Pitch-black lightning surged into the depths of the gorge like a raging tide. Wherever it passed, space trembled and the earth split apart. Amid that destructive radiance, a silver figure darted about with astonishing speed-a Wind-Thunder Leopard several dozen feet long, its powerful body twisting and dodging through the dense lightning storm, each evasion a hairbreadth escape.
Yet the Black Lightning was too dense. However fast the leopard moved, bolts still struck it from time to time. Scorch marks covered its silvery-white fur, and a thread of golden blood seeped from its mouth. But it ignored its injuries entirely, its golden eyes fixed on the figure ahead, wild delight gleaming within them.
"A human?!"
Shock swept through the Wind-Thunder Leopard, and its movements faltered. Four or five bolts struck it instantly. It grunted, blood dripping from its mouth. Yet rather than retreat, it grew even more excited, greed blazing in its eyes.
"No human has ever appeared in this cave-dwelling world throughout its endless ages..." it roared inwardly. "This person must have come from the outside world! He must hold the key to leaving this place!"
That thought drove it utterly mad. If it could capture this human and force him to reveal the way out, it could escape this prison and truly enter a far vaster world!
Rumble-!
Deep within the gorge, the power of the Black Lightning was rising rapidly, as though some terrifying existence was about to awaken. The Wind-Thunder Leopard knew it had to finish this quickly. Once the lightning here fully revived, even it would be annihilated!
"Roar-!"
It held nothing back. Silver runes erupted around its body, and its speed multiplied severalfold. Becoming a dazzling streak of silver, it tore through the sea of lightning and lunged straight at Shi Yi!
Shi Yi gazed at the Wind-Thunder Leopard charging toward him with a skyful of black bolts in its wake. A terrifying vision of heaven and earth being destroyed reflected in his Double Pupils. If all that overwhelming Black Lightning struck him, even his current physical strength would not save him from being reduced to ash.
"Heh..." Suddenly, he chuckled, forming a profound hand seal before his chest. "To others, you move as fast as lightning, but before these Double Pupils-"
"You're merely a little faster than an ordinary person!"
Before his words had faded, countless runes burst from his fingertips, weaving together in midair into a Flood Dragon wreathed in golden lightning. This Lightning Treasure Art was even more wondrous than before. The dragon's scales were sharply defined, each flashing with dazzling silver light, while its drifting whiskers stirred ripples through space.
"Aaoo-!"
The Thunder Flood Dragon released a sky-shaking cry and shot through the air as a streak of golden lightning. It moved so swiftly that dozens of lingering afterimages trailed behind it, and the Black Lightning in its path was forcibly cleaved apart!
This was the transformation brought about by Shi Yi's comprehension of the thunder Dao laws. His Lightning Treasure Art now possessed not only several times its former power, but also an innate destructive might born of his insight into lightning's true essence.
Watching the Thunder Flood Dragon rush toward it, the Wind-Thunder Leopard's golden eyes flashed with disdain. "A paltry trick, and you think you can wound me?" Silver radiance surged around its body as it prepared to take the attack head-on.
Shi Yi's gaze remained calm, runes flowing around his fingertips. Just as the Thunder Flood Dragon was about to touch the Wind-Thunder Leopard, it suddenly veered sharply upward, tracing a perfect arc through the air.
"Not good!" The Wind-Thunder Leopard abruptly sensed the danger. The Thunder Flood Dragon was not attacking it at all-it had precisely sealed off every route of retreat. In that brief delay, the skyful of black bolts was already upon it!
Boom-!
Dozens of black bolts as thick as millstones crashed down at once, making even the gorge's sheer walls tremble. The divine-power barrier the Wind-Thunder Leopard hastily raised shattered instantly, and its silvery-white fur was scorched black.
"Roar-!" Amid its agonized cries, the Wind-Thunder Leopard's golden eyes turned bloodshot. "Lowly human! I will tear out your soul and refine your bloodline! I will slaughter your entire race!"
Shi Yi watched coldly, runes circulating within his Double Pupils. He had calculated the timing long ago-using the Thunder Flood Dragon as bait and borrowing Heavenly Thunder Valley's world-destroying lightning to deal with this Divine Fire Realm Fierce Beast. Before lightning of such intensity, even an expert who had ignited divine fire would pay a terrible price.
Forcing its wounded body onward, the Wind-Thunder Leopard desperately resisted the overwhelming Black Lightning, runes flowing around it like a river of stars. Yet Thunderclap Valley's power was rising rapidly. Each falling bolt made its divine fire flicker and its aura weaken further.
Rumble-!
A heart-chilling rumble came from deep within the gorge, as though some Fierce Beast from the Ancient Era was awakening. Shi Yi narrowed his Double Pupils, sensing the destructive force on the verge of erupting-this was precisely the opportunity he had been waiting for.
"Heh, with cultivation like yours, you dare boast of wiping out my Human Race?" Lightning flickered at Shi Yi's fingertips, his voice cold as ice. "In the eyes of my race's mighty experts, the Divine Fire Realm is nothing but an ant."
"Insolence!" The Wind-Thunder Leopard laughed in its fury, every strand of its silvery-white fur standing on end. "In the Primordial Era, humans were nothing but food for us! A lowly race like yours dares..."
"Old fossil." Shi Yi interrupted with a sneer, a newly formed Thunder Flood Dragon circling above his head. "Outside, seas have long since become mulberry fields. The Wind-Thunder Leopard clan? Heh, I'm afraid only Cave-Dwelling Remnants like you are left."
"Nonsense!" The Wind-Thunder Leopard faltered, nearly getting struck by lightning again. A trace of panic flashed through its golden eyes before giving way to furious rage. "Trying to shake my Dao heart? You're courting death!"
"Roar-!"
It suddenly split into dozens of duplicates, only for them to be annihilated one after another beneath the Black Lightning. Just as its true body was about to break free, Shi Yi's Thunder Flood Dragon intercepted it with unerring precision, drawing even more black bolts crashing down!
Bang!
The Wind-Thunder Leopard was blasted back into the sea of lightning. Its silver-armored fur was now charred and cracked. Shock and fury mingled within it. "What wicked art are you using?!"
Shi Yi remained silent, runes flowing deep within his Double Pupils. Every move he made was exquisitely precise, as though he could predict the Wind-Thunder Leopard's every action-this was the wondrous power of his Double Pupils' See Through Illusions. But since his opponent did not recognize this gift, he naturally would not explain it.
"We're enemies fighting to the death. What distinction is there between righteous and wicked?" Shi Yi raised his hand, another Thunder Flood Dragon taking shape in his palm. "If it can kill you, then it is the righteous path."
Pitch-black lightning rampaged through the gorge like enormous serpents from the Ancient Era, every falling bolt carrying a suffocating aura of destruction. Scorch marks covered the Wind-Thunder Leopard's silvery-white body, yet it still darted through the lightning storm with astonishing speed, its golden eyes locked firmly on the figure ahead.
Boom-!
A black bolt as thick as a barrel fell straight toward its head. The Wind-Thunder Leopard abruptly twisted aside, the lightning grazing its back before blasting a crater hundreds of feet wide behind it. It endured the searing pain, even greater alarm rising within it. The lightning in Heavenly Thunder Valley has actually begun to approach Divine Fire Realm power...
Looking up, it saw Shi Yi gliding backward a thousand feet away. Every beat of the Golden Wings on his back stirred ripples through space. What enraged it even more was the succession of Thunder Flood Dragon Treasure Arts precisely cutting off its path.
"Damn it!" The Wind-Thunder Leopard roared in fury, dazzling silver light suddenly erupting around its body. It stopped dodging altogether, enduring the impact of three lightning
bolts as its speed abruptly tripled!
Whoosh-!
Silver light tore through the air, closing half the distance in an instant. Shi Yi's Double Pupils abruptly contracted. Wherever the Wind-Thunder Leopard passed, the Black Lightning was forcibly scattered, its charge plowing a vacuum passage through space.
"You can't escape!" the Wind-Thunder Leopard snarled with a vicious grin.