Wielding the Thunders Across Two Worlds

"SCREEECH—"

The short man let out a long cry. With a flourish of his long staff, the entire weapon erupted with a WHOOSH, bursting into a layer of purple flames. He then brought the staff up to meet the heavily made-up woman’s nails.

At the same time, the tall woman brandished the Vajra Pestle in her hand. The air roiled violently, and water vapor suddenly condensed around her. Then, wave after wave of this turbulence, carrying the vapor with it, surged toward that Heihe River of vengeful souls.

"BOOM!"

The massive explosion was followed by a series of sharp cracks.

The short man and the heavily made-up woman exchanged dozens of blows in an instant. The purple flames had already reached the woman’s nails, but with the Yin Qi swirling around her, she easily extinguished the fire.

The next moment, streaks of blood-red light shot from her nails, leaving behind crimson threads in the air. As she dodged and weaved, the threads didn’t dissipate. Instead, they followed her movements, growing more numerous and dense.

In just a few breaths, the crimson threads were on the verge of forming a blood-red cage to trap the short man.

"SCREE SCREE SCREE—"

The short man swung his long staff frantically. Though his purple flames were potent and could singe the crimson threads, they regenerated faster than he could burn them.

The short man couldn’t resist the urge to leap into the sky, but the heavily made-up woman flew up to block him. "A mere five or six hundred years of Dao Practice, and you’ve only just learned to fly. If you can last a single stick of incense against me, I’ll leave you with an intact corpse!"

The tall woman’s eyes widened in anger, and she rushed to help. But she was caught off guard as the Heihe River, refined by the man in black, swept across to block her path, separating her from the short man.

At the same time, the Heihe River twisted and turned, flowing in meandering patterns through the air. It quickly encircled the tall woman as well. Within the river, the wails and shrieks of infant Fierce Ghosts pierced her ears, shaking her Divine Soul and causing the water vapor she had gathered with her Magical Power to become unstable.

Then the Heihe River coiled into loop after loop, growing more numerous and tighter. Streams of Black Water siphoned off the woman’s condensed vapor, assimilated it, and closed in on her.

"Give me back my son’s life!" the man in black snarled, his voice savage. "My son didn’t die at the hands of those Daluo Palace madmen who prattle on about enforcing justice for heaven all day, yet he died by the hands of you two beasts! It’s just...!"

"Who did you just call a madman?" a wizened voice suddenly asked.

"Hm?" The man in black whipped his head around to see an old man with a white beard and hair, dressed in a simple blue robe, standing on a mountaintop to his front left.

The man in black’s pupils shrank. The person before him was one of the masters who had slain a Great Demon from Lianshan Prefecture yesterday—a demon who had been his own peer.

A few days ago, he and his wife, along with another notoriously evil Great Demon, had traveled through the deep, old forests of the An Tai Mountain Range that connected to Wuya Ridge. They were heading for Bai Shi Prefecture, where Daluo Palace was located, planning to kill people and reap their souls, and then slaughter a few Daluo Palace disciples to vent their anger.

But before long, Daluo Palace had actually dispatched four of their top masters. They launched a surprise attack when he and his wife were separated from the other Great Demon. In a four-on-one fight, they had easily annihilated the demon, scattering its soul to the winds.

He and his wife had been utterly terrified and didn’t dare to linger, because two of those four masters were old residents of Wuya Ridge.

So they had hastily returned to the An Tai Mountain Range.

But before they could decide whether to head west to Shanzhou, or to leave the Central Plains Dynasty entirely for the Western Divine Country or the Southern Border Mountains, they discovered that their disciples and their only son had been wiped out by two Monkey Demons.

Seeing this man again now, the fury over the deaths of his disciples and only son instantly vanished, replaced by pure terror in the man in black’s heart.

The next moment, the heavily made-up woman reacted even faster than he did. With a strange shriek, she shot back and landed beside him.

Then they saw the three other people in the remaining directions.

Another old man, also in a simple blue robe, with eyes as deep as the starry sky, stood to their rear left. He held a Wooden Sword, but purple lightning crackled on its blade, emanating an aura of destruction.

A seductive woman in fiery red stood to their front right, a bewitching smile on her face as she watched them.

A cool and aloof woman in white was Riding the Wind, occupying the final position. Wisps of cloud swirled around her, obscuring the entire sky.

The short man and the tall woman, who had just managed to breathe a sigh of relief, saw the four great masters appear and couldn’t help but move closer together, protectively shielding the last little monkey behind them.

"Fear not, fear not. You bear no Evil Qi, so you are friends of Daluo Palace," Taoist Yan Song said with a chuckle.

The moment Taoist Yan Song finished speaking, the villainous pair, without a word, clasped hands. Their auras merged, and they combined into a black Escape Light, shooting toward Miaoyun Princess, who was blocking the path to the West.

The Heihe River surged forth once again, accompanied by the wails and cries of countless infants, as it rolled toward Miaoyun Princess.

The heavily made-up woman vanished into the Heihe River. Blood-red light shot from her ten fingers: two streaks aimed for Miaoyun’s eyes, five gouged for her heart, and three wrapped around her legs.

"SCREEE—"

With a clear cry, Miaoyun Princess, instead of retreating, advanced. The clouds around her condensed without scattering, forming a massive, sky-covering hand that slapped down toward the Heihe River and the woman within it.

This Magic was not one of Miaoyun Princess’s Divine Techniques, but an enlightenment she achieved after beginning her cultivation. It fused the Yimu Xunfeng and the Kan Water Spirit within her Body. As water nourishes wood, it transformed into a boundless sea of clouds that could take on any form.

She had condensed it into a sky-covering hand simply because Miaoyun Princess found it the most practical, as it perfectly mirrored her own hand gestures.

Her slender, jade-like hand slapped downward, and the giant, sky-covering hand mirrored the motion, striking down as well. It instantly dispersed the Heihe River. However, the heavily made-up woman was in Harmony with the man, their Magical Power as one, so she was not forced out by the blow.

But Miaoyun Princess hadn’t come alone.

The moment she intercepted the pair, Ye Ruyan, Taoist Yan Song, and Taoist Ming Yu also made their move.

Ye Ruyan didn’t approach. She simply exhaled gently, and a dense yet scorching mist sprayed from her mouth. It floated, light as air, toward the remnants of the Heihe River and delicately clung to them.

The next moment, the heat within the mist intensified, burning the Heihe River with a SIZZLING sound. It not only scorched away most of the river, but the infant Fierce Ghosts within also shrieked in agony. They tried to flee toward the center of the river, but even more tried to retreat back into the body of the man in black.

But Taoist Ming Yu’s Thunder Technique severed their last hope of survival.

A five-colored, violet-gold beam of light descended from the sky and struck directly into the middle of the Heihe River. It actually severed the connection between the river and the man in black. The Thunder Power then transformed into a sea of crackling purple lightning, completely engulfing the Heihe River.

The man in black endured the pain and abandoned the Heihe River, hoping to use the opportunity to escape. But before he could move, paper figures suddenly began to drift down around him.

In an instant, the paper figures released a blinding golden light. By the time he could open his eyes again, twenty-four Celestial Warriors, clad in golden armor and shrouded in golden light, were standing in a circle around them, each holding a weapon.

Taoist Yan Song strolled over, patting his gourd. A longsword suddenly appeared in his hand. He then gave his shoulders a slight shake, and a yellow theatrical mask appeared on his face.

"Blessed Infinite Celestial Venerable. Today, this old Taoist will collect a debt on behalf of all the living beings you have harmed."