Chapter 1484: Time to Return

The fallen leaves and tendrils blazed like flames, transforming into golden men that looked like the spitting image of Coruscant Sun.

Golden light illuminated the heavens as starlight swept across the sky.

"It's time to end this battle."

Zhang Lie launched a killing blow. 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.

"[Blades, Extinguish]!"

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 visibly glowed an alarming shade of red.

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, and their merger was so intense that the distinction between the real and illusory began to blur.

The clash between reality and illusion affected the entire virtual realm.

The space distorted like papier mache as the two attacks clashed against each other. The spectators began to murmur to each other. They could only see a patch of fuzziness before them; the virtual realm had distorted.

The surface of the sea frothed with angry waves, like dragons emerging with the tide.

The waves roared through the sea like galloping steeds, like thundering dragons.

From afar, the waves looked like a coven of flaming phoenixes spreading their wings and taking flight; from close up, they looked like flaming dragons.

These manifestations all drew from Zhang Lie's immense spiritual and genetic energy reserves, along with the sword techniques and willpower that he had honed over countless battlefields.

The spiritual sea seemed to belong to a separate dimension altogether, whereas the scarlet water-attuned genetic energy was in Zhang Lie's current dimension. The two sources of energy were linked and made manifest by Zhang Lie, and they both surged forward as Zhang Lie swung his twin blades.

The two blades combined spiritual and genetic energy, willpower and time. All that melded into a tsunami which surged forward.

The combination of these disparate energies was so potent that it could destroy any lifeform's body and soul.

The golden men formed of vines and tendrils were immediately obliterated by this power that straddled reality and illusion. Despite Coruscant Sun using whatever techniques he could against the assault, that vast expanse of sword energy rushed into the sky. A golden sun emerged, but it was a futile defense against Zhang Lie's technique.

Golden juice spurted from the golden vine as it swiftly turned dark.

Coruscant Sun, knowing that he would be no match for Zhang Lie, used his final tactic. He exploded; golden sunlight burst along with countless sword energy.

"Self-destruction!" Zhang Lie exclaimed. He hadn't expected Coruscant Sun to use such a technique, but there was a secret to it.

Before the self-destruction, a black vine had shot out from Coruscant Sun's body and transformed into umbral light. As the energy from his self-destruction deflected the whirlpool of swords and blades that resulted from the intersection of reality and illusion, the black vine charged out unscathed from the remaining energy.

Zhang Lie immediately gave chase and grabbed at one special tendril of the vine. Umbral light shone around it; natural law gleamed.

Someone shouted, "That's Coruscant Sun's true body!"

"This was the vine that was forged from countless treasures, with no regard to expense!

"Hmm?" Zhang Lie was shocked to see that the vine had not, in fact, been cut apart.

He was well aware of just how strong [Blades, Extinguish] was. It was a simultaneous attack on two layers of reality.

Suddenly, the umbral vine glowed with incredible light, so bright it was like the blinding sun. It grew so hot that even Zhang Lie had to drop it and step far back.

A golden runic pattern intersected itself as a solarvine emerged from afar. Coruscant Sun's body reforged itself and transformed into his appearance anew. He glared at Zhang Lie with malice in his eyes.

"I'll kill you!"

He had recovered just from a tendril of the golden vine. It was as though he would be invincible as long as this tendril persisted.

"Is that so? It's time for you to leave, I think." Zhang Lie blinked and licked his lips.

Coruscant Sun's hair danced in the wind. Golden light surged forth. He was embarrassed and angry. Before he could strike and reveal his true strength, however, Zhang Lie took the initiative. His bones cracked and popped; his blood and flesh vibrated.

𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"[Ninesoul Dragonblade—Third Form: Separating Earth and Sky]!"

The runes of the Keys of the Elder Gods appeared once more.