Chapter 131 - 91 : Lightning Fall (2)

Chapter 131: Chapter 91 : Lightning Fall (2)

For several breaths, neither moved. Kael remained suspended above Ethan, but his expression had changed completely. He seemed to be staring at Ethan as though still trying to process what had just happened, as if he could hardly believe that a Late Qi Refining cultivator standing beneath him had actually spoken to him that way, not only refusing to submit but throwing Azure Cloud’s own failure back in his face.

The shock slowly gave way to rage. His features contorted, the calm superiority disappearing beneath a look of barely restrained fury. His fingers tightened at his sides.

"You’re... insolent!"

Ethan’s breathing was heavy.

The cultivator’s eyes hardened.

"Do you truly believe that because you’ve survived a few Qi Refining cultivators, you have the right to speak to me like this?"

Ethan said nothing.

The Foundation Establishment cultivator’s spiritual energy suddenly surged. It gathered around his body in a violent wave before flowing toward his raised hand. Threads of spiritual energy converged around his fingers, crackling as arcs of lightning began to form between them. The surrounding air seemed to tremble under the gathering power, and within moments, the lightning had condensed into a bright, violent mass around his hand.

"You are a demonic cultivator standing before a Foundation Establishment cultivator."

His voice was cold.

"Know your place."

His hand moved.

The gathered lightning erupted downward in an instant, tearing through the air as a blinding streak of light.

Ethan barely had time to react.

BOOM!

The lightning struck the ground with tremendous force. A violent burst of light engulfed the clearing as the impact tore through the earth, throwing Ethan’s body violently into the ground. Cracks spread across the soil beneath him while dust and broken earth were blasted outward, followed by thick smoke that quickly filled the area.

The smell of scorched cloth and flesh hung in the air.

For several seconds, Ethan remained motionless amid the smoke and shattered earth.

Above the clearing, the Foundation Establishment cultivator slowly lowered his hand. The remaining arcs of lightning faded from his fingers as he looked down calmly at the destruction below.

That should have been enough.

Even though the attack had been casual, it had still come from a Foundation Establishment cultivator. The difference was immediately apparent in the spiritual energy behind it. Compared with Qi Refining, the power was on an entirely different level, and a Late Qi Refining cultivator should have had little chance of surviving such a strike, let alone remaining capable of fighting afterward.

The Foundation Establishment cultivator slowly guided his flying sword downward, already expecting to find a severely wounded cultivator lying among the broken earth. A strike of that level was enough to leave even a Peak Qi Refining cultivator crippled and barely clinging to life, so there was little reason to believe a Late Qi Refining cultivator could have endured it intact. At most, the Blood Demon should still be alive, his body broken and his strength exhausted.

That was what he expected to see when he descended.

Then his eyes narrowed.

The smoke shifted.

At first, it was only a faint disturbance beneath the thick gray cloud that covered the shattered ground. Then something moved within it, slow and deliberate.

The Foundation Establishment cultivator’s gaze sharpened.

A hand emerged from the smoke and pressed against the cracked earth. The fingers dug into the soil, blackened skin peeling away beneath them as Ethan pulled himself upward.

His body was barely recognizable beneath the damage.

His clothes hung from him in torn, scorched pieces, darkened by soot and burned through in several places. Smoke curled from his shoulders and drifted upward from his back, while patches of skin had been burned black across his chest and arms. Blood ran from the corner of his mouth and down his chin, mixing with the ash covering his face.

Yet he was moving.

Ethan slowly pushed himself onto one knee.

For a moment, he remained there with his head lowered, smoke rising around him and the broken earth beneath his hand. His breathing was heavy, but steady. Then he lifted his head.

The burns began to change.

Beneath the blackened flesh, new skin slowly spread outward. Cracks appeared across the scorched surface before the dead tissue flaked away, revealing smooth flesh underneath. The burns faded layer by layer as damaged muscle rebuilt itself beneath the skin, the wounds closing with unnatural speed.

Even the hair along Ethan’s head had been burned away in places. Strands of blackened hair loosened and fell from his scalp as new strands pushed through beneath them, dark and healthy, growing rapidly before settling back against his head. The smoke that had clung to his body thinned as the heat left his flesh, curling upward in slow wisps.

The blood at the corner of his mouth stopped.

The cut beneath it closed.

The charred skin across his shoulders returned to normal.

One wound after another disappeared until the damage that should have left him crippled was reduced to nothing more than torn clothing and traces of soot across his skin.

Ethan slowly rose to his feet.

The smoke parted around him.

For several breaths, the only sound in the clearing was the faint crackle of burning wood and the settling of broken earth.

Above him, the Foundation Establishment cultivator remained motionless.

He had expected to find a broken body beneath the smoke, perhaps still alive, perhaps barely clinging to consciousness. Instead, the man he had struck was standing again, his body restoring itself before his eyes as though the attack had never happened.

The cultivator stared at Ethan.

The disdain that had filled his eyes moments earlier was gone.

For the first time since arriving, genuine interest appeared in his gaze.

"So the reports were true."

Ethan lifted his head.

The cultivator continued studying him, his gaze moving over Ethan’s body as the last traces of the damage disappeared beneath his eyes.

"That healing..."

There was genuine curiosity in his voice now. His gaze followed the places where Ethan’s flesh had rebuilt itself, watching the unnatural recovery with growing interest.

"Interesting."

He had expected a demonic cultivator who relied on unusual blood techniques, perhaps some forbidden method that allowed him to strengthen himself by taking the blood of others. He had not expected a body capable of recovering from a Foundation Establishment attack so quickly.

A faint smile slowly appeared on his face.

"If you can recover from that..."

His eyes sharpened.

"Then let’s see how much you can endure."

The moment his hand rose, spiritual energy surged through the air above the clearing. Lightning gathered around his fingers, brighter and denser than before, its violent arcs illuminating the smoke that still drifted across the ruined ground.

Ethan saw it coming.

He moved.

A bolt tore through the air and struck the ground beside him.

BOOM!

The earth exploded beneath the impact. Soil and shattered stone were thrown outward as Ethan twisted away, the blast washing over him with enough force to send dust whipping across his body.

Before the debris had settled, another streak of lightning descended.

BOOM!

Ethan pushed off the ground and sprang backward as the bolt tore through the place where he had stood only a moment earlier. The impact split the earth, sending cracks racing across the clearing.

Another bolt followed.

Then another.

The clearing erupted beneath the repeated strikes.

Trees snapped apart. Rocks shattered under the force of the lightning. Thick clouds of dust and smoke rolled across the ground until the entire area became a shifting haze of gray and white, broken again and again by flashes of violent light.

Ethan ran through it.

The wind tore past him as he changed direction, using every opening the bombardment gave him. Lightning crashed down behind him, beside him, sometimes so close that the force of the impact threw his body off balance.

He twisted away from one strike.

Then another.

A third came down before he could fully recover.

The bolt caught his shoulder.

Pain exploded through his body as lightning tore across his flesh. His body twisted violently from the impact, one foot leaving the ground as his balance disappeared beneath him.

Another bolt descended.

It struck his back before he could recover.

BOOM!

Ethan was driven into the ground.

The earth cracked beneath his body, and for a moment he disappeared beneath smoke, dust, and scattered debris.

Then his Living Blood surged.

Burned flesh began to close.

Damaged muscle rebuilt itself.

The pain faded beneath the rapid restoration of his body, and Ethan forced himself back onto his feet.

Another bolt was already falling.

He moved.

It struck behind him.

The explosion chased him across the clearing.

Another came.

Then another.

The ground beneath Ethan seemed to tremble without pause as lightning continued raining down around him. Every time a strike caught him, his body was torn apart by the impact, only for his Living Blood to pull him back together moments later.

But each recovery took something from him.

His reserve began to fall.

Ethan kept moving.

His breathing grew heavier as he pushed himself through the smoke, his clothes hanging in scorched strips from his body. Fresh wounds appeared and disappeared across his skin almost continuously, sometimes healing before the next strike even reached him.

Above the ruined clearing, the Foundation Establishment cultivator watched.

The amusement that had been present in his eyes had gradually disappeared.

What replaced it was something else.

Fascination.

"How many times can you recover?"

He raised his hand once more.

Spiritual energy gathered around him, and lightning began to coil between his fingers.

Below, Ethan looked up through the smoke.

His body was already beginning to heal again, but the Living Blood flowing through him had become noticeably thinner. He could feel the difference now. Every recovery was consuming the reserve he had spent so long building.

Yet his body moved before the next strike arrived.

The lightning descended.

BOOM!

The ground shook violently.

The shockwave rolled through the surrounding forest, sending frightened birds bursting from the trees in dark, chaotic swarms. Small animals fled through the undergrowth while branches trembled from the force of each impact.

Far beyond the ruined clearing, the wilderness seemed to recoil from the violence unfolding within it.

Another bolt fell.

Then another.

And another.

Each flash turned the forest white for an instant before plunging it back into smoke and darkness.

From a distance, it almost seemed as though the heavens had chosen that single patch of wilderness as the target of their wrath.

But the lightning did not stop.

It kept falling, one strike after another, while beneath the storm Ethan continued to rise, run, heal, and endure.