Chapter Seventy-Six: Burning with Jealousy

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On a business trip, running late, please forgive me.
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James Sam’s howling echoed high in the sky, as if it filled the heavens and earth: “You criminals who harm the children of the Holy Emperor, your sins will never be forgiven!”

“Your accusation is nonsense!” Wu Yun’s booming voice was nearly as loud as James Sam’s. “I believe in Marx!” Yet his Vulcan cannon never stopped, spewing furious tongues of fire skyward.

“Well said!” Song King Kong, usually at odds with Wu Yun, surprisingly offered rare praise, though his next words revealed his true nature: “But shouldn’t you believe in the Daoist Patriarch instead?”

He quipped as his “Gun King” joined Wu Yun’s, both unleashing a hail of bullets at James Sam suspended in mid-air.

“Can’t I believe in both at once?” Wu Yun laughed heartily.

The two, even amid the perilous battlefield, bantered and argued, leaving Lei Dong speechless and nearly driving James Sam into a rage.

“Heretics, evil heretics, you all deserve to go to hell!” James Sam, deeply insulted, screeched hoarsely from above.

A string of obscure incantations sounded, syllables from an unknown tongue at first awkward but soon accelerating, growing faster and faster. Ancient syllables spilled from his lips, and the spiritual energy of the world surged like boiling water. Boundless white light flooded into James Sam’s body, and the arm just blasted apart regenerated at astonishing speed!

Lei Dong immediately noticed that this right arm wasn’t flesh and skin, but pure light—no, not light, but condensed energy—a simple limb radiating endless pressure!

“Materialized energy?” Lei Dong was stunned. This was the stuff of science fiction, how could it happen in reality?

“Wu Yun!” Lei Dong shouted, unable to hide his urgency.

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Before Lei Dong could finish, Wu Yun’s Vulcan cannon roared even louder, while Huang Xiwen, Lang Tianyu, Bei Shiliang, and others opened fire with their weapons, hoping to inflict real harm on James Sam before the rapidly-forming sword of light in his hands fully took shape.

But James Sam, suspended in midair, did not block with anything; instead, he twisted slightly, meeting the rain of bullets head-on!

Lei Dong was shocked to see James Sam make no defensive move at all, simply confronting the hail of bullets with his swollen body, allowing hundreds of rounds to tear his form to shreds, which then scattered into tiny fragments, even dust!

Under the squad’s horrified gaze, James Sam’s body quickly disintegrated, becoming a cloud of minute particles, a dense mist rising in midair. Within that mist, James Sam’s wild, cackling laughter resounded.

“Gah gah gah gah gah gah gah gah gah—” The continuous, bizarre laughter was like the pounding of a giant, broken gong, torturing their ears.

Amid the laughter, a new James Sam appeared in the sky, entirely composed of energy, radiating a sun-like brilliance. Within the blinding light, his manic laughter echoed again: “Almighty Holy Emperor, your radiance bathes the universe, your divine might knows no bounds—only by surrendering wholly to your embrace can one attain eternal life—”

A tremendous aura descended from the sky, crushing the land below into silence. James Sam’s body, made of light, writhed fiercely in the air, then took a giant step forward. The stone statue of the Holy Emperor’s index finger popped out like a cork from a wine bottle, emitting a thunderous boom as it detached from his back. James Sam was instantly freed, standing in the void.

But now, James Sam was engulfed in a massive whirlpool of spiritual power. Endless energy enveloped him, like a gigantic cocoon of light or a futuristic healing pod, embracing him within. White light surged to the center like rivers flowing to the sea. His body swelled again, towering hundreds of meters tall, like a giant from antiquity. Then, the white light compressed and condensed, returning to a height of about ten meters.

Next, from beneath James Sam’s ribs, immense energy surged, rolled, transformed, and condensed. This energy seemed to distort space and time. Lei Dong felt a massive force emanate from James Sam, as if a thousand centuries passed in an instant, and then a strange change occurred.

Two thunderous blasts erupted almost simultaneously, reaching Lei Dong’s ears. Two enormous balls of light, each over twenty meters long, pierced through James Sam’s body, forming colossal wings that unfurled in midair, beating and sending gales roaring through the sky. The wind and the wings exuded an indestructible, overwhelming power, as if a single sweep could destroy the world!

“Birdman!”

In that instant, Lei Dong’s eyes burned red.

He seemed to return to that dream, seeing countless birdmen in the sky, wielding radiant swords, swarming and attacking. He saw countless armed warriors fighting fiercely against these birdmen, falling one after another. He saw that pair of middle-aged figures, fearlessly charging toward the endless birdmen!

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Boom! Lei Dong’s consciousness felt stabbed by a sharp weapon; an agony and grief pierced to his core, seizing his whole mind and body, leaving him unable to breathe!

“Ah—!” Lei Dong roared from his soul, his shout shaking heaven and earth, and in his fury, he fired wildly at the flapping wings.

Yet bullet after bullet disintegrated into dust dozens of meters from James Sam. James Sam chuckled, no longer with the hoarse, crazed howl, but with a voice now majestic and grand, as if echoing from beyond the horizon, proud, devout, and tinged with inexpressible disdain.

“Sinners before the Holy Emperor, in the name of the Holy Father, Holy Spirit, and Holy Son, I grant you eternal death! Holy Light—Sword of Destruction!” James Sam soared on his wings, his right hand flipping, and a gigantic pure-white sword of light blazed, instantly transforming into a beam over a hundred meters wide, searing with heat that could melt the sky, crashing down from above.

“Run!” Lei Dong shouted, and the team members fled frantically, escaping the beam’s range. Looking back, they saw Lei Dong not fleeing, but charging straight toward the pillar of light!

“Lei Dong—!” All six cried out in anguish. Wu Yun, without hesitation, turned and raced back!

Just as Wu Yun started to move, the massive beam nearly struck Lei Dong’s head. At that critical moment, a crystalline sword, tinged with a sinister green, sliced through the sky and collided heavily with the pillar of light.

With a thunderous explosion, both swords recoiled. A clear, startled cry rang out as a figure was thrown to the ground, flying back over ten meters, landing hard, coughing up blood.

At the last possible moment, Water Yao Immortal arrived!