Wangtan.

Li Luo crouched down and carefully touched the lightning pulp with his palm. Immediately, a tingling, stinging pain shot through his hand, and at the same time he clearly felt the flesh and blood at his palm grow active, as if cheering and leaping with joy.

"What a fine thing," Li Luo marveled. Just a single touch had caused such a violent reaction in his own flesh and blood—one could see how obvious the pulp's tempering effect on the physical body was.

"If I temper myself properly here, probably the next time I unleash the second layer of Elephant God Power, my arms shouldn't end up torn apart like that." Li Luo's heart was full of anticipation. The Elephant God Power of this Mystic Elephant Blade was indeed domineering, but it also demanded a great deal from the body's strength. If he himself didn't possess the Water Xiang, Light Xiang, and Wood Xiang—these three Xiang Powers that came with their own healing—he feared his arms would have been ruined long ago.

But relying on healing to offset the burden Elephant God Power placed on the body was never a long-term solution, so

strengthening the physical body had always been something Li Luo was urgently eager to achieve.

And Lei Wangtan fit his requirements perfectly.

"Li Luo, this time I really must thank you." Beside him, Lu Ming finally drew her gaze back from Lei Wangtan. She turned her eyes toward Li Luo, expressing her gratitude with a faintly awkward air.

Lu Ming knew perfectly well that following Li Luo deep into Thunder Roar Mountain this time had let her stumble into a great opportunity for nothing. After all, for someone like her who possessed a Lei Xiang, "Lei Wangtan" might well mean even more than it did to Li Luo.

So she felt she owed him a favor.

But her own personality was the rather cold sort, and saying thanks to his face still made it a little hard for her to bring herself to do.

Facing Lu Ming's thanks, Li Luo simply waved a hand and said with a smile: "Don't feel like you owe me. You've helped me too. If it weren't for you, I might well have fallen. We're just cooperating with each other, that's all."

"If you really feel grateful, then just stop holding a grudge over me poisoning you before."

Lu Ming's cheeks flushed faintly red, and she said no more.

"Then I'm going in," she said.

"Wait."

Hearing Li Luo's words, Lu Ming looked over in confusion.

Li Luo asked seriously: "We don't have to take our clothes off, right? This feels just like taking a bath."

Lu Ming's fair cheeks reddened. She pouted in annoyance: "In your dreams."

Then she took the lead, her long legs striding out, and walked straight into Lei Wangtan, found a spot, and sat down cross-legged.

As Lu Ming entered the pool, the lightning pulp in the area around her began to churn, like a viscous fluid, gradually covering her slender, delicate body. Lightning bolts leapt wildly across its surface, crackling and popping.

Yet Lu Ming's expression was remarkably calm, as if she felt nothing at all.

Seeing this, Li Luo was finally reassured. He walked to another area

and jumped straight in.

Plop.

Lightning pulp splashed up, and Li Luo's body was instantly submerged by it.

Then he felt a violent surge of thunder energy pouring in through every pore of his body. In that instant, Li Luo's hair stood straight up, and an extreme stabbing pain exploded outward from all over him, catching him completely off guard and drawing a scream from his lips.

Thunder energy rampaged through his flesh and blood. The scalding, searing, violent sensation did make his blood and flesh respond intensely, but the pain was also an exquisite kind of agony.

"She tricked me!"

Li Luo grimaced. Clearly, Lei Wangtan was extraordinarily painful, yet Lu Ming had just put on that calm act—clearly she had misled him on purpose.

The commotion on Li Luo's side also made Lu Ming open her eyes and glance over. Her gaze held a hint of puzzlement—why did this guy look like he'd fallen into a wok of hot oil? Clearly on her side she only felt a slight tingle of numbness.

But watching Li Luo's pain, it didn't seem faked either.

So Lu Ming swept a glance over Lei Wangtan. Perhaps because she herself possessed a Lei Xiang, she noticed that a great deal of thunder energy was surging like electric pythons, and the direction they were surging toward was precisely where Li Luo was.

Bolt after bolt of electric python gathered at Li Luo's position, growing dazzlingly brilliant, and Li Luo was completely covered and enveloped by that lightning.

Seeing this, she immediately understood.

At once, she cast a somewhat envious glance at the howling Li Luo.

"This Thunder Roar Tree really does distinguish between reward and punishment."

The thunder energy surging toward Li Luo's side was undoubtedly far more abundant. And here, the only one that could control the energy of Lei Wangtan was the Thunder Roar Tree. Clearly, the Thunder Roar Tree also knew that in this rescue, Li Luo's role had been greater than Lu Ming's, so the gift it gave was also far more generous.

"What a guy who doesn't know how good he has it."

Lu Ming muttered. Although Li Luo might be suffering more intense pain right now, the benefits he would ultimately obtain would undoubtedly far surpass hers. If the two of them could trade, Lu Ming would not hesitate for a moment to take on that agony of thunder tempering.

But clearly, this kind of agony wasn't something just anyone could have if they wanted it.

So Lu Ming stopped thinking about it, closed her eyes, and began to enjoy the gift she was about to receive.