Chapter 4887 — Giving Up Halfway?

But this question truly had no answer; anyone else would likely have scratched their scalp raw by now. For a Xuan Sheng expert, the other individual spirit-root attributes would indeed persist, but what would truly prove decisive in the future was the multi-attributed spirit root formed by fusion—in other words, whichever attributes one fused would directly determine one's strength after the Xuan Sheng breakthrough!

Ice, mist, and lightning—these three attributes were exceedingly rare, and all of them were highly useful. Wei Zhao was unwilling to rule out any one of them. As for the remaining five conventional attributes, they could not simply be discarded either—at the very least, he had always wielded fire-attribute martial techniques smoothly, not to mention that his ultimate trump card, the Five Elements Killing Qi, was a move built upon the foundation of all five conventional attributes.

He thought and thought until his head had swollen several sizes. There was no attribute he was willing to give up . . .

To be so utterly vexed at the very moment of charging toward the Xuan Sheng breakthrough—surely there had never been anyone like him in history, nor would there ever be again. Just as Wei Zhao was tangled in his dilemma, a deafening boom suddenly exploded overhead, and a pillar of lightning so thick it was visible to the naked eye came crashing down without the slightest warning!

For other people's lightning tribulations, the lightning pillar at most was as thick as a water bucket, and even that was an imposing sight. Wei Zhao's, though—well, this was no water bucket; this was a top-grade water vat!

"Hahahahaha!" Bao Zuoliang and Su Kesheng, hiding in their corner, nearly doubled over laughing at this shocking spectacle. Even they, the two masterminds behind it all, had never imagined the scene would be so magnificent and terrifying.

With a lightning tribulation so savage and horrifying, to say nothing of a mere Wei Zhao—even a Kaishan-stage titan struck head-on by such a bolt would surely have croaked on the spot!

The other onlookers all wore expressions of horror, and a good number of them recoiled on the spot. They had no idea there was more to this than met the eye; they assumed the tribulation nodes here were simply this savage. If they themselves went in and received the same treatment, wouldn't they be charred to cinders in a matter of moments?

At this moment, Wei Zhao himself—the man at the center of the tribulation node—was equally stunned. This top-grade lightning pillar had come too abruptly, catching him somewhat off guard. Yet once he reacted, he was not alarmed but delighted!

He had been worrying that the power of lightning was insufficient, and now a top-grade lightning pillar had descended from the heavens. Judging by its might, it was likely more than ten times that of anyone else's. Now not only did he have hope for the triple fusion, he could even begin to entertain thoughts of an eightfold one.

But in the next instant, when the lightning pillar struck his body, that little thrill was blasted to smithereens, and all that remained in his mind was one final sensation.

Agony—agony beyond compare!

From childhood onward, Wei Zhao had endured all manner of suffering. Before he made his name in the secular world, he had even undergone specialized resistance training against electric shocks; withstanding all forms of attack, electric shocks included, was the bare minimum for an assassin, to say nothing of the fact that he had received the lightning inheritance of a giant electric eel and possessed a lightning-attribute spirit root within his body.

But Wei Zhao had clearly overthought it. Even if this lightning strike was somewhat inferior to the one from the giant electric eel, there was nevertheless a fundamental difference between the two.

Although the lightning inheritance had also manifested in the form of a lightning strike, that had been a purely illusory attack occurring within the mental world; so long as Wei Zhao's will was firm enough, his physical body would suffer no substantial harm. This time it was completely different—this was a real, genuine lightning strike!

Wei Zhao's willpower was unquestionable, but after all he was still only flesh and blood. Even though his body was far tougher than that of an ordinary Nascent Soul grand perfection cultivator, withstanding such a terrifying, supercharged lightning strike was still beyond the realm of possibility.

At this moment Wei Zhao was entirely enveloped within the massive lightning pillar, shaking frantically like a sieve full of chaff. That kind of pain was simply unimaginable to outsiders.

"Haha, that fellow surnamed Lin is dead for sure this time—even his skeleton has been electrocuted out of him!" Bao Zuoliang was beside himself with glee. At this point, because of the top-grade lightning pillar's shroud, the onlookers could no longer see Wei Zhao clearly; they could only vaguely make out a human-shaped skeleton within.

"It is ten times the lightning tribulation, after all. If he could withstand even this, he wouldn't be human." Su Kesheng smiled, then mused with a hint of puzzlement, "Young Master Bao, have you noticed—that fellow surnamed Lin doesn't seem to have taken a Lightning Mystery Pill?"

"Really? Could he have forgotten to take it?" Bao Zuoliang was taken aback, then recalled that indeed, the signature cushioning layer of the Lightning Mystery Pill had never appeared on Wei Zhao's body. There was only one explanation: Wei Zhao had not taken a Lightning Mystery Pill beforehand. But how could that be? No matter how you looked at it, this brat was not the sort of person who would lack a Lightning Mystery Pill.

"Maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me. With a lightning strike this powerful, it would be perfectly normal for the Lightning Mystery Pill's thin cushioning barrier to be blasted apart in an instant." Su Kesheng shook his head. He too did not believe Wei Zhao would make such a rookie mistake.

"Haha, whether he took it or not doesn't matter—that fellow surnamed Lin is about to die anyway!" Bao Zuoliang said smugly.

What the two of them never could have anticipated was that although this terrifying supercharged lightning strike made Wei Zhao suffer enough, he had been able to endure it all along. Relying on unparalleled willpower, he forcibly held together his body, which was on the verge of its breaking point, so that it would not be reduced to ashes on the spot!

At a time like this, so long as one could hold on without dying, there would inevitably be rewards.

Wei Zhao distinctly felt that the lightning-attribute spirit root within him—originally none too powerful—had, under the baptism of this supercharged lightning strike, begun to stir restlessly, becoming the first among the eight attribute spirit roots to be aroused!

The feeling was like a seedling that had only just sprouted, suddenly beginning to grow wildly after being watered. The lightning-attribute spirit root rampaged through Wei Zhao's body at an inconceivable speed, actually absorbing all the lightning power bit by bit and growing stronger and stronger!

In the end, the lightning-attribute spirit root no longer required Wei Zhao to circulate his mental cultivation method at all; it took charge of everything itself, as though it had temporarily taken over Wei Zhao's physical body, and seized the opportunity to begin devouring the other attribute spirit roots.

The ice-attribute spirit root, the mist-attribute spirit root, the metal-attribute spirit root . . . one attribute spirit root after another was devoured in succession. Wei Zhao had never imagined that among the eight attribute spirit roots, the lightning-attribute spirit root—the last to appear and the weakest in foundation—would at such a moment come from behind to become the master ruling over all!