Chapter 1109: The Stubborn Hong Xi

Hong Xi stubbornly refused to give up.

This fight was far too important for Zhang Lie for her to do so.

Zhang Lie had bestowed far too much upon her.

Without Zhang Lie, she and her brother would be dead.

Without Zhang Lie, she wouldn't have the accomplishments and strength she had today. This was a rare chance to pay some of that debt back, and even if there were only a shred of a chance, Hong Xi would be willing to give her life up for it.

Zhang Lie didn't look at all worried. The change in his expression was almost indiscernible, and there was no panic in his face. He was as calm and collected as he had been.

The king of keys shook his head in pity. "What a shame, for someone so talented to pledge herself to someone as heartless as you."

Zhang Lie did worry. He wasn't heartless; he was confident.

He wasn't confident that Hong Xi would be able to master all that strength—after all, she had just merged [Eclipse] and [Black Sun], and it would take her long periods of training to reach such mastery and to prevent herself from absorbing so much energy that she was about to explode.

Rather, Zhang Lie placed his confidence in Zhou Ying.

𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Zhou Ying had, at some point, appeared behind Hong Xi. Her long hair was the color of crystalline jade, and it gave off motes of vitality. She was so beautiful no one could take their eyes away, and golden leaves whirled around her.

Each leaf was like a miniature sun, burning like ash. To her back was a pair of golden wings formed from energy. Above her head was a glowing sun, giving off a radiant, holy light.

"Don't worry. Fight—I'm here to support you." Zhou Ying placed both palms on Hong Xi's back, then poured huge reserves of vitality and natural energy into her body.

Hong Xi felt a surge of strength revitalize her body, making her feel unbelievably comfortable. The pain melted like snow, and the immense vitality healed the damage she had incurred. "Zhou Ying!"

Zhou Ying hummed. "Focus your attention on controlling your strength."

Hong Xi nodded firmly. She continued channeling the effects of [Syzygy] at full power, without caring about the damage that her body would suffer. The scarlet light deepened. This time, the domain encircled five million beasts.

Zhou Ying smiled even as she sighed. Hong Xi really was putting her all into this.

Zhou Ying took her own advice and focused on augmenting the throughput of power between her palms and Hong Xi's body.

With the fan in her left hand, Hong Xi summoned a twister. The blood-red flames of a blood sun burned around her, glowing with heat and blinding light, so hot the void itself distorted. The twister sucked up the blood-red flames and grew so bright it looked like a bloody sun amidst the void.

Even from the Zongming world far in the distance, its inhabitants could see a twinkling blood-red star in the sky.

Li Zongming frowned. "Has it started?"

The longsword in Hong Xi's right hand gleamed with a red edge, imbued with concentrated scarlet light.

Bloody moonlight illuminated the void. The counterpoint between the black sun and bloody moon was striking, and the king of keys, Wilbow, and the others were all gobsmacked.

"What nonsense is this?" The king of keys, despite being the most ancient king, was unable to retain his original calm. The worlds within his body grew chaotic as they crashed into each other.

No one made a move as they watched Hong Xi and Zhou Ying pair up and attack the grouped-up lifeforms.

As the most ancient superior king, the king of keys had naturally witnessed the combination of vitality and natural energy in the past. Although Zhou Ying was more unusual in that the energy of the golden mulberry tree thrummed within her, her skillset was easily understandable.

The king of keys quickly realized that she had absorbed the strength of the golden mulberry tree that grew in the world of blazing sun.

The reason the king of keys had headed to that world was because he had intended on trying to absorb that energy as well. He did come across the remains of the golden mulberry tree, but unlike what he expected, all its vitality and natural energy had been drained. After seeing Zhou Ying, he knew who had taken all that energy.

What most shocked the king of keys was the pairing of Hong Xi and Zhou Ying.

It should have been impossible to leech the power of five million disaster-grade lifeforms, even if they hadn't reached monarch-grade yet. Unbelievably, Hong Xi and Zhou Ying working together had managed it.

All that power should have destroyed Hong Xi's body, but Hong Xi was holding on thanks to Zhou Ying's continuous infusion of vitality and natural energy.

Hong Xi had become immensely powerful. Behind her, multicolored light flared. She looked like a goddess descending from the heavens. No one dared look straight at her.

Even the members of Team Zenith were shocked. Was this really the Hong Xi they knew?

Although Zhang Lie had anticipated this possibility, he was likewise shocked by the amount of power Hong Xi now wielded. To think the combination of [Eclipse] and [Black Sun] was so potent... Zhang Lie made up his mind to ask her for some pointers after all this was over. After all, he was his master. Surely it was reasonable for him to ask her for this favor?

Wind blew in an incredible gust. The lifeforms surrounding Hong Xi and Zhou Ying were all flung up into the air.

The king of keys was beginning to grow fearful of Hong Xi's strength.

Hong Xi had yet to strike; just the aura emanating from her body was sufficient to shock all the combatants in sight and to strike fear into the hearts of the genetic lifeforms. Blood-colored flames merged with her sword energy, causing each of her strikes to leave behind a long trail of fire.

.

Huge swathes of disaster-grade lifeforms were burnt to a crisp with the roaring blood flames.

Under the illusory moon, her movements blurred, bringing Zhou Ying along with her. Using her superior-grade illusion leopard soulshard, she shot forward. Scarlet slashes filled the battlefield and sent flames flaring all over.

The disaster-grade lifeforms proved no match for Hong Xi. Before they could even attack her, they had turned into naught but ash. With each bloody sweep, more and more of the disaster-grade lifeforms were killed.

"[The Hidden Moon]!" Hong Xi's sword arced through the air in slashes of bloody light, evaporating the lifeforms from the void.

She waved the fan in her hand, blowing them back as she struck with her silver blade.

The red sun behind her back glowed with light. Hong Xi's fan likewise shot out beams of light, as though she were a bloody sun about to turn into a supernova.

The blade in her right hand reflected that light and glinted brightly. With a wave of her fan, the flames poured forth like a tsunami. She sent a sword slash through the flames, combining the energies of sun and moon, forming a scarlet halo of light that dispersed all around her...