206: Chapter 206 This is no longer an ordinary battle between martial artists!

The five men lowered their heads in silence, not daring to retort.

Li Taibai's expression turned grave. He silently retreated several steps, tightly gripping the longsword in his hand, warily watching the changing situation.

Boom!

The young man who had just been cursing suddenly erupted into action. A streak of lightning shot from his palm, reaching Li Taibai's face in an instant.

Instinctively, Li Taibai raised his sword to block, but how could mere Mortal steel withstand Thunder Light?

In that split second, Li Taibai, like the young man before him, was violently smashed into the earth, creating a deep crater.

"So it's Myriad Manifestations Realm Divine Power... No wonder that earlier thunder technique didn't harm you."

Su Rui came to a realization, speaking softly.

"It seems our whereabouts have been leaked.

We'll settle who disclosed the information later.

But it doesn't matter—with me here, any trouble can be handled!"

The young man sneered, electric serpents wildly dancing around his body as he lunged fiercely towards Su Rui.

The sky above underwent a strange transformation, countless people on the ground looking up in shock.

In just a moment, the battle situation had turned completely upside down.

The spectacle of Su Rui taking action caused an uproar throughout Chang'an City.

Though his face was unclear from such a great height, the fact that he could summon lightning with a mere gesture—could he truly be an Immortal descended to the Mortal world?

In the palace, Emperor Taizong of Tang watched as flashes of Thunder Light appeared in the sky, the previously dissipating thick fog suddenly splitting open. His face immediately darkened.

"Quickly go and investigate what exactly is happening!"

"I shall go at once!"

Yuan Tiangang accepted the order, his expression solemn. In a flash, his figure turned into a blur as he sped away.

Meanwhile, Qin Qiong led the city defense troops and the Imperial Guards in deploying defenses throughout the streets and alleys. Witnessing the fierce battle in the sky, even he couldn't help but feel shaken in his heart.

Though a veteran of many battlefields who had seen numerous clashes between masters, they understood—this was no longer a contest between ordinary Martial Artists.

At this level of confrontation, the army could not intervene; it was purely a battle between those who transcended the ordinary.

Li Taibai, who had fallen from high altitude and created a giant crater, slightly opened one eye, glanced at the standoff in the sky, then closed his eyes and held his breath.

Too terrifying.

The wisest choice at the moment was to play dead to the end and quietly observe how things unfolded.

"Li Taibai... got struck by lightning?"

The Nine Heavens Holy Maidens, having rushed over on the Female Emperor's orders, couldn't help but gasp upon seeing the charred figure on the ground.

And the Female Emperor, far above, fixed her gaze intently on the horizon.

This was the first time she had seen Su Rui with her own eyes.

She had heard too many rumors about him before, almost to the point of boredom.

She had heard of his strength, but had never witnessed it personally.

Now, these ambushers who could force Li Taibai into serious injury were certainly no ordinary individuals.

Not to mention this newly emerged leader, whose Aura was overwhelmingly powerful.

Faced with such a situation, could Su Rui... really handle it?

A trace of doubt appeared in the Female Emperor's eyes.

At that moment in the sky, the young man, his body entwined with blazing Thunder Light, charged straight at Su Rui.

"My name is Swift Lightning, a Mortal body, but that is my name!"

As his words fell, his fist, condensed with thunderous force and carrying dazzling electric arcs, blasted out fiercely.

Snap!

Su Rui merely raised his hand lightly, steadily catching this swift and fierce strike.

The young man's face remained impassive. Thunder essence within his body rapidly converged into his fists. His arms transformed into layers of overlapping afterimages, launching continuous attacks at Su Rui.

Myriad thunderbolts and flames remained dazzlingly brilliant even in broad daylight, as if tearing the firmament asunder.

Yet Su Rui, with just one hand moving, dissolved all the offensive maneuvers.

Countless intertwined thunderbolts formed a hemispherical curtain of light, but were blocked by Su Rui's single arm, unable to advance an inch.

A bizarre scene appeared in the sky: Thunder Light surged violently, yet it could never break through that one invisible barrier.

Swift Lightning's expression gradually darkened.

In truth, when he was struck by Su Rui's thunderbolt earlier, he had been completely unharmed.

As one who commands Myriad Manifestations Realm Divine Power, he possesses the ability to control all elements of heaven and earth.

But he favors lightning above all—as the most violent and destructive force, lightning symbolizes absolute power.

He firmly believed: even if a Mortal were lucky enough to grasp a hint of thunder's essence, how could they contend with a being who truly possesses Divine Power?

Yet the outcome made Swift Lightning's heart tremble.

"Just who are you?"

After a prolonged assault with no results, Swift Lightning's figure retreated like a flash of lightning. After a flicker of a thunderous shadow, he solidified again, his eyes now filled with vigilance.

"Sand, your people."

Su Rui gently shook his right hand, speaking in a calm tone.

"How audacious!"

Swift Lightning's expression changed slightly, then he grasped the implication in the words.

Sand, your people?

Your?

He abruptly turned his head, looking towards the distance where his five subordinates had already withdrawn to a safe area. His heart sank.

A sliver of unease quietly crept into his heart.

I hope you mean they belong to the same side as you and I, otherwise... this operation might have been exposed long ago.

Can't delay any longer, must resolve this immediately!

With his mind made up, the Thunder Light around Swift Lightning's body suddenly surged violently, stirring the winds and clouds in the sky.

Thick, dark clouds rapidly gathered from all directions. The sky seemed soaked in ink, pressing down heavily.

Deep within the cloud layers, electric serpents danced wildly, thunder rumbled and rolled, echoing throughout the entire Chang'an City.

Yuan Tiangang had just arrived at the scene. At a glance, he spotted Li Taibai lying on the ground, seemingly unconscious. Lifting his head to gaze at the strange phenomenon in the sky, his mind was instantly shaken.

Though a Land Immortal can stir the power of heaven and earth, the meteorological spectacle before him was far beyond what could be described as 'some control.' It was more like the descent of divine punishment, chilling to the bone.

The dark clouds gathered thicker and denser, like an iron curtain descending.

Myriad thunderbolts weaved and galloped within the clouds, all converging towards the figure in mid-air.

Swift Lightning's long hair billowed angrily. His entire body was wreathed in blinding Thunder Light, as if clad in armor forged from lightning. His eyes shone with an electric,quiet blue light. The whole person no longer seemed of Mortal flesh.

"Shi Yao pays her respects to the Marshal of the Unruly."

Just as Yuan Tiangang was awed by this terrifying spectacle, Shi Yao arrived, breaking through the air, and knelt on one knee.

"Speak."

"Reporting, that person is precisely Northern Li's Su Rui!"

Her words were concise, each character clear.

"What? You mean the one in the sky summoning the thunderclouds?" Yuan Tiangang's face abruptly changed.

The person currently manipulating the thunderstorm was clearly the leader who had earlier besieged Li Taibai. How could it be Su Rui?

"No." Shi Yao immediately corrected, "It's the other one."

Yuan Tiangang shifted his gaze to the figure standing motionless in the air—Su Rui.

"But according to rumors, isn't Northern Li's Su Rui someone proficient in thunder techniques?"

He was filled with confusion.

The peerless method currently controlling wind and rain was clearly coming from another person's hand!

Just as he was caught between shock and doubt, Swift Lightning had already gathered all the thunderbolts in the sky into his own body. The Thunder Light on his surface was dense as flames. The entire person resembled a blazing ball of light suspended in the dark sky, so dazzling under the city-crushing canopy of black clouds that it was impossible to look at directly.

No one knew what world-destroying power this strike contained, but even ordinary commoners could feel the wave of death rushing towards them.

It was the instinctive fear rooted deep within the Bloodline when humanity faces the might of nature.

"Thunder's Wrath!"

An angry roar tore through the sky. A thunderbolt several zhang thick crashed down from the clouds with a deafening explosion, splitting eardrums.

The entire Chang'an City trembled. Roof tiles shattered, walls collapsed.

Some people fainted on the spot; others even bled from all seven orifices, their life force cut off.

Merely the sonic shockwave aftermath caused such devastation, leaving everyone horrified.

That thunderbolt connected heaven and earth, smashing violently onto the ground. The force of the impact spread like a storm, sweeping away everything around it.

Countless electric currents spread along the ground, tearing the earth apart like a spiderweb.

And the figure at the center of that thunderbolt, in theory, should have long been reduced to ashes.

No one could survive under such divine punishment.