Chapter 661 - 264: Commanding the Clouds and Rain, Controlling Thunder and Lightning
Chapter 661: Chapter 264: Commanding the Clouds and Rain, Controlling Thunder and Lightning
RUMBLE—!
A low rumble of thunder rolled deep within the clouds.
Immediately after, fat drops of rain fell from the sky, quickly turning into a downpour.
In the dragon’s nest below, the countless members of the Dragon Race all raised their heads in astonishment.
"Is... is that water?"
"What is this? How can water be falling from the sky?"
For these members of the Dragon Race, who had never seen a change in weather since birth, the scene before them was as novel as a miracle.
A few bold young dragons curiously stretched out their claws to catch the rainwater, letting out a series of joyous roars. Some even began to roll and play directly in the rain-soaked mud.
Lin Ye watched this scene, a peculiar feeling rising in his heart.
’So this is... the power to summon clouds and rain.’
’To change the very heavens with a single thought.’
...
At the same time, hundreds of kilometers away from the World Tree, Yggdrasil, on a stretch of barren desert.
An eight-person squad was pushing forward with difficulty against the swirling sandstorm.
"Captain, look at the map! We should be close!"
A team member wiped the sand from his face and shouted excitedly.
Another laughed along. "Heh, our squad has to be the first to reach the World Tree this time, right?"
The captain walking at the very front, a tall young man, snorted coldly, his tone filled with unconcealed arrogance.
"Isn’t that obvious?"
"Every member of our squad is a veteran who’s been through three selections. If we still can’t beat those rookies who are here for the first time, we might as well all find a tree and bash our heads in."
This was no exaggeration.
This squad was one of the few elite teams composed entirely of three-time veterans. They hadn’t been infiltrated by any contaminated individuals. Plus, their captain, Zhao Feng, was formidable enough to keep everyone in line.
It could be said that aside from Lin Ye and Xiao Lingchen’s squad, which had been wiped out midway, they were indeed the ones making the fastest progress.
As the silhouette of the colossal, sky-piercing tree in the distance grew clearer, the chatter within the team gradually died down.
Everyone knew perfectly well.
Once they actually reached the destination, their so-called "teammates" would instantly become their most dangerous competitors.
This was an unspoken rule that everyone understood.
However, before they could mentally prepare to backstab one another, something unexpected happened.
The unchanging, dark red sky suddenly grew overcast.
Tumultuous thunderclouds gathered from all directions, and immediately after, a torrential downpour crashed down!
The rain was so heavy it was as if the heavens had burst open. Being in the middle of it even created the illusion of suffocating.
"What’s going on?!"
"How the hell is it raining in this godforsaken place? I’ve been here for almost a month and haven’t seen a single cloud!"
The squad was instantly thrown into turmoil.
Before they could figure out the origin of this bizarre weather phenomenon, the downpour abruptly turned into hail.
And it was... terrifying, basketball-sized hail!
CRACK! SMASH!
Huge, dense hailstones rained down like cannonballs, smashing wildly onto the ground.
"Get back!" Zhao Feng roared, hastily deploying his Protective Gang Sha.
The other squad members also scrambled for cover, a pathetic sight.
One member who reacted a moment too slow was grazed on the shoulder by a hailstone. He let out a muffled grunt as the bones in his entire arm shattered instantly.
If not for the fact that a Martial Artist’s physique was far superior to that of an ordinary person, a few hits like that would have been fatal.
However, the nightmare wasn’t over.
The hail had just stopped when a dense fog with less than five meters of visibility instantly enveloped the entire area.
Immediately after, a gale strong enough to uproot sand dunes howled through, dispersing the fog but bringing a blizzard that filled the sky.
The once-scorching temperature plummeted below freezing in an instant.
Zhao Feng and his squad were completely stunned.
’What the hell is with this weather? Even a roller coaster isn’t this wild!’
...
「Longyin Academy, conference room.」
Watching the miserable-looking squad on the screen, everyone present also wore looks of confusion.
"Hou..." Zhu Mingyi couldn’t help but look at Hou Guanghe. "The records for the Eternal Dragon Tomb Rift Realm clearly state that there are no climate changes, right?"
The moment he finished speaking, the image on the large screen suddenly switched from the unlucky squad to another location.
High above, Lin Ye was floating among the clouds, seemingly having the time of his life.
"Hmm... maximum wind force is about level 16."
After bringing a welcome rain to the dragon’s nest, Lin Ye shifted his focus in weather manipulation to finer control.
For instance, making the skies clear within the dragon’s nest while having a storm rage outside the World Tree.
Hail, dense fog, gales, blizzards...
Like a child with a new toy, he tirelessly switched between various types of extreme weather.
"Next, let’s try a thunderstorm."
Lin Ye recalled Dongfang Zhen’s dashing figure wielding lightning back at the training camp, and he felt an itch to try it himself.
He focused his mind, and the lightning elements within the dark clouds began to gather frantically.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The next moment, above the desert outside the World Tree, countless thick bolts of lightning, like writhing silver serpents, struck down indiscriminately and madly!
The light from the lightning illuminated the terrified faces of Zhao Feng and the others.
"Quick! Find cover!"
They fled wildly, dodging the seemingly endless lightning strikes.
One squad member was a step too slow. A bolt of lightning grazed him, and he was instantly charred black on the outside and cooked through on the inside. He screamed and collapsed, and though he wasn’t eliminated directly, he had lost all ability to fight.
Watching this Frenzy of heavenly might, Lin Ye still seemed unsatisfied.
He gathered his power even further.
In the center of the thick thunderclouds, a massive vortex formed. All the lightning was sucked into it, finally coalescing into a terrifying pillar of lightning over a hundred meters in diameter!
A dazzling, heavenly might, overwhelming and unstoppable!
BOOM—!!!
The massive pillar of lightning, carrying an aura of total annihilation, crashed down from the pitch-black clouds!
Zhao Feng’s pupils contracted to pinpricks. A deathly chill instantly enveloped his entire body.
He threw himself to the side with all his might.
The pillar of lightning practically grazed his body as it fell. The terrifying heat and electrical arcs instantly tore his Protective Gang Sha to shreds, leaving half his body charred black.
As for the two squad members beside him who couldn’t dodge in time, they were completely vaporized in the brilliant flash of lightning without even being able to scream.
Two pillars of white light shot into the sky and vanished.
Zhao Feng lay on the ground, staring at the two bottomless craters beside him, on the verge of a complete breakdown.
"What the fuck... is going on?!"
"Could it be... that this is also a trial the organizers prepared for us?!"
In the conference room, everyone looked at each other in dismay.
’That wasn’t us! We didn’t do it! Don’t make wild accusations!’
Only Hou Guanghe, watching Lin Ye on the screen—who had an innocent look on his face, as if still savoring the feeling of controlling the lightning—suddenly let out a soft chuckle and shook his head.
"If this kid’s atavistic path leads to the legendary Celestial Dragon, then summoning clouds and rain to control the weather would indeed match the records."
"It’s just that, I doubt even he expected..."
"...that by casually testing out his new skills, he would get two unlucky bastards eliminated without even knowing it."
Standing to the side, Yi Jiugao was already reeling in shock.
’Is this... any different from stepping on a few ants by accident while out for a walk?’
’When the power gap becomes large enough, an unintentional act by the strong is, for the weak, a cataclysm sufficient to grind them to dust.’
Just then, Lin Ye, high in the sky, seemed to notice the group of survivors in the desert, thanks to the white light that the two eliminated squad members had turned into.
He raised an eyebrow slightly, a little surprised.
’Oh? There are people over there?’