txolops Chapter 270 Xiangliu is Struck by Lightning
Chapter 270 Xiangliu is Struck by Lightning
After the dust settled on the Investiture of the Gods, Taibai kept an old matter on his mind.
He originally intended to go to the underworld to find Lady Pingxin and sever the entangled karma between himself and Dijiang.
However, before he could move, he realized that the threads of cause and effect had dissolved on their own, leaving no trace.
Taibai thought for a moment, then realized that if he went to the underworld, who knew what kind of dangerous task that goddess might entrust to him.
It's better to avoid trouble, so he simply gave up on the idea, turned around and returned to his own Daoist temple, Wuyi Mountain, to prepare for seclusion and seek a breakthrough in his cultivation.
Inside the cave, Taibai summoned Qingmu.
He handed over a token engraved with the stars of the heavens.
"Qingmu, take this order to the Heavenly Court and handle all affairs of the Ziwei Imperial Palace on my behalf."
Aoki respectfully accepted it and replied, "Yes, sir."
Taibai occupied the position of the Ziwei Emperor with the intention of gaining a foothold in the Heavenly Court. As for the tedious and complicated daily affairs, he had no interest in handling them personally.
Although he had Xiao Hei under his command, whose cultivation potential was even greater than Qingmu's, his impulsive nature made him unsuitable for handling complicated matters.
After careful consideration, only Aoki, with his calm temperament and thoughtful demeanor, was deemed suitable for this task.
Moreover, Taibai observed Qingmu's complexion recently and noticed a dark, gloomy tinge around his forehead.
Sending him to the Heavenly Court would serve two purposes: firstly, to allow him to fulfill his duties, and secondly, to allow him to temporarily avoid trouble by leveraging the power of the Heavenly Court. It is expected that no one in the prehistoric world would dare to cause trouble in the central government of the Heavenly Court.
As for Xiao Hei, Taibai arranged for him to leave the dojo and travel and explore the vast wilderness, which would also serve as a form of training.
With everything arranged, Taibai opened a portal on the protective array of Wuyi Mountain, allowing the creatures in the mountain to freely enter and exit.
After dealing with everything, Taibai took out the fragment of the Law of Time that had been bestowed upon him by Yuanshi Tianzun.
He calmed his mind and gradually entered a deep period of seclusion.
However, seven days later, Li Bai, who was sitting in meditation, suddenly awoke.
Almost simultaneously, a panicked commotion arose outside Wuyi Mountain, and the creatures dwelling at the foot of the mountain instinctively rushed towards the protective array.
Taibai opened his eyes, took a step and was already outside the cave, looking towards the distant horizon.
In the far distance, dark clouds were rolling in at an alarming speed.
Thick, purple lightning bolts danced wildly within the dark clouds, striking down relentlessly.
Taibai was familiar with the aura of thunder; it was the Purple Heaven Divine Thunder, the most yang and powerful force under the Heavenly Dao, which punished all evil.
However, the divine thunder seen at this moment was far more powerful than usual.
With a thought, Taibai unleashed his powerful divine sense, probing beneath the thunderclouds.
Immediately, his expression hardened slightly.
The figure that was fleeing in a sorry state under the barrage of purple lightning was none other than Xiang Liu.
"How could this be? Although Xiang Liu has a violent temper, he is by no means a man who indiscriminately kills innocent people."
What heinous crime could he have committed to trigger such a massive divine punishment, the Purple Heaven Divine Lightning, relentlessly pursuing and striking him to the death?
The situation is extremely critical. Xiang Liu's witch power is dim and chaotic, indicating that he is at his last gasp.
Given this situation, without external intervention, Xiang Liu would surely perish completely under the continuous bombardment of the Purple Heaven Divine Thunder within a quarter of an hour.
Thinking of this, Taibai suddenly raised his hands, and five different colored banner phantoms rose into the sky from behind him, instantly growing larger and standing in five directions.
"The Five Banners of Heaven, erect them!"
With a clear shout, the Innate Five Elements Formation was instantly set up, making Wuyi Mountain impregnable.
The great formation was completed, but it was not completely sealed off.
With a slight thought, Taibai quietly opened a tiny gap in the array light screen in the direction Xiangliu was flying, just wide enough for one person to pass through.
Xiang Liu was extremely fast. Despite being severely injured, his will to survive was spurred on, and he transformed into a dim black light, rushing to the foot of Wuyi Mountain in the blink of an eye.
However, in his haste, he arrived at a place that was not the entrance that Taibai had reserved.
Upon seeing this, Taibai didn't have time to think much. He raised his hand and pointed at the light screen in front of Xiangliu again, and another entrance suddenly opened up.
"Enter quickly!"
Taibai's voice transmission rang in Xiangliu's ear.
Without the slightest hesitation, the dark light suddenly plunged into the crevice.
Just as his figure disappeared into the void, Taibai flicked his finger, and the entrance instantly closed up as before. The radiance of the Innate Five Elements Array flowed, leaving no flaws.
Almost at the same time, Taibai's figure appeared beside Xiangliu, who had just fallen into the formation.
At this moment, Xiang Liu was in a terrible state, his body covered with deep, charred lightning marks that revealed his bone.
Taibai dared not delay. He took out a Nine-Turn Great Rejuvenation Pill, flicked it into Xiangliu's mouth, and then pressed a palm against his back to help him neutralize the medicinal power and stabilize his collapsing body and spirit.
However, the divine punishment did not seem to stop just because the target entered the great formation.
High in the sky, thick thunderclouds hung over Wuyi Mountain, with dark clouds hanging low and lightning flashing wildly, illuminating the area below in an intermittent manner.
A series of muffled and terrifying thunderclaps rolled across the sky. In the next instant, dozens of bolts of Purple Heaven Divine Lightning, even thicker than before, slammed down and heavily struck the light barrier formed by the Innate Five Elements Grand Array.
"Boom! Crack!"
"Fellow Daoist Xiangliu, what exactly is going on with you? Why are you being chased and struck by the Purple Heaven Divine Lightning?"
"I don't know what happened either. I was just chasing after the true spirit of the Kunpeng, but after it fled back to the Northern Darkness, a demonic aura suddenly erupted in its Demon Master Palace and invaded my body when I wasn't paying attention."
"At that time, I was too busy to expel the demonic energy to continue my pursuit of Kunpeng."
But as soon as I entered the Demon Master's Palace, the palace itself protected its master and crashed into me.
For some unknown reason, demonic energy surged from his body's acupoints, which attracted the pursuit of the Purple Heaven Divine Thunder.
After hearing this explanation, Taibai understood.
Xiang Liu was being chased by the Purple Heaven Divine Thunder, most likely because his demonic energy was leaking out.
The Kunpeng was not struck by lightning, perhaps because he emitted very little demonic energy, and the heavens were in a state of chaos at the time, so the Heavenly Dao could not detect it immediately.
But now that the great calamity of the Investiture of the Gods has passed and the secrets of heaven have returned to clarity, once demonic energy appears in the world, the Heavenly Dao will naturally send down the Purple Heaven Divine Thunder to annihilate it.
However, Taibai thought again and realized there was still something fishy about it, so he pressed for an answer:
"Were Kunpeng and the Demon Master's Palace ever attacked by the Purple Heaven Divine Lightning?"
Xiang Liu pondered for a moment, then replied:
"When I left, I did see a bolt of purple lightning strike the Demon Master's Palace. But that was all; after that, the Demon Master's Palace remained silent."
Upon hearing this, Taibai fell into deep thought once more. If Kunpeng had not been struck by lightning, and only Xiangliu was being chased by the Purple Heaven Divine Lightning, this was truly illogical.
The biggest difference between Xiang Liu and Kun Peng is that Xiang Liu cultivates the path of the Primordial Golden Immortal, and is only one step away from becoming a Primordial Daluo Golden Immortal.
Thinking of this, Taibai felt a chill run down his spine.
At this moment, what he truly cared about was not Xiang Liu's fate, but his own path.
After all, the Great Tribulation of the Investiture of the Gods has already ended, and what he needs to do is to attain the Great Luo Golden Immortal status as soon as possible.
With the help of the Five Primordial Banners and other spiritual treasures, as well as the fragment of the Time Law, he was confident that he could break through within half a Yuanhui.
But Xiang Liu's incident served as a wake-up call for him.
If he were to be corrupted by demonic energy, Heaven would surely do everything in its power to suppress and kill him, and even the Three Pure Ones might not be able to protect him.
Now that demonic energy is emerging, it's hard to guarantee that it won't affect one's own path to enlightenment.
Therefore, if one wants to safely achieve the Great Golden Immortal of Hunyuan, one either needs a sage to protect him or must eliminate the source of the demonic energy before breaking through.