stonecrandall Page 88
Page 88
Their real goal was not to cause chaos in Longhu Mountain.
Their target... was the rear palace where Tian Jinzhong was recuperating.
"Luring the tiger away from the mountain? Clumsy." Lin Shen muttered to himself, a flash of cold mockery passing through his mind.
Just then, two dark figures, like ink stains blending into the edge of candlelight, silently slipped into the heavily guarded hall.
The person in the lead was none other than the ordinary-looking, timid "Xiao Yuzi" on ordinary days—at this moment, all the humble pretense on his face had been stripped away, leaving only a cold indifference.
He casually tore off the young Taoist's clothes, revealing a tight-fitting black outfit underneath. His gaze was sharp as a hawk's, fixed on Tian Jinzhong in the wheelchair.
"Master Tian." Gong Qing's voice was calm and even, yet it carried a chilling penetrating power. "It's late. Your disciple has come to...please rest."
He slowly raised his right hand, his five fingers spread, his palm facing the top of Tian Jinzhong's head. An invisible and intangible strange aura, yet containing a powerful spiritual penetration and information-grabbing essence, began to condense and entwine!
“Heh...heh heh..." From the corner, another shadowy figure let out a suppressed, twisted laugh of excitement.
His eyes gleamed with an almost greedy crimson light in the darkness, and his hands were already raised. Invisible pink Qi flowed and swirled at his fingertips like living things, radiating a wave that made one's soul tremble—the Bright Soul Technique!
His goal was even purer—to unravel the mystery and uncover the forbidden memory buried deep within Old Tian's soul!
"Make your move, Gong Qing! Let me see... just how hot the truth about the Jia Shen Rebellion really is!"
Lu Liang's voice trembled slightly with excitement, and the pink light at his fingertips suddenly surged, like the tongue of a venomous snake, and fiercely probed towards Tian Jinzhong's stiff temple!
Just as that eerie aura containing the power to pierce the spirit and the pink light capable of tearing apart the soul's memories were about to simultaneously strike Tian Jinzhong's nearly withered body and soul at the critical moment—
"Boom—Crack—!!!"
Without warning! Without any warning! A terrifying thunderclap that ripped through the sky and shattered eardrums, accompanied by a blinding white flash of lightning that pierced through the palace dome, descended suddenly!
The heavy wooden roof of the rear hall shattered instantly, as if struck by a massive hammer.
Countless massive wood chips, rubble, and dust, mixed with charred marks, poured into the hall like a destructive waterfall, accompanied by violent shockwaves!
Time seemed to freeze at that moment!
Gong Qing's concentrated spiritual piercing power was abruptly interrupted and torn apart by this extremely violent physical impact and the evil-destroying will contained in the thunder!
The radiant light from Lü Liang's Soul-Brightening Technique was instantly shattered by a scalpel-like, precise, and azure arc of electricity that swept across the area, turning into scattered specks of fluorescent light!
The two figures were blown away like fallen leaves in a raging wind by the devastating force of the destroyed palace!
Gong Qing reacted extremely quickly. The moment the force hit his body, he burst out with thick, ink-black protective energy to try to deflect the force. However, he was still hit so hard that his blood and qi surged, and he spat out blood. He crashed heavily into the wall in the distance with a dull thud!
Lu Liang was in an even worse state, screaming as he flew out like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily to the ground. He rolled several times before barely stopping, his body covered in countless bloody scratches from the flying splinters and pebbles!
The entire rear hall was plunged into chaotic darkness!
Only through the huge gaping hole in the roof of the palace, cold and pale moonlight shone down, and... a figure suspended in the moonlight!
He was no longer enveloped in the blinding, devastating lightning of the daytime; instead, he exuded a profound and unsettling aura that was extremely restrained.
On the skin's surface, fine golden arcs of electricity flickered like breathing. With each flash, a pure white light could be faintly seen dancing at the core of the left half of the arc, while a dark shadow swirled around the edge of the right half!
He was like a grim reaper descending with moonlight and destruction, his cold gaze sweeping over Gong Qing and Lü Liang, who were struggling to get up from the ruins and dust below, before finally landing on the wheelchair.
Just as that devastating, top-piercing blow was about to strike, the withered old man suddenly raised his head!
Two terrifying beams of light shot from his cloudy eyes in the darkness! He was not hit by the falling debris in the slightest. An invisible yet extremely resilient protective aura was activated the instant the lightning struck his body, shaking off all the falling objects!
At this moment, his eyes, weathered by time and filled with endless pain and secrets, were fixed on the suspended figure in the air! Shock! Unbelievable!
And a trace of... a familiarity with and instinctive fear of a certain power, buried deep in his eyes and almost worn down by the long years!
"Lightning... magic?!"
"No...this aura...you...who exactly are you?!"
“Uncle Tian, I am Lin Shen, the newly accepted disciple of the Old Celestial Master.”
After that, Lin Shen could only see Gong Qing and Lü Liang—two “targets” who were barely able to stand up.
Gong Qing wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his eyes as sinister as a venomous snake: "Lin Shen... what a fine leader of the Luo Tian Grand Ceremony! I underestimated you! But do you think you alone can stop him...?"
"Too much nonsense."
Lin Shen's voice interrupted him, like an icicle falling to the ground. Before the words were even finished, his figure instantly transformed into an extreme golden bolt of lightning!
They charged straight at Gong Qing! Their speed was so fast it was beyond the reach of thought!
Gong Qing's pupils suddenly contracted!
The chill of death instantly froze to the bone!
He roared and unleashed his life's cultivation without reservation!
With his hands moving rapidly in front of his body, layers upon layers of eerie Qi walls, as black as ink and as condensed as swamp mud, were instantly laid out!
"Tsk-!"
Like a red-hot iron piercing solid ice! The azure lightning that Lin Shen had transformed into crashed into the layers of black energy without the slightest hesitation!
The terrifying annihilation black energy seemed to have encountered its natural enemy, emitting a shrill hissing sound. In an instant, it was violently pierced and evaporated by the penetrating will and destructive high-temperature energy contained in the lightning!
Gong Qing's supposedly formidable defenses proved to be as fragile as paper!
The lightning passed through the final barrier of black energy without any hindrance!
A hand, wreathed in blinding white lightning yet with a core leaping with destructive azure, like a demonic claw reaching out from hell, was precisely and undeniably imprinted on Gong Qing's chest, in his infinitely magnified pupils of fear!
"Yang Ji - Exorcise Evil!"
"puff--!"
There was no dull thud of bones breaking, only a strange, soft sound as if leather was being instantly charred!
Gong Qing's protective qi energy melted away instantly, like ice and snow under the blazing sun!
Immediately afterwards, an incomparably domineering, blazing white lightning, carrying the will to burn away all evil, mixed with an annihilating golden core, pierced through his chest like billions of red-hot steel needles!
It burst violently through his back!
"Ughh ...
My body felt as if all my bones had been removed, and I collapsed forward limply.
On his back, a hollow hole the size of a bowl, with charred edges and flesh and bones reduced to ashes, silently proclaimed the end of his life!
"Gong Qing!!!" Lü Liang roared in utter horror. Gong Qing's instant death completely shattered his fighting spirit!
Extreme fear gripped his heart! He no longer harbored any desire for Old Tian's memories; only one thought remained in his mind—escape! Escape as far as possible!
The light of the Bright Soul Technique erupted wildly beneath his feet!
Like two enormous pink wings of light, they slammed against the ground!
He wanted to use the recoil to transform into a streak of light and escape this hellish battlefield through the terrifying gap in the broken hall!
"Trying to leave?" The icy voice, like a stab to the bone, rang in Lü Liang's ears, carrying the whisper of death.
Lin Shen's figure had appeared on Lü Liang's only path to the breach without anyone noticing! His speed was completely overwhelming!
He didn't pursue, but slowly raised his left hand. Palm facing upward, fingers slightly bent. Unlike the fiery white and powerful right hand, this hand pulsed with deep, viscous, and writhing black lightning, as if it were alive!
Yin Five Thunders—Water Dirty Thunder! However, deep within this pitch-black core, there also lies a trace of destructive gold! It floats silently, emanating an aura of icy coldness that devours everything and a decadent atmosphere that slows down all things.
"Shadow Binding - Soul Devouring Abyss"
As Lin Shen spoke those cold words, the dark lightning suddenly spread out!
It wasn't an explosion, but rather like ink dripping into clear water, instantly transforming into a gigantic net of pitch-black sludge that covered nearly half of the rear hall! This net was incredibly viscous, possessing a powerful force of slowing and devouring! Light within its range became distorted and dimmed!
Lu Liang, transformed into a streak of light, crashed headlong into the silently unfolding "net of the abyss"!
"What?!" Lu Liang felt an irresistible, icy, viscous force, as if from the deepest hell, instantly envelop him!
The powerful thrust unleashed by both hands was instantly swallowed up, like a mud ox sinking into the sea! The speed plummeted to a crawl!
Even more terrifying, the viscous black lightning plasma coiled around and permeated his entire body as if it were a living thing!
Every contact took away a bit of his vital energy, a bit of his body heat, and even... a bit of his soul's vitality! Stagnation! Devouring! Decay!
His prized agility and soul energy made it difficult for him to move an inch in this dark swamp!
"No...no! Let me go! I..." Lü Liang screamed in terror, struggling desperately.
"I won't let you go? Okay." Lin Shen nodded.
Lin Shen hovered at the edge of the black net, like a god looking down at the worms struggling in the mud.
His right hand slowly rose, the arm that had just pierced Gong Qing's chest and was now wrapped in blazing white lightning and azure core, and once again aimed at the desperate Lü Liang trapped in the net.
"The cycle of Yin and Yang, the thunderbolt...annihilation."
His voice was cold and devoid of any emotion.
Lin Shen slowly brought his hands together in front of his chest.
In his left hand, there was a thick, deep, pitch-black Yin Thunder with a core pulsating with destructive golden light—Yin Five Thunders: Water Dirty Thunder!
In his right hand, there was the blazing, fierce, pure white Yang Thunder, with golden essence concentrated at its center—Yang Five Thunder·Crimson Palace Thunder!
One black and one white, one yin and one yang, two completely opposite forces of lightning that achieved a delicate balance under the control of his inner source began to make unprecedented contact as his hands came together!
"Zzzzz—Buzz—!!!"
A terrifying, strange sound, beyond the comprehension of the mundane world, as if space itself were being forcibly torn apart and kneaded, suddenly erupted!
At the center of Lin Shen's palms clasped together, a tiny core containing a destructive storm was instantly born! That core was not a simple sphere of energy, but a miniature chaos that was constantly collapsing, expanding, and being created and destroyed!
Black and white lightning bolts entangled, annihilated, and clashed wildly within! Each clash and annihilation released a blinding gray-white light and a destructive wave that tore apart the soul!
The air in the entire rear hall was frantically sucked in, forming a small, visible vacuum vortex!
The wheelchair in front of Tian Jinzhong groaned and creaked under the terrifying suction!
The old man's bloodshot eyes widened in shock, and for the first time, his withered face revealed an expression of uncontrollable astonishment mixed with... a fear that came from the depths of his soul!
Lin Shen's gaze locked onto Lü Liang, who was terrified inside the black net, his eyes as cold as ice.
His clasped hands, as if pushing an invisible, chaotic millstone, slowly propelled it forward!
The gray-white light spot, formed by the annihilation and collision of Yin and Yang lightning, which was constantly collapsing and expanding, silently slipped out of Lin Shen's palm.
It is not fast, but it carries a will to "lock in" everything!
Where it passed, space groaned under its strain, leaving behind a visible, slightly distorted vacuum trail!