Chapter 5: Entering Thunder Pool (Part 1)

Guo Shier turned and asked, “Elder, are you talking to me?” He started acting foolish. Communicating with such a skilled opponent was exhausting, and since this guy was clearly hostile, he was even less willing to talk to him.
Bao Chengyong glared and said, “Kid! If not you… then who?”
Guo Shier had no choice. He couldn’t afford to offend such a powerful elder, so he said, “Please speak!”
Bao Chengyong was stunned for a moment, almost forgetting what he had wanted to say. After thinking for a while, he asked, “How did you end up here?”
Guo Shier replied, “We got lost.” It was somewhat annoying, but it was also the truth.
Bao Chengyong twirled his mustache, puzzled, “Got lost?” His eyes showed disbelief.
Guo Shier nodded. “Yes. We accidentally obtained the coordinates to the Minor Thunder Realm and came in. We didn’t know it would be so dangerous inside. Fortunately, we met Elder Yan Ruodai, so we stayed at the Thunder Platform for now.”
Bao Chengyong said, “That’s quite lucky.”
Yan Ruodai replied, “Alright, let’s go to the Minor Thunder Realm.”
…
The Minor Thunder Realm was a special place within this secret realm, named after it. It could be considered a realm within a realm—a highly peculiar place accessible only to professionals with tangible altars who also understood lightning. Although Bao Chengyong was very skilled, his abilities weren’t enough to enter the special Minor Thunder Realm for trading. Unless he found another way in, which would take a lot of time.
Entering the special Minor Thunder Realm required passing through a thunder curtain—an extremely formidable barrier that even professionals with limited knowledge of lightning wouldn’t dare attempt to cross.
If Bao Chengyong wanted to enter, he had to rely on Yan Ruodai’s power to pass through the thunder curtain and reach the trading area of the Minor Thunder Realm. The trading area wasn’t an ordinary marketplace. It was vast, filled with many thunder beasts, making it extremely dangerous, but it also produced many precious materials needed by professionals.
The thunder curtain appeared before Guo Shier and the others—a dense area of lightning whose intensity far exceeded that of the Thunder Platform. Lightning struck continuously, creating blinding flashes. All that remained in everyone’s eyes was a curtain of light, no wonder it was called a thunder curtain.
Yan Ruodai said, “Come to the altars.” She sat on her own altar. Bao Chengyong hesitated for a moment before flying up as well, but his expression seemed unnatural. Yan Ruodai snapped, “Be more determined! I’m not going to harm you!”
Bao Chengyong chuckled awkwardly and said nothing.

Entering someone else’s altar means surrendering one’s life to that person; everything on the altar is under the control of the master.
The altar paused for a moment before crashing straight into the thunder barrier. With a loud roar, Guo Shier was stunned. The continuous thunderstorms disrupted his soul. Eagle Demon, Luo Zhan, and Zhou Xiaoling were in no better condition either, their faces pale and their minds in turmoil.
Bao Chengyong shook his head. A place even he dared not enter—these kids had recklessly followed in. He casually cast a spell, and an illusory talisman transformed into a light shield that covered the four of them. Guo Shier and the others immediately felt better. Though still uncomfortable, they could now endure it.
Yan Ruodai glanced at them briefly before ignoring them, focusing entirely on dealing with the incessant lightning strikes.
Time passed in a daze. Suddenly, the sounds around them vanished, and the sudden silence was extremely unsettling. It took Guo Shier some time to recover, only then realizing they had passed through the thunder barrier and entered a special “Minor Thunder Realm.”
Not long after emerging from the thunder barrier, before Guo Shier and the others could descend from the altar, a mutated thunder eagle appeared on the horizon, diving straight at Yan Ruodai.
Guo Shier had heard of thunder eagles at the North Talisman Gate, but those were ordinary ones. What flew now was a mutated thunder eagle. Yan Ruodai said, “Bao Chengyong, go!”
Bao Chengyong didn’t hesitate. He vanished from the altar and reappeared behind the thunder eagle. He reached out and grasped at it. The eagle paused briefly before a two-meter-long black sword was swung through, instantly killing this level-10 mutated thunder eagle.
The eagle was over twenty meters long—a huge creature. With its head severed, it tumbled downward.
Bao Chengyong shouted, “Leave quickly! Though mutated thunder eagles aren’t strong, alerting their entire species will cause trouble.”
Yan Ruodai said, “Let’s go!”
Guo Shier stared greedily at the falling eagle, knowing these two didn’t even value this level-10 mutated beast, yet he really wanted it. Eagle Demon also shook his head. In the North Talisman Gate, the carcass of a level-10 mutated beast would be a priceless treasure, and even in the Chenxiao Sect, it would be considered a gem. Here, however, it was discarded as trash.
In an instant, the group left the spot. As they departed, they heard a few shrill cries.
Luo Zhan said, “What a shame. That was a level-10 mutated talisman beast, and one with the rare thunder attribute.”

Yan Ruodai said, “If we encounter a large group of Thunder Eagles, even I would have to run. It’s easy to kill one mutated Thunder Eagle, but when hundreds of them attack together, it’s terrifying. That’s why we had to give up that eagle’s carcass.” Probably out of boredom, she gave a brief explanation.

Guo Shier said, “Elder, where are we going?”

Yan Ruodai replied, “To Thunder Pool. Professionals often gather there to conduct trades.”

A short while later, the altar arrived at Thunder Pool. Guo Shier found that traveling on the altar was incredibly fast—almost impossible to see how it worked, as if they were constantly teleporting. He estimated that if he flew on his own, it would take at least eight days, if not ten.

Yan Ruodai folded up the altar, and the four of them descended. Guo Shier froze for a moment before immediately taking off, grabbing Zhou Xiaoling along the way and saying, “Ding ding, be careful!”

Zhou Xiaoling’s face turned slightly red as she said, “It’s okay.”

Bao Chengyong appeared beside them and said, “I’m leaving first! Goodbye, Yan Ruodai.” He vanished into the air in a flash.

Yan Ruodai snorted but said nothing. She looked around and said, “I haven’t been here in a long time. Nothing seems to have changed. Let’s go down.”

The so-called Thunder Pool wasn’t a pond but was formed by lightning—something Guo Shier had never seen before. It was a large hole about a kilometer in diameter, filled with flashing lightning and extremely deep thunder. He couldn’t believe it and said, “These… these lightning bolts are all underground? How is that possible?”

Yan Ruodai replied, “Why not? It’s said that this Thunder Pool was formed in ancient times. It should be a altar left behind by a super professional of the Lightning element, but no one has been able to inherit its power, nor can anyone enter it. Countless professionals have died here, and now no one dares to challenge this altar.”

Only then did Guo Shier believe it. If it were naturally formed, he would still find it hard to believe, but if it were created by an altar, he thought it was quite possible. Professionals’ abilities were beyond imagination—just like the altar in the Bloody Secret Realm and the one in the Tan Ya Secret Realm, both of which were astonishing.

“A… altar of the Lightning element?”

Guo Shier was a bit puzzled.

Yan Ruodai said, “That’s not strange. My altar is also of the Lightning element. Most of those who can enter the Minor Thunder Realm are professionals of the Lightning element, with a few from other elements, usually brought in by Lightning element professionals.”

Guo Shier asked, “Are there few professionals of the Lightning element?”

Yan Ruodai said, “There are quite a number of professionals in the Thunder element, but those who can cultivate a tangible altar are extremely rare! Even in your Gu Miluo family, it’s very uncommon.”
Gu Shier thought of a question that had troubled him for a long time and asked, “Does the classification of elements only start when one constructs their own altar? How can one know their own element?”
Yan Ruodai replied, “For a talented professional, there’s no such thing as element classification before constructing their altar. But once they start building their altar, they need to take it seriously. Altars are mainly divided into several types: Wood, Metal, Fire, Water, and Earth—these are the five most basic ones.”
Gu Shier was slightly stunned and thought, “Aren’t they just the Five Elements? Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth? Does this world also have them?”
Yan Ruodai continued, “There are also some special elements, such as Ice, Thunder, Dark Flame, etc. The most unusual one is the Soul element, which is extremely rare and can almost be ignored. Then there are mixed elements, like Wood-Earth or Fire-Metal, each with its own characteristics. You’ll understand when you advance to a virtual altar. It’s still too early now.”
Gu Shier listened with great interest. He couldn’t have learned such knowledge from professionals at the same level. A big question arose in his mind: “What element am I a professional of?” He had a vague feeling, but couldn’t grasp it clearly. He knew it was useless to overthink things at this moment.
At that moment, Eagle Demon saw a group of people standing by the edge of the Thunder Pool and said, “There are people over there!”
Yan Ruodai smiled and said, “It’s normal to have people here. They’re all professionals. Let’s go over there.” She flew over, and Gu Shier and the others hurried after her.
There were seven people standing by the Thunder Pool, including Bao Chengyong and six other professionals, all of whom were experts with their own altars. After Yan Ruodai landed, she asked, “Huh? Shi Yanxilong, Feng Xilong, Juehuxi Miluo, Ling Zhenren—who are these two?”
Gu Shier’s scalp tingled. There were people from three ancient families here, especially from the Gu Miluo family, which was the last group he wanted to see.
A tall man said, “Yan Ruodai, these two are experts from the Qini family. Let me introduce them: this is Shi Qini, and this is Mo Ruoqini.”
Gu Shier hid behind Yan Ruodai; he didn’t want to draw attention. But since those who could come here were all extraordinary, the four of them naturally attracted attention.

Juehu Miluo was a big fat man. At a glance, he saw the identity badges on Guo Shier and the others’ waists—those were the identity badges of the ancient Miluo family. He wondered, “How did you four kids end up in the Little Thunder Realm? Yanruo Dai, why are you bringing along disciples from our ancient Miluo family?”