He Himself Was Already a Weapon

Chen Li lowered his head and looked at the beast eyes burning with purple arcs of electricity. Suddenly, he understood.

The Thunder Claw Sable he had hunted three days ago was this Purple Thunder Demonic Steed's mate.

Before dying, that female sable had left claw marks on him—and a scent mark that the male steed could track.

"So you're here for revenge," Chen Li said softly, as calmly as if he were commenting on the weather.

The Purple Thunder Demonic Steed clearly understood the contempt in his tone. It let out an even sharper neigh, reared up on its hind legs, and slammed its front hooves down!

Boom!

A purple bolt as thick as an arm burst from its horn and shot straight toward the canopy!

Chen Li did not take it head-on.

The instant before the lightning struck him, his body became an afterimage. In a flash of lightning, he had landed on another tree more than ten meters away.

The thick branch where he had been crouching was directly carbonized and shattered by the Purple Thunder Demonic Steed's attack, blackened splinters scattering like snow.

"Got quite a temper," Chen Li's voice came from his new perch, still carrying little emotion.

The Purple Thunder Demonic Steed turned toward him, its hooves scraping the ground as the arcs around its body began gathering madly. This time, it clearly did not intend to give its prey any room to maneuver.

Chen Li looked down at it.

A month ago, when facing Yan's Granite Rock, he had used his first soul skill without hesitation.

But now, facing this genuine three-thousand-year thunder-element soul beast in its enraged state, he had no intention of immediately using a soul skill.

He wanted to see!

Just how much he had grown over the past month.

"Two Hundred Million Volts!"

Chen Li suddenly thrust out his right hand, spreading his fingers and aiming his palm at the mass of purple lightning charging wildly below.

"Thunder Bird!"

Cracklecracklecrackle!!!

Blinding blue-white lightning compressed and took shape within his palm! A colossal thunderbird with a wingspan of more than three meters formed with a thunderous roar! Every feather was made of highly condensed lightning, vibrating at high frequency and producing a shrill scream that tore through the air!

This was not a soul skill.

It was merely the most fundamental lightning-shaping ability of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.

But its power!

Was far greater than it had been a month ago.

With one beat of its wings, the Thunder Bird carried destructive blue-white flames of lightning into a head-on collision with the purple lightning pillar erupting from the Purple Thunder Demonic Steed!

Rumble—!

Lightning against lightning!

Blue-white against deep purple!

Two powers of lightning, born from the same origin yet entirely different, clashed violently at the boundary between the outer region and the mixed region of the Star Dou Great Forest!

Shockwaves spread wildly from the point of impact. Shrubs within thirty meters were flattened and hurled away in unison! Countless roosting birds shrieked as they flapped into the sky, while farther away, several concealed soul beast auras quickly retreated. Those had been the minor rulers of this area, reassessing the situation.

Smoke and dust filled the air.

The Purple Thunder Demonic Steed's four hooves plowed four deep trenches through the ground. It slid back several meters before barely steadying itself.

Several strands of its magnificent dark-purple mane had been scorched black and curled. Its breath came heavily, and purple blood seeped from the corners of its mouth.

But it did not retreat.

The fury in its beast eyes only burned hotter.

It stared at the young figure still standing firm amid the smoke and dust, a deep roar rumbling from its throat like rolling thunder.

This human had killed its mate.

This human used lightning too.

It would use this human's blood to honor the Thunder Claw Sable that would never wake again.

Chen Li slowly emerged from the smoke and dust.

His breathing was a little heavier than before, and several places on the hem of his clothes had been scorched black. Those were burns left by the stray purple arcs during the clash. Yet he stood steadily, his gaze still calm.

He lowered his head and looked at his slightly numb right palm.

He had used seventy percent of his strength in that strike.

He had taken the frontal blow of a three-thousand-year Purple Thunder Demonic Steed—and!

He had not fallen into a disadvantage.

A month ago, when he used Lightning Strike - Law Breaker against Yan, he had not actually been completely confident. It had been his first time using a soul skill in actual combat. Though he had successfully broken through Yan's defense, he knew he had benefited from Yan underestimating him.

But now!

He had fought alone in the Star Dou Great Forest for a month, facing more than twenty century-level soul beasts, seven thousand-year soul beasts, and countless desperate situations on the brink of death.

He no longer needed to rely on soul skills to prove himself.

He himself was already a weapon.

The Purple Thunder Demonic Steed seemed to realize something as well.

This human's lightning was different from that of every thunder-element soul master it had encountered before.

It was not stronger or more violent. It had been prepared for that.

It was purer.

So pure that when its own proud purple lightning faced that blue-white radiance, it instinctively shrank back.

This was not a gap in power.

It was suppression from a higher order.

A low, unwilling whimper came from the Purple Thunder Demonic Steed's throat.

Yet it still did not flee.

It lowered its head, and arcs of electricity began gathering around its horn once more. This time, it was no longer a furious indiscriminate bombardment, but a sacrificial concentration, pouring all its life energy into that single point.

Its eyes held the resolve to die.

Chen Li watched it in silence.

He had seen that look before.

A month ago, when that Thunder Claw Sable launched its final counterattack before death, it had worn the same expression.

It knew it was no match for him. It knew it would not survive. Yet it had still used its final strength to leave those claw marks on him.

Not to kill him.

But to let its mate find him.

And now, its mate had come.

Chen Li suddenly did not want to kill it.

But he did not hesitate.

He extended his right hand.

This time, it was no longer simply Two Hundred Million Volts, Thunder Bird.

The blue-white lightning in his palm began compressing inward to the extreme. It was not taking shape, nor was it expanding. Instead, he compressed that violent thunderous power into a single line.

Crackle!

Lightning could destroy, but it could also pierce.

Destruction required volume. Piercing only required a line.

The Purple Thunder Demonic Steed's horn finally finished charging.

A purple lightning pillar, thicker and more violent than before, poured down toward Chen Li like an enraged heavenly punishment!

Chen Li raised his hand.

That nearly invisible dark-blue line drifted from his fingertips.

Yes, drifted.

It possessed none of the Thunder Bird's overwhelming presence, nor did it have the dazzling purple glow of Lightning Strike - Law Breaker.

It merely moved quietly, straight ahead, neither hurried nor slow!

Toward the purple lightning pillar capable of blasting stone into dust.

Then!

It passed through.

There was no sound at all.

The instant that purple lightning pillar touched the dark-blue thread, it silently collapsed like a punctured bubble.

And that thread did not change speed or direction!

Crackle!!!

That almost transparent dark-blue lightning struck the Purple Thunder Demonic Steed precisely in the side of its abdomen.

There was no earth-shaking explosion, no gruesome spray of flesh and blood! Only a faint, muffled sound, as though something had been pierced.

The Purple Thunder Demonic Steed's massive body suddenly stiffened. Its four hooves instantly lost coordination, and under the momentum of its charge, it staggered several steps and nearly fell.