*Rumble!*
Purple thunder erupted violently. Helian Changguang had never imagined that his wife, instead of steering far clear of the unfolding clash, would dare move forward to harass their foe. Terrified, he braced against the two arcs of thunder and rapidly formed hand seals.
"[Dew-Receiving Blood Silver Marvelous Art]!"
The scarlet hues clinging to Li Qinghong's protective thunder exploded with a roar, blasting the lightning into scattered fragments. Li Qinghong let out a muffled grunt, yet without the slightest hesitation, her spear drove forward without stopping.
*Pfft!*
The protective spell light shielding Liu Qiao shattered like an eggshell. Only the black radiance rising from her talisman—being of somewhat higher quality—dented inward under the blow, barely holding together to shield her.
Yet how could a spear strike that Li Qinghong had channeled for so long be deflected so easily? Five arcs of lightning burst from the spear shaft, flashing brilliantly in the midair and casting a pale pallor over the faces of all three cultivators. Then came a thunderous detonation:
*Boom!*
A flash of brilliant white sparks flickered past as the five thunders struck Liu Qiao squarely in the face. Demonic cultivators naturally feared thunder—how could she endure such a direct hit? In an instant, her head burst open like a watermelon, and under the refinement of the thunderous radiance, it was incinerated into rising black smoke, vanishing without a trace.
"Qiao'er!"
As black smoke billowed upward, Helian Changguang's eyes nearly tore from their sockets. Yet he did not attempt to save his wife; instead, red light flared across his twin sabers as he savagely drove them straight into the snowy white robes at Li Qinghong's back.
Though overcome by grief and agony, he had not lost his head. That earlier strike was no trivial matter to endure—by insisting on slaying Liu Qiao and taking his blades, Li Qinghong had practically wagered her own life.
Fresh blood trickled slowly from the corner of her lips, and the back of her robes was already dyed a crimson swath. Her black hair billowed as the wind blew past, a few strands at her brow still stained with blood.
At the same time, the headless body of Liu Qiao reached out, fished a ball of flesh from her storage bag, and pressed it with two fair, tender hands toward her severed neck.
Demonic cultivators differed from immortal cultivators; their vitality was far more tenacious. Having her head reduced to ashes was merely a light injury. However, the two hands upon her torso trembled slightly, clearly seized by terror.
Though she could neither see nor hear, her spiritual sense could still clearly discern that the Li Qinghong before her was calm to the utmost, showing no intention of retreating; instead, she gently parted her red lips and once more spat out a streak of white light.
Her hands suddenly froze. Explosive white thunder flared into being, shaking the earth and rolling boulders, and a purple rain of thunder emerged once more. In that moment, Liu Qiao was entirely defenseless, barely three feet from the blinding radiance, and was instantly engulfed.
*Rumble!*
Li Qinghong's dark, ash-tinted almond eyes gazed quietly toward Helian Changguang. Behind her, the black smoke cleared, leaving only a brocade robe drifting downward like a broken-winged bird, plunging headlong into the forest below.
Liu Qiao was utterly extinguished.
Li Qinghong withdrew her spear and turned, looking coldly at him. The spear pointed at an angle; her white robe was now tinged with purple, fluttering gently in the wind.
Helian Changguang remained silent, though his trembling lips betrayed the extreme fury raging in his heart. Medicinal pills embedded beneath his flesh dissolved instantaneously. With a roar like a tiger, his twin sabers whipped out two afterimages in the air, while billows of black smoke rolled across the ground, sweeping toward her.
Purple lightning crept upward from Li Qinghong's neck, etching fine patterns across her cheeks. The blood clinging to her hair was drawn by the lightning's magnetic forces, condensing into tiny beads of blood that hovered suspended in reverse. When she thrust her spear again, its might was entirely different from before.
With a lift of her spear, Li Qinghong unleashed two arcs of thunder that transformed into the shapes of birds, lunging forward fiercely. Almost simultaneously, five bolts of thunder leapt anew from the spear shaft, detonating in brilliant white sparks.
The concentrated thunder swept across, blinding the cultivators below for a moment. In the sky above the formation, the deafening roar of thunder gave way to a ringing silence. Helian Changguang stared in disbelief, stunned for an instant:
"What a thunder cultivator... *Pfft!*"
Taking the brunt of this spear strike, Helian Changguang nearly spat a mouthful of blood. He felt thunder surging through his internal organs, and the two sabers nearly slipped from his grip. He cried out in shock:
"What?!"
The terrifying thunder before him extinguished any remaining will to resist, forcing him to swallow his hatred. Another spear strike caught him, tearing through his abdomen like soft tofu and leaving behind a hole. Thunder coursed through the wound, spreading uncontrollably. Helian Changguang cried in horror:
"You!"
He found it impossible to comprehend. The purple-clad thunder cultivator before him was clearly wounded, yet it was as if she had unlocked some hidden treasury of power—her might had surged by a full seventy percent! This oncoming spear strike suffocated him; his legs went numb, and he trembled in terror.
Incredulous fury, profound regret, and deep dread surfaced in Helian Changguang's eyes. His originally cold, stern voice turned shrill as he wailed in grief:
"Ah—bitch!"
His right eye burst into pieces. His body transformed into a streak of bloody light, as though activating some long-prepared secret art, soaring upward at blinding speed.
Li Qinghong was no slower. Violent lightning flared beneath her feet, and she rode the thunder aloft in step with him. One red, one purple, trailing two streaks of tailfire through the sky as one fled and the other pursued. Her spear commanded the five thunders, relentlessly battering the bloody light and raising plumes of black smoke.
She pursued him ten li. The bloody light of Helian Changguang grew ever dimmer and smaller, but the demonic qi around them grew increasingly thick. Finally, the purple-clad thunder cultivator halted. Casting a cold backward glance toward him, she transformed into a purple streak and vanished toward the south.
Helian Changguang flew several more li before finally reverting to his true form. Nothing remained of him but a bare skull attached to a long spine, dripping with gory blood. He had long since discarded his hair, eyebrows, nose, and mouth, leaving only a pitch-black cavity on his face.
Not daring to return immediately, Helian Changguang pulled a corpse he had prepared long ago from his storage bag. He twisted off its head, pulled out its spine, inserted his own, and carved out facial features to graft onto himself to save time.
Only after patching his body together did he let out a sigh of relief. Faint traces of thunder still flickered across the surface of his body. Terrified and resentful, Helian Changguang fled forward in panic, thinking:
*I cannot delay any longer!*
Demonic cultivators were exceedingly sharp. With one of the two Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators dead and the other fleeing, the mob of demonic cultivators who had still been faithfully assailing the pass scattered in an instant. The defending cultivators breathed sighs of relief and exchanged glances, left with nothing but awe.
Though the Qi Refinement cultivators lacked vast experience, they had witnessed Foundation Establishment battles along their journey. Each was stunned out of their wits. Fei Tongyu murmured:
"Was the thunder in the sky just now Fairy Li?"
Back then, Li Qinghong had been a young girl whose cultivation was inferior to his own. The shock Fei Tongyu felt could well be imagined, leaving him in stunned silence.
While the crowd rejoiced and praised her endlessly, only Li Minggong felt a faint undercurrent of worry:
*If she pursues all the way into the demonic clouds, she might fall into an ambush...*
She craned her neck to watch. After only a few dozen breaths, a purple light finally streaked before the formation, resolving into a purple-clad female cultivator. Upon the tip of her silver spear hung a brocade robe. Beneath her shapely brows, her almond eyes were misted in purple, and faint traces of thunder still lingered upon her cheeks.
The thunder on Li Qinghong's body slowly receded. Her purple robes gradually reverted to white, revealing specks of blood, and her eyes returned to their handsome, clear black-and-white gaze. Her voice was crisp and clear:
"Minggong, come inside with me. Close the gate..."
Li Qinghong stood quietly, her hair draped loosely. The cultivators bowed hurriedly, thoroughly subdued and convinced, shouting in unison:
"Greetings, Fairy! Congratulations on crushing the demonic foes!"
Chapter 544