Chapter 966: Summoning Lightning

As E Kuai spoke, a series of strange cracking sounds came from his joints, and his stature suddenly grew several feet taller. He thrust a hand out from his sleeve, and just like Han Li before him, pressed his palm directly against the blood-colored light barrier, causing it to cave inward, and struck the statue.

The moment his palm touched the statue, his five fingers suddenly curled sharply, piercing straight through the blood-colored light barrier and pressing onto the scaled beast statue.

Accompanied by his rapid incantation, his five fingers twisted violently, and the strange beast statue immediately shook violently in response, the blood-red light glowing on its body dimming considerably.

With a soft "pop," the blood cocoon enveloping Qin Yuan suddenly burst open.

E Kuai formed a hand seal with one hand while stirring the air above the blood array with the other. A streak of blood-colored light immediately coiled around, condensing into a huge blood-colored hand that reached out and grabbed at Qin Yuan.

Seeing this, Han Li was about to intervene when his heart suddenly jolted, and he immediately looked up toward the sky.

At the same time he noticed the anomaly, E Kuai also reacted, looking up at the sky.

Above the roof, now riddled with large holes, there was no longer any trace of the yellow cloud sea. Instead, a brilliant silver radiance cascaded down like a waterfall.

"Crackle..."

In the high sky, it seemed as if a celestial lightning pool had suddenly overturned, pouring out all its silver lightning liquid, straight down into the hall.

"Boom!"

With a deafening roar, all the lightning liquid suddenly condensed into a thick pillar of lightning that crashed down, heading straight for the top of E Kuai's head.

The lightning pillar was entwined with electric nets, and thick bolts of electricity constantly shot out, accompanied by sounds like dragon roars, fully displaying its formidable power.

Han Li quickly controlled the formation, shifting his position and retreating more than ten zhang.

A flicker of surprise flashed in E Kuai's eyes. Without any hesitation, he grabbed Qin Yuan, who he had just seized, and threw him upward, directly into the lightning pillar.

A thunderous explosion rang out.

Before Qin Yuan could even let out a scream, his body turned to ash in a flash of silver light, not even his nascent soul escaping.

A large swath of silver electric light exploded, turning into a dazzling white light that illuminated the entire hall. Almost everyone involuntarily stepped back and covered their eyes.

No one noticed that Chen Yang, who had been lying motionless on the ground, laboriously took out a palm-sized black round mirror from his bosom. With bloodstained fingers, he slid them across the mirror a few times, and his lips moved slightly.

As if in response, a ring of white light appeared on E Kuai's body.

The scattered electric light suddenly condensed again, reforming into a pillar of lightning that struck at E Kuai once more, its power seemingly undiminished.

E Kuai's expression was as dark as water. Forgetting about Han Li, he quickly leaped back more than ten zhang.

As the lightning bolt missed and was about to hit the ground, it abruptly turned and chased after E Kuai again without losing momentum.

E Kuai frowned, dodged again with a flicker.

But the lightning, as if guided, changed direction again and continued to pursue him.

E Kuai's gaze shifted, inadvertently catching sight of the half-black round mirror under Chen Yang. Anger flashed in his eyes. As he dodged in midair, he reached into his bosom and took out a palm-sized round mirror.

Apart from its completely different color, the small mirror was identical in form to Chen Yang's black mirror.

"Good lad, you've been plotting against me for over a hundred years. Take it back!" E Kuai roared, throwing the white round mirror toward the prone Chen Yang.

The mirror hit the ground with a "smack," rolled a few times, and came to rest beside Chen Yang.

A white light flashed on the mirror's surface, reflecting a white arc that still clung to E Kuai like a persistent ghost, impossible to shake off no matter how he dodged.

"Hmph, you've worn it for so many years that the Yin-Yang Lightning Mirror is saturated with your aura. You can't escape..." Chen Yang raised his head with difficulty, looked over, and sneered.

Hearing this, E Kuai's anger flared, but he had no time to deal with him, as the lightning pursued him relentlessly.

Zhu Ziyuan and the others had no idea where this inexplicable lightning came from, that it could drive E Kuai to such a state.

Shi Chuankong and a few others silently chanted, "Faster, faster..."

After dodging repeatedly, seeing that the lightning's speed and power showed no sign of waning, a resolute look flashed in E Kuai's eyes.

He flew down before the three stone arch bridges in the front hall, abruptly halted, and a dazzling white light burst from his body as over a thousand acupoints lit up.

A visible protective aura emanated from him, enveloping his entire body like blazing white flames.

"Come on!"

He roared, spun around, and threw a punch at the oncoming lightning.

A thunderous boom!

A silver electric light exploded, turning into a spherical lightning bolt that engulfed E Kuai.

Silver currents surged wildly in the surrounding void, causing space to fluctuate violently and unstably. Visible spatial cracks continuously formed and healed.

The blood-colored light barrier trembled violently, nearly torn apart, but the great array absorbed blood and flesh energy in time to prevent a collapse.

Han Li was deeply shaken. He looked up again at the sky, where the yellow cloud sea had reappeared, with a dark, swirling hole in the middle, impossible to tell if more lightning would fall.

He focused his gaze, immediately activated the great array to its fullest, doubling the absorption of blood and flesh energy from the weeping blood array, while remaining tense, ready to flee at any moment.

After more than ten breaths, the huge spherical lightning finally dissipated.

All the silver electric threads gradually faded, revealing E Kuai's figure within.

He remained standing, his acupoints flickering like stars in the night sky. Only his right arm, which had directly faced the lightning pillar, was charred black like charcoal, with black embers falling off.

"Whoosh..."

E Kuai let out a long breath, and a puff of white smoke spewed from his mouth.

His right shoulder shook violently, and the entire arm disintegrated into black ash.

But soon, a white light gushed from the broken area, covering the wound, and flesh and bone grew back inch by inch, restoring it to its original state in a few breaths.

...

E Kuai's cheeks were flushed red, and the dazzling light from his acupoints vanished, revealing his body.

His body was also bright red like blood, with bulging veins like countless green pythons coiled around him, looking extremely terrifying.

"The Longgu Technique!" Han Li's expression shifted within the blood array.

The next moment, the blood color on E Kuai's body instantly faded, his face turned pale as paper, and his steps became unsteady.

Moreover, all his acupoints emitted a "hiss" sound, spitting out threads of blood, then quickly dimmed, and he couldn't help spitting out a mouthful of blood.

Although he had used the Longgu Technique in time to withstand the lightning, the terrifying power of that lightning had severely damaged all his acupoints.

"City Lord!" Zhu Ziyuan and Zhu Ziqing rushed over, supporting E Kuai from both sides, their faces full of worry.

E Kuai ignored them and looked up.

"Fellow Daoist E, long time no see. I trust you've been well."

At that moment, accompanied by a series of giggles, seven figures leaped down from the large hole in the roof. The foremost one, in a trailing white dress with a graceful figure, was Sha Xin.

The black-clad woman with a black veil was also there, close beside Sha Xin.

The other five were Zhuo Ge, Wu Yun, the burly man, and two bald men in black armor.

E Kuai narrowed his eyes, seemingly unsurprised by Sha Xin's appearance. He pushed aside Zhu Ziyuan and the others and steadied himself.

Sun Tu and the others were shocked to see the people from Puppet City appear.

Inside the blood array, Han Li also showed a hint of surprise at the arrival of the Puppet City group. His gaze lingered briefly on the black-clad woman before quickly shifting away, still feigning a look of agony while secretly frantically urging the small green bottle within him to absorb the blood and flesh energy surging from below.

The Puppet City group landed on the ground, took in the scene in the hall—especially the huge blood array and Han Li inside—and their expressions shifted.

The black-clad woman's beautiful eyes reflected the pitiful Han Li in the blood array. Her body suddenly trembled, a strange light flickered in her eyes, and her lips parted slightly beneath the black veil as if to speak.

Just then, several golden lines appeared on her brow, and her eyes became dazed, but then immediately returned to normal. However, the strange light in her eyes had vanished, leaving only calm.

The change in the black-clad woman lasted only an instant, unnoticed by everyone present. But Han Li, who had been secretly watching her, clearly saw it and was momentarily stunned.

Just then, two figures flashed and landed beside Sha Xin and the others—Chen Yang and Xuan Yuan Xing.

Chen Yang's face now bore a bright red glow, as if he had taken some kind of pill, and he had regained the ability to move, though his steps were still somewhat unsteady.

"Fellow Daoist Chen, after years of planning, today it's finally accomplished. You deserve the highest credit!" Zhuo Ge laughed heartily, his face excited.

"It was a stroke of luck. Thanks to City Lord Sha Xin's clever arrangement, when I first became the City Lord of Qingyang, I presented the Yin Thunder Mirror to E Kuai as a tribute. The yin thunder power within the mirror aids in body tempering and is beneficial to his cultivation. E Kuai was sure to wear it close to his body. Everything went as the City Lord predicted!" Chen Yang said with a smile.

"Xuan Yuan, you've worked hard lurking in Xuan City for many years. You will be generously rewarded later." Zhuo Ge said to Xuan Yuan Xing.

"It is my honor to share the City Lord's burdens. I dare not ask for a reward!" Xuan Yuan Xing said respectfully.

"Good, good, good! So you had already colluded and laid your plans from that time. Truly far-sighted!" E Kuai's face turned extremely ugly as he heard Chen Yang and the others' conversation, and he said coldly.