Liu Hua gazed up at him, a cheeky grin spreading across her face.

“Can you really absorb all my lightning?”

Jin Shu furrowed his brow. It was an obvious answer, but despite the ticking timer on his transformation, he decided to humor her. For two reasons.

First, while he might be immune to her lightning now, that didn’t mean she couldn’t still use it—she was lightning-fast, almost uncatchable. Second, he was also resistant to her other elements, and he needed her not to focus on that. 

“Yes,” he said with a confident nod. “I can absorb all of it. I’m immune.”

“Hmm… well, let’s see,” she said, lifting a hand skyward. “Shall we?”

A bolt of lightning shot from her palm into the sky. When it reached its apex, it burst apart, fracturing into dozens of smaller, twisting branches of electricity that came crashing down—all targeting Jin Shu.

He raised a curious brow and let the lightning strike him. It surged over his skin harmlessly, feeding him the qi he needed. A second vajra began to take shape in one of his hands.

But Liu Hua wasn’t done.

She raised her other hand and released a wave of water and wind element energy. It shot upward, condensing into storm clouds that churned and darkened. When they merged with the lingering lightning, they transformed into black, roiling clouds laced with electricity.

The next volley was heavier. Bolts rained down with thunderous force, blackening Jin Shu’s pale-blue skin—but still not harming him. He stood unmoved, absorbing the energy as the third vajra solidified, and then a fourth took shape.

The lightning suddenly stopped. The storm clouds thinned, then dissipated, as if they'd never been summoned.

“Good,” Liu Hua said, grinning up at him. “You’re at full power now, right? I want this to be exciting. It is the finale, after all.”

Despite everything, she stood with the same wide, unshaken smile. Even after feeding him more power, she didn’t flinch. If anything, she seemed delighted by his transformation.

“Full power?” Jin Shu echoed, shaking his head. “Not quite.”

The vajra in his four hands began to glow—each with a different hue.

One burned a vivid red—fire element.

Another shimmered blue—water.

A third glinted almost invisibly—wind.

And the last shone a sleek silver—the color of his metal qi.

Three elements and one qi wrapped the vajra, enhancing their force exponentially.

The elemental ones were devastating in their own right—water and wind tied for first in raw power, with fire trailing just behind. But the fourth, cloaked in metal qi, was the most dangerous of them all. Not because it was the strongest—but because of the nature of Jin Shu’s metal qi.

A mutated, razor-sharp variant, his metal qi possessed an edge that ignored typical defenses. It was quiet. Unassuming. But it cut deeper than any other force he wielded.

Normal metal qi was sharp. Jin Shu’s metal qi was nearly undefendable.

Against anyone else, he had to consciously dull it—just to avoid killing them by accident. But against Liu Hua, he didn’t need to hold back. He didn’t know why, or how, but her body was tougher than even Ling Shi’s, whose defenses had been hardened through body cultivation.

Back then, he couldn’t even leave a mark on her skin.

But this time would be different. He understood how to wield his metal qi now. He was stronger—much stronger in this form.

He flexed all four arms, then whipped them forward, sending the vajra streaking toward her limbs, aiming to land a hit—anything to slow her down.

But before they reached her, she vanished—leaving only a trail of crackling purple sparks behind.

He turned.

She stood on the opposite end of the arena, then launched herself forward again. Lightning burst around her, surging through her limbs, accelerating her to impossible speeds.

If this were before—before the Minor Deity transformation—he wouldn’t have even seen her coming.

But now, he was ready.

He hurled the fire-aspected vajra. It shot across the arena like a meteor—but even that wasn’t fast enough. She dodged it with fluid grace.

But she didn’t know he could control them remotely.

As she twisted past it, narrowly avoiding the burn of the flames, he reversed its path behind her.

She sensed it too late. Her body jerked away mid-sprint, avoiding the surprise strike by a hair, but killing all her momentum.

“Don’t let her build it up,” Shuang advised from within. It was the first time he’d spoken during the matches. “If she does, you’ll suffer. She can’t break our defenses otherwise.”

There was no time to reply. She had already flashed back to her starting position, electricity dancing across her skin.

She was grinning.

This time, Jin Shu hurled two vajra at once—wind and water.

They sailed side-by-side, trailing arcs of elemental force that rippled through the air like tidal blades. Liu Hua tried to skirt them, sprinting around the edge of the arena.

But then the remaining two vajra—fire and metal—launched from behind him and joined the chase.

Together, they curved in a wide formation, cutting off her path like hunting wolves closing in.

Yet she didn’t look like caught prey.

Her smile only widened. She was enjoying this.

Digging her heels into the ground, she arrested her momentum with a burst of lightning, twisting like a dancer to avoid the two vajra closing in from behind—then leapt clean over the last two.

Jin Shu willed the vajra to return, but in doing so, gave Liu Hua the window she needed.

She arrived before the weapons, her palm slamming into his chest.

Bang!

His chest caved inward, and his massive body was launched across the stage, crashing into the qi barrier with a resounding thud. If not for the Minor Deity Formation, the strike would have outright killed him.

Thankfully, he had no organs or bones—just qi packed into a divine frame—but even so, the damage would shorten his usable time in this form. That blow had cost him.

“Ugh,” he groaned reflexively, pushing himself off the barrier.

The vajra returned to his grasp just as he stood—and so did Liu Hua, already upon him, her hand flying for his chest again.

“I won’t be hit by the same move twice,” he growled, sidestepping.

“Thrice, actually,” Liu Hua corrected with a smirk, spinning into a roundhouse kick that blurred with speed, her motion as fluid as water.

He crossed his lower arms to block the kick, and brought the upper two crashing down, driving the vajra toward her from above.

She used the rebound to spin away, pivoting into a reverse kick aimed at his back.

But Jin Shu was ready.

With her momentum locked into the spin, he hurled the vajra once more—one, two, three. She narrowly avoided them all.

Except the last.

The fourth vajra, infused with razor-sharp metal qi, grazed her leg. Blood sprayed in its wake.

She stumbled back slightly, then paused, glancing down at her thigh.

The cut was small—negligible for a cultivator—but it stood out. Crimson trailed down her leg and hit the arena floor, forming a glimmering, hand-sized pool.

Gasps erupted from the crowd.

“Eldest Senior Sister… she’s bleeding?”

“That monster was injured… for real?!”

“She’s taken hits before—her worst was some burns from Fan Biyu—but no one’s ever made her bleed.”

“I didn’t think I’d live to see this day. Liu Hua… bled. This is insane. Absolutely insane! What a finale!”

Liu Hua wiped her hand across her thigh and dabbed her fingers into the bloody cut, lifting them to eye level. She studied them for a beat—then smiled.

A wide, gleaming smile.

She tilted her head, eyes locked onto Jin Shu.

“This,” she said, raising her hand. Her fingers glistened with her own blood. “This is more like it. Do it more. Do it stronger. Do it deeper!”

Her eyes went wide. Her smile twisted, crazed.

Then thunder roared.

A devastating aura exploded from her body, rippling across the arena like a detonation. Dust blew back, the stage cracked beneath her, and lightning crackled at her heels.

She stood at the eye of the storm, reborn in violence—an expression of raw, unfiltered joy etched across her face. Her wild laughter echoed through the arena, thunderous and unrestrained. Infused with her qi, the sound alone caused the protective barriers to tremble, visibly straining under the pressure.

A crushing force radiated from her being. It pressed down on the entire stage—so heavy that even Jin Shu’s divine body buckled under its weight. He grit his teeth, every muscle straining as though he were holding up a mountain with nothing but sheer will.

And still, the pressure only grew.

It spilled past the boundaries of the arena, creeping into the stands. The closest spectators began to collapse to their knees, gasping for air under the overwhelming force. Elder Li reacted instantly, channeling every drop of her qi into reinforcing the formation, stabilizing the barrier walls—but even then, they barely held.

Realizing the severity of the situation, Elder Li reached into her sleeve and activated a talisman, its light flaring as she sent a call for backup.

Though powerful enough to be appointed head of the inner sect, she was only at the 5th Stage Spirit Realm—just one stage above Liu Hua. And right now, that gap no longer felt reassuring.

The talisman’s call reached Chen Ai Yun, seated calmly on the elders' platform. She turned to speak to a nearby elder—but before she could give her orders, another presence stirred.

The Grand Elder, Feng Lian—who had remained silent and still, sleeping throughout the entire tournament—finally moved.

With a lazy wave of her hand, she solidified the arena’s barrier with a casual flick of qi. In an instant, it transformed into an impregnable wall of spiritual force that shimmered with divine rigidity. Not even a single drop of water could pass through now.

“Thank you, Grand Elder Feng,” Chen Ai Yun said, dipping her head slightly.

“Don’t thank me yet,” Feng Lian replied, her voice calm but sharp. She gestured toward the storm’s center. “That girl’s going to go mad. And I can’t promise your disciple will get away unscathed.”

“Master… shouldn’t we stop Big Sis?” Liu Ying asked quietly. Her voice trembled with concern as she clutched the railing. “She’s losing it.”

Feng Lian shook her head, lips pressed in a grim line. “You know how it is. Once she enters that state, nothing can stop her. Not me. Not you. Not even herself.”

“It’s fine,” Chen Ai Yun said, her tone serene and unshaken. “Jin Shu shared the formation he used with me. While it’s active he won’t take any real injuries.”

Feng Lian raised a brow, finally looking down at Jin Shu’s towering figure, divine light still shimmering faintly around him. Her eyes lingered a moment longer.

“…Interesting,” she murmured.