Chapter 338: Thundercloud Core (2/10, bonus chapter for 'Xie Xiaodong')

Fang Yue was like a burning cannonball, charging straight at the Black Cloud Gu, the protective layer formed by his hair turning to ash in an instant.

Around the Black Cloud Gu, several thick bolts of lightning had abruptly taken shape, gripped in its hand and hurled with force.

Accompanied by a crackling sound, the lightning spears came flying at Fang Yue one after another.

Amid the burst of flames, a lightning spear pierced through Fang Yue's fire and struck straight at his chest.

The lightning spear was extremely fast; Fang Yue only managed to twist aside and dodge the vital point, followed by a muffled grunt.

His chest burned with a searing pain, as if pierced by a laser, and then... it returned to normal.

Even the numbness was dispelled in almost an instant.

The only problem was that, blocked like this, his charge was slightly slowed, and immediately the second lightning spear, then the third, came straight at him.

"Fang Yue?!"

Qiu Dugu cried out in alarm, and then heard Fang Yue's roar.

"Stepping stone!"

Stepping stone?

Qiu Dugu was stunned for a moment at first, then his face darkened as he understood what Fang Yue meant.

His hair spread out, chasing right behind Fang Yue.

Just as Fang Yue was once again pierced through the body by a lightning spear and froze in place for a moment, the hair had already caught up, forming a landing point beneath him.

Fang Yue stomped down hard, directly crushing Qiu Dugu's hair beneath his foot, then, using that force, charged toward the Black Cloud Gu—who couldn't dodge in time—wrapped in raging flames.

At this moment, perhaps because his focus was too intense.

A strange feeling welled up in Fang Yue's heart.

The raging flames seemed to converge to a single point.

The fire began to surge like a tide, gathering onto his right fist.

This scorching, concentrated flame was even faintly beyond Fang Yue's own control; it burned the skin of his right fist, yet under the boost of Night Breathing, recovered in an instant.

And at this moment, Fang Yue had already charged in front of the Black Cloud Gu, and his fist, gathering the flame power of his entire body, smashed directly into the Black Cloud Gu's face.

Boom!!

The fist sank inch by inch into the Black Cloud Gu's face, the sound of facial bones breaking rang out bit by bit, followed by a strange roar resembling that of some sea creature, and the sight of lightning filling the entire black cloud, flashing madly.

All these sounds and images were almost compressed into the same instant, and then... exploded!

Flames burst apart, the shockwave blasted outward!

Thunder roared, thunder dragons danced wildly!

The terrifying impact force blasted a brief gap in the black cloud.

A burning, flame-wreathed shadow plummeted from the thundercloud like a falling star.

Immediately after, all the lightning in the entire thundercloud struck at Fang Yue in unison.

Crackle-crackle!!

The current whipped and coiled around Fang Yue's body like an endless, frenzied lash; even with Night Breathing there was no time to ease it, and his body, numb, plummeted straight down—just like someone who had fallen before.

Even so, the currents in the thundercloud still refused to let Fang Yue go, madly breaking free from the cloud, transforming into hundreds of slender bolts, like over a hundred thin lightning snakes, chasing and snapping at Fang Yue!

"Qiu Dugu!!"

"Coming!!"

Amid Fang Yue's roar, a figure was racing against the lightning dragons.

Fang Yue fell fast, the lightning dragons chased closely, and only Qiu Dugu was at the very back, slowly closing the distance.

In the end, it was the hundreds of slender lightning bolts that struck Fang Yue first.

Crackle-crackle!!

Smoke rose from Fang Yue's entire body, his body twitched, waves of numbness hitting one after another.

Though his will remained clear, he was briefly held in place.

"Qiu Dugu!!"

Fang Yue roared sharply once more; this time Qiu Dugu directly severed the hair-tree that had been connected behind him all along and dove down, finally reaching Fang Yue's side.

Countless currents immediately listed him as a target as well, but Qiu Dugu, relying on the dual defense of his ancient-style Gu artifact and his Transformation Gu artifact, stubbornly held on and wrapped Fang Yue up, building a spherical hair shield.

But under the lightning's strikes, the Transformation Art's spherical shield quickly failed.

But in that brief time, Fang Yue had already completely shaken off the numbness and recovered from his injuries; he stomped on the temporary foothold Qiu Dugu had made, and from the Black Cloud Gu's landing point on the ground, blasted out a crater resembling a meteor impact, then dove down—his speed so fast it was insane!

"Blazing... Heart Method!!"

Flames once again shot skyward, and Fang Yue, like a meteor falling into a crater, smashed directly into the Black Cloud Gu's landing point.

Boom!!!

Accompanied by a thunderous explosion, debris flew everywhere, dust rose on all sides, and the shockwave of Comprehension spread outward from this point as its origin, rippling toward the surroundings.

Like a storm sweeping the earth, it finally returned to complete calm.

Crackle... crackle...

The lightning vanished into the air.

The black cloud gradually dispersed.

The scene that had just been rumbling was now utterly silent.

When Qiu Dugu landed steadily and immediately rushed to the large crater where Fang Yue was.

What he saw was a corpse lying in the crater, a huge hole blasted through its chest, long since still.

"It's dead?"

"Dead."

Fang Yue frowned slightly and shook his still-aching right fist.

With Synchronize released, exhaustion surged up, nearly causing Fang Yue to black out, but Qiu Dugu rushed over and caught him just in time.

"Who exactly are you? I've never seen someone without a 【Bizarre Artifact】 still have this kind of combat power. Only 【Cheaters】 have this kind of strength."

Qiu Dugu spoke with clear implication, but Fang Yue shook his head slightly, said nothing, and simply closed his eyes to feel the insight from before—his control over his inner force seemed to have reached a new level.

Still, something felt off.

That was… this mid Black Grade Bizarre Entity's strength was considerably weaker than imagined.

Being able to resolve it so easily was truly somewhat unexpected.

Fang Yue's battle looked perilous, but in truth, he only truly struck twice—just the lightning kept following relentlessly and was hard to shake off.

Also… why did this Bizarre Entity possess Bai Shixiong's corpse? Was it all just coincidence, or had Bai Shixiong done something?

Qiu Dugu set Fang Yue down on the ground, letting him sit for a moment, then walked to the corpse himself. After observing it carefully for a while, his expression suddenly changed. He took out his phone as if summoning something, and with a strange look on his face, raised his hand.

Swish, swish, swish.

His long hair immediately wrapped around his right hand, and then Qiu Dugu pressed his hand onto the head of Bai Shixiong's corpse.

The hair burrowed deep into the corpse's head, and after a moment, retreated, bringing back with it… a square-shaped chip.

The chip was very thin, almost translucent, only the size of a fingernail—Fang Yue only spotted it because his eyesight was sharp.

"What is that thing?"

"【Thundercloud Chip】… I should have thought of this long ago, why didn't I think of it sooner." Qiu Dugu stared at the chip and clenched his fist.

"What do you mean? Thought of what sooner?" Fang Yue asked in confusion.

(End of this chapter)