Chapter 747: Thunder

The silvery-white thunder flowed backward along the tip of the spear, spreading out to a distance of six feet. The torrential rain continued to pour in the distance, but the raindrops nearby were suspended in mid-air, one by one, transforming into round, glistening beads that evaporated and shrank continuously within the thunder.

The radiance of the bright lamp in Chang Xiao's hand grew increasingly intense, grinding away the thunder one by one. He realized that this spear was held in a fair hand, and the thunder clung affectionately to the wrist, surging and leaping onto the purple-white feathered cuffs.

Only then did he see clearly that a female cultivator stood before him. Her nose was high and straight, her brows like willow leaves, and her eyes like apricots. Purple Qi flowed and permeated those eyes; her black hair was like a waterfall, and a purple mark sat between her brows. The dense thunder climbed up along her body, gathering behind her into a massive purple-white disc.

Whether this disc was a divine ability or a magic treasure, it was as large as a mountain, covered in dense, shattered-like thunder patterns. It hung above the sea, and the female cultivator in the center was like a mysterious bird, floating within it, her long spear pointing forward, aimed at the center of Chang Xiao's brows.

The waves on the sea surface ceased rapidly, and the seawater quickly calmed. The rain that should have fallen was also pulled by the meta-magnetic force, floating one by one on the sea surface, shrinking until they disappeared. For a moment, the sea surface became as calm as a mirror, growing clearer and clearer, reflecting the mountain-sized thunder disc and the mysterious bird-like woman.

Chang Xiao held the bright lamp, and the dense white smoke gathered around him once more. His pupils reflected the purple-white thunder between heaven and earth. Chang Xiao said softly:

"Are you a dragon?"

"Boom—!"

A vast thunderous sound suddenly erupted in the heavens and earth. The silver spear turned over, standing in the thunder with a clanging sound. The female cultivator was draped in purple-white feathered thunder robes, wearing boots with shattered silver patterns, standing in the void. The long feathers on her outer robe were growing longer bit by bit, trailing in the thunder.

Her voice was clear and cold, sounding in unison with the thunder in the heavens and earth: "It is thunder."

In an instant, a silvery-white thunderbolt as thick as a water barrel descended from the sky. Chang Xiao reacted extremely quickly; the silvery-white mysterious-patterned silver disc moved to the top of his head in an instant. The Taiyin radiance persisted for a moment within the silver thunder light before rapidly brightening, clearly bolstered by Chang Xiao's divine ability and magic power.

"Boom—!"

This thunderclap followed, appearing even louder and more majestic. The silver disc swayed and shook, flashing at high speed.

Chang Xiao watched silently. The purple-white thunder had gathered like a tide, rippling back and forth in the dark clouds, reflecting the hazy figure in the sky. The bright lamp in his hand grew brighter and brighter.

The mirror-like sea surface was paved with purple-white thunder light, and both above and below reflected the huge thunder disc. A bit of bright gold, however, rose from the distance.

"The sky is brightening."

A morning sun slowly leaped up at the edge of the sky. The long night had passed, and the sunlight shone through the dark clouds, scattering onto Chang Xiao's face, making the contemplation in his willow-leaf eyes deepen.

This True Person understood that as time passed, everything would become meaningless. Even if he used his divine ability to suppress the opponent, he would not find Li Ximing's tracks further to the east.

Although the 【Sang Yu Can Jiu Profound Method】 could track him, Li Ximing was also a Zifu cultivator and would not be stupid enough to turn back. The 'Ye Tianmen' was also skilled in grinding and suppression, and they would inevitably be pressing him to flee. Now, the trail was lost.

Chang Xiao's cultivation and life experience were extraordinary, and he quickly made a judgment. In the current situation, the dragon kin absolutely could not intervene. The woman before him could only be a lucky one who had obtained the favor of thunder within the cave-heaven.

Chang Xiao then raised his head and said coldly:

"I presume, fellow Daoist, that you obtained this opportunity after swallowing thunder, becoming the thunder of the dragon kin. Yet, with only the cultivation of a newly-minted Zifu, you possess such great majesty."

"I passed through the sea area under your care. It is reasonable for you to help the bloodline of your human form. For the sake of the dragon kin, I will no longer concern myself with the matter of Li Ximing."

He lifted the bright lamp, preparing to traverse the Grand Void and leave, but he realized that thunder was raging in the heavens and earth, and purple-white thunder was falling like a waterfall. Chang Xiao's expression gradually turned cold, and he turned his head away.

The thunder that had gathered for a long time in the heavens and earth moved one after another. Incalculable water kin surged on the sea surface, and countless silver and cyan scales and limbs poked high out of the sea, only to sink rapidly back into the depths.

This woman hung in the purple-white thunder pool disc covered in shattered thunder patterns. All the dark clouds in the thunder rain gathered toward that disc, like stars surrounding the moon, guarding the thunder pool disc between heaven and sea.

"Then I must concern myself with it."

Her clear, bright voice echoed in the heavens and earth: "After all, the dragon kin has face, but you, fellow Daoist, do not."

East of the East Sea.

The huge thunderstorm had just passed, and the torrential rain over the Qu Hai had also ceased. Only a few broken wooden pieces remained on the sea surface, spinning in the whirlpools.

A damp, cold wind blew from the shore. Upon reaching the shore, the Grand Void fluctuated, and a light ascended.

Just as this heavenly light appeared, raging flames manifested all around, burning the white mist on the sea surface to rise. It sped across the sea surface and soon fell onto a nearby island.

This heavenly light transformed into a cultivator in white-gold Daoist robes upon landing. He walked quickly for a few steps and knelt on the ground.

Li Ximing had escaped from the torrential rain earlier and realized that Chang Xiao seemed to have some trouble. He hurriedly seized the opportunity, never looking back, burying his head and flying fiercely. He flew for a while and escaped into the Grand Void.

Upon reaching the seas east of the East Sea, his speed of traversing the Grand Void was already shockingly fast. He did not perceive the opponent's aura. Harboring the thought that it would be harder to be detected the further east he went, he left the Taiyin Profound Light unused and flew fiercely.

He did not know how long he had flown, but the Grand Void before his eyes vaguely had spots of various sizes, and he could see the end from afar. Only then did Li Ximing suddenly realize:

"I have already reached the cape of the sea!"

The Grand Void behind him was silent. It seemed Chang Xiao had not caught up. Li Ximing did not dare to be careless. Dragging his heavily injured body, he changed direction and flew south along this desolate land for most of the day. He used the Immortal Mirror to probe that there was no one around, and only then did he appear in the real world.

Currently kneeling on the sandy ground, he stirred up a patch of flying sand, revealing the eerie white bones buried at the bottom of the sand. The wooden fragments on the sea surface were still drifting and spinning. Li Ximing could not help but cough.

"Cough, cough..."

He spat out a mouthful of bright, brilliant blood. It hit the sand and stones, sounding like a collision of stones, scattering into dense white stone powder and insects, which flapped and fled in all directions. Those that fell into the depressions gathered a few drops of blood and grew into clams, instead staying motionless in the stones.

When the flames of the 【Sang Yu Can Jiu Profound Method】 were still flickering on his body, they burned the yellow sand on the ground, melting it into patches of crystals. Li Ximing only felt his whole body burning with heat; presumably, the problem with his magic body was not small.

"Hahaha... cough, cough... hahahaha!"

Li Ximing laughed while coughing. There was no distress in his heart; instead, there was mostly the relief of surviving a disaster.

He, Li Ximing, had long been prepared to sacrifice his magic treasure, or even his magic body! He had already prepared to leave behind a bit of Rising Yang and use the Taiyin Profound Light to shine Chang Xiao to death.

If Chang Xiao died, the subsequent troubles would inevitably follow one after another, no less than if Chang Xiao were alive. Now that Chang Xiao was not dead and he himself had escaped, he had even preserved the 【Mountain-Driving Sea-Crossing Tiger】 and his magic body. Although he was heavily injured and cursed, it was much better than Li Ximing had imagined! He stood up. The white insects all over the ground were still waving their slender, tender white limbs. Li Ximing suppressed the pain in his spiritual sense, took a look, and said in a low voice: "Return."

Just as his voice fell, a gust of wind suddenly blew on the flat ground, scraping all the scattered white broken stones and stone powder before him. These white insects gathered back with a swoosh, and the clams in the stone crevices also jumped over one after another, gathering into a ball before him, burning themselves to death in the purple flames.

"... These cursed and injured blood cannot be returned to the magic body, turning into Bright Yang objects... It would be fine on ordinary days, but in this poor state, I cannot leave behind a handle for others to calculate."

Taking a step, Li Ximing realized there was a sand louse-like monster under the sand. It had not yet opened its spiritual wisdom, but its cultivation was quite good. It already understood that an extraordinary existence had come to the sandy shore, shrinking into a ball and shivering underneath. The white bones seen earlier... should have been eaten by this monster.

He had not wanted to expose his tracks in the first place. Resisting the urge to cough, he stomped his feet, and the sand louse was burned into nothingness. He turned his head to find a reef, leaned against it to sit down first, and checked his injuries.

His magic body had been roasted by the True Fire several times. His entire back was slightly cracked, and his shoulders had been pierced with several holes by the Taiyin. Chang Xiao's magic arts were mainly based on yin-softness and curses. The entire magic body did not have a large gap, but the overall situation was not optimistic.

Rising Yang was the Zifu critical point. Affected by the 【Sang Yu Can Jiu Profound Method】, it was slightly painful. He did not know what medium Chang Xiao had used to influence it. In the Ju Que, black flames were rolling, and there were also formless and deep black flames intertwined on the body surface, roasting his divine ability and magic power to gradually decline.

He collected his thoughts, and his gaze swept over the wooden boat fragments on the sea surface: "I don't know which outer sea this is, but in any case, people live here... that is just right."

Li Ximing was not afraid that there could be any powerful characters in this remote corner of the world with thin spiritual energy. Even if he, Li Ximing, was heavily injured to the point of lacking magic power and his magic body collapsing, killing a Foundation Establishment cultivator would be a matter of a flick of his sleeve, let alone Qi Refining or Embryonic Breath; it was just a matter of blowing a breath or glaring.

"Unless a Zifu cultivator passes through here, I still have to be wary."

With flames raging on his body, Li Ximing did not want this coastline to be burned into pits and bumps, pointlessly revealing traces. He suppressed it with Bright Yang divine ability. Taking two steps, the black flames in the Ju Que court surged, forming a stance of contending with the Bright Yang purple flames.

Li Ximing then used his divine ability to suppress it. Who knew that as soon as the black fire in the Ju Que lowered, the flames on his body surface would suddenly expand, almost breaking through his divine ability, burning out of his body surface, and burning everything around him clean.

"What a bizarre magic art. The internal and external flames are one. If the fire on the body surface is suppressed, the fire in the Ju Que will flourish. If the fire in the Ju Que is sluggish, the fire on the body surface will be raging... It must be the Dou Xuan lineage."

It was inconvenient at the moment. Li Ximing could only let the flames in the Ju Que surge for now, driving the light forward. With one step, he appeared in the mountain forest in the center of the island.

There were many villages located in this mountain forest. The thatched roofs were pale yellow, and most were wooden buildings. The better ones were just stone-embryo houses. Li Ximing swept his eyes down. Looking at the appearance of these buildings, even if there were cultivators below, they would not exceed the Yujing Wheel.

Sure enough, Li Ximing landed and took a look. Below were all savages. Not only did they have no cultivation, but they also pulled at some barbarian language, chirping and jabbering without knowing what they were saying.

His injuries were getting heavier, and he could not care about too much. He swept his eyes again. There were ten thousand savages under his feet. Although they had no cultivation, they also had their own survival experience. They had built a stone sacrificial altar, on which hearts were dissected and abdomens broken, and it was full of blood food. The scarlet blood flowed, and a tiger monster was lying underneath, strong and powerful, raising its head to drink blood.

This tiger monster seemed to have Qi Refining cultivation. Looking at its appearance, it was also a wild monster from the edge of the sky. Not only was its cultivation mixed, but it didn't even know how to refine blood food, just raising its head to drink blood. He was too lazy to take another look, lifted his finger, and blew lightly.

A purple flame immediately flew out from mid-air and landed on the head of the ground. This tiger monster had no time to react. It was still raising its head to drink blood when it turned into ashes in an instant. The group of savages kneeling and kowtowing below exploded. They were all stunned, hesitated for a moment, and seemed to think that the tiger monster had left by riding the wind, so they had to gather the blood food and retreat one after another.

"It's a good thing it was me who came... If it were another Zifu cultivator, you group of barbarians who aren't even of my race wouldn't be enough for two bites."

Li Ximing glanced at it, and only then did he operate the 【Mountain-Driving Sea-Crossing Tiger】 and the 【Mountain-Driving Profound Escape】, escaping underground from this island.

He had chosen for a long time in the Grand Void. He had chosen this island because although the spiritual energy was thin, the earth veins, water veins, and fire veins underneath were all complete and sufficient, complex enough, and the terrain was stable and not easily affected. It could withstand his cultivation. After all, he could not set up arrays, and he was injured. In ordinary places, after healing for a while, Mingfang stones, gray cicadas, or gardenia flowers would pop up, pointlessly arousing suspicion.

After sneaking in the earth veins for a while, Li Ximing found a place where the earth veins and water veins intertwined and were slightly more relaxed. He casually set up an array disc and sat cross-legged. The Ju Que court was already burning in a mess. The 【Ye Tianmen】 divine ability flashed, and he smashed it down with effort.

"Boom—!"

Intense black flames erupted on his body instantly, accompanied by a violent roaring sound that shook and spread. The fire was in the earth, and it immediately gathered a patch of fire evil, roasting the surrounding earth veins to roll endlessly.

The 【Sang Yu Can Jiu Profound Method】 looked extremely extraordinary, and it was fully exerted by Chang Xiao, a Zifu late-stage cultivator who had crossed the immortal threshold. It was stubbornly shocking. With such a smash, not only was it not ground away, but all its power was stimulated, causing a turmoil in the earth veins.

Li Ximing could not help but spit out a mouthful of blood, which was burned clean by him in an instant. The 【Ye Tianmen】 was fully activated, and the flames in the Ju Que court were all forced out, surging to his side.

Although Li Ximing had not read the 【Sang Yu Can Jiu Profound Method】, he had some understanding at this moment. According to the trend, it should become more and more intense after being cursed, but Li Ximing's divine ability was 【Ye Tianmen】, which was good at suppression and grinding, so it could make it unable to advance an inch.

Now he was not afraid. The 【Ye Tianmen】 was fully activated, manifesting in the Ju Que court as a bright white heavenly gate with complex patterns. The dragon flags and phoenix carriages in the colorful clouds also turned into light, grinding it away bit by bit.

Bright Yang was, after all, the lineage of the Wei Kingdom, the former overlord of the north. Except for facing those few special lineages, its shortcomings were truly pitifully few. It was fine that 【Ye Tianmen】 had the blessing of the magic body, but it could also not be weak against such a domineering magic art as the 【Sang Yu Can Jiu Profound Method】. As one of the divine abilities best at grinding and suppression, it immediately suppressed the black flames of the 【Sang Yu Can Jiu Profound Method】 to dim, declining at an extremely weak speed. ===== CHAPTER 748 =====