Chapter 478: Thunder God VS Pseudo-Wind God

The lightning around the Thunder God coalesced into an amorphous shape.

After his last crushing defeat at the hands of a mysterious entity, he naturally thought to imitate his opponent, hoping to uncover the secret to their immense power.

After all, recuperating was a boring affair. He had to seize any opportunity to improve himself.

One month wasn’t a long time for the Thunder God. In fact, it was incredibly short. After all, he had no mortal lifespan to worry about.

Consequently, his perception of time’s passage was not so acute.

’It’s still not working. This amorphous form is completely unsuitable for me; it only suits him.’

’If I just blindly imitate him, I’ll never be able to surpass him.’ The Thunder God quickly reverted to his original, lightning-like form.

However, he condensed it to a mere one hundred meters in size, rather than his previously colossal form.

’I don’t know his origins, but I have to stick to my own path of growth.’

’As for him coming after me... he’ll have to find me first.’ The Thunder God had no intention of continuing to clash head-on with Qi Suian.

’What kind of victory is it to bully me before I’ve fully matured? Once I’m fully grown, I’ll definitely be stronger than him.’

Would this behavior cause him to lose face? The Thunder God wasn’t human; he didn’t care for superficial things like face or reputation.

Just like the Wind Kings. If he were truly shackled by such things, he would have been doomed long ago.

So, to avoid being found, the Thunder God changed locations every so often.

The intervals between moves weren’t fixed, but completely random.

Even his direction and destination were decided on the spur of the moment, with no prior planning.

Therefore, the Thunder God wasn’t worried about being found.

’Time to move again. I...’ The Thunder God was about to leave when he suddenly sensed a great terror slowly approaching.

’It’s wind, but... very powerful.’

The Thunder God clearly sensed a frenzy within the wind, like a rabid dog that would bite anything in its path.

Moreover, the force of the wind had swelled to an extraordinary degree.

He had seen the Wind Kings before—he’d met them at his own birth. They were nothing but a pack of timid, cowardly weaklings, and nowhere near this powerful.

If they had any real courage, they would have swarmed and attacked him the moment he was born.

’So some unknown change must have occurred.’ The Thunder God immediately grew cautious.

This was an unnatural occurrence, more than enough to put the Thunder God on high alert.

A lion appearing in a flock of sheep—no matter how you looked at it, this was not a natural event.

After careful consideration, the Thunder God decided to... make a strategic retreat.

That’s right. After that brutal beating, the Thunder God had learned a simple lesson: if you can’t win, don’t fight.

Otherwise, he would be the only one to suffer in the end.

Instead of taking a beating and then running, it was better to just run from the start. It saved him the trouble of the intermediate step.

He could sense that this new entity was much stronger than him. While it couldn’t kill him, he couldn’t defeat it either.

And even if he managed to land a blow, wouldn’t his opponent do the same to him?

No matter how he looked at it, he, being the weaker of the two, would be the one to lose out in the end.

The moment the thought formed, he shot off in the opposite direction.

But a gust of wind swept past, causing the Thunder God’s retreating figure to falter.

He was a step too late. A massive, fish-shaped Wind King had used the wind to form an encirclement.

Escaping would have been simple enough for the Thunder God; he just needed to tear through the encirclement.

But there was one problem: the unknown Wind King had already attacked.

Seeing this, the Thunder God had no choice but to respond immediately.

The moment they clashed, he realized this was no Wind King.

’You devoured all the Wind Kings and became a Wind God.’

’But you’re still missing something.’ The Thunder God instantly discerned its condition. ’You’re missing some crucial component, which is preventing you from advancing any further.’

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than the Thunder God realized the "Wind God" before him was mindless, possessing only a crazed desire for destruction and annihilation.

’It’s being controlled? This...’ At that moment, the Thunder God’s wariness skyrocketed.

’A controlled Pseudo-Wind God attacking me, an injured, fledgling Thunder God.’

’This has all the makings of a conspiracy.’

’There’s only one being who could have orchestrated this...’ The Thunder God immediately identified the culprit: the mysterious entity who had wounded him in just two moves.

But the Thunder God couldn’t understand. Logically, shouldn’t his opponent have given him enough time to recover and grow? Why had he suddenly reversed course and sent a controlled Pseudo-Wind God to fight him?

Before he could reach a conclusion, his lightning body was snapped in two by the gale.

The Pseudo-Wind God opened its terrifying, fish-like maw, intending to swallow the Thunder God whole.

A fine idea, and one it managed to execute.

But the Thunder God was no Wind King; the Pseudo-Wind God was completely unable to absorb him.

Instead, the Thunder God used this to his advantage, wreaking havoc from within the Pseudo-Wind God’s body. He tore numerous holes in it before finally breaking free.

Yet, the moment he was free, the Pseudo-Wind God’s wounds were instantly repaired by fresh wind, leaving it as good as new.

Because of this, the Thunder God no longer wanted to be entangled with the creature and turned to leave.

Fighting an unkillable, mindless lunatic offered him no benefit, regardless of the outcome.

He transformed into a flash of lightning, tore through the wind forming the encirclement, and began to flee.

The Pseudo-Wind God, however, pursued him relentlessly.

Its desire for destruction was only growing stronger.

Had it succeeded in its destruction, that desire would have subsided. But since it had failed, it naturally grew stronger.

This growth was both limitless and locked onto its target.

So long as both the Thunder God and the Pseudo-Wind God still existed, the latter would seek to destroy the former without end.

The raging wind barreled straight toward the Thunder God, causing his mood to darken.

With his current strength, he was no match for the Pseudo-Wind God, so shaking it off was simply impossible.

This would hinder his recovery and impede the growth of his power.

Setting aside the latter, the former alone required quiet recuperation. Who runs a 24/7 life-or-death race while injured?

It was no longer a question of whether this was good for his recovery; he’d be lucky if his injuries didn’t get worse.

To say nothing of the Pseudo-Wind God’s attacks, which would only aggravate his wounds.

’It’s no use. I’m not as fast as the Pseudo-Wind God.’ The Thunder God’s heart sank as he watched it draw closer.

Normally, lightning should be faster than wind. But this situation was far from normal. His opponent was stronger, and thus, faster.

The thought had barely formed before the Pseudo-Wind God was upon him. Its maw opened, and this time, it bit the Thunder God clean in two.

With a flicker of lightning, the Thunder God burst out from the creature’s head, pulling his other half free and rejoining his body.

’If I can’t escape, then I’ll fight.’

After several failed attempts to escape, the Thunder God realized he couldn’t shake the Pseudo-Wind God. Fighting was his only option.

He might not be able to defeat the Pseudo-Wind God, but he had one advantage.

The Pseudo-Wind God was a mindless berserker, but the Thunder God had a brain. As long as he could leverage this advantage, and provided the power gap between them wasn’t completely insurmountable...

...he could eventually wear it down to nothing.

The process, however, would likely be long and agonizing.

If there were a better solution, the Thunder God would have gladly taken it. But there wasn’t, so he had to bite the bullet and fight.

Having abandoned the thought of escape, the Thunder God’s assault immediately sharpened. Countless thunderbolts bombarded the Pseudo-Wind God, giving him an initial advantage.

The Pseudo-Wind God was immediately enraged, its attacks growing more ferocious but also increasingly erratic.

Was this some form of ’formlessness surpasses form’? The Pseudo-Wind God was nowhere near that level. Its wild flailing was simply riddled with openings and weaknesses.

The Thunder God naturally focused his attacks on these glaring weaknesses, allowing his slight advantage to slowly grow.

’Heh, brainless is as brainless does. So what if you’re stronger than me?’

’You’ll be stuck at this level forever.’ The Thunder God knew that if he just kept grinding it down, he could utterly annihilate this Pseudo-Wind God in less than ten days.

-----------------

"Success. The two of them are finally fighting." A smile appeared on Qi Suian’s face.

The Pseudo-Wind God, created from the Profound Mechanism Wind King, had only been able to find the Thunder God thanks to Qi Suian’s guidance.

Otherwise, in a world this vast, even if the Pseudo-Wind God searched everywhere, finding the hidden Thunder God would have been no simple task.

Thus, a little "insignificant" help was required.

In the Sky Island World, wind and thunder were not complementary forces. Instead, they were mortal enemies.

Especially with the Pseudo-Wind God being insane.

A fight between them was practically inevitable.

’I should let them fight for another two days, weaken each other a bit more.’

’Otherwise, they might catch on.’

Qi Suian knew that if he made his move now, the Thunder God would surely detect him.

The god’s power was not to be underestimated; at the very least, Qi Suian wasn’t completely certain he could kill him.

But after another two days of fighting, their injuries would surely be far worse. Then, Qi Suian could use them both as sacrificial pawns.

At first, they wouldn’t sense anything was wrong. By the time they did, it would be too late—like a frog in slowly boiling water, with no means of escape.

It was all about creating the right opportunity, the "eastern wind" he needed.

For his own reasons, Qi Suian couldn’t afford to wait for such an opportunity to arise naturally, so he had created this "eastern wind" himself.

While success would require more than just this one favorable wind, its presence was nonetheless crucial.

After all, to reach for the heavens, hard work is only one part of the equation. One also needs a stage and an opportunity.

’I should go make my own preparations. Two days is more than enough time to finish and then optimize my arrangements.’ Qi Suian knew there wasn’t much left for him to set up, but with time still on his side, he had no intention of slacking.