Starting as a Grandmaster, all of my cultivation techniques are at max level.

Beyond the stone gate lay a hazy, gray world.

The moment Xia Jin stepped inside, she sensed something was wrong.

He looked back, but there was no sign of Jian Wuhen or Venerable Miaodi. Behind him, there was only the churning, thick fog and flashes of lightning hidden beneath it.

"This Thunder Pool seems to be quite extraordinary..." Xia Jin didn't immediately head in any particular direction, but instead surveyed his surroundings. However, he wasn't overly worried about himself or about Venerable Miaodi and the other person.

After all, judging from the older generation of people from the temple he had just met, even Jian Wuhen, who was the weakest of the three, was not the worst among the Earth-level disciples who entered the Thunder Pool Trial.

Unless you encounter any major trouble, you should be able to protect yourself.

After a moment of silence, Xia Jin randomly chose a direction and started walking forward.

However, he had only taken a few steps when a thin arc of lightning leaped out from the mist beside him and struck his shoulder.

Xia Jin paused, but before he could make a move, he discovered that the arc of electricity that struck him did not cause him any harm. Instead, it seemed to automatically decompose into spiritual energy with lightning attributes and directly merged into his body.

"What's going on?... " Xia Jin's eyes flashed with surprise.

He took a few more steps forward, and several more arcs of electricity surged from all directions, striking him. This time, he felt that sensation even more clearly than before.

"So that's it, it's actually the Divine Firmament Thunder Technique!" A thought flashed through Xia Jin's mind, and then she suddenly realized.

Previously, with the system's help, he had already perfected the Divine Firmament Thunder Technique. And it was precisely because of the Divine Firmament Thunder Technique that Xia Jin's physical body also possessed a trace of lightning attribute. The lightning within this thunder pool, a deadly threat to others, would be mistaken for his own kind by him.

"Hahahaha, so in that case, this Thunder Pool poses absolutely no threat to me! In fact, it's a great tonic for me!" Xia Jin suddenly smiled, plunging one hand into the mist beside him. He pulled out a bolt of lightning, crushed it, and took a deep, blissful breath, absorbing the lightning-infused spiritual energy directly into his body.

And it seems that she has tasted the sweetness of success, the thicker the fog, the more Xia Jin goes there.

The originally violent arcs of electricity surged towards him, but like swallows returning to their nests, they obediently merged into his body. From a distance, Xia Jin seemed to be enveloped in a layer of lightning, like a thunder god descending to earth.

......

After walking for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Xia Jin suddenly stopped and unconsciously looked ahead.

He could sense a violent aura rapidly approaching from within the thick fog ahead.

"Huh? What is it?"

Xia Jin narrowed her eyes and saw the thick fog churn, and a giant beast wrapped in lightning burst out of the fog.

Its shape is somewhat similar to that of a Qilin, with two horns on its head, scales covering its body, and its four hooves treading on thunder and fire.

"A thunder beast? This should be the outer edge of the Thunder Pool, so how could a thunder beast appear here?"

Xia Jin's expression turned somewhat strange. Before he could think further, the thunder beast had already rushed in front of him.

It opened its blood-red maw, and a thick bolt of lightning shot out, striking straight at Xia Jin.

The moment the lightning bolt struck the ground, the ground exploded, and debris flew everywhere.

But Xia Jin's figure had already disappeared from the spot.

"roar!"

The Thunder Beast roared and turned its head to look in another direction. There, Xia Jin stood three zhang away, observing it with great interest.

"You beast, you're weak, but you have quite the temper," Xia Jin chuckled.

The Thunder Beast seemed to understand his words, and its violent aura became even more intense.

It pounced again, its four hooves treading on lightning and fire, moving at an astonishing speed, and directly rammed into Xia Jin with its two horns.

Xia Jin neither dodged nor avoided, but instead raised her hand and struck with a palm.

The palm struck the thunder beast squarely on the head. The massive beast was as if it had been hit by a mountain; its entire body flew backward and gradually disintegrated in mid-air.

But the next moment, something surprising happened to Xia Jin.

Although the thunder beast's body was mostly smashed apart, in the blink of an eye, the surrounding lightning power surged wildly, and its body actually reformed and stood up again.

"Hmm? Is this thunder beast invincible?"

Xia Jin frowned.

Although he didn't use his full strength in that palm strike, it was enough to severely injure any cultivator below the Creation Realm. And this thunder beast recovered so quickly?

"roar!"

The Thunder Beast pounced again.

Xia Jin struck again, with another palm strike.

"Bang!"

The Thunder Beast was sent flying again, its body shattered once more. But after only two breaths, it reformed, and its aura seemed even stronger than before.

"Damn it, is this never going to end?!" Xia Jin's face immediately darkened.

A sun mark suddenly appeared between his brows, and his eyes were fixed on the body of the thunder beast in front of him.

This time, he saw it clearly: inside the Thunder Beast's body, there was a silver bead that was flashing. It was that bead that was drawing in the surrounding lightning power, causing it to recombine.

"That bead...it seems to be an extraordinary treasure as well!!"

A glint of light flashed in Xia Jin's eyes.

Just then, the Thunder Beast pounced for the third time.

Xia Jin sneered and went straight to meet her.

He was incredibly fast, so fast that the Thunder Beast couldn't react at all. In the blink of an eye, he was in front of the Thunder Beast, his right hand plunging directly into its chest.

"roar!"

Amidst the thunder beast's mournful roar, Xia Jin's right hand had already grasped the silver bead.

Squeeze hard, then pull.

I acquired the beads.

The Thunder Beast's body trembled violently, and bolts of lightning surged wildly from its body, but without the bead, it could no longer gather them. In just two breaths, its body completely collapsed, turning into countless arcs of electricity that dissipated into the air.

Xia Jin looked down at the beads in her hand.

The bead was about the size of a thumb. When held in the hand, one could clearly feel an extremely pure source of lightning power within it.

"The origin of lightning?!"

Xia Jin's pupils contracted slightly, and a look of shock appeared on her face.

Even a trace of lightning essence is priceless to those who cultivate lightning magic.

"No wonder that thunder beast could keep regenerating," Xia Jin muttered to herself. "So it actually had something like this inside its body."

"nice one."

Xia Jin smiled and put the bead into her bosom.

He didn't rush forward, but stood still, closing his eyes to sense his surroundings. After a moment, he opened his eyes and looked in one direction.

From that direction, an even stronger surge of lightning power could be faintly felt.

"Deep within the Thunder Pool... there should be even more treasures."

Xia Jin smiled and strode forward.

His figure quickly disappeared into the thick fog.

......

Shortly after Xia Jin left, the thick fog suddenly surged violently where he had just been standing.

A hand emerged from the mist.

The hand was dry and pale, like the hand of someone who had been dead for many years. It slowly reached out, its five fingers loosely clenched, and gently grasped in the direction Xia Jin had left.

The next moment, a tiny red arc of electricity emerged from the mist at the spot where Xia Jin had killed the thunder beast.

The red arc of electricity was as thin as a hair, yet it emitted an eerie glow. It seemed to have a life of its own, gently twisting in the air before slowly falling into the palm of the hand.

He grasped the wisp of red electricity in his hand and slowly withdrew into the mist.