If you don't give up, I'd like to be your adoptive father.

Chapter 1040 Crossing Thousands of Miles, Divine Thunder Descends from the Sky

Even if Xiang Ji and Zhongli Mei were evenly matched, it would leave Xiao Yu very puzzled and disappointed.

However, Zhongli Mei's own strength is by no means weak. He belongs to the peak of the human immortals and can enter the state of extreme strength and speed at will.

However, this state is too energy-consuming and cannot be sustained.

The two humanoid Gundams fought fiercely in the yard, making a great commotion; the clash of their weapons sounded like thunder.

A moment later, Xiang Yu's uncle, Xiang Sheng, came out, frowned, looked at him for a moment, and then called out, "Yu'er, Zhongli brothers, stop fighting. The clan leader is entertaining distinguished guests in the main hall. It's too noisy for you to be clashing weapons in the front yard."

Zhongli Mei exerted his strength but failed to force Xiang Ji back. Instead, he was thrown back four or five zhang by the reaction force. He sheathed his weapon first and said, "Brother Xiang Ji, let's find an empty place another day and have a good three hundred rounds of fighting."

Xiang Ji was not satisfied at all, but there was nothing he could do but bury himself in practicing his spear.

Zhongli Mei wiped the sweat from his brow, walked up to Xiang Sheng, and asked curiously, "Which distinguished guest will be visiting Lord Xiang Liang tonight?"

Xiang Sheng pulled him toward the main hall, laughing as they walked, "Mr. Wu is back, and he's brought three immortal masters with him."

Zhongli Mei perked up and asked expectantly, "Have you managed to invite the venerable Master Fan Zeng, the 'Hidden Dragon of Chaohu'?"

Xiang Sheng sighed regretfully and shook his head, saying, "Old Master Fan considers himself old and senile, and has neither the ability nor the energy to assist the clan chief."

Zhongli Mei frowned and said, "Last year, during the Mangdang Incident in Sishui County, we met Mr. Fan at the Daze River outside Pei County."

He was clearly not someone who was content with the status quo, so why did he refuse Xiang Lianggong's offer to recruit him?
It is said that the southeast has the aura of an emperor.

In the southeast of China, besides Xiang Liang, who else is qualified to possess the aura of an emperor?

His words struck a chord with Xiang Sheng.

—If there is truly an imperial aura in the southeast, it must belong to the Xiang family, after all, they have even raised a great dragon!
"Mr. Fan probably wants to wait and see for a while longer, until the situation becomes clearer, before making a decision."

We don't need to rush.

Although he himself did not come to Kuaiji, he had a son or nephew who was persuaded by Mr. Wu to come to Wu County to meet the clan head.

The other two immortal masters were his friends.

Zhongli Mei, a nephew of Fan Zeng, had a sudden thought and asked, "Is this the Daoist Zuo Peng, the one who 'stabilized the country' that we met last year?"

Xiang Sheng laughed and said, "Isn't that him? Perfect, you know him too, come on over and have a few drinks with us!"

Zhongli Mei hesitated and said, "I have accepted a mission and I have to go to Zhenze."

The Xiang family's private army is hidden deep within Zhenze; ​​it must not be exposed.

If it weren't for Zhongli Mei having an elderly mother to take care of, Xiang Liang would have loved to have him live on the desolate island in the Great Swamp forever.

To minimize the possibility of being exposed, Zhongli Mei would always take advantage of the darkness and enter Zhenze via a side path whenever he went to "Training Island".

They must reach the training island before dawn.

The banquet was so lively that we drank until late into the night, and then there wasn't enough time.

"Brother Zhongli, come here quickly!"

Xiang Liang, who was in the lobby, had already seen the two people at the door. He took the initiative to invite Zhong Limei to take a seat and personally introduced him to Zuo Peng and the others.

Last year, during the incident in Mangdang, Sishui, Xiang Liang also sent people to investigate.

Zhongli Mei and Zuo Peng had met once.

Meeting again today, while I wouldn't say it feels especially warm, at least there's no awkwardness or estrangement.

After chatting for a while, Zhongli Mei realized why Xiang Liang had invited him to come and drink with him.

Mr. Wu pointed at him and introduced his “general’s demeanor” to Zuo Peng, Qinghai Laozu and Fu Mingzi.

"Xiang Liang's army is full of 'born generals' like General Zhongli, so why should he worry about not succeeding in his great undertaking?"

Listening to Mr. Wu's constant praise, Zhong Limei felt rather uncomfortable.

He traveled a great distance, bringing his elderly mother with him, to seek refuge with Xiang Liang.

It wasn't just in Xiang Liang that we saw the hope of achieving great things.

The main reason is that Xiang Liang called him "Brother"!

Now he sits at the same table with the immortal masters, yet he seems to have become a mere tool.

However, he was an adult after all, and not as "naive" as Xiang Ji.

Well, he now understood why Xiang Ji was practicing his spear alone in the courtyard, and why he was so angry.

—Eight out of ten Xiang Ji was also pointed at with his head, and said—"This is the Xiang family's prodigy, possessing the courage of ten thousand men. With such a trusted and fierce general assisting Lord Xiang Liang, how can his great undertaking not succeed?"

Zhongli Mei could guess Xiang Ji's reaction: he slammed the wine bowl on the table with a "bang," his face expressionless, his eyes fierce, and strode out, taking off his shirt and using martial arts to vent his depression.

"Boom~~"

"Clang, crash~~"

As Zhongli Mei was lost in thought with a smile on his face, the main hall of the Xiang family suddenly shook violently as if it had been kicked by a giant.

The table in front of them even jumped a foot high.

The plates and bowls on the table were all thrown out and smashed to pieces.

"An earthquake? How could it be so violent without any warning? It's at least a 'Mysterious' level earthquake!"

Zhongli Mei was shocked, but her hands and feet remained calm.

After all, he is a top-tier immortal.
The next instant, he cried out in alarm, "Mr. Wu, watch out—"

He saw a huge crack in the ground beneath Mr. Wu, resembling the mouth of a ferocious beast, from which a bluish-gray monster emerged.

The monster had horns like a deer, a head like a cow, eyes like a shrimp, a mouth like a donkey, a belly like a snake, and scales like a fish.
Is this a dragon?
But why does it look so ferocious and terrifying?
His eyes seemed to be dripping blood, and his mouth spewed out a murky, malevolent aura, which smelled like something rotting.

"Ow~~~"

The monster roared and, with lightning speed, emerged halfway out of the crack in the ground, biting Mr. Wu, who was frantically taking off.

"Ah~~~" Mr. Wu howled in pain, his body covered in auspicious light that flickered intermittently.

No matter how much he struggled, the monster held on tightly and quickly shrank into the crack in the ground, about to drag Mr. Wu into the hole.

"You beast, how dare you!"

Xiang Liang roared and punched the monster in the left forehead.

"Pfft—Boom!"

The monster's head exploded with a bang, losing almost half of its skull.

The exploded fragments of bones immediately transformed into streams of yellow, cyan, and grayish-black malevolent energy.

"Ugh~~"

Xiang Liang was sprayed with turbid energy, and he became completely dazed. He screamed in pain, his body swaying, and he almost fell over.

"Lord Xiang Liang!"

Zhongli Mei was extremely anxious. He quickly took two steps forward, enduring the intense and malevolent aura's corrosive effects on his body and internal energy, and dragged Xiang Liang out.

The three Qi Refining guests were about to help, but Xiang Liang's punch unleashed a burst of intense turbid energy that quickly filled the entire hall.

Their bodies were filled with even more pure energy, making them ten times more uncomfortable than the immortal martial artists Zhongli Mei and Xiang Liang.

"What's going on? Why did a strange dragon suddenly emerge from underground, along with such a strong, turbid aura?" Zuo Peng exclaimed in panic.

“That’s not a real dragon, it looks like a dragon vein,” the Qinghai Patriarch said with surprise and uncertainty.

“It’s definitely not a real dragon. After its limbs were smashed, there was no flesh and blood, only turbid evil. But how could a dragon vein emerge from beneath Xiang Family Village?” Fu Mingzi asked, puzzled.

"Save me, fellow Daoist, save me, Lord Xiang Liang, save me~~"

Mr. Wu's body was completely obscured by the thick fog, making it impossible to know his condition. Only his pitiful cries could be heard. The cries were loud and powerful, suggesting that he was not in mortal danger.

"Go and save Mr. Wu!" Xiang Liang struggled to give the order.

“Lord Xiang Liang, your murderous aura is too strong; I cannot approach you,” Zhongli Mei said with difficulty.

Xiang Sheng, however, had already begun issuing orders: "Xiang Zhong, Xiang Yi, each of you lead two teams of ten men to charge into the malevolent aura, kill that strange dragon, and drag Mr. Wu out!"

"Yes, sir!" Immediately, two members of the Xiang family at the True Essence Realm rushed into the dense evil energy without hesitation.

Another twenty assassins, expressionless, charged forward.

"Snap snap~~~"

Suddenly, they heard a sound above them that seemed to be the sky splitting open.

The cracks in the sky spread from the northwest.

Xiang Ji, who was rushing to the hall, hurriedly stopped and saw it very clearly: a purple lightning bolt stretched for dozens of miles from the southwest, as if tearing the sky apart.

There was no thunderous roar, but rather a sound like a porcelain bowl cracking.

It was as if a thunder dragon had torn through the sky and descended from a higher celestial realm.

That sounds creepy.

The purple lightning spreading outwards resembled a scar on the sky, a truly eerie sight.

Looking up, they saw the lightning dragon winding its way towards them. It seemed slow, but in the blink of an eye, the lightning had already approached Xiangjiazhuang.

The lightning remained high in the sky and did not fall, but the suffocating pressure quickly spread out.

People on the ground felt depressed and irritable.

"This...this is the aura of tribulation lightning?!"

The Qinghai Patriarch exclaimed in surprise, "Why is tribulation lightning descending? Is someone nearby undergoing a heavenly tribulation?"

"No~~~"

While everyone else was still confused, Mr. Wu, the person involved, suddenly realized something.

Just like a cultivator undergoing a heavenly tribulation, they will suddenly understand when they begin their tribulation and what level of lightning tribulation they are undergoing.

Mr. Wu understood what was about to happen, but he had no idea why.

His shouts were filled with fear and disbelief: "The dragon vein is backfiring, and divine retribution is coming! Why is this happening? I was just using rumors and gossip to guide the conversation."

They didn't directly excavate the dragon vein!

Compared to the celestial masters of the Great Qin who dig up dragon veins everywhere, what are the little things I've done?
I refuse to accept this! God, you're unfair! I refuse to accept this!

"Roar~~~" The strange dragon suddenly increased its strength, biting him tightly and pinning him to the ground.

"Dragon vein backlash?" The three immortal masters suddenly realized, "That strange dragon just now was indeed a dragon vein!"

It was not a living dragon, but a dragon vein that had already died.

"What a massive dragon! It died a horrible death, and now its remnant spirit is seeking revenge on Master Wu. Did Master Wu sever the dragon vein? Whose dragon vein is this? It's so enormous; it's an imperial vein!"

No one answered them.

The "crack" in the sky had arrived at Xiangjiazhuang, and a thick, purple lightning pillar suddenly poured down.

"boom!!!!"

Xiang Ji felt a purple light before his eyes, and the violent power of thunder pushed him back seven or eight steps.

He couldn't help but raise his right arm to shield his face, because the exploding lightning contained pieces of broken bricks, fragments of wood, and even human remains.

"Ahhh, this is Divine Firmament Lightning, and it's Divine Firmament Lightning containing the aura of heavenly tribulation! How could it trigger such a terrifying backlash?!"

Xiang Ji heard someone making strange noises not far to his left.

He turned his head and saw that most of the Qinghai Ancestor's face had been burned by lightning, revealing a charred skull.

"Uncle!" Xiang Ji cried out in alarm, rushing towards the center of the thunderstorm like a madman.

At this point, the "heavenly thunder" had ended, leaving only a large amount of lightning and arcs jumping on the ground.

"Brother Xiang Ji, over here~~"

It was Zhongli Mei shouting.

Xiang Ji turned his head and saw Zhongli Mei holding his uncle, a good twenty or thirty feet away from the center of the explosion.

The two only had slightly charred clothes with some embers still burning, but no obvious injuries.

With a "whoosh," Xiang Ji leaped to Zhongli Mei's side and asked in surprise, "The heavenly lightning came so suddenly that I didn't even have time to dodge it. How did you get so far away?"

Zhongli Mei was somewhat embarrassed, but also a little proud. He said, "On a whim, I sensed that a great danger was about to befall me, so I quickly led Xiang Liang Gong out and avoided a direct collision with the divine lightning."

When the thunder struck, the shockwave propelled him to escape even faster.

Xiang Ji patted him on the shoulder, very pleased.

Then he asked in confusion, "Why did lightning suddenly fall from the sky?"

Zhongli Mei was not quite sure, and said, "Judging from what the immortal masters said, it seems that Mr. Wu severed a dragon vein, or rather, a great dragon, and was punished by heaven."

Xiang Ji frowned and said, "In other words, the divine lightning that just fell was not man-made, but a heavenly tribulation lightning."

But I saw it with my own eyes as it meandered from the northwest, tore through the sky, and crashed down.

If it were natural lightning, it should form a cloud of calamity overhead.

"I don't understand, I don't quite get it."

Zhongli Mei was inside the house and didn't see the lightning in the night sky that looked like a "crack in the sky".

"Forget about divine retribution or heavenly lightning, go see Mr. Wu!"

Despite the excruciating pain of the murderous aura, Xiang Liang pushed Zhongli Mei aside and hurriedly ran towards the center of the main room.

"Chieftain, are you alright?"

Xiang Sheng, covered in dust and dirt, hurriedly grabbed him, "Wait a moment, there might be more lightning."

He was very lucky.

When he went out to call for Xiang Zhong, Xiang Yi, and other assassins to enter the chaos and rescue Mr. Wu, they had already arrived in the courtyard.

"I'm fine, Mr. Wu, you absolutely mustn't get hurt!"

Xiang Liang obediently stopped, but turned his expectant gaze to Xiang Sheng.

Xiang Sheng was numb.

"What are you all standing there for? Go save Mr. Wu!"

He called out to his servants who had been alerted.

“There’s no more lightning.” Xiang Ji walked over and said with certainty, “The lightning earlier tore down from the sky in the northwest. Is there any lightning in the northwest now? No.”

He used his lightness skill to leap back to the old site of the main hall.

The sturdy brick house has vanished, leaving only a hole two zhang in diameter and more than ten zhang deep.

Only streams of eerie and chilling evil energy spewed out from the cave.

Mr. Wu has disappeared.

(End of this chapter)