William Lynn sprinted wildly through the forest, rushing at top speed to the place where the purple light appeared.

On a protruding rock on a cliff, purple light shone out from the gray-black stone, pulsing rhythmically like a person’s breathing, flickering on and off.

Each time the purple light flashed, it was accompanied by a rumbling thunder, a deep “boom-boom-boom.”

William Lynn scanned the surroundings but found no sign of an ambush.

Lucky—looks like he was the first to arrive.

William Lynn quickly climbed up the cliff, one hand gripping the rock like a hook, the other not using any spells, just channeling his power and punching the protruding rock.

The rock broke away from the cliff and fell to the bottom. William Lynn climbed down to retrieve it. Though separated from the cliff, the rock still pulsed with purple light as if alive, emitting bursts of thunder.

William Lynn smashed the rock, revealing the treasure hidden inside—a purple crystal the size of a soccer ball, from which thunder roared.

The surface of the purple crystal was uneven and pitted, irregular in shape.

After feeling it for a while, William Lynn realized this purple crystal still wasn’t the true treasure; it was more like a layer of stone skin wrapped around a jade core.

William Lynn slowly infused his power into the purple crystal, trying to connect with the treasure inside.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!!

William Lynn felt as if he had entered a world of thunder—everywhere he looked, there was only crackling, exploding lightning.

A boundless, overwhelming terror and pressure.

Wild thunder, ancient divine punishment, fierce lightning, primordial wrath of heaven—all shook the soul of anyone who faced it, making them tremble uncontrollably, yet still they would rush forward, only to be struck and have their souls scattered.

A force as crushing as Mount Tai upon an egg—truly Mount Tai upon an egg, the mountain coming down and instantly grinding it to dust!

Startled, William Lynn’s Nine Heavens Thunder Law activated automatically—not to resist, not to assimilate, but to control.

I am the master of ten thousand thunders, wielding the thunder of all the heavens.

It seemed to last only a moment, or perhaps a long time. William Lynn’s mind cleared, and he saw that the purple crystal in his hand had split in two, revealing a perfectly round, pale golden pearl at its center.

The thunder and lightning had vanished, leaving only the fist-sized pearl glowing with a gentle golden light. It looked utterly calm, but William Lynn could sense the terrifying thunder energy contained within.

If all this thunder energy were unleashed, it would be enough to blast the entire mountain range where William Lynn stood into a sunken basin.

There was an identical item in the exchange system, called the Heavenly Thunder Jade Soul, costing a full two thousand exchange points.

According to the system’s description, this item was extremely rare, requiring thousands of heavenly thunders to strike the same rock continuously, with only a one percent chance of forming. It contained a vast essence of thunder energy, making it priceless for cultivators practicing thunder-based arts.

William Lynn grinned so widely his eyes became slits, shamelessly thinking, “Good disciple, let this be your initiation gift. Don’t worry, your master won’t treat you badly.”

He vaguely heard sounds coming from the forest at the foot of the mountain. William Lynn quickly put away the Heavenly Thunder Jade Soul and looked down, seeing groups approaching rapidly from both sides of the mountain.

Leading one group was Little Ben, who looked as cute and fair as a porcelain doll, but at this moment was as agile as a little mountain beast, darting swiftly through the deep forest.

Previously, Little Ben had not revealed himself, and only now did William Lynn realize that this child, not even four years old, already had the cultivation of the second level of Qi Refining.

William Lynn habitually touched his nose, feeling immense pressure: “That old village chief must be crazy, teaching such a young child to cultivate.”

The other group was from Wolf Village.

William Lynn calculated the speed of both sides and determined that Little Ben and the Stone Village people would arrive first. He left the remaining stone skin—the split purple crystal—at the scene after taking the Heavenly Thunder Jade Soul, then quickly left.

Although the Heavenly Thunder Jade Soul had been taken, the split purple crystal, having been nourished by the jade soul for so long, still contained a vast amount of spiritual energy and was a rare treasure.

Dark clouds gathered overhead, thunder rumbled, and William Lynn looked up at the sky, muttering, “A storm is coming…”

Just as William Lynn expected, Little Ben and the others were the first to find the stone skin. Although they regretted that the true treasure inside had already been taken, at least they didn’t return empty-handed, and the group happily headed back to the village.

The Wolf Village people were frustrated—not only did they not get the meat, they didn’t even get the soup. They had no idea the real treasure, the Heavenly Thunder Jade Soul, had fallen into William Lynn’s hands, and assumed Stone Village had beaten them to it.

With old and new grudges combined, the Wolf Village people exploded with anger, eyes red as they chased after Little Ben and the others.

At this moment, William Lynn “coincidentally” ran into the Wolf Village people. Logan Wolfe’s grandfather, Leonard Wolfe, gave William Lynn a dark look and asked, “What are you doing here?”

William Lynn looked embarrassed. “I wanted to come into the mountains to broaden my horizons, but I got lost.”

Leonard Wolfe impatiently waved him off and ignored William Lynn, leading his group onward in pursuit.