Chapter 543: Wound

"Boom!" Purple lightning erupted. Helian Changguang was horrified; he had never imagined his wife would not retreat from the unfolding situation. Instead, she dared to come forward and interfere. Enduring the two lightning bolts, he quickly formed hand seals to cast a spell.

"Dew-Receiving Blood Silver Art!" The crimson energy attached to Li Qinghong's protective lightning exploded, shattering the lightning bolts. Li Qinghong grunted but, without a moment's hesitation, continued to thrust her long spear forward without pause.

"Puff!" Liu Qiao's protective magical light shattered like an eggshell. Only the black radiance emanating from her talisman, of slightly higher quality, was deeply dented but managed to hold together, barely protecting her.

But Li Qinghong's long-prepared thrust was not so easily parried. Five lightning bolts erupted from the spear, flashing brightly in the air and momentarily blanching the faces of the three individuals. Then came a thunderous "Boom!"

A brilliant white spark flashed. The five lightning bolts struck Liu Qiao directly in the face. Demonic cultivators inherently feared lightning; she could not withstand such a blow. In an instant, her head exploded like a watermelon, then was consumed by the lightning, turning into rising black smoke and vanishing.

"Qiao'er!" Black smoke rose as Helian Changguang's eyes widened with rage. But instead of attempting to save his wife, he made his two blades glow red and viciously thrust them towards Li Qinghong's pristine white robe, aiming for her back.

Simultaneously, Liu Qiao, now just a solitary body, raised her hand. From her storage pouch, she retrieved a fleshy orb. Her two pale hands pressed the orb and moved it towards her neck.

Unlike immortal cultivators, demonic cultivators possess far more tenacious vitality. Liu Qiao's head turning to ash was merely a severe injury, yet the two hands on her torso trembled slightly, indicating profound terror.

Although she could neither see nor hear, her spiritual sense registered that Li Qinghong remained utterly calm, showing no sign of retreat. Instead, Li Qinghong gently parted her red lips and once more expelled a beam of white light.

"What..." Her hands froze. The bursting white light erupted, shaking the earth and sending boulders rolling. A purple lightning storm materialized once more. At this moment, Liu Qiao was completely caught off guard, standing merely three feet from the white light, and was abruptly engulfed.

"Boom..." The concentrated lightning swept across, momentarily blinding the cultivators below. The air above the formation array grew eerily silent due to the overwhelming thunderous explosions. Helian Changguang looked on in disbelief, utterly stunned for a moment. "What?" he gasped.

Li Qinghong withdrew her spear and turned, casting a cold gaze upon him. Her long spear pointed diagonally, and her white robe, now tinged with purple, slowly fluttered in the wind.

Blood slowly trickled from the corner of her mouth. Her back was already a bloody mess. Her black hair fanned out slowly in the wind, and a few strands near her forehead were still stained with blood.

Li Qinghong's dark, ash-colored almond eyes gazed quietly at Helian Changguang. Behind her, the black smoke dissipated, faintly revealing only a brocade robe that plummeted into the forest like a bird with broken wings.

Liu Qiao was utterly annihilated.

In Helian Changguang's eyes, incredible fury, intense regret, and terror surfaced. His formerly stern and cold voice turned shrill as he cried out mournfully, "You wench..."

Though grief-stricken and in pain, he was not completely blinded. That previous blade strike was not something Li Qinghong could have simply endured; by insisting on killing Liu Qiao and taking the blow, she had almost sacrificed her own life.

Helian Changguang remained silent, but his trembling lips betrayed the extreme hatred in his heart. The elixirs embedded in his flesh instantly refined. With a roar like a tiger, he swung his two long blades, creating two afterimages in the air as black smoke billowed across the ground, sweeping towards her.

Li Qinghong lifted her long spear, unleashing two lightning bolts that transformed into bird-like shapes and struck fiercely. Almost simultaneously, five more bolts of lightning leaped from her spear, exploding with brilliant white sparks.

"Puff." Helian Changguang was forcefully impaled by the spear, nearly spitting blood. He felt lightning boiling within his vital organs, and his two blades almost slipped from his grasp. "You!" he cried out in alarm.

Li Qinghong's white robe was now covered in shimmering purple lightning, spreading in radiant streaks from the hem. Her white robe had completely transformed into a purple one, interspersed with blood-red brilliance.

Purple lightning climbed from her neck, outlining patterns on her cheeks. The blood in her hair, due to the magnetoelectric force stirred by the lightning, reformed into small, inverted blood beads. She thrust her long spear again, its power now dramatically different from before.

"What?" Helian Changguang found it incomprehensible. The purple-clad lightning cultivator before him was clearly injured, yet she seemed to have unlocked a hidden power, increasing her might by fifty percent. This spear thrust left him gasping for breath, his legs numb, and him trembling with fear.

The terrifying lightning extinguished any will to resist within him. He had to swallow his hatred and endure another spear thrust. His abdomen burst open like tofu, creating a small hole as the lightning continuously spread from the wound. Helian Changguang cried out in horror, "I can't drag this out any longer!"

His left eye burst open with a pop. His body transformed into a streak of bloody light, seemingly employing a pre-prepared spell to ascend rapidly at extreme speed.

Li Qinghong's reaction was equally swift. Violent lightning erupted beneath her feet, and she ascended, riding the lightning simultaneously. One red, one purple, trailing two fiery plumes, they soared through the air, one after the other. Her long spear controlled the five thunders, continuously striking the bloody light, causing bursts of black energy to rise.

After pursuing him for ten *li*, Helian Changguang's bloody light dwindled, though the demonic energy around him intensified. The purple-clad lightning cultivator finally stopped. She cast a cold glance at him, then transformed into a streak of purple light and vanished to the south.

Helian Changguang flew several more *li* before reverting to his original form. He was left with only a bare head connected to a long, blood-dripping spine. His hair, eyebrows, nose, and mouth had already been discarded, leaving his face with only seven dark, vacant holes.

Helian Changguang dared not return immediately. From his storage, he retrieved a pre-prepared corpse. He twisted off its head, pulling it out with the spine, and inserted his own. Then, to save time, he dug out the facial features and used them to fill the gaps.

Having completed the restoration of his body, he finally let out a sigh of relief, though faint lightning still flickered on his skin. Helian Changguang, filled with both hatred and alarm, fled frantically forward, thinking, "What... what a lightning cultivator..."

***

Yanshan Pass.

How perceptive demonic cultivators were! With one of the two Foundation Establishment demonic cultivators in the sky dead and the other fled, the horde of demonic cultivators who had been faithfully attacking instantly dispersed. All the cultivators breathed a sigh of relief, exchanging glances, their faces etched with shock.

"The lightning in the sky just now... was it Immortal Li?" Though the Qi Condensation cultivators had limited experience, they had witnessed Foundation Establishment cultivators in action during their journey. They were all stunned into a daze. Fei Tongyu murmured, "It struck with a vast white expanse, thunder and lightning rained down, blinding all cultivators... Qinghong... she has reached such a level!"

Back then, Li Qinghong was a young girl whose cultivation was inferior to his, so Fei Tongyu's shock was immense, leaving him speechless. The others were joyous and full of praise. Only Li Minggong was faintly worried: "Master Li pursued them all the way into the demonic clouds... I fear she might fall into an ambush..."

She craned her neck, watching. Only a few dozen breaths passed when she finally saw a purple light flying towards the front of the array. It transformed into a purple-clad female cultivator. In her hand, a silver spear carried a brocade robe. Her beautiful almond eyes beneath delicate eyebrows were hazy with purple, and faint traces of lightning shimmered on her cheeks.

Li Qinghong stood quietly, her black hair unbound. All the cultivators immediately bowed down, convinced and respectful. They cried out in unison, "Greetings, Immortal Li! Congratulations on your great victory over the demonic enemies!"

The lightning on Li Qinghong's body slowly receded, and her purple robe gradually reverted to white, revealing faint traces of blood. Her eyes returned to their clear, beautiful black-and-white state. Her voice was clear and bright: "Minggong, come with me."