This bolt of lightning wasn't nearly as thick as the first four—it was tiny, no wider than a thumb. But the power it unleashed was absolutely unprecedented, and almost at the same moment, the fire-element Five-Element Fruit fully ripened and dropped from the Five-Element Tree.
Evan Chu snatched it up in a hurry, tossing it into his storage ring with a thought. Right then, the lightning bolt struck him; if he'd been even half a second slower, he wouldn't have gotten the fire fruit.
Actually, Evan didn't know this, but if a Five-Element Fruit isn't picked the moment it ripens, it will immediately sink into the earth and vanish. Even Luna had no idea about this; Evan just happened to get lucky and do the right thing by accident.
This bolt wasn't fire-red, but black-red. The instant it struck, even Luna felt a wave of despair—the terror of this lightning was beyond her imagination, and it absolutely shouldn't have appeared here.
Not even Heavenly Punishment should be this intense. Even Immortal Realm experts facing a God-tribulation might never encounter it. This really was Nine-Heaven Divine Thunder, but it was the ninth and final bolt—the strongest of them all.
If Evan Chu were killed by this lightning, Luna would be wiped out with him. She couldn't accept it—the two of them had survived so much, rising from 'trash' to a rare genius, only to be shattered by a single bolt. The blow was almost unbearable.
Now that Evan had obtained the Netherghost Violet Orchid, if he could break through to the Saint Martial Realm and master Windshift and Thundershift, he’d finally be able to restore Luna’s physical body.
Even though restoring her body would mean the Solarion Palace people would find her and take her away, Luna believed that with Evan’s heaven-defying cultivation speed, it wouldn’t be many years before they could meet again in the Immortal Realm. But now, it seemed everything was about to be destroyed by this one bolt of lightning.
At this moment, the dark clouds overhead gradually faded away. If you looked closely, you might spot a vague phantom of a middle-aged man above the clouds, smiling as he watched everything on the ground.
"Junior Brother, after this strike, you should become even stronger, right?" the phantom said softly, and then vanished in an instant.
After Evan was struck by the lightning, the desert within hundreds of li was utterly transformed. The yellow sand vanished, replaced by a bottomless, gigantic crater—a single bolt had carved out a pit a hundred li wide. The destructive force was simply unthinkable.
The moment the lightning hit, Evan knew he was done for. Under that strike, he felt utterly insignificant, completely powerless to resist. Even the lightning element within him seemed useless.
His Golden Dragon body's vaunted defense was like paper—instantly torn apart. In a flash, his massive dragon form was reduced to dust...
When the dust finally settled, everything seemed normal again. Every Netherbeast in the area had been wiped out by that overwhelming Heavenly Punishment lightning strike.
Was Evan dead? The answer was no. At the instant the lightning struck, he triggered the Timewheel Bracelet—his only hope of survival. Even his Fivefold Element-Shift undying body couldn't help him this time.
As the Golden Dragon body was struck, a flash of white light burst from Evan’s mouth. In the next instant, his dragon form turned to dust, but he managed to dodge the killing blow just in time.
Now, at the bottom of the giant crater, an old man with a face full of wrinkles and a head of white hair lay motionless on the ground. But his eyes were still open, quietly staring up at the sky.
"This time I really went too far... No idea how long it'll take to recover this body now!" Evan said with a bitter smile. He'd been through this before—back when he fought the Mad Butcher Demon General in the spatial black hole and used Star-Cleave with the Timewheel Bracelet, it took a whole year to recover.
Back then, he'd had Lynne Nie's help. But now, there wasn't a single woman by his side—absorbing yin energy was out of the question. The thought stabbed at his heart. Right now, he was completely powerless; apart from his eyes, he couldn't move at all. Yet somehow, his Chaos Dragon Force was still full, which he couldn't understand.
"Linfeng, don't be so pessimistic! Who would've thought we'd survive Heavenly Punishment? You should be grateful. Your situation is much better than last time—at least your Chaos Dragon Force is intact. Once the lightning residue fades, you’ll be able to use it. Then just heal with the wood element, and I bet you'll recover in no time," Luna said excitedly, sounding like she'd just escaped death.
Hearing Luna’s words, Evan was instantly relieved. If things were really as she said, then using the Timewheel Bracelet this time had been absolutely the right call. He vividly remembered this was the artifact’s final use—and now, he’d be able to fully unlock all of Lord Frostbane’s memories.
Soon, everything he hadn’t known before would become clear. He quickly checked his body and found his meridians filled with thunder crystals of various colors, slowly fusing together.
Evan knew exactly what this meant—these were Five-Element Thunder Crystals merging. Once they fused, he’d be even stronger than before.
He had no idea how long he lay there, but eventually he felt his Chaos Dragon Force was usable again. He immediately began channeling the wood element to heal his body.
Meanwhile, Faye Knox was buried under the sand. She’d fled at top speed, but the Heavenly Punishment lightning’s sheer power had left her badly injured. Luckily, she’d managed to escape beyond the hundred-li blast radius—otherwise, she’d be dead.
Even so, she was still buried by the falling sand. When she finally woke up and struggled free, she found her clothes had vanished and her entire body was pitch-black—just like Evan had looked before.
Seeing herself like this, Faye was shocked. But she quickly recovered: "That little thief... that little thief must’ve died under that freak lightning! Why did this happen? Why?"
She couldn’t help but cry, tears streaming down her face. "No, I have to find him! Maybe he’s not dead—he’s so fast, maybe he’s just hurt like me!" Faye blurted out, barely coherent.
But when she tried to fly, she found she couldn’t move at all—a searing, tearing pain shot through her heart... (Computer issues. Next chapter will be late, but I promise I won’t skip. Thanks for understanding.)