"Boss, have you gone insane?" Xie Xie was on the verge of soiling himself at the sight of the ferocious bolts of lightning in the sky. Due to the excessive density of lightning within the dark clouds, they were forming balls of lightning that were intertwining in mid-air. Just by looking at the scene unfolding up above, one could sense the devastating destructive power that was brewing.

"Be quiet. If you're scared, then close your eyes," Tang Wulin said.

He was flying at an extremely fast speed, and in what seemed like the blink of an eye, he had already plunged into the vast expanse of lightning up above.

It's over!

Xie Xie reflexively closed his eyes and waited for himself to be charred to a cinder crisp, but much to his surprise, he wasn't struck by any discomfort at all.

What was happening?

He opened his eyes again to find himself in a bluish-purple world that was so spectacular that he was momentarily entranced.

He discovered that a purple ball of light had appeared around himself and Tang Wulin, and it was as if they were situated in a purple crystal. Outside the purple crystal, waves of lightning were crashing down toward them, but not only was the lightning not able to harm the crystal in the slightest, it was being absorbed.

He then turned to Tang Wulin to find that he had taken a seat with his legs crossed in mid-air. His Golden Dragon King wings were spread open, and there was a hint of elation on his calm face. Eight soul rings, consisting of four blacks, one greenish-golden, and three orange-golden, were revolving around him, and the golden trident symbol on his forehead had become particularly bright.

What was he doing? Xie Xie looked on in a flabbergasted manner.

Finally, he discovered that something was amiss. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the purple ball of light around them was woven from a series of vines. It was just that the vines were being completely illuminated by the lightning strikes, thereby giving it the appearance of a single unbroken crystal.

Was this the Infernal Lightning Vine?

Xie Xie was astonished as this answer occurred to him.

What was Tang Wulin doing? Could it be that he was absorbing his ninth soul ring?

Indeed, that was exactly what Tang Wulin was doing.

The Infernal Lightning Vine had been struck by a sense of elation upon sensing the lightning storm that Tang Wulin had summoned above the ocean, and it immediately urged him to fly into the lightning clouds so it could absorb the enormous energy within the bolts of lightning.

Ever since the Infernal Lightning Vine had become Zhang Geyang's soul spirit, it had constantly been repressed and prohibited from further absorbing lightning in order to prevent self-detonation. However, absorbing lightning was an integral part of the Infernal Lightning Vine's being, so at this moment, it was like a ferocious beast that had starved for countless years and had suddenly caught sight of a delicious feast; how could it possibly be able to hold back?

It had betrayed Zhang Geyang as he had repressed its instincts for all these years, and never fulfilled his promise. Over time, it had developed nothing but resentment toward its former host.

In contrast, it had only been with Tang Wulin for a very short time, but with the assistance and nourishment it had received from the Beautiful Silk Tulip and Tang Wulin's powers as the Son of Nature, not only had it made a full recovery, many of its inherent flaws had also been ironed out.

It was now able to devour lightning to its heart's content without any inhibitions precisely because it was being protected by Tang Wulin.

With the nourishment from his Son of Nature aura, it didn't have to worry about self-detonation at all. On top of that, its host wasn't just the Son of Nature; he was also the son of the Sea God!

Here in the ocean, the power of the son of the Sea God naturally far outstripped that of the Son of Nature.

The rich water elements acted as the ideal source of protection for the Infernal Lightning Vine, thereby allowing it to wholeheartedly devour the lightning elements in the air with reckless abandon.

It was driven by its instincts to devour lightning elements even though doing so would eventually lead to its demise, and nothing was more pleasurable for it than to be able to absorb lightning like this. In the instant that Tang Wulin had released and allowed it to freely devour lightning while protecting it using his control over the surrounding water elements, it had already been completely won over by him.

The Infernal Lightning Vine absorbed the enormous wealth of lightning elements in the air in an unreserved manner to enhance itself, and it could clearly sense itself becoming more powerful with each passing lightning strike.

A new Infernal Lightning Vine had virtually the slowest rate of cultivation among all soul beasts, but after reaching 10,000 years of age, its rate of cultivation would become the fastest among all soul beasts. Unfortunately, this rapid spike in the rate of its cultivation also heralded the beginning of the end. Every time it cultivated after reaching 10,000 years of age, it ran the risk of destroying itself. It was the most destructive plant system soul beast, but also one that was destined for tragedy.

It could be said that this Infernal Lightning Vine was the luckiest one to ever exist as it had found a host who was blessed by the planar ruler, and was also the son of a god. It was now able to devour lightning without any fear of consequences; if it were capable of crying, there would be tears of gratitude and elation streaming down its face.

It was rejoicing over its own decision. If it hadn't listened to the Beautiful Silk Tulip and chosen to stay with Zhang Geyang, then it would never have been able to experience this joy ever again.

The lightning being absorbed by the Infernal Lightning Vine wasn't affecting the dark clouds at all. The blanket of dark clouds seemed to be descending toward the sea, and the entire ocean began to churn violently as ferocious winds were swept up in a frenzy.

What was even more terrifying was that up until this point, not even a single drop of rain had fallen. All people who were well-versed with the sea knew that the longer a storm took to brew, the more fearsome it would be.

However, this also gave the federal fleet ample time to prepare to weather the storm. The three fleets quickly converged, and a series of giant metal pillars extended outward to connect all of the ships before drawing them into a dense cluster.

From a distance, it appeared as if a continent with an extremely rugged terrain had appeared on the surface of the ocean.

All of the ships of the three fleets were connected together with the three aircraft carriers at the very center, and they were all arranged in a formation that had been meticulously calculated to be able to withstand the elements to the greatest extent.

This was the special setup that the federal fleet had prepared specifically to counter dangerous weather conditions.

The soul fighter aircrafts on the decks of the aircraft carriers had already been stored away into their designated cabins and secured so that they wouldn't be damaged in the imminent storm.

Chen Xinjie was still hovering above the ocean, sensing the changes taking place in the surrounding water elements. He could sense that the water elements seemed to have attained life of their own and were constantly rising up into the air.

What was even more terrifying was that an infernal realm of lightning had appeared up above, and with his enormous powers, he couldn't help but feel a sense of fear.

Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have to fear any storm as he could easily erase the storm with his affinity with the ocean. However, this was a completely unprecedented situation in which he seemed to have lost the blessings of the sea.

There was no way for him to control the storm, and he couldn't disrupt the terrifying lightning that had gathered up above.

The more he looked at the situation, the more he was struck by the feeling that this wasn't a man-made situation. He couldn't imagine any human who was capable of summoning such a fearsome storm and influencing the ocean to this extent.

This was completely beyond human capabilities, even for Limit Douluos. He was already the Limit Douluo with the greatest level of affinity with the sea, yet he knew that he wouldn't be able to accomplish something like this.

Could it be that there was a pack of Great Beasts lurking nearby? There had to be at least two Great Beasts that were the equivalent of Limit Douluos that were creating such a fearsome storm.

Thankfully, human technology had already advanced to the extent that the power of soul beasts was simply no match, so he didn't have to be concerned about anything.

No matter how fierce this storm was, there was no way that it would be able to break the interconnected fleet. As for those two hypothetical Great Beasts, if they dared to appear, then he would show them the power of his four-word battle armor.