Vengeance at last, struck by lightning!

"Fuck! Don't die yet!"

At the sight, Zhou Changqing could no longer stay prone. He kicked off hard and shot toward the two beasts!

As though afraid his target would die too soon, Zhou Changqing even used Thunderclap Step, the Profound Tier Low Grade Dou Technique he had purchased from the Mittel Auction House and only just begun to master!

Muffled thunder rumbled in rapid succession. In less than three breaths, Zhou Changqing flashed up to the Flame Wolf.

"Shit!"

Looking at the rain-soaked Flame Wolf on the ground, a charred hole in its head and more air going in than coming out, Zhou Changqing cursed inwardly. He hurriedly pulled a first-grade healing pill from his Storage Ring and fed it to the beast.

Fortunately, the Silver Lightning Leopard's lightning beam had been narrow. Though it had pierced the Flame Wolf's brain, it had damaged only a small area of brain tissue, so the wolf had not died immediately.

A first-grade healing pill might have been a miraculous medicine to an ordinary person, but for a peak third-rank Flame Wolf with such grievous injuries, it could barely keep a breath of life in its body.

But that breath was all Zhou Changqing wanted.

"If you croak just like that, how am I supposed to get my revenge? Your life is mine to take!"

Watching a faint glimmer of life return to the Flame Wolf's eyes, Zhou Changqing spoke in a low voice, his expression carrying a somewhat crazed killing intent.

In the few seconds that the pill kept the beast alive, light flashed in Zhou Changqing's right hand, and a massive sword appeared in his grip.

He raised the heavy magic core Heavy Sword with one hand. His lightning attribute Dou Qi poured into it madly, drawing out and merging with the energy of the lightning-attribute magic core within as it raced through the artifact patterns!

In an instant, the magic core Heavy Sword blazed with dazzling lightning. Terrifying waves of destructive energy radiated from it, and even the air gave off wisps of black smoke as it was scorched by electricity!

"Die, you bastard!"

His gaze sharpened, and Zhou Changqing brought the blade down with all his strength!

Carrying immense gravitational potential energy, an exceptionally keen edge, and the terrifying energy within, the Heavy Sword cleaved savagely into the Flame Wolf's enormous body!

Whoosh!

Boom!

The Flame Wolf's head was severed in an instant. At the same moment, the raging energy inside the Heavy Sword erupted, and rampaging lightning serpents swallowed its entire body!

With no energy left to defend itself, the Flame Wolf could not withstand Zhou Changqing's all-out strike, however formidable its flesh might have been!

Its body rapidly disintegrated amid the wildly dancing arcs, going from charred flesh to ashes in little more than ten seconds!

Watching the Flame Wolf turn to black ash with his own eyes, Zhou Changqing felt an incomparable rush of satisfaction!

He had finally avenged his parents with his own hands!

Although he had not been the one to wound the Flame Wolf, he had killed it himself!

That was enough!

After all, had he arrived another half hour later, he might not even have had the chance to slay his enemy personally!

"Whew..."

He let out a heavy breath. Half the gloom that had weighed on his heart for seven years finally dispersed.

Then Zhou Changqing bent down and sifted a palm-sized, fiery-red transparent crystal out of the pile of ashes at his feet.

Holding the crystal, Zhou Changqing's eyes were cold, but the corners of his mouth curved upward. "Don't worry. I'll put this magic core of yours to good use. Father and Mother should be very pleased with an offering like this."

Putting away the magic core, Zhou Changqing turned and walked toward the scorched patch of ground nearby.

Half his pent-up anguish was gone, but the other half remained!

Treading over the wet ground without caring about the plant ashes clinging to his feet, Zhou Changqing approached the Silver Lightning Leopard.

Though the beast was gravely wounded and near death, its injuries were somewhat less severe than the Flame Wolf's had been. At least it was still breathing.

"Roar..."

The Silver Lightning Leopard had noticed Zhou Changqing the moment he appeared, but it no longer had the strength to do anything about him.

Yet even on the verge of death, the ferocity in its eyes had not diminished in the slightest!

Sensing the naked savagery and bloodlust in the Silver Lightning Leopard's eyes, Zhou Changqing grinned. He drove the Heavy Sword hard into the ground, then crouched and stared straight into its eyes.

"Beast, you've never seen me before, but all these years, I've been 'thinking of you morning and night.' I've been desperate to meet you sooner."

"I don't know whether you can understand me, but it doesn't matter. Your territory should be close by, shouldn't it? I wonder whether you have any offspring living there."

"Whether you do or not, I'll search every inch of the area, then send every Silver Lightning Leopard nearby down to join you, one by one."

"Go in peace!"

"Hhh... hhh..."

Under Zhou Changqing's icy words, a trace of terror and pleading slowly appeared in the Silver Lightning Leopard's once-ferocious eyes!

At its rank, though it had yet to attain an adult human's intelligence, it had developed a measure of awareness.

Moreover, it had encountered plenty of human mercenaries over the years, and it actually understood the general meaning of Zhou Changqing's words!

Seeing that expression on the beast's face, Zhou Changqing's eyes lit up. "So you really do have offspring?"

"Heh. If you hadn't shown it, I might not have bothered searching for them one by one. But now, I have no choice. I'll make every Silver Lightning Leopard that shares your blood go down with you and beg my parents' forgiveness!"

He would kill the beast and crush its heart!

With that, Zhou Changqing wasted no more words. He stood, pulled out the Heavy Sword, and swung it at the Silver Lightning Leopard's head!

"Roar!"

Amid the Silver Lightning Leopard's defiant roar, terrifying lightning erupted from the Heavy Sword and engulfed it completely!

When the lightning faded and his vision cleared, the Silver Lightning Leopard was gone. All that remained was a pile of ashes and a partially exposed magic core.

Picking up the magic core, Zhou Changqing chuckled at the ashes. "I lied. Even if you hadn't shown it, I would still have killed every Silver Lightning Leopard and Flame Wolf nearby."

At that moment, Zhou Changqing felt light from head to toe. All his pent-up anguish vanished, and his soul felt utterly clear, as though he had been reborn!

Even the Dou Qi inside him had become much more active!

The corners of his mouth lifted and parted slightly, his face glowing with a brilliant smile!

A wish cherished for years had finally come true. No one who had never experienced it could understand that feeling!

Yet just as Zhou Changqing was about to turn and leave, a crack suddenly split the silver magic core in his hand.

In an instant, a dense surge of lightning-attribute energy escaped through the crack and drifted toward the sky!

"Hm? Did that last strike hit the magic core?"

Watching the silver lightning energy stream upward from the magic core like silk, Zhou Changqing's smile faded slightly, and he frowned.

Before he could wrap the magic core in Dou Qi, a hair-raising sensation suddenly seized his heart!

Rumble!

A deafening sound suddenly exploded across the heavens!

The next second, a terrifying bolt of lightning as thick as a python tore through the dark sky in a blaze of radiance and struck downward!

Wherever that dazzling lightning passed, space itself seemed to rip apart. Its overwhelming might was like the indescribable wrath of heaven!

And it was striking directly at Zhou Changqing's position!

Fast! Too fast!

Almost instantly, the lightning thundered to within a few meters of Zhou Changqing's head!

Judging by its trajectory, it had actually been drawn down by the energy escaping from the magic core in his hand!

Zhou Changqing's pupils contracted sharply, the descending lightning reflected in his eyes.

In that instant, all he could do was shift sideways on a powerful instinct to survive!

But even though he circulated his Dou Qi with all his might, his speed was still no match for the lightning!

He could only just manage to activate the artifact patterns in his inner armor before it arrived!

Boom!

Crack!

The lightning grazed the clothing over Zhou Changqing's chest and slammed into the ground!

The immense energy exploded, and the terrifying shock wave sent Zhou Changqing flying backward!

(End of chapter)