Chapter 450: Stellar Thunder Canyon
Huang Xiaolong turned his attention back to the young man, answering: “The Elf Forest.”
“The Elf Forest!” The young dwarf was shocked, even his footsteps halted as the stared wide-eyed at Huang Xiaolong before managing a sentence, “Bro, you really know how to joke.”
Joke? A helpless smile emerged in Huang Xiaolong’s heart, what’s there to joke about? He did indeed come out from the Elf Forest just now.
“Bro, you really walked out of the Elf Forest?” Noticing the expression on Huang Xiaolong’s face, the young dwarf exclaimed with a face filled with disbelief.
Huang Xiaolong assuredly nodded.
The young dwarf took a second look at the human race young man from top to bottom.
“Bro, I really couldn’t tell that you were able to survive the Elf Forest, ah!” Then, the young dwarf lowered his voice in a secretive manner, whispering a question, “Were you ‘poke-poke’ by those elves?”
“Poke-poke?” Huang Xiaolong sweated at the term.
The young dwarf nodded seriously, “Up until now, there hasn’t been a human that managed to come out alive from the Elf Forest, all of them were ‘poke-poke’ by those elves, turning into fertilizers for the Elf Forest.” Finished saying this, the young dwarf nudged Huang Xiaolong with a sheepish grin, “Bro, how did you manage to escape from the Elf Forest?”
He was really interested in this point.
Huang Xiaolong laughed, “I defeated the elf race’s Elder, they were probably afraid of me, that’s why they let me leave peacefully.”
The young dwarf was dumbstruck for a moment before exploding in a loud laugh, “Bro, I must say you’re really interesting.” Clearly, he thought that Huang Xiaolong was joking.
Just like that, the two of them chatted as they walked.
Somewhere in between, the young dwarf introduced himself, his name was Eric and Huang Xiaolong had no intention of concealing his identity, giving his real name, Huang Xiaolong.
Evidently, Eric had never heard of Huang Xiaolong’s fame, he didn’t show any exaggerated reaction when he heard his name.
Although Huang Xiaolong’s reputation had even spread to the Ten Directions Continent, it didn’t mean that every being on the Ten Directions Continent knew of him like they did on Snow Wind and Starcloud Continents.
Initially, Eric wanted to drag Huang Xiaolong with him to watch the weapon forging competition, but Huang Xiaolong wasn’t interested in this area, thus shook his head and declined.
With that, Huang Xiaolong left the Dwarven City.
Young dwarf Eric and Huang Xiaolong got along well. When Huang Xiaolong was leaving, Eric insisted that Huang Xiaolong look for him the next time he visits the Dwarven City, promising to treat Huang Xiaolong to the dwarf race’s special brewed wine.
Huang Xiaolong replied good-naturedly that he definitely would the next time he comes to the Dwarven City!
Leaving the Dwarven City, Huang Xiaolong continued towards the Stellar Thunder Canyon. Passing through the Stellar Thunder Canyon, he would reach the beastmen tribes’ sphere of influence.
Different from the Elf Forest and Dwarf Mountain, the Stellar Thunder Canyon was one of Ten Directions Continent’s perilous lands that spanned over a hundred li.
When night descended, the air above the canyon would be filled with natural-formed lightning. Not even Saint realm experts could escape grave injuries coming in contact with the lightning inside the canyon.
At times, even during the day, streaks of lightning charged through the canyon.
No doubt, there were other routes that could allow travelers to detour away from the canyon to enter the demonic beasts tribe’s territory, however, it would add at least half a month worth of journey.
It was high noon when Huang Xiaolong reached the Stellar Thunder Canyon, the scorching sun shone with a vengeance, there were clear skies on the horizon with nary a cloud in sight.
‘I probably won’t run into it...’ Huang Xiaolong comforted himself.
The Stellar Thunder Canyon was a mere hundred li, with Huang Xiaolong’s speed, it was a matter of a dozen breaths’ time.
A dozen breaths!
Still, taking precaution, Huang Xiaolong changed into the Asura Physique, spreading out the Wings of Demon at his back, and even summoned both the blue and black twin dragons and soul transformed.
Leaping into the air, Huang Xiaolong’s silhouette instantly turned into a streak of light, zooming into the Stellar Thunder Canyon like quicksilver.
Fierce howling wind rushed past his ears, tree shrubs and flowers blurred to his back into nothing.
In the briefest time, Huang Xiaolong was halfway through the hundred li canyon, reaching its center.
At this time, a sudden change took place. Rumbling dark clouds that spanned a thousand li suddenly appeared in the sky that was clear just moments ago, loud thunders clapped as scary streaks of lightning zig-zagged down the canyon like berserk snakes, growing ever more intense and frequent.
A tremendous pressure of destructive power plunged into the canyon from high up.
Staring stupidly at the abrupt change of weather, Huang Xiaolong couldn’t resist letting out a swear: “Damnit...!”
The thing you least want to happen will usually come a-knocking!
The destructive power continued to press down on the canyon, leaving Huang Xiaolong hanging in between, no path forward and no retreat to his back.
Hit by a sudden eureka moment, Huang Xiaolong bellowed and flew straight up. As his feet touched the top of the canyon ground, multiple streaks of lightning containing vast destructive power barged down on Huang Xiaolong.
Clenching his fists, Huang Xiaolong punched at the incoming lines of lightning.
Zi—! A resounding blast rang out.
Huang Xiaolong staggered back more than once, numbness spread throughout his body while the boulders and trees around were pulverized into dust.
A deep shock reverberated in Huang Xiaolong’s heart, the power of nature was truly terrifying. If he hadn’t refined the three primordial divine dragons, not forgetting his current physique was rebuilt by true dragon essence and the Dragon Pearl, in that collision just now, he would have suffered severe injuries if not even die.
Despite the fact, it lit up the battle desire in him.
This time, a dozen bolts of lightning aimed at Huang Xiaolong at once. Determination flickered in Huang Xiaolong’s eyes. Clenching his fists tightly, he punched out like he did earlier.
Glaring light exploded, hot air spiraled into tornadoes.
Akin to an ancient war deity, Huang Xiaolong repelled wave after wave of lightning even as the lightning grew more intense and overbearing, it only spurred Huang Xiaolong to fight harder.
At some point, Huang Xiaolong discovered that every time he repelled a wave of lightning, it actually helped temper his physique, making his body stronger.
Several hundred li away, a group beastmen surpassing hundreds in number stood on a peak. Looking at the violent ribbons of lightning above the Stellar Thunder Canyon, each of their faces paled.
“Luckily we listened to Budessi’s advice and took the longer route, if not, we would be crossing the canyon right now. We’d perish without leaving so much as a single piece of bone!” Beastman Amier exclaimed with trepidation.
“Hey, everyone look!!” One of the beastmen named Anthony shouted, pointing to a spot above the canyon.
All the beastmen looked where Anthony pointed. The lightning was far denser there compared to other places in the canyon. Moreover, they seemed to spot a blurry figure moving around ... fighting against the lightning?!!
A shiver ran down everyone’s spines.
“This, this can’t be real, right?!” Amier nervously swallowed.
“Definitely not, how is it possible? It cannot be real, how can a human withstand the lightning here!” One of them shook his head, “We’re too far, nothing can be confirmed.”
All around, everyone nodded in agreement.
Furthermore, even the several Grand Elders of their beastmen tribes dared not use their physical bodies to wrestle with the canyon’s lightning.
Watching a little while longer, the group left, shaking their heads and continuing on their way.
Above the Stellar Thunder Canyon, Huang Xiaolong let out a loud bellow after shattering a streak of lightning, “Excellent!” It was indeed thrilling for him. In the beginning, his body was totally numb after being struck by this lightning, pain shooting through his nerves, but now, the numbness and pain disappeared, leaving only a very comfortable sensation.
Those lightning strikes felt as if they were massaging him instead, a pure enjoyment.
Roughly an hour later, the lightning clouds scattered. The sky above Stellar Thunder Canyon reverted to the calm clear sky from before.
Watching the lightning clouds vanish, there was disappointment in Huang Xiaolong’s eyes. He didn’t expect the lightning phenomenon to end so fast.