Chapter 1560: Despite Spiritual Destruction

"[Shadow and Light]!"

Fang Yi's appearance blurred into a hundred clones. Spear thrusts and strikes shot forward in every direction.

"[The Boundless Blade: Nine-Headed Hydra]!"

Genetic energy exploded from Yang Ze and manifested in the form of a nine-headed hydra,

which sprayed out nine breaths of sword energy.

"[Arclight Dragon's Imprint]!"

Li Feng waved his left arm, around which a torrent of light-attuned genetic energy was gathering. It took the form of a gigantic dragon's claw, bearing down like a beam of light.

"[Lunarflame Shot]!"

Sun Mengmeng's right hand blurred as countless arrows of purple flame shot out of her bow like a meteor shower that tinted the air purple and gave the battlefield a phantasmagorical appearance. The air turned dry and arid, as though a cataclysm was nigh.

Under the brilliant purple sky, everything began to burn, drowned in a sea of purple flame.

"[Blinding Flash: Thousandfold Echo]!"

Sun Xiaowu's body suddenly split into thousands of clones.

"[Storm of Leaves: Void Cut]!"

Zhou Ying clutched her dagger in a reverse grip and slashed at the void.

The members of Team Zenith, working together, took down the competitors that had just entered along with the wounded golden toad amidst a bout of vigorous fighting.

Those competitors and the golden toad had only made it into the ancient hall after suffering endless bouts of slaughter and were naturally exceptionally strong, to the point where they could be compared to the members of Team Zenith. The golden toad, strongest of the lot, was comparable to the enhanced Sun Xiaowu.

In the end, however, those competitors and the golden toad didn't have the same level of cooperation and teamwork born of life-and-death struggles that Team Zenith had overcome.

In the end, the members of Team Zenith easily cooperated to take them down.

Because of the fact that those competitors and the golden toad had eliminated so many other competitors before entering the ancient hall and obtained a titanic amount of mental particles, after their death, all those particles surged toward the members of Team Zenith. The particles spilled out of their bodies and formed a veritable sea in the ancient hall.

The members of Team Zenith were astounded by the sight.

Those particles caused the marks on the backs of their palms to extend rapidly throughout their bodies.

After the massive fight, the ancient hall was now almost in tatters, and its original appearance was impossible to make out. The ground had almost melted, and the stairs leading up to the altar were all shattered. The altar itself was cracked; the only thing intact was the pillar of light that had once been at the center of the altar, bound by chains of natural law, and linked to the entire world.

Zhang Lie stood before the pillar, stepping on the eighth Immortal King's chest, his sword piercing through his forehead.

A large number of the particles had been absorbed by the members of Team Zenith, but a portion was sucked away by the central pillar of light.

Just then, something unexpected happened. As though the pillar of light had absorbed sufficient energy, it began to blaze brightly. The chains that tethered it to the natural laws of the realm began to resonate. Something seemed to be birthed at the center of the pillar.

The eighth Immortal King, whose eyes were growing dim and dull, suddenly blazed with life. He formed seals with his hands.

A humanoid formed and leapt toward Zhang Lie.

"[Seal of Deific Descension]!"

𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Zhang Lie reacted quickly and slashed at the lifeform with Hanguang.

"[Blade of the Heavens: the Mountain Rumbles]!"

The slash was sharp, keen, and full of strength. It was like the prelude to an avalanche that could destroy everything within sight.

As the domineering slash landed, space and the void itself began to crack. Nothing could stop the advance of Zhang Lie's technique. The eighth Immortal King's [Seal of Deific Descension] itself was shattering.

Just as Zhang Lie struck to defend against the seal, the eighth Immortal King took advantage of the opportunity to punch forward with a seemingly insignificant fist.

The fist looked wholly ordinary, but actually contained incredible insight into natural law, including yin and yang, and even life and death.

It was an incredible attack that even Zhang Lie retreated to dodge. The eighth Immortal King got to his feet unsteadily, despite the fact that Zhang Lie's sword had pierced right through his forehead.

The eighth Immortal King seemed to be an incredibly resilient foe.

Zhang Lie frowned. His pupils turned slitted as he activated his dragon's pupil soulshard. "If you keep this up, your soul might be destroyed."

The eighth Immortal King's physical body didn't belong to him, but likely to Zhang Lie's father, Zhang Yi.

As a result, the sword piercing through his forehead hadn't managed to kill the eighth Immortal King.

However, Zhang Lie's technique was so strong that it could hurt the eighth Immortal King's very soul. The eighth Immortal King's soul was slowly dissipating, but he still held on.

What happened in this virtual realm wasn't completely separate from reality.

Just as intuition and enlightenment from the virtual realm would be reflected in reality, spiritual destruction in this realm would lead to a serious, potentially deadly wound in the other, especially considering the eighth Immortal King's destabilized situation.

For Zhang Lie, however, this might not be a bad thing at all.

The eighth Immortal King spoke up. "I made significant preparations, paid a heavy price, and bid my time until now, one step away from success. Do you think I'd give up now and hand over everything to you? Dream on!"

Clearly, whatever was being birthed in the central pillar of light was of particular importance to the eighth Immortal King. When he saw his plan coming to fruition, the eighth Immortal King's dull eyes regained their vitality as he forced himself to remain alive for just a little while longer.

"As long as I can obtain the intuition I need, I'll be able to heal my spiritual injuries, return to the peak of my strength, participate in the Hall of Immortals' final trial, and become a true Immortal King! The ninth and tenth Immortal Kings, or whatever they're at now—they'd be nothing compared to me!"

The eighth Immortal King's body lit up with heavenly fire. Thunder rumbled through the air as the white tiger, black tortoise, azure dragon, red phoenix, nine-headed bird, and qilin's forms manifested around him. He transformed once again into his ten-headed, six-armed state, teleporting across the void to kill Zhang Lie.

Every part of his body shone with light. The [Arms of the White Tiger] and [Feet of the Qilin] manifested, along with a pair of phoenix wings that appeared to his back. Runes of incomparable strength exploded from his body.

His [Seal of Deific Descension], [Azure Dragon Fist], [Solar Tortoise Fist]—he used them all at once at maximum potential, combining these ultimate techniques at will.

In truth, the eighth Immortal King was forcing the final dregs of strength from his body, fighting against spiritual annihilation as he sought whatever lay within the central pillar of light. Either he would succeed and be reborn, or he would die, his soul obliterated.

Despite sensing the eighth Immortal King's intent, Zhang Lie didn't intend to back down against his father's killer.