Chapter 1324: Radiant Sun

The spectators raptly watching the fight were dazzled by the speed at which the combatants moved. Too much had happened too quickly; no one could catch all of what had happened.

Zhang Lie stopped short. He wiped at a trickle of blood by his mouth. Any wounds he sustained healed quickly thanks to his status as an emperor-grade lifeform.

On the other hand, Radiant Sun was no longer seated cross-legged as though in meditation. He stood, a frightening wound horizontally across his neck, brimming with blood. He had almost been beheaded.

He wiped at his neck with his hand, healing himself as he blazed with fiery light.

Zhang Lie's black hair fluttered in an evanescent wind. He looked like a deity. The powers of yin and yang suffused him. His eyes glowed with moonlight and sunlight, then transformed into dragon's pupils, which pierced through the very soul. He strode forth, charging up for another attack.

"[Second Form: Piercing the Soul]!"

Zhang Lie's disaster-grade mistmeld clam soulshard activated as he infused its energy into his swords, causing them to shine radiantly with multicolored light.

He could see that Radiant Sun didn't have a soul of his own; this was some illusory manifestation, nothing more.

A rainbow arc accompanied Zhang Lie's slash, as though an aurora borealis were visible in the sky. It shone in all the colors of the rainbow, momentarily hypnotizing anyone who looked at it.

With Guicang in hand, Zhang Lie flew through the heavens. His sword shone as brightly as the auroras overhead, bringing him momentarily out of the physical into the intangible.

"[Solar Null]," Radiant Sun called out.

He stepped through the void, his actions brimming with dawn light. Golden flames burned overhead like a blazing sun. Flames poured out of him, shielding his body and blocking Zhang Lie's ethereal attack.

Zhang Lie's [Second Form: Piercing the Soul] was a spiritual attack at heart. Although the physical component of the attack was still a strong one, it only served to cover up the damage that it dealt to his opponent's very soul. Even so, against an opponent whose soul did not exist, [Second Form: Piercing the Soul] was easily nullified.

𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Radiant Sun counter-attacked. This time, his flames didn't burn blood-red, but white-gold. Sword energy manifested around him, and the ground seemed to shine with radiant, divine light, as though a sword of the heavens had descended to the mortal world.

His bejeweled vase, like a divine sword, sent out tens of thousands of blades of sword energy that drowned Zhang Lie.

Zhang Lie crossed Guicang and Hanguang before himself, summoning celestial radiance. The energy of the blood moon and black sun twined around himself in the form of a shield, deflecting the attack. Zhang Lie dashed forward, holding the shield protectively before him.

"[Endless Slash]!" Radiant Sun shouted, aiming the vase at Zhang Lie and sending a torrential burst of sword energy toward him.

Zhang Lie's clothes shone with light, protecting himself. He held his palms together, causing radiant moonlight and sunlight to explode forth.

"[Ninecarp Transformation]!"

Red scales formed a natural suit of red armor around Zhang Lie. He was surrounded by what looked like scarlet flames, but was actually steaming, blood-red water-attuned genetic energy. A black sun rose behind his back, and a blood moon shone at his feet.

A long tail grew out of his back. His black hair took on a red tint, as though they were lit up by an inner fire. Interlocking rings of black and red that warped natural law surrounded his body, and a domineering aura exuded from him.

Red water-attuned genetic energy surrounded Zhang Lie, manifesting in the shape of a dragon.

Red energy of chaos exploded from Zhang Lie as the moonlight and sunlight combined, then drifted into the air like water vapor.

The chaotic energy struck the bejeweled vase, causing it to explode in a burst of golden light, igniting even the heavens themselves.

Both combatants stood amidst a raging sea of golden flames, each focused on the other.

Zhang Lie grinned. "It's time to show my full strength."

"[Blades, Extinguish]!"

Guicang gleamed brightly in Zhang Lie's hands as he infused more and more spiritual energy into it. From the surface of his spiritual sea came waves charging forward, sounding like stampeding hooves, like raging dragons.

Zhang Lie's spiritual sea expanded greatly, past the confines of his own body. As the mistmeld clam soulshard's energy was infused within the blade, it began glowing with multicolored light, simultaneously illusory and real. A sea seemed to rest in the crack between the two domains, unable to be touched or otherwise sensed.

The transient, illusory nature of the light captivated everyone who saw it.

The sword in Zhang Lie's hands burned with scarlet water-attuned genetic energy. Billowing clouds of red-tinted steam surrounded him as though he were a burning pyre.

The high-temperature steam was so hot that it vaporized much of the blood-colored water-attuned genetic energy. The dark clouds all over the world began to burn, and the moisture in the air vaporized near-immediately.

This domain of scarlet steam was so dangerous that an ordinary lifeform would likely be vaporized without a trace.

The temperature around Zhang Lie grew so hot that his surroundings began to warp. Mirages formed all around him.

One of Zhang Lie's blades glowed with radiant light; the other shone scarlet with water-attuned genetic energy.

The illusory sea combined with the scarlet ocean of reality, the attack simultaneously in the boundary between the real and the illusory, linking together the physical and metaphysical, the real and the abstract.

The two halves of the attack clashed with each other.

The spiritual sea began to burn, as though it had been ignited by the scarlet steam, forming spiritual flame. The scarlet steam, bolstered by the spiritual sea, grew even hotter. Contact with the steam seemed to sap at one's very soul.

Zhang Lie had allowed these two disparate sources of energy to combine, but just as he was about to strike, something happened.