Thunder-Winged Tiger

"Roger" Everyone nodded.

The people from the Southern Faction had already run away from the scene since their leader already died. It was futile to struggle against Ariel's team.

The team finally arrived at the cliff and saw the corpse of the thunder-winged tiger. Lightning streaks were coming out of the corpse which prevented anyone from advancing further.

"So, this is why the Southern Faction hasn't obtained the corpse just yet" Ariel muttered.

"They probably wanted to wait until the lightning streaks disappear before obtaining the corpse" Number 3 nodded.

"The Thunder-Winged Tiger was a Divine Beast capable of contending against Great Emperors"

"I'm surprised someone managed to kill it in The Abyss" Number 1 raised his thought.

"It's possible that it was killed in The Depth and its corpse was thrown into The Abyss" Ariel explained.

"Who would throw the corpse of a Divine Beast to The Abyss though?" Bruce asked.

"It doesn't matter, our mission is to obtain the corpse back to the headquarter" Ariel declared with a hint of sovereignty in her voice.

"We can't move forward because the lightning would vaporize us" Number 3 shook his head.

"You're right…" Ariel agreed with the assessment as well. The other factions must have known about this which is why no one went for the corpse early.

Waiting in the enemy's territory for a treasure is a recipe for disaster and Ariel knew that. She racked her brain trying to figure out a way to obtain the corpse quickly.

Bruce looked curiously at the lightning streaks that came out of the corpse. He found boundless energy in the lightning. He thought of an idea as he closely observed the lightning.

Bruce embedded runes on his gauntlet and began to move forward.

"What are you doing? Are you suicidal?" Number 2 yelled out when she saw Bruce walking near the lightning streaks.

Bruce didn't reply and kept moving forward. When he arrived near the lightning streaks, he put his hand toward them in an attempt to absorb them.

"Bruce, stop!" Ariel yelled.

Bruce ignored all the warnings and moved forward with his plan. When the runes collided with the lightning streaks, the lightning flew into Bruce intending to ravage his body.

However, a miracle occurred because nothing happened to Bruce. Instead, a smile formed on his face.

"Everyone, we'll be able to take this corpse in 1 hour!"

"Impossible…"

"What kind of freak is he?"

Everyone looked at Bruce with flabbergasted expressions. How could a human absorb lightning from Divine Beasts? Lightning was known to be energy sent from the heavens. Normal people would dodge lightning. No one in their right mind would think about absorbing lightning.

Contrary to his team's understanding of the situation, Bruce didn't manage to absorb the lightning naturally. Even though Bruce had an affinity for lightning, he could only use lightning and absorb lightning energy from a medium such as rare plants.

Bruce successfully absorbed pure lightning from the thunder-winged tiger because he managed to manipulate the laws of lightning with the runes embedded in his gauntlet. Bruce had a hunch that it would work and like any other gambling addict, he went for it knowing that he could die if he fails.

Bruce crazily absorbed all the lightning streaks surrounding the thunder-winged tiger until he no longer could do so. He heavily underestimated the pure energy of the lightning when he gave out his one-hour estimate.

"I need to use all these energies to breakthrough"

"Protect me" Bruce sat cross-legged and attempted to break through to Late Stage Divine King.

His meridians were saturated with pure energy from the lightning streaks. The only option he had left was to breakthrough to absorb more lightning.

Everyone nodded and set up a formation to protect Bruce.

Bruce's aura continuously rose up as he cultivated the newly gained energy from the thunder-winged tiger and the dead villain.

After 30 minutes, his aura finally stopped and stabilized. Bruce had finally reached Late Stage Divine King.

"Thank you, everyone, I shall continue to absorb the lightning" Bruce said with a smile as he was extremely happy about his progress. It's only been one month in the Nether Realm, and he already reached Late Stage Divine King.

After absorbing the last lightning streak of the thunder-winged tiger, Bruce burped like a hooligan.

Ariel ignored his brashness and moved forward to obtain the corpse. She placed the corpse in her storage ring and signaled everyone to immediately head back to the Eastern Faction Headquarter.

The group immediately headed back to the headquarter. After they left the cliff, they immediately sensed multiple powerful auras approaching them.

"Shit, I sensed several Peak Stage Divine Emperors coming toward us!" Number 2 became frantic.

Bruce didn't have a good feeling about this either. He wasn't sure if his team can defeat several Peak Stage Divine Emperors. If one of the Peak Stage Divine Emperors is as talented as he or Ariel, the entire group would be toast.

"I can use my domain to increase our speed and slow them down" Ariel said after thinking for a few moments.

"That won't do, unlike those shrimps that we just defeated, it's likely that the other factions will send out their best to obtain this corpse" Bruce interjected.

"Bah, who the hell allowed us to take this mission?" Bruce complained. This mission was a suicidal mission unless they had Peak Stage Divine Emperors with them as well.

Ariel gritted her teeth because she also knew Bruce was right. The Nether Realm surely had talented people like her and Bruce in the Divine Emperor stage. The two couldn't abuse their talents to win across cultivation stages if that's the case.

"We can't give up here, let's keep moving!" Ariel wasn't planning to die today.

"Hold it, I have a plan"

"Everyone, get around me!" Bruce yelled.

The team instinctively followed his order because they had witnessed miracle after miracle from him.

"I hope you guys know how to play hide and seek" Bruce muttered.

"Huh?" Everyone was confused.

Moments later, powerful auras approached the team's original location.

"Where are they?" A middle-aged man with an oppressive aura looked around the area but could not find anyone. He was a team leader for the Western Faction

"We have locked on the aura of the thunder-winged tiger corpse the entire time. They should be around here" The person next to him also was dumbfounded also.

Moments later, other powerful auras also arrived at the scene.

"I'm assuming you guys took the corpse" A man holding a trident stared at the leader of the other side. He was a team leader for the Northern Faction.

"You're wrong, someone else took it and we are trying to figure out where they are" The Western Faction team leader shook his head.

"Give me your storage rings to prove it" The Northern Faction team leader spoke with contempt.

"You think I'm afraid of you? The Western Faction team leader released his Peak Stage Divine Emperor aura.

"I don't sense anyone else around this area and you're the only one here"

"Why don't you do the math every once in a while?" The Northern Faction team leader summoned his domain to prepare for the battle.

"We both know that our spies informed us a team from the Eastern Faction arrived here today"

"They're the ones who took the corpse, not us" The middle-aged man didn't want to waste time with the Northern Faction. The thunder-winged tiger corpse was too important to let go of.

"Funny how you didn't even put the Southern Faction into the equation"

"Why would the Southern Faction compete against us in this when it has its eyes on a bigger fish?" The leader from the Western Faction narrowed his eyes. He was forced to reveal information about the Southern Faction to avoid the conflict.

"Tsk, it seems like you're telling the truth" The Northern Faction team leader withdrew his domain.

"The only way I can think of is that the Eastern Faction team hid their presence from us completely"

"The Art of Stealth?"

"Precisely. Only the most powerful users of Darkness can do such a thing" The Northern Faction team leader nodded.

"I don't know anyone from the Eastern Faction capable of this, what about you?"

"I don't know anyone else either" The middle-aged man from Western Faction shook his head.

"Spread around the area and kill anyone from the Eastern Faction. I want that thunder-winged corpse in front of me today!" The Northern Faction Team Leader ordered.

Unfortunately for the two teams, Ariel's team had already left the area and arrived at the Eastern Faction Headquarter.

Everyone on the team was surprised that they managed to escape death. Initially, they held deep contempt for Bruce due to his lack of cultivation. Now, they all viewed him as their lucky stars.

"Bruce, how did you manage to put all of us under stealth?" Ariel asked.

As expected, Bruce's answer made her tremble in anger.

"I'll tell you how if you agree to marry me" Bruce smiled.