Xiu Mei froze mid-swing, her hammer dripping with condensed seawater as her eyes widened. Her qilin, the one she had battled tooth and nail, abandoned the clash entirely to rush toward Shi Yang's towering form. She hovered, slack-jawed, the storm winds whipping her braid.
"That's… Uncle Shi?" she whispered, disbelief etched across her face. The sight of his vast water-dragon body, horns glistening like frozen glaciers, made her pulse quicken. Her hammer lowered slightly. "He's… terrifying…"
From the carriage far below, Lianhua stood clutching the wooden rails, her knuckles white. Her breath caught in her throat as the titanic dragon's silhouette blotted out the sky. Rain fell heavier around her, soaking her clothes, but she couldn't look away. "Shi Yang…" Her voice trembled with awe and fear. For the first time, she realized how wide the gulf between mortal and cultivator had become. "He really is walking a path beyond men."
Han Jie, sweat dripping down her forehead from channeling talismans, gawked openly. "What… in heaven's name… is he?!" Sparks of lightning from her own charms fizzled uselessly against the scene above. Her lips tightened, awe warring with envy. "I thought he was just a junior with a few tricks… This… this is something else entirely."
Above them all, the storm churned as Shi Yang and the two qilin clashed.
Roar!!!
The pair moved as one, flaming manes streaming like banners of war. Their bodies blazed, scales igniting brighter with each step in the clouds. One led with fire, the other with wind, and together they created a storm of flame-laced hurricanes that tore the heavens apart.
Shi Yang surged forward, water scales glistening, his massive form weaving through the storm like a serpent. His eyes glowed an unearthly blue as he roared back, waves bursting from his maw to counter their assault. The clash of elements shook the skies—fire met flood, wind split rain, and lightning scattered across the horizon.
The first qilin slashed with burning hooves, the flames reaching like blades. Shi Yang coiled, body spiraling, and smothered it with a tidal wave. Steam erupted, clouding the sky. The second charged through the mist, horns glowing, and slammed into his flank, the impact rattling his watery body.
Shi Yang absorbed it, rippling instead of breaking. His deep voice echoed like thunder:
"You'll have to do better!"
He lashed out, his serpentine tail of water smashing one qilin into the storm clouds. The beast roared, lightning erupting from its mane, the clouds themselves bending to its will. Bolts of silver-white lightning lanced upward, striking Shi Yang's watery body, splitting him apart into torrents.
For a heartbeat, it looked as if he had been shattered.
But then his form swirled together again—stronger. Flames and lightning twisted within the torrents of water, steam hissing as his comprehension sharpened. His body no longer buckled beneath the clash; instead, it absorbed it, suppressing the storm. Fire and lightning now burned as fuel for his watery might.
The qilin roared furiously, but Shi Yang's lips curled into a wild grin.
"Your flames… your lightning… mean nothing to me!"
With a single inhale, he drew the storm's power into himself. The clouds trembled, torrents of rain and arcs of lightning twisting violently as they poured into his maw. Sparks cracked across his scales, his body swelling with azure brilliance until the heavens quaked.
Then he struck.
His claws raked the flaming qilin, slamming it against the clouds until the sky itself rippled. In his mouth, darkness churned with bolts of blue, forming a spiraling vortex. His tail lashed out, catching the wind qilin mid-charge, dragging it into his line of fire.
"Asura Koi… DRAGON IMPACT!"
His roar bellowed through the skies as his jaws split wide. A torrent of lightning surged forth, a beam so fierce it tore the heavens apart.
KA-BOOOOM!
The world lit up in searing brilliance. The storm writhed under his fury as the bolt crashed into the qilin's body, scales splitting as arcs of blue fire streaked across its frame. The beast shrieked in agony, thrashing as thunder rolled endlessly.
Swish! Bang!
Shi Yang's tail whipped it away, sending the creature crashing into the earth. He turned toward the second qilin, its flames roaring higher, forming hundreds of blazing clones that rushed toward him.
"ROOAARRR!!!"
The air became fire, but Shi Yang's neck arched smoothly. His maw swept in a straight line, scattering the flame doubles like mist. His eyes flashed as he lunged at the real body. The qilin's chest swelled—it inhaled, then exhaled in a draconic blaze that split the sky.
Flames thundered toward him. Shi Yang only smiled, teeth bared. He couldn't absorb fire or lightning quickly enough this time. Instead, he summoned his second god-blood art.
His maw glowed crimson, rivers of blood-light weaving through the water that made his body.
"Bursting River Stream!!!"
A torrent erupted like a waterfall in reverse, blood cascading in violent streams that hissed as they tore through the qilin's fire.
HSSSSHHHH!
The collision filled the air with choking steam.
From below, the fallen qilin groaned, consciousness returning. It roared at the skies, winds surging around it, mingling with weak flames as it staggered back into the fight.
"Not so fast," Han Jie's voice cut through the storm.
Her eyes narrowed, bangles chiming faintly as her wrists moved in slow, deliberate arcs. The sound was soft, almost soothing, as she drew out a single hairpin. The qilin's eyes followed her every motion, but when her hand reached behind her back—she froze.
For an instant, it was as though she had forgotten how to move.
The beast snarled, ready to charge the humans who dared threaten its herd. But as it stepped forward, it froze again. The woman in front of it began to split into dozen figures that stood in its vision, each brandishing talismans.
BOOM!!!
Electric explosions wrapped its body, arcs bursting across its hide.
NEIGHHHHHHH!!!
The qilin screamed, hooves sparking as it stumbled, flames lashing out in random fury.
But Han Jie was nowhere to be found. Its head whipped around—only to see Xiu Mei in the distance, hammer in hand, corralling the herd with crushing blows to keep them from scattering. The qilin bristled, torn between rage and fear, before snapping its head skyward.
Shi Yang was still locked with its mate, tail thrashing, blood and water colliding with flame.
The qilin stamped its hooves, ready to ascend, when the chime returned—clearer, sharper.
BUZZZZZZ!
A golden needle tore into its eye socket with a wet, piercing sound.
SSSKRRRCH!
It shrieked, thrashing wildly, winds spiraling into a storm that shook the ground.
BOOOOM!
Its mate plummeted from the sky. It looked up—but instead of a blue water dragon, it saw a creature cloaked in crimson, its scales shimmering with blood. Shi Yang roared, crashing down like judgment incarnate.
The field warped—then shifted again. They were back in the skies, storm clouds trembling.
The chime rang once more.
Panic shot through the qilin as it fired desperate blades of wind, tearing at the storm.
"Don't worry, little one," Han Jie's voice drifted from behind it, colder now. "I'll make it quick… Thunder Strikes."
The heavens rumbled. Three spirit stones glowed beneath its feet, feeding a formation that tore the clouds apart.
CRAAASHHH!!!
Golden bolts rained down in relentless fury, each one exploding against the qilin before it could even twitch.
JANGLE!
The bangles on her wrist chimed again, sweet and cruel.
"Thanks for keeping it busy," Xiu Mei called, her voice cheerful despite the carnage. She raised her hammer high, water spiraling around it like a whirlpool.
"The tide's pool—destroyer of ships, treasures, and any fool who dares cross it: Barnacle Infestation!"
Water warped into thousands of clustered barnacles that latched onto her hammer and rippled down its length.
"Water Burst… SMASH!!!"
She swung, the barnacles erupting in violent jets as the hammer crashed down. At that exact moment, Han Jie's talismans whirled into orbit around the weapon, weaving lightning across its surface.
Their combined strike blazed like the judgment of heaven—unstoppable, absolute.