Chapter 132 - 92 : The Abyss below (1)

Chapter 132: Chapter 92 : The Abyss below (1)

The lightning came again.

Ethan barely had time to push himself upright before a white-blue flash tore through the air.

BOOM!

The ground beneath him exploded. ℯℯ𝘭.

Heat swallowed his body as the lightning tore through the earth, and for an instant, everything disappeared into blinding white.

Then came the pain.

It ripped through him all at once, burning through flesh and bone as the force of the strike threw his body into the shattered ground.

It was no longer sharp. His body had been struck too many times for pain to remain a single, recognizable sensation. It came as pressure, burning, numbness, and a violent trembling that seemed to reach into his bones.

His knees struck the ground, but he caught himself with one hand before his body could collapse completely. Smoke curled from his shoulders and drifted around him as the heat slowly faded from his skin.

Then the damage began to disappear.

Charred flesh darkened further, cracked, and peeled away in thin pieces as fresh skin pushed through beneath it. Burned muscle rebuilt itself with each passing breath, the ruined tissue giving way to new flesh until the worst of the damage had already begun to vanish.

His torn sleeve hung from his arm in blackened strips, swaying slightly in the heat rising from his body.

Ethan dragged in a breath.

Above him, another bolt was already forming, its pale light flickering through the smoke and broken branches.

His eyes narrowed.

Again?

There was barely any warning.

Ethan threw himself sideways just as the lightning came down.

The bolt struck the ground where he had been standing, and the clearing erupted beneath the impact. A shallow crater was blasted into the earth as fragments of stone and dirt shot across the ground, some striking Ethan as he rolled through the debris.

Ethan rolled twice before forcing himself back onto his feet.

His chest rose and fell as fresh flesh continued knitting itself together beneath the burns. The pain was already fading, but something else had changed.

From the outside, he must have looked almost absurd. He had been struck by lightning again and again, thrown across the ground, burned nearly to the bone, and yet each time, he simply dragged himself back up as though refusing to stay down.

But Ethan knew what those recoveries were costing him.

His gaze dropped for a moment as he felt the Living Blood flowing through his body.

It was disappearing.

Rapidly.

Every wound that closed demanded a portion of his reserve. Every time his flesh rebuilt itself, the Blood Seed drew more Living Blood from what remained within him. What had seemed almost effortless at the beginning was becoming increasingly expensive with every strike he endured.

He could heal.

That much was certain.

But healing did not mean immortality.

Not against this.

Another bolt descended.

Ethan moved.

Too slow.

The lightning caught his left shoulder and ripped through his body. A violent jolt ran through his muscles, locking them in place as the current surged through his flesh. For an instant, his entire body went numb, his limbs refusing to respond even as the force of the strike threw him several meters across the clearing.

He crashed into the ground and lay there, unable to move.

His body was already beginning to repair itself, but the numbness remained. His fingers felt distant, almost disconnected from the rest of him, and for several breaths, Ethan could do nothing but stare at the dirt beneath his face.

Then one finger twitched.

A moment later, his hand moved.

His muscles slowly responded as the lingering effects of the lightning faded, and Ethan forced himself onto one arm.

His jaw tightened.

How long?

That was the question.

Not whether he could survive a single strike or even withstand repeated attacks. He already knew his vampire body could endure attacks that would have crippled an ordinary cultivator. What mattered now was how long he could keep healing under a Foundation Establishment cultivator’s relentless attacks.

The real question was how long he could keep doing this before his Living Blood ran out, his body stopped responding quickly enough, and the next bolt left him on the ground for good.

He had already endured more attacks than any ordinary late or even peak Qi Refining cultivator should have been able to survive.

And above him, Kael knew it.

Yet the attacks continued.

Casually.

That was what disturbed Ethan most.

He slowly raised his head through the drifting smoke.

High above him, Kael remained suspended upon his flying sword, one hand resting behind his back while the other hung at his side. His robes stirred gently in the wind, almost undisturbed by the destruction below. Lightning gathered around his raised hand, bright arcs of energy crawling across his fingers.

There was no strain on his face. No heavy breathing. Nothing to suggest that the repeated attacks were costing him any real effort.

He looked almost relaxed.

As though he were testing something mildly interesting.

Ethan’s gaze hardened.

He’s not serious.

The realization settled heavily in his mind as he watched another strand of lightning form around Kael’s hand.

Everything Kael had thrown at him so far had been powerful enough to tear his body apart, yet none of it had carried the feeling of someone fighting at full strength.

Kael wasn’t trying to kill him.

Not yet.

He was curious.

He wanted to see how much Ethan could endure, how many times that demonic technique could heal him, and where its limits would finally appear.

That was why Ethan was still alive.

That was why Kael kept giving him enough time to recover before striking again. And somehow, knowing that felt worse than being attacked with the intention of killing him.

A laugh drifted down from above.

"Still alive?"

Kael’s voice carried easily through the clearing.

Ethan slowly pushed himself upright.

Kael looked down at him with faint amusement.

"Your recovery really is troublesome."

His gaze lingered on Ethan for a moment before he added, almost as though making an observation to himself, "Even at my peak in Qi Refining, I would have been dead by now."

The admission carried no humility. If anything, there was a strange weight to it, because Kael understood exactly what the attacks meant. What Ethan was enduring was already beyond what a Peak Qi Refining cultivator could normally withstand.

A faint smile returned to his face.

"I wonder how many times you can do it."

Lightning crawled across his fingers.

Ethan said nothing.

Another bolt descended.

Ethan sprinted as another bolt tore down from above.

The lightning struck behind him, and the explosion hurled dirt and shattered stone across his back. The force sent him stumbling forward, but he managed to roll with the impact and came up on one knee. He remained there for a moment, breathing harder than before as his body worked to repair the latest damage.

Ethan looked down at his hands. They were shaking slightly, not from fear, but from exhaustion. His Living Blood was being consumed faster than he could replenish it, and every recovery was leaving less of his reserve behind for the next attack.

Then another realization settled over him.

Kael was controlling the battlefield.

Ethan had understood the difference between their realms from the beginning, but being forced to fight beneath that difference made its reality impossible to ignore. Kael was stronger and faster, and he could move through the sky while Ethan remained bound to the ground. From above, Kael could attack from almost any direction, change his position whenever he wanted, and keep whatever distance suited him. His Divine Sense gave him an awareness of the battlefield that Ethan could not match, allowing him to react to Ethan’s movements while remaining safely beyond his reach.

And then there was the lightning.

It was simply too fast.

Even when Ethan sensed an attack coming, knowing where it would strike did not guarantee that he could get out of the way in time. He could rely on his physical strength to move faster, sharpen his senses, and anticipate the direction of an attack, but prediction became almost meaningless when the attack itself crossed the distance in an instant.

Ethan’s gaze lifted toward Kael above him.

He needed to find another way.

Every advantage Ethan possessed was being buried beneath something greater.

His physical strength did not matter if he could not get close. His speed meant little when Kael could simply remain in the air, outside his reach, and continue attacking from above. There was no reason for Kael to exchange blows with him or take any unnecessary risk. He could stay where he was and keep striking until Ethan’s body could no longer recover.

Ethan wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and looked up at the figure above him.

I can’t win.

The thought came without hesitation. There was no pride fighting against it, no reluctance to accept what was already obvious. It was simply the truth.

If he tried to fight Kael head-on, he would die. Running would not solve the problem either. Kael could follow him through the sky, and the tracking talisman would eventually reveal his direction no matter how far he went. Hiding would only delay the inevitable.

And if he continued relying on his regeneration like this, his Living Blood would run dry before Kael even needed to take him seriously.

Ethan’s eyes flicked upward again.

Kael smiled.

"Why aren’t you running?"

Another bolt began to form around his hand.

Ethan moved before it was fully formed. Lightning crashed into the ground behind him, the explosion throwing dirt across his back as he pushed forward without looking back.

"Didn’t you run so well before?"