But just as Lu Xueqi's consciousness was about to fade, a warm, sturdy embrace held her tightly.
It was Li Xiaoyu!
While using his gourd to devour part of the thunder, he had actually charged toward her without a thought for his own safety and caught her falling body securely in his arms!
"You..."
Lu Xueqi weakly opened her eyes. As she looked at the handsome face so close to hers, her eyes were filled with shock.
Why had he done this?
Li Xiaoyu didn't answer her.
He simply held her tightly, facing the most violent thunder with his back!
A wild grin spread across Li Xiaoyu's face.
With a deafening boom!
Brilliant purple light swallowed the entire world.
All anyone could see was a blinding white.
Their ears, too, temporarily lost all sense of hearing.
The violent energy surged like a flood bursting through a broken dam, sweeping madly in every direction with the arena at its center.
The ground of Heaven-Reaching Peak's plaza was torn up in a whole layer!
The surrounding buildings shook violently beneath the shock wave, as if they might collapse at any moment.
Some of the nearby disciples were flung straight into the air, coughing blood and landing in a sorry heap.
Daoist Daoxuan and the other elders of the Upper Purity Realm acted together, laying down a massive barrier of light. Only then did they barely manage to protect the viewing platform and most of the disciples.
But every one of them wore a look of utter shock.
They stared at the center of that storm of energy.
Time seemed to stretch out in that moment.
For a long while.
Only then did the light finally begin to fade.
The rumbling, too, gradually subsided.
When everyone could see the scene clearly again, they all sucked in a sharp breath.
The once-flat central arena had vanished completely.
A charred crater ten zhang across had appeared in its place.
Flecks of lightning still flickered along its edges, radiating an aura of destruction.
And at the very center of the enormous crater.
A figure still stood upright.
It was Li Xiaoyu.
But his condition was now horrific.
His blue-green Daoist robe had long since turned to ash, leaving his muscular upper body bare.
The flesh on his back was a charred, bloody mess, with white bone showing through.
Blood streamed down his body, staining the ground beneath his feet red.
Yet he still stood!
Like a spear that would rather break than bend, he held up the heavens and earth.
And in his arms, the girl in white lay safely shielded, unharmed.
Aside from her pale face and weak breathing, not even a strand of her hair had been touched.
He had used his own flesh and blood to shield her from everything!
Shocking!
Utterly shocking!
Silence.
The entire plaza atop Heaven-Reaching Peak fell into utter silence.
Everyone stared blankly at the bloodied yet still-standing figure in the crater.
Their minds were empty.
They couldn't understand what they were seeing.
Beneath a thunderous punishment powerful enough to destroy heaven and earth, he had not only endured, but protected his opponent?!
How much courage did that take?
How much willpower?
And what depth of feeling?
No one could make sense of it.
On the viewing platform, Shang Zhengliang trembled violently. Looking at his disciple, covered in blood, he wept bitterly. His lips quivered, but not a word came out.
Master Shuiyue was in tears.
She looked at the young man holding her beloved disciple in his arms. His figure seemed to overlap with the one in her memories.
"He..."
Tian Buyi and his daughter Tian Ling'er were ashen-faced and utterly dazed.
They were shocked.
And they felt a little regretful, too.
In the crater.
Lu Xueqi slowly opened her eyes.
Her consciousness was still somewhat hazy.
She only remembered that just as she was about to be swallowed by the thunder, a warm, sturdy embrace had shielded her.
Then came the explosion, powerful enough to destroy heaven and earth.
Lu Xueqi instinctively lifted her head. The first thing she saw was a pale face, smiling gently.
His breath was weak but warm, stirring the strands of her hair.
She could clearly feel Li Xiaoyu's arms around her trembling slightly.
She could also smell the strong scent of blood and charred flesh coming from him.
Her mind cleared in an instant.
Lu Xueqi struggled, trying to get out of his arms.
She saw the bloody mess of his back, and the wounds so deep she could see bone.
"Why?"
Lu Xueqi's voice was still cool, yet carried a tenderness she couldn't quite explain.
Li Xiaoyu slowly lowered his head. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something.
But a mouthful of blood surged up first.
"Pfft!"
Blood stained the front of his clothes and splattered across the white hem of Lu Xueqi's skirt, like one exquisite, sorrowful plum blossom after another.
"Don't talk!"
Lu Xueqi panicked. She reached out with a trembling hand, wanting to cover his mouth, but didn't know what to do.
"I'm fine."
Li Xiaoyu gave her a weak smile.
Forcibly enduring the backlash from the Divine Sword Thunder Control Technique really hadn't been easy.
"Are you all right?"
He asked softly.
What a fool!
He was practically at death's door, and he was still worrying about her!
"I'm fine."
Just then, the officiating disciple, Shang Zhengliang, Master Shuiyue, and the others finally came to their senses and rushed down into the crater.
"Xiaoyu!"
"Xueqi!"
Their anxious cries echoed through the crater.
Seeing the scene before them, they were deeply moved all over again.
Shang Zhengliang looked at his disciple's pitiful state, hastily took out a top-grade healing pill, and moved to feed it to him.
At that moment, a clear, resolute voice rang across the entire plaza.
"I concede."
It was Lu Xueqi.
Everyone was stunned.
Concede?
When everyone had thought she would win, she had chosen to concede?
Just then, Li Xiaoyu's body went limp, and he fell backward.
"Xiaoyu!"
"Senior Brother Li!"
Cries of alarm rang out again.
Watching him fall, Lu Xueqi felt as if the whole world had lost its color.
She tore herself from her master's embrace without a second thought and threw herself beside Li Xiaoyu, holding him tightly, as if she wanted to merge him into her own body.
Night had fallen deep.
The moonlight flowed like water, casting a cool, clear radiance.
Li Xiaoyu lay quietly on the bed, eyes closed and breathing steady, as if he were merely asleep.
But his pale face and the thick bandages wrapped around him still spoke of the battle's brutality.
Shang Zhengliang and Chu Yuhong sat by the bed, worry written all over their faces.
"Master, is Eldest Brother really going to be all right?"
Looking at Li Xiaoyu's bloodless face, Chu Yuhong couldn't help asking.
Shang Zhengliang sighed, his voice hoarse. "I gave him the sect's finest healing elixir, the Three Purity Pill, and managed to preserve his heart meridians."
"He spent the past six years tempering his body until it was far stronger than an ordinary person's. And the spiritual energy within him is pure, so his ability to heal himself is exceptional. His life should no longer be in danger."
He paused, a trace of lingering fear flashing in his eyes.
"But..."
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