Nine days later, Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue arrived in the core area of the thunder forest.
As expected, the core area was extremely perilous.
The lightning was several times more powerful than in other areas and the two could barely protect themselves.
"We need to break through to the fourth level of body refining. Otherwise, we canât stay here for too long." Jiang Yue said and covered his body with a layer of fire.
The fire counteracted the lightning but he knew he couldnât keep it up.
Sooner or later, he would exhaust himself and the lightning would fall onto his body.
At that time, he would be lucky to escape with serious burns.
"Letâs find the thunder pool." Yu Nianzhen said solemnly.
Similar to Jiang Yue, his body was covered by a layer of sword intent but the sword intent could only withstand a few strikes before it dissipated.
"Good." Jiang Yue agreed and the two began their search.
Two hours later, they did not find the thunder pool but they found a member of the Death Flower Ascension Front.
The person sat cross-legged and was absorbing lightning qi from the lightning strikes.
[He should have a lightning origin.] Jiang Yue transmitted.
[Mmmh.] Yu Nianzhen agreed.
Although he and Jiang Yue could absorb lightning to refine their body, they couldnât absorb lightning qi.
However, the person in front was clearly absorbing qi rather than the lightning itself.
[Letâs deal with him.] Jiang Yue said and a trace of ruthlessness flashed in his eyes.
As a person of the Cangxing world, he couldnât tolerate the Death Flower Ascension Front.
Now that he knew the personâs identity because of the bounty list, the natural thing was to deal with the enemy.
[Letâs check for traps first.] Yu Nianzhen cautioned and Jiang Yue nodded.
[Wait a moment, I will open my illusion eyes.]
As he spoke, Jiang Yue opened his illusion eyes and began to study the area around the person.
Soon after, he discovered several formations and he couldnât help but be impressed.
This was because the formations werenât activated but they would immediately activate if someone approached the cultivator or an attack flew at the person.
[There are formations but I can easily deal with them. However, the person will be alerted as soon as the formations are activated.]
[It doesnât matter. We will deal with him either way.]
[Okay.]
With that, Jiang Yue launched an attack and the formations immediately activated.
His plan was to activate the formations, use his illusion eyes to find the weak points, and then break the array before the enemy reacted.
However, Jiang Yue and Yu Nianzhen didnât expect the enemy to be prepared.
As soon as the formations activated, the person opened his eyes, and quickly stood up.
Without looking at his enemy, the person activated a teleportation talisman before Jiang Yue broke the first formation.
"I didnât expect that." Jiang Yue said in surprise.
Most cultivators only chose to expect when confronted by an impossible enemy.
However, that person was rather different and he escaped without putting up a fight.
"His strength is not low." Yu Nianzhen said and frowned.
He and Jiang Yue took more than three months to travel from the periphery to the depths of the thunder forest.
Along the way, they encountered many people but most were stuck at the periphery or middle of the thunder forest.
This meant it was extremely difficult to reach the depths of the thunder forest.
However, that person had not only arrived at the depths but could also comfortably cultivate the violent lightning qi.
"We shouldnât let him go if we meet again." Jiang Yue said.
"Okay."
After that, the two did not linger around the area but continued to search for origin treasures and Xuan Ke.
They knew Xuan Ke should have already arrived in the depths of the thunder forest and was probably searching for treasures.
Unfortunately, the area was large and meeting each other was difficult.
"Letâs go this way." Jiang Yue suddenly said.
Since they entered the Nine Treasures secret realm, the treasure compass had been whirling crazily.
It was not until now that it finally settled on a direction and Jiang Yue couldnât help but be excited.
âI wonder what treasure we will find.â He thought and grabbed Yu Nianzhenâs hand.
"Calm down." Yu Nianzhen said and chuckled.
However, he was also excited.
From the reaction of the treasure compass, Yu Nianzhen suspected they were about to find one of the core treasures of the thunder forest.
"How can I calm down?" Jiang Yue argued and quickened his pace.
Soon after they arrived in front of humongous purple bamboo.
The purple bamboo was about one hundred metres tall and its trunk had a diameter of more than ten metres.
However, its size wasnât that special in the thunder forest.
What was special was that there was a small hole at the base of the trunk.
"Itâs a good thing we have the treasure compass." Jiang Yue said and sighed.
If they didnât have the compass, they would not have easily discovered the small hole.
Even if they had, they would have probably thought it was the habitat of a small animal.
Fortunately, they had the compass and now knew there was an origin treasure in the small hole.
"I hope itâs something we can use."
"I will check while you cover me." Yu Nianzhen said.
When he heard that, Jiang Yue hesitated for a moment but eventually agreed.
After seeing his nod, Yu Nianzhen went on his knees and began to examine the area around the small hole.
At a glance, he didnât notice anything strange with the bamboo trunk or small hole.
However, when he examined it more carefully, he heard a dripping sound from within the small hole.
âWhatâs that sound?â He wondered and listened more carefully.
After a few moments, he confirmed the dripping sound and trained his eyes into the hole.
"Did you find something?" Jiang Yue asked.
"There is a dripping sound from within the hole." Yu Nianzhen answered.
"Dripping sound?"
"Like water drops falling onto a pool of water."
While speaking, Yu Nianzhen sent his divine sense into the hole and finally saw the situation inside.
As he suspected, there was a small pool at the base of the hole and drops of some liquid were falling from above.
"The liquid doesnât seem like water."
"What do you mean?"
"If I am not wrong, it should be liquid lightning."
As Yu Nianzhen said that, his heart skipped a beat.
However, he forcibly suppressed his excitement and sent his divine sense into the pool.
Since the pool was only a metre wide and one metre deep, his divine sense quickly covered it.
A moment later, he recovered his divine sense and turned to look at Jiang Yue.
[There is a thunder essence crystal within the pool.] He transmitted and Jiang Yue couldnât help but be excited.
[This thing is perfect for you.]
While walking towards the centre, Jiang Yue and Yu Nianzhen talked about the nine core treasures of the thunder forest.
Among them, the heavenly thunder stone was suitable for Jiang Yue while the thunder essence crystal was suitable for Yu Nianzhen.
This time, they were lucky to encounter the thunder essence crystal while looking for the thunder pool.
[Can you take it out?]
[Let me see.]
The thunder essence crystal contained the purest and most violent essence of thunder.
As such, it was difficult to handle and Jiang Yue couldnât help but worry.
Cautiously, Yu Nianzhen sent his soul power into the hole and wrapped it around the thunder essence crystal.
However, as soon as the divine sense touched the crystal, it was immediately pulverised and Yu Nianzhen felt a piercing pain in his head.
However, he didnât plan to give up.
âIf I canât take it out with soul power, I will have to use my hands.â He thought and frowned.
Although his soul power could penetrate the pool water to reach the crystal at the bottom, the pool water couldnât be underestimated.
If he dared to touch it with his bare hands, he would definitely be severely injured and may even lose his hands.
In that case, he had to come up with a way to take out the lightning liquid before he took the crystal.
âCan I put it in the jade box?â He wondered and immediately tried it.
However, the jade box didnât like the liquid and it wouldnât go in.
âWhat about the universe gourd?â
At the moment, the universe gourd was filled with spiritual water but this was not a difficult matter.
After all, they had an endless supply of spiritual water from the jade box and it was possible to carry it with ordinary gourds.
With that thought, Yu Nianzhen once again turned to Jiang Yue.
[I need the universe gourd to put the lightning liquid.] He transmitted.
[Wait a moment.] Jiang Yue said and began to transfer the spiritual water to ordinary gourds.