Chapter 469 — The Crafty Old Ghost

In the brief instant the eight thousand flying swords stabbed into the Five Thunder Pot, heaven and earth abruptly fell into a profound stillness; not a sound could be heard—even the swords striking the pot made no noise at all. Then the space above the Five Thunder Pot exploded, tearing open a scar of thunder.

The black trace of lightning spread upward, blasting open a deeper space, surging toward the heavens.

The Palace Lord of the True Heaven Palace stood before the palace gate and saw that black lightning writhe like a dragon baring its claws; then, before her watching eyes, the black thunder split apart, and a radiance of incomparable brilliance shot up into the sky like a swarm of dragons.

In that single instant, the black thunder divided into ten thousand strands, like ten thousand dragons charging into the high sky; yet in the next instant, those ten thousand dragons split into ten thousand times ten thousand. A cloud of incomparable brilliance, woven of thunder, hung high before the True Heaven Palace; the Five Thunder Pot floated in the air, and more and more thunder kept bursting upward, pouring into the thundercloud.

And behind the thundercloud, Fu Yunxi led tens of thousands of women of the Fu family in the exercise of their divine powers, stirring the thundercloud and driving it toward the True Heaven Palace! Her expression changed drastically, and she hastily reached out to seize the Black Tortoise Pearl that the Yu family elder was channeling.

Before her hand could close on the Black Tortoise Pearl, that dreadful thundercloud had already arrived before the True Heaven Palace. Wherever it passed, the phenomena conjured by the White Tiger Pearl, the Vermilion Bird Pearl, and the Black Tortoise Pearl all crumbled to nothing: the sea evaporated, the sea of fire was extinguished, the mountain of gold collapsed.

Boom!

The first bolt of thunder fell, striking straight at the True Heaven Palace with a thunderous roar, smashing into a divine statue.

The fall of that single bolt was like a spark dropping into a cauldron of boiling oil, igniting it in an instant; or like the first raindrop before a torrential downpour—hard on its heels came a billion bolts of thunder rending the sky and pouring down, drowning the whole of the True Heaven Palace! "Black Tortoise Divine Shield—" The Palace Lord of the True Heaven Palace cried out fiercely, desperately channeling the Black Tortoise Pearl; the enormous Black Tortoise Divine Shield hummed and swelled, becoming a vast tortoise-shell shield spread before the whole breadth of the True Heaven Palace.

Boom— Countless bolts of thunder exploded, hacking at the Black Tortoise Divine Shield; the shield was compressed and shrank without cease, and the Palace Lord spat blood, holding on with all her might.

The Black Tortoise Divine Shield could no longer protect all the disciples of the True Heaven Palace; a boundless ocean of thunderstorm poured in around the shield's edges, and countless women of the True Heaven Palace were annihilated to ash within it!

Even the eight divine statues whose aura rivaled the gods could not withstand the thunderstorm; one after another they charged at the thundercloud, and beneath its bombardment their limbs melted away, streaming down as molten gold and bronze! Xiong Qi'er watched the True Heaven Palace from afar; it had become a vast ocean of thunder, countless bolts erupting at once, blindingly white. Previously she had been channeling the Azure Mystic Water Dragon Pearl to hold off the other three great spirit treasures; now that the might of those three had been destroyed by the thundercloud, the pressure on her eased greatly, and she could catch her breath.

"Qi'er, the Azure Dragon belongs to thunder.

" Xiong Xiyu suddenly appeared behind her and said softly, "Let us mother and daughter use the Azure Mystic Water Dragon Pearl to send our enemies to their graves. " "Mother!

" Xiong Qi'er was startled and delighted.

Xiong Xiyu smiled, reached out and covered her small hand with her own, and together they laid them upon the Azure Mystic Water Dragon Pearl.

"The blood debt of the Xiong family must be repaid in blood! " she whispered.

Boundless azure light surged from the Azure Mystic Water Dragon Pearl and became an Azure Dragon that charged at the thundercloud; at once the fury of the thunder swelled. Seeing this, the Palace Lord of the True Heaven Palace despaired in her heart: "The Yu family.

.

. it is finished.

.

.

" The Black Tortoise Divine Shield burst apart, and the boundless thunderstorm drowned her and the Yu family disciples behind her.

At that very moment, a flash of sword light pierced through the boundless thunderstorm; Bagou broke through the thunder, his sword aimed straight at Xiong Xiyu and her daughter. The sword light was like a bolt of white silk, invincible, cleaving even the thunderstorm!

His swordsmanship and sword dao were so transcendent that even charging out from the thunderstorm he was not wounded in the slightest.

The sword light was swift beyond measure, as though flown in from beyond the heavens; where it shook, countless bolts of thunder were ground to powder, and even the blinding thunder could not conceal the radiance bursting from that single sword!

Just as the sword was about to reach Xiong Xiyu and her daughter, another sword light came from nowhere and, with a clang, blocked it.

"Imperial Preceptor Jingping? " Bagou smiled.

"I knew long ago that you had come to the Western Lands; it is only that by nature you are a sneaking wretch who always hides in the shadows.

But you never found a chance to strike at me, did you? This time, I have forced you out.

" Imperial Preceptor Jingping strode forward, treading the air as though on level ground.

This middle-aged man's face was as placid as an ancient well; in a green robe, with a single sword, his left hand clasped behind his back, fingers forming the sword seal, he held his blade to intercept.

Bagou wore white, likewise one hand behind his back, fingers forming the sword seal. The two figures wove up and down through the thunderstorm; though the thunder roared loud enough to shake heaven and earth, it could not drown out the sound of their swords clashing—clang, clang, clang—like pearls falling on a jade plate, ringing without cease.

Beneath the Five Thunder Pot, Shen Mu was drawn up by the violent power of the lightning; the force pulled him and the Dragon Qilin toward the thunder. Even a creature as fat as the Dragon Qilin now seemed to weigh no more than a sheet of paper, sucked in by the dreadful current, its four limbs flailing helplessly at nothing.

Shen Mu too felt himself become impossibly light; every hair on his head stood on end, bristling straight in all directions, and among the strands lightning crisscrossed, wandering, darting wildly, crackling and snapping back and forth!

He even felt that every fine hair on his body was filled with tiny thunderbolts, dreadful power hammering at his flesh. It was as though he had been pierced all over by the White Immortal's silver needles; there was no part of him that did not ache with agony.

Shen Mu strained to channel the Nine Heavens Far-Sight Art; his pupils too were filled with the light of lightning, crackling and buzzing. With difficulty he could make out the Dragon Qilin: every bristle of its mane stood erect, even its dragon scales lifted, and between scale and scale lightning flashed and thunder rolled, striking back and forth, making the scales clang, the lightning bouncing to and fro. Shen Mu took out the True Dragon Nest; the weight of the nest pressed down and wrung a stifled groan from him, but at last it suppressed the lightning's pull.

His body fell from the air and landed on the Dragon Qilin, pressing it downward. Both hands clutching the Dragon Nest, using its weight to break free of the pull into the thunder, he raised his head and looked at the sky.