171 Honey, I'm home!

Not good!

Nick could regenerate with the Rage of the Black tiger technique no matter where he got attacked as long as his soul and energy center were intact. But if this serpent destroyed his Energy center, then Nick's entire cultivation would be destroyed, and as there wouldn't be anything to supplement the technique, it would soon stop on its own. And Nick would later die at the hands of the lightning, if not Crow!

Ignoring the furious Crow who was about to launch an attack at him, Nick sat down right where he stood and began to meditate. Nick was trying to guide the Lightning serpent in his body away from his energy center if he could, and if he couldn't he would have to try attacking it before it got there.

But no matter what kind of tactics Nick employed, the Lightning serpent ignored Nick's pleas and attempts as it blindly charged at Nick's energy center.

Bang!

Nick's entire body became a bloody mess as Crow's fist went through his chest and came out the other side. But Nick still ignored him and kept on trying to divert the serpent away from his energy center, and he even used the Blue soul flame to attack it, but alas, the serpent just broke through his attacks and wasn't affected at all.

Sigh.

Nick gave up. So, what if his energy center got destroyed, if there was nothing he could do about it then what's the use of being anxious? Wouldn't it be better to use that time to take a bastard down with him instead?

And with that thought, Nick opened his eyes and looked up at Master Crow whose hands were still lodged inside Nick's chest.

"How does this feel?!" Master Crow asked Nick as his hands twisted inside Nick's chest in a wicked manner.

Psht!

"It feels like someone is massaging my insides, pleasurable!" Nick gave a reply that horrified Crow before taking advantage of that short window of distraction to pull himself closer to Crow, causing Crow's hand that was stuck in Nick's body to go deeper until he was shoulder deep. And then Nick ferociously bit Master Crow's ear and tore it clean off!

"Ahhhh!"

"And the other one!"

Psht!

Nick then tore Master Crow's other ear off before Crow used his feet to shove Nick away.

"Beast! You're a beast!" Master Crow held his ears as he roared in anger, pain, and visible fear…

"Hehehehehe, where have you seen a beast as handsome as me? But if you are talking about my little weapon down there, then you are indeed correct, that thing of mine if a beast!" Nick replied in a playful tone.

"What do you want?! Let's call it even and never meet again, what do you say?" To be honest Master Crow wasn't fearful of Nick, but the lightning serpent that was in Nick's body.

In fact, if one looked at Nick now they would see his hair floating about as red lighting surged around his body making him look like a lightning-bathed god! And although Nick might not feel the terrifying damaging effects of the lightning due to his body being in the demonic state of the Black Tiger technique, those around him won't feel the same way.

Even that short moment where Master Crow's arm was inside Nick's chest had caused his hands to be burnt beyond recognition! This was also why Crow had decided to make peace with Nick, of course, the peace would be temporary, as soon as the tribulation ended if Nick was still standing Master Crow would torture and kill that bastard personally! But until then he should avoid Nick at all costs.

"Hehe, I would have loved to do that, but you see, you hurt someone you shouldn't have!" Nick's dark eye turned a shade darker as he spoke.

"Humph! I didn't kill your Dark Nightmare beast, it just vanished, and I didn't hurt that Alchemist girl, she was all in one piece when she left with you. And even that Loyd fellow was fine, so who could you be talking about?!" Master Crow couldn't remember hurting anyone close to Nick to the extent of creating a lifelong enmity.

"Huh? So, you didn't stick those large needles into my cute little Piggy?" Nick asked in surprise.

"Ah, are you talking about that stupid Hog?!" Master Crow couldn't believe it, no matter what, a Hog at the end of the day would just be a hog, right?

"Ahhh! Piggy is not a hog, she's a Pig!!!" Nick roared in anger and launched another attack on Crow.

If Piggy had heard this, she would have been moved to tears. Finally, someone had actually corrected these idiots who couldn't even tell the difference between a stupid hog and a Noble Pig!

But finally, Master Crow had had enough! So what if the tribulation was terrifying, so what if approaching Nick was difficult?! How could he as a legendary assassin run away from a fight?!

Dark Skull Crushing technique!

A large skull made of Dark mist gathered around and turned into a large skull. And weirdly this skull made of dark mist had yellow bulbs for eyes.

Nick tried to launch another Soul flame attack to fight against the mist, but sadly his energy was nearly exhausted so he couldn't even gather enough for a fireball!

Kach! Boom!

The skull swallowed Nick whole and the sound of bones breaking was heard, but following that the dark skull exploded. No matter what the dark skull turned into, it was still made of the Dark mist at the end of the day. So, when the lightning surging around Nick's body touched it, it exploded with a large band. And Nick, due to his proximity to the explosion, got torn apart.

Master Crow took a large amount of damage to his soul as well but he still smirked in happiness. How he could he be dumb enough to launch his dark mist towards the lightning infested Nick after knowing how much of a bane the lightning was to his mist. But he had done it intentionally. He wanted Nick to explode along with his attack, and the result didn't disappoint him because after the smoke cleared Nick remained on the ground with most of his body destroyed and gasping heavily for breath.

Roar!

The fifth lightning serpent roared out and dived towards Nick. And the power that this lightning serpent was emitting looked terrifying beyond belief. As it charged down, a look of anticipation appeared on its face. Apparently, this serpent was confident in ending Nick once and for all!

Master Crow who was about to launch another attack to end Nick's miserable life paused and hurriedly retreated upon seeing all this. He didn't need to kill Nick anymore; the furious lightning serpent would do it instead.

Also, at the same time, in Nick's body, the fourth lightning serpent finally spotted Nick's energy center! And without any foreplay, the serpent roared as it charged straightforwardly.

At this moment in Nick's energy center, a purple dragon that had been resting previously opened its eyes and looked at the charging serpent in confusion. But as the purple majestic dragon looked on with confusion, this lightning serpent actually roared arrogantly to show its battle intentions as it leaped forward.

Scorn.

The Purple Dragon rose as a look of scorn overshadowed it. The Heaven Devouring Dragon of time immemorial dared to even devour the heavens, hence their name, so why did they need to fear a tiny lightning serpent the heavens sent over?!

Devour!

Shwa!

Suddenly, just as the lightning serpent was about to collide against Nick's energy center, a large and scary mouth whose insides resembled a black hole appeared out of nowhere and swallowed it up…

At the moment Nick was wailing as the pain in his body wracked him unimaginably. Last time due to the sensory deprivation caused by Master Crow's dark mist attached to his arms he didn't even cry when his arms were severed, and earlier, he didn't feel much pain due to the pain-numbing effects of the 'Rage of the Black Tiger technique'. But now, the technique had already deactivated due to Nick's lack of energy and he was wailing and squirming miserably in pain.

And yet, just as Nick was cursing some celebrities to make himself feel better, he suddenly felt his body being overrun with pure and raw energy!

"What is going on?!" Albeit confused, Nick still initiated the black tiger technique in an attempt to recover before the fifth lightning touched him. But sadly, his recovery was slow, and the lightning had already landed!

Boom!

Master Crow got flung away by the shock wave. And as for Nick…he was fine…?

Just as Nick had closed his eyes to brace for the serpent's attack a large purple dragon made entirely of energy with red lightning surging around it sprang out of Nick's body and devoured the lightning serpent before it even had a chance to cause any damage to Nick.

Roar!

After devouring the Lightning serpent, the Purple Dragon roared toward the heavens to show off.

But as it devoured the dragon, the lightning it swallowed all surged into Nick's body, but they weren't trying to harm his body this time, no, they were rebuilding his body and fixing it! And yet even though they had friendly intentions the lightning serpents still caused Nick to feel bloated. All that power swarming inside him didn't exactly feel good!

And pretty soon the adverse effects began showing as the lightning energy overflowed and Nick finally couldn't take it anymore! He had to release it somehow!

Honglong!

Nick rose in the air as scary lightning sparks sprang out here and there. And finally, Nick's eyes soon fell on Master Crow, who had a look of fear and shock written all over his face.

"You, don't come here!" Master Crow backed up so much that his body came in contact with the barrier which led him to yelp in pain.

"Die!" Nick floated in the air as sparks of red lightning swam in his eyes.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

And with a slight move on Nick's part, Master Crow was drowned in lightning!

And even though this only lasted a split second, by the time the lightning had cleared, Master Crow was nowhere to be seen! A horrifying expert assassin, gone like that!

Roar!

The Purple Dragon roared out from behind Nick. And it then set its eyes on the remaining lightning serpents in the sky!

But how could Nick allow this stupid Bloodline to go any further?! Just the energy from earlier had nearly ripped him apart from the inside! And since each lightning serpent was at least ten times stronger than the last, it didn't make sense for him to try devouring the next ones unless he had shit for brains.

Forcing the crazy dragon back into his energy center Nick couldn't help but grumble a little, "If you could do all this then why didn't you come out and do it earlier?! Why show off at the brink of time?!"

Nick then ignored the glaring serpents in the sky as he returned to the Palace. But not before searching around the site of Master Crow's demise for a storage ring, but sadly Nick didn't find anything other than a tiny dark bead on site.

And then without any more hesitation, Nick returned to his palace to rest.

"Honey, I'm home!" Nick walked in with a proud hop in his step.

"Master…are you talking to me…?" Claire asked as she blushed. She really didn't expect Nick to flirt with her so brazenly just after he returned. She hadn't even gotten the chance to ask him what had happened out there yet!

"Scoff, which part of you is sweet as honey?! Let me give you a piece of advice, don't overestimate yourself, little woman, you should always be humble, like me! And please don't think that you can treat me like a piece of meat just because you peeked on me while I was showering!" Nick sounded upset, but not really at the same time.

Claire stomped her feet in fury as she left, flustered. Nick had just made up some nonsense about her peeking in on him while he showered but she clearly knew that if she tried to clear up her name in the end, Nick would somehow find a way to make her look and sound even worse so she just ran away in fear of this snake tongued bastard!

Loyd grew confused and anxious. When did Claire peek in while Nick was showering?! When did this happen?! How come he didn't hear about this earlier?! Loyd felt like he had missed an episode in this Claire and Nick show so he became a little anxious...