Second Trial Passed!

Wu Zhen got up and jumped up and down in pure excitement. He could finally move! His happiness did not last for long as his fatigue soon caught up with him. He hadn't eaten, drank, or slept in 3 months. Considering most people would be dead in a couple of days, he was comparatively better off.

Thankfully, there was some water and food in the storage ring. Somehow, they had not spoilt yet. Perhaps the effects of the storage ring prevented things from spoiling. Wu Zhen didn't care though, he just needed to eat as fast as he could. He stuffed anything edible that he could find into his stomach as soon as he found it. He almost choked on a chicken bone.

After so many months of not eating, plain rice tasted delicious and a glass of water felt like the sweetest juice he had ever drunk.

Then, he proceeded to fall asleep almost instantly. For 3 days, he slept continuously, until he was rudely interrupted from his peaceful slumber.

"GET UP! WE HAVE TO CLIMB!", Freedom God-Emperor shouted.

Wu Zhen slowly woke up, before yelling straight back, "Why the hell did you wake me up, Freedom God-Emperor? You certainly don't give me any freedom in my sleep schedule, huh? Besides, you were the one who gave me this crappy technique, to begin with! Don't act like it's somehow my fault! I wish I could kill you, but you're already dead!"

No reply. It seemed to have struck a nerve.

Wu Zhen quickly got up and began to continue climbing. Time was running out, and he had to get there quick. He leaped between rocks as fast as he could, climbing the mountain as if it was a tree and he was a monkey.

Even if he encountered a demon along the way, he would think of ways to go around it rather than fight it. Fighting with them was just a waste of time after all. He climbed as efficiently as he could to make up for all the time he had lost being stuck as a servant and the 3 months he spent in that cave cultivating. If not for all the things that had slowed him down significantly, he would've been able to easily reach the peak by now.

Then again, the only reason why he was as strong as he was right now was that they had happened. He continued to climb up tirelessly for about a month and a half, only stopping occasionally to eat and sleep, all the essentials.

It was all worth it though since he had finally arrived. He was at the peak! Thunder burst forth from the clouds and was headed straight for him. He did not flinch, he did not move in the slightest, because he knew it was his chance to breakthrough!

As soon as the lightning strike hit him, its power was absorbed and spread throughout his entire body, whose thirst for lightning was finally quenched. He felt immense pain, but also pleasure as his bodily strength surged to new heights. He felt a bit disappointed, was that it? He expected it to be way more painful.

The sky itself opened up to a giant thunderbolt coming from what looked like the heavens above. It shot towards him with terrifying speed and accuracy. Wu Zhen got ready to absorb him, but when it hit him, he wasn't able to control the sheer amount of power contained in it. This thunderbolt was hundreds of times stronger than the one he absorbed.

He fell unconscious soon after.

"Let me handle this one for you, kid. I was the one who told you to come up here."

Freedom God-Emperor's soul projected itself out of Wu Zhen's body before flying off into the giant hole in the sky, leaving Wu Zhen behind on the ground.

Soon, Freedom God-Emperor found the one who was behind the thunderbolt, and it was exactly as he had predicted: a Thunder Soul.

To those without a strong soul, they wouldn't be able to see or fight back against a Thunder Soul, which was why Ji Tian could not sense it. Unusual phenomena such as entire islands on fire, or a river made up of air currents were usually caused by the presence of an elemental soul.

Furthermore, Thunder Souls were especially deadly because they can attack from high up and have an incredibly high speed.

"Who are you to dare to attack Freedom God-Emperor's friend!?"

"F-Freedom God-Emperor? That's impossible! He died many millennia ago, you pretender!", the Thunder Soul yelled before throwing another thunderbolt.

Freedom God-Emperor created a hole in his torso which the thunderbolt went straight through. He had dodged it without even moving.

"Well, I thought we could negotiate, but apparently not."

He held his hand up to the Thunder Soul and uttered the words

"ABSORB!"

The Thunder Soul suddenly felt a great pull, which it tried its hardest to resist before being sucked into Freedom God-Emperor's palm, creating a blue mark.

"Heh, you think you can mess with me? Think again, punk!"

Freedom God-Emperor returned to Wu Zhen's unconscious body which was laying on the ground and once again entered it before a much-awaited notification finally arrived.

[Wu Zhen has passed the second trial. Rewards: 1 Qi Ocean Pill, 6 months of access to the outside world.]

[Remaining time before next trial: 364 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds]

A few hours passed, and Wu Zhen groaned in pain as he woke up, opening his eyes only to be assaulted by a bright white light. He was back. He was finally back!

"I've never been so glad to be in a void before in my entire life."

Wu Zhen's wounds were recovering at a rather fast pace since he had already broken into the second stage of Nine Lightning Body. That reminded him, he had to start body refining again!

Although it was painful and tedious, the benefits he reaped from it were tremendous. He would've been killed by the first demon he encountered if not for body refining.

He sat down in a lotus position and began his body refining again after many months of hiatus.

Every few seconds, his limbs would twitch, contracting, or relaxing at random. It looked incredibly odd as if Wu Zhen somehow couldn't control his own body.

The body refining this time around caused much greater pain than his first refining many months ago. Every second, he felt like he was being hit by multiple lightning bolts all over his body.

Not only was it more painful, but it also took much longer too. The refining lasted multiple months, which was way longer than the first refining. The second refining was just much harder when compared to the first one. If he had to compare the first one to the second one, the first one would be like trying to cross a tightrope and the second one would be trying to cross a tightrope with a blindfold.

Even still, he wasn't complaining. Body refining would surely be incredibly useful in the third trial as well. Still, just thinking of the third trial made him shiver. How horrifying would the third trial be? He didn't even want to think about it. Thankfully, there was still a year till that day would come.

As for rewards, though, he only knew that he had gotten a Qi Ocean pill that would help him to break through and another second reward, which Freedom God-Emperor wouldn't tell him about.

After he finished his second refining, he tried to get himself used to his newfound bodily strength and heightened senses. His speed, power, and reflexes had all received a boost.

Then, he suddenly remembered something very important that he had forgotten! He hadn't read the martial arts within the storage ring he had found yet! He quickly brought them out and began to read them as quickly as he could.

Reading through all of them took a few hours, but it was worth it because he finally had a new martial arts technique to learn.

Its name, Divine Lightning Strikes!

Just the name made him excited! It was a complicated technique with 108 forms, which one could use to attack, defend and dodge!

As soon as he memorized the 108 forms, he started practicing. At first, his moves were clunky and unsynchronized, but as he practiced more and more, he began to master the technique at an unprecedented rate.

Even though his talent was rather below average, his comprehension was always incredibly high. That was why his family put all their resources onto him, hoping he could become a martial arts apprentice.

Freedom God-Emperor couldn't help but admit that Wu Zhen was a prodigy at comprehending techniques and how they were used. An ordinary person would take days to memorize the forms alone, let alone start practicing.

He had practiced for only about ten times now, and he was already beginning to reach the level of lesser mastery.

When he finished the 108th form for the tenth time, he had reached it. Lesser mastery achieved in just ten tries!

"You still think I'm pathetic, Mr. Pompous?" Wu Zhen said as he smirked.