The heavenly strike had weakened only slightly.
It then smashed into the golden Buddha.
The sacred figure raised its giant palms toward the descending lightning. Brilliant golden radiance surged outward, flooding the wasteland with holy light as the Buddha resisted with all its strength.
For a brief moment, the collision froze.
Silver lightning and golden radiance battled in midair.
Then cracks spread across the Buddha's palms.
Those cracks raced up its arms and through its chest like spiderwebs.
Its head shattered first.
Its shoulders burst apart next.
The entire manifestation collapsed in a violent explosion of golden fragments that rained across the land.
Li Yun had lost his second layer of protection.
The lightning descended further and struck the crimson lotus.
The lotus petals closed tightly around him as flames surged upward in towering waves. Blue lightning wrapped around the petals and fought back wildly, turning the flower into a furnace of fire and thunder.
