harleyscars Page 214
Page 214
The lightning patterns on the stone bricks glowed with a fluorescent light, extending along Wei Changxuan's footsteps.
Like a luminous path of lightning, it points directly to the auction three days later, and also to the secret of the Immortal's Book hidden at the core of the lightning punishment.
Mu Nanzhi suddenly caught a whiff of ink in the air—the scent of gold pages resonating with the fragments of the underground palace scrolls.
She saw that the ancient book in (King Zhao) Wei Changxuan's sleeve had finally calmed down, but in the corner of the cover...
A new half-emblazoned mark appeared, facing the contract mark between Lei Qianjue's eyebrows.
In the distance, carrier pigeons from the underground river flew by again, unaware that beneath the stone bricks of the Lei family's villa...
A vast net, woven from lightning strikes, golden pages, and contracts, has quietly been unfurled.
All that remains is the auction three days from now, which will draw all those who covet the Immortal's Book into this "divine punishment" that spans across time.
Chapter 393 Assassination in the Dark River, Everyone Prepares for the Enemy!
Before Wei Changxuan finished speaking, half an inch of golden light suddenly shone from the edge of the Earth Book in his sleeve, licking the thunder patterns on Lei Qianjue's palm like a snake.
The old man's pupils constricted sharply—that ray of golden light contained the same Heavenly Dao patterns found in the murals of the Lei Men Ancestral Temple.
The patterns on the rubbings of the fragments he had seen in the secret room years ago were a harbinger of "divine punishment descending upon the world."
He grabbed Wei Changxuan's wrist with his other hand, and lightning crackled in his palm, forming a fine electric net, but it wasn't meant to be an attack.
Instead, he actively channeled the lightning energy from the earth's veins into the other person's body: "Young master, please observe, this lightning-guiding technique can use the power of the earth's veins to solidify into form. If it resonates with the wondrous book in your sleeve..."
Before he could finish speaking, footsteps outside the courtyard were already crunching on the bluestone slabs.
The knocking sound carried the distinctive poisonous aura of the Dark River, and Lei Qianjue's jade pendant suddenly shattered.
The shattered jade fragments transformed into lightning arrows that shot towards the four corners of the wall—the assassins lying in ambush at the base of the wall were caught off guard, and the muffled groans of being burned by the lightning startled the roosting birds.
The laughter of "Bloody Hand Butcher" Su Wangyan, mixed with the stench of blood, drifted over:
"Old Lei, what kind of hero hides in a tortoise shell? Back when your father was stabbed through by my master, he wasn't this pathetic!"
Wei Changxuan looked at Mu Nanzhi and saw her fingers forming a hand seal, her whisk sweeping across the area.
Eight earthen-yellow light walls rose from the ground—a protective technique that resonated with the "Earth Vein Chapter" of the Earth Book.
He suddenly spread his sleeves, and the golden light of the Earth Book no longer concealed itself, but transformed into nine golden pages the instant it left his body.
Like a butterfly, it hovered around the group, saying, "Proceed according to plan."
The golden page swept across Yan Lingji's fingertips, and the blue flames suddenly became tinged with gold, transforming into the shape of a fire phoenix and rushing towards the east gate;
Jingni's longsword licked the edge of the golden page, and the same cloud and thunder patterns as the Earth Book appeared on the blade, as if it had been given a new sword intent.
When Lei Qianjue and his assassins broke down the courtyard gate, they saw Su Wangyan's poisoned chain knife cleave through the lightning.
The assassin's human skin mask had been half peeled off, revealing a hideous bloody pattern on his left cheek—the very symbol of the Dark River's "Blood Hand Hall."
"Old man, you think you can stop me with Golden Pages kid?"
The poisonous mist hurled from the chain blades collided with the lightning shields of the Thunder Gate assassins, producing a sizzling, corrosive sound.
"The Dark River had already foreseen that the Thunder Punishment Array in the Lei Family Underground Palace required the Heavenly Punishment Bloodline to activate."
Wei Changxuan is right here in the courtyard; you're completely overwhelmed!
Before he could finish speaking, Wei Changxuan had already leaped onto the roof using the golden pages.
He saw the assassins from the underground river at the west corner gate using bone-corroding powder to destroy the eye of the lightning pattern array.
With a flick of the fingertip, a golden page transformed into a blade of light that slashed down—the moment the blade touched the ground,
Suddenly, the lightning patterns at the center of the formation lit up, and the entire wall transformed into a lightning barrier, trapping the assassins in a net of light.
"Mu Nanzhi! Activate the earth's veins!" Before his shout had even finished, the ground suddenly trembled.
Nine stone pillars rose from the direction of the underground palace, each pillar engraved with ancient seal script corresponding to the Earth Script, which was the "Thunder Punishment Array Eye" that Lei Qianjue had just mentioned.
The fire array at the east gate, where Yan Lingji was located, had already turned the sky a fiery red.
The blue flames at her fingertips, imbued with the power of golden pages, could leave an inextinguishable fire mark on the bricks of the Thunder Gate—marking those Dark River assassins who were once immune to fire.
At this moment, it was being chased by the fire phoenix and was running away with its head in its hands. The poisonous smoke turned into harmless fluorescent light as soon as it touched the golden flames.
Jing Ni's longsword was even more elusive, utilizing the "lightning speed" granted by the golden pages.
While maneuvering on the rooftop with the assassin from the underground river, the sword's shadow unexpectedly crackled with tiny sparks of lightning.
Each sword strike was accompanied by the crisp sound of lightning crackling.
Chapter 394 Thunder Academy Night Battle! A Battle Against the Dark River!
At this moment, the battle between Lei Qianjue and Su Wangyan had reached a fever pitch.
The old man's lightning sword was entangled by the chain blade, but suddenly he lost his grip and turned around.
The ball of lightning slammed into the ground—the entire bluestone slab of the courtyard gate flipped up with a roar, revealing the "Heavenly Punishment Trap" engraved with lightning patterns underneath.
Su Wangyan's pupils contracted sharply. He tried to retreat but his feet were locked in place by lightning.
As soon as the chain blade struck the ground, Wei Changxuan's golden pages rained down like a storm, each page precisely inserted into a node of the lightning array.
"Boom—" The lightning energy from the earth's veins erupted along the golden pages, turning the land beneath the feet of the Dark River assassins into a sea of lightning, and the poisoned weapons melted into molten iron in the lightning and fire.
"Impossible! The Thunder Punishment Array needs three days to recharge!"
Su Wangyan's roar was swallowed by the lightning. He saw the Earth Book in Wei Changxuan's sleeve fully unfold.
The ancient seal script on the golden pages lit up simultaneously with the fragments of scrolls deep within the underground palace—it turned out that as early as when Wei Changxuan stepped into the courtyard,
The Earth Book had already resonated with the core of the Thunder Punishment Array, those seemingly casual footsteps...
In reality, it triggered all the "gates of life" in the array.
“Tianjizi…you really did inscribe the secret into the book…”
Before Su Wangyan collapsed, he finally recognized the words on the cover of the Earth Book—it was the original "Heavenly Punishment Book" that had driven the three elders of the Dark River mad back then.
When the battle ended, the morning mist had already enveloped the eaves of the Lei family's villa.
Wei Changxuan brushed away the bloodstains on the golden pages of the Earth Book and discovered a new line of small characters appearing in the corner of a certain page:
"Thunderous punishment forges gold, the Heavenly Key begins to ring." Mu Nanzhi's whisk was stained with the poisonous powder of the Dark River.
Yet it remained intact—the golden light from the Earth Book had just swept across her sleeve, burning the deadly poison to powder.
Yan Lingji, her fingertips blazing with blue flames, suddenly leaned closer to him:
"Hey, did your lousy book just upgrade my fire spell?"
It feels like the fires are burning people now, and they even have the aftereffects of being struck by lightning!
Amidst the despairing remains of the underground river scattered across the ground, Lei Qian suddenly pulled out half a charred jade slip from his robes—
That was the "Secret Map of the Underground Palace of the Dark River" that Su Wangyan tried to destroy before he died.
The poisonous blood seeping from the crack in the jade slip transformed into shimmering lightning beads the instant it came into contact with the golden light of the Earth Book.
"Does the young master know why the Dark River is making such a desperate gamble tonight?"
He pressed the jade slip onto the cover of the Earth Book, and suddenly the crack lit up with the same patterns as the Earth Book.
"What they fear isn't the Thunder Gate, but..." He pointed to the Earth Book, then to Wei Changxuan's brow.
"The blood of the Heavenly Punishment Immortal flows in your veins."
Asking for flowers
The night wind lifted the golden pages of the Earth Book, and one of the pages suddenly drifted toward the underground palace, as if drawn by an invisible hand.
Wei Changxuan watched the page disappear into the morning mist, and heard a faint chime coming from the depths of the underground palace—it was the signal of the Earth Key responding to the Heaven Key.
Lei Qianjue patted his shoulder, the lightning patterns on his palm touching the golden mark on his wrist.
Tiny flashes of lightning were even stirred in the air:
"At the auction three days from now, let those people see—when Thunder Gate's Lightning meets Earth Book's Heavenly Punishment, the rules of the martial world need to be rewritten."
Mu Nanzhi suddenly pointed to the eastern horizon:
"Young master, the golden light of the Earth Book..." In the morning mist, countless illusory golden pages were seen converging westward along the earth's veins.
Wherever it passed, the poisonous fog strongholds buried in the underground river burst into lightning.
Wei Changxuan gripped the Earth Book tightly, feeling his heartbeat synchronized with the earth's veins—he finally understood.
The extraordinary book his mother gave him before she died was never a hot potato.
Rather, it is the key to unlocking some ancient secret, and tonight's battle at Thunder Academy...
But the first soft click when the key is inserted into the lock is the longest.
Chapter 395 Jing Ni confronts the Dark River Assassins!
In the distance, the carrier pigeon of the underground river fell into a pool of blood, the secret message on its anklet burned to ashes by lightning.
It didn't know that beneath the corpse, in the bluestone slab...
The thunder pattern left by the golden pages of the Earth Book is growing, like a seed.
Beneath the surface of Qiandong City, the seed of thunder, capable of transforming the world, was buried.
As Wei Changxuan gazed at the Earth Book in his hand, he suddenly recalled Lei Qianjue's whisper from earlier:
"Tianjizi once said that when the golden pages encounter lightning of 'seven six seven,' it will be the day when the immortal book returns to the human world."
Rather, it was some long-lost call from ancient times.
The blue bricks of the West Corner Gate were soaked with night dew, gleaming with a cold, bluish-gray light under the blood-red moonlight.
Like bones soaked in blood.
Su Wangyan's black cloak moved without wind, and the dark river skull pattern embroidered on the edge of the fabric undulated with his movements, like countless open ghost faces.
Twelve poisoned short blades spun at his fingertips, transforming into shimmering silver lotuses.
A ghostly green venom seeped from the blood grooves on the blade, and as it dripped to the ground, wisps of white steam rose from it.
That was the Dark River's unique "Bone-Corroding and Heart-Corroding Poison," capable of dissolving through fine steel armor within three breaths.
The assassins of the "Thirteen Killers of the Underworld" surrounded them, using the "Blood River Step."
The three-inch iron spikes on the sole of the boot sliced through the bluestone slab, and sparks flew onto the poisoned blade, bursting into a ghostly blue light.