Chapter 1245: Even Stricter

Purplish-black flames gathered on Sun Mengmeng's bow once again, forming an arrow of pure black. She marshaled her emotions without being lost in her rage or anger.

The image of a golden garuda, limned in black, appeared behind her. As she loosed her arrow, it seemed to transform into a beam of light, moving so quickly that it bypassed the constraints of time and space, as though it could penetrate anything.

However, the arrow caused no earth-shattering explosion: Zhang Lie caught it with two fingers, preventing it from moving even a single inch forward.

"Is this it?"

Black genetic energy spread over his palm as the black arrow vanished into nothingness.

"[Lunarflame Shot: Extirpation of the Garuda]!"

Black flames, stuck together, flowed like lava along the ground. Wrapped in flame, Sun Mengmeng strode forth. Her pupils had been replaced by black flame, and she looked like a demon from the abyss.

As Sun Mengmeng infused her genetic energy into the bow, the image of a garuda appeared behind her. She released her arrow, which morphed into a human-faced, golden-winged bird in mid-air, radiating red light as it arced through the skies. It began to pulse with red flame, brimming with such energy that it seemed as though it would set the world aflame.

The destructive energy dyed everything in sight a patch of black.

The entire pocket dimension seemed to transform into a furnace. The ground melted and turned into boiling-hot lava.

Hong Xi's pale blue moonlight shone down on them all. Sun Xiaowu's body flared with golden light, and golden runes appeared over his body. He used [Adamantine Aegis] immediately.

"[Blinding Flash: Thousandfold Echo]!"

Sun Xiaowu's body split into hundreds of clones, each bearing resplendent golden runes. They gathered around the members of Team Zenith, forming a human barricade.

Refracted light shone around Yang Ze, who waved a hand and isolated the members of Team Zenith from the pocket dimension.

Fang Yi thrust his spear quickly, combining the energy of chaos with wind and storm. A barrier of the elements formed around the members of Team Zenith.

Zhang Hanxiang released a chilly frost, adding a layer of ice as a second layer behind it.

"[Avatar of the Fae: Earthbound Prison]!"

Zhou Ying released all her stored vitality at once, causing the ground to quake as thousands of jade-green wood dragons rushed out of the earth.

The members of Team Zenith were wrapped up by layer after layer of dragons.

Hong Xi manifested a fan of feathers, which she waved to conjure a windwall around them. Jun Jiuxiao conjured a field of wind and storm, while Ye Xianchen released an aura of ghosts and shadows.

Li Feng had yet to recover from his earlier exertion against Zhang Lie, and was still resting.

Sun Mengmeng released her arrow, which morphed into a human-faced, golden-winged bird in mid-air, radiating red light as it arced through the skies.

The garuda landed in a hurricane of pitch-black flames as it arched its wings wide. It began to pulse with red fire, brimming with such energy that it seemed as though it would set the world aflame.

Sun Mengmeng's attack scorched the pocket dimension, dyeing everything in sight a patch of black.

The barriers isolating it from the rest of the third realm began to crack as the pocket dimension filled with pitch-black flames. Yang Ze's dimensional barrier was burnt to a crisp, Fang Yi's elemental barrier was dispelled, Zhang Hanxiang's icy wall melted, Zhou Ying's vines were set aflame, and Jun Jiuxiao and Ye Xianchen's barriers were destroyed entirely.

As pitch-black flames threatened to seize them all, the members of Team Zenith all reinforced their individual barriers.

"[Ninecarp Transformation]!"

A black serpent materialized behind Zhang Lie, by now so large and so developed that it resembled the world-swallowing serpent Jormungandr. It let out a threatening hiss as its scales clicked together.

Pitch-black genetic energy with the consistency of water formed a shield around Zhang Lie. When the black flames touched that genetic energy, they were extinguished and corroded immediately.

"[Lunarflame Shot: Extirpation of the Garuda]!"

Sun Mengmeng pulled her bow taut once more, infusing the rest of her genetic energy within. The image of a garuda materialized from thin air and, supercharged with Sun Mengmeng's energy, readied for a devastating blow.

Black flames gathered, lighting the very air itself aflame. The black flames formed a pitch-black abyss that no longer radiated light. Instead, it sucked in the light from all around like black holes and devoured everything in sight.

The pocket dimension was entirely lit up, and the barrier isolating it from the outside realm was filled with cracks.

As Sun Mengmeng loosed the arrow, the garuda shot straight toward Zhang Lie, bringing a whole world's worth of black flame in his direction.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Fade]!" Zhang Lie punched forward, and the black serpent behind him shot forth.

The black serpent tangled and wrapped around the fierce garuda, diminishing and smothering the black flames, even as the black flames burned the serpent's flesh. Both creatures began to sizzle; the two energetic constructs were fading away bit by bit as they struck each other.

The garuda keened. Pitch-black flames burst forth in a hurricane.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Fade]!"

As Zhang Lie punched forward, the blood dragon roared in rage, its howls echoing through the air. It burst apart in the sky, and a wave of annihilation exploded around the dragon. Pitch-black energy swallowed up everything in the vicinity like a storm at sea. Huge quantities of black flame were consumed by the black-hole like energy of annihilation.

In the blink of an eye, all the black flame in the pocket dimension was sucked away, and sunlight filtered down through space once again.

Zhang Lie asked, "Did you intuit something?"

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Sun Mengmeng asked, "Captain, are you trying to demonstrate the difference in our level of strength or power?"

Zhang Lie shook his head. "I'm very glad you've learned how to infuse your emotions into your attacks, and it also shows that you've managed to gain some amount of control. However, your problem is just like your brother's: your attacks are too diffuse. It's important to be able to launch wide-ranging attacks, but increasing the concentration of genetic energy will represent a direct increase to your strength."

Sun Mengmeng replied, "Rather than increase the concentration of my attacks by 10 centimeters, I'd rather increase my attack range by 10 meters."

Zhang Lie rolled his eyes at her. "Do you think we're trying to develop new weaponry here? We're talking about conditions in battle. Your techniques waste too much of their power because your arrows are too diffuse. I didn't make this request of you in the past because you weren't able to control your attacks to such an exacting degree before, but now that you've grown stronger, my requirements will naturally grow stricter."

Sun Mengmeng nodded rather uncertainly, as though she only vaguely understood what Zhang Lie meant.