A Grueling Battle

Before entering the Ten Thousand Beasts Space, Yang Yue had analyzed the opponents they would face with Xiao Yan, with Lu Zhi being the main focus. Even in the Mystic Pattern Sect's history, Lu Zhi was an exceptionally rare peerless genius. He had already mastered the condensation of seven patterns upon reaching the Dou Emperor realm.

The last two remained unknown, but Yang Yue had also introduced the Mystic Pattern Sect's publicly known patterns. He had only one comment regarding the Lightning Strike Pattern.

The strongest attack below Heaven-tier Dou Techniques!

Looking at Lu Zhi's face, covered in purple lightning patterns, Xiao Yan's instincts screamed in warning. Only now had Lu Zhi truly unleashed his full strength. He was extremely dangerous.

Purple light flowed across Lu Zhi's face as violet lightning condensed in his palm. In the next instant, the lightning blasted forth at a speed too fast for the naked eye to follow, leaving only a flicker of purple in one's vision.

Wherever the lightning passed, the rock walls were sliced apart before exploding into fragments. Xiao Yan used the Three Thousand Lightning Movement to dodge a step ahead of it, but a thread of purple lightning grazed him, piercing his Dou Qi defense and cutting a wound across his right leg.

Violent Dou Qi raged within the wound. Though it did not cause Xiao Yan much trouble, the destructive power of the purple lightning still shocked him.

"You ran pretty quickly. Unfortunately, it's useless now." Lu Zhi's calm, cold voice rang out.

Purple lightning surrounded Lu Zhi as he swung both hands toward Xiao Yan.

Threads of purple lightning actually seeped out of the void. Each strand was like a nimble little snake, and there were already at least a thousand of them before Xiao Yan, sealing off the space around him. Having tested the Lightning Strike Pattern's destructive force earlier, Xiao Yan knew forcing his way through would be far from wise.

Xiao Yan stirred his Dou Qi, and the pale-white Heavenly Flame completely replaced the blood-colored flame. The Bone Chilling Flame surged forth with low howls, transforming into white fire pythons that collided with the purple lightning.

As Heavenly Flame and lightning clashed, explosions boomed without end. Lightning and pale-white ice fragments erupted, then vanished.

"I noticed something was off earlier. I never expected you to possess two Heavenly Flames." Lu Zhi's gaze changed slightly as he watched Xiao Yan emerge unscathed from his attack.

Shi Meng, Chu Qun, and the others watching the battle were also stunned. Although Chu Qun and the others knew Xiao Yan possessed two kinds of flames, they had never been certain. After all, Heavenly Flames were naturally supreme flames of pure Yang and extreme hardness. Possessing even one was enough to serve as the foundation for one's path to becoming a powerhouse. Thus, they had always believed Xiao Yan's white flame was merely some other kind of flame. Now that Lu Zhi had pointed it out, they were utterly shocked.

"Is this guy even human?" Yang Lingyan secretly grumbled.

Xiao Yan was like a bottomless abyss. Every time they believed he had reached his limit, he always brought them even greater surprises.

"I never expected killing you would also earn me two Heavenly Flames. Xiao Yan, you truly haven't disappointed me!"

Xiao Yan sneered. "At the moment, it seems you don't have the ability to do that."

Lu Zhi gave a cold laugh. The lightning patterns on his face suddenly lit up in full, and his features became difficult to distinguish beneath the dazzling purple radiance. The lightning in his palm began to compress and condense. The mere presence of it caused the surrounding space to shatter and reform continuously.

Xiao Yan felt restless lightning beginning to permeate the entire cave. Though faint, purple lightning was everywhere. He did not know what Lu Zhi was preparing, but he sensed an extremely dangerous signal.

Xiao Yan rapidly formed seals with both hands, leaving behind a blur of afterimages. An energy hand seal several zhang wide condensed before him, carrying terrifying force capable of splitting mountains and shattering peaks.

Yet as the energy hand seal appeared, the Dou Qi restored by the medicinal pill Xiao Yan had swallowed surged through his body.

A blood-red crystalline gleam emerged from Xiao Yan's palm once more. One large and one small hand seal appeared, their forms simple and ancient, yet the terrifying Dou Qi contained within them made one's heart tremble.

Emperor Seal Art, Mountain Opening Seal!

Emperor Seal Art, Sea Overturning Seal!

The last time he had unleashed both seals together was when facing the Green-Eyed Nightmare Toad. Back then, the situation had been critical, and he had been unable to bring out the Emperor Seal Art's true power.

This time, he released them after fully gathering his strength. Combined with the improvement in his cultivation over this period, their power was no longer comparable to before.

With a thought from Xiao Yan, the two seals shot toward Lu Zhi with horrifying force capable of crushing mountains and overturning seas.

Facing the two energy seals hurtling toward him, Lu Zhi showed no fear. The lightning in his hand had already condensed into rolling, bright-purple liquid. This liquid, formed entirely from sharp and violent purple lightning, was so potent that every drop could seriously injure an ordinary Dou Emperor.

Shi Meng watched Xiao Yan and Lu Zhi with a complicated expression. Though he had no choice but to obey Lu Zhi now, he had his own pride. He had never believed himself much inferior to Lu Zhi. He had even thought that, when the time came, he would prove he was no weaker than Lu Zhi, even if it meant being punished by his father. As for Xiao Yan, he had believed he was merely a helper Yang Yue had hastily found and had not taken him seriously at all. But given the intensity of the battle now, if he had taken the field instead, could he have done better? Before this, he had been confident. Now, for the first time, he wavered.

Lu Zhi looked at the energy hand seals before him and did nothing else. He merely scattered the purple liquid in his palm, and the energy hand seals were pierced through the instant they came into contact with the droplets.

The scattered sparks of lightning that had originally filled the air began to condense and explode one by one. The entire cave had turned into an ocean of purple lightning, every droplet like a core linking countless bolts of lightning together.

Xiao Yan felt as though he were enduring a rainstorm of lightning. Every flicker of lightning had become a deadly weapon capable of taking a life. The Bone Chilling Flame completely wrapped around him, but lightning continuously broke through its defenses.

Shi Meng and Chu Qun were already forced to focus on resisting the lightning's assault, while Xiao Yan stood at the absolute center of this attack!

When the lightning explosions finally ceased, Xiao Yan had nearly become a man of blood. More than a hundred wounds covered his body, and he stood bathed in his own blood. Xiao Yan tossed a medicinal pill into his mouth. The external injuries were not too severe, but more than a hundred strands of purple lightning had entered his body. Apart from the core protected by the Crimson Lotus Karma Flame, everything else inside him had been thrown into complete chaos.

Seeing Xiao Yan's condition, Chu Qun and the other rushed to his side. After all, Xiao Yan was unquestionably the backbone of their group.

After weakening the two seals with the droplets, Lu Zhi had directly received them with his physical body. Aside from looking slightly pale, he showed almost no other change. Yellow-gray patterns covered his entire body.

Staring intently at Lu Zhi, Xiao Yan noticed a milky-white pattern slowly fading from Lu Zhi's forehead. That was very likely Lu Zhi's final pattern.

Only with the help of that trump-card pattern had Lu Zhi been able to use the Hard Skin Pattern to receive his two seals head-on. The Hard Skin Pattern had never been particularly powerful to begin with. Looking at Lu Zhi's current defense, Xiao Yan felt he had no other means left.

Do I still have to use the Fire Lotus? Xiao Yan thought.

He was unwilling to use the Fire Lotus. First, the cave was too small, and it would be difficult to ensure the safety of all four of them. Second, his condition was far from good, and he was not very confident he could even condense it.

But looking at Lu Zhi and Shi Meng, who were watching them like tigers eyeing their prey, Xiao Yan gritted his teeth and decided to risk his life in one final gamble!

But a nearly inaudible sentence from the heavily injured Qing Lin changed Xiao Yan's mind.