"It seems you know more than I imagined," the old man said indifferently upon hearing Xu Zimei’s words.
"I’ll extinguish your consciousness first," Xu Zimei snorted coldly.
He waved his hand grandly, reaching for the Thundercloud Pearl.
"Courting death," the old man roared, and on that purple pearl, thunder flashed all over, with strands of Thunder Dragons wandering within.
The Thunder Dragons coiled in the sky, their proud heads roaring towards Xu Zimei.
However, as the chains sealing the Thundercloud Pearl began to vibrate, those Thunder Dragons were clearly affected.
Their momentum started to weaken.
Yet, they still roared, drawing on the power of the Thundercloud Pearl to spit lightning at Xu Zimei in attack.
"Now you’re nothing but a toothless tiger," Xu Zimei shook his head slightly.
He said, "I wasn’t afraid even in your prime, let alone now."
"Way of Inquiry, Sixteen Forms, Reverse Samsara," Tyrant Shadow unsheathed, and the clang of the blade echoed throughout the cave.
A force of reincarnation pervaded the air, and immense Blade Qi, like a sea of swords from Purgatory, was bolstered wave after wave by the power of reincarnation, slashing directly towards the Thunder Dragons.
With a "pfft," the head of a Thunder Dragon was cleanly severed, turning into a sky full of lightning flickering all around.
"What are you trying to do?" the old man appeared visibly flustered.
"You should not exist in the first place," Xu Zimei said indifferently.
He waved his hand grandly, and the Consciousness Entity of the Heavenly Thunder Pearl was directly pulled out from its main body.
"No, please stop, Your Excellency," the old man desperately resisted.
"I have cultivated diligently for countless years to attain this sliver of consciousness, I will agree to whatever you want."
"I want an original Thundercloud Pearl, but I doubt you can manage that," Xu Zimei said with a smile.
"I’ve already declined. If Your Excellency still insists on forcing me, don’t blame this old man for a fight to the death," the old man’s face looked ferociously warped, a somewhat illusory feeling to it.
"The fish may die, but the net may not necessarily break," Xu Zimei said with a smile.
His hands continued to forcefully pull at the Consciousness Entity of the old man, intending to completely extract it and then slay it.
The next moment, an ear-piercing thunderclap resounded close by.
In the firmament above, lightning swirled densely.
On the surface of the Thundercloud Pearl, what was once purple thunder was replaced by a touch of nothingness.
"Let’s die together, Chaos Divine Thunder," the old man laughed insidiously.
If one were to look from the outside world at this moment, they would see the firmament above Qin City had completely transformed.
A mysterious force shot straight into the heavens, drawing down Nine Heavens Divine Thunder, and the sky instantly filled with dark clouds, a great vortex of nothingness forming within.
Within that vortex seemed to be gathering an astonishing power, with wisps of grey arcs spreading and overflowing.
At a certain moment, the firmament seemed to collapse.
An ultimate, grey thunder, as if to rip apart the firmament itself, descended directly from above, rolling down with grandeur.
The center of this thunder was precisely the Qin Residence’s Thundercloud Cave.
And outside, Qin Feng also noticed this situation, his expression changed, and he shouted, "Impossible."
He wanted to rush into the Thundercloud Cave’s Thunder Pond.
However, at this moment, the Chaos Divine Thunder fell, and everything was engulfed in the resulting quietus. With his strength, he couldn’t be touched by much of the thunder.
Watching the Chaos Divine Thunder descend, Xu Zimei smiled and took out a token.
It was taken from Qin Shuang’s hand; if he wasn’t wrong, this token was likely the accompaniment to the Heavenly Thunder Pearl.
Xu Zimei smiled, and as the token appeared, the old man clearly began to panic.
"How could this be in your hands?" the old man asked urgently.
"Guess," Xu Zimei smiled.
Spiritual Energy crazily surged into the Token, and once the Spiritual Energy entered the Token, it flowed back out, astonishingly transformed into a deep purple color.
Chaos Divine Thunder exploded above Thundercloud Cave, striking directly toward Xu Zimei.
It was apparent that this was power the old man had accumulated over tens of millions of years, specifically for his own escape.
It’s just that he had never had the chance to break the seal, and this time, he was forced into a desperate situation.
When the Chaos Divine Thunder came crashing down, Xu Zimei used the purple Spiritual Energy from the Token to shield himself above his head.
This purple Spiritual Energy seemed to have a special function, actually able to isolate and withstand the power of the thunderbolt.
"Try it yourself," Xu Zimei said as he aimed the purple Spiritual Energy at the phantom shadow on the Heavenly Thunder Pearl.
Directing the Chaos Divine Thunder right toward it.
"No, don’t," the old man bellowed in terror.
He still had some resistance to normal thunderbolts and wasn’t very afraid of them.
But this Chaos Divine Thunder was beyond the limit he could bear.
"Ah," accompanied by a chilling and panic-stricken scream, the old man’s Consciousness Entity was annihilated under the thunderbolt.
Thunderbolt was inherently the most yang and intense of elements, very penetrating and scorching to soul bodies.
After the old man’s soul scattered to the winds, the Chaos Divine Thunder in the nine heavens, having no target, slowly dissipated as well.
"Are you alright?" Qin Shuang quickly approached, asking anxiously.
"What could be wrong with me," Xu Zimei said with a chuckle, shaking his head.
He walked in front of the Heavenly Thunder Pearl, looking at the iron chains sealing it.
Xu Zimei grabbed the chains with both hands, and with a forceful yank, the sound of clanking chains echoed around him.
"Break," Xu Zimei whispered softly.
The Power Vortex within him kept spinning, and behind him, the phantom of a giant vaguely appeared, the iron chains sealing it were forcibly broken by his sheer strength.
Without the restraint of the seal, the Heavenly Thunder Pearl instantly regained its freedom, turning into a bolt of lightning attempting to escape.
Xu Zimei was well-prepared, covering it with his large hand, and collected it into the True Fate World.
After busying with everything, Xu Zimei finally took a deep breath.
He had now gathered four of the Five Spirit Beads.
The Wind Extinguishing Bead, the Weakening Water Pearl, the Yimu Bead, and this Heavenly Thunder Pearl.
As for the final Nirvana Bead, Xu Zimei had heard of it before when he attended the Demonic Skills Conference organized by the Lan Family.
Moreover, he even obtained the accompanying item for the Nirvana Bead from them.
"It seems I’ll need to make a trip to the Red Dust Palace when I get the chance," Xu Zimei thought to himself.
"And Lan Ke’er also went to the Red Dust Palace."
As one of the Ten Great Forbidden Lands, the Red Dust Palace wasn’t incredibly dangerous, but it was a special place, and Xu Zimei needed to plan carefully.
"Let’s go," Xu Zimei said to Qin Shuang who was standing beside him.
Qin Shuang nodded silently.
"You don’t seem very happy?" Xu Zimei asked, puzzled.
"Now that you’ve taken what you wanted, are you going to leave?" Qin Shuang fell silent for a moment, her gaze like still water, suddenly looking at Xu Zimei.
"Otherwise, what reason do I have to stay here?" Xu Zimei replied.
"Oh," Qin Shuang nodded silently.
As the two left the cave entrance and walked out from Thunder Pond, Qin Feng had already been waiting for a long time above.
"Greetings, City Lord Qin," Xu Zimei greeted with a smile.
"Who exactly are you? Why have you come to Qin Residence?" Qin Feng fixed his gaze tightly on Xu Zimei, questioning.