The weapon refiner is not doing her job properly

Chapter 204 The Giant Pit After the Calamity
The people busy on the ground were all attracted by this sudden commotion and involuntarily stopped what they were doing.

Lian Xinyi reacted the fastest, stepping onto the suspension board and rising into the air, climbing to a height of tens of meters before stopping.

He gazed into the distance at the desolate open space outside the school, the very heart of the churning dark clouds, and right next to it, the cultivation manor brimming with spiritual energy.

He had just regained his footing when he saw Lei Qingya also rise up on the hoverboard and stop beside him.

Lian Xinyi was worried that there wouldn't be any good tea leaves and spirit rice left. "Won't this commotion affect the cultivation garden?"

To get a better look, Lei Qingya squinted slightly, carefully estimating the distance. After a moment, he shook his head: "Don't worry, the landing point is right in the middle of the wasteland, and there's still a safe buffer distance between it and the manor..."

However, it's hard to say what the scale will be!

The thick, leaden clouds in the sky seemed to have reached their limit, and at the center of the churning cloud vortex, the aura of destruction was brewing to its zenith.

A blinding bolt of lightning struck down fiercely.

With a deafening roar, the entire earth shook violently without warning.

The crowd that had been looking up at the ground was caught off guard and fell like wheat fields blown down by a strong wind.

The intense tremor penetrated the soles of their shoes and reached their entire bodies. Everyone felt as if their heart had been struck hard by a heavy hammer, pounding wildly as if it would burst out of their chest.

Lei Qingya, who was in mid-air, was also startled by the terrifying momentum and subconsciously shrank his neck.

As someone who has personally experienced the tribulation of lightning, she is the most qualified to speak on this matter. It was not just a momentary tingling sensation, but an extreme pain that tore apart one's soul.

The pain was so intense that one could truly feel the cold touch of death at that moment.

Even more terrifying is that, under such inhuman torment, you must forcefully maintain your collapsing will and use your spiritual power to break through the key barriers to your realm.

It's like walking on a tightrope between destruction and rebirth, enduring torture while struggling to climb—just thinking about it is an indescribable torment.

Lei Qingya stared at the ever-expanding vortex of destruction and the continuous bolts of lightning in the center of the distant wasteland, and a sense of doubt arose in his heart.

For some reason, she felt that the power and scale of the second tribulation triggered by Su Ninglong were much greater and more dangerous than any she had experienced before.

Before the aftershocks of the terrifying explosion had even subsided, a deafening roar, ten times more terrifying than the previous one, crashed down.

In an instant, everything buried deep underground—the damp soil, the hard rocks, the massive remains of building components—was brutally excavated by a violent and destructive force and violently hurled into the sky from the depths of the earth.

A massive, terrifying crater instantly replaced the original landscape, with billowing smoke and dust and countless high-speed flying debris constantly gushing from its bottom.

A thick column of gray smoke, like a demonic chimney leading to hell, violently shot straight into the sky.

It spread rapidly in the high sky, completely swallowing up the already dim light, turning the world into a gray haze.

An invisible shockwave, powerful enough to suffocate anyone, carrying a strong earthy smell and a pungent stench similar to burning sulfur, swept outwards like a colossal wall that could destroy everything in its path.

The clothes of the people on the ground were blown wildly by the wind, and they got up only to fall down again.

Several hunters were caught off guard and were knocked to the ground by the force.

The people in the distance, unaware of what was happening, were completely blank-minded, with only one panicked thought echoing in their minds: "An earthquake?! Or... the end of the world?"

However, this is just the beginning!
From the center of the deep pit, a muffled roar, now containing even more terrifying energy, resounded once more.

Another golden lightning bolt tore through the thick barrier of smoke and dust, viciously penetrating the deepest part of the earth.

The tremors, even more violent than before, shook the earth violently. The soil and rocks at the edge of the pit were once again hurled and sprayed up by the violent force, far exceeding the scale of the previous tremors.

Stones of varying sizes began to fall like dense hailstones from the dusty sky.

A total of forty-nine lightning bolts.

One beat after another, like a raging drumbeat, or the merciless lash of a god, without the slightest pause, giving no one even a moment to catch their breath.

Those watching from afar on the ground were already numb with awe at the continuous power of heaven and earth, their thoughts seemingly frozen.

Suninglong, who was at the core of the attack, was also "numb"!

Every bolt of lightning tore at her soul and burned her body.

She thought she was about to be completely annihilated at any moment, her consciousness teetering on the edge of life and death countless times.

Fortunately, she had a strong will and managed to pull her life back from the brink of death.

But the current situation is actually extremely bad.

His body was like a delicate porcelain vase covered in cracks, as if it would shatter and disintegrate completely at any moment.

Even more fatally, the ocean of spiritual energy within his dantian, compressed to its limit, failed to condense into a golden core for a long time.

The thunderous roars grew louder and louder, signaling that the divine punishment was nearing its end.

If she fails to form the Golden Core soon, she will surely be reduced to ashes by this final bolt of lightning.

She instantly realized that the problem lay in the fact that the foundation accumulated during the Foundation Establishment stage was too profound.

To think that one could compress and condense this vast ocean of spiritual energy into a single, extraordinary pill that would directly reach the mid-stage of Core Formation? That's wishful thinking, a path to certain death!
Faced with a life-or-death situation, Su Ninglong no longer hesitated.

She took a deep breath, as if trying to inhale all the spiritual energy around her, then clenched her teeth and forcefully tore apart the immense spiritual power.

The immense spiritual power was forcibly split in two, and under her guidance, like two yin-yang fish chasing each other and intertwined, they began to rotate and revolve at high speed around the invisible center point.

Perhaps... it was this do-or-die decision that led them onto the right path, as if by magic.

Two perfectly formed golden pills took shape in her dantian.

What's even more astonishing is that these two golden pills are not smooth and bare; their surfaces are naturally engraved with mysterious and complex runes, faintly exuding a mysterious Daoist charm.

Once the Golden Elixir is formed, it is as if it has come to life.

They rotated autonomously, attracting each other and forming a perpetual cycle of spiritual energy. The surrounding spiritual energy of heaven and earth seemed to be drawn in by an invisible force, automatically and continuously flowing into them, nourishing the newly formed golden core and her body on the verge of collapse.

At the very moment the spiritual energy was first generated, the final bolt of lightning, marking the end of the ordeal, struck Su Ninglong with devastating force.

The deafening roar seemed to silence the entire world.

A blinding, blazing white light suddenly erupted from the bottom of the deep pit, its brightness instantly overpowering the billowing smoke and dust, illuminating the entire massive pit as if it were the core of an earth-shattering furnace, a vast expanse of white.

A circular shockwave, far more violent than any before, spread out from the point where the lightning struck.

The scorching heatwave, carrying hot sand and gravel, rained down on the faces and bodies of the spectators in the distance, like a dense barrage of bullets, bringing waves of burning pain.

Lian Xinyi was so startled by this final display of power that she instinctively shrank back, coughed a few times, and stammered, "Cough...cough cough...Sister Su...she...she'll be alright, won't she?"

Looking at the terrifying scene, Song Hu's eyes revealed deep awe, and he sincerely exclaimed, "Every leap in strength requires going through such a terrifying baptism of heavenly punishment. No wonder the spiritual practitioners of your faction are far stronger than their peers, and their strength is unbelievable."

"When did you get up here?" Lian Xinyi was lying on the suspension board, having just been blown away and tumbled, almost falling flat on her face, when Song Hu appeared beside her silently.

Song Hu glanced at him but didn't answer. Instead, he looked at Lei Qingya.

Lei Qingya's lips twitched, and he was speechless for a moment.

She could only silently complain in her heart: "Powerful... indeed ridiculously powerful. But the price is that it may mean being stuck forever, or being completely annihilated, leaving not even a trace. Even the forensic doctor would be scratching his head, unable to even write 'cause of death unknown'."

"Is it...is it over? Can we go over and take a look?" Lian Xinyi nervously grabbed Lei Qingya's arm, her eyes fixed on the area in the distance where the smoke and dust were gradually clearing.

Lei Qingya looked up at the sky and saw that the thick, oppressive clouds were dissipating at a visible speed, and the sunlight was struggling to shine through again.

"Yes, the tribulation clouds have dispersed, it should be alright now." She nodded in confirmation, then landed on the ground and told Shen Zhaoming and Xingyuan, who were also worried, "You two stay here for now. The situation over at the pit is unclear, and there may be unknown dangers. Let's go and explore first."

Xingyuan nodded: "Tell me as soon as you confirm Ninglong's situation."

Lei Qingya: "Okay."

On the other side, Tong Zi was busy directing the operation on-site and couldn't spare a moment to himself.

She quickly called out, "Zhao Piku, Xuan Min, you two go with Lei Qingya and the others. By the way, before we came out, there were still quite a few Mystic Spirits imprisoned in that underground building. If those Leis can't completely eliminate them, your primary task... is to ensure Su Ninglong's safety."

Lei Qingya, Song Hu, Lian Xinyi, Zhao Piku, and Xuan Min quickly formed an exploration team.

Because this incident was so significant, directly involved dangerous spirits, and the Star Police force had just suffered a major blow.

The hungry wolf was killed, the panda was seriously injured and fell into a coma, the flying squirrel was slightly injured, and there was also a team member who was mentally traumatized and confused and needed treatment. The team was short-handed.

For the time being, the Star Police can only dispatch two support personnel, carrying monitoring equipment, to observe and stand by in a relatively safe outer area.

The team members proceeded cautiously, just as a light drizzle began to fall from the sky.

Lei Qingya stretched out his hand, and the cool raindrops fell into his palm, bringing a strange sensation.

The rain carries an extremely faint yet pure spiritual energy that soothes weary senses and invigorates the spirit.

But the strong smell of burning earth and the faint smell of ozone, similar to that after a flash of lightning, mixed together in the air, served as a reminder of the terrifying power of nature that everyone had just experienced.

As they drew closer, the core scene after the tribulation lightning finally became clearly visible before their eyes.

As far as the eye could see, there was a terrifying, suffocating crater.

Its diameter is hundreds of feet wide, and its shape is like an inverted giant funnel, with no bottom in sight.

The pit walls are steep and treacherous, covered with large areas of material that was instantly melted by the extreme heat of the lightning strikes and then cooled and solidified.

In the dim light, they shimmered with a dark red, glassy luster.

Its bottom is completely hidden in the deep darkness, as if it leads straight to the Netherworld, devouring all prying eyes.

Centered on this giant crater, the earth seemed to have been lashed by the gods, completely torn apart.

Countless "scars" crisscrossed and spread wildly in all directions, reaching the very edge of the field of vision.

Looking around, the vegetation that once covered this place, and even the low hills, have completely disappeared.

Instead, there were mountains of soil and gravel, roughly churned up from the depths of the earth by that destructive force, as well as a large number of twisted and deformed, unrecognizable, massive metal components (the remains of buildings deep underground).

These wrecks were scattered haphazardly over an area spanning several miles around the horrific crater, creating a desolate and ravaged landscape.

Lei Qingya clearly heard Lian Xinyi beside him swallow hard, his voice hoarse and trembling with disbelief: "In...a place like this...can she...still be alive?"

“Of course we’re alive.” Lei Qingya said with certainty, pointing to the bottom of the pit. “Look, the soil that’s been soaked by the rain.”

Following her guidance, everyone looked closely and, sure enough, on the damp soil that had just experienced destruction, patches and clusters of fresh, vibrant green shoots had stubbornly emerged in a short period of time.

The vibrant life stood in stark contrast to the surrounding desolation.

"This is the result of the spiritual rain that comes after our successful advancement," Lei Qingya explained. "The spiritual rain, which contains the vitality of revival, will fall, and the land destroyed by the heavenly tribulation can often be revitalized more quickly as a result."

As soon as she finished speaking, the others also bent down to observe more closely, confirming that the tender shoots that had broken through the soil were greedily absorbing the rain and dew.

At this moment, Song Hu silently took out a specially made sealed test tube and carefully collected the rainwater falling from the sky.

His somewhat abrupt action drew suspicious glances from his companions.

“Shen Zhaoming told me to do this,” Song Hu said without looking up. “He instructed me to collect as many samples as possible and bring them back whenever I encountered anything strange or that might contain special substances.”

Upon hearing that it was Shen Zhaoming, the researcher, who gave the order, everyone immediately felt relieved and withdrew their inquisitive gazes.

The researchers' approach was completely different from that of the combat personnel; they were probably curious about the composition of the rainwater, which contained spiritual energy.

The five-person team composed themselves and began to carefully and stealthily climb down the steep pit wall.

They found a relatively flat, temporary "platform" formed by the collapsed metal structure.