Wang Lin saw the drastic changes in the sky. The bright sun was hidden behind looming dark clouds, with lightning brewing inside of them. The clouds cast a shadow over the Poison Valley, turning day to night.
The sudden arrival of the thunderstorm confused Bai Du and the other two before a light bulb went off in Xiang Shan's mind.
"Brother Du, you've hit the jackpot. This mutated spirit beast is not only over 70,000 years old; it's going through its 100,000-year tribulation. Congratulations on the 100,000-year spirit ring for your ninth spirit ring," Xiang Shan said.
"You only need to wait until it successfully passes the tribulation, then kill it when it's weak afterward. If it fails, just make sure to land the final blow before its last breath," said Xiang Shan.
Bai Du was beaming with joy at the prospect of a 100,000-year red spirit ring. He looked at Wang Lin in anticipation.
The clouds in the sky gathered momentum before striking Wang Lin with white bolts of tribulation lightning filled with thunder-attributed soul power.
Wang Lin's snake eyes widened in shock and disbelief, cursing the heavens. Why were they striking him with lightning when it could land anywhere else in Poison Valley?
Being reincarnated from another world, he didn't understand that a 100,000-year beast would undergo a tribulation.
He tried to evade the lightning bolts, but to no avail. The barrage of lightning strikes increased in strength with each hit.
The lightning struck his already injured body, aggravating his wounds. After Wang Lin withstood a tribulation lightning bolt, the lightning dissolved into every part of his body, nourishing it.
It also catalyzed the spirit ginseng to dissolve, releasing its energy directly into his body, shortening the lengthy digestion process.
Even though Wang Lin was in a precarious position, he could feel the changes in his body due to his high spiritual power.
He opened his system to see what changes had taken place in the age column.
Name: Wang Lin
Attribute: Poison
Age: 100,232 years → 102,434 → 105,356 → 112,345
Grids Available: 9 (1 empty)
Items: Ghost Wolf (186k years), Man-Faced Demon Spider (156k years), Jade Phosphorous Flower (150k), Nine-Segment Jade Snake (150k), Nightmare Piranha Flower (120k), Ghost Vine (90k), Demon Wolf (60k), Poison Demon Vine (30k)
The age in the system column was skyrocketing at an astonishing speed. Wang Lin realized this was a perfect opportunity to accelerate his growth.
Wang Lin took out all the flora and fauna he had stored in his system space, materializing them out of thin air in front of him, and swallowed them whole, disregarding the spirit masters.
The spirit masters were stunned, watching corpses and plants appear out of nowhere. Before they could react, more transformations occurred before their eyes.
The combined cultivation of all the items was close to a million years. All these items gathered in his intestine, bathed in the lightning Wang Lin absorbed.
The corpses, largely dark or poison-attributed, released their blood and herbal essence into Wang Lin's body, initiating a new transformation. His body was forced to keep up with his rapidly increasing strength.
The barrage of tribulation lightning continued to rain down on Wang Lin's location. His body shrank, and new appendages grew before forming limbs and wings.
The poison in his glands began swirling, creating a suction force inside and around Wang Lin, drawing in soul power and poison from the pond. The energy released in his body formed a pseudo-poison soul core that continued to absorb soul power.
Darkness and poison-attributed soul power seeped into different parts of his body, and the trace amount of dragon heritage in Wang Lin's Datura Snake transformed him into a Darkness Poison Dragon.
Wang Lin's new form was drastically different. The scales on his body turned dark with hints of green. His size shrank from the height of several buildings to that of a truck.
Yet, while he lost his size advantage, he gained the ability to fly. The tribulation lightning continued to strike him, but the injuries healed quickly from the dense energy released by the spirit beasts inside him.
After recovering from his injuries, he turned his attention back to the spirit masters, who were gobsmacked by the transformations.
Wang Lin flew toward Bai Du with his newfound wings, holding him in his draconic embrace as a flood of lightning streamed down from the heavens, bathing them both.
Their reactions differed starkly. Wang Lin felt like he was soaking in warm water, while Bai Du struggled desperately, his blood vaporizing and his tissues burning. He lasted only a few seconds before he was reduced to a charred corpse.
Xiang Shan, seeing this, attempted to escape, throwing his nephew toward Wang Lin as he took to the air. He didn't get far before a whip of darkness grabbed his leg, pulling him to the ground.
Xiang Shan met his death in the same way as Bai Du, leaving only Xiang Li, who held a Dark Gold Bear in his hands, staring at the Dark Green Dragon in terror. Surprisingly, Wang Lin did not kill him but flew over the pond.
The 100,000-year tribulation continued, and before it ended, Wang Lin's system age hit the 200,000-year mark. The clouds grew darker, swallowing the whole forest around Poison Valley.
In his eagerness to gain power, Wang Lin made the mistake of consuming all the spirit beasts he had, resulting in this situation.
The potency of the tribulation lightning increased but remained manageable. Hovering above the poison pond, a tide of soul power moved toward Wang Lin as the pond's levels decreased. Both were absorbed by his growing poison soul core.
The tribulation went on for an hour before fizzling out. Wang Lin, at the last moment, tried to store the final lightning strike, a shot in the dark.
He opened his system panel in a hurry, surprised to find his attempt to store the tribulation lightning had succeeded.
Name: Wang Lin
Attribute: Poison, Dark
Age: 203,564 years
Grids Available: 9 (8 empty)
Items: Tribulation Lightning (100k)
The system storage was now empty from his earlier feast, with only one grid showing a lightning symbol.
The age column jumped from 100,000 to 200,000, and he gained a new darkness attribute.
He suppressed the happiness of his newfound strength, shifting his attention to the spirit master.
He flew toward Xiang Li, landing in front of him, radiating a menacing aura.
"Why did you kill the bear mother?" Wang Lin asked, this time not just talking to himself. His words reached Xiang Li.
Xiang Li's face was filled with fear and confusion, as he heard only an unfamiliar language. Wang Lin was speaking in English.
"I guess the reason doesn't matter when you'll be dead in a second," Wang Lin said, enveloping the sleeping Dark Gold Bear in a thick coat of darkness.
He released power from his soul core, a blend of poison and soul power, drowning Xiang Li in a beam of energy.
The poison corroded Xiang Li's flesh, reducing him to a puddle of sludge in seconds.
Wang Lin looked at the bear cub, pondering how to handle it. As the clouds cleared, letting the sun shine through, he noticed several objects glinting nearby. Upon inspection, he found a claw-shaped metallic object and two belts from the spirit master's corpse.
Before he could investigate further, he sensed multiple presences approaching him at lightning speed, detected through his newly heightened senses.