Chapter 146: A Frog in a Well, Viewing the Sky from the Bottom, Torn to Pieces
Chapter 146: A Frog in a Well, Viewing the Sky from the Bottom, Torn to Pieces
"Enough!!"
Yu Xiaogang suddenly erupted with a low growl.
The voice was hoarse, like the final struggle of a trapped beast.
The humiliation of being publicly torn to pieces, the panic of his lifelong beliefs being shaken,
and a trace of fear toward the unknown that he was unwilling to admit even to himself.
All these emotions mixed together, overwhelming his final shred of sanity.
He suddenly pointed at the deep purple spirit ring around Lin Qingmo, his fingertips turning white from the force, his voice cracking sharply:
"Lin Qingmo! You’ve said all these grand principles and praised spirit rings from plant-type Spirit Beasts, then explain this: what is the deal with the Lightning attribute of your fourth spirit ring?!"
He was like a man clutching at a straw, speaking rapidly with a near-obsessive certainty:
"The Lightning attribute—this is absolutely an attribute that only animal-type Spirit Beasts can produce!"
"Plant-type Spirit Beasts cannot possibly possess the power of lightning. Your spirit ring is the best counterexample, proving your theory is completely untenable. You are contradicting yourself!"
After shouting these words, Yu Xiaogang’s chest heaved violently as he panted and glared fixedly at Lin Qingmo.
He needed this rebuttal to hold; it had to hold!
Otherwise, he would truly have nothing left.
Lin Qingmo watched him quietly.
He watched for several seconds.
Then, he suddenly smiled.
It wasn’t a cold smile or a mocking one, but a relaxed, playful smile, as if a prank had succeeded.
He even deliberately drawled, saying slowly, "Yu Xiaogang... when did I ever tell you that my fourth spirit ring didn’t come from a plant-type Spirit Beast?"
"..."
The air suddenly froze.
The anger and certainty on Yu Xiaogang’s face instantly calcified.
His mouth hung open, maintaining his pointing gesture, looking as if someone had pressed a pause button on him.
"Wha... what?"
Two airy sounds squeezed out of his throat as he stumbled back another two steps.
His heel caught on a rock, and he almost fell.
Clack.
The Theory manual he had been clutching tightly finally slipped from his limp fingers and fell onto the dusty ground.
He didn’t seem to notice, only staring fixedly at Lin Qingmo,
his eyes filled with an incomprehensible sense of absurdity.
"Not an animal-type Spirit Beast... could it really be... a plant?"
He muttered to himself, his voice so soft it was as if he feared waking from a nightmare.
"Of course it’s a plant-type Spirit Beast."
Lin Qingmo’s tone returned to being flat.
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!!"
Yu Xiaogang reacted as if burned by those words, shaking his head violently with a near-manic intensity.
He bent down, almost lunging to pick up the manual, clutching it tightly to his chest, his fingers digging into the cover.
"In the recorded history of the Douluo Continent, there has never been a plant-type Spirit Beast with the Lightning attribute!"
"Lightning represents violence, destruction, and heavenly punishment! Plants represent growth, tranquility, and life! These two powers are fundamentally opposed! How could they combine in a single Spirit Beast? Your words completely contradict the fundamental theory of Spirit Beasts!"
He spoke incoherently, as if reciting a textbook or trying to bolster his own courage.
That manual was currently his only lifeline.
Lin Qingmo looked at his near-obsessive state and gave a soft "tch."
This time, he didn’t even bother to hide the mockery in his voice.
"Yu Xiaogang, isn’t your ’Grandmaster of Theory’ reputation a bit too inflated?"
He took a step forward.
With that step, his entire aura quietly shifted.
It was no longer the previous calm or even somewhat idle feeling.
Instead, it was a vaguely sharp sense of pressure.
It wasn’t the suppression of spirit powerRank.
It was a form of condescension based on knowledge and perception.
"How vast is the Douluo Continent? How many types of Spirit Beasts are there? Can you even count them?"
With every question, he took a small step forward, his tone steady, yet every word was like a driven nail.
"The number of times you’ve visited the Star Dou Great Forest could probably be counted on one hand, right?"
Lin Qingmo stopped, only a few paces away from Yu Xiaogang.
"You, a Spirit Grandmaster stuck at Rank 29 for your entire life, dare to claim that a certain kind of Spirit Beast ’does not exist’ in this vast Douluo Continent based on flipping through incomplete records of predecessors?"
"My fourth spirit ring comes from a plant-type Spirit Beast called the ’Thunderous Hell Vine’."
Lin Qingmo’s voice, accompanied by faint static, reached everyone’s ears clearly.
"It doesn’t grow in safe, fertile soil, but takes root in the Thunderstorm cores of certain extreme regions."
"There, lightning never ceases year-round; it is a place of raging natural disasters. Ordinary plants, and even many Spirit Beasts, wouldn’t survive a single day there."
"But the Thunderous Hell Vine is bathed in destructive lightning from the moment of its birth."
A trace of strange respect unconsciously entered Lin Qingmo’s voice.
"It doesn’t resist lightning; rather, through countless cycles of strikes, burning, destruction, and Rebirth, it gradually absorbs and transforms the violent power of lightning, making it part of its own life cycle."
"To it, lightning is no longer a calamity, but a nutrient, a source of power that drives its continuous transformation and renewal."
"Its spirit ring grants me not just the power of lightning, but also this powerful life trait of drawing vitality from destruction and undergoing Rebirth in desperate situations."
"This perfectly aligns with my Blue Silver Grass’s path of pursuing the ultimate life Origin."
He withdrew his spirit power and lightning, and all the phenomena disappeared.
However, his words stirred a storm in everyone’s hearts.
"Ho... Holy crap?!"
Ma Hongjun was the first who couldn’t hold it in, blurting out a curse, his jaw nearly hitting the ground.
"Growing up while being struck by lightning? And getting even more energetic the more it’s struck? Is this... is this a plant or a monster?!"
Dai Mubai sucked in a breath of cold air, instinctively clenching his fists, the muscles in his arms tightening.
He imagined the scene of constant lightning and thunder where a single vine stubbornly grew; the shock in his heart was beyond words.
This completely exceeded his scope of knowledge.
Oscar’s mouth formed an ’O’ shape as he muttered, "Thunderous Hell Vine... that name sounds incredibly cool! Lin Qingmo could even find a Spirit Beast like that?"
Xiao Wu and Ning Rongrong looked at the high-spirited Lin Qingmo, their beautiful eyes sparkling with wonder.
Zhu Zhuqing remained silent, but her eyes flickered, clearly indicating her inner turmoil.
DeanFlender looked deeply at Lin Qingmo, his gaze complex to the extreme.
He had long felt this kid wasn’t simple, but he hadn’t expected him to be this extraordinary.
As for Yu Xiaogang... he was completely frozen there.
His face was no longer alternating between pale and green, but was a deathly, ashen gray.
The arm holding the Theory manual dropped limply, and the manual hit the ground again with a "thud," kicking up a bit of dust.
His lips trembled violently, and his eyes stared blankly ahead, devoid of focus.
It was as if countless pages were flipping frantically in his mind, rustling loudly, yet he couldn’t find a single word or a single line of record that matched the "Thunderous Hell Vine."
Nothing.
Not a single line.
He had spent his life researching theories and had seen too many records in the Spirit Hall.
He believed that even if he wasn’t omniscient, he had already glimpsed seventy to eighty percent of the SpiritWorld’s outline.
But now.
A living example.
A Spirit Beast he had never heard of.
It had so easily smashed a huge hole in the theoretical edifice he had painstakingly constructed.
The cold wind blowing in chilled his heart to the core.
"Never heard of it..."
He muttered absentmindedly, his voice as dry as sandpaper.
"I really... have never heard of it..."
(End of Chapter)
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