The old village chief said sternly, "It must be that bastard Li Chonglou causing trouble. Only he knows our secret!"
A man in beast hides asked confusedly, "That's not right, village chief. None of us told him the location of the Divine Thunder Source."
"It's the array spirit."
The old village chief glanced to his right and said in a deep voice, "The array spirit awakened its consciousness long ago. He must have devoured it using some method, and thus learned about our Thousand Magnet Mirror."
The Thousand Magnet Mirror wasn't actually a mirror, but this very pool.
As long as blood was dripped into it before they unsealed it, an image of the entire Lei Ci Island would appear. Simultaneously, a trace of spiritual energy would surface. By controlling this trace of spiritual energy with special means, they could view the entire island.
This was why they had previously known everyone's exact location.
The man in beast hides exclaimed in shock, "He devoured the array spirit too? Doesn't that mean he can release the Divine Thunder Source anytime?"
The old village chief sneered, "Releasing the Divine Thunder Source isn't that simple. It's just an array spirit. I was originally planning to fatten it up before using it for soul refinement."
Although he said this, anyone observing closely could see a flicker of unwillingness in his eyes.
Array spirits were only mentioned in ancient texts. To say one wouldn't be tempted by it would be a lie.
"Then what do we do now?"
The old village chief said gravely, "There are only two outcomes for those who enter the thunder pool and don't come out: either they become nourishment for the thunder pool, or the Divine Thunder Source emerges. However, the latter is still sealed by formations, and will not be unsealed without sufficient soul bodies."
The old village chief sneered, "If they want to die, we'll oblige them. Half of you stay here and guard. Anyone who emerges from the pool, kill them! The rest, follow me to have a word with Xiao Hei."
"What about Li Chonglou?"
"That guy must be the first to enter. Having devoured the array spirit, he should be able to survive inside for a while. But as long as we guard here, he's as good as dead!"
The men in beast hides nodded, clearly relieved.
Subsequently, the sixteen men divided into two teams. One team remained by the pool, while the other followed the old village chief and quickly departed.
The old village chief had misjudged two things.
The first was that Li Chonglou hadn't entered at all, but was hiding in a nearby cave, using half of the Turtle Breath Technique.
As the name implied, half of the Turtle Breath Technique meant only half was used. While Li Chonglou concealed his breath, he retained his hearing and other senses.
Even though there was a cave between them, with his acute hearing, he heard every word of their conversation.
The second thing the old village chief misjudged was that what Li Chonglou had absorbed was not an array spirit at all.
Several minutes ago.
"Damn, Xiao Li, you've struck gold this time."
Elder An's voice echoed in his mind with excitement.
This was the first time Li Chonglou had heard Elder An sound so agitated.
"What's going on?"
"That purple mist is not an array spirit! Just now, after it fell into a weakened state in your consciousness sea, its true form was revealed!"
Li Chonglou was immediately startled and quickly entered his consciousness sea to check.
As soon as he entered, he noticed a dazzling purple light amidst the vast whiteness.
Yes, it was a purple light, not just purple!
"What is this?"
Li Chonglou looked up at the mass of mist crackling with purple lightning in the sky. Several soul bodies hovered around it, afraid to approach, looking bewildered.
He recognized those soul bodies; they were seniors Elder An had temporarily brought over from the bottle space. Old Lin and Cai Hong were too depleted and were close to entering hibernation.
He also knew about the purple mist, as he had been refining it for nearly half an hour.
But what was this electrically charged purple mist?
"The Divine Thunder Source! This is the consciousness of the Divine Thunder Source impersonating an array spirit!"
Elder An's excited voice rang out again.
Li Chonglou was taken aback.
"The consciousness of the Divine Thunder Source? Impersonating an array spirit?"
Elder An chuckled, "I can roughly guess what happened on this island now."
"Perhaps these islanders first set their sights on the Divine Thunder Source, secretly absorbing its power, which is why they possess this lightning power."
"But innate objects are the purest things in the world. They transform into dragons when encountering dragons, and upon contact with humans, they also begin to develop their own consciousness. However, fearing that their developing consciousness would be discovered by these islanders, they tried their best to control it and thus impersonated an array spirit."
Li Chonglou nodded. This logic made sense.
However, based on this, Li Chonglou also proposed a possibility.
"Could it be that the Black Net that's causing trouble this time is also a part of it? Its purpose being to emerge?"
Elder An fell silent.
But Li Chonglou quickly denied it himself, "Just a thought. If that were the case, I should have felt something."
Elder An sighed, "Xiao Li, you've traded a small loss for a big gain. Although you don't have the array spirit to attract and supplement energy, if you can refine the consciousness of the thunder source, then this Divine Thunder Source will be yours sooner or later."
"That's a true innate object."
Listening to Elder An's excited tone, Li Chonglou couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement.
Innate objects, if categorized by treasure level, were undoubtedly the highest existence!
However, Elder An quickly poured a bucket of cold water on him.
"But Xiao Li, if you want to truly possess it, besides completely refining it, you also need to release its本体 first."
"But there are too many people watching its本体. If you want to truly obtain it, there will be considerable risks."
Time returned to the present.
After the old village chief and the others left, Li Chonglou finally confirmed all the information he had obtained.
The Golden Wolf and the others were trapped here anyway, and their only path to survival was to go down. Therefore, he felt no guilt towards Chen Pingfan and the others he had brought along as their guide.
After all, even though the array spirit was fake, the spirit of the Divine Thunder Source did indeed master the formations. What it had lacked before was soul bodies.
In other words, as long as the Golden Wolf and the others were effective and broke the seal beneath the pool water, the本体 of the Divine Thunder Source would emerge!
"However, I still shouldn't get involved in this muddy water."
"Xiao Li, are you really planning to give up just like that?"
Li Chonglou said calmly, "What else can I do? According to the information from the spirit of the Divine Thunder Source, once the Divine Thunder Source successfully emerges, the special rules of Lei Ci Island will disappear. At that time, everyone will be a master of the sixth or seventh level, and there might even be masters of the eighth level guarding outside. How can I possibly compete?"
Elder An was rendered speechless. Although he really wanted to see what special features this innate object possessed and whether it was as exaggerated as rumored, that just waiting for it would make one invincible in the world.
But what Li Chonglou said also made a lot of sense.
After all, when the array spirit, or rather, when the Divine Thunder Source revealed its true spirit, it had already lost its ability to resist.