Chapter 1144: The Lure of Lightning |
In an endless void…
Qin Sang did not know where this place was. Thunderclouds blanketed the sky, stretching without end.
At the farthest edge of his vision, there was only a boundless glow spanning ten thousand zhang. Lightning roared like an ocean. Other than that, nothing could be seen.
The Azure Luan spread its wings, each spanning ten thousand zhang, comparable to a mountain. Such a colossal being was simply unimaginable, something that had existed only in legend.
And now, Qin Sang truly beheld the divine beast Azure Luan.
Faced with the overwhelming might of heaven and earth and the Azure Luan, even though it was only an illusion, Qin Sang’s mind buzzed incessantly and the world seemed to spin around him.
Standing here, he felt incomparably insignificant. Any random thundercloud contained enough lightning power to reduce him to ashes.
This was the Lightning Marsh of heaven and earth, a dead zone for living beings! Even a Transformation great demon or a Spiritual Infant grandmaster would struggle to take a single step here.
Yet the Azure Luan showed no fear. It wandered freely among the thunderclouds, weaving through them at will. Endless bolts of lightning struck its body in succession, yet not even a single feather was shaken.
What realm is the Azure Luan at? Is it a legendary heavenly demon? Qin Sang felt a chill.
The Azure Luan regarded heavenly lightning as nothing. It seemed not even to have used true essence, yet the lightning could not harm it in the slightest. Its cries even carried a hint of pleasure.
Such power was terrifying beyond imagination.
No. It is absorbing the power of the thunderclouds! Qin Sang suddenly realized.
At last, Qin Sang discerned a clue. The Azure Luan was not resisting the lightning at all. No wonder the thunderclouds could not injure it. The lightning bolts were being drawn in by it voluntarily.
Whether confronting thunderclouds or absorbing them, either feat was beyond the comprehension of ordinary beings.
It is a Lightning Luan! Qin Sang’s thoughts raced. He surmised that the Azure Luan wandering through the thunderclouds in this illusion was likely the true body of the phantom sealed within the mysterious slab.
Senior Sister Qingjun had only glimpsed it briefly and had not seen its full form. When carving the Azure Luan puppet, she had relied on her own imagination and granted it the ability to command fire.
The scene in the void remained unchanged.
Wrapped in lightning at every moment, Qin Sang could not discern its expression. The Azure Luan seemed to be traveling somewhere. It stared fixedly ahead, flying in a single direction and passing through one expanse of thundercloud after another.
The ten-thousand-zhang radiance still lay far in the distance. The endless thunderclouds seemed to have no boundary.
After the initial shock faded, Qin Sang regained his composure and tried to break free from the illusion.
Such a terrifying Azure Luan. No wonder it could leave behind a phantom that endured until the present age. Was only a phantom sealed in the slab? What exactly entered my body? He worried about his physical body.
Yet the moment that thought arose, Qin Sang suddenly felt a tearing agony that yanked him out of the illusion.
"Ah!" A shrill scream burst from his throat.
He had never experienced such pain before. Even when he had broken through with Star Essence Infusion and endured that excruciating torment, it could not compare to this. Every inch of his body throbbed.
His flesh, meridians, bone marrow, and Qihai were invaded by a foreign force. It felt as if something were ripping his entire body apart, searching for something it could not find.
Qin Sang felt as if he would be torn into countless fragments. Even now, he did not understand why this was happening.
But recalling the Azure Luan phantom, his visualization of a heavenly demon, and his cultivation of Heavenly Demon Body Refinement, combined with the Azure Luan aura lingering on him, he could vaguely guess the cause.
The force was extremely violent and carried the aura of lightning, identical to the Azure Luan in the illusion.
Qingjun had first come into contact with the slab, and it had later fallen into the hands of Demon King Qianji.
Qingjun was human, and Demon King Qianji was a snake demon who had transformed. Neither possessed the Azure Luan bloodline.
In their hands, the mysterious slab had behaved normally. Even when stimulated with true essence, it had merely revealed the Azure Luan phantom. Yet the moment Qin Sang touched it, the Azure Luan phantom reacted and its power invaded his body.
This was definitely no coincidence! Waves of agony crashed over him. Qin Sang knew that if this continued, his fate would not be good!
Heavenly Demon Body Refinement! A flash of insight struck his mind.
The one who tied the knot must untie it. Whether it would work or not, this was the only lifeline he could grasp.
Enduring the boundless pain, Qin Sang forcibly steadied his mind and activated the art.
In that instant, the Azure Luan’s power seemed to find two outlets and surged wildly toward the phoenix wings behind him.
Those wings were formed by the Heavenly Demon Transformation supernatural ability. They were not physical, only appearing solid because they were condensed to an extreme. The moment the power poured in, the wings radiated dazzling light, making it impossible to distinguish reality from illusion.
Crack! Suddenly, fissures appeared across the wings.
The illusory wings could not withstand this force and were on the verge of collapse.
Qin Sang barely had time to breathe before he inwardly cursed and frantically circulated the art, trying to recondense the wings.
At the same time, he made another discovery.
After undergoing Star Essence Infusion, his physical body had reached its limit. He had been only a step away from breaking through to the fourth stage. Now, as he circulated the art, faint signs of breakthrough began to appear.
But time was not on his side. The Azure Luan’s power was far too violent and overwhelming.
Before he could comprehend the Heavenly Demon Dharma Lakshana described in the art, he would be unable to endure this terrifying impact.
Crack, crack… More fissures spread.
The phoenix wings twisted and distorted. They were about to shatter. To make matters worse, Qin Sang’s injuries grew increasingly severe.
Am I going to die here? The thought flashed through his mind, but he immediately suppressed it and poured all his strength into breaking through!
He would never relinquish his desire to survive!
Qin Sang suddenly noticed a faint suction force in his Qihai. It had appeared at some unknown time and was drawing in the Azure Luan’s power.
The Sky-Eyed Butterfly! To his surprise and delight, the one absorbing the Azure Luan’s power was his life-bound insect gu, the Sky-Eyed Butterfly.
The divine beast Azure Luan and the spiritual insect Sky-Eyed Butterfly were entirely unrelated beings. Why could the Sky-Eyed Butterfly absorb it?
"Lightning! That’s it! The lightning-controlling supernatural ability. It’s the lightning-controlling supernatural ability!" Qin Sang instantly understood.
This was the power of a Lightning Luan.
After undergoing one mutation, the Sky-Eyed Butterfly had also gained a lightning-controlling supernatural ability. It had seemed useless all this time, yet now it played a critical role and became the catalyst.
It, too, could endure the Lightning Luan’s power, sharing its master’s suffering while gaining benefits itself!
After absorbing it, will it undergo metamorphosis or mutate again? The thought flashed through Qin Sang’s mind.
The suction force grew stronger. The Sky-Eyed Butterfly absorbed more and more of the Azure Luan’s power. Qin Sang’s pain eased slightly, and the phoenix wings stabilized for the moment, finally granting him a brief respite.
He fully activated Heavenly Demon Body Refinement and sought to break through.
Suddenly, he heard the falcon demon shouting in fury beside him. "Are you out of your mind? Run already! Are you trying to get yourself killed? I haven’t lived long enough yet!"
Startled, Qin Sang’s mind withdrew and returned to reality.
The entire treasure vault had fallen into chaos. The phenomenon caused by the Azure Luan phantom had already burst beyond the vault!