After a full day and night of absorbing energy, Evan Chu’s Chaos Dragon Force was completely restored, and his injuries had fully healed. The Savage Earth Dragon had already burrowed into the ground to recover. Evan glanced up at the distant sky and said:
"It’s time to check out the Thunder Pool. It’s a real shame I didn’t use the Wind-Binding Pearl’s spirit to immobilize the Galeclaw Eagle—wasted a perfectly good demon core for nothing."
Evan stood up, flashed forward, and sped toward the Thunder Pool. It wasn’t far from here, so he quickly reached the outer edge of the Thunder Pool.
The so-called Thunder Pool was actually just a valley, but it was a special one—surrounded on all sides by mountains, like four towering walls. To enter the Thunder Pool, you had to cross those mountains.
Evan flew up to the mountaintop and looked down, only to find that his eyes couldn’t penetrate the valley at all—he had no idea how big it was. The only thing he could see was the occasional massive thunderbolt crashing down from the sky, followed by deafening thunder.
The power of these thunderbolts wasn’t all that impressive—compared to the golden lightning spat out by the Galeclaw Eagle, they weren’t even in the same league. Without hesitation, Evan dove straight into the valley.
The moment he entered, he was stunned—it felt like stepping into another world. Thick mist was everywhere, impossible to see through; when he looked up, he couldn’t even see the sky, and the surrounding mountain walls had completely vanished.
"Could this be some kind of barrier? Did I just walk into a barrier world?" Evan wondered, feeling uneasy as thunderbolts kept smashing down from above, blasting craters into the ground.
"It is a barrier, and the entrance is right along the mountaintops," Luna said. "But now that you’re inside, getting out won’t be easy. Evan, you have no retreat—you’ll have to break the Thunder Pool’s barrier if you want to leave."
"Seriously? Don’t tell me someone actually set this up on purpose? That’s insane. I came here to look for the Thunder Spirit Pearl anyway, so I’m not leaving, but this barrier is way too weird," Evan said.
"This should be a naturally formed barrier," Luna said. "I’m not entirely sure what’s going on here—you’ll have to explore for yourself. Just be careful. I sense an extremely powerful divine sense inside."
Evan felt uneasy when he heard Luna’s words. He’d thought nothing here could threaten him except the thunder itself, but this powerful divine sense made him recall what the Demon Lord had warned him about, and the stone table and benches he’d once found in that cave.
"Could there really be some ancient hidden expert from the War of the Gods still here on the Divine Battlefield? If that’s true, I’m in serious trouble." The Demon Lord had said that after ten thousand years, anyone who survived would have reached the ninth layer of the Saint Martial Realm. Evan knew he couldn’t possibly fight someone at that level—it’d be suicide.
Still, since he was already inside, he had to find a way out. Even if he did run into one of those monsters, maybe he’d still have a shot at escaping—he could always burrow underground or use short-range teleportation to get away.
With that thought, Evan started walking deeper into the mist. The farther he went, the more frequent the thunderbolts overhead became—a few times, they nearly struck him.
He had no idea how long he’d been walking. From the mountaintop, the valley hadn’t looked that big, but now he realized he’d covered a huge distance and still hadn’t reached the end. That surprised him.
"Luna, where’s the Thunder Pool supposed to be? I’ve been walking forever and still haven’t seen any kind of pool. Is this some kind of illusion?" Evan asked.
"This isn’t an illusion—you’re just still in the outer region. The Thunder Pool is a strange place, or rather, it’s a completely independent space. In terms of size, it’s definitely not smaller than Skywind Valley. Just keep moving forward," Luna replied.
"Bigger than Skywind Valley? No way!" Evan was stunned, but the facts were right in front of him. Here, there was no day or night, no sense of direction—east, west, whatever—it really was a separate world.
Since the Thunder Pool existed here, he’d find it eventually. For now, he could only keep moving forward, careful not to fly blindly—random thunderbolts kept crashing down at terrifying speed, making it impossible to let his guard down.
At the same time, Evan stayed alert for any hidden peerless experts in the area, moving with utmost caution and constantly watching for any sudden attacks.
He had no idea how many days he’d been walking. Eventually, Evan stopped—by now, the lightning was so dense that every five steps brought another thunderbolt crashing down. He’d been struck at least a hundred times, and some of those bolts were every bit as powerful as the Galeclaw Eagle’s lightning.
To reach the Thunder Pool, he’d have to get through this wall of lightning first. He had no idea what kind of thunderbolts waited inside—if they were even stronger, things could get tricky.
"Evan, this lightning can’t really hurt you. You should use it for body refinement. Once you’ve adapted to the outer lightning, you’ll be able to withstand even stronger bolts inside the Thunder Pool," Luna said.
"I know, but getting struck by lightning isn’t exactly pleasant. My whole body goes numb, and sometimes I can barely move. If only I had something to shield me from it," Evan replied.
"This is a rare opportunity. It’ll boost both your defense and your strength. Plenty of people would kill for a chance like this, and you’re still complaining. You really don’t know how lucky you are," Luna said.
Evan stopped arguing. Luna clearly had her reasons, and he’d endured plenty of hardship before—there was no way he’d let a little numbness scare him off. Gritting his teeth, he pressed forward.
After who knew how many more lightning strikes, Evan stopped again. The thunderbolts now had color—mostly gold and red, some as thick as his arm. Getting hit by those was pure agony, and the bolts were so dense there was barely any space between them. Sometimes, two would hit in a single breath. Evan thought this might be the perfect spot for body refinement. If the lightning got any stronger, he might not be able to take it, so he’d have to adapt slowly before moving forward again.
At first, every strike left Evan’s whole body numb, but as time passed, the numbness faded. Now, he could resist the lightning almost completely—getting hit just stung a bit.
Evan decided to push on and challenge even stronger lightning. After walking who knew how much farther, he stopped again—not because of the thunderbolts, but because a black figure appeared in the distance...