Chapter 27: Thunder
Lü Yan struck with furious force, like a mountain crashing down.
Si Chen crossed his arms to block the blow head-on, and the sheer power sent him hurtling backward. He smashed through the courtyard wall and skidded dozens of meters through rubble and dust before finally steadying himself.
"A Core Formation Stage cultivator's full-power strike — it truly is something else," he thought, as the boundless vitality nurtured by the Yimu Everspring Art surged through him, restoring him to peak condition in an instant.
The shockwave from that single blow swept through the street like a gale. The crowd that had been pressing in to watch the spectacle erupted into screams, those with weaker cultivation sent flying outright, while the quicker-witted ones had already scrambled and fled into the distance.
A Core Formation Stage cultivator gone berserk was not something they could afford to spectate!
"You little beast! Your life is mine!"
Lü Yan's eyes blazed crimson, his expression that of a man possessed. He gave Si Chen no chance to breathe, his figure streaking forward as a bolt of blue light. Palm strikes, fist shadows, and finger thrusts — all wrapped in raging Spiritual Energy — rained down in an overwhelming torrent.
His hatred for Si Chen ran bone-deep. It was not only because his disciples had been wiped out and his face utterly lost — it was because Si Chen had severed his path of cultivation!
This grudge could only end in death!
Si Chen's gaze sharpened, and his mind stirred.
Thunder Smite Flash!
His silhouette blurred in place, transforming into a jagged bolt of lightning that threaded through the gaps in Lü Yan's frenzied assault at the very last possible instant.
Boom!
The spot where he had stood a moment ago was caved in by Lü Yan's palm, leaving a massive crater in the earth.
The missed strike only enraged Lü Yan further. He swept a sword-qi slash in a backhand arc, shearing a half-collapsed wall cleanly flat.
But Si Chen's figure had already reappeared on the other side.
For a time, across the ruins of the Liuyun Sword Sect's guest manor, two figures engaged in a breathtaking chase.
One was deep blue — savage and wild, like a maddened tiger. Buildings crumbled and the ground cracked wherever it passed.
The other was pale blue-white — nimble and swift, like a crack of lightning, always slipping away from lethal blows at the very last moment.
Rumble!
Thunder, explosions, and the crash of collapsing structures rang out one after another.
The entire Wanggu City was shaken by the commotion.
Countless cultivators and mortals poked their heads out from homes and shops, or flew directly into the air, staring in shock at the area that had been reduced to rubble, watching the two figures locked in their deadly pursuit.
"That's Elder Lü of the Liuyun Sword Sect! Who is he fighting?"
"It's that young man in blue! Si Chen? He's still alive?!"
"My heavens… he's at the Foundation Establishment Stage, and he's managed to hold on this long against a Core Formation Stage cultivator?"
"That movement technique… what is it? It's so fast!"
Everyone was left speechless with disbelief.
Foundation Establishment and Core Formation were as different as cloud and mud. By all rights, this should have been a one-sided crushing that ended in an instant.
Yet the reality before their eyes was that Lü Yan's attacks, for all their ferocious power, had mostly struck empty air, doing nothing but demolishing buildings.
And the young man in blue, though he appeared to be in constant peril, had not actually taken any serious injury.
In truth, the moment Si Chen had knocked on the gates of the Liuyun Sword Sect's guest manor, every notable faction in Wanggu City had already received word.
At first, they had treated it as mere entertainment — what kind of waves could a Foundation Establishment brat stir up?
But who could have imagined that not only would the boy actually make his move, he would cleanly and decisively slaughter every last one of Zhao Qinghe's disciples!
That alone was enough to make jaws drop. And then, incredibly, he had gone and interrupted Lü Yan's Closed-Door Cultivation, forcing a Core Formation Elder into Qi Deviation!
By this point, even those Core Formation Stage powerhouses who had been sitting back comfortably could no longer remain still. They flew out from their respective residences one by one, hovering in the air and watching the battle with varied expressions.
"Tsk, tsk. Thirty thousand Spirit Stones spent on a Crimson Yang Fruit, and this is what it gets him?"
The female cultivator who had mocked Lü Yan at the auction now stood with her arms folded, watching with great amusement.
"This kid… he actually razed the Liuyun Sword Sect's base?" a middle-aged cultivator in fine robes muttered, clicking his tongue. He was the Clan Head of the Li Clan in the city.
"Razed it and more. Look at the state of Lü Yan — his Breakthrough clearly failed. He won't recover for thirty to fifty years. His path of cultivation… is essentially finished," an elderly man beside him said slowly.
"Just what is that boy's background, to push Lü Yan this far…"
They murmured among themselves, yet not one of them had any intention of intervening.
Lü Yan right now was a rabid dog that would bite anyone who came near. Whoever stepped in would only suffer for it. In a situation like this, there was no benefit to be gained, only the risk of getting dragged into the mess.
Keeping out of trouble was the wisest course. They were happy to watch the Liuyun Sword Sect eat dirt, but they had no desire to wade into these murky waters.
* * *
At the center of the battlefield, Si Chen's figure once again shot out from a cloud of exploding rubble and dust. Lü Yan roared, his five fingers curling into a claw, and he snatched at the air!
"Bind!"
The surrounding air suddenly warped, squeezing in from all directions to clamp down on Si Chen and lock him in place. This was the rudimentary control over the Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth that only a Core Formation Stage cultivator could exert.
Si Chen's movement stuttered slightly — for the first time, the speed of his Thunder Smite Flash was noticeably slowed.
"Let's see where you run now!"
A savage grin spread across Lü Yan's face. A lethal sword strike condensing every ounce of his hatred and cultivation power blazed like a blue meteor, cleaving straight down toward the now-restricted Si Chen!
There was no dodging this blow!
In that critical instant, Si Chen crossed his arms before him in a guard. The thunder force and the vitality of wood and grass that had been tempered deep within his flesh and blood ignited simultaneously, and a faint golden radiance and faint electric arcs flickered across his forearms.
Boom——!
The sleeves on his guarding arms were shredded to nothing, and he was sent flying once more, crashing heavily into a pile of broken walls.
On his forearms, two shallow wounds were exposed, raw and bleeding on the surface.
Yet Si Chen only furrowed his brow slightly.
A verdant green light flowed across the wounds, and the superficial lacerations were already healing at a remarkable speed.
"Ha ha ha ha ha!" Lü Yan, seeing this, assumed Si Chen was at the end of his rope and let out a gleeful, manic laugh.
"Boy! Is all you can do is run? Let's see how much longer you last!"
He pressed his advantage without mercy, his attacks growing ever denser and more ferocious. Sword-qi and palm shadows fell like a violent storm, blanketing every inch of space around Si Chen.
Si Chen unleashed the Thunder Smite Flash at full power once more, darting frantically within the confined space. The situation looked even more desperate than before.
He kept evading, but his mind was racing.
Lü Yan's attacks were relentless, but relying solely on the Thunder Smite Flash to dodge was far too passive.
He needed a means of attacking at range — something that could genuinely threaten his opponent.
Thunder…
Using lightning as wings, treading the arc of electricity to move… The technique formula of the Thunder Smite Flash flowed through his mind, but its core was the mastery of thunder.
Then why not hold that thunder in his hand?
Once the thought arose, it could not be suppressed.
He executed the Thunder Smite Flash once more to evade a fierce attack, and in the instant his form solidified, he loosely closed his right hand into a fist.
At first, only a faint tingling sensation spread through his palm.
Gradually, threads of bright white lightning burst from his fingertips, coiling around his arm with soft crackling sounds.
Lü Yan noticed the strange light gathering in Si Chen's hand, but his mind was so consumed by rage and bloodlust that he took it as a sign of Si Chen's Spiritual Energy failing and his technique losing control. His attacks only grew more ferocious.
"Dying throes!" he bellowed, and another sweeping sword-force came crashing down!
Si Chen's figure flickered through the ruins. Each time he reappeared, the lightning in his hand grew stronger.
From the initial wisps and threads, to coils wrapping his entire arm, and finally — a blinding radiance of thunder-light that illuminated half his body!
He was no longer merely using thunder to move. He had begun to constrain it, to compress it.
Above Wanggu City, the pale blue-white lightning grew ever more brilliant, ever more violent, as though a thousand birds were humming in unison!
Every soul in Wanggu City stared up at the sky in stunned silence.
They had seen cultivator battles before, but one that shook the entire city like this — that was something none of them had ever witnessed.
After dodging one final slash from Lü Yan, Si Chen's figure finally came to a stop. He looked down at his right hand, now completely swallowed by blinding thunder-light.
"Come, thunder."
He whispered the words in his heart.
Above Wanggu City, the clear sky suddenly darkened!
Countless infinitesimal, near-invisible traces of thunder-attribute energy within the Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth, as though summoned by a sovereign, surged madly toward the palm of Si Chen's loosely closed hand!
Crackle——!
Blinding white light erupted in his grip. A spear forged entirely from brilliant white thunder condensed into being — and he held it in his hand!
A Spear of Thunder!
In that moment, all of Wanggu City fell utterly silent.
Every person who had been watching with their heads raised — whether a minor Qi Refining Stage cultivator or one of the seasoned Core Formation Stage powerhouses hovering in the sky — was left completely dumbstruck, their faces etched with a shock unlike anything they had ever felt before.
"What… is that?" the Clan Head of the Li Clan murmured to himself, barely trusting his own eyes.
"Condensing thunder from thin air into a weapon… what — what kind of technique is this?" The elderly man beside him trembled, his beard quivering. He had lived for several hundred years and had never witnessed such a sight!
How could a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator wield such terrifying thunder force so effortlessly?
Even the female cultivator who had been joking earlier dropped all traces of amusement, her expression turning gravely serious.
And the young Qi Refining Stage cultivators watching below were utterly enraptured, their eyes filled with an indescribable reverence.
With a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivation, standing against a Core Formation Stage cultivator — and even summoning such divine might…
This… was the stuff of legends.