Chapter 1173

"Could it be that there's some secret on that little girl?"

Upon seeing the sudden appearance of that little girl, the Stone Clan Great Elder was instantly filled with doubt.

"Boom—"

Just as he thought that, rolling thunder like a roar suddenly rang out from the sky above.

"Hehe, I'll step back a bit to avoid being caught by this heavenly lightning; when the thunderbolt subsides and this kid is exhausted, I'll go up and deliver the final blow."

Sensing the terrifying heavenly lightning capable of heavily injuring a four-star Dou Saint, the Stone Clan Great Elder had no hesitation and quickly stepped back to avoid being affected by that lightning.

Although those thunderbolts couldn't harm him, being caught by them would still require some effort.

With that strength, he might as well just watch the opponent exhaust themselves against that lightning, then later deliver the final blow to the exhausted Lin Feng.

As for Lin Feng, upon seeing the little girl in a bronze-colored dress above his head, his expression immediately turned very strange.

If he wasn't seeing things, that little girl was Xiao Ling.

"Boom!"

However, the moment he saw Xiao Ling clearly, the dark clouds above had accumulated enough energy and then violently spewed out a bolt of violent lightning nearly a hundred zhang in size, sweeping straight toward Xiao Ling.

"Uh-oh, this bolt of lightning might be too much even for a four-star Dou Saint to withstand!"

Sensing the destructive aura within that bolt of lightning, Lin Feng's expression changed drastically as he prepared to intervene and block the lightning for Xiao Ling.

But soon he realized that this situation might be Xiao Ling breaking free from the state where she could only shrink inside his body, truly descending into the Dou Qi Continent.

This kind of emergence is somewhat similar to when the scaled bloodline returned to its ancestors; both require undergoing the tempering of heavenly lightning to complete the final step and descend into the Dou Qi Continent.

Thinking this through, Lin Feng, who had just prepared to act, suddenly froze.

After thinking for a moment, he did not make a move, but instead looked worriedly at the curled-up Xiao Ling in the sky.

The next moment, that huge lightning flashed across the horizon and then plunged straight into Xiao Ling's body.

"Zap!"

As soon as they made contact, the lightning instantly shattered into countless arm-thick lightning serpents that continuously wandered over Xiao Ling's body.

"This brat, it seems he intends to let that little girl undergo the heavenly lightning's tempering herself, thereby achieving the most perfect evolution?!"

Seeing this situation, the Stone Clan Great Elder, although he did not know exactly what the little girl's true form was, quickly inferred Lin Feng's plan based on experience.

Thinking of this, the former no longer hesitated, clenched his fist again, and a grayish flow of energy surged forth once more from above.

"Rushing Rock Fist!"

The next moment, the Stone Clan Great Elder's towering, iron‑like physique instantly shot forward explosively.

Like a huge gray watermelon's fist, it smashed straight toward Lin Feng's chest with all its might.

"Come on, let's kill this girl together!"

Seeing their great elder take action, the Stone Clan female Four‑star Dou Saint could not wait and shouted at the two Two‑star Dou Saints beside her.

As soon as her words fell, the three of them, likewise turned to stone, continued to rush toward Zi Yan.

"Hmph, with just you few you still want to deal with this lady? If it weren't for this spatial restriction severely limiting my power, you'd already be dead!"

Hearing the opponent's boastful words, Zi Yan immediately sneered, then with a small hand she condensed a golden spear in an instant and went straight to meet them.

Of course, the Stone Clan Great Elder's movement naturally also caught Lin Feng's attention.

Seeing the former attack, he likewise had no hesitation and immediately gathered his Dou Qi to defend against the assault.

"Yellow Spring Palm!"

The next moment, Lin Feng's palm suddenly rose, and as he moved, a massive energy palm imprint several thousand zhang in size appeared before him in the sky.

"Go!"

Immediately after, Lin Feng gritted his teeth, gave a cold snort, and forcefully slapped his palm downward.

And at the instant his palm came down, the energy palm imprint in the sky above also plummeted at extreme speed, slamming down hard onto the Stone Clan Great Elder.

"Heh heh, having recovered the strength of a Five‑star Dou Saint, it seems heaven intends your doom."

Sensing Lin Feng's greatly weakened attack, the Stone Clan Great Elder couldn't help but curl his lips into a savage grin.

Immediately afterward, he threw a plain, no‑frills punch that landed squarely on the descending giant palm in the sky.

"Boom!"

The two Dou Techniques collided violently, and in an instant the whole heaven and earth shook fiercely.

However, Lin Feng, whose strength has now recovered to that of a Five‑star mid‑stage Dou Saint, is still considerably inferior to the Stone Clan Great Elder who is one star higher; soon the giant energy palm could not hold up and burst into countless tiny fragments that fell from the sky.

"Lin Feng, prepare to die!"

Having dealt with that troublesome energy palm imprint, the Stone Clan Great Elder wasted no time and rushed straight at Lin Feng to attack.

At this moment he no longer cared about the lightning tribulation; he only wanted to quickly dispose of this brat before him.

After all, he still did not know the little girl's background, and furthermore Lin Feng had not even tried to block the heavenly lightning.

If he does not seize the opportunity to finish off Lin Feng—whose internal Dou Qi turmoil has caused his power‑boosting secret technique to fail—then once the opponent finishes dealing with the heavenly lightning, won't he be in even more trouble?

Although he is a Six‑star mid‑stage Dou Saint, it is not so easy to defeat a Six‑star early‑stage Dou Saint who is one minor stage below him.

One misstep could see him badly wounded by the opponent, possibly dragging them both into mutual destruction.

And when Lin Feng saw that his interception had failed, his brows immediately knit tightly.

Normally, even if he could not defeat the opponent in battle, he could rely on his speed to keep them at bay and buy time to find a solution.

But now Xiao Ling is undergoing the lightning tribulation; he could flee, yet Xiao Ling cannot follow him.

If he simply grabbed that girl and ran, the likely result would be that he too would be struck by that heavenly lightning.

At that time, he would have to deal with the tremendous lightning tribulation on one hand, and on the other have to reach out and contend with the Stone Clan Great Elder.

But trying to handle the lightning tribulation while also contending with a Six‑star Dou Saint—how could he possibly manage that?

Thinking this through, Lin Feng finally gritted his teeth and chose to confront the Stone Clan Great Elder head‑on.

Immediately afterward, he watched as the right fist, raised and wrapped in gray mist, came hurtling toward him at full speed from the stone monster, and he instantly extended both hands forward in front of himself.

"Samsara Three Absolutes·Samsara Reverses All Things!"

As Lin Feng's mental shout rang out, the fighting qi within his body surged through his meridians like a raging river, and as it entered the branch meridians in an orderly flow, a black vortex tens of zhang in size instantly appeared before him.

"Bang!"

As soon as the black vortex before Lin Feng had just formed, the Stone Clan Great Elder fiercely punched it.

"Hmph."

As the fist collided with the slowly spinning black vortex, a gray light instantly flared on the vortex, which had been as black as ink; the seven- or eight-meter-tall stone monster was then violently blasted back, only stabilizing after retreating several hundred meters.

At the same time, Lin Feng was also knocked back dozens of steps by a tremendous force.

Immediately afterward, the vortex before him seemed to have suffered heavy damage as well, and like a bubble it popped and vanished.

""This brat, why does he always have such strange tricks? That black vortex just now actually reflected all of my attacks back at me. Moreover, it seems to have been mixed with some other techniques.""

As he spoke in his mind, a thread of blood immediately flowed from his sleeve.

At the same time, his fighting qi rapidly gathered together, then with a violent impact he expelled the dark energy that had been incessantly eroding his fighting qi, his vitality, and everything else from his body.

However, at the very instant that dark energy was expelled from his body, that strand of black energy also devoured all the fighting qi it had come into contact with and then carried it outside.

""What a pity; if I could only have a bit more time to become proficient, perhaps that strand of samsara power would not be so easily detected.""

Seeing the opponent notice his somewhat unfamiliar technique, Lin Feng also felt a slight disappointment.

He knew that his plan to use a secret strike while the opponent was unaccustomed to this move's pattern, in order to severely wound them, had failed.

But Lin Feng did not give up fighting; after this move failed to achieve a surprise severe blow, he immediately extended both hands to form a seal.

Then the hand seal changed like lightning, and his soul power erupted at that moment, sweeping across the sky and earth, forming behind him a towering figure hundreds of zhang tall, identical in appearance to himself.