The Primal Thunder Dragon’s nascent soul roared, a tempest of will given form, and lunged, consuming the Thunder Spirit whole. The Spirit convulsed, its essence a frantic, maddening cry as it wrestled against the inevitable. With a desperate bellow of defiance, it countered, attempting to devour the Dragon in turn!

This celestial dance of predator and prey unleashed a cataclysm upon the thousand-foot Thunder Pool. Lightning surged and buckled, a thunderous upheaval never before witnessed, shaking the very foundations of the hall.

Wang Lin, now one with the Primal Thunder Dragon’s spirit, locked in a furious embrace with the Thunder Spirit. Their struggle was a fusion, a violent merging of pure lightning. Though powerful, the Thunder Spirit was incomplete, fractured. Yet Wang Lin, still untamed, held only a fraction of the Dragon’s true power. The contest was a desperate, even match.

With each savage roar that tore through the chamber, the Dragon, fueled by Wang Lin’s will, swallowed a greater portion of the Spirit’s essence. In a frenzy, the Thunder Spirit writhed, tendrils of pure electricity lashing out, attempting to steal back what it had lost.

The Dragon’s eyes, glowing with frigid intensity, showed no mercy. Ignoring the Spirit’s desperate attacks, it opened its jaws once more, an abyss of primal hunger.

Wang Lin’s very soul retained the Devouring trait of old, amplified now by the Dragon’s power. Combined with centuries of ruthless cultivation, a fierce, unyielding will burned within him.

In a whirlwind of relentless consumption, he ripped half of the snake-like Spirit from existence, crushing it into oblivion within his maw! The Thunder Spirit shrieked, a sound of utter despair, and retreated, a maimed creature of desperate rage. It howled, a call that resonated deep within the Thunder Pool. In response, titanic bolts of raw energy erupted from beneath the ancient flagstones, a reservoir of primordial power awakened.

Each earth-shattering roar echoed like the wrath of the heavens. Each collision sent out shockwaves that birthed a tempest, a destructive wind that ripped across the hall, pulverizing ancient flagstones into dust that vanished the moment it touched air.

Even the shattered stone was consumed by lightning, dissolving into nothingness.

In the blink of an eye, all save the flagstone beneath Wang Lin’s seated form lay in ruins. Yet the tempest showed no sign of abating, continuing its outward rampage.

From the hidden depths of the earth, a boundless wellspring of thunderous energy surged forth, drawn to the wounded Thunder Spirit.

It was a scene of divine tribulation unleashed upon the Thunder Immortal Hall. The gathered cultivators reeled back in terror, even the ancient patriarchs among them staring in stunned disbelief.

As the tempest raged, the elders seated upon cushions beyond the thousand-foot mark fixed their gazes upon the unfolding spectacle. Yan Leizi, his face etched with a bitter smile, raised a hand, stopping the maelstrom at the edge of his sphere of influence with a deafening boom.

At that precise moment, as the unleashed lightning flooded into the Thunder Spirit, the Dragon, with Wang Lin at its heart, experienced a new and terrifying surge of power. The devoured essence of the Spirit, now a torrent of raw energy surging through his nascent soul, ignited a primal urge he had never known. It was as if something ancient and untamed demanded release, demanding to roar at the heavens.

And roar it did.

It was the first, the only true Thunder Dragon’s Roar Wang Lin had ever uttered. It was a sound that tore through the Thunder Immortal Hall, merging with the very fabric of existence, becoming a timeless thunderclap etched into the soul of the world!

In that moment, the voice became the voice of all thunder, a command that resonated through every electric current in the cosmos.

This was the power of the Primal Thunder Dragon – the right to command the very elements. Wang Lin’s previous consumption of the Dragon had been too incomplete to unlock this true power.

But now, having devoured a portion of the Thunder Spirit, the Roar had been unleashed!

*Hooowwwlll!!!*

With that single word, the heavens themselves trembled. The primal lightning erupting from the earth, meant for the Thunder Spirit, faltered, quivered, and then reversed its course, falling upon the Dragon, an act of terrified obeisance.

The faces of the gathered cultivators twisted in utter astonishment. Even the ancient elders upon their cushions could not hide their shock.

The Blood God son himself stared, eyes blazing with chilling intensity.

Qing Shui, for the first time, broke into a raucous laugh. “Excellent!” he roared.

“The Primal Thunder Dragon’s Nascent Soul!” Yan Leizi whispered, his face contorted with horror. Veins throbbed in his temples as he fought the urge to intervene. He hesitated, then sighed in defeat. With Qing Shui present, he could only stand by and watch Wang Lin’s ascension. To interrupt such a rare and potent opportunity for Xu Mu would bring the wrath of Qing Shui down upon his head.

If the elders were shaken, the others were shattered. Xu Ting stared, his face pale, his soul tossed in a tempest of disbelief.

“Under no circumstances, should he be provoked,” Xu Ting thought.

Shen Gonghu’s eyes burned with feverish excitement, barely contained. His gaze, fixed upon Wang Lin, radiated adoration.

Zhan Konglie, stunned into silence, felt a similar devotion awakening within him.

The Big-Headed Child and the Six-Fingered Cultivator stood frozen, fear etched across their faces. They vowed to never, under any circumstances, cross paths with Xu Mu. To devour a Thunder Spirit, to command lightning with a single roar… such power made their blood run cold.

Not only did the lightning within the thousand-foot radius bow down in reverence, but the Thunder Spirit itself trembled before the Roar. A force beyond its understanding compelled it to yield, to submit.

This, was the might of the Primal Thunder Dragon!

As the limitless lightning flowed into Wang Lin’s nascent soul, he lunged, devouring the remaining half of the Thunder Spirit without resistance. His previous fusion with the Dragon had only reached one-fifth of its potential. But now, having consumed the Thunder Spirit and absorbed its boundless energy, a storm raged within his very being. The threads of their souls intertwined, each strand burning brighter than the last, reaching near-total integration.

The Dragon’s soul swelled, reaching a hundred feet in length, a suffocating aura of power washing over the ruined hall. It cast its icy gaze upon the assembled crowd before receding into Wang Lin’s brow. In that instant, every last tendril of lightning, every stray spark within the thousand-foot radius, converged upon Wang Lin. With a final, deafening crack of thunder, he opened his eyes, his body crackling with pure energy. He felt the power to command all lightning coursing through his veins.

He stood, surrounded by a wasteland where once a thousand-foot hall had stood, now devoid of all trace of elemental power.

Yan Leizi’s face was a mask of barely contained anguish. He looked at Wang Lin, his heart aching for the wasted potential of the Thunder Immortal Hall. Finally, he let out a long, weary sigh.

Silence descended, heavy and absolute. It was the same oppressive silence that had fallen when Qing Shui slew Luo Su…