He Himself Is Already a Weapon

Chen Li looked down at the beastly eyes burning with purple arcs of electricity and suddenly understood.

Three days ago, the Thunder Claw Sable he had hunted was the mate of this Purple Thunder Demonic Steed.

Before the female sable died, she had left claw marks on him, along with a scent marker that this male steed could track.

"So it's here for revenge," Chen Li said softly, his tone as calm as if he were commenting on the weather.

The Purple Thunder Demonic Steed clearly understood the dismissiveness in his tone. It let out an even sharper neigh, its front hooves rearing high before slamming down heavily!

BOOM!

A bolt of purple lightning, as thick as an arm, erupted from its single horn, heading straight for the treetops!

Chen Li didn't try to block it head-on.

His figure flickered into an afterimage just before the lightning struck him. With a flash of light, he landed on another tree more than ten meters away.

The thick branch he had been crouching on instantly carbonized and shattered under the Purple Thunder Demonic Steed's attack, showering black, charred wood chips like snow.

"Quite the temper," Chen Li's voice came from the new branch he had landed on, still lacking much inflection.

The Purple Thunder Demonic Steed turned, its four hooves digging into the ground as arcs of electricity began to gather madly around its body. This time, it clearly had no intention of giving its prey any room to maneuver.

Chen Li looked down at it.

A month ago, facing Yan's Granite Rock, he had used his first Soul Skill without hesitation.

But now, facing this genuine, enraged three-thousand-year-old lightning-attribute Soul Beast, he had no immediate intention of using a Soul Skill.

He wanted to see!

How much he had grown in this past month.

"Two hundred million volts!"

Chen Li's right hand shot out, fingers spread, palm facing the mass of purple lightning that was furiously charging below.

"Thunder Bird!"

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!!!!

Blinding blue-white lightning compressed and took shape in his palm! A giant bird of lightning with a wingspan of over three meters roared into existence! Every one of its feathers was made of highly condensed lightning, vibrating at high frequencies and emitting sharp screeches that tore through the air!

This was not a Soul Skill.

This was merely the most fundamental lightning manipulation of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.

But its power!

It was far stronger than a month ago.

The Thunder Bird flapped its wings, carrying destructive blue-white flames, and collided head-on with the purple lightning pillar spewing from the Purple Thunder Demonic Steed!

RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE!!!!

Lightning against lightning!

Blue-white against deep purple!

The two forces of lightning, though of the same origin, were utterly different. They clashed violently at the boundary between the outer region and the mixed zone of the Star Dou Great Forest!

The shockwave spread wildly from the point of impact, flattening the undergrowth within a thirty-meter radius! Countless startled birds took flight with panicked squawks. Further away, several faint Soul Beast auras retreated rapidly; these were the original small overlords of the area re-evaluating the situation.

Dust billowed.

The Purple Thunder Demonic Steed's four hooves plowed four deep furrows in the ground, sliding backward several meters before it managed to stabilize itself.

Several strands of its magnificent deep purple mane were now scorched black and curled, its breath heavy, and purple blood seeped from the corners of its mouth.

But it did not retreat.

The rage in its beastly eyes burned even fiercer.

It stared at the young figure still standing tall in the dust, a low, thunderous roar rumbling in its throat.

This person killed its mate.

This person also used lightning.

It would use this person's blood to pay respects to the Thunder Claw Sable who would never wake again.

Chen Li slowly emerged from the dust.

His breathing was slightly more rapid, and a few edges of his clothes were scorched black! These were burn marks left by the stray purple arcs of electricity during the clash. But he stood firm, his gaze still calm.

He looked down at his slightly numb right palm.

He had used seventy percent of his strength for that last strike.

He had taken the full frontal assault of a three-thousand-year-old Purple Thunder Demonic Steed, and!

He had not been at a disadvantage.

A month ago, when he used Lightning Strike: Law Breaker against Yan, he hadn't been entirely confident. It was the first time he had used a Soul Skill in actual combat. Although he had successfully broken through the defense, he knew it was partly because Yan had underestimated him.

But now!

He had fought alone in the Star Dou Great Forest for a month, facing over twenty hundred-year Soul Beasts, seven thousand-year Soul Beasts, and countless life-or-death predicaments.

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 sense something as well.

This human's lightning was different from all the lightning-attribute Soul Masters it had encountered before.

Not stronger, not more violent! It had prepared for those.

But purer.

So pure that its own proud purple lightning seemed to involuntarily flinch when faced with that blue-white lightning.

This was not a difference in power.

This was a suppression of status.

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

But it still didn't run.

It lowered its head, and arcs of electricity began to gather on its horn once more. This time, it wasn't an angry barrage, but a sacrificial condensation, injecting all of its life energy into it.

Its eyes held the resolve of someone facing death.

Chen Li watched it silently.

He had seen that look before.

A month ago, when the Thunder Claw Sable made its final desperate counterattack, it had the same look in its eyes.

It knew it was no match, knew it wouldn't survive, yet it still used its last strength to leave that claw mark on him.

Not to kill him.

But to allow its mate to find him.

And now, its mate had arrived.

Chen Li suddenly didn't feel like killing it.

But he didn't hesitate.

He extended his right hand.

This time, it wasn't the simple Two Hundred Million Volts: Thunder Bird.

In his palm, the blue-white lightning began to compress inward to its extreme. Not shaping, not expanding, but compressing that wild lightning power into a single line.

Zzzt!

Lightning could destroy, or it could penetrate.

Destruction required volume; penetration only needed a line.

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

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

Chen Li raised his hand.

That almost invisible, faint blue line drifted from his fingertips.

Yes, drifted.

It lacked the immense momentum of the Thunder Bird, the dazzling purple light of the Law-Breaking Lightning.

It simply, quietly, straightly, and unhurriedly!

Moved to meet the purple lightning pillar capable of pulverizing rock!

And then!

It pierced through.

Without any sound.

The moment the purple lightning pillar came into contact with the faint blue line, it dissolved silently, like a popped bubble.

And the line, its speed unchanged, its direction unchanged!

Zzzt! Zzzt! Zzzt!

That almost transparent, faint blue lightning accurately struck the Purple Thunder Demonic Steed's flank.

No earth-shattering explosion, no gruesome scene of flesh and blood! Only a faint thud, as if something had been pierced.

The Purple Thunder Demonic Steed's massive body stiffened abruptly, its four hooves instantly losing coordination. Under the inertia of its charge, it stumbled several steps, nearly falling.