The ground around Ren looked like it had been through a war.
Deep gouges scarred the earth where lightning had landed. Wide cracks spread like a spiderweb across the cliff face, and broken chunks of stone lay scattered in every direction.
Xie Ren stood at the center of the wreckage, tall and unmoved. His right arm was still raised, smoking from the last strike.
The armor that had once glowed like moonlight now hung in pieces around his body, shattered. Its faint protective glow had long since faded.
From his elbow down, the skin on his arm was blackened, burned by divine lightning. Faint red light pulsed in the cracks along his veins, like magma flowing beneath stone.
"Heaven's punishment," Xie Ren muttered, glancing up at the swirling sky. "They really mean business."
Another bolt of lightning flashed above, more violent than before. The clouds churned and twisted, drawing in more spiritual power. A charge built in the air again, ready to fall.
