"Qilin Step!"
Shi Yi gave a long shout. The void trembled beneath his feet, each step beating like a heavenly drum and shaking the entire gorge with thunderous echoes. After seven consecutive steps, a purple Qilin as towering as a mountain abruptly appeared behind him, wreathed in purple mist. It threw back its head and roared, its might shaking the heavens!
"Roar!"
The Qilin phantom merged with Shi Yi. In an instant, purple mist surged around him as though an ancient Fierce Beast had awakened, and he lunged at the Wind-Thunder Leopard with enough force to destroy heaven and earth!
"You court death!" the Wind-Thunder Leopard roared furiously. Runes erupted around its body, and it abruptly swelled to several times the purple Qilin's size. Like a Heavenly God of thunder, it fearlessly met the attack!
Boom!!!
The two colossal figures collided violently. A terrifying shock wave swept in every direction, instantly collapsing countless mountains within Heavenly Thunder Valley and grinding them to dust! The Qilin Step truly deserved its reputation as a Treasure Art of the Ten Fiends-it had briefly given Shi Yi the power to clash head-on with a Divine Fire Realm expert!
"A Treasure Art of the Ten Fiends?!" Greed blazed in the Wind-Thunder Leopard's eyes as it sneered. "Good! Very good! Once I subdue you, all these fortunes will be mine!"
Boom!
Their collision dozens of exchanges into the battle robbed heaven and earth of their color!
The purple Qilin phantom ultimately proved no match and shattered beneath the rampaging lightning. Shi Yi flew backward like a meteor, smashing through several mountain peaks before barely coming to a halt and raising a towering cloud of dust!
"Cough..."
Within the dust, Shi Yi staggered to his feet, blood spilling continuously from the corners of his mouth. He looked down to find cracks covering his body, pale golden blood slowly seeping out. Had his divine power not forcibly held him together, his flesh would already have fallen apart!
"The Divine Fire Realm... truly terrifying." He wiped the blood from his mouth, runes whirling madly within his Double Pupils. "But killing me won't be so easy!"
The Wind-Thunder Leopard drew in the violent lightning surrounding it and shrank to the size of an ordinary leopard. A cunning gleam flickered in its golden eyes. "Human Race brat, I must admit that fighting me this far with only early Array Formation cultivation has earned you the title of prodigy."
It slowly stepped forward, its tone suddenly becoming mild. "If I kill you, I fear I'll invite considerable trouble once I leave this cave abode world. How about this-you tell me how to leave, and we put our grievances behind us. What do you say?"
Shi Yi wiped away the blood at his lips, a trace of amusement flashing through his Double Pupils. "Oh? I killed your most beloved descendant. You can let go of a blood feud like that?"
"The road of cultivation is long. Naturally, I know what matters more." The Wind-Thunder Leopard gently swished its tail, its voice low. "During the Primordial Era, the Human Race was weak, but it still produced a few beings who struck terror into all the races. Rather than become mortal enemies, we should each take a step back."
It suddenly lowered its voice. "Besides... since you've mastered a Treasure Art of the Ten Fiends, your master must be extraordinary. I have no wish to provoke a formidable enemy the moment I escape."
Shi Yi suddenly revealed a strange smile, his gaze passing over the Wind-Thunder Leopard to look behind it. "You guessed correctly. My master is indeed... right behind you."
Every hair on the Wind-Thunder Leopard's body stood on end, and it instinctively moved to turn around. But in that lightning-fast instant, dazzling divine light abruptly burst from Shi Yi's Double Pupils-this was the true killing move!
At Shi Yi's words, every hair on the Wind-Thunder Leopard's body suddenly bristled, and it instinctively whipped around! Yet behind it, there was nothing but the churning sea of black lightning.
"Damn human, you dare-"
Beside itself with rage, it was about to turn back when a cold shout sounded behind it:
"Double Pupils-Heaven Sundering!"
Hum-
In that instant, heaven and earth fell still.
Divine light capable of piercing the firmament blazed from Shi Yi's eyes. Deep within his Double Pupils, countless runes of destruction frantically converged, finally forming a brilliant pillar of light that spanned heaven and earth and struck in an instant!
Boom!!!
Wherever the pillar passed, the void fractured, and even the black lightning was briefly annihilated. The Wind-Thunder Leopard had no time to react. Its enormous body was blasted away, crashing like a meteor into the sea of lightning behind it!
"Roar!!"
A howl of agony rose from the lightning sea, only to be swiftly drowned out by the violent black lightning.
"Cough..."
Shi Yi swayed, unable to hold on any longer. The wounds across his body split open, pale golden blood spraying out like gushing springs. Blood poured from his eyes as well, blurring his vision.
Forcing himself to sit cross-legged, he shakily took out a precious herb as translucent as jade and stuffed it into his mouth, circulating the last of his divine power to refine its medicinal potency.
"I have to... recover as quickly as possible..."
He knew that although the strike had gravely wounded the Wind-Thunder Leopard, a Divine Fire Realm expert would never die so easily.
Blasted into the black lightning sea, the Wind-Thunder Leopard now had a bloody hole piercing straight through its enormous body, bright red divine blood gushing continuously from it. More troublesome still, the destructive aura of Shi Yi's Double Pupils lingered around the wound, constantly eating away at its vitality and preventing the injury from healing.
"Roar!"
It roared furiously but had no time to tend to its wound. The black lightning in Thunderclap Valley had now erupted into a full frenzy! Countless bolts as thick as millstones struck like a torrential downpour, each carrying terrifying power enough to severely wound a Divine Fire Realm expert.
"Damn it!"
The Wind-Thunder Leopard abruptly opened its mouth and spat out a Bronze Cauldron. Ancient and simple in design, its body was covered in profound runes. Driven by divine power, it now shone with dazzling azure light, forming a barrier around the leopard.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Black lightning struck the cauldron again and again, shaking it violently as its runes flickered. A trace of anguish flashed through the Wind-Thunder Leopard's golden eyes-this precious cauldron was its most important means of preserving its life, yet the lightning strikes were steadily damaging it.
"Human Race brat!" Through the lightning sea, it stared fixedly at Shi Yi, who sat healing in the distance, its voice venomous. "I gave you a chance, yet you dared-"
"Hah..." Shi Yi coughed up a mouthful of blood and sneered. "Would a Divine Fire Realm expert personally hunt someone down over an 'unimportant' descendant? Would you so readily spare the enemy who killed your child? Your stalling tactic was far too clumsy."
At those words, savage light surged in the Wind-Thunder Leopard's eyes. "Good! Very good! Since you insist on courting death-"
It abruptly drove the cauldron forward, forcing its way ahead through the lightning. "Once I break through this lightning sea, I'll leave you unable to live or die!"
Shi Yi struggled to his feet, a trace of mockery flashing through his bloodstained Double Pupils. "Then you'd better hurry..." He looked into the depths of Heavenly Thunder Valley, where an even more terrifying lightning storm was brewing.
"I'll come calling another day to settle today's debt in person." Before his words had faded, his figure had become a streak of light fleeing into the distance. Facing the Divine Fire Realm Wind-Thunder Leopard, he dared not gamble with his life even while it was trapped in the lightning sea-no one knew what terrifying trump cards an expert like that might possess.
"Roar!"
The Wind-Thunder Leopard's roar shook the entire lightning sea into a frenzy. It stood drenched in blood amid the lightning, the Bronze Cauldron humming and trembling above its head. "Arrogant brat! Once I break through this lightning sea..." Bloody froth spilled from its mouth with every word. "I'll extract your soul and refine your spirit, denying you rebirth for all eternity!"
Boom! Crack!
Amid the lightning filling the sky, its threats were blasted to pieces by the thunder. The bloody hole through its chest still gushed blood, yet it had no choice but to divide its attention and drive the precious cauldron against heaven's might. Its once sleek, glossy fur was now soaked in blood, taking on an eerie purplish-red hue beneath the lightning's glare.