Chapter 476

Chapter 476: Abandonment

The hundred-mile Thunder Sea!

Ye Yun, Jun Ruolan, and Hu Qing stood at the heart of the raging lightning ocean, each reacting differently to the tempest around them.

Ye Yun felt a flicker of shock. He hadn’t imagined a single wisp of Thunder Spirit Qi could activate a hundred-mile array, transforming the sky into a roaring sea of thunder.

Hu Qing, a Misty Sect disciple, trembled visibly. Fear gripped him as he realized the shattered array had unleashed this apocalyptic storm. The crushing pressure of the thunder intensified rapidly—his Thunder Avoidance Talisman would soon break. Having never faced the heavenly tribulation, his Golden Core-stage cultivation couldn’t withstand such Divine Thunder.

Only Jun Ruolan remained calm, her lips curled in a faint smile. This thunderous spectacle seemed expected, even thrilling to her.

“Jun Ruolan, where’s the Thunder Wood?” Ye Yun scanned the churning sea but saw no treasures.

“Thunder Wood?” She glanced at him. “You’ve mastered Thunder Spirit Qi, yet can’t see the truth? Breaking the array earlier merely triggered this great formation. We’re now trapped within it. Only by dispersing this Thunder Sea can the Wood appear. Did you think the thunder spawned from nothing?”

Ye Yun’s eyes narrowed. “You mean the Thunder Wood generates this entire sea? Such power is unbelievable.”

Jun Ruolan nodded. “The treasure area holds many such arrays, but few contain Thunder Seeds. Our task is to break this one.”

Ye Yun surveyed the roaring expanse. Lightning lashed the sky like fractured spiderwebs, threatening to tear reality itself.

“Is this the sea’s center? Was the array’s eye that large tree?” He frowned, his spirit perception stretching only three zhang before the thunder consumed it.

“The Thunder Sea has no fixed center. The Wood drifts within it.” Jun Ruolan’s pendant glinted—a lightning-shaped charm on a blue chain. “To break the array, one needs either a thunder-piercing treasure or comprehension of the Lightning Element Law. That’s why I accepted your costly request.”

Ye Yun chuckled. “You think I’ve grasped the Law?”

“True Law comprehension is rare,” she admitted, donning the pendant. Thunder instantly engulfed her, yet she moved freely, as if born of lightning. “But traces of law power can be refined into artifacts. This lets me sense the Sea’s rhythms.”

“Then why involve me?”

“The seed will explain itself. Let’s proceed.”

As she spoke, the Thunder Sea erupted. Pressure skyrocketed tenfold, the crashing Divine Thunder now matching the core area’s Purple Mansion Thunder.

*Crack!*

Web-like fractures spidered across Hu Qing’s protective aura. “Senior Sister! The talisman’s failing!”

The Fifth-Level Golden Core disciple poured his true qi into defensive treasures, their glow shielding him. But the Thunder Avoidance Talisman shattered, unable to withstand forces surpassing heavenly tribulation.

Ye Yun watched, newly appreciating the thunder’s might—and Jun Ruolan’s indifference.

She glanced at Hu Qing. “Fools who enter Thunder Falls Valley’s heart unprepared deserve their fate. But as sectmates, I’ll honor your corpse.” Her tone stayed gentle. “Uncle Yin will receive your effects.”

Hu Qing froze. When Jun Ruolan said she wouldn’t abandon him, he was overjoyed, thinking she’d use her powers to save him. Instead, she spoke of collecting his belongings for her Master, Yin Honglun, after the thunder killed him.

This stunned him—Jun Ruolan was letting him die without lifting a finger.

Ye Yun gaped. He knew Jun Ruolan was cold, but her cruelty shocked him. To ignore a sect brother she could’ve saved, even mentioning taking his belongings—it left Ye Yun speechless, struggling to believe his ears.

“Senior Sister Jun, leave me the Thunder Avoidance Boat forged by the sect leader! It can withstand this Sea of Thunder!” Hu Qing shouted, straining against the lightning.

“If I give it to you, how will I survive stronger lightning ahead? This thunder’s too fierce—the boat can’t hold two. Even alone, it might not suffice. Without it, how can I grasp the seed of the mysteries of thunder? Die peacefully. The sect will honor your sacrifice. Your lineage will be rewarded,” Jun Ruolan said gently.

“No! Save me, Senior Sister!” Hu Qing wailed.

Boom!

A bolt stronger than the Divine Thunder shattered Hu Qing’s protective treasures. A thousand lightning strikes ravaged his body.

Amid the blinding flashes, Hu Qing screamed once—then fell silent. Death and disappearance of the spirit.

Ye Yun stared numbly at Hu Qing’s charred remains. A Fifth Level Golden Core genius—gone in an instant.

“Let’s find the Thunder Wood,” Jun Ruolan’s voice cut through the roar.

Ye Yun snapped back, eyeing her with a frown before trudging toward the thunder’s fiercest heart.

“This world teaches self-reliance. Trust no one,” Jun Ruolan remarked.

“True,” Ye Yun nodded. “But you could’ve saved him. Why abandon a sect brother?”

Jun Ruolan glanced sideways. “Brotherhood demands protection? Says who? Entering Thunder Falls Valley means accepting death. Had I faltered, Hu Qing would’ve abandoned me too. We all knew this beforehand.”

“Is this how Misty Sect trains disciples?”

Jun Ruolan paused. “Would Misty Sect dare teach this? Of course not.”

Of course not.

Ye Yun’s eyes narrowed. What did she mean? If not the sect, where did her ruthlessness come from? No one was born this cold—something shaped her.

“Ye Yun, think the Great Qin Empire is the world’s center? That Misty Sect’s Divine Grace Palace is supreme?” Jun Ruolan sneered, icy aura rippling through the Thunder Sea. “You’re deluded.”

Ye Yun studied her. Infiltrating Heavenly Sword Sect, now Misty Sect… Her identity was a mask. Secrets lurked beneath.

“There—Thunder Wood’s aura.” Jun Ruolan’s crescent pendant glowed purple.

Ye Yun snapped forward. Through the lightning, a purple flicker danced—vanishing, reappearing elsewhere.

Purple flame? Thunder Wood?

They shot toward it as streaks of light and shadow.