Thunder

Lü Yan's furious blow came crashing down like a mountain.

Si Chen raised both arms to take it head-on. The tremendous force blasted him backward through the courtyard wall, and he skidded dozens of yards through rubble and dust before regaining his footing.

A Golden Core cultivator's full-powered strike really is something else. The thought flashed through his mind as the vast vitality nurtured by the Yi Wood Eternal Spring Art immediately began circulating within him, restoring him to peak condition in an instant.

The aftershock swept through the street like a gale. The crowd that had been packed together watching the spectacle cried for their fathers and mothers. Those with low cultivation were hurled away outright, while the quicker-witted had already scrambled and crawled off into the distance.

A Golden Core cultivator going mad was not something they could stand around watching!

"You little beast! Your life is mine!"

Lü Yan's eyes were bloodshot, and he looked utterly crazed. Without giving Si Chen a moment to breathe, he streaked after him in a flash of blue light. Palm blasts, fist shadows, and finger strikes, all carrying violent spiritual power, rained down from every direction.

He hated Si Chen to the bone-not merely because his disciples had all died and his dignity had been stripped away, but because Si Chen had severed his Dao Path!

This feud would end only in death!

Si Chen's gaze sharpened, and a thought stirred.

Thunderbolt Flash!

His figure instantly blurred where he stood, turning into a jagged streak of lightning that slipped through the gaps in Lü Yan's savage assault by a hair's breadth.

Boom!

Lü Yan's palm blasted a massive crater into the spot where he had just stood.

Missing his strike only enraged Lü Yan further. He swept out a backhanded wave of Sword Qi, neatly shearing away half a ruined wall.

Si Chen had already reappeared on the other side.

For a time, two figures engaged in an astonishing chase above the ruins of the Flowing Cloud Sword Sect's residence.

One was deep blue, his aura savage, like a maddened tiger. Wherever he passed, buildings collapsed and the ground cracked.

The other was pale blue-white, agile and swift as a sudden thunderbolt, always evading lethal attacks at the very last instant.

Rumble!

Thunder, explosions, and collapsing buildings resounded one after another.

The tremendous commotion startled the whole of Ancient Gaze City.

Countless cultivators and mortals peered out of their homes and shops, or flew straight into the air, staring in shock at the ruined district and the two figures chasing and battling each other.

"That's Elder Lü of the Flowing Cloud Sword Sect! Who's he fighting?"

"It's that boy in blue! Si Chen? He's still alive!"

"Heavens... he's only at Foundation Establishment, yet he's lasted this long against a Golden Core cultivator?"

"What... what movement technique is that? He's too fast!"

Everyone found it unbelievable.

Foundation Establishment and Golden Core were as far apart as clouds and mud. By all rights, this should have been a one-sided crushing that ended in an instant.

Yet the reality before their eyes was that Lü Yan's attacks, though seemingly unstoppable, mostly missed, accomplishing nothing beyond smashing buildings.

And the blue-robed youth, though apparently surrounded by danger, had suffered little injury.

In truth, the other prominent powers in Ancient Gaze City had received word as early as when Si Chen knocked on the gate of the Flowing Cloud Sword Sect's residence.

At first, they had treated it as mere entertainment. What waves could a Foundation Establishment brat possibly stir up?

Who could have imagined that not only would he actually dare to attack, but he would also slaughter Zhao Qinghe and the other disciples with such ruthless efficiency?

That was already enough to make their jaws drop. Yet he had gone on to interrupt Lü Yan's secluded cultivation, forcibly driving a Golden Core elder into cultivation deviation!

By now, the Golden Core experts who had been sitting comfortably, as secure as anglers on their platforms, could no longer stay put. They flew out of their respective bases and hovered in the air, watching the battle with varying expressions.

"Tsk, tsk. Three hundred thousand spirit stones for a Crimson Sun Fruit, and this is what he gets?"

The female cultivator who had teased Lü Yan at the auction now watched with her arms folded, thoroughly enjoying herself.

"That brat... really cleaned out the Flowing Cloud Sword Sect's nest?" A middle-aged cultivator in lavish robes clicked his tongue. He was the head of the city's Li family.

"More than that. Judging by Lü Yan's condition, his breakthrough clearly failed. He won't recover without thirty to fifty years. His Dao Path... is as good as severed," an old man beside him said slowly.

"Just where did that boy come from? To drive Lü Yan this far..."

They talked, but none had any intention of intervening.

Lü Yan was now a rabid dog that bit anyone he saw. Whoever approached him would suffer. In a situation like this, there was no profit to be had; they might only end up covered in the stench.

Keeping themselves safe was the wisest course. They were happy to watch the Flowing Cloud Sword Sect suffer humiliation, but unwilling to wade into these muddy waters.

At the center of the battlefield, Si Chen shot like lightning out of another burst of rubble and dust. Lü Yan roared, curled his fingers into claws, and seized viciously at him from afar!

"Bind!"

The surrounding air suddenly warped, pressing in on Si Chen from every direction to imprison him where he stood. This was the rudimentary control over the spiritual energy of heaven and earth that only Golden Core cultivators could wield.

Si Chen faltered slightly. For the first time, Thunderbolt Flash's speed was noticeably reduced.

"Let's see where you can hide now!"

A vicious expression appeared on Lü Yan's face. A lethal sword strike, condensed from all his current hatred and cultivation, descended on the immobilized Si Chen like a blue meteor!

There was no evading this strike!

At the critical instant, Si Chen crossed his arms before him. The power of thunder and the vitality of plants stored deep within his flesh surged into action together, coating his arms in a faint golden glow and weak electrical arcs.

Boom-!

The sleeves covering his blocking arms were shredded. Once again, he was hurled backward, crashing heavily into a heap of broken walls.

Two shallow wounds appeared on his forearms, looking bloody on the surface.

Yet Si Chen merely frowned slightly.

Emerald light flowed around the wounds, and those minor flesh injuries healed at tremendous speed.

"Hahahahaha!" Seeing this, Lü Yan assumed Si Chen had reached the end of his rope and burst into delighted, frenzied laughter.

"Brat! Is dodging all you can do? Let's see how much longer you last!"

He pressed his advantage without mercy. His attacks grew ever denser and more savage, Sword Qi and palm shadows enveloping all the space around Si Chen like driving wind and torrential rain.

Si Chen unleashed Thunderbolt Flash at full power again, darting rapidly within the limited space. His situation looked even more perilous than before.

He kept dodging, but his thoughts raced.

Although Lü Yan's attacks were not particularly strong, relying constantly on Thunderbolt Flash to evade them left him far too passive.

He needed a means of attacking from a distance that could truly threaten his opponent.

Thunder...

Draw lightning as wings, tread upon electrical arcs... The incantation for Thunderbolt Flash flowed through his mind, but its essence was the control of thunder.

Then why couldn't he hold thunder in his hand?

Once that idea arose, it could no longer be suppressed.

He used Thunderbolt Flash once more to evade a fierce attack. The instant his figure solidified, he curled his right hand around empty air.

At first, there was only a slight tingling in his palm.

Gradually, strands of brilliant white lightning erupted from his fingertips and coiled around his arm, crackling softly.

Lü Yan noticed the strange change in Si Chen's hand as well, but rage and exhilaration had already clouded his mind. He merely took it as a sign that Si Chen's spiritual power was running out and his spell was slipping out of control. His attacks became even fiercer.

"Your death throes!" he roared, bringing down another mighty sword strike!

Si Chen flickered several times among the ruins. Each time he appeared, the lightning in his hand grew stronger.

It went from a few thin strands to coils enveloping his entire arm, until, at last, dazzling lightning illuminated half his body!

He was no longer merely using thunder to move. He had begun trying to constrain and compress it.

Above Ancient Gaze City, the pale blue-white lightning grew brighter and more violent, as though hundreds upon thousands of birds were humming at once!

Everyone in Ancient Gaze City stared dumbfounded at the sight overhead.

They had seen cultivators battle before, but this was the first time they had witnessed such an earth-shaking fight within the city.

After dodging another slash from Lü Yan, Si Chen finally stopped. He lowered his head and looked at his right hand, now completely swallowed by dazzling lightning.

Come, thunder.

He silently uttered the words.

Above Ancient Gaze City, the formerly clear sky abruptly darkened!

Countless tiny traces of thunder-aspected energy within the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, barely discernible to the naked eye, surged madly toward Si Chen's loosely clenched palm as though answering their sovereign's summons!

Crackle-!

Dazzling white light erupted in his hand. A long spear formed entirely of brilliant white thunder appeared in his grasp!

Thunderbolt Spear!

At that moment, all of Ancient Gaze City fell so silent that not even a crow or sparrow could be heard.

Everyone looking up at the battle, from lowly Qi Refining cultivators to the few knowledgeable Golden Core experts in the air, stared openmouthed, their faces filled with unprecedented shock!

"What... is that?" the Li family head murmured, scarcely able to believe his eyes.

"Condensing thunder out of thin air into a weapon... wh-what spell is this?" The old man beside him trembled through his beard. In his hundreds of years of life, he had never seen such a sight!

How could a Foundation Establishment cultivator wield such terrifying thunder so effortlessly?

The female cultivator who had been teasing earlier also lost her playful expression, her gaze becoming deeply solemn.

As for the young Qi Refining cultivators, the sight left their hearts soaring and their souls trembling, their eyes filled with indescribable admiration.

To confront a Golden Core cultivator head-on at Foundation Establishment, and even summon such divine might...

This... was a scene straight out of legend!