Chapter 434: Attracting Lightning

The incessantly trembling Four Spirits Square Cauldron made Zhang Nuo and Su Haizhen feel increasingly uneasy! This time, the trembling was more intense than any time before!

Although Zhang Nuo had cultivated the Inner Scene Art to the Fourth Layer, his powerful Divine Sense still could not probe outside the tripod!

"This time it's a bit special! It seems another force is striking the Small Tripod!"

Su Haizhen was meticulous; after blinking her bright eyes several times, she finally sensed that another force was approaching the Four Spirits Square Cauldron! Zhang Nuo knitted his brows tightly, his thoughts racing as he kept his eyes fixed on the surrounding tripod walls!

As time passed, the Small Tripod shook more and more violently! It even became difficult for Zhang Nuo and the other to stand steady! Holding each other's hands tightly and looking at their mutual pale faces, both of them understood in their hearts that if the Four Spirits Square Cauldron were broken, they would have no chance of survival at all!

Even though Zhang Nuo's cultivation had advanced to the Nascent Soul Late Stage Great Perfection at this moment, making him a true Great Cultivator, he was still helpless against the terrifying cold Qi within the Nine Nether Cold Pool!

"Boom!"

A loud noise suddenly rang out, and the Small Tripod trembled several times along with it. After a bout of shaking, the Small Tripod stabilized once again! Zhang Nuo, with a livid face, let his gaze wander around the Small Tripod, but nothing had changed; a layer of white frost still hung on the tripod walls!

Just as Zhang Nuo was feeling suspicious, a strange change suddenly occurred! He saw a pale red light begin to flicker on the white frost of the tripod walls. Following the appearance of this light, arcs of purple lightning leaped out, covering the entire surface of the tripod walls!

The arcs emitted a "squeaking" sound, just like thousands of birds chirping together! The already limited space was filled with the sound of the arcs, appearing extremely piercing!

"This... this is Purple Lightning Wild Thunder! That fellow Xuan Jin succeeded!"

From within his body came Chunyangzi's nearly frantic roar. Zhang Nuo, in addition to his shock, heard his words and his pupils suddenly constricted as he looked carefully at the purple arcs crawling all over the tripod walls!

He saw that these arcs were as thin as silk, and every time they leaped, they released powerful might, such that even the white frost attached to the tripod walls could not contend with them! Before long, the white frost was scattered by the purple arcs, turning into wisps of pure Spiritual Qi drifting within the Small Tripod!

"Purple Lightning Wild Thunder! Xuan Jin succeeded! Haha!"

Facing these lightning bolts, Zhang Nuo not only felt no fear, but instead burst into loud laughter, the excitement in his heart overflowing in his expression!

Only at this moment did Su Haizhen clearly understand what the purple lightning that had entered the Small Tripod was! However, what surprised her was what method Xuan Jin had used to get these lightning bolts into the Small Tripod?

One must know that the previous dark blue arcs in the Four Spirits Square Cauldron had all vanished into nothingness under the long-term erosion of the cold Qi!

Just as they were completely baffled, a yellow figure flashed on one side of the tripod wall, and after stumbling a few times, it rushed into the interior of the Small Tripod!

Almost without any hesitation, Zhang Nuo guessed it must be Xuan Jin. He came to the front of the yellow figure in a few steps, just about to reach out to support him! Who would have thought that a burst of extreme cold Qi would rush out from Xuan Jin's body, almost wrapping Zhang Nuo inside!

With a flash, Zhang Nuo dodged far away, his terrified gaze falling upon Xuan Jin! At this moment, although Xuan Jin did not have white frost condensed from cold Qi on his body, the whole person looked as if he had been fished out of an ice hole; as long as one got close, a bone-chilling cold would immediately be felt!

"Xuan Jin!"

After calling out worriedly, Xuan Jin slightly raised his head. One could see a layer of metallic luster on the surface of his skin, and it was precisely this luster that had saved his life!

"Master! I have finally guided the Purple Lightning Wild Thunder onto the Four Spirits Square Cauldron!"

Due to the erosion of the cold Qi, Xuan Jin found it very difficult even to open his mouth at this moment. He moved his chin a few times before saying this listlessly!

Although Zhang Nuo and Su Haizhen had guessed earlier that it was Xuan Jin who had guided the Purple Lightning Wild Thunder, they were still greatly shocked after receiving confirmation from his own mouth!

"How did you do it?"

Su Haizhen's small mouth was slightly agape, and it took her a long time to ask this! But Xuan Jin no longer had the strength to answer her; his face only stiffened into a smile, and then his body curled up, changing back into the original appearance of a Spirit Insect!

This sudden change made Zhang Nuo cry out in alarm. He moved to rush up, but before he could reach Xuan Jin, the cold Qi on his body forced him back!

Once a Spirit Beast undergoes the Transformation Stage, it will only return to its original form if it is of its own volition or if it has suffered heavy injuries. It was very clear that Xuan Jin belonged to the latter; it seemed he must have suffered a great deal to be able to guide the Purple Lightning Wild Thunder onto the Small Tripod!

Looking at the unconscious Xuan Jin, Zhang Nuo stamped his feet in anxiety! He prayed silently in his heart that this Mysterious Heaven Gold-Devouring Insect must not have anything happen to it!

Just as Zhang Nuo was worrying about the Spirit Insect, a strange change suddenly occurred on the four tripod walls of the Four Spirits Square Cauldron! The surroundings that were originally covered by white frost had the frost melted away when the purple arcs appeared, and on the smooth tripod walls, four ferocious beast heads appeared!

These four beast heads were exactly the same as the four ancient lightning-controlling sacred beasts carved outside the tripod, except that their outlines were traced out by dark blue arcs!

"Awoo!"

Don't look at them as just phantom images created by arcs; the sound of their roars was exactly the same as the real sacred beasts! Zhang Nuo and Su Haizhen both covered their ears at the same time, but the cries of the sacred beasts still came in like maggots on a tarsal bone!

Clenching his teeth tightly, the sound of the four beasts roaring together was almost no different from Zhang Nuo's Nine Dragon Chant Sword Array! The sound entering his ears made his mind tremble; fortunately, it was only one sound. If they had roared a few more times, even if Zhang Nuo had cultivated the Inner Scene Art, he probably wouldn't have been able to bear it!

He raised his head and glanced at Su Haizhen, only to see that she was no better off than him; her jade hands were firmly covering her ears, and her brows were almost knitted into a knot!

With a movement, Zhang Nuo arrived in front of his beloved, reached out, and took her into his arms! He then used his own Spiritual Pressure to protect her!

At the same time, the four types of lightning-controlling sacred beasts that appeared around the tripod walls opened their large mouths together, continuously absorbing the purple arcs surging in from the outside!

With the four giant mouths working together, it didn't take long for those purple arcs to disappear completely. Not long after, many more purple arcs would immediately surge in!

Just like this, repeating for several days, the four sacred beasts were like bottomless pits that could never be filled, greedily absorbing the Purple Lightning Wild Thunder that kept being transmitted in!

During these few days, Xuan Jin finally woke up. He shook the pair of wings on his back that were as thin as cicada wings, and with a slight sway of his body, he transformed back into human form again!

At this moment, the cold Qi on his body had dissipated quite a bit, and the whole person looked to have some vitality!

"Xuan Jin! It's great that you're awake!"

Looking at the anxious-faced Zhang Nuo, Xuan Jin blinked his eyes a few times, releasing the metallic luster once again!

"This bit of cold Qi couldn't cause me much damage! It just consumed some extra vital energy!"

With a faint smile, Xuan Jin looked more like a human cultivator at this moment. He slowly stood up and looked at the surrounding tripod walls, his heart also filled with shock!

"How did you guide the Purple Lightning Wild Thunder onto the Small Tripod?"

During the few days Xuan Jin was unconscious, this question had been lingering in Zhang Nuo's mind, and despite thinking about it for a long time, he had never been able to figure it out!

"After I left the Small Tripod that day, I broke a hole in the solid ice on the outer perimeter, and then I drilled toward the ground below the Small Tripod! However, the cold Qi coming from underground was even stronger than I had anticipated!"

Speaking to this point, a painful expression appeared on Xuan Jin's face; it seemed that everything he had endured back then was not something Zhang Nuo, who was inside the tripod, could imagine!

"Forced by necessity, I had no choice but to use my own cultivation art to dissolve the cold Qi accumulated in my body every time I traveled a distance underground! Just like that, two days later, I finally reached the location of the Cold Vein that Master mentioned!"

Zhang Nuo's eyes lit up! The location of the Cold Vein was precisely the source of the cold Qi in this Cold Pool; he believed the cold Qi there would be even more intense! Sure enough, Xuan Jin's next words almost made his jaw drop!

"When I was still a few feet away from the Cold Vein, I could no longer get any closer. With my current cultivation, if I were to get even a fraction closer, I would be completely frozen! And I wouldn't even have a chance to survive! But this distance was already enough for me, because right around the Cold Vein, I discovered the Purple Lightning Wild Thunder!"

"It seems the records in the Jade Slip were not wrong! The Purple Lightning Wild Thunder is indeed derived from the Cold Vein!"

Zhang Nuo nodded slightly. If he hadn't obtained the information from the Jade Slip that Su Haizhen brought, he would never have thought, even if he were worked to death, that the Purple Lightning Wild Thunder was a derivative of the Cold Vein!

"However, the Purple Lightning Wild Thunder located around the Cold Vein didn't have much might; it seemed to have been in a suppressed state all along! Even so, there was no way to collect those lightning bolts!"

Hearing this, Su Haizhen and Zhang Nuo looked at each other, both seeing confusion in each other's eyes! Since there was no way to collect them, what method did Xuan Jin use to guide these lightning bolts onto the Small Tripod?

Xuan Jin seemed to see their confusion. He stretched out two fingers and then separated them to the maximum extent! Pointing at the two fingertips with his other hand, he said very mysteriously:

"These two fingertips are like the positions of the Purple Lightning Wild Thunder and the Four Spirits Square Cauldron; I just built a 'bridge' between them!"

As he spoke, Xuan Jin placed the fingers of his other hand flat and bridged them across the two fingertips! This time, Zhang Nuo and Su Haizhen suddenly realized the truth!

So it turns out Xuan Jin utilized some kind of object to connect the Purple Lightning Wild Thunder to the Small Tripod!