14: One-sided battle

With his final roar, the index finger he had pointed out suddenly lit up!

What condensed at his fingertip was no longer the previous destructive black light, but a point of purity to the extreme—the Origin of "Calamity," as if it had been formed by extracting the negative Origin of all worlds!

A terrifying force of calamity, one that would lead all things in heaven and earth to ultimate annihilation, locked onto Lin Changxiao!

This finger contained a deeper understanding of his own "Dao of Annihilation" after Kong Yuan's Breakthrough to the second level; it was one of the strongest offensive Divine Abilities he could unleash at this moment!

He wanted to settle the outcome with one strike, using the most indisputable power to completely crush Lin Changxiao along with all his pride!

He wanted to let the people of the Central Plains see that he, Kong Yuan, was absolutely not the "Disgrace of the Quasi-Emperor Realm"!

Seeing this scene, Lin Changxiao revealed a cold sneer.

He merely raised his eyelids slightly.

Those eyes, deep as an ancient well, remained calm and waveless, as if what they reflected was not a Calamity Finger capable of destroying stars, but a speck of insignificant dust.

Then, he extended a hand.

There was no earth-shattering eruption of Aura, nor any complex condensation of hand seals.

He simply flicked his finger lightly towards the "Calamity Finger of Annihilation" that Kong Yuan had pointed at him, which contained the power of ultimate destruction.

The movement was casual and free-spirited, as if brushing a speck of dust off his sleeve.

"Oh?" Lin Changxiao's indifferent voice rang out, clearly drowning out the sharp whistle of the Calamity Finger piercing the air, and clearly reaching the ears of Kong Yuan, as well as every tense member of the Lin family watching from below.

"It's a pity that you… are too weak!"

As the three words "too weak" fell—

Hum!

A purple arc of lightning, as thin as a hair, quietly leaped from Lin Changxiao's fingertip.

This lightning arc was unremarkable; it had no earth-shattering momentum, no light to illuminate the universe, and it even seemed somewhat… insignificant.

However, the moment this tiny streak of purple lightning appeared, all sounds between heaven and earth seemed to vanish.

The wind stopped.

The clouds froze.

Even the spatial annihilation and the wailing of Law triggered by Kong Yuan's earth-destroying "Calamity Finger of Annihilation" were instantly forcibly smoothed over and suppressed by a higher-level power!

It appeared slow, but in reality, it transcended the limits of perception. In a billionth of a second, it crossed the seemingly unreachable distance between the two and accurately struck the tip of Kong Yuan's index finger, which was radiating the force of calamitous annihilation!

It struck the very Origin of "Calamity" that had condensed Kong Yuan's second-level cultivation and which he was confident could destroy all Dao!

There was no earth-destroying energy collision as expected, nor any violent scene of Laws shattering.

There was only an extremely faint sound, like a glass lamp falling and shattering on the ground.

"Pop."

The ferocious, crazed, and confident expression on Kong Yuan's Face froze instantly, like ice being frozen solid!

Replacing it was extreme confusion, disbelief, and… a terrifying tremor originating from the deepest part of his Soul, which instantly submerged all his reason like a tidal wave!

He watched helplessly as his attack and his hand vanished in an instant.

They had been erased by that lightning arc!

"Argh—!"

An indescribable, excruciating pain instantly spread from his fingertip to his entire arm, and then swept through his whole body!

That was not just the pain of flesh and blood, but the terrifying agony of his Dao Foundation being forcibly shaken, ruthlessly crushed, and destroyed by a higher-tier power!

Kong Yuan could not help but let out a shrill scream, like a Vicious Beast that had its tail stepped on!

He violently retracted his arm, which was now only a stump, and the vast Quasi-Emperor spiritual energy within his body surged madly toward his right hand, attempting to extinguish the intruding purple lightning and repair his damaged Dao Foundation.

However, that streak of purple lightning, though seemingly weak, contained a supreme will of judgment that stood above his Dao of Annihilation!

His spiritual energy was quickly erased upon contact with it!

But he could not give up; he could only desperately continue to suppress the purple lightning.

However, while he was suppressing the injuries in his body and arm, a Thunder Hell that covered heaven and earth descended instantly.

The Thunder Hell descended! The Emperor's Aura was like a prison!

"Quasi… Quasi-Emperor?!" How could Quasi-Emperor Kong Yuan not know by now that Lin Changxiao had merely been toying with him before.

He had already achieved a Breakthrough to the Quasi-Emperor Realm!

"Impossible! This is absolutely impossible!" Kong Yuan roared crazily in his heart, his Divine Soul trembling.

A thousand years! It had only been a thousand years!

Back then, he had spent a full three thousand years to achieve this step!

And that was while he was already Cultivating a Quasi-Emperor Cultivation Technique, yet Lin Changxiao had spent only a thousand years!

By what right did this Lin Changxiao do this?!

By what right!

After the shock came a bone-chilling cold!

An unprecedented sense of immense crisis, like a cold venomous snake, instantly coiled tightly around his heart!

Lin Changxiao was a Quasi-Emperor!

Moreover, judging by how easily he had broken one of his strongest killing moves, and the terrifying Thunder Dao Emperor's Aura permeating the area, his strength was likely even above his own…

Escape!

This thought flashed through Kong Yuan's mind like lightning, instantly overwhelming all his humiliation, unwillingness, and killing intent!

What vindication, what destroying the Lin family, what slapping the Faces of the Central Plains… in the Face of life and death, all of it became bullshit!

He only wanted to escape this place immediately, right now, at all costs!

To escape this monster who had been playing the pig to eat the tiger!

What Face, what dignity—they were worthless in the Face of his life!

Kong Yuan did not hesitate in the slightest; he couldn't even be bothered to say a single polite parting word.

The Yuan energy within his body exploded like a lit powder keg!

The spatial Laws around him fluctuated violently, his Emperor's robe billowed, and his entire being transformed into a streak of black light that tore through the Void Realm, shooting desperately toward the endless starry sky far away from the Lin family at a speed that transcended his limits!

"Want to leave?"

Lin Changxiao's indifferent voice rang out, as if stating a long-predestined outcome.

He watched the black light fleeing for its life, his eyes remaining calm, but beneath that calmness was a cold killing intent capable of freezing the galaxy.

"Is my Lin family a place where you can come and go as you please?"

"Offending my clan deserves death!"

As the words fell, Lin Changxiao took a step forward!

This step seemed ordinary, yet it was as if he had stepped on the core hub of the entire Thunder Hell!

The purple firmament beneath his feet, constructed from pure Thunder Laws, suddenly boiled!

Countless purple lightning bolts, as thick as mountains, were like ancient Thunder Dragons awakening from their slumber. They let out roars that shattered stars, instantly tearing through the Void Realm and interweaving into a giant net of lightning that covered the entire firmament, sealing off all space and time in every direction!

Each bolt of lightning contained the supreme will of judgment, ruling, and termination!

Nine Heavens Thunder Hell! Imprison!

The black light that Kong Yuan had transformed into was extremely fast, almost reaching the limit that his second-level Quasi-Emperor cultivation could drive.

However, the moment he was about to escape into the Void Realm and flee the containment of the Thunder Hell, the giant net woven from countless violent Thunder Dragons had already formed!

Sizzle—!

"Argh—!" Kong Yuan let out an agonizing scream!

His proud Quasi-Emperor Protective Aura, which was capable of withstanding the impact of stars, was torn apart and annihilated like dry weeds and rotten wood the moment it touched the purple lightning, as if it had met its nemesis!