81: Chapter 81 Thunder Sword Talisman

The ultimate heat and extreme cold tore into each other in a frenzy, sending shards of ice and fire exploding across the sky—a scene both brilliant and immensely perilous.

Forcing the activation of a Tier 3 Talisman caused massive depletion for Patriarch Li Huaping, who was at the Middle Stage of Foundation Establishment.

After only a few moments of confrontation, his complexion turned deathly pale, thirty percent of his Spiritual Qi was instantly drained, and his blood and Qi roiled in turmoil.

Just as the two Foundation Establishment Cultivators were locked in a desperate standoff, trading blows and defenses, the battlefield on the other side was similarly engulfed in flames of war.

Lu Tiansheng and Lu Tianshan, two Foundation Establishment Cultivators at the Middle Stage, joined forces to surround the Snow-Scaled Tiger, their two massive currents of Spiritual Qi desperately pinning the beast down. The three formidable powers collided violently, the deafening roars never ceasing, while ice shards and Spiritual Qi exploded across the sky; every collision carried the power to destroy the heavens and earth.

Further down the mountain, the melee between the Qi Refining Cultivators was even more tragic and extreme.

The Li Family members were far fewer in number than the Lu Family, yet everyone was fearless and undeterred, relying on the Talismans they had accumulated to bitterly hold the line. Both sides fought with a resolve to fight to the death, blades clashing and techniques flying; at every moment, someone was wounded and fell, staining the battlefield with blood.

At the Peak of Qingfeng Mountain, on a flat stone platform, dozens of Li Family women and children stood quietly.

They were all Family members with low cultivation levels who had been protected here by their kin, kept far away from the front lines to preserve the spark of the Family.

Everyone clenched their fists until their knuckles turned white, their eyes burning red as they stared intently at the thunderous battlefield below, their gazes filled with sorrow, anxiety, and helplessness.

Everyone knew clearly that once the ancestral defense line below collapsed completely and the main force of the Family was annihilated, they would immediately flee through the secret passage behind the mountain, preserving the Bloodline Legacy of the thousand-year-old Li Family.

The battle below became increasingly perilous and chaotic, with various dazzling Magical Artifacts appearing in turn, strange and varied techniques crisscrossing, and Talismans dancing through the air, resplendent with colorful light.

Colorful explosions of Spiritual Qi erupted one after another; the sounds of roars, clashing blades, and shrill screams wove together into a cacophony, and the brutal slaughter engulfed the entire valley.

As the battle progressed, the Lu Family's advantage of superior numbers and deeper foundations became completely apparent; casualties among the Li Family members gradually increased, their defense line slowly loosened, and they had fallen into an absolute disadvantage.

Li Xuanzhou was the only Qi Refining Stage 10 Cultivator among the Qi Refining Cultivators remaining to guard Qingfeng Mountain at this moment.

At this moment, he was fighting one against three, forcibly holding off the siege of three Lu Family Qi Refining Cultivators, two of whom were also at the same Qi Refining Stage 10!

At the start of the battle, he had spared no effort in depleting his Spiritual Qi to activate a Tier 2 Low Grade Talisman, instantly killing one Qi Refining Stage 10 opponent, but the relentless, successive attacks from the remaining three Cultivators still brought him mountain-like, terrifying pressure.

To protect the lower-cultivation Family members beside him and prevent a mass loss of the younger generation, he could only grit his teeth and hold on, doing his utmost to share the burden of the attacks, passively blocking and defending without daring to slacken for a moment.

Fortunately, he cultivated both his technique and his Physical Body; his Spiritual Qi cultivation and Physical Body strength had both reached the Peak of the Qi Refinement Stage. His Physical Body was as tough as refined iron, and his Spiritual Qi was far thicker than those of the same stage, which was the only reason he could struggle to hold on and remain standing under the frenzied bombardment of the three.

Everyone knew that the fighting among Qi Refining Cultivators could only influence local parts of the battle; the only thing that would truly decide the final outcome of this bloody clan war was the ultimate duel between the two Foundation Establishment Cultivators high in the sky!

On the high-altitude battlefield, the aftershocks of the colliding Spiritual Qi constantly swept across all directions.

Patriarch Li Huaping, his eyes filled with crimson bloodshot veins, forcefully suppressed the backlash of Spiritual Qi within his body. Catching a fleeting gap in the offense and defense, a flash of spiritual light appeared in his hand, and he used his close-combat Spiritual Artifact to violently push back the approaching Lu Tiangang, pulling himself away by half a zhang.

Without waiting for his breath to steady, he backhanded and pulled out another ancient-looking Talisman!

The Talisman was wrapped in purple-gold thunder patterns, with wisps of heavenly might and electric arcs leaping and flickering. The sizzling sound of thunder shook one's soul, and a vast pressure originating from the Nine Heavens thunder suddenly swept across the entire battlefield!

This was the Legacy of the Li Family, treasured for a thousand years, known as the Talisman with the strongest attack power among all Tier 3 Low Grade Talismans—the Tier 3 Low Grade Lightning Sword Talisman!

In the entire Li Family, over a thousand years of accumulation, there were only two Tier 3 Low Grade Lightning Sword Talismans; they were extremely precious.

The power of the Purple Heaven Thunder frantically gathered on the Talisman, with dense purple electric arcs winding and flowing, crackling incessantly. The terrifying power of heavenly punishment hung heavy and pervasive, pressing down until all the Cultivators in the area could barely breathe.

In the next instant, the Talisman soared into the air, and a thick, condensed purple-gold Lightning Sword tore through the Void Realm, carrying a shrill whistle and an overbearing power that annihilated everything, shooting straight toward Lu Tiangang's face!

The biting killing intent locked onto his entire body; there was no way to dodge!

At this moment, the contemptuous arrogance and the calm confidence of holding victory that Lu Tiangang had worn on his face throughout the fight vanished completely.

His pupils contracted violently, an endless panic surged in his heart, and bone-chilling fear instantly swept through his entire body!

He never dreamed that the Li Family would actually hold such a rare and overbearing Tier 3 Low Grade Lightning-type Talisman!

Facing a desperate situation, Lu Tiangang's mind was shaken, and he dared not hesitate for even a fraction of a second. Spiritual light exploded from his fingertips as he immediately activated his last life-saving trump card—a Tier 3 Low Grade defensive Talisman, the Golden Shield Triple-Armor Talisman!

Golden Spiritual Qi exploded from the Talisman, and three layers of thick, solid red-gold shield armor stacked over one another, enveloping his entire body. The shield surfaces were covered in dense patterns and shone with brilliant light, firmly protecting all his vital points—it was enough to withstand a blow from a Golden Core Early Stage Cultivator.

But in the next second, the purple-gold Lightning Sword that had torn through the Void Realm struck with ferocity!

"Crack——!!"

A piercing sound of shattering suddenly exploded, echoing through the valley. The hard and thick Triple-Armor Golden Shield was simply unable to withstand the blow; the shield surface was instantly covered in deep, spiderweb-like cracks, and the golden light faded and dissipated at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In just an instant, accompanied by a loud, crisp sound, the three layers of the golden shield crumbled, turning into golden specks of light that scattered and drifted across the sky!

The violent lingering power of the thunder had not yet dissipated; the remaining purple lightning, carrying the power of annihilation, brushed past Lu Tiangang's ear and struck fiercely onto his right shoulder!

"Squelch!"

The dull sound of flesh tearing and bones shattering suddenly rang out.

His entire right arm was instantly shattered, bones broken into pieces and Meridians ruptured by the thunder force; his flesh was turned inside out, and the ghastly white bone was faintly visible.

The High Grade Spiritual Artifact he had been clutching tightly could no longer be held, and it plummeted heavily toward the battlefield below, along with his dangling, severed arm and broken body.

The dual backlash of the thunder force entering his body and the shattering of his Spiritual Shield instantly overwhelmed Lu Tiangang's blood and Qi; his throat tasted sweet, and a mouthful of hot essence blood sprayed out wildly.

His figure stumbled as he retreated several zhang, his formerly ruddy complexion turning pale as paper in an instant, devoid of any color; the Spiritual Qi around his body was chaotic and restless, and his aura withered to the extreme in an instant.

High in the sky, Patriarch Li Huaping, who had narrowly won the exchange, did not seize the opportunity to pursue and kill.

It was not that he was kind-hearted or soft-handed, but that he was already exhausted, with no remaining combat power.

Having successively activated the Tier 3 Low Grade Blazing Sun Explosion Talisman and the Tier 3 Low Grade Lightning Sword Talisman, he had already completely hollowed out his Spiritual Qi reserves as a Middle Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

At this moment, his Spiritual Qi was completely exhausted, and his Dantian was empty.

He hunched his body slightly, panting violently for air, his chest heaving intensely; every breath carried a tearing sense of exhaustion.

If not for the final obsession of protecting his kin and holding the ancestral grounds, he would have been unable to hover in mid-air and would have fallen straight down.

His pale face was devoid of any vitality, his lips were dry and tinged with blue, his eyes were densely packed with bloodshot veins and terrifyingly red, his pupils flickered with blackness, and his mind was filled with waves of emptiness and dizziness.