Thrilling Battle

The Thunder Gate was guarded by Tian Wenjin, who possessed the Thunder Spirit Root.

In this formation space, thunder and lightning filled both the heavens and earth.

The sky resembled that before a summer storm, restless and turbulent, with thick dark clouds and rolling thunder, lightning snaking through. The oppression of black clouds and the majesty of thunder created an unsettling fear in people's hearts.

From within the black clouds, white, blue, and purple lightning continuously burst forth, striking the ground with deafening "boom" sounds.

Countless lightning bolts struck down, connecting heaven and earth, forming a forest of lightning!

The ground wasn't really ground either - like the sky, it was covered in thick clouds. Moreover, compared to the clouds above, the ground clouds seemed more celestial. Standing on them felt like being above the clouds, with clouds beneath one's feet, above the cloud layer, at the source of lightning - the Thunder Pool!

Lightning also emerged from the clouds underfoot, connecting to the sky in clusters, like coral trees in the sea.

Amidst the thunderous chaos, lightning stood like trees, creating an apocalyptic scene.

At the center of this lightning forest floated a sword - the Imperial Thunder Sword. It was being tempered by thunder, absorbing its essence, nurtured by the formation's lightning.

Behind it stood a woman in red, with a cold yet determined demeanor and otherworldly beauty.

Due to the lightning, her silk-like black hair stood on end, giving her a wild appearance. In this thunderous apocalyptic scene, she resembled a supreme demon lord, guardian of the demon realm!

When Fu Ming entered this thunder space and saw this terrifying scene - the sword connecting heaven and earth's lightning, and the red-clad woman amidst the thunder - he absurdly felt that he was the hero meant to save the world, while she was the great demon lord who could destroy heaven and earth.

He cast a protective spell to shield himself from stray lightning bolts.

"So it's you, Tian Wenjin!"

Due to the constant thunder, the space was quite noisy, so Fu Ming naturally spoke very loudly.

"Which level have you reached in your Divine Thunder Sword Qi?" he shouted. "Lu Junxing created the Four Realms of Sword Qi - which realm are you in now?"

Tian Wenjin was known as the mission maniac in the Dao Sword Sect. She took on missions both to temper herself and to earn money (she had previously borrowed a large sum of spirit stones from Qin Ran to save Huang Feiyu, which she was gradually repaying through missions).

Her cultivation life consisted of: completing missions, cultivating, more missions, improving cultivation, learning specific spells for missions, more missions, sword practice...

A simple yet not-so-simple, unpretentious cultivation life.

During her missions and learning skills for them, she inevitably interacted with disciples from other sects.

Moreover, due to both her beauty and strength, she gradually gained quite a reputation in the Hengduan Mountains region.

Along with Li Shiyin, another beautiful and powerful member of the Dao Sword Sect, these two - initially dubbed by Qin Ran as the Twin Beauties of Sword Peak - gained widespread recognition, and their title spread throughout the Hengduan Mountains.

In the lightning forest, Tian Wenjin opened her eyes, which were the silver-gray color of lightning, devoid of emotion. She looked down at Fu Ming from above, like a thunder god scorning a mortal.

"Third Realm," she replied coldly.

Her voice was icy and authoritative, echoing in the formation space as if she truly were a deity controlling heaven and earth.

"Third Realm?" Fu Ming drew his natal sword, smiling. "That's the realm of making the difficult seem easy, right? Making the difficult seem easy, sword qi like rain - not bad. This will be an interesting battle."

Tian Wenjin grabbed the Imperial Thunder Sword's hilt, bringing it to her side.

The Imperial Thunder Sword seemed to be pulled from the Thunder Pool, causing a crescendo of crackling electricity and thunderous booms.

It was quite intimidating.

"You are a sword cultivator..." she looked at Fu Ming coldly. "I will give you a sword cultivator's death."

"Death? The winner isn't decided yet!" Fu Ming declared loudly. "In our past encounters, you've lost more than you've won!"

Tian Wenjin stood in the air, giving him a faint look, her eyes clearly showing pity.

Their original strength had indeed been comparable, with Fu Ming slightly stronger, and victory depending on circumstances.

(Although Fu Ming had been beaten badly by Chasing the Wind, that was because Chasing the Wind was formidable, not because Fu Ming was weak. Even then, Chasing the Wind hadn't killed him, only severely injured him.)

But now, she had an advantage.

This entire thunder space existed because of her. Even though Tian Wenjin didn't plan to actively use the thunder space's power against Fu Ming like Li Shiyin would have, the space's invisible enhancement was enough to make her stronger than him.

"Whoosh!"

Words were no longer necessary. With a sound like thunder shaking space, Tian Wenjin raised the Imperial Thunder Sword, her form trailing a long blue lightning streak, moving at lightning speed toward Fu Ming.

"Come on then!"

Fu Ming showed no fear, shouting as he swung his sword, slightly bending his knees, and flying toward Tian Wenjin like an unsheathed flying sword.

"Clang!"

The two swords collided in mid-air, the infinitely sharp Boundless Sword Qi and the powerful Divine Thunder Sword Qi clashing with a tremendous sound, like early spring thunder!

"Crack!"

Thunder exploded!

Blue lightning composed of Divine Thunder Sword Qi burst forth, circumventing the Boundless Sword Qi and striking toward Fu Ming.

Fu Ming withdrew his sword, the sharp yet heavy Boundless Sword Qi retreating with him, blocking the lightning at the last moment.

The lightning struck the heavy Boundless Sword Qi but couldn't penetrate it. However, the enormous force was too much for Fu Ming's physical body to withstand.

With a "boom," the lightning struck, forcing Fu Ming back step by step until he lost balance and was blasted away.

Tian Wenjin, wielding the Imperial Thunder Sword, seized the opportunity to pursue and attack.

Fu Ming hurriedly adjusted his posture in mid-air, dispersing the heavy Boundless Sword Qi and swinging his sword to deflect Tian Wenjin's incoming Imperial Thunder Sword.

One was swift and fierce like lightning, the other sharp and heavy like the boundless void.

Both were fast and highly offensive, prioritizing attack over defense.

In an instant, two frenzied sword lights could be seen fighting from sky to ground, from ground to the edge of the space.

One blue, one gray, meeting and parting.

Their speed was extreme, able to traverse the formation space in a single movement;

Their sword strikes were incredibly fast, hundreds of thrusts in a single breath.

"Clang, clang, clang..."

The sound of clashing swords never ceased, echoing throughout the formation space, gradually drowning out even the thunder.

They were both fighting at full strength, neither daring to relax for a moment.

Two top-tier sword cultivators fighting for their lives, each strike at such extreme speed represented their entire understanding of the sword path, each move a masterpiece of perfect artistry.

Any relaxation would be disrespectful to their opponent and careless with their own life.

With attack and defense counting as one round.

Eight hundred rounds ago, they were evenly matched, both carrying injuries; but after eight hundred rounds, Fu Ming began to struggle.

It wasn't for any other reason than that he had reached his limit.

A cultivator's total amount of spiritual power has a limit; the speed at which spiritual power can circulate within the body has a limit.

The difference between cultivators is that some limits are higher, some lower.

Fu Ming's total spiritual power could still hold up, but his meridians could no longer sustain the circulation of power.

Eight hundred rounds of full-power attacks, spiritual power circulating at maximum speed for so long - this was the limit of what his meridians could bear. Now, his meridians could no longer support full-speed circulation of his spiritual power, could no longer support continued full-power attacks.

His meridians told him he needed to reduce his power, to use ninety-nine percent, or ninety-eight percent of his full strength.

But this wasn't Tian Wenjin's limit.

Or rather, this wasn't Tian Wenjin's limit within this thunder space.

She hadn't actively used the thunder space's power, but the space was unconsciously supporting her, nourishing her meridians.

The enemy was still at full strength, but he could no longer match it. So Fu Ming was forced into a defensive position. One thousand moves!

Fu Ming was clearly injured, only able to display eighty percent of his peak ability.

While Tian Wenjin could still fight at full power.

One thousand three hundred moves!

"Boom!"

Tian Wenjin struck with her sword, and a massive blue lightning bolt sent Fu Ming flying. He violently crashed into the barrier of the lightning space formation, barely managing to stabilize himself against its wall.

After steadying himself, Boundless Sword Qi immediately manifested on his blade, maintaining a defensive stance as he prepared to face Tian Wenjin's next barrage of attacks.

However, Tian Wenjin's devastating strike never came.

He looked up to see Tian Wenjin hovering motionless in the air. There she stood, sword in hand amidst the lightning, like a supreme goddess of thunder.

"You've lost!" Tian Wenjin declared.

"Heh!" Fu Ming chuckled, relaxing his battle stance. "You're very strong," he replied.

Fighting over a thousand rounds against a top-tier peer opponent with all his might, the battle had been exhilarating. Though defeated, he had no regrets!

Tian Wenjin opened her mouth, wanting to say something. She knew that she had relied on external power, and her victory wasn't something to be proud of.

"You're an opponent worthy of respect, and you needn't worry about that. This formation didn't help you as much as you think - your own strength is what made the difference," Fu Ming smiled and said to Tian Wenjin. "If you survive after this great battle, you'll surely reach the pinnacle of the sword path."

He circulated the magical power within his body, preparing his final technique. "Come!" he said, "Use your strongest move!"

Use your strongest technique to send me on my way!

Tian Wenjin gazed intently at Fu Ming, wanting to remember this person, then raised her sword and softly spoke: "Snow in the Wind!"

In an instant, the rolling thunder of the lightning space fell silent, and a wind began to blow.

As the wind swept through, the lightning serpents transformed into snowflakes - blue, grey, and purple electric snakes became snowflakes of the same colors.

They all flew toward Fu Ming.

"Boundless Expanse!"

Fu Ming channeled his magical power and swept his sword forward, creating a wave of sword energy that resembled an approaching ocean surge. At first, it was just a line, but as it rolled forward, it became a surging tide, cleaving through the flying snow in the wind.

The chaotic, boundless waves of sword energy advanced against the cold wind.

The cold wind brought snowflakes - one flake, two flakes...

As snowflakes landed on the waves, they gradually slowed their advance, and then, they froze solid.

The wind carried snowflakes past the waves and onto Fu Ming's body.

A blue snowflake landed in Fu Ming's hair.

"So cold!" He gazed at Tian Wenjin's transcendent beauty and whispered, "Tian Wenjin, there are many good men in this world. You don't need to be so cold."

With those words, he transformed into a blue ice sculpture.

The wind carried the snow past, the thunder's roar returned, and lightning serpents once again struck down from the heavens, forming a forest of electricity connecting heaven and earth.

Tian Wenjin stood motionless, staring at Fu Ming's frozen form, lost in thought for a long while.

He had fought an intense battle with her.

He understood her sword techniques.

He understood her sword intent.

He encouraged her that life would get better.

But he died by her sword.

Suddenly, she realized something and cried out in alarm: "Stop!"

But she couldn't prevent the indiscriminate lightning strikes within this space.

A bolt of lightning struck Fu Ming's ice sculpture, shattering it into blue ice powder.

Tian Wenjin flew over and crouched before the blue powder remains, gazing at them before letting out a sigh.

She took out a silk cloth and gathered up the powder.

He was truly a respectable opponent, deserving of dignity. She planned to find a proper burial ground for him after the war ended.

Those who seem most heartless often care the most deeply.

The battle over, the Imperial Thunder Sword returned to the center of the lightning space, continuing to absorb the lightning's nurturing power.

Tian Wenjin quickly composed herself and also returned to the center, resuming her guard over the lightning space.