The sudden appearance of the Thunderfire Sword shocked the Chen family. The unexpected development left everyone pale-faced and filled with a sense of mortal danger.
"Clang—"
The Thunderfire Sword, a lower-tier third-grade weapon, was both ferocious and unyielding. Its eighteen-zhang long sword light descended, instilling a deadly sense of crisis in Elian.
This was despite the fact that the Thunder Roc, weakened and preoccupied with suppressing its injuries, could only unleash five or six-tenths of the sword's full power. Otherwise, the Thunderfire Sword would have radiated a terrifying sword aura exceeding twenty zhang.
Fortunately, the old patriarch reacted quickly. At the first sight of the Thunderfire Sword, he unleashed his strongest technique, the Heavenly Flame Sword Art.
Having reached the peak of Foundation Establishment, the patriarch's spiritual energy was now as strong as the previous generation's leader. When he activated the Heavenly Flame Sword Art with his powerful reserves, its might was enhanced by an additional fifty percent compared to when he was at the seventh stage of Foundation Establishment.
A sword light, radiant as the sun, streaked across the sky, intercepting the Thunderfire Sword. Though it was swiftly overwhelmed, it managed to dissipate forty percent of the sword's power.
Taking advantage of the moment, Elian also activated the Heavenly Flame Sword Art, further reducing the Thunderfire Sword's strength by another thirty-five percent.
After these two strikes, the Thunderfire Sword had lost more than half its power and ultimately failed to breach the defenses of the Nine Deflection Bell.
Having temporarily blocked the attack, Elian wasted no time and consumed the pre-prepared Explosive Essence Pill.
The pill, a life-saving treasure, instantly transformed into a vast surge of spiritual energy that coursed through Elian's meridians, forcibly enhancing his energy reserves by nearly fifty percent.
With his spiritual energy now exceeding that of late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators and surpassing even the old patriarch's by a significant margin, Elian's reserves reached nearly half the capacity of an early-stage Purple Mansion cultivator.
Empowered by the surge, he activated the Fiery Void Sword once more, amplifying its power by an additional fifty percent. Together with the patriarch's Crimson Flame Spirit Blade, they barely managed to hold off the Thunderfire Sword.
Seeing the Thunderfire Sword unable to break through, the Thunder Roc grew anxious. Nearly half its power was being used to suppress its injuries, leaving it unable to unleash its full strength. Ordinary spells were unlikely to resolve the stalemate.
Left with no other choice, it abandoned suppressing its internal injuries and spat out its demon core, aiming it at the group operating the Blazing Fire Divine Array, clearly intending to break the troublesome formation.
The demon core's power was devastating. If the attack landed, the two Foundation Establishment cultivators might survive with serious injuries, but the others would surely perish.
"Watch out—it's the demon core!" Elian frowned, immediately summoning a Metal Element Divine Thunder to intercept it.
At the same time, the old patriarch and the Blazing Fire Divine Array's Flaming Piercing Cone collided with the Thunder Roc's demon core, resulting in a cataclysmic explosion.
The thunderous blast shattered rocks and caused the earth to collapse. The land within several hundred zhang cracked open with massive fissures.
Chen Nianfu activated the Green Ape Pearl, forming a protective light screen that shielded them from the blast's aftermath. Even so, her face turned pale, and the others suffered internal injuries, evident from the blood trickling from their lips.
"Not good," Elian muttered, his expression changing drastically. The Thunder Roc's desperate strike had unleashed nearly its full power, making the demon core as potent as it would have been in its peak state.
Even after taking hits from two Metal Element Divine Thunders and the Blazing Fire Divine Array, the demon core still retained sixty percent of its power as it hurtled toward Chen Nianfu and the others.
In this critical moment, Elian swiftly activated the Purple Radiance Mirror. A beam of purple light enveloped the demon core, disrupting its spiritual consciousness by thirty percent and momentarily stalling its trajectory.
"Let me handle this!" roared Chen Changxuan. Seizing the opportunity, he unleashed the Blazing Fire Divine Flags.
With the old patriarch's strengthened cultivation, the array's power had also grown. Torrential flames erupted from the formation, enveloping the third-tier demon core.
Seeing its core trapped, the Thunder Roc finally panicked. Having only recently advanced to the Purple Mansion realm, losing its demon core would mean being unable to suppress the residual West Pole Metal Flame in its body, ultimately leading to a slow and agonizing death.
In desperation, it disregarded the severe drain on its power and forcibly detonated the demon core, breaking free from the Blazing Fire Divine Flags. It then swallowed the core back into its body.
"Pfft—" The backlash from the destroyed Blazing Fire Divine Flags caused the old patriarch to cough up blood, nearly falling from the sky. Barely stabilizing himself, he realized that his spiritual energy was almost entirely depleted, leaving him unable to contribute much further.
However, the Thunder Roc was also in dire straits. While it had broken the array, the cost was immense—the demon core's power was nearly exhausted, rendering it unusable for the foreseeable future.
Already heavily injured and drained of energy, the Thunder Roc was now cornered. Its spiritual energy reserves were down to less than ten percent, and it could no longer wield the full power of the Thunderfire Sword. Even suppressing Elian's Fiery Void Sword was proving impossible.
While the Chen family was also battered and fatigued, Elian, empowered by the Explosive Essence Pill, was at his peak and gradually overpowering the Thunder Roc.
Sensing the worsening situation, the Thunder Roc finally decided to flee. It abandoned the Thunderfire Sword, directing it toward the old patriarch as a distraction, and turned to escape.
"Hmph—" Elian snorted coldly. He had anticipated this and summoned the Purple Sun Furnace. Torrential purple flames erupted, intercepting the Thunderfire Sword.
Though the third-tier celestial sword's power was greatly diminished, its sword aura managed to pierce the Purple Sun Furnace, leaving a severe crack.
Despite the damage, the Purple Sun Furnace absorbed the remaining power of the Thunderfire Sword, neutralizing the threat. Meanwhile, Elian pursued the Thunder Roc with the Fiery Void Sword.
Boosted by the Explosive Essence Pill, Elian's speed with his life-bound celestial sword had increased dramatically. In contrast, the Thunder Roc, severely injured and drained of energy, was far slower than its peak speed.
The gap between them gradually narrowed, and it was only a matter of time before Elian caught up.
Sensing its impending doom, the Thunder Roc desperately spat out its life essence blood to activate a unique innate ability: Thunder Flash Escape.
This lightning-attribute escape technique transformed the user into a streak of lightning, tripling their speed. It was this ability that had allowed the Thunder Roc to evade the pursuit of the Golden Lion Mastiff and flee into the great wilderness.
Once again using this technique, the Thunder Roc managed to outpace Elian, who could only watch helplessly as it escaped into the distance.
"It's over," Elian muttered in frustration.
...
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