Chapter 579: Provocateur!
It had been a long time since Qin Lie entirely focused on cultivating Heavenly Thunder Eradication.
The moment he channeled that spirit art and roused the thunder and lightning inside of his body, he saw violent reactions occur within the eight slabs of Thunderblitz wood.
Streaks of lightning began to arc through the slabs, spreading from the bottom up like exponentially growing vines. A dazzling yet serene blue glow radiated from the slabs of wood as they discharged intense waves of thunder and lightning energy.
“Boom boom boom!”
Thunder rumbled from every pore of his body, echoing off of the slabs of Thunderblitz wood and surging deep into the sky.
All of this happened atop the Flowing Gold Fire Phoenix, above the clouds at an extremely high altitude.
The thunder grew louder, intensifying to become much clearer and more frenzied. It made the tips of the eight slabs of Thunderblitz wood send electricity arcing into the sky.
“Krak krak ka-krak!”
Thunderous explosions rang out from the depths of the skies, making the True Souls of many people on the Flowing Gold Fire Phoenix tremble.
Within the hidden room of Xiang Xi’s residence, Xiang Xi, Bo Boze, and the other treacherous martial practitioners temporarily halted their discussion.
“The weather’s about to change,” Bo Boze muttered.
None of them actually went out to investigate what was happening, so they didn’t know that it was Qin Lie that had caused the thunder in the skies.
Whenever they had secret meetings, they would strictly forbid their subordinates from disturbing them or coming in to deliver news.
Adding to the fact that the hidden room they were in could block many sounds and all kinds of energy fluctuations, they weren’t aware that Qin Lie had erected the eight slabs of Thunderblitz wood. They were practically pillars that stretched into the sky.
The extremely violent booming thunder made them feel as if something were strange.
However, the occasional change in weather didn’t worry them. Whether it be flashing lightning, rolling thunder, wild winds, or torrential rain, all of these things were quite common under the endless sea of clouds, so they didn’t think much of it.
They interpreted the thunder as a typical change in weather.
Xiang Xi and the rest of the people in the hidden room continued their important discussion amidst the booming thunder.
This Flowing Gold Fire Phoenix had long since separated from the Xing brothers and was now quietly floating within the clouds.
The other Flowing Gold Fire Phoenix carrying two other enforcers hovered nearby.
The fire phoenix of the Xing brothers was at least a few kilometers away.
Without warning, a world-shaking boom reverberated from the depths of the sky. Thick swathes of lightning descended like an electrical waterfall, targeting the Flowing Gold Fire Phoenix in the clouds.
Qin Lie’s eyes flung open. He raised his head and saw the streaks of lightning striking downward from the gloomy sky above, inwardly shocked.
Him cultivating Heavenly Thunder Eradication with the help of the eight slabs of Thunderblitz wood had triggered a much bigger reaction than ever before.
Amidst the roaring thunder and berserk bombardment of lightning, he felt an extremely wonderful feeling sprout within his True Soul…
“Clap clap clap!”
Streak after streak of lightning shot through the sky like dragons and snakes, all charging toward Qin Lie’s wooden building. Lightning struck the area in the middle of the slabs of Thunderblitz wood, immediately dispersing into them.
“Boom!”
Violent heavenly thunder descended upon everything in sight.
A three story building exploded into pieces amidst the violent electrical assault.
The few martial practitioners loyal to Xiang Xi were in that building, a blast of heavenly lightning burning them to a crisp.
The survivors rushed out of the wreckage, vomiting blood and yelling, “We’re under attack! Enemies! Enemies are attacking!”
Their cries of alarm left many people stunned. One martial practitioner after another came running from every direction, strange looks coming over the ones that noticed what was happening over at Qin Lie’s building.
Du Xiangyang, Gao Yu, and Luo Chen had left their wooden building long ago and were now looking toward Qin Lie in shock.
As soon as they saw Qin Lie sitting on the roof with the eight upright slabs of Thunderblitz wood around him, sparking with thunder and lightning energy, they understood what had happened.
The three of them had gone through all sorts of trials with Qin Lie. They were well aware of his amazing control over thunder and lightning.
Qin Lie had clearly set off all of the heavenly lightning and explosive thunder descending from the skies above.
“What is he doing?” Du Xiangyan asked in astonishment.
“It can’t be…” Luo Chen responded, his brow furrowed. “Does he suddenly not want to continue living? Is he trying to go out with a bang?”
In their opinion, if Qin Lie were to suddenly turn on the Xing Family, he ought to be doing so back on the ship.
The eight god corpses were hidden deep within the sea. As long as he summoned them, Qin Lie would be able to slaughter Gold Sun Island like he did with the Pan Family.
Qin Lie was currently aboard a fire phoenix floating through the air. He was nowhere near the sea, so his current course of action didn’t make any sense.
After observing the situation for a while, Gao Yu came to a different conclusion.
“All of this is a result of Qin Lie cultivating,” he said indifferently. “He, himself, probably didn’t know he would cause such a spectacle.”
His guess was correct.
At this moment, thunder and lightning filled the sky, becoming more and more terrifying with each passing moment.
Qin Lie had just wanted to cultivate, and this shocking scene stunned him to his very core.
After breaking through to the late stage of the Netherpassage Realm, he seriously hadn’t expected to cause such a scene by simply using the Thunderblitz wood to temper his True Soul with thunder and lightning.
Song Tingyu, Xie Jingxuan, and Xue Moyan had stopped cultivating as soon as the chaos began. All three of them stood right next to windows in their three-story wooden building.
Concentrated bolts of lightning occasionally flashed before their eyes and struck right outside the building with violent booms, startling them.
They had no idea what in Spirit Realm Qin Lie was doing.
Finally realizing that things were only getting worse, Qin Lie prepared to store the slabs of Thunderblitz wood to stop the thunder and lightning from gathering.
So he put one of the slabs back into his spatial ring.
However, this only disrupted the balance of the eight slabs of Thunderblitz wood.
The thunder and lightning that had been gathering within the clouds for so long immediately went out of control, striking down at him!
In that instant, all of the thunder and lightning filling the sky hurtled downward!
Chaotic lightning and berserk thunder fell through the sky like a meteor shower.
“Boom boom boom! Boom boom boom!”
Another small wooden building on the Flowing Gold Fire Phoenix was promptly destroyed. Each and every martial practitioner in there, all of which were loyal to Xiang Xi, screamed bloody murder as they became engulfed in thunder and lightning.
It was then that everyone realized that Qin Lie was the one behind the thunder and lightning in the sky.
“Kill him!”
“Stop him!”
All of the Gold Sun island martial practitioners present cried out. Seeing the lightning reduce that wooden building to a smoldering wreck and strike their allies, they instantly erupted in outrage and advanced toward Qin Lie.
Once the thunder and lightning went out of control, everyone within Xiang Xi’s hidden room had a strange feeling.
“Something’s amiss. That doesn’t seem to be normal thunder and lightning,” Xiang Xi said. “Let’s go outside and have a look.”
The tightly shut doors of the hidden room finally opened. The traitorous enforcers and ten or so island envoys emerged from it one by one.
As soon as they raised their heads, the expressions on all of their faces changed.
Dozens of lightning bolts resembling flying dragons and an unfathomable amount of fragmented electrical currents filled the sky. Accompanied by berserk waves of thunder, they struck the Flowing Gold Fire Phoenix like a relentless waterfall of electricity.
“What is going on here?!” Xiang Xi shouted furiously.
“Chief enforcer, the brat that the second island master brought is causing all this trouble!” someone reported in a loud voice.
“It’s that Xing Lie bastard! It’s him!” another one added.
Xiang Xi turned his gaze to the wooden building that Qin Lie stood on top of and discovered that many of his subordinates had already surrounded it.
The rest of Qin Lie’s group, including Du Xiangyang, Luo Chen, and Gao Yu who joined them in the midst of all the chaos, were inside of that wooden building.
The seven slabs of Thunderblitz wood stood upright atop that wooden building, thunder and lightning energy coursing through them. Bolts of electricity pierced into the sky, triggering some kind of unknown reaction and causing thunder and lightning to gather.
“Who told you to do this, you brat!?” Xiang Xi exclaimed, a grave expression on his face. He unleashed his Fragmentation Realm strength.
“Please calm down, chief enforcer!” Bo Boze shouted.
He quickly followed furious Xiang Xi into the air and grabbed him firmly.
“It’s just a misunderstanding!” he said over and over. “A misunderstanding! It’s a misunderstanding!”
He then transmitted his voice to Xiang Xi as a thread of sound.
“Calm down!” he said. “You need to calm down! This must be a scheme of the Xing brothers. They’re trying to get us to reveal our true intentions! If we can’t keep ourselves from attacking him, they’ll have an excuse to take care of us! This brat is a member of the Xing Family. If we can’t tolerate this and end up killing him, we’d just fall into their trap! We haven’t reached the Setting Sun Islands yet and don’t have reinforcements. They’d exterminate us before we even get there! Chief enforcer, you need to remain calm!”
“This is all a misunderstanding!” Qin Lie shouted as well. “It really is!”
As he did, the thunder and lightning that filled the sky continued to hurtle downward and strike the immediate area around the wooden building he stood on top of.
They struck the subordinates of Xiang Xi with deadly accuracy.
Lightning once again struck many of the men that had gathered. All of them yelled in fury, wanting to kill Qin Lie immediately.
“Th-this brat’s trying to provoke me!” Xiang Xi gritted his teeth.
“The more he tries to provoke us, the more confident he is of his backing!” Bo Boze hastily reminded him. “I’m sure that the Xing brothers are nearby! They must be waiting for us to slip up and take action. The moment we do, they’ll immediately attack! What a ruthless, sadistic scheme. They’re practically forcing us to die!”
In the eyes of a schemer, everyone else was a schemer too. Bo Boze considered this accident to be a well-thought-out plan, a ruthless move that the Xing brothers made against them.
“You need to tolerate this!” Bo Boze exclaimed. “You have to remain calm no matter what!”
All Xiang Xi could do was continue tolerating this.
……