Qiang Liang stood frozen, his mind reeling; Ling Xiao actually commanded the Law of Thunder, and his mastery appeared no weaker than his own?
How was such a thing possible?
Could it be that this Golden Crow was also manifested from the very Pangu Essence Blood of the Father God?
The mere thought ignited a volatile mixture of shock and fury within Qiang Liang, a stinging sensation as if his most precious birthright had been stolen.
"You are unworthy of wielding the Law of Thunder!"
Qiang Liang's rage boiled over. With a primal, lung-bursting howl, he threw his head back and spat out a bolt of lightning that tore through the sky like the Milky Way hanging upside down, crashing with terminal velocity toward Ling Xiao.
Ling Xiao's gaze remained deep, his sword-like eyebrows sharp against his temples. He was the picture of unnatural calm, yet when he finally struck, the results were earth-shattering.
A vast, suffocating tide of Divine Thunder overflowed from his form, rapidly evolving into a multitude of complex offensive techniques.
Boom!
The great battle erupted without further warning.
The sheer atmospheric pressure shook the endless reaches of the sea. Upon the Three Immortals Island, every living being suddenly went still, their bodies seized by an instinctive trembling that reached into the very marrow of their bones.
Thunder is the instrument of Heavenly Punishment; there are few souls in existence who do not harbor a primal terror of its roar.
Endless arcs of lightning coiled around Ling Xiao's body, the static discharge shattering the surrounding Void Realm. Looking like a primordial God of Creation, he stood at the center of a boundless sea of thunder that draped over the entirety of the Three Immortals Island, stretching into infinity.
He lashed out with a great hand, the force of the strike collapsing a segment of the Void. Qiang Liang roared in a mad frenzy, lightning erupting from every pore of his skin to meet the blow. Yet, Ling Xiao's strike nearly sheared the Ancestral Witch in two, leaving the jagged scars of advanced thunder techniques etched across his massive frame.
Qiang Liang was incensed and deeply incredulous. In the very domain where he was supposed to be supreme, he could not wrest a single advantage; he was being systematically dismantled.
He let out a world-shaking roar, his voice thick with frustration. "Ling Xiao! In the path of the elements, we are evenly matched. Why do we not test the true strength of our Physical Bodies instead?"
The Ancestral Witch's skin began to shimmer with a metallic luster, looking as though it had been forged from the very Chaos Divine Gold. His blood qi surged, sounding like the roar of a vast, incoming ocean.
"As you wish," Ling Xiao said, a thin smile playing on his lips as he spread his hands. Possessing the Law of Strength and having refined Pangu Essence Blood himself, the resilience of his physical form was in no way inferior to that of an Ancestral Witch.
He stepped forward, the weight of his footfall crushing the Void, and appeared instantly before Qiang Liang. He threw a punch, the raw power humming within his flesh sounding like a choir of storms; every single cell in his body felt as dense and potent as an individual world.
One could only imagine the sheer magnitude of the strength coiled within Ling Xiao's frame.
"Good timing!" Qiang Liang laughed wildly, swinging his own massive fist to meet the strike head-on, refusing to yield an inch.
Boom...
The island jolted violently. The Small Worlds drifting in the periphery were pulverized into dust. The sea itself defied gravity, flowing backward toward the heavens. Qiang Liang's expression shifted into one of pure horror; he felt his entire arm go numb as a sickening shockwave traveled through his skeleton, sending his mountain-like body flying backward.
Every strand of Ling Xiao's hair danced in the wind, glowing with a brilliant, celestial light. With every movement, he seemed to vibrate in perfect harmony with the Great Dao itself.
He followed the flying Witch closely, delivering a relentless, violent beating. Qiang Liang's entire nervous system went dead under the assault, his peerless Physical Body pushed to the brink of being torn asunder.
Buzz—boom!
With one final, crushing punch, Qiang Liang was launched into the sky. He crossed the vast distance from Penglai Immortal Island to Yingzhou, smashing through several drifting Small Worlds like a cannonball.
At that moment, the other Ancestral Witches on Yingzhou were locked in combat with the Yao Race elites. Seeing Qiang Liang's massive form hurtling toward them, they were struck by a sudden, pleasant surprise.
"Qiang Liang! You've arrived at the perfect time! Quick, let us strike together and slaughter these beasts!" Gonggong shouted, his voice bright with relief.
In his battle-lust, he didn't even stop to wonder how Qiang Liang had arrived via high-speed aerial trajectory.
"I... I'm coming." Qiang Liang struggled to haul himself out of the smoking ruins. A deep, recessed fist print was sunken into his chest. Had it not been for the legendary durability of his Ancestral Witch physique, that single strike would have reduced him to a red mist.
He tried desperately to maintain an air of indifference, not daring to look back toward the island he had just fled. Casting a single, fearful glance toward Penglai, he threw himself into the melee against the Yao Race just to stay occupied.
Across the battlefield, Yao experts like Nuwa and Bai Ze glanced toward Penglai with suspicious, narrowed eyes.
They could sense the truth: Qiang Liang hadn't "arrived"; he had been discarded there by Ling Xiao.
But the Witches gave them no time for contemplation. Gonggong, Xi Zi, and the battered Qiang Liang launched a coordinated assault.
In another sector of Yingzhou Immortal Island, Taiyi and Yuanshi stood at a standoff.
Taiyi's intent was razor-sharp. He hadn't even bothered to gather the treasures scattered around him, heading straight for the prideful Yuanshi.
"Golden Crow, you are truly begging for an early grave. I did not even seek you out, yet you crawl to my very doorstep!"
Yuanshi's voice was a cold blade. With a flick of his intent, he summoned the Pangu Banner. Instantly, the grey, suffocating Qi of Chaos permeated the atmosphere, and an aura of absolute destruction descended upon the island.
The Pangu Banner held the power to shred the Grandmist and Chaos, the strength to shatter the space-time of the heavens, and the function of governing all Profound Truths of the Laws.
Though Yuanshi had not yet fully mastered the artifact's true depths, its current power was still a force that could not be underestimated.
With the Chaos Bell hovering above his head, Taiyi stood wrapped in an Innate invincible defense.
"Yuanshi, I am not here to fight. I am here to attend your funeral."
At those words, the Chaos Bell tolled once. The sound vibrated through the foundations of the universe, unmaking the surrounding space-time.
"You seek death!"
Yuanshi's face turned into a mask of ice. He gave the Pangu Banner a sharp shake, pressing its destructive weight toward Taiyi.
"Today, I shall finally learn which is more formidable: your Pangu Banner or my Chaos Bell!"
Taiyi's entire form erupted with a blinding golden radiance, the Solar True Fire dancing around him like a protective shroud. He stepped forward, the very order of the Laws intertwining around him to suppress Yuanshi's momentum.
The sound of the bell was vast and mournful; the world seemed to lose all color in its wake.
The sheer might of the collision between the Chaos Bell and the Pangu Banner began to suppress the heavens, the earth, and the endless reaches of the sea.
The experts scattered across Penglai and Fangzhang looked toward the clash in sheer horror. Chaos Qi billowed from the epicenter as if a new world were being birthed and destroyed simultaneously. Taiyi and Yuanshi were locked in a fierce, inseparable struggle of cosmic proportions.
Elsewhere on Penglai Immortal Island, Laozi looked toward the horizon where the thunder of battle echoed. He thought to himself:
My second brother's magic power is second only to my own, and the Pangu Banner is renowned as the ultimate offensive weapon. It is impossible for Taiyi to be his match.
Having satisfied himself with this logic, he returned to his unhurried collection of Heaven and Earth Treasures. To him, these Immortal Plants and Spirit Medicines were the true prize—ingredients that could be refined into Great Pills of infinite utility.
"Eh? That is... the Golden Crow, Ling Xiao."
As Laozi gathered a rare herb, his Divine Thought caught a figure wandering the island with a similar, leisurely pace, walking directly toward his position.
In that moment, Ling Xiao seemed to sense the observation. He looked straight back, his gaze unnervingly bright. Even across the vast distance, Laozi could feel the sharp, cutting edge of the younger man's presence.
"So many long years have passed. I wonder... have you fallen behind?"
Laozi murmured to himself. Back at Mount Buzhou, Ling Xiao had achieved the impossible by defeating the Two Sages of the West. But since then, he had vanished from the world's stage.
He had not attended a single one of the Three Sermons. In Laozi's mind, his cultivation must have stagnated significantly. Ling Xiao gazed at Laozi, sensing a faint, rising Battle Intent radiating from the elder.
He began to move toward Laozi, but paused, his attention drawn to another direction. A cataclysmic battle had just erupted on Fangzhang Immortal Island.
Dijun and Tongtian had engaged!
On Fangzhang, Dijun held the River Chart and Luo Scroll firmly, his feet planted upon the Twelve-Grade Pure World White Lotus. He had pushed his defensive layers to their absolute limit.
Tongtian stood opposite him, clutching a single Immortal Slaying Sword. The sword-light was peerlessly sharp, possessing a cold intent that looked ready to slice through the fabric of reality itself.
"I shall use only this one Immortal Slaying Sword. I would not want it said that I bullied you," Tongtian said, his face stern and as unyielding as the steel in his hand.
The Three Pure Ones are one. Since they had vowed to settle the score with the Three Crows, he had no choice but to act.
"Just strike. Do your best. Otherwise, my victory would feel hollow," Dijun replied solemnly.
To be honest, as the eldest of the Three Crows, he felt he should have been the one to face Laozi. To be matched against the youngest of the Three Pure Ones already felt like a slight against his status.
And now, Tongtian had the audacity to claim he would go easy on him.
Did the Emperor of the Sun not have Face to maintain?
"In this battle, I shall vindicate my name. I, Dijun, am not the weakest of the Three Crows!"