"Is Heaven bent on my destruction?!"
His legs were bound, and he could not break free. Watching the cold gleam hurtle toward him, Dou Ze's heart jolted and his pupils contracted.
"Whoosh~"
Suddenly, a breeze arose from nowhere and brushed gently past. The cold gleam froze in midair, then melted away like snow and ice.
"What is this—?" Dou Ze stared, stunned.
The red-armored man flying overhead looked equally alarmed. "What's going on? Is someone hiding nearby?!"
Boom!!
At that moment, the sky abruptly darkened. Thunder roiled through the dense clouds, and hundreds of bolts fell at once, striking toward the red-armored man!
"Th-this—" Targeted by hundreds of thunderbolts, the man trembled all over, his teeth chattering. He instinctively tried to fly away, only to find himself inexplicably unable to move. Looking up at the blazing violet lightning, he gave a despairing roar. "No!!!"
Crack!
Lightning struck him in an instant, then slammed into the ground, blasting out a vast, blackened crater. He hung rigid in midair as his red armor shattered piece by piece. Then he dropped straight into the pit with a dull thud and never breathed again.
"Rustle~"
With the red-armored man dead, the vines around Dou Ze's feet crumbled to drifting ash. He rose in a daze and stared up at the thunderclouds. Nearby, the gravely wounded Wu Chen was just as stunned, with no idea what had happened.
Meanwhile, outside the Transcendence Gate, Huang Tian's expression was grave. He had naturally sent that lightning across the distance by following the thread of sound. He did not know what would happen if Dou Ze died, but there was no need to gamble. If death meant utter annihilation, that would be far too great a loss.
*I intervened from afar this time. That counts as outside interference.