Chapter 4713 — Struck by Lightning

But this time it was not one bolt of black lightning that fell from the sky, but dozens at once, plowing the whole of the Heavenly Dao Mountain end to end; the ancient battlefield, already strewn with corpses beyond counting, was in an instant given over to a fresh crop of the dead.

And at the very moment the black lightning wrought its annihilation, Wei Zhao suddenly began to tremble from head to toe. Whether it was delusion or truth he could not say, but he felt as though one of those bolts had struck him; even now, turning his gaze inward, he could clearly see terrible currents running wild through every part of him, his bodily functions collapsing in an instant, every trace of sensation vanishing utterly.

His mind went blank. Apart from his primordial spirit, his physical body had been blasted away for no reason at all. Did that make him dead?

"Dead? What kind of death is that supposed to be?" The ghost thing's sneering laugh rang out suddenly in his mind. "If that counted as dying, I'd have died a hundred and eight thousand times over by now."

"Huh?" Wei Zhao gave a start. His whole mind had been sunk in that fragment of memory, and he had never expected the ghost thing to come barging in; he asked at once, "Then what is this? Why does it feel like this whole body isn't mine anymore?"

"I don't know where a brat like you got the luck, but you've actually caught the fancy of a top-tier sea beast. That's a stroke of fortune out of the heavens!" The ghost thing's tone carried a note of disbelief.

"Fortune out of the heavens? What's that supposed to mean?" Something stirred in Wei Zhao's heart at the words. His body being utterly out of his control was indeed enough to make his blood run cold—struck by black lightning for no reason at all, and now this so-called stroke of fortune? Where did that come from?

"You still don't get it? You merely inherited a fragment of memory in your sea of consciousness—do you think under normal circumstances lightning would come along and strike you?" The ghost thing, keeping him in suspense, answered with a question of its own.

"That… no, normally it shouldn't…" Wei Zhao shook his head. The situation was somewhat like watching a 3D movie, now that he thought about it—there was a feeling of things popping out of the screen.

"Which is why I call it a stroke of fortune and destiny. I suspect that when you met that electric eel before, its lingering obsession left a trace behind, and that trace has now resonated with this one, giving rise to the phenomenon…" the ghost thing conjectured, lost in thought.

"Then this is just plain bad luck for me, isn't it? Even if I took no real harm, getting the fright of my life counts as a stroke of fortune out of the heavens?" Wei Zhao was speechless. So it was because he had picked up a lightning-attracting array that the scenes in that memory fragment had been projected into reality—a calamity out of nowhere!

"You brat, you really don't know when you're well off. Last time weren't you sighing that you never truly obtained that electric eel's inheritance? Now you're given the chance and still not satisfied?" the ghost thing snorted.

"What? Senior, you mean—just because it struck me like that, I can obtain its inheritance?" Wei Zhao was both startled and delighted. That giant electric eel was in no way inferior to the Five Poison Flood Dragon. That scene just now in particular had made him tremble to the depths of his soul. If he really could obtain its inheritance this time, wouldn't that mean mastering a heaven-defying killing move to rival the Five Elements Killing Qi?!

"I only said it's possible. It depends on your luck. I needn't waste words—just examine the state of your body and you'll know," the ghost thing said.

At that, Wei Zhao hastily used his divine sense to look inward, and what he saw made his tongue cleave to his palate. There was still not the slightest sensation anywhere in his body, and every so often he could see dangerous arcs of electricity go leaping past. Wherever those arcs passed, flesh and blood were left charred black; the fragile meridians especially, once an arc swept across them, burst on the spot without exception.

Wei Zhao watched in horror. At this rate his body would be burned to a cinder any minute now. Was he from this point on to be like the ghost thing, clinging to life with nothing but his primordial spirit?

Anyone else seeing such a sight would most likely have been frightened to death.

But Wei Zhao was startled only for a moment before he steadied himself again. He turned to re-examine the horrifying spectacle within his body, and only after careful observation did he finally discover something exhilarating.

The parts damaged by the arcs—though charred black for the moment and seemingly dead—revealed, after a little while, a slow re-emergence of vitality, as though life came forth out of death; the blackened places could break out of the cocoon and be reborn, not merely recovering their vigor but, by Wei Zhao's reckoning, coming back even stronger than before!

Watching his own body ravaged by the arcs again and again, and then, cockroach-like, recovering itself again and again of its own accord, Wei Zhao, in the midst of his delight, could not help but recall the several times he had tempered his body inside the stone gate of that cave.

That was right—these arcs were indeed extremely dangerous, and a single careless moment could kill a man, but so long as one could endure them, one would in the end be reborn anew, utterly transformed.

"I don't know what to say about your talent, brat. You're plainly just a human, yet your tenacious vitality is a match for our spirit beast clan—most spirit beasts probably can't even compare to you. You're not some illegitimate son of the Spirit Beast King, are you?" the ghost thing said with a strange chuckle, half sighing.

Wei Zhao's face went black at once. You're the illegitimate son of the Spirit Beast King—your whole family are illegitimate sons of the Spirit Beast King!

Since his physical body could withstand the lightning's tempering, Wei Zhao finally relaxed, and his attention returned to that fragment of memory, his focus naturally still on the giant electric eel.

Targeted by three beings of its own level joining hands, the giant electric eel had suffered badly; yet before its heaven-destroying, earth-razing killing move—like a punishment from the heavens themselves—none of them, neither the woman playing the zither, nor the nine-headed serpent, nor that top-tier sea beast of unknown breed, came off well at all. Even if they were not slain on the spot, all were gravely wounded and teetering on the brink.

The giant electric eel struck home, and Wei Zhao had assumed it would surely try to finish them off, to blast these three besiegers into utter annihilation. Yet to his surprise, its very next move was to turn tail and flee!

Watching the giant electric eel take flight with all the speed it could muster, Wei Zhao was struck dumb. Only then did he remember that this creature too was gravely wounded, that it too was nearly done for. Though it looked as if it still had the strength to finish them off, this was no one-on-one duel—a powerful enemy might come charging out from somewhere at any moment and snuff out your life in an instant.

It had begun by sneaking in a surprise attack with great flair, and now, seeing the wind turn against it, it fled without the least hesitation. Wei Zhao truly had not expected the giant electric eel to be such a cunning one; he had thought it would rely on its strength and fight to the bitter end!

Still, that sort of temperament rather suited Wei Zhao's taste—if you can't win, run. Only a fool would stay. (August 10: the iQIYI adaptation of *The School Beauty's Bodyguard* premieres! For more news, follow the official WeChat account yuren22.) (To be continued…)