Above the altar in the Sanctuary Mountain Range, at the five corners of the ancient and sacred pentagram array, stood five Angel Towers. Atop each tower lingered a high-ranking Archangel, and united with one another, they seemed to control and construct the operational energy of this Sanctuary Altar.
Upon the Sanctuary Altar, the eyes of Thunder Lord opened and closed slightly. The angelic power adhering behind her skin and body was currently burning the latter like scorching threads of light and fire, as though wishing to completely purify her right here.
Yet no matter what boundless divine power surged from the Cross Light Pillar, a seemingly indestructible force existed within the mind and heart of Thunder Lord, and she never gave up her final hope.
This Angel Kingdom certainly plays a clever game.
If the people of the Xiao Clan do not come, then the crime of slaughtering the Holy Lei Clan, the Xiao Clan Guardians, and other powerful factions will probably be pinned firmly upon them.
Yet even if they do come, I am afraid this is truly an inescapable trap. After all, since the Slaughter Angel can dare to publicly try Thunder Lord with such great fanfare, she must have prepared thoroughly long ago.
Sigh...
Countless figures shifted their gazes slightly, constantly watching the slightest disturbance in this heaven and earth.
If nobody from the Xiao Clan came today, Thunder Lord would be utterly destroyed in body and soul. I am afraid that after today, no one would dare to defy the Slaughter Angel.
According to rumors, the strength of the Xiao Clan's prodigy had already reached the Demigod realm. Yet someone as formidable as the Slaughter Angel had astonishingly been able to collude with the Human Realm Center and super factions within the Great Thousand World to jointly obliterate the Xiao Clan. How could she be an ordinary person?
Thunder Lord naturally knew the schemes of the Slaughter Angel, but in her current state she was powerless against it. Feeling the Cross Light Pillar continuously eroding her life and soul, her heavy mind could not help but conjure up scene after scene of unforgettable memories.
The first time the two of them met was in the back courtyard of the Holy Lei Clan's estate.
That day, the Xiao Clan Patriarch led Xiao Tianming to celebrate the birthday of this little princess of the Holy Lei Clan. During the family banquet, the prodigies of the two super clans sparred and fought. It was not until that day that the pride in the heart of Thunder Lord slowly began to wane.
Before the appearance of Xiao Tianming, she had always been the recognized prodigy of the Holy Lei Clan, and even of the entire heaven and earth. Although the Holy Lei Clan could not compare to the Xiao Clan at the time, Thunder Lord had possessed sufficient confidence that, relying on her own efforts, she would sooner or later make the Holy Lei Clan an existence that surpassed the Xiao Clan.
All that beauty began when she was subdued in three moves by Xiao Tianming during their spar at the banquet. Fortunately, from that very moment, Thunder Lord also regarded Xiao Tianming as her lifelong rival, spending her entire life chasing after the latter.
In the time that followed, under the resource-exhausting cultivation provided by their respective clans, their cultivation speeds progressed by leaps and bounds as they anticipated their next showdown.
Ten years later, the younger generation of the Great Thousand World gathered together. Led by super clans such as the Xiao Clan and the Holy Lei Clan, they ventured deep into the hinterlands of the Foreign Realm for a life-or-death trial by fire.
Core intelligence regarding that trial had leaked out, and numerous young talented powerhouses faced a narrow escape from death, perishing miserably in the Foreign Realm. Only Thunder Lord and Xiao Tianming mutually supported each other, moving step by step with caution, before managing to escape and survive. From then on, their tacit understanding, mutual affection, and the like all experienced a massive enhancement, and there were even traces of sealing their relationship with a kiss.
"You go on first... The power within my body has been completely exhausted, and in this Foreign Realm territory, I will only become a burden to you."
"Too much nonsense. If we leave, we leave together."
"Oh."
"From now on, you must obey all my commands... Otherwise, I'll throw you down to feed the evil sharks."
That apocalyptic scene of trial deep within the Foreign Realm was something she would likely never forget for the rest of her life.
"Your Eminence, will he still come?"
On the high platform beside the Cross Light Pillar, the Seraphs respectfully spoke to the Slaughter Angel, who quietly lingered upon the altar's high platform, seeming somewhat worried that this grand event—meticulously arranged by exhausting the entire strength of the Angel Kingdom—would end in failure.
In that case, the depletion of the Angel Kingdom would be far too massive.
"What do you think?"
The Slaughter Angel shook her head slightly, and a playful smile suddenly curled the corner of her mouth.
"He has... finally come."
The gaze of the Slaughter Angel slowly looked toward the high vault of heaven above the Sanctuary Altar. A dazzling orange-gold flame slowly rose, going from faint to bright, from unremarkable to utterly glorious.
That fluctuation was akin to the descent of some angered deity, its divine might so vast that it caused the auras of countless figures within the Sanctuary Mountain Range to stir.
That fluctuation required no extra sensing to confirm-it belonged to a powerhouse of the Xiao Clan, Xiao Tianming, at the Peak Demigod tier!
He was startlingly a true peak powerhouse of this Great Thousand World!
"Xi... Xiao Tianming."
"Sigh, they couldn't hold back after all."
Watching the appearance of this majestic figure, countless powerhouses of the Great Thousand World surrounding the Sanctuary Mountain Range all shook their heads in unison.
Although the illustrious reputation of the Xiao Clan was still fresh in memory, the ruthless methods of the Slaughter Angel were witnessed by all the powerhouses present.
Relying on the strength of a single person, how could one possibly contend against the entire Angel Kingdom?
Xiao Tianming stood alone in the sky above the Holy City of the Angel Kingdom and the Sanctuary Mountain Range. Through the endless void, his deep pupils suddenly locked onto the weak, beautiful figure upon the Cross Light Pillar. Watching the sacred aura emanating from the Cross Light Pillar bit by bit devour the life of Thunder Lord, a wave of ferocious killing intent evidently surged across Xiao Tianming's calm face.
That piercing pain was as if he had suddenly lost his beloved, striking his entire heart fiercely.
Once the Cross Light Pillar devoured and suppressed the life of Thunder Lord, she would no longer exist in this world. Even with the heaven-defying methods of Xiao Tianming, it would be impossible to make Thunder Lord be reborn.
By that time, the playful and proud princess of the Holy Lei Clan of days past would completely vanish, and the former Holy Lei Clan would also completely vanish into the long river of the Great Thousand World.
In this world, there would no longer be any trace of Thunder Lord's aura, nor would anyone rush to his side with bloodshot eyes to scold him after he experienced life and death. There would no longer be that woman who, although proud, possessed a pure and kind heart and maintained the most sincere love for everything in the world...
Most of the time, Xiao Tianming did not know what love was, but it was precisely because of the existence of Thunder Lord that she continuously inspired Xiao Tianming, causing the latter to continually break out of his cocoon and transform into a true prodigy of the Xiao Clan.
Looking at the beautiful figure before him, memory after memory of unforgettable experiences surged into his heart like a spring.
How could these pedantic people ever understand the life-and-death trials they had gone through together?
"You shouldn't have come."
Watching this handsome man she yearned for day and night appear in the high sky of the Sanctuary Altar with a supreme posture, Thunder Lord also lifted her breathtaking face as tears slowly slid down her cheeks.
Thunder Lord distinctly knew that the moment Xiao Tianming came to the appointment alone, the past vengeance of her clan's destruction was not something he had personally carried out, and there was more to the story.
Fortunately, the person she loved deeply was not that unforgivable criminal... Having brought her final wish in her heart to a close at the threshold of death, Thunder Lord had no lingering attachments left in this life.