The Mantis Stalks the Cicada, Unaware of the Oriole Behind

The Mantis Stalks the Cicada, Only to Hit the Wrong Target

Suddenly, amid the swirling ashes, a beam of violet-black lightning soared upwards.

Like a rift running through heaven and earth!

The spirit essence tempered and transformed within the Thunder Pool finally broke free from its restraints of caution and suppression. With every limitation removed, it entered the battle with pure annihilation as its purpose.

And so, at last, it revealed its true form.

In an instant, a wisp of spirit essence, tiny to the extreme, climbed to the highest reaches of the sky. Then, like a rushing waterfall, like seven seas bursting their banks, iron-black clouds spread out of thin air, shaking loose deafening thunderclaps.

Yin and yang collided, heaven and earth were tempered. Amid the savage, violent rumbling, countless bolts of Electric Light surged and collided out of the darkness, converging into one.

The Thunder Pool unfolded!

At that moment, beneath the vast and majestic black clouds, Ji Jue raised one finger and pointed ahead.

"First."

He said.

Boom!

The world went dark, then suddenly bright.

A fierce ray of light, sharper than steel and like a sharp blade, slashed straight down from the clouds. It vanished in a flash; no one knew where it came from or when it departed. All it left behind was a blinding flare that scorched every eye.

Before Ji Jue, that twisted, violent figure froze in place.

His eyes widened.

As though he had yet to understand what had happened.

Silently, he cracked, collapsed, fell apart, and disintegrated into pale ashes—his entire body had already been burned to ashes by the lightning falling from the sky.

Then—

"Second."

Ji Jue raised his second finger, and the violent radiance answered the summons once more.

The earth split apart as though cleaved by blades