Lightning Breaks All
Chapter 15: Lightning Breaks All
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"You fight for rank. I fight because someone always tries to take what's mine."
—Qin Feng
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Heaven's Crown Tournament – Final Four Matchups
The announcement echoed through the city, ringing from the spirit towers and etched across the sky in glowing runes:
"Next match: 2v2 Tag Battle — Winner advances to Grand Finals!"
Team One:
Qin Feng (Golden Sky Sect)
Ziyue (Storm Cliffs Sect)
Team Two:
Lian Ruo (Devil Lotus Sect)
Xue Ran (Flame Ash Sect)
Qin Feng raised a brow as he read the names.
Ziyue cracked her knuckles, lightning flickering at her fingertips.
Lian Ruo licked her lips, her eyes gleaming with battle-lust.
And Xue Ran... just lit himself on fire, his hair turning to flame, the air around him warping with sheer heat.
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[New Challenger Detected: Xue Ran – Flame Devourer Physique]
[Affection Toward Lian Ruo: Obsession]
[Rival Status: Critical – Views Qin Feng as threat and obstruction]
---
From the high stands, Yun'er whispered under her breath.
"That guy doesn't just control fire... he feeds on it."
Su Mei crossed her arms. "Sounds like a walking disaster."
Mei Xue's tone was like winter. "If he can't control it, he'll be his own downfall."
Zihan clutched her pendant tighter. "Qin Feng will be okay... right?"
No one answered.
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1. Entrance Explosion
The arena had been reforged again — a floating battlefield shaped from volcanic obsidian, suspended over a roaring pit of lava. Columns of flame erupted randomly from beneath, forcing even spectators to shield their eyes.
Sacred runes glowed beneath the molten stone, stabilizing the battlefield just enough to keep it from collapsing. Yet the oppressive heat could be felt even from the upper stands.
Qin Feng stepped forward onto the platform, lightning crackling at his shoulders.
He looked to Ziyue. "You good?"
She rolled her neck, grinning. "Try not to hog the kills this time."
Opposite them, Lian Ruo stood with a playful smirk, her whip already wrapped around her arm. Her curves shimmered with enchanted oils, meant to distract as much as to enhance movement.
"Try not to cry when I win."
Beside her, Xue Ran didn't reply. His aura was already suffocating, a cloak of flame licking his skin. Even the arena stones near his feet began to glow red.
The announcer's voice boomed.
"MATCH BEGIN!"
A bell rang, and the world exploded into motion.
Ziyue shot into the air like a thunderbolt, spinning as currents danced around her.
Qin Feng surged forward on foot, a streak of blue lightning. His first strike turned the ground beneath Xue Ran into molten slag, a warning.
Lian Ruo countered with a whip of twin flames, clashing with Qin Feng mid-dash. Sparks flew as the two exchanged a blur of blows.
"Come on, Qin Feng! You were more exciting in bed!"
The crowd roared.
Qin Feng smirked, never breaking his step. "You didn't even get the main course."
More cheers. Whistles. Even sect elders looked stunned.
Above them, Ziyue summoned a swirling vortex of thunderclouds. Bolts rained down like judgment.
---
[Audience Excitement Level: 91% and rising]
[Bond Synergy Activated – Ziyue + Qin Feng: Twin Thunder Tempest Formation]
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They struck together, forming a perfect combo: Ziyue from above, Qin Feng from below. The spiraling bolt that crashed between them cracked the platform in two.
Lian Ruo slid backward, her skin bleeding from small cuts. But her smile only widened.
"You're making me want to lose."
But before Qin Feng could react, Xue Ran roared.
The flames around him turned black. The temperature spiked. The air itself began to combust.
"You ignore me?!"
He launched straight for Ziyue, his hands engulfed in swirling infernos. A silhouette of a fire serpent coiled around his arm.
Ziyue turned mid-air to block, but his strike shattered her blade into pieces.
She screamed as she fell, her body trailing sparks.
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[Ziyue Health: Critical]
[System Warning: Partner Down – Assist Immediately]
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Qin Feng's expression shifted. Cold. Focused.
He looked up at Ziyue as she hit the ground with a thud. Then his eyes turned back to Xue Ran.
"Big mistake."
2. Forbidden Lightning
His lightning turned jagged, corrupted. It turned black.
The arena darkened as if clouds had covered the sun.
Spectators gasped. The elders leaned forward.
[Hidden Trait: Cursed Lightning Vein Activated]
[Warning: Irreversible damage possible. Proceed?]
YES.
Energy exploded from Qin Feng's body. His hair lifted, his veins glowed. Thunder rang across the heavens, and the lava itself pulled away from him in fear.
He became a storm.
Xue Ran raised both hands, summoning a dome of flame. The serpent hissed and coiled, guarding its master.
Too late.
Qin Feng appeared behind him in a blink.
"You touched what's mine."
He grabbed Xue Ran by the throat and slammed him into the molten ground.
A blinding pillar of lightning surged down from the sky and incinerated the platform. The ground ruptured. Even the audience flinched.
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[Xue Ran Eliminated]
[Cursed Lightning Overload: 75% Reached]
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Lian Ruo stood frozen, eyes wide.
"Oh... shit."
She turned and ran.
She barely took three steps.
A second bolt fell. The ground cracked. She was sent flying into a pillar.
When the dust cleared, she was coughing blood, her body trembling.
Qin Feng stood over her, his aura collapsing rapidly.
She looked up, dazed.
"Still sexy?"
He smirked weakly.
"Always."
Then collapsed.
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[Match Over – Team One Advances to Finals]
[Warning: Cursed Lightning Vein must be stabilized within 7 days]
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3. Aftermath and Betrayal
The recovery chambers glowed with healing light.
Ziyue lay unconscious, monitored by sacred formation arrays.
Yun'er applied high-tier salves, murmuring prayers between seals.
Su Mei sat at the entrance, blade unsheathed, ready for anything.
Inside another chamber, Qin Feng lay shirtless, lightning patterns still faintly visible on his skin.
Zihan watched over him silently, pressing a cold cloth to his forehead.
"You always try to carry everything yourself..." she whispered. "Idiot."
Outside, Mei Xue stood like a statue, staring into the snow.
The wind carried whispers. Unnatural ones.
Meanwhile, Lian Ruo paced back and forth in her room, fists clenched.
"He risked his life... for her. Not for me."
She struck a wall, cracking the stone.
That's when the gray-robed man appeared.
His presence was unnatural. Silent. Wrong.
"You care about him."
Lian Ruo didn't look at him.
The man handed her a scroll sealed in bone wax.
"Then help us stop him. Before the gods claim him."
She stared at the scroll, unsure whether to scream or accept it.
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[System Alert: Traitor Seed Planted – Lian Ruo (Conflict Stage)]
[Outcome depends on next emotional event]
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Qin Feng stirred.
His system glowed faintly.
[Next Match: Grand Finals – In 7 Days]
[Opponent: Crown Candidate of the Frozen North]
[Codename: The Last Saint]
He sat upright, muscles aching.
His thoughts weren't on the finals.
They were on his team. On the girls. On the whispers in his soul.
And on the godly voice he'd heard before collapsing.
Outside the medical wing, snow began to fall.
A storm was coming.
And it wasn't one he could dodge.
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"They think I fight to win.
I fight to keep.
To keep the ones I love breathing."
—Qin Feng
To be continued...
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Chapter 16 Preview:
Ziyue wakes up changed. A sealed letter written in lightning script appears beside her. A long-awaited kiss happens under snowfall. And Mei Xue is visited by someone from the Frozen North.
The final trial begins.