Chapter 860: Lightning Strikes
Also, what in all the hells does 'there might be a chance' even mean? Doesn't that mean that there is also an equal chance of failing to open it even at that stage?
Still, a sliver of hope was better than none.
Well no matter what it was, this little toy was already stored within the space of my consciousness. Nobody can take it away from me...
Although the road to refine my art and techniques will be extremely tough, success would surely come eventually — there is still time!
Reaching this thought, Yun Yang could finally soothe the worry in his pounding heart. There was nothing to fret about any longer!
...
Three days later, the two of them stood at the peak.
"Are you ready?"
"Yes. How about you?"
"I'm ready as well."
They lapsed into silence after that sentence.
"You really not going back to take a look at anything?"
"... I won't. It's better not to."
"This land — most of it has been united through your efforts. I've always thought that you'll leave only after everything has been truly unified as one."
"... My goal has never been to unite the world."
"Then what is it?"
"My goal... is to have my brothers come back to life. This has always been my biggest wish since that fateful day of that disaster — it has never wavered."
"We've encountered even more unsolved mysteries during this period of time. I hope we'll be able to unravel all of them when we reach the Bound of Universe, and that everything will go smoothly."
"I see."
"Shall we?"
"Alright."
...
At the same moment, both of them activated and mustered their volition whole-heartedly. Two massive auras that had been suppressed for far too long promptly rose and shot towards the skies.
Wisps of bright, milky-white light abruptly leaked out from their bodies.
The hundred-feet circumference enveloping them was filled with a dream-like sequence of holographic hues appearing in sparse patterns, a magnificent sight beyond imagination.
Two incredibly strong auras shot into the air, penetrating through the layer of clouds with vigor as if indicating a formidable power that could outmatch anything in this world.
In this pivotal moment, they were clearly summoning something...
The sparse, thinly-scattered white clouds that adorned the skies slowly disappeared, transforming into a clear slate of nothingness.
However, this peaceful, cloudless state only lasted for a very short time.
Moments later, like an incoming army of ten thousand horses, dark clouds rolled in rapidly in an unexpected manner, and the skies were filled with low rumbles that foreshadowed an impending storm, getting louder and closer by the moment.
The overcast sky blanketed the entire Tianxuan Continent in an intimidating manner — it was anywhere and everywhere.
At this moment, the people of the entire continent gaped at the skies in fright.
A sight like this was rarely seen in the world, looking a lot like an impending apocalypse.
The moment the dark clouds started to seep from the edges of the sky to the moment it gathered upon their heads was merely seconds!
This was a distance of a few thousand miles; there was no short path in between.
The dark clouds crept in at an alarming speed; Yun Yang would not have been able to beat it even if he dashed as fast as he could in his cloud form!
Dark clouds came rolling from all directions, like loyal, disciplined soldiers who had just received a summoning order of the highest degree.
Within seconds, they convened in the skies above. The shift from clear skies to an overcast one — darkened to the point where everything was no longer visible — only took less than ten breaths!
There were many cases like this in this year itself, but those that preceded this were never this severe and of such an intense scale.
At the peak of the Seven Star Mountain, the violent winds howled incessantly, uprooting countless trees mercilessly that had been part of the mountains for the longest time — they were lifted and thrown about to only god knows where.
Yun Yang and Ji Lingxi stood tall atop the peak. They did not move a single muscle, their eyes shimmering with curiosity and wonder.
The Bound of Universe!
We're almost there!
The Bound of Universe had always been a huge enigma to practitioners from Tianxuan Continent — there were even rumors and legends passed around in the mortal realm. Today, this mysterious world would unfold before their eyes, and they would be granted a first-hand experience in it.
The dark clouds convened in even thicker masses and the brew of thunder and lightning started to wreak havoc in mid-air — the sight was absolutely terrifying.
A net of electrifying light was seemingly weaved from the crisscrossing pattern of flashes across the skies, its glow so blinding and glaring to the point where it was hard to open one's eyes and look at it directly.
The unceasing waves of thunder sounded like an all-out performance of ancient war drums beating incessantly with a clear rhythm — rising, falling and overlapping all at once in an uncontrollable manner. The rumbles traveled from afar, slowly closing the distance, its volume escalating to a deafening point. Moments later, a heavy downpour began as a torrent of water plummeted downwards with a force as if there was a massive hole in the skies.
At that moment, two large eyes suddenly appeared, hovering in mid-air. One stared at Yun Yang, while the other was fixated upon Ji Lingxi.
Although their cultivation bases were very strong and deep-rooted, and they were already at the top in the world, they were experiencing a crossover between realms for real after all; however, they remained calm and collected as they waited for something to happen.
"They say, demons will be inevitably struck by lightning when they become a god — they can only experience some transmutational upgrade through a baptism of lightning," Ji Lingxi's eyes reflected slight traces of terror. "Does that mean that we will be we struck by lightning too..."
Yun Yang was unsure. "This— we wouldn't, right?"
Before his voice even faltered, two flashes of lightning descended, targeting the top of their heads, striking them in an absolutely merciless manner!
Ji Lingxi yelped in terror, the so-called calm composure vanishing instantly.
With a loud boom, their hair became a disheveled nest from this first strike during the course of this baptism.
However, this was just the beginning. Flash after flash of lightning struck down mercilessly in increasingly thick strokes and variegated hues. They were initially white like those seen during a normal rainy day, but gradually transformed into red, purple— every color imaginable made an appearance, equipped with an equally striking force...
The two of them had no experience at all when it came to a lightning baptism like this. Neither had they seen something similar to this nor heard of any related legends.
Hence, they had no idea how to avoid or counter such a critical moment — they even feared that things would turn out differently if they deliberately did something to prevent themselves from being struck. Thus, the two newbies stood there pathetically, not moving a single muscle at all as they allowed themselves to be ravaged by this baptism of lightning.
The only thing they did was to activate their cultivation bases to protect themselves.
Ji Lingxi was completely unharmed. With the protective red light on her, she was completely untouchable. The effect of these lightning strikes on her felt like a scratch on an itch — perhaps even lesser than that.
The soothing scratch-like sensation came from the strikes that were slightly weaker — those that could not break through her defense aura — so whatever she felt from that was naturally very minimal; as for those which were slightly stronger, they were completely eradicated by the red gleam, so naturally she did not feel anything at all...
Yun Yang's situation, on the other hand, was absolutely dreadful.
While enduring the ambush of lightning strikes passively, his self-defense efforts were completely negligible, comparable to an act of throwing a cup of water onto a burning cart. He managed to persevere for a moment before his physical body caved in — from head to toe, his flesh was completely fried, mangled to oblivion, looking less and less like a living person.
Standing close to him in the midst of this violent storm, Ji Lingxi suddenly picked up a strong scent of cooked meat... and could not refrain from crinkling her nose.