Layer upon layer of purple clouds blanketed the golden radiance like heavy smog. Though the purple clouds were continuously melting away under the power of purification, the golden sunlight still could not penetrate to the bottom of the Lightning Pool.
Wave after wave of inhuman roars penetrated the muffled thunder, reaching the ears of the Crimson Sun Executioner.
His brows knit tight, the Crimson Sun Executioner did not hesitate to summon clear, brilliant pillars of gold. Thick as stone pillars, they crashed down into the depths of the Lightning Pool.
The roars from the bottom of the pool grew shriller, laced with agonizing screeching, yet the inhuman quality within them began to diminish.
The Crimson Sun Executioner breathed a sigh of relief and intensified the pillar-like golden beams. Maintaining such a spell consumed an immense amount of spiritual power, but when confronting pollution that was at least at the demigod level, he could not afford to be stingy with his power.
A moment later, the Thunder God's deep, resonant voice rose from the bottom of the Lightning Pool. "Dispel the divine power of the sun. I'm in much better shape now."
The Crimson Sun Executioner frowned; he could hear the repressed pain and weakness in the Thunder God's voice.
The Thunder God's voice rolled and echoed. "This is corruption from a deity of the Biological Alchemy Society, beyond the demigod level, but not enough to corrupt me while I am protected by the Lightning Pool. At most five hours, and I will be able to purge the pollution... In fact, it is your divine power of the sun that is causing me immense pain and distress."
The Crimson Sun Executioner pondered for a second and quietly withdrew the golden beams of light.
As a level 11 demigod equipped with the demigod-tier item that was the Lightning Pool, Heaven's Punishment's Chief Prosecutor indeed had little reason to fear corruption.
Looking down at the pool churning with dark clouds and crackling with purple lightning, the Crimson Sun Executioner called out in a loud voice:
"Thunder God, Channing Lu was merely an abandoned pawn sent by the evil faction to detonate this corruption; their true target is you. But such corruption is insufficient to truly threaten you, so the evil faction must have another move up their sleeves.
"I know Ling Tuo all too well. Since he has set his sights on you, this will definitely not be the end of it."
After a few seconds of silence, a booming voice echoed from the bottom of the Lightning Pool:
"The evil faction's goal is likely to bog me down with corruption so they can plot actions in the real world. I'll send you out right now. Inform Milton Mack of this, and he will warn the major orthodox organizations.
"Hah. If they think a bit of corruption can rob me of my combat power, they underestimate me far too much."
The Crimson Sun Executioner nodded. "Once I inform Milton, I wish to re-enter the Spirit Realm to aid you in purifying the corruption. If the evil faction is indeed planning an operation, then time is of the essence."
The Thunder God did not refuse. "Very well."
The Crimson Sun Executioner felt a slight sense of relief. Thunder Mages might be fierce and hot-tempered, but they were still capable of rational thought. If he had been dealing with a Fire Mage, the reply would probably have been: *I'm not listening! I'm not listening! I can burn away this filth myself. If you dare help, you're looking down on me!*
Just then, a deep rift suddenly tore open in the sky above the Lightning Pool, and howling winds blew forth from the spatial passageway.
A tall, slender figure glided out from the spatial rift.
She was an exceptionally gorgeous woman with platinum-blonde hair cascading down her back and striking lake-blue eyes. Clad in a black nano-combat suit, her figure had sleek, streamlined curves like a graceful fish, unlike those women with oversized busts and hips who went out of their way to sculpt an exaggerated hourglass silhouette.
The instant the woman appeared, the surrounding air currents seemed to come alive, swirling around her like playful sprites.
In her hand, she held a pale-blue staff topped with an embedded crystal orb. Inside the orb, a miniature sky seemed to stretch out, complete with leisurely drifting white clouds.
It was none other than the Chief Executive of Heaven's Punishment, Boreas.
***
In the Grand Marshal's study.
The President said:
"That member who managed to survive was named Abe Marshall. Upon learning of the collapse of March Mountain and the consecutive deaths of his kin, he went into hiding, intending to investigate the truth in secret and avenge his family.
"At the time, I happened to be building my own faction in the Free Confederation, so I was paying close attention to the March Mountain collapse. That was how I managed to find him before Heaven's Punishment and the evil faction could.
"After a pleasant conversation, I learned from him the secret that the Marshall family held."
Fu Qingxuan immediately swallowed the chocolate bean in her mouth and leaned forward. "What secret?"
The President said in a heavy voice:
"A Dominator of the Marshall family unlocked a hidden quest in an S-rank Spirit Realm, which led him into an ancient ruin. A mural within the ruin depicted a piece of history:
"'In a distant, unknown era of antiquity, there once lived a mighty Divine Lord who wielded authority over the sky and lightning. He could see everything in the world, and his wrath transformed into thunderbolts that could descend upon any corner of the earth. His rule was impregnable, and all gods bowed beneath his power.'
"Beyond the mural, that Dominator of the Marshall family also discovered a formation left behind by that Divine Lord—a formation capable of reproducing his divine power."
Fu Qingxuan's pupils dilated as she sat frozen in shock. The first figure that sprang to her mind was Empress Wa, the Administrator with the dual classes of Musician and Scholar.
According to what the President had said, that Divine Lord of antiquity must have also been a dual-class Administrator: Wind Mage and Thunder Mage!
The President glanced at the stunned Fu Qingxuan and continued:
"The Marshall family was a powerful Spirit Realm clan. Their family had produced a Vice President and two Secretaries of State. Ambitious to a fault, they planned to convene a conference and publicly unveil this secret.
"Just think: once the secret came out, the two Chiefs would inevitably turn against each other, tearing Heaven's Punishment apart. The Marshall family wanted to seize the opportunity to take power and establish a new official organization. Alas, they vastly overestimated themselves and grossly underestimated the Spirit Realm world, bringing about the annihilation of their clan. That is the truth behind the collapse of March Mountain.
"The collapse occurred in 2007. Five years later, while executing a secret mission, the Thunder God was ambushed by the evil faction and nearly killed. Edison fought desperately to save him, only to suffer an 'unshakeable Gaze.' Grand Marshal, you are a Scout; you understand what I mean."
Fu Qingxuan's unfocused pupils contracted, her gaze sharpening bit by bit.
"The Covenant of Freedom's spies permeate every major organization, and the Marshall family likely had them as well. Through their spies, they learned the secret that the Wind and Thunder classes could be fused, so they orchestrated the collapse of March Mountain to bury this secret forever.
"Then, the Covenant of Freedom leaked the secret to Heaven's Punishment's Chief Executive, Boreas, leading to the assassination attempt on the Thunder God ten years ago... You're right. Boreas doesn't necessarily have to be a fallen one. The Covenant of Freedom had no need to corrupt her; merely telling her the secret would guarantee that she'd find a way to kill the Thunder God. The temptation was simply too great."
The reason the Covenant of Freedom chose Boreas rather than the slightly stronger Thunder God was likely because Thunder Mages were righteous and resolute, capable of guarding their core convictions even when faced with temptation.
In comparison, divulging it to the Chief Executive was much safer.
Pausing briefly, she analyzed, "Ten years ago, for Boreas to dare join hands with the Covenant of Freedom to assassinate the Thunder God, she must have had more than just knowledge of the secret. She probably possesses the formation left behind by that ancient Divine Lord—given to her by the Covenant of Freedom."
She suddenly knitted her brows. "If Boreas isn't a fallen one, why would the Covenant of Freedom help her? If she seizes the Thunder God's essence and becomes a dual-class demigod, that would be catastrophic for the evil faction."
"I don't know, which is why I've been watching from the sidelines," the President said.
"Watching from the sidelines..." The Grand Marshal raised an eyebrow. "You didn't disclose this to the Thunder God?"
The President shook his head. "You have to understand that given the Thunder God's temperament, telling him would very likely cause Heaven's Punishment to fracture, which would be detrimental to the bigger picture. Secondly, what proof is there to demonstrate that Boreas was behind the assassination ten years ago? Without evidence, you cannot bring down a demigod. A skilled hunter must know how to bide their time and wait for a single lethal strike. That's why, all these years, I've held onto Abe Marshall as my trump card."
The Grand Marshal's eyes lit up. "Where is Abe Marshall?"
The President let out a long sigh to cover his grief:
"He was taken out!
"All these years, I sealed his spiritual power and hypnotized him regularly so he genuinely believed he was an ordinary mortal. I calculated his dungeon schedule as meticulously as a woman's menstrual cycle. The moment he entered a dungeon, I'd fish him right out, getting pummeled by the Spirit Realm every single time. And in the end, it all went down the drain!
"The espionage mission I arranged was detected long ago. The base-raiding op I planned almost crashed and burned... I can't keep grinding like this anymore! I just want to nurture a Lord of the Sun and let the Day Wanderer class tear each other apart like dogs.
"Hey, hey, Grand Marshal, interested in joining me?"
Fu Qingxuan gave a cold refusal. "What the Five Elements Alliance is grooming is the Lord of the Stars."
"Yet your Lord of the Stars seems to have vanished from the face of the earth, not doing a damn thing," the President grumbled.
"If you could see through his scheming, he wouldn't be worthy of the title 'Lord of the Stars,'" the Grand Marshal snorted. "Precisely because no one can see it or fathom it, he can deliver a fatal blow to the evil faction at the critical moment."
***
The Crimson Sun Executioner gazed at the platinum-haired woman and bowed slightly. "Your Excellency Chief Executive."
Boreas did not look at him. After soaring out of the spatial passageway, she immediately fixed her gaze upon the Lightning Pool, her eyes seeming to pierce through the dense layers of purple clouds and lightning plasma to perceive the demigod beneath.
"Boreas, what are you doing here?!" A booming voice echoed from beneath the pool.
Looking down from above, the King of the Sky known as Boreas said indifferently, "Thunder God, how many years has it been since we advanced to demigod rank?"
"Half a century."
"Yes, half a century." Boreas's voice seemed to merge into the air currents, ubiquitous yet detached and distant. "In this half-century, I haven't been able to find the final piece of primordial power, and neither have you. The dungeon cycle for a demigod is simply too long—despairingly long."
The bottom of the Lightning Pool fell silent for a few seconds before another boom resounded. "Did you come here just to indulge in female sentimentality?"
Boreas shook her head. "What I came to tell you is that ten years ago, I finally found a way to advance."
The purple clouds abruptly roiled, and a booming voice laced with both astonishment and excitement rose from the depths: "You found the final portion of primordial power? Excellent! Your luck is better than mine. I congratulate you, Boreas."
Across Boreas's stoic, aloof countenance flickered a trace of complexity, and she sighed. "Thunder God, ever since the assassination failed ten years ago, I've been waiting for this moment—waiting for you to fall into a weakened state, waiting for your Lightning Pool to be contaminated."
"What did you say?!" A deafening roar erupted from beneath the Lightning Pool. "Boreas, what are you talking about?!"
Boreas gave no reply. Waving the Wind God Scepter, she conjured a protective barrier that enveloped the Lightning Pool.
Immediately after, she opened her inventory and retrieved a twenty-meter-wide stone disc with one hand.
Half of the disc was inscribed with runes flowing like wind, while the other half bore incantations jagged like lightning, each clearly dividing the surface into two distinct halves.
Boom!
Thunder roared deafeningly as a blinding flash of lightning shot up from the bottom like a rising rocket.
The Thunder God was coming out!
Surging forth with thunderous fury!
Boreas's expression remained calm. Without haste, she raised her hand and pressed her palm downward.
The purple clouds blanketing the surface of the Lightning Pool abruptly sank, forced back down into the pool along with the bolt of lightning that was about to break through.
Gripping her scepter, Boreas spread her arms wide and began chanting an arcane, majestic incantation.
As the incantation rang out, a mysterious power descended upon the stone disc, causing the two sets of incantations on its surface to light up one after another and rotate in reverse directions.
The wind incantations shifted counterclockwise upward while the lightning incantations moved counterclockwise downward; colliding together, the two sets of runes rapidly merged.
Boom!
The stone disc shuddered, like a machine dormant for years beginning to awaken and turn.
Two vortexes formed from the stone disc: one pulling downward to siphon the power of the Lightning Pool, and one drawing upward to absorb the strength of Boreas and the Wind God Scepter.
These two powers generated swirling currents through the wind runes and cast a brilliant blue radiance from the lightning runes.
The Thunder God roared in rage, attempting to call back the siphoned spiritual power and primordial essence, but his efforts merely caused a brief pause in the vortex before it resumed its operation.
In contrast, Boreas offered not the slightest resistance to the disc's suction, even voluntarily channeling her primordial spiritual power into it as she remarked indifferently:
"Thunder God, do not resist. Wind and lightning originate from the same source; mutual attraction is inherent to their nature, and no one can prevent it."
The stone disc possessed no offensive power; it was not even a particularly mighty item. Rather, it acted like a fuse, igniting the latent properties of the wind and lightning spiritual power to trigger an irreversible fusion between them.
Chapter 771