Chapter 294 - Let Us All Die Together!
The moment Zhong Yue entered the upper lightning zone, and the 36 Pan Aos and Kui Long lunged into the sky, attempting to stop him down. They all rose higher and higher into the sky as the lightning started increasingly dense.
The stronger the cultivator, the more dangerous the lightning would be to them.
The lightning of heaven and earth was of the Pure Yang attribute while souls were aligned with Yin. Powerful lightning was capable of destroying cultivator souls into nothingness; so long as souls hadn't cultivated up to the Pure Yang stage, death would be inevitable.
However, cultivating the soul into the Pure Yang state was precisely the first step to becoming a deity.
With that being said, any other existence besides the gods themselves would have their souls be crushed away by the lightning.
Although in the past, Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin'er did enter the lightning zone and refined their souls with the lightning, they were only at the outermost rim of the lightning zone. Their cultivations were also weak back then; but now, their strengths had experienced various transformational leaps as they ventured deeper into the lightning zone.
Particularly after opening up the secret realms in their Yuan Shens, the amount of energy they possessed would have seemed boundless in their eyes before!
In the upper lightning zone, a thunderstorm began to stir in the clouds around them. The intermittent flashes of lightning seemed like glimmering scales on a dragon's body.
All of a sudden, a patch of clouds vanished in their eyes, and the next moment, a lightning bolt shot across the sky to blast directly onto them. The lightning was so powerful that even the mere boom of the accompanying thunder was almost enough to mangle their souls!
Furthermore, after it struck down on them, it did not disperse. Instead, the energy lingered in the air, as if preparing to converge into another bolt of lightning.
Krong——
Zhong Yue, Qiu Jin'er, Kui Long and the other 36 Pan Aos all became targets of the lightning. A particularly large bolt of lightning broke through Zhong Yue's Golden Crow Yuan Shen, leaving a hole behind while he took another two strikes on the wings. Despite the severe wounds he was suffering, he continued flying forward while leaving behind a trail of smoke.
Zhong Yue opened his mouth and siphoned away all the surrounding sunlight. The sunlight converged onto the Golden Crow's body, healing its wounds.
At the same time, Qiu Jin'er was also under attack by lightning. She immediately summoned her Gou Mang Yuan Shen out of her body and was instantly struck by two bolts of lightning, suffering severe injuries from it.
However, the Gou Mang Yuan Shen was one of the strongest in terms of life force, just as the Yuan Shen was damaged, there was a tremendous life force surging out within it. It soon healed the wound healing its wound as if it was never hurt.
The reason for summoning the Yuan Shen out of the body rather than keeping it in was because the mortal body was not Yin in attribute and was only a medium for the Yuan Shen to reside in. As the lightning was only attracted to the Yuan Shen, it would strike through the mortal body to reach the Yuan Shen if the Yuan Shen were in the body. This would inflict unnecessary damage to the mortal body and make the situation worse. Moreover, if the mortal body were destroyed, the Yuan Shen wouldn't be able to survive either!
Thus, unless one's mortal body was strong enough to withstand the lightning directly, no one would dare to leave the Yuan Shen in their mortal body.
Below the three-taloned Golden Crow, the three-headed Pan Aos were all bellowing in anger. They had also summoned their Yuan Shen out and let the Yuan Shen endure the lightning strikes so that their mortal body would remain unharmed.
In just a blink of an eye, everyone's Yuan Shen all suffered severe damage. However, these Xiao Mang Celestial Race experts were all at the Inner Core level, with their leader being half a step away from the Heavenly Dharma level. The lightning striking them was also stronger, resulting in Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin'er suffering more damage.
“Brothers and sisters, the soul weapons!” The Xiao Mang Celestial leader shouted.
Right away, rays of myriad colors lit up in the gloomy clouds. The 36 Pan Aos roared in unison, 36 moons that rose in the sky went into a circular orbit, crashing into one another as they chained themselves into a circle of satellites like a planet's ring. All of them were centered around a bigger moon that emerged in the middle!
These moons were part of a soul weapon, with all 36 moons coming together into a moon ring, the soul weapon would be completed.
The Xiao Mang Celestial Race had studied the moon spirit for ages, their knowledge in this field was unequaled to the other races. Even their soul weapons were commonly revolving around the moons or lunar related.
Just as these 36 moons came together into a moon ring, their powers were significantly bolstered to the point that they were not inferior to Heavenly Dharma soul weapons.
These Pan Aos' Yuan Shen quickly entered the moon ring and hid in the huge moon in the center; when the lightning struck down, the defensive totem patterns of the soul weapon would unload the damage. Even though the moon ring was getting dimmer as the lightning struck it, but the Yuan Shen in it was left unharmed.
Seeking shelter from the soul weapons could only be done by the stronger soul weapons. At least a Heavenly Dharma soul weapon; while the moon ring's power was greatly augmented, it had just precisely entered the category of Heavenly Dharma soul weapon, allowing it to defend their Yuan Shen from the lightning.
While on the other hand, the Kui Long that was chasing Zhong Yue didn't summon his Yuan Shen nor did he shelter it with any soul weapons. Instead, he entered the state of [Atman Body as One], breathing heavily in steam and sparks. He sucked his inner core above him into his body.
He was charging through the lightning zone while enduring the lightning striking on his mortal body!
The thunderstorm was growing more vicious, and lightning struck him as if he were a metallic conductor. Every second, countless wounds would appear on his body until it was charred and smoking. But the Kui Long totem patterns on his body would heal the injuries almost instantaneously!
The Immortal Body!
The Kui Long Celestial Race's strongest art, the power of the Immortal Body!
The Kui Long Celestial Race possessed an abundant life force, more than any other race. In addition to the secret technique of their race, they could cultivate the Immortal Body.
However, his Immortal Body was way weaker than his senior, Yu Zheng, who died in the Seal Suppression Hall; Yu Zheng's Immortal Body was cultivated to a stage of virtually undying. His mortal body couldn't be destroyed, and his Yuan Shen couldn't be crushed. The only thing that could kill him was time, and hence, the Swords Gate sealed him away and waited for time to kill him.
While this Kui Long expert had cultivated the Immortal Body, there was still quite a distance between him and Yu Zheng. His Immortal Body could only be used to shelter his Yuan Shen from the lightning.
“Junior martial sister, move your Yuan Shen into the Kui Long's cowhide!”
Zhong Yue shouted, Qiu Jin'er quickly followed and cast her Gou Mang Yuan Shen into the Kui Long's cowhide, but Zhong Yue's Golden Crow was still flying through the clouds, absorbing the lightning strikes with its heavily injured body. Even the rate at which he healed himself with sunfire couldn't keep up with the damage he was taking. Qiu Jin'er shouted, "Senior martial brother, your Yuan Shen…."
Huuu——
Zhong Yue controlled the Golden Crow Yuan Shen to fly higher into the sky. The clouds darkened, and the atmosphere turned increasingly gloomy. The lightning clouds emerged around them, and it was now evident that the lightning clouds indeed resembled the scales of a dragon as there were some other lightning clouds now forming the dragon's claws! A spectacular view that couldn't be seen anywhere else, and yet, deadly!
In the rumors, there was a phantom of the Leize dragon god lingering around in a certain height and certain depth in the lightning zone, an innate dragon god that was born within the heavens, a guardian that would strike down any livings that dare to infiltrate the high heavens!
And now, the words were coming true, the Leize dragon god's body was slowly and yet steadily forming before his eyes, the higher he went, the more complete the Leize dragon god's body became. At the same time, lightning was still raining down on them.
Behind him, the Pan Aos were running in the moons, moving the moons faster while they barked incessantly. The moon ring was filled with totem patterns, lunging out wave after wave of attacks that struck toward Zhong Yue.
Zhong Yue was hit by the first wave of the totem patterns, and he got blasted up higher. The three-taloned Golden Crow tumbled in the sky, and suddenly, it spanned out its wings to regain its balance before it bolted away again.
The Pan Aos barked and ran as fast as they could while controlling the moon ring. The Kui Long was also leaping with its one leg. But neither one of them could catch up to Zhong Yue's speed.
The waves blasted behind Zhong Yue, but he had already left them behind.
In mid-air, the Leize dragon god's body was getting longer and bigger. It was already 800 miles long while the dragon's head was slowly coming into view. It added on to the repressing atmosphere as it suffused the sky in its domineering aura.
As of now, Zhong Yue was right below the dragon’s jaw.
“Use me, use me!”
The Kui Long Expert shouted, “Hit my stomach!”
The Pan Aos's eyes brightened up, and the Kui Long inhaled a deep breath of air and inflated like a balloon. His body soon took the form of a drum, at the middle of the drum was a dragon-cow head, and at the bottom was his only leg. His arms hung by the side, seeming ludicrously thin and small in comparison to the rest of his body.
The Pan Ao leader immediately resummoned his Yuan Shen and shouted, "Control the moon ring and protect me, I'll go into the state of [Atman Body as One] and coordinate with Senior Martial Brother Yu to take down this Zhong Shan Clan brat!"
The other 35 Pan Aos barked merrily, fully taking over the control of the moon ring as their leader cast his Yuan Shen back. His body was getting bigger and brawnier as he transformed into a celestial being with a mastiff's head. He stood on the back of two Pan Aos while he reached his hand out to the light wheels behind him, pulling out two 200 feet-long bones as he started drumming on the Kui Long Celestial expert.
Dong——
The loud sound of percussion blasted out in all domains. The sound wave lunged out like a fierce dragon, ramming directly on Zhong Yue's back, he spurted out a mouthful of blood, and the Golden Crow tumbled vigorously, nearly falling off from the sky.
The mastiff-headed celestial being laughed out loud, and he drummed on the Kui Long incessantly with the two mastiffs beneath carried him forward whereas the other mastiffs barked happily. They traveled at high speed while the sound waves attacked Zhong Yue endlessly.
Zhong Yue's Yuan Shen was on the brink of dissipating as he took all of the attacks. Blood trickled down his mouth like a broken faucet, and deep groans came from the bottom of his throat. He gritted his teeth and exerted himself to prevent his Yuan Shen from dissipating while he continued to fly up.
Cold sweat rushed out of Qiu Jin'er's forehead, she quickly controlled the Kui Long's cowhide and shielded Zhong Yue's Golden Crow on the back. When the sound wave blasted over, she was also hit with a portion of the sound waves' powers, resulting in blood also trickling out from her mouth.
As she has shielded the Golden Crow with the Kui Long's cowhide, the protection on her mortal body has dramatically reduced. In addition to that, the sound wave could penetrate through the Kui Long's cowhide. Even her Yuan Shen, which was hiding in the dragonhide, was also sustaining damage!
“Blast them! Kill them!”
The mastiff-headed celestial being guffawed in joy. He continued drumming the Kui Long with increased tempo and force while they continued to fly higher into the sky.
Zhong Yue galvanized every morsel of strength within him to bring him higher up into the sky. Above them, the lightning clouds grew darker, thicker and denser. The Leize dragon god's phantom was getting clearer, and its head was coming into existence. Its whiskers were waving in the clouds — suddenly, flashes of lightning bolted across the sky, converging into two lightning balls and forming into the dragon's eyes!
The exact moment the dragon eyes were formed, it felt like as if the dragon god had revived. The dazzling lightning dispersed and the rumblings of thunders were no more, the whole atmosphere turned dead quiet with the only sound being the sound of the drum.
The mastiff-headed celestial being shivered in cold sweat as a chill went down his spine. He quickly lifted his head to look up, and his gaze was met with the cold eyes of a dragon god that was staring right at them as the thousand miles lightning dragon has awakened.
Beneath the Leize dragon god’s whiskers was the raggedy Golden Crow that stopped abruptly, carrying Zhong Yue and Qiu Jin’er on its bloody back with the dragon god above them, Zhong Yue sneered frigidly and said, “Let us all die together!”
“DEFENSE!”
The mastiff-headed celestial being suddenly gave a shrill cry, "Defend with all your might!"
KRONGG————
The thousand miles dragon god gently placed its mountainous claw down and shadowed a huge patch of clouds with Zhong Yue, Qiu Jin’er and the other celestials in it!
In the sky, a shock wave that was clearly visible to the naked eye ravaged a thousand miles of distance, clearing a thousand miles of the sky of all clouds!