Chapter Ninety-Seven: I'm Waiting for the Countdown—What Are You Waiting For?

Two diamond-shaped thunder shadows struck with incredible speed. No sooner had Chen Qi spotted them than they flashed right before his chest. Even though Chen Qi had been keeping his eyes fixed on the Purple Thunder Hawk, he could not track the trajectory of this move at all.

It was not until he felt a bone-chilling numbness in his chest that his blade finally managed to react.

In the critical moment, Chen Qi swung his long blade to strike at the thunder shadow on the right, while for the other, he blocked with his left arm, actively offering it up to the incoming projectile.

This was undoubtedly a gamble. Chen Qi reasoned that no skill was omnipotent; if these thunder shadows were lightning-fast, their lethality could not be overwhelming—or at the very least, it shouldn't be at maximum capacity.

As his blade caught the tail of the right-hand thunder shadow, Chen Qi used his experience in blade-deflection to exert a sudden burst of muscle power in his right hand. Immediately after, feeling a moderate force against the tip of his blade, he instantly modulated his muscular output to create resonance with the force coming from the impact.

In the next second, to Chen Qi’s eager relief, the thunder shadow was deflected before it could strike him, grazing past his outer thigh.

Before he could even revel in his success, however, a sharp, searing pain shot through his left hand—the second thunder shadow had found its mark.

"Hiss..."

As expected, the thunder shadow did not penetrate his arm, but embedded itself into the flesh, continuously discharging electric arcs. The sharp pain vanished quickly, but Chen Qi did not dare relax, for he could no longer move his left arm; a relentless, creeping numbness seemed to have severed the transmission of his nerves.

"At least it’s not my right hand," Chen Qi thought, his mind sharp. Not attempting to alleviate the numbness, he dragged his paralyzed arm and retreated violently.

A split second later, a dense barrage of thunder feathers blasted the spot where he had been standing into a honeycomb. Not only that, but a scattering of stray feathers rained down exactly where he had just moved.

This was hardly a problem, though. Chen Qi swung his blade several times in an instant, creating a small curtain of steel that swatted away the stray feathers.

The Purple Thunder Hawk looked down at the scene with cold, indifferent eyes. It had naturally anticipated that this volley of feathers might not cause substantial damage; this attack was merely a probe, taking advantage of the enemy’s injury to try its luck.

With his left hand still numb, Chen Qi compared their health bars: he was at 67%, while the Purple Thunder Hawk was at 46%. It seemed he held the upper hand, but the hawk had started at 79%. Furthermore, the beast would not give him another chance like that.

There was good news, however: his health was higher than he had anticipated. It seemed that using his left arm to tank the damage had been effective. Based on his worst-case scenario—given that the thunder shadows had been able to shatter the Great Elder’s spiritual consciousness projection—he had been prepared to lose more than half his life.

"Second round!" Chen Qi shouted, mimicking a domineering line from a movie, brandishing his blade at the hawk in the sky.

***

For the Purple Thunder Hawk, although it could not understand the words of the small, upright ape below, it did not stop it from silently intensifying the power of its next offensive.

A moment later, the sky became thick with thunder patterns. The Purple Thunder Hawk fully unfurled its wings, which spanned several meters. The sound of surging electricity grew louder, and a crushing, oppressive aura condensed into something almost tangible.

Having learned its lesson from when Chen Qi deflected its lightning orb, the hawk intended to use its ultimate technique—its most powerful move. This technique possessed infinite destructive potential; it was confident that the small upright ape below could never withstand it. In its view, even an "old" upright ape would likely lose more than half its life if caught by this move.

The only concern was that this technique required a long charging time, and an "old" upright ape might not grant it the opportunity to charge.

"As for that small upright ape..." The Purple Thunder Hawk curled its sharp beak in disdain. Because its beak had been broken earlier, this simple movement caused it a stabbing pain.

The pain fueled the hawk's rage, and the pressure, already near its limit, climbed even higher. It gathered the energy between heaven and earth almost greedily, attempting to unleash a world-shattering blow. The hawk even felt that this next strike would be the peak of its power for a long time to come.

Sensing the hawk's aura continuing to rise—like a dormant volcano about to erupt and destroy everything—Chen Qi began to grow restless. His instincts as a martial artist were screaming in alarm, to the point where he almost lost the courage to swing his blade. Under the weight of this oppressive aura, he couldn't even prepare himself to enter the "Void State."

"I can't go on like this. I have to think of something," Chen Qi muttered to himself, instantly summoning a handgun from his storage space.

In the next second, sharp, crisp gunfire rang out. Chen Qi aimed roughly and emptied an entire magazine within seconds. It was worth noting that perhaps because the ammo for this pistol was cheap, the 'Sprout Space' had granted him the privilege of infinite ammunition, provided he changed magazines in time.

The Purple Thunder Hawk in mid-air naturally noticed the strange weapon. It hesitated for a moment, but chose not to dodge, focusing instead on finishing its charge. On one hand, it felt no fluctuations from that weapon capable of harming it; on the other hand...

The bullets approached the hawk in an instant, only to be blasted into dust by a sudden flash of purple lightning before Chen Qi’s eager eyes. The weak gunpowder explosion didn't even singe the hawk’s feathers. Telling himself that it was just a coincidence, Chen Qi turned his gaze to the remaining bullets, most of which were intercepted by the lightning mid-air.

Suddenly, Chen Qi felt a flicker of joy, seeing one lucky bullet penetrate the dense field of thunder patterns, appearing as if it might actually strike the hawk.

***

"Clang!"

The Purple Thunder Hawk lowered its left wing in a lazy, stretching motion, which perfectly blocked the trajectory of the incoming bullet. There was nothing left but the sound of metal clashing against metal and a tiny spark.

"Is that it?" The Purple Thunder Hawk wore a mocking grin. A thought crossed its mind: *I am charging my ultimate, and what are you doing?*

"You're waiting for death!" The hawk’s grin widened, uncontrollable. It knew that in a few seconds, its ultimate would be ready. That spectacular sea of thunder would be enough to roast the small upright ape into a charred patty. The only pity was that his lunch would be ruined.

At the same time, Chen Qi wore a bitter smile. Facing the hawk hovering a dozen meters above, he truly had no other means—he couldn't exactly spit a mouthful of poisonous blood at it, could he?

But this did not mean he was waiting for death!

Below a large boulder, atop a slightly elevated blue stone, Yun Tianxin stood with her hands behind her back. An aura of stillness and majesty permeated the air around her, yet it miraculously vanished a few meters away, remaining undetected by the man and the hawk on the boulder.

Her large eyes, framed by delicate lashes, were fixed intently on the Purple Thunder Hawk, her face filled with undisguised, profound concern. From her perspective, the blow the hawk was about to unleash would be difficult enough for her to handle, let alone Chen Qi, who had not even entered the Innate Realm.

She had made a move to intervene several times, only to hesitate at the last moment... simply because she had promised Chen Qi she would not interfere in the fight. She trusted him not to treat his life as a joke, but after a second thought, she cast aside all her previous assumptions. Her aura reached its peak in an instant, and she prepared to strike with force. She would not allow her junior brother's safety to slip out of her control!

"Junior Brother Chen, I'm sorry, I can't let you keep performing."

Yun Tianxin revealed a trace of apology, her fingertips brushed with a layer of azure light, faintly condensing into the shape of a blue cloud.

At that moment, she heard the man’s voice she had been waiting for:

"Senior Sister, save me!"

Instantly, Yun Tianxin’s tension eased. A gentle smile, like the bright moon emerging from the clouds, bloomed on her face. With a delay of less than a heartbeat, her slender, porcelain-white finger pointed into the air.

Following that gesture, a giant azure finger manifested high above. Before the Purple Thunder Hawk’s expression could fully shift into shock, the finger slammed down hard onto the beast's wide-open defenses!