Solar Blood Masters (155)

Chapter 155 - Crying For Daddy

Lingshi groaned. Then his eyes flickered open. He was disoriented. A dull ache pulsed in his skull, and the world around him seemed to spin. "What… what WAS that blinding light?” He shook his massive head, trying to clear the cobwebs. Something felt… off.

He reached up and touched his forehead, his claws brushed against smooth shell.

“Where…?” His eyes widened in shock. His ‘Gem of Knowledge’, the source of his wisdom and power, it was gone!

In his stupor, he glanced ahead and noticed a flash of green light hovering above Raphael’s form. The light intensified then shot downwards!

BOOM!

Lu Jade, who was clinging to Raphael, was blasted away! He landed with a thud near the edge of the stage. He coughed. A trickle of blood stained his snout.

“Little Lu!”

Raphael tried to reach for his friend, but his body wouldn’t obey. He was shifting in and out of consciousness. At that moment, his mind was a chaotic jumble of fragmented memories. The earlier clash with Lingshi, that blinding flash of light… It had taken a toll.

Then… a soft, green glow emanated from Raphael’s forehead. A bamboo script, etched with glowing runes, emerged. It floated towards the spot where Lingshi’s Gem of Knowledge was.

Zhu Jian entered the gem.

The gem, now radiating a potent mix of green and white light, began to shrink.

Witnessing this strange phenomenon, Lingshi stared in disbelief.

“That Sagewood Script just now… it’s mine. No wonder I got such a familiar feeling from that bull at the time. It turns out he had MY Sagewood Script inside him this whole time. But how… How did he get it? If I remember correctly, that specific script was locked away in Kisshi’s vault 200,000 thousand years ago. That bull shouldn’t even KNOW where it is. The only other person who knew was… QI Hawk!

So that’s it. My sister’s death was caused by QI Hawk 200,000 years ago. He must have raided her vault… and stole my Sagewood Script. And If it bonded with that bull, then that means…”

His deduction was interrupted by a horrifying realization. The gem was now shrinking, and it was entering Raphael’s forehead!

The green light intensified.

“My Gem of Knowledge has recognized HIM… as its owner! I CAN'T allow the merger to take place! KILL!”

He lunged forward with malicious intent. He was ready to crush Raphael with his extended hand.

But… Thienika was faster.

“Regal Counter!”

BOOM!

She thrust her staff forward, and Lingshi found his massive form tumbling backwards through the air as if an invisible force had swatted him. He landed with a thud on his back. His shell cracked, sending shards of jade-green bamboo flying.

“What… That tree woman was able to knock ME on my shell? A peak Nightmare Calamity? But how?!” He was baffled, for never had he encountered a defensive move so potent.

“Master Lingshi!”

Lu Ruby rushed over and helped him flip over. “That’s the tree’s technique! She can counter any move. But her power is much weaker now, she won’t be able to use any more powerful techniques for the next thirty seconds!”

“I know! I know! I faced her earlier! But right now…” He glared at Raphael, whose body was now glowing with a potent mix of green and gold. "Stop that bull from merging with my Gem of Knowledge! NOW!"

“Ok, I’LL KILL HIM! NOW’S the perfect chance! And after I kill that bull, I’m going to TAKE back my Sun Cycle!” Lu Ruby hissed as she slithered through the air towards Raphael.

She was about to unleash her attack, when…

WHOOSH!

Something grabbed onto her tail. It was Lu Jade’s Phantom Willow Grass.

“You… little shit! Now is NOT the time to be hindering me! I’m going to KILL that bull! Unhand me… NOW!”

“I won’t let you harm Big Brother!” Lu Jade held firm.

“Damn you!” She was livid. She tried to break free, but Lu Jade’s grass was surprisingly strong.

“Don’t DELAY! END that bull NOW!” Lingshi urged Lu Ruby.

Finally, with a burst of Solar Essence, she ripped free from the grass entrapment. But just as she was about to dash towards Raphael…

A green eye appeared on Raphael’s forehead. Its pupil dilated as if gazing into the very depths of her soul.

WHOOSH!

A green beam shot forth. It struck Lu Ruby's head, sending her crashing to the ground.

She screamed in agony. It was a pain unlike anything she’d experienced before, a searing, mind-numbing torment that had her writhing and thrashing, slamming her tail against the stage in a desperate attempt to quell the unbearable sensation.

“Daddy… SAVE ME!”

Her cries echoed through the arena, mingling with the laughter of the crowd.

“That snake… she’s crying like a baby! Hahaha!”

“What a pathetic display!”

“I knew she was weak!”

“Serves her right!”

Their laughter and jeers, however, were quickly silenced.

BOOM!

An oppressive heat, as potent as a thousand suns, descended from above the Emperor’s platform. Everyone in the arena could feel its intensity as their Solar Essences recoiled.

They looked up.

Lu Ignis’s blazing eyes glared down at them. He was furious, those scales radiating a dreadful heat that had even the hardiest of beasts trembling. The air around him warped as if the very heavens themselves were bending to his will.

The temperature in the arena intensified, to a point where many of the spectators fainted from heatstroke. Those who hadn't thought to bring sun protection that day began toasting.

“My fur… It’s melting!”

“Feathers! My beautiful feathers!”

“I can’t breathe…!”

Their desperate cries and those dreadful aromas from burnt flesh had some running for cover, but where?

“HELP! It’s too HOT!”

“Emperor Lala Zhen… Please… DO something!”

Silk Yune, whose platform was closest to Lu Ignis, felt the heat and scowled.

“His anger… It’s a furnace of molten misery! If I don’t act, we’ll all be incinerated! Frozen Tundra – Ice Age!”

She unleashed her own potent Solar Essence. A wave of icy energy washed across the Emperor’s platform, quelling the infernal heat and sending those delicate butterflies and fairies scrambling further away, for even their mighty queen couldn’t always protect her children from those ancient feuds between Emperors. Such a pity.

Lu Ignis’s scales dripped lava. The molten rock sizzled as it hit the platform, forming a pool of magma that glowed with an ominous red light. The heat around him was still intense, yet it was bearable now, a small comfort.

The other Emperors didn't say a word, for they knew his pain, the humiliation he’d just endured. To have his daughter’s cries echoing throughout the Grand Mound Arena, for her Solar Essence to be mocked? It was a disgrace to the Lu Clan.

Lu Ignis wanted to barge down onto the stage, grab that damned bull by the horns, and toss him out of bounds. But he had to hold back, for his actions, his fury, was being observed by the Void Emperor, and his fellow rulers.

He knew, deep down, that they were waiting, eager for any excuse to challenge his authority, to dethrone him, even to usurp his territory, such was the way of Yama Yaguai. Their envious whispers were laced with a chilling anticipation that had him shifting nervously upon his trident.

He gritted his teeth as steam hissed from his nostrils with a dreadful sound that had the lesser beasts around those platforms cowering, they quickly put away their wagers.

This wasn’t simply an Emperor’s tears, nor was it about a father's broken pride or a warrior’s humiliation! No, this was a Calamity’s wrath. And their fears were valid. For who dared challenge one whose Solar Essence exceeded ten million years, not even his most trusted advisors nor his harem would find solace should those molten rivers begin flowing, surely?

He would unleash his vengeance!

But today… patience was his shield. He would endure.

He would bide his time.