Amidst the thunderlight filling the sky, a white-haired dragon girl draped in silver radiance slowly emerged from the dark clouds.
A giant dragon formed entirely of lightning coiled around her, letting out an earth-shattering roar at everyone on the arena stage.
“You hit the little one, and the old one shows up?!” Hua Jian exclaimed instinctively.
“Old?” The dragon girl’s eyes instantly locked onto Hua Jian. Visibly, her expression became dark and terrifying.
Hua Jian quickly covered her mouth. Although the dragon girl in the sky had her face veiled, how could Hua Jian fail to recognize this enemy?
A white-haired girl who used lightning and possessed the characteristics of the Dragon Race—who else could it be but Linglong?
Perhaps the moment she realized this forbidden land was thunder-attributed and the Boss guarding the arena was the Little Blue Dragon, she should have been mentally prepared for this.
The Little Blue Dragon wasn’t strong, so there had to be someone backing her up as the true Boss, right?
Then, narrowing it down, who was the most suitable person to be the Boss guarding this pass?
That person had to be skilled in thunder-type techniques, preferably have a connection to the Little Blue Dragon, and be sufficiently powerful.
Oh, this was practically shouting a certain person’s name.
Hua Jian had been wondering why Linglong hadn’t come looking for her. It turned out she was waiting for her here.
“Trespassing into the forbidden land is punishable by death. Accept the judgment of the thunder!”
“Hurry up and handle the mechanics! I’ll hold her off!”
Seeing that Linglong had no intention of catching up, Hua Jian quickly told the others to carry the Little Blue Dragon over to complete the process.
She would stay behind alone to block Linglong.
The cultivators did as they were told. Clearly, the person in the sky was the true difficulty of this forbidden land, and they knew what they had to do now.
There was no point in staying behind to shout ‘Boss Hua, I can’t leave you.’
Only by eliminating the anomalies in the Secret Realm could they better help Hua Jian achieve victory.
In just a few days, Hua Jian had completely won them over with her strength and sense of responsibility.
Hua Jian would shoulder any trouble, and they could still get a share of the rewards after the fight.
Where else could they find such a good leader?
They chose to execute Hua Jian’s orders almost without a second thought. Their purpose was to follow the mechanics and weaken the Boss. Not doing that would be the real mistake.
As the cultivators ran toward the stone pillars while carrying the struggling Little Blue Dragon, Hua Jian had already engaged Linglong in battle.
As soon as they clashed, she was sent reeling by Linglong’s strikes.
Compared to the normal Linglong that Hua Jian was familiar with, this Boss Linglong clearly demonstrated the terrifying power of the “blackened” state.
The power of her Spirit Techniques was many times stronger than usual.
Originally, Hua Jian taking a single hit of lightning would only cause her to pause for a moment.
Now, a single bolt of lightning could blast her straight from the sky down onto the stage.
If the stage hadn’t been sturdy enough, she probably would have smashed right through it.
Even worse, the stage was made of metal. The lightning Linglong dropped would instantly conduct across the entire surface.
As long as Hua Jian stood on the stage, she would be hit by the aftershocks no matter where Linglong struck.
“You’re cheating! You weren’t this powerful before!” While being chased around by Linglong, Hua Jian shouted out in distress.
Using cheats and mutations was wrong. Linglong, stop now! You’re going to get banned for ten years!
“You’re still talking nonsense even now. I don’t know you!” Linglong replied, her eyes wide as she threw another Thunder Spear at Hua Jian.
“Wow, have you forgotten everything from our past, you heartless person?!”
“The past? I have no past with you! Take this!”
It seemed a certain word had triggered Linglong. She drew her Ling Sword and lunged at Hua Jian, bringing the Thunder Dragon with her.
Hua Jian hurriedly drew her sword to respond, but the empowered Linglong was truly too formidable, and her speed was unimaginably fast.
She had only just drawn her sword when Linglong’s blade reached her front.
Clang!
Hua Jian was pressed down into a half-kneeling position by a massive force.
The physical constitution of the Dragon Race was truly unreasonable.
Even though Hua Jian hadn’t neglected her Refining Body cultivation lately, she still couldn’t gain the upper hand when facing Linglong.
However, compared to the increase in Linglong’s magical power, this strength gave Hua Jian a nostalgic feeling.
‘Small and very cute.’
It was much better than that magical intensity, which completely exceeded the limits of the Spirit Master realm.
“I’m saying, we’re so close, is there really a need to fight so seriously?” While parrying Linglong’s fierce assault, Hua Jian tried to get her to go easy.
Hearing those words, Linglong finally couldn’t help but break character.
Hua Jian saw Linglong roll her eyes and say to her irritably, “Be serious. I am your enemy right now.”
‘Does she not want to catch up with Hua Jian and tell her why she hasn’t looked for her in so long?’
‘It’s just that she has a mission to fulfill and cannot say much!’
She was the Boss of this forbidden land, so she couldn’t just be biased and start slacking off the moment she saw her friend.
Even if she did that and let Hua Jian clear the mechanics to eliminate the forbidden land, this achievement wouldn’t be credited to Hua Jian. The Venerables weren’t blind.
Furthermore, she was the Saintess of Yaochi, representing its image. She couldn’t open a back door for Hua Jian in front of so many people.
There was only one thing she could do here, and that was to fight Hua Jian with all her strength. Only then would she be worthy of Hua Jian and Yaochi.
“I thought you really wanted to be a heartless person and forget me. I must say, your outfit right now is quite pretty. Why didn’t you wear this before—”
“Hey, don’t hit my face! If I’m disfigured, you’ll have to compensate me!”
“Wait, why are you fighting harder and harder? I’m telling you, my patience has limits. If you keep this up, I’ll get angry… Ouch, you’re shameless!”
Verbal sparring wasn’t very effective against someone as stubborn as Linglong. In this battle, Linglong didn’t hold back at all, aiming every move at Hua Jian’s weak points.
At most, it was a bit unusual that she continued to attack Hua Jian’s face even more fiercely after she shouted not to.
Perhaps it was because Hua Jian’s reaction after being hit in the face was quite amusing; Linglong actually enjoyed seeing Hua Jian in such a flustered state.
Linglong was truly happy at this moment.
Was there anything more satisfying in the world than having such a perfect reason to severely discipline this cheeky brat, whom she had always wanted to teach a lesson but could never find the chance?
Under her veil, the corners of Linglong’s mouth were already curling up uncontrollably. Indeed, creatures like cheeky brats were most delicious when they were being bullied.
“Why are you getting more excited? Look behind you! the stone pillars are almost back in place. Go take care of that!”
Hua Jian, who was about to have her hair turned into an afro by the lightning, shouted to remind Linglong not to lose sight of the bigger picture.
Don’t look at how she was currently powerless to fight back against Linglong; in terms of the overall situation, Hua Jian actually had the advantage!
Yes, she couldn’t beat Linglong and could only take a beating, getting covered in soot from the electricity. But Hua Jian’s goal was never to win against Linglong in this state.
If she could crush Linglong in this state, then the position of the Saintess of Yaochi should go to her instead.
Let alone the Saintess of Yaochi, the Five Great Sacred Sects would have to join forces to create a special Saintess position for her and carry her around while shouting that Miss Hua Jian was invincible under the heavens.
Linglong was already a rare talent of this era. On top of that, she had been studying in a Saint Sect since birth, taught by true experts.
This made her strength vastly superior to cultivators of the same age.
Now, she had received the empowerment of the forbidden land, and the entire environment was custom-made for her.
Her abilities weren’t restricted at all. After all, her true strength was only at the Spirit Master realm, so she wasn’t limited like those Ling Kings.
This meant Linglong was currently in an absolute peak state.
Ling Kings would be inhibited during a fight, but Linglong wouldn’t; she only needed to fight with all her might.
In this state, perhaps only Hua Jian could hold out for so long. And Hua Jian could hold out not because of technique, but because her HP was thick.
Any other cultivator would have been shocked into convulsions on the ground by Linglong’s fierce assault long ago.
But Hua Jian was a “plant-human,” and she had the Spiritual Garment given by a Venerable protecting her body.
When Linglong’s lightning fell on Hua Jian, it only felt like her body was being slammed by a giant sledgehammer. It hurt, but it wasn’t life-threatening.
Linglong was having fun fighting now, but behind them, the progress of the Spiritual Pillar’s restoration was already nearly one-fifth complete.
It wouldn’t be long before the special environment here gradually disappeared.
At that time, Hua Jian would no longer fear Linglong at all!
You are indeed very powerful, but we have the advantage of numbers. You definitely won’t win against us in a war of attrition.
Hearing this, Linglong turned her head to look at the stone pillars and found herself in a bit of a dilemma for a moment.
She had to admit Hua Jian was right. She was unleashing a flurry of attacks on Hua Jian, but much of the damage was ineffective.
Every minute and second Hua Jian stalled was a tangible gain.
She looked very impressive in the combat, but she wasn’t the one moving toward victory.
“You’re right. I indeed need to pay attention to that side.” Linglong nodded.
As she moved, the Thunder Dragon coiled around her detached and flew toward the stone pillars, unleashing a breath of lightning at the array formation the cultivators had deployed there.
The thunderlight slammed into the multicolored barrier, causing it to vibrate slightly.
However, compared to the fireball attack from the Ling King in the previous forbidden land, the pressure caused by this Thunder Dragon wasn’t as great.
After all, it was still a Spirit Master realm attack. Faced with the Five Elements Grand Array set up by so many cultivators together, it couldn’t be easily broken.
“Wait… You’re so despicable!” Hua Jian’s pupils shrank.
Although the Five Elements Grand Array could still block the Thunder Dragon’s attacks, she could tell at a glance that the Thunder Dragon would break the array faster than the stone pillars could be reset.
Solely defending wouldn’t work; they had to find a way to interrupt the Thunder Dragon’s attack.
Just as this thought occurred to her, Linglong arrived before her along with the thunderlight, her sword slashing toward Hua Jian’s neck.
“You still dare to be distracted? I won’t show any mercy.”
After losing the assistance of the Thunder Dragon, the pressure Linglong exerted on Hua Jian lessened slightly.