Chapter 12 – Thunderous Fury
Dark clouds loomed, the atmosphere was stifling as the gale wind howled.
Under Yan Ziqian’s signal, Shattered Ice Manor’s martial practitioners did not hurriedly swarm in, and instead dispersed orderly in a semi-circular fashion, drawing closer bit by bit to the boulder pile where everyone was hiding.
Zhou Qian’s charming face abruptly changed in expression, as she shouted: “Shit!”
Figured out Yan Ziqian’s intentions, Zhu Ze and others also went pale all of a sudden, as they thought “not good” to themselves.
With those archers aimed at them, if everyone tried to break through, they would become live targets. Yan Ziqian saw through their disadvantage, and did not rush straight over in a hurry, and instead dispersed, enclosing them in.
Such an act was intended to eliminate every single one of them at once!
Once the encirclement formed, to fight against higher numbers with seven people on top of having injured comrades, this battle would probably end in a miserable conclusion of total annihilation.
“Archers didn’t come close, and it’s too late to break through now. This battle… the odds are grim!” Tu Ze suddenly took in a deep breath, his expression ferocious, his eyes reddened like a trapped beast that was about to put up a desperate fight. He roared lowly: “We can’t get out of this now! Kill as many of them as possible at all costs, as long as we kill eight of them, it’ll be worth it!”
The eyes of Kang Zhi, Zhuo Qian, Chu Peng and the rest were dyed red the instant they heard this speech, and also decided to put up a desperate fight.
There were a total of seventeen or eighteen people from Shattered Ice Manor, more than double their numbers. That Yan Ziqian’s realm aura wasn’t the slightest bit inferior to Tu Ze, and the few martial practitioners beside him also had auras as profound as the abyss. From the malevolence and ferociousness in their eyes, one could tell that every single one of them had gone through the baptism of blood.
Tu Ze, Kang Zhi and everyone else had wrestled with the Ice Soul Python for a long time, much of their spirit energy was spent; furthermore, three were injured by sneak attacks…
Qin Lie’s brows tightly knitted as the brilliance of lightning faintly shot across his eyes. When Tu Ze and everyone else had already despaired, he was still trying his best to find a wisp of opportunity for triumph.
“Boooom!”
Suddenly at this moment, a rumbling sound of thunder in the sky exploded within the depth of the thick black clouds.
An marvelous glint instantly bursted from Qin Lie’s eyes.
“In a little bit, all of you try to stay further away from me as much as possible. By all means, do not approach near me!”
Taking in a deep breath, an imposing atmosphere that made one shudder flooded out from Qin Lie’s body, as though a sharp sword that had been covered in dust for many years, was about to reveal its unparalleled cutting edge.
The group of seven had on an astounded expression.
“Leave none alive! Kill!”
Yan Ziian’s callous shout also abruptly sounded at this moment. The martial practitioners of Shattered Ice Manor who had been holding their energy to spring into action loudly roared and assaulted from three directions.
Yan Ziqian who was at the ninth level of Refinement took the initiative, and rushed in first as the lead. The Ice Drake Sword in his hand shook, and a stroke of cold light violently shot out like a stretch of silk, as though a hornless dragon that had hibernated for far too long was pouncing over toward Tu Ze’s front.
“Been waiting for that!”
Tu Ze explosively roared. The crimson longblade in his head beamed with light, as he rushed out with large strikes, taking the lead and wrestling together with Yan Ziqian.
Zhuo Qian had tossed her curved bow long ago, her right hand tightly clutching a dark red colored Dragon Bone Whip. Her jade arm shook, and whip mirages as far as one’s eyes could see wriggled like snakes, letting out ear-piercing whistles.
Kang Zhi and the injured Chu Peng, Han Feng and others, also revealed franticness on their faces, and rushed out without caring for their lives.
In the outer encirclement, the several archers of Shattered Ice Manor unceasingly adjusted the arrow’s aim, but because Yan Ziqian, Tu Ze and others had already fiercely fought into close quarters, they, who were in fear of accidentally injuring their own, did not dare to shoot their arrows for a long time.
One of the archers suddenly cried out quietly, and saw Qin Lie, who was behind the pile of boulders.
He coldly sneered, raised his bow, aimed at Qin Lie, and shouted: “There’s one left out alone!”
“Swoosh swoosh!”
Two unsuspecting arrows were instantly shot toward Qin Lie without mercy.
Channeling Heavenly Thunder Eradication, Qin Lie’s mind shook with a loud rumble. The hot blood in his body seemed to have ignited, and his limbs and skeleton seemed to be flooded by the incredible might of violent thunder.
“Rrrrmm!”
The divine thunder of the Ninth Heaven appeared to have reached a resonance with him at this moment. Streaks of lightning wreck havoc in the skies like berserking dragons, slitheringly broke through heavy layers of clouds, and spiraled down as though it wished to sweep clean all sins of the mortal realm.
Following the thunder’s fury, Qin Lie lowly roared, and disappeared in a flash like a blinding lightning ripping through the air.
“Where’d he go?”
The archer’s vision temporarily went haywire from the lightning, and after he regained his senses, he discovered that Qin Lie’s silhouette had already vanished. The two unsuspecting arrows that were shot out had also lost their traces.
“B-Behind you! Ahh, he’s behind you!”
Another archer suddenly screamed involuntarily as though he saw a ghost in broad daylight; his face was filled with terror and anxiety.
He saw the suddenly appearing Qin Lie, whose body was filled with dense lightning arcs. Those lightning wrapped around his body like snakes, while pillars of thick thunderous lightning hovered above his head like gigantic dragons.
The current Qie Lie seemed to have become the embodiment of a child of the thunder god!
“First!”
Qin Lie explosively roared. His hands wrapped densely with lightning suddenly caught onto this person’s neck, and constricted tightly with force!
“SNAP!”
The absolutely horrifying sound of a neck being crushed into pieces resounded sharply and clearly. The archer took his last breath on the spot!
Qin Lie who had killed someone for the first time, did not feel the slightest bit of fear, his hands did not shiver in the slightest. On that handsome little face, an excitement that made one’s heart shudder had actually emerged, as his eyes suddenly revealed ferociousness and lunacy.
It was as if his true nature, the lunatic and violent trait that had been hidden for many years, was entirely aroused by today’s battle.
“You are second!” He looked at the archer across from him, and suddenly grinned.
The archer who had screamed out to notify his companion only felt his spine chilling down by that smile, and birthed a feeling of despair, as though he was marked by a ferocious beast of ancient times.
“Zzzt Zzzt Zzzt!”
Streaks after streaks of lightning shot down from the rolling dark clouds, and they all struck down onto Qin Lie’s surroundings.
As though carrying the thunder and lightning that filled with skies with him, Qin Lie suddenly rushed toward this archer. Amidst the thunderous rolls, that archer’s eyes suddenly went blank.
He heard the genuine explosive sounds of thunder!
The deafening sound of thunder seemed to have exploded inside his mind, jolted him dumb and dazzled, unaware of where he was at.
“SNAP!”
With the same method, Qin Lie squeezed this person’s neck into pieces. Before the archer fell onto the ground, his neck was charred a charcoal black.
Consecutively killed two people. The fierce blood inside Qin Lie’s body ignited in its entirety. He didn’t join the battle between Tu Ze and Yan Ziqian, and instead assaulted and killed the outer Shattered Ice Manor archers.
Anywhere Qin Lie passed, thunder would roar. Streaks of thick and long lightning akin to gigantic chains, could zigzag and twist as though being lead on by him.
Momentarily, those archers of Shattered Ice Manor uttered dreary wails and howls. If he came close to them, they would be struck by thunderous lightning even without him taking any actions.
Zhu Qian suddenly cried out in astonishment. She held the Dragon Bone Whip in her hands, the leather armor in front of her chest split apart, as pearls of blood seeped out of her fair skin. Her healthy and fit left leg also had a long, narrow wound.
“Quick, look at Ling Jie’s side!” Zhuo Qian came to a realization. While deep within desperate straits, her charming eyes suddenly shone with a brilliant glint that attracted another’s heart, as she crazily shouted toward Tu Ze and others.
Tu Ze’s long hair was covered in frost, his teeth jittering. Permeated by Ice Drake Sword’s cold energy, his body slowly turned rigid.
Kang Zhi’s abdominal region was penetrated through, as fresh blood surged out non stop. His chubby face twisted, as he uttered bloodcurdling shrieks again and again.
Chu Peng, Han Feng and others were moreso riddled with wounds, biting their teeth with a posture of mutual destruction, despairingly preparing to drag a few more down to hell with them.
Hearing Zhuo Qian’s shouts, everyone looked at the place Qin Lie was in passing…
Only to see that most of those archers who made their spine run cold, was actually lying inside the shrubs with charred black bodies. Each one of their eyes bulged out, evidently having been killed.
The cause of these, Qin Lie, was like a deity who wielded the thunder of the Ninth Heaven. Blasts of thunder unceasingly bursted above his head, streaks of long and thick lightning roamed about beside him, like chains tethered up the sky.
The remaining three archers were forced to scuttle wildly by him. Continuously being struck by thunder and lightning, smoke arose from all of their bodies, the chance of being blasted dead by the heavenly thunder was possible any time.
After a slight astonishment upon suddenly seeing such a strange sight, Zhuo Qian and Tu Ze who were in a desperate state, had all of their spirit risen by a hundredfold, as though they once again obtained blessings of miraculous strength, and crazily fought together with Shattered Ice Manor’s martial practitioners while madly shouting.
“Who’s this guy?” Yan Ziqian’s expression was stern, as he suddenly shouted coldly: “Two of you head there!”
Two martial practitioners who were besieging Tu Ze quickly moved away hearing what was said, and swept toward Qin Lie’s direction.
The pressure on Tu Ze suddenly became lighter.
“Two’s not enough! Send a few more over here!” Qin Lie uncannily grinned toward Yan Ziqian amidst the rolling thunder, then suddenly roared loudly: “Blast them! Keep blasting them!”
The downpouring rainstorm surged down, as the thunderous lightning of this valley’s skies moved to answer his voice, distinctively gathering toward his position.
Everyone looked at the sky. They could clearly see the lightning arcs swimming around, gathering from the surroundings to above Qin Lie’s head. Such a strange and terrifying scene caused them to feel their hearts turn cold and their guts to turn timid, birthing a dispiriting sense of an inability to defeat the enemy.
The two martial practitioners who left from Yan Ziqian’s side, were struck by the thunderous lightning beside Qin Lie before they even neared him. Their steps both staggered, as though they were drunk, as thick smoke rose from their hair.
“Told you that it’s far from enough!”
Qin Lie closed in while wildly laughing. Taking advantage of the two being out of their minds, he picked up a frost sword and stabbed out a few holes on the two’s bodies before Yan Ziqian, Tu Ze, Zhuo Qian and other’s faces.
One of them was precisely that person who plundered the spoils of war. As he fell down while screaming miserably, the leather bag on his waist loosened and fell, while the Ice Soul Python’s beast core fell out.
Not taking an extra glance at the beast core, Qin Lie’s eyes were fierce, as he walked toward Yan Ziqian and others in long strides with an extremely imposing manner.
In the wake of the numerous archers being killed, with two high rank martial practitioners instantly dying, in addition to that ferocious and imposing attitude of Qin Lie akin to that of the thunder god, every single one of Shattered Ice Manor’s martial practitioners turned pale.
Under the boundless torrential rainstorm, they all hatched a sense of dread which told them that they were incapable of fighting Qin Lie. The moment they saw him walking closer, they unconsciously stepped backwards.
As for Tu Ze and others, they were uttering strange roars. They, who came back from death’s door, even had their vigor returning.
“Retreat!”
Being forced without a better option, Yan Ziqian clenched his teeth, and ordered everyone to immediately disengage.
The martial practitioners of Shattered Ice Manor seemed to have all been waiting for these words of his. The moment his voice fell, they eagerly fled in all directions. Those figures shuffled between the shrubbery, and then vanished soon after.
Tu Ze and rest didn’t dare to chase, and hurriedly gathered together, rushing toward Qin Lie with excited expressions.
“Don’t come!” Qin Lie hurriedly shouted loudly, “The thunder and lightning in the sky can’t be held back!”
The moment these words were spoken, Zhuo Qian and the others paled in shock, then stopped in their tracks one by one. All of them looked at him with a strange expression.
Qin Lie, who hurriedly stopped channeling Heavenly Thunder Eradication, instantly felt his entire body aching and powerless as he stopped his art; he also felt a sense of dizziness. Those dense current on his limbs and bones, caused him to jolt from stimulation, looking a sorry figure as well.
The moment Heavenly Thunder Eradication stopped, the thunder and lightning which gathered above his head, sure enough, dispersed magically.
“Ling Lie! As long as I, Tu Ze, am still breathing, you will be my good brother forever!”
“And I, Kang Zhi!”
“And me!”
The other few echoed in succession.
……