The Elven Cultivator

On a gentle slope about three to four kilometers northeast of Wulei Valley.

A dozen or so men dressed as Adventurers stared intently at the Water Curtain before them, their faces a mixture of surprise and bewilderment.

”Is that guy... Anton?”

”Isn’t the Fallen Dragon Sword Saint supposed to be in the Eldron Plain? What is he doing here?”

”What is he trying to do?”

Everyone present was stunned and uncertain.

They had planned for this day for who knows how long, investing countless resources and effort.

Just finding all seven Thunder Prison Pillars had taken an immense amount of energy; they had to cross half the continent to track down the last few from various hidden locations.

Not to mention the immense trouble it took to silently set up the Array in a forsaken place like Wulei Valley, all while avoiding the earth elemental golem’s perception.

But now, just as they were about to close the net, Anton had appeared out of nowhere.

How could they not be shocked?

Their leader, Xavier, also frowned. He turned to Kael and Hawke and asked in a low voice, ”When you went to the Eldron Plain to buy Magic Stones, did you hear anything?”

Kael quickly shook his head. ”No, Lord Xavier. We were very careful the whole way. No one discovered our identities, and we didn’t notice anything unusual.”

Hawke nodded repeatedly as well. ”Anton rarely makes public appearances. There’s almost no news about him.”

Xavier’s eyes flickered, but he didn’t press the matter further.

After all, he knew that Kresol Dragon City had long since uprooted the intelligence network in the Eldron Plain, purging every last agent.

For two outsiders like Kael and Hawke, it was a feat just to buy the Magic Stones. Obtaining any useful intelligence was practically impossible.

The whereabouts of a Legendary Sword Saint couldn’t be tracked through mere hearsay.

After a moment of contemplation, Xavier said flatly, ”Anton most likely stumbled upon a clue about the earth elemental golem by chance, and that’s why he came.”

”But his timing is perfect.”

The corners of his mouth turned up slightly, revealing a cold smile.

”I originally only planned to deal with one earth elemental golem. Now, we’ve got a Sword Saint as a bonus.”

The members standing behind him also realized what he meant, and excitement appeared on their faces in unison.

Everyone present knew of the feud between Anton and the Ring of Annihilation.

The organization had always kept that grudge in mind, but they had held back because the price of dealing with Anton was too high.

But now that Anton had delivered himself to their doorstep, things were different.

”Lord Xavier is right.”

A burly, bald man grinned, revealing a set of stark white teeth.

”The Thunder Cage is powerful enough to grind down a Legendary Tier powerhouse to death. Even with an added Sword Saint, it just means we’ll consume a bit more of Wulei Valley’s lightning energy. It won’t affect the plan.”

”Anton only advanced to the Legendary Tier a few years ago. How deep can his reserves be?”

”The earth elemental golem has a tough hide and can last a while longer, but a Sword Saint will run out of steam in two hours, at most.”

”Once Anton dies under the thunder, we’ll just go in and collect the body.”

Everyone nodded, their faces filled with irrepressible joy.

The body of a Legendary Sword Saint was worth a great deal of merit within the organization.

The flesh and bones of a Legendary Powerhouse contained immense energy, making them excellent materials for High Tier necromantic rituals.

Not to mention, this was the famous Fallen Dragon Sword Saint, a being who had personally slain a Legendary Giant Dragon.

Such a contribution was nearly as valuable as obtaining the earth elemental golem’s core, which was tainted by the aura of the Nether Abyss.

Who would have thought this mission would have such an unexpected bonus!

Even the ever-composed Xavier had an imperceptible glint of amusement in his eyes.

Just then, Anton, on the screen, suddenly made a new move, instantly drawing everyone’s attention back to him.

But what happened next left them all dumbfounded.

Anton actually dropped all his defenses, allowing the lightning to crash down upon him.

The blinding flash of lightning instantly submerged the slender figure on the screen. Only a faint human-shaped silhouette could be seen flickering in and out of the violet-white light.

”Is he insane?”

”What is he doing?”

”Has he given up?”

The crowd was utterly bewildered, unable to comprehend Anton’s actions.

The Thunder Cage’s lightning bombardment had only just begun. Anton hadn’t even used much of his power, so why would he suddenly stop resisting?

Was he trying to kill himself?

”Who cares what he’s doing,” Hawke scoffed. ”If he wants to die, it just saves us the trouble.”

The others thought so too. After glancing at Xavier and seeing no reaction from him, they pushed their thoughts aside and returned their gazes to the Water Curtain.

On the screen, violet-white bolts of lightning crashed down from the vortex, striking Anton again and again.

Amidst the lightning, large patches of his exposed skin were already charred black, the flesh split open.

Blood seeped from the open wounds, only to instantly evaporate in the intense heat, turning into a faint red mist that surrounded him.

Yet even so, he still didn’t dodge or resist. He didn’t even move an inch.

He just stood there like a silent statue, letting the lightning tear his body apart.

”He must be about to break, right?”

Hawke licked his lips, a flicker of anticipation in his eyes.

But in the next moment, his expression froze.

On the screen, a gentle, emerald-green light suddenly appeared on the surface of Anton’s charred and cracked skin.

Just by looking at it, one could feel the vibrant life force contained within the light, like the first ray of sunshine breaking through the clouds on a winter day.

Nourished by the light, the wounds on Anton’s body began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The cracked skin became smooth again.

The charred flesh shed its dead layers, revealing new, tender skin beneath.

His originally pale face regained its healthy color.

In just a few breaths, all of Anton’s injuries had completely healed.

If not for the glassy crystals on the ground around him—formed when the earth melted from the intense heat and then solidified into a smooth, mirror-like surface—no one would have ever guessed he had just endured a barrage of incomparably fierce lightning.

”This...”

The smile on Hawke’s face was frozen in place.

The others also stared wide-eyed, their faces full of disbelief.

”What is this?”

”A restorative-type Power of Law?”

”Impossible. I’ve never heard of Anton mastering a Power of Law in this area.”

”Could it be some kind of Magic? Or a special magical item?”

The group exclaimed one after another, their voices filled with unconcealable shock.

Xavier, too, was unsettled and uncertain.

He had seen many Legendary Powerhouses who had awakened restorative-type Laws.

But whether it was ”Regeneration” or ”Wound-Healing,” none had a recovery speed as terrifying as this.

’Is this what he’s relying on to withstand the lightning head-on?’

He still couldn’t understand why Anton was doing this.

Before the group could recover from their shock, the lightning once again engulfed Anton completely.

About half an hour later, Anton was once again covered in wounds.

And the previous scene repeated itself.

The gentle, emerald-green light flowed across his body, rapidly healing every wound.

In just a moment, Anton was back to his peak condition.

The group looked at each other, speechless for a moment.

Time passed in silence.

Anton was injured again and again, and he recovered again and again.

During this time, other than occasionally taking out something that looked like a pill and putting it in his mouth, he made no other movements, remaining completely still as the lightning struck him.

The onlookers went from initial shock and bewilderment, to disbelief, and finally to their current state of numbness.

The sneer on Hawke’s face had long since vanished, replaced by an irrepressible horror.

Xavier’s expression shifted uncertainly as he watched, not saying another word from beginning to end.

「Three days passed in the blink of an eye.」

Even the earth elemental golem, with its thick hide, was showing signs of exhaustion under the continuous bombardment of lightning.

The earthy-yellow light that once flowed over its body was now so dim it was barely visible.

With every lightning strike, its body would tremble violently, and large, charred chunks would peel off, kicking up clouds of grayish-white dust as they hit the ground.

It was clearly at the end of its rope.

But Xavier still felt that something was wrong.

No matter how durable the earth elemental golem was, it shouldn’t have been able to withstand such an intense and dense lightning bombardment for so long.

In his original estimation, he thought it would take a day at most to take down the earth elemental golem.

But the latter had held on for a full three days!

Besides its elemental core being tainted by the aura of the Nether Abyss, this earth elemental golem must have undergone some other Transformation he wasn’t aware of.

As for Anton...

Xavier looked at the figure on the screen, the corner of his eye twitching slightly.

Anton was still standing in the same spot, his aura stable.

Far from being exhausted, he looked even more vigorous than when he first entered Wulei Valley.

Even someone as calculating as Xavier couldn’t help but curse inwardly, ’What a freak.’

He asked himself honestly: as a fellow Legendary Tier powerhouse, if he were in Anton’s situation, his limit would have been one or two hours.

No matter how vast a Legendary Powerhouse’s Magic Power was, it couldn’t withstand such continuous consumption.

But Anton?

Three days!

A full three days!

The guy was even more durable than the earth elemental golem!

Just then, the incessant, deafening thunder suddenly weakened slightly.

When the next bolt of lightning fell, its violet-white light was noticeably dimmer.

The rotation of the vortex high above began to slow and stutter.

It was obvious that after three days of continuous bombardment, the lightning energy in Wulei Valley had finally reached its limit.

Soon, the light on the seven Thunder Prison Pillars faded from incandescent white to dark red, and then from dark red to dying embers.

The final bolt of lightning disintegrated in mid-air as it fell, scattering into tiny arcs of electricity that dissipated without even touching Anton’s robes.

The vortex in the sky slowly came to a halt. The lead-gray clouds closed back up, restoring Wulei Valley to its perpetually gloomy state, only now, no more lightning fell.

CRACK!

The Crystal Stones at the top of the Thunder Prison Pillars shattered one after another, and fine cracks spread upward from the base of the pillars.

The seven pillars disintegrated at almost the same instant, letting out a series of sharp cracks as they crumbled into a pile of rubble.

Wulei Valley finally fell silent.

Watching this scene, the group was speechless and turned their gazes toward Xavier.

Kael hesitated before speaking. ”My lord, what should we do now?”

Xavier’s gaze was fixed on Anton in the Water Curtain. A cold light flashed in his eyes as he said icily:

”We’re going to Wulei Valley!”