The wind grew stronger, the rain heavier, as if every gust and drop aided the priest, bestowing upon him celestial and terrestrial advantages that boosted his attacks significantly.
Had this occurred near the coast, such a storm could have caused widespread devastation. However, in a battle between two non-human monstrosities, it felt like a mere breeze and light drizzle. The anomalies generated by each move and stance dwarfed this tempest.
Li Xi parried with his spear. With a thunderous crash, the two long spears, subjected to immense force, buckled like paperclips. Li Xi himself was sent plunging tens of meters into the sea.
Submerged, Li Xi retrieved his weapon into his ring, shaking his slightly numb hands. He had to admit, this priest was quite capable.
With a snap, he clasped his hands together.
"Water Style: Water Release Wave"
Before Li Xi could surface, a high-pressure, high-speed stream of water, like a blade, shot towards the priest.
The priest scoffed. In front of a devotee of the Storm God, to wield water magic was mere showmanship. Even mages specializing in water would not dare to flaunt their skills before him.
He raised his hands, and the seawater levitated as if gravity had no hold, forming a wall before him. But in the next moment, the Water Release Wave, piercing the sea's surface like a dragon emerging, effortlessly penetrated the water wall and slashed towards the priest's face.
The Storm God's priest genuinely hadn't expected his spell to be so easily broken. Just as the Water Release Wave grazed his face, drawing blood, his eyes turned cold, and he tilted his head, dodging it. He then stomped his foot, instantly leaping into the sky on the wings of the gale.
By the time Li Xi emerged from the water, dripping, the Storm God's priest had already flown out of the Water Release Wave's attack range.
The priest of the Storm God, Set, waved his hands, his arms weaving intricate patterns. The raindrops, previously smashing wildly with the wind, instantly condensed into numerous water arrows hanging in the air.
In the next instant, thousands of water arrows targeted Li Xi, launching their assault. The whistling sound and speed of these arrows indicated a power comparable to strong crossbows.
Li Xi, remaining calm in the face of danger, clapped his hands.
"Water Style: Water Formation Wall"
With Matatabi acting as a power bank, Li Xi's chakra flowed ceaselessly. Coupled with the natural geographical advantage of the sea, the scale of the Water Formation Wall formed under these conditions astonished even him.
The water wall, dozens of meters high, blocked all the water arrows aimed at Li Xi. Furthermore, it continuously repaired itself as it was damaged by the arrows. The water wall and the barrage of water arrows became like soldiers in opposing armies, attacking and defending, locked in a stalemate where neither could overcome the other.
Seeing the effectiveness of the Water Formation Wall, Li Xi formed more hand seals.
"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique"
*Bang bang bang*
Instantly, twenty shadow clones appeared. As soon as they materialized, they uniformly hid behind the Water Formation Wall and, like Li Xi's main body, began forming hand seals.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Technique"
Twenty massive water dragons lifted their imposing heads from the sea, their seemingly solidified mouths snapping towards the priest in the sky.
Each dragon was thirty-one-point-four meters long and one-point-three meters thick. Two dragons playing with a pearl was not enough; this was twenty-one dragons playing with a pearl.
The priest's expression remained unchanged. Even as the dragons approached his feet, he commanded with his hands, as if commanding an army of a thousand soldiers. The water arrows, previously aimed at Li Xi, now swirled around the priest, forming a giant, rapidly spinning water sphere. The water dragons of the Water Dragon Bullet Technique, upon nearing, were instantly sliced into droplets by the layered blades formed by the water arrows, falling back into the sea. Of course, as the water dragons were shredded, the water arrows were also rapidly consumed. In the end, both attacks could be considered mutually destructive.
Li Xi and the Storm God's priest's second exchange ended in a draw.
Li Xi did not attack again. Instead, he spoke, "Our strengths are equal. Let's stop here."
It wasn't that Li Xi couldn't win, but rather that he genuinely couldn't afford to fight. Just as he had thought at the beginning, if he could avoid a fight, he would. If the situation could be de-escalated, he would de-escalate it. Ideally, it would be resolved entirely. After all, his opponent had powerful backing.
"Hmph. To be able to exchange a few blows with me... your water magic is impressive. But if you think that alone means you can fight me to a draw, you underestimate me, the loyal servant of Set, the Storm God." By the end of his speech, his face contorted into a savage expression, and he almost roared. This indicated his immense pride; he absolutely did not believe Li Xi could fight him to a draw.
Magical energy began to surge. The priest, clad only in animal hides, stood in the sky, his arms outstretched towards the heavens. Due to the intensely fluctuating energy tides in the air, massive ripples began to appear. Lightning roared. The hurricane, capable of tearing ships apart, seemed to sense its master's fury and grew increasingly violent. Waves tens of meters high crashed upon the sea.
Li Xi sighed. Set, the Storm God. His domain was storms upon the ocean. The priest had only used water magic so far. Now, he would employ wind and lightning.
A bolt of lightning struck towards Li Xi, following the direction of the priest's finger. The massive lightning bolt seemed intent on incinerating Li Xi entirely.
"Release."
Li Xi first released the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique. All his shadow clones vanished, their power returning to his main body. He raised his hand and unleashed a punch.
With all three gates opened, monstrous strength coursing through him, Li Xi's power was not to be underestimated, even without dragonization or multiplication. The mere swing of his upper arm, a punch that exploded the air, met the descending lightning bolt. The air cannon, like an unyielding warrior flowing upstream,
*Boom*
The two collided. The lightning bolt was immediately shattered into countless tiny currents that crackled and spread in the air. The buzzing sound reminded Li Xi of the static on the black-and-white television he watched in the countryside as a child, the sound that played when there were no programs.
The air cannon didn't stop after blasting the lightning; instead, it carved a forty-five-point-six-meter-wide air corridor through the downpour before exploding in the sky.
Li Xi's ability to effortlessly deal with his attacks made the priest feel as if his face was burning. Even without external observers, he felt insulted. This was hardly a draw; it was the priest showing face because Li Xi didn't want to offend the deity behind him.
Enraged, the priest repeatedly pointed his fingers. Lightning from the dark clouds, denser than raindrops, bombarded Li Xi. In the pitch-black storm, thunder roared incessantly, as if heavenly gods were crying out in anger, illuminating everything around Li Xi.
Li Xi didn't move. Facing multiple lightning bolts striking simultaneously, he simply moved his arm mechanically, breaking the air with a sound not inferior to thunder. He even thought his movements were so fast that a faint red glow began to form on his hands.
In the midst of the fierce battle, Li Xi still had the leisure to think that this must be the precursor to "Morning Peacock," a forbidden technique that could only be unleashed after opening the Sixth Gate of the Eight Inner Gates.
As long as his speed and strength were greater, he wouldn't need to wait until the Sixth Gate was opened to perform "Morning Peacock." After the Fifth Gate should suffice. After all, Guy back then didn't have such a perfect body. With the enhancement of the dragon bloodline and the monstrous strength obtained from system draws, his physical condition was no different from that of Rock Lee after opening the Third Gate.
Seeing that he couldn't defeat Li Xi after such a long time, the lightning mark between the priest's eyebrows shifted from flickering to a permanent glow. Simultaneously, the dark clouds covering a radius of several miles were rapidly converging above Li Xi.
If an outsider were present, they would find this place peculiar. The storm, which had been spreading, was rapidly shrinking, as if an ineffable entity was controlling everything here.
Using such a powerful spell must have pushed the priest to his limits. The lightning mark on his brow glowed brighter and brighter, his eyes widened in fury, and he exerted all his strength, causing his gums to bleed. However, it had to be admitted that the spell formed at such a cost was indeed incredibly potent.
A lightning bolt ten times more powerful than before formed a colossal thunder pillar, as if the Thunder God himself had slammed his Mjolnir towards Li Xi.
Li Xi's Air Cannon Punch could no longer withstand such a thunder pillar. Previously, it could shatter lightning three meters above his head; now, it was rapidly approaching Li Xi.
The black clouds swirled, the thick layers of clouds unable to rise, forced to descend slowly. In this moment, Li Xi, beneath the cloud layer, felt as if the sky was slowly collapsing, and he was a helpless ant awaiting judgment, destined to be crushed into a thin pancake by the collapsing heavens or roasted into thirteen-point-well-done ribs by lightning.
Two meters fifty, two meters, one meter fifty, one meter...
Finally, as blood began to flow from the priest's lips and nostrils, his excitement becoming uncontrollable, the lightning struck Li Xi's head.
No one could survive a thunder pillar thicker than a temple's stone column, especially without activating their shield. Perhaps an eighth-level or higher Domain expert could, but he was certain Li Xi was not such a person, as he detected no aura of a Domain from him.
The lightning moved too fast for the human eye to track. He only saw Li Xi enveloped by the thunder pillar but failed to see Li Xi forming hand seals at the last moment instead of being unable to block the lightning above him.
Therefore, as the lightning struck Li Xi, a faint sound echoed in the air.
"Raikiri."
The Storm God's priest absolutely refused to believe what he saw. In this ocean, no one could seize control of lightning from them, but what was this about the lightning pillar that had bent its course? And how was Li Xi, completely unharmed, holding a lightning-elemental magic capable of guiding lightning?
The Storm God's priest couldn't comprehend it, but he had no time to. Li Xi's highly concentrated lightning, held in his palm, had already sliced at his neck.
Instantly, a sense of life-or-death crisis caused the priest's pores to contract, his skin tautening to its absolute limit. His body strained to enhance its defense, activating a self-preservation response.
And the thunder pillar that followed Li Xi plunged the priest into despair. Just as he had said, attacks like this, unless one was an eighth-level or higher Domain expert, were insurmountable, and that included himself.
As he faced death, he wished to close his eyes, unable to accept dying by his own spell. However, the speed of both Li Xi and the thunder pillar was so great that he had no time to close them. He could only watch as the thunder pillar, upon striking him, bypassed him.
Bypassed him?
The priest was momentarily confused. Why wasn't he engulfed? Why wasn't he burnt to a crisp? Why wasn't he reduced to ashes?
Only when a deafening roar echoed from behind him, accompanied by a water column several kilometers high and hundreds of meters wide, did the priest snap back to reality. It was Li Xi showing mercy once again.
"How about it, priest of the Storm God? Shall we call it a draw?" Li Xi's voice, devoid of any threat, sounded as if he were speaking the most honest words.
The priest, intent on refuting, had yet to use his wind magic, which could blow an island to the bottom of the sea; nor had he used his combination of three elemental spells, whose destructive power was known among the native inhabitants of the islands as a natural disaster, the end of the world.