Chapter 64: Wielding the Thunder's Authority

"Impossible, this is impossible… this Heaven and Earth Anomaly was caused by him?!"

Tu Wen stared in a daze at the figure drifting toward the sky.

He wanted to strike and interrupt it, but before he could act, the threat from heaven and earth left him nearly suffocating!

Heaven and earth were acknowledging it; They would not allow the ritual to be interrupted.

Su Lingwei sat on the ground, staring blankly at the figure bathed in thunder.

This scene was deeply etched into her mind; she feared she would never forget it for the rest of her life.

More than ten kilometers from this place.

The battle between Steward Jiang and Hua Lao had already ended; a head lay on the ground, its face showing unwillingness.

At this moment, Steward Jiang likewise raised his head to gaze at the thunderclouds filling the sky, his expression brimming with excitement.

"Young Master, he succeeded…!"

To trigger a Heaven and Earth Anomaly of this scale—even looking across the entire history of mankind, it had never appeared before!

The Martial Artists and beast hordes currently fighting in Hanyue City also stopped at this moment, as if by unspoken agreement, all gazing up at the sky above.

The Fierce Beasts felt the threat descending from overhead, trembling and not daring to move.

They did not belong to this world, and so they would be regarded with hostility; this feeling was as if, the moment they made the slightest move, some existence would forcibly erase their very being.

And in the deepest part of these thunderclouds.

Boundless thunder-light gathered and fused… ultimately converging into strange 'beasts,' one after another.

Their horns resembled a deer's, their eyes a rabbit's, their neck a snake's, their scales a fish's, their paws a tiger's, their ears an ox's.

They were unmistakably nine 'dragons' condensed from thunder-light!

Dragons were born at the beginning of the world, holding dominion over mortal life and death, able to toy with fate.

The ancients said: dragons are the envoys of the Heavenly Dao, wielding the power of reward and punishment. When someone performs an act defying heaven, they appear on behalf of the Heavenly Dao to grant a trial; only those who pass receive heaven and earth's acknowledgment.

"Roar—!"

The dragons' cries shook heaven and earth!

They circled around Jiang Qin's side, like ministers beneath a king; they were also the Dharma Image manifestation of Jiang Qin's martial path.

Jiang Qin's path is the path of 'justice.'

To smooth out the injustices of the world, to walk among men with a heart of 'fairness,' to wield reward and punishment—and also to protect.

The power of the Dharma Image surged madly into Jiang Qin's body; his long-stagnant realm began to rise once more.

With no further obstruction, like water flowing naturally into its channel… he ascended to the Divine Image Realm Realm!

A strange and unfathomable power surged forth from the depths of heaven and earth.

It wished to leave a brand upon Jiang Qin.

So long as the brand was left, Jiang Qin would forever belong to this world.

But the moment Its power drew near, a force of domineering rules dispersed It, brooking no argument.

A long-awaited voice rang out in Jiang Qin's mind:

【Congratulations to the host on breaking through to the Divine Image Realm Realm. Reward obtained: Thunder Sovereign Commands the Heavens.】

【Thunder Sovereign Commands the Heavens: Wield the thunder's authority; all thunder in the world shall heed your command!】

As the ritual completed, the Heaven and Earth Anomaly began to shrink, ultimately appearing only around Jiang Qin.

Nine thunder dragons lowered their heads beside him within the dark clouds.

After enduring the baptism, Jiang Qin slowly opened his eyes; his pupils had transformed from black to a mysterious golden hue, with constricted vertical pupils especially striking—like the eyes of the heavens, brimming with majesty and inviolability.

The instant she saw him, Tu Wen knew.

Even though the other had only just stepped into the Divine Image Realm Realm, he was absolutely no match for him.

He gritted his teeth and condensed several hundred Golden Light Blades that surged toward Su Lingwei; then his figure transformed into a streak of light and fled in the opposite direction, his speed pushed to the extreme—even at the cost of burning his essence.

Those Golden Light Blades rushed toward Su Lingwei, but before she could close her eyes in fear—

The Golden Light Blades were forcibly erased by a power.

Jiang Qin's figure suddenly vanished from the air and appeared before Su Lingwei.

He took a healing pill from his ring and placed it in her mouth, looked at her calmly, and spoke softly:

"Are you crazy? Although we get along fairly well, I don't think we've reached the point of entrusting our lives to each other. If you really died like this, I'd be in a very awkward spot."

Su Lingwei glared upon hearing this: "Is that any way to talk? I just saved your life! Is that how you speak to your savior?"

Jiang Qin silently lowered his head; only after a long while did his lips finally utter two words.

"Thank you."

Su Lingwei snorted and abruptly changed the subject.

"Aren't you going to chase that guy? If you don't go after him now, he's really going to escape."

"Don't worry. He can't escape."

Jiang Qin shook his head, then looked toward the direction Tu Wen had fled, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

He raised his palm toward the sky.

On the wasteland more than ten kilometers away, Tu Wen's figure was fleeing at top speed. He glanced back and saw no one pursuing, and a wild joy could not help but appear in his eyes.

Haha, wonderful! That demon didn't come after him.

Although he had failed to kill him, he had wasted a Domain-type Spiritual Tool.

Still, he had obtained an Earth Martial Realm spiritual tool; this trip was already a considerable gain. As for that monster… better leave him for someone else to deal with.

But soon Tu Wen could no longer laugh, because he felt the threat of death descending from overhead.

He instinctively raised his head.

A thunder dragon materialized out of thin air from the clouds, opened its thunderous maw, and ruthlessly swallowed him whole. A dazzling pillar of thunder stood between heaven and earth, annihilating everything around it with absolute force.

When the lightning faded, only a pile of ash remained on the spot.

A breeze blew through, scattering the dust until it vanished into the world.

Jiang Qin picked up the Storage Bag that had fallen to the ground and murmured, "In your next life, remember—if you're going to be a villain, don't talk so much trash. People who talk too much... usually die miserable deaths."

…

Below Hanyue City.

As that pressure from heaven and earth dissipated, the Fierce Beasts once again returned to their bloodthirsty nature, fighting the human Martial Artists. Among them, several Fierce Beasts that had reached the fourth rank were being controlled to fight against the Divine Image Realm Realm Martial Artists of the Lei Family and the Zhao Family.

But upon closer inspection, one would find that despite the grand display, neither side had sustained much injury.

Meanwhile, the Martial Artists of Hanyue City had been almost entirely killed or wounded, with few remaining. Even ordinary citizens had been forced onto the walls to fight.

Corpses piled up beneath the city walls, blood flowing like a river.

Cao Hai, who had dodged the attack, also led the people of Zhenling Bureau into the battle.

But the Fierce Beasts were too numerous; with their meager numbers, they were nothing but a drop in the bucket. If this continued, the only outcome would be total annihilation.

"Is Hanyue City... really going to end like this?"

Cao Hai once again sliced off a Fierce Beast's head with his sword, his face showing unwillingness as he gazed at the beast tide. At that moment, his peripheral vision caught a flash of extreme lightning approaching.

The Fierce Beasts along the path were blasted into flying ash by bolts of lightning.

Nine thunder dragons once again appeared within the beast tide, charging wildly. Their overwhelming aura caused the beast tide to halt, unmoved no matter how the hidden members of the Gods Cult tried to control them.

Jiang Qin's gaze turned toward a grove of trees at the corner of the battlefield.

"A bunch of rats that only know how to hide in the gutter, and you still dare come out to cause trouble."

A thundercloud gathered above the grove.

Bolts of heavenly thunder descended one after another.

Those cultists didn't even have time to scream before they—and the entire grove along with them—were destroyed by the thunder.

Afterward, Jiang Qin's gaze shifted to the Martial Artists of the three great families and those two Divine Image Realm Realm experts.

"Now... it's time to clean up vermin like you."