Chapter 288: The Terrifying Spatial Storm and Black Lightning
"Don't worry, Ling'er. Focus on purifying and absorbing the Emperor's Origin Essence. With my strength, I don't need you to split your attention," Xiao Tiance reassured her.
In the spatial passage, Ling'er pondered for a moment and agreed. But even if she hadn't, there was no other choice. Extracting the Emperor's Origin Essence from Fifth Qinghou's body had consumed much of her spiritual energy.
If it had been an unrefined Emperor's Origin Essence, she could have absorbed it effortlessly, just as she had done after Xiao Tiance broke the seal on Tuoshe's Emperor Flame. But refining an Emperor's Origin Essence that had already been used was far more complicated.
Once a Dou Emperor absorbed the essence, its nature changed, requiring the impurities injected by the Dou Emperor to be removed before it could return to its pure, original state.
"Little Master, be careful," Ling'er reminded him softly before focusing on purifying the essence.
"Rest assured, I've got everything under control."
As Ling'er began her task, Xiao Tiance attempted to use his soul power to locate Xiao Xuan and the others. However, the moment he extended his senses, an unseen force struck back.
"Hiss!" He gasped in shock, quickly withdrawing his soul power.
"Such a terrifying spatial passage it can even damage my soul power. This complicates things," Xiao Tiance thought grimly.
His soul power had already reached the Great Perfection of the Emperor Realm, only a step away from advancing further. Yet the passage had effortlessly nullified it.
Meanwhile, Xiao Xuan's Group
After Xiao Tiance departed to retrieve the Emperor's Origin Essence, Xiao Xuan and the others continued their journey at a steadier pace. However, trouble soon struck.
A powerful spatial storm formed within the passage, its visible space blades slicing through the void, threatening to annihilate anything within the storm.
"Be careful! This storm is incredibly dangerous. Everyone, stay alert!" Xiao Xuan warned immediately, his tone grave.
Among the group, the furthest outsider was Gu Xun'er. The others were either part of the Xiao Clan or, like Medusa, closely connected to it. Over the years, Medusa's close association with Xiao Tiance had not gone unnoticed by Xiao Xuan.
Although he didn't know the exact nature of their relationship, it was clear that she often stayed in the Ninth Level of Tiance Manor. Her frequent presence made it obvious to everyone that Medusa was effectively one of Xiao Tiance's people.
With Xiao Tiance temporarily absent, it was Xiao Xuan's responsibility to ensure the safety of everyone in the group.
"Got it, Emperor Xuan. We'll be careful," the group replied, bracing themselves.
Though they couldn't use their soul power to measure the storm's range, the oppressive aura of imminent danger had everyone on edge.
Suddenly, a spatial blade hurtled toward Xiao Tian Ming at incredible speed. Even the Dou Emperors in the group found its velocity unnerving.
"Damn it!" Xiao Tian Ming cursed, trying to dodge. But he was too slow.
"Boom!"
As the blade neared Xiao Tian Ming's protective barrier, Xiao Xuan struck out, countering the attack with a powerful palm strike.
The collision between the two forces sent shockwaves rippling through the passage. Simultaneously, Mu Ling intervened to pull Xiao Tian Ming away, narrowly avoiding the blade's full impact.
"Such a powerful spatial blade it withstood my full strength palm strike. This is going to be troublesome," Xiao Xuan said grimly.
"Let me test its power next. My speed is the fastest here," Huang Min volunteered.
She extended her phoenix like wings, their fiery feathers radiating a dazzling light. Even in her humanoid form, she invoked her clan's secret art to boost her abilities.
Her mastery of the Tianhuang Secret Art had reached the point where its use no longer weakened her, unlike before. For Huang Min, it now felt as natural as breathing a testament to her ascension to the Dou Emperor realm.
"Be careful, Min'er," Xiao Xuan reminded her.
The group knew her speed was unmatched. Even Xiao Tiance would struggle to keep up with her full speed flight unless he used pre prepared formations to trap her.
"Don't worry. I'll be fine," Huang Min assured them.
With a powerful flap of her wings, she became a streak of light, moving so quickly that her figure blurred. As another spatial blade emerged from the storm, she raised a piece of special metal, using it like a club to test the blade's strength.
Shk!
The metal met the spatial blade and was instantly sliced open as if it were mere paper.
"Min'er, be careful!" Xiao Xuan called out, his concern evident.
Despite the spatial blade's terrifying sharpness, Huang Min remained calm. She observed, "Such sharpness! This spatial blade cut through metal that even Dou Emperors can barely scratch. But the good news is that its power weakened slightly when slicing the metal."
With that realization, Huang Min flapped her wings again. This time, her movements captured the blade, sealing it in a fiery vortex of Nirvana Flames.
Boom!
The Nirvana Flames roared, their heat rivaling that of the top ranked Heavenly Flames. Empowered by a Dou Emperor, their intensity was terrifying enough to rival Xiao Tiance's strongest formations.
"It's working!" Huang Min exclaimed.
The spatial blade's movements slowed as the flames consumed it.
As Huang Min successfully halted a space blade, she felt a wave of relief. If they couldn't neutralize even one blade, there would be no way to survive the storm ahead, which was filled with thousands of these deadly spatial blades.
Hiss!
The moment the Nirvana Flame touched the space blade, the two forces fused, creating a massive burst of energy before Huang Min swiftly pushed it into the spatial storm with a palm strike.
Boom!
The energy exploded, destroying the core of the spatial storm.
"It works! Everyone, use spatial power to bind the space blades, then inject them with Nirvana Flame from Ling Yun and me. Together, we'll launch them into the storm!" Huang Min exclaimed excitedly.
"Haha! Impressive courage!" Mu Ling laughed heartily, using his spatial power to pull three space blades out of the storm. Ling Yun quickly infused them with Nirvana Flame, and Mu Ling hurled the transformed blades into the storm.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A series of explosions echoed, and within moments, the storm's intensity began to wane.
Encouraged, everyone sprang into action. Within a minute, the spatial storm dissipated entirely. However, as it disappeared, over a dozen space blades shot toward their rear.
Phew!
Xiao Xuan, seeing the group safe, let out a sigh of relief but couldn't shake his lingering unease. "This spatial passage is full of unpredictable dangers. From now on, I'll take the lead. Mu Ling will guard the rear, Min'er will stay on the left, and the Empress on the right. Everyone else stays in the center. If danger arises, protect each other immediately."
"Understood!" everyone responded, quickly reorganizing their formation and continuing forward.
Xiao Yan's Struggle
While Xiao Xuan's group narrowly escaped the storm, Xiao Yan wasn't as fortunate. One of the errant space blades from the storm hurtled toward him. Were it not for the protective array given to him by Gu Xun'er, the blade would have easily severed his body in an instant.
Even so, the close call left Xiao Yan's scalp tingling. A chill ran down his spine as he realized that his physical body alone couldn't withstand such power.
"Damn it! How can these space blades be so deadly? If not for Xun'er's array, I'd already be dead," Xiao Yan muttered, his heart racing as he steeled himself and focused all his energy on dodging.
Despite his efforts, the blades were too fast. Time and again, his protective array was the only thing keeping him alive.
Behind him, an unlucky eight star Dou Saint wasn't as fortunate. A space blade tore through the cultivator's body before erasing his soul. His final realization before death was that he had been completely outmatched.
Further back, Gu Yuan and Zhu Kun traveled together. Thanks to Zhu Kun's innate sensitivity to spatial forces, they narrowly avoided the same fate.
Reuniting with Xiao Tiance
At the front of the group, Xiao Tiance had also encountered a spatial storm while retrieving the Emperor's Origin Essence. While it was less severe than what Xiao Xuan faced, it revealed that his spirit arrays had a natural advantage against such phenomena.
"Time rules; space governs," he mused. "Spirit arrays aren't exactly time manipulation, but they seem to align with spatial forces. That's why they're effective here."
With this insight, Xiao Tiance led the group forward, neutralizing any threats. Spatial storms, black hole like voids, and other dangers were systematically dismantled by his spirit arrays.
A Terrifying Obstacle
Suddenly, a black mass loomed ahead, blocking the path. Even Xiao Tiance, a Dou Emperor, felt a sense of dread.
"Be cautious. There's something incredibly dangerous up ahead," Xiao Tiance warned, halting the group.
As they approached within a hundred meters of the black mass, everyone's scalp tingled.
"Impossible! There's thunder in the spatial passage? And it's even more powerful than the Nine Profound Golden Lightning!" Xiao Tiance exclaimed, his voice tinged with worry.
"This lightning resembles Black Demon Thunder, but it's far more potent than anything we've seen on the Dou Qi Continent," Xiao Xuan added, his face grave.
"What do we do, Uncle Tiance? This thunder is so strong that if it even touches us, we'll be severely injured, if not outright killed," Gu Xun'er asked anxiously.
"Let me try something first," Xiao Tiance replied.
He quickly formed a spirit array with deft hand movements, a complex formation taking shape before him.
Boom!
With a wave of his hand, the high level spirit array flew toward the black thunder.
Crack!
The moment the array touched the thunder, a deafening roar resounded. Xiao Tiance watched as cracks appeared in the array.
What was more alarming was that the black thunder seemed almost sentient. Upon failing to destroy the array in one strike, it grew more violent, as if determined to obliterate the array entirely.
Testing the Limits
Despite the tension, Xiao Tiance's expression softened slightly. If the thunder couldn't destroy his array in one blow, then it wasn't invincible it had weaknesses.
"Let's see how this fares," Xiao Tiance murmured.
Leaping forward, he struck the cracked array with his palm, stabilizing it. Then, with lightning fast hand seals, he created another array, this one glowing with golden light.
"Try this one!" he said, launching the golden array toward the black thunder.
(To be continued…)
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