Within Xuanwei's sea of consciousness, the world had been turned upside down, with thunder raging in all directions.
The remnant soul calling itself "This Emperor" had formed a Thunder Emperor Phantom from its will. Like a thug who barged into someone else's house and brazenly demanded to become its master, it wielded the authority formed from destructive Thunder Dao Laws and crazily tore the place apart—namely, the sea of consciousness Xuanwei had painstakingly cultivated and constructed.
"Ant! Abandon your futile struggle! For your shell to bear This Emperor's Thunder Dao is your fortune!" the Thunder Emperor Phantom roared. Its voice made Xuanwei's consciousness buzz, as though his brain were about to be shattered by the noise.
"Fortune my ass! Did you ask the landlord first?" Protected by the Chaos Bead's origin aura, Xuanwei's consciousness barely condensed into a tiny humanoid phantom. With his hands on his hips—if a consciousness body even had hips—he glared furiously at the enormous emperor phantom. His appearance was somewhat comical, but his momentum could not lose!
While trading insults, he desperately circulated the Chaos Heaven-Opening Art. Hazy Chaos Qi surged forth from the void, constantly eroding and assimilating the invading lightning. Meanwhile, the dark-yellow flame blazed as though it had been pumped full of stimulants, its flames shooting upward as it relentlessly burned at the Thunder Emperor Phantom's heels.
"Sizzle!" A strand of lightning ignited by the flame turned into green smoke and dissipated.
"Agh! What kind of freakish fire is this?!" The Thunder Emperor Phantom sent out a shocked and furious mental wave. It discovered that this seemingly weak flame could actually burn its most fundamental will. The meaning of "civilization's inheritance" and "the establishment of order" within it was utterly incompatible with the "destruction" and "savagery" represented by its Thunder Dao. It was practically its natural nemesis!
"This fire specializes in curing loudmouths who refuse to submit!" Xuanwei's tiny phantom smugly raised his chin. Though his consciousness still ached from being crushed by the other party's immense soul power, he refused to back down verbally. "Calling yourself This Emperor? You're more like This Little Brother's little brother! Chaos Bead, suppress it!"
The Chaos Bead phantom floating above the sea of consciousness suddenly pressed downward!
Boom!
It was as if the entire sea of consciousness had been frozen for an instant! Chaos was the mother of all qi, and thunder too had emerged from it! Under the pressure of this supreme chaotic aura, the Thunder Emperor Phantom's radiance dimmed somewhat, and its movements became sluggish.
"The Chaos Bead! It truly is this treasure!" The Thunder Emperor Phantom was both shocked and delighted, its greed growing stronger. "With it, restoring my physical body and returning to my peak will be just around the corner! Boy, you cannot protect it!"
It went mad, no longer holding back. The origin of its remnant soul burned fiercely, transforming into even more violent, more ancient violet divine lightning. Like wicked dragons, they churned through Xuanwei's sea of consciousness! It intended to pay any price to end this battle quickly!
"Damn! You're powering up just because you can't win?" Xuanwei's tiny phantom was grazed by a bolt of violet divine lightning and nearly scattered on the spot. Frightened, he hurriedly retreated into the core protected by the Chaos Bead's aura. "Flame buddy, hold on! Can you put in some more effort and give it a Samadhi True Fire special?"
Flame: "..."
(The flame expressed: I'm just a civilized little spark, not part of an acrobat troupe!)
The situation took another sharp turn for the worse. The enemy was, after all, an old monster that had survived since the Chaos era. Even as merely a wisp of a remnant soul, its soul power and understanding of the Great Dao laws far surpassed Xuanwei, a complete novice. Though the Chaos Bead and the flame possessed extremely lofty origins, Xuanwei's own strength was limited, and he could not fully wield their power. It was like a child swinging a massive hammer: it could scare people, but actually smashing things with it was difficult even for the child.
As the Chaos Bead's protective range was gradually compressed and the sea of flame was forced back step by step by the violent lightning, Xuanwei's consciousness body grew increasingly blurry. Some fragments of his memories even began to show signs of being torn apart and annihilated by the lightning...
Could it be... that I'm really going to fall here? I only just became the senior disciple. I haven't led the Interception Sect to glory yet, and I still haven't... haven't discussed the Dao with Senior Sister Yunxiao a few more times... A powerful sense of unwillingness surged within him.
At that critical moment!
"Hummm—"
A cool, gentle aura carrying a trace of sharp sword intent suddenly poured in from the outside. Like a timely rain falling upon parched earth, it instantly nourished Xuanwei's sea of consciousness, which was on the verge of collapse!
It was Bixiao!
Outside, atop the lone cliff.
Bixiao, who had been unconscious, had her long lashes tremble intensely. The pure immortal power she had inherited from the Supreme Pure lineage, guided by the vitality Xuanwei had previously sent into her, finally broke through its restraints and began circulating on its own. More importantly, an inconspicuous jade pendant at her waist was now emitting a soft clear radiance. An incomparably pure Supreme Pure Sword Intent spread forth, protecting her mind, while part of it flowed in reverse through the channel where Xuanwei's hand still rested on her wrist, sending immortal power into her, and entered Xuanwei's sea of consciousness!
This Supreme Pure Sword Intent had been bestowed by Sect Master Tongtian. It contained the Dao of a Saint, specialized in slaying evil and demons, and stabilized the mind!
To the foreign, aggressive thunder remnant soul within Xuanwei's sea of consciousness, this sudden Supreme Pure Sword Intent was no different from a precise surgical blade stabbing directly into its vital point!
"Agh! The aura of Supreme Pure?! Tongtian!" The Thunder Emperor Phantom let out a miserable scream, as though it had encountered its natural enemy. What this wisp of remnant soul feared most was precisely such pure power containing a Saint's will!
Strike while it was down and take its life!
Xuanwei's tiny phantom's eyes suddenly lit up—if a consciousness body even had eyes!
"A perfect chance! Senior Sister Bixiao, you're amazing! Chaos Bead, flame, with me! Beat the crap out of it!"
He gathered all his remaining spiritual strength and guided that cool Supreme Pure Sword Intent, merging it with the chaotic aura and the flame. It formed a peculiar sword of will, wrapped in chaotic currents and dark-yellow flames, yet with a blade that gleamed with pure Supreme Pure immortal light!
"Take this—Chaos-Torch Flame-Supreme Pure Slash!"
(The name was made up on the spot. As long as it sounded imposing, that was enough!)
The sword of will carried Xuanwei's roar—and just a little bit of adolescent melodrama—as it slashed viciously at the wounded Thunder Emperor Phantom!
"No—!!!"
The Thunder Emperor Phantom let out a despairing roar. It had only been a remnant soul to begin with, and the Supreme Pure Sword Intent restrained it. Now, faced with this desperate strike that gathered three supreme powers, it could no longer resist!
"Boom!!!"
As the sword light swept past, the Thunder Emperor Phantom burst like a punctured balloon, instantly shattering into countless tiny fragments of will flickering with lightning!
Had he won?
Xuanwei's tiny phantom swayed, nearly dissipating. He was so exhausted that he wanted nothing more than to lie down and give up. Yet he did not dare relax. Forcing himself to endure, he activated the Chaos Bead and scattered streams of clear radiance, enveloping and suppressing all the shattered thunder wills, preparing to slowly grind them away and absorb them. They were an enormous tonic... even if the process had been a little dangerous.
At the same time, outside.
"Cough, cough..." Bixiao suddenly coughed several times and slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was Xuanwei's face close at hand. His eyes were tightly shut, his face pale, his brows furrowed, and fine beads of sweat covered his forehead. One hand still rested on her wrist, while his aura was weak and chaotic.
Bixiao was stunned at first, then recalled what had happened before she lost consciousness—the disturbance in the Thunder Pool's core, her coming to investigate out of concern, and then her sea of consciousness being struck by a chaotic, violent force...
Had Senior Brother Xuanwei saved her? But his current condition...
She struggled to sit up and discovered that Xuanwei seemed to have fallen into some deep crisis. He did not even notice that she had awakened.
"Senior Brother Xuanwei? Senior Brother Xuanwei?" Bixiao called softly twice. When he gave no response, she could not help growing anxious. She looked around at the still-chaotic surroundings, then at the dark-violet lightning pillar opposite them. Though it had calmed considerably, it still emitted a terrifying pressure. She knew this was absolutely not a place to linger.
She tried to circulate the immortal power that had partially recovered within her and found that it flowed fairly smoothly. Then she looked at Xuanwei, whose condition was strange, and gritted her teeth.
"Hey! Wake up! Don't play dead!" She reached out and patted Xuanwei's cheek, neither too hard nor too softly. Her movements carried her usual spoiled arrogance, but her eyes were full of worry. "If you don't wake up, I'll leave you here and go back to tell Big Sister that you died heroically saving me!"
After several pats, Xuanwei still did not react. Bixiao blinked as she looked at his handsome profile, which appeared somewhat harmless now that he had lost consciousness. She suddenly remembered his bearing when debating the Dao, his calmness and responsibility at Liubo Immortal Island and in the Nine Nether Demon Domain, and how he had just now... surely become like this to protect her.
A faint blush quietly crept up to her ears. She muttered softly, "Seeing how hard you fought... this immortal maiden will graciously take you out of here!"
With that, she took a deep breath, circulated her immortal power, and carefully helped Xuanwei up, preparing to carry him on her back. Xuanwei was not particularly heavy, but for Bixiao, who had only just awakened and had yet to recover her immortal power, it was still somewhat strenuous.
"Hmph, you look so thin, but you're surprisingly heavy... Once you wake up, I'm definitely making you use those Spiritual Plant Master skills of yours to grow me ten or eight delicious immortal fruits as compensation..." she muttered as she laboriously adjusted her posture.
However, just as she finally placed Xuanwei's arm over her shoulder and was about to use an escape art to leave the lone cliff—
Another change erupted!
The dark-violet lightning pillar opposite them had already dimmed considerably after losing the remnant soul's control. But now, the ancient lightning object floating at the pillar's center seemed to have triggered some kind of self-destruction—or perhaps final counterattack—mechanism because the remnant soul had scattered!
"Crack!"
A crisp cracking sound rang out! A clear fissure appeared on the surface of the lightning object covered in ancient Dao patterns! Immediately afterward, an even purer, more fundamental violet mist, seemingly containing the mysteries behind the origin of the Great Dao of thunder, erupted from the crack like floodwaters bursting through a collapsed dam!
This origin thunder qi was not aggressive. Instead, like an ownerless supreme treasure, it gave off an alluring Dao Rhyme and instantly filled the entire abyss!
At the same time, the fragment of the Nine Nether Demon Domain sealed below seemed to have caught the scent of the most delicious supplement in existence. The force with which it battered the seal suddenly increased severalfold! Cracks spread across the green barrier like a spiderweb, and it looked ready to shatter completely at any moment!
What made Bixiao's face pale with alarm even more was that Xuanwei, in her arms, seemed to have been drawn in by this pure origin thunder qi. His body spontaneously produced a pulling force and began greedily devouring the approaching violet mist like a giant whale drinking water!
"Hey! Don't just absorb it recklessly! We don't even know what that is!" Bixiao panicked. She wanted to stop him, only to discover that she could not interrupt the process at all.
Xuanwei's body was like a bottomless pit, madly devouring the origin thunder qi. His aura began recovering and growing at an astonishing speed, and there were even faint signs of a breakthrough! Yet at the same time, the Chaos immortal power, Earth and Wood Element Vitality, and even the flame power that had originally been balanced within him all became restless and began clashing because of the influx of this domineering, unfamiliar thunder origin!
Pain appeared on his face once more. Chaos Color, dark-yellow light, and dangerous dark-violet lightning alternately flashed across his body!
Before them, the demon domain was about to break free. Behind them, Xuanwei had inexplicably gone berserk while absorbing thunder. Bixiao looked at Xuanwei in her arms, whose aura was chaotic and whose expression kept changing, then at the precarious seal. She was completely dumbfounded.
"W-What are we supposed to do now?!" On her own, she really could not handle this situation!
Before you continue