Chapter 1573: Once Again

Not everyone would be able to obtain intuition that could elevate themselves within the tournament. Many received intuition or insight incompatible with their own path. If all sources of intuition led to tremendous advancement, then Zhang Lie and the members of Team Zenith would have had no chance at victory at all.

The benefits that Zhang Lie and the members of Team Zenith received were incomparable to those obtained by the young proteges of the various supreme forces, who were far more familiar with the rules of the competition compared to Zhang Lie and the members of Team Zenith.

Ultimately, there were only a few pieces of insight that would be compatible with each cultivator.

Sun Mengmeng was the first to emerge from her trial chamber, followed closely by Yang Ze, Fang Yi, and Li Feng, and finally by Zhou Ying and Sun Xiaowu.

Sun Mengmeng asked, "Where's Captain?"

"He must have left the tournament by now after reaping the final prize within," Li Feng said.

Bu Wentian headed over. "That he has. He's currently cultivating in a trial chamber."

Within the trial chamber, carps emerged from Zhang Lie's flesh, endless in number, frothing like blood—a sinister transformation.

The next moment, Zhang Lie's genetic energy transformed again. Inscriptions formed along his blood, flesh, and soul, all in the shape of swords.

His aura grew sharp beyond measure. He raised a hand and a leg, his very body like a sword oriented toward the sky.

Countless tiny swords flowed along his body like blood.

[Ninecarp Transformation] activated. The swords intersected within his body, forming a golden tiger.

Then, they dispersed into a swarm of black demonic serpents, which congregated anew into a black dragon.

Then, that black dragon dispersed and formed a black turtle, then a dragonturtle, then a lion, a dragonlion...

Zhang Lie underwent metamorphosis after metamorphosis. Each time, he felt his mind advance by leaps and bounds, and his physical body was changing as well.

The metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly was encoded in his body and merged with his [Ninecarp Transformation], strengthening the framework tremendously.

He was able to transform into a carp, a black dragon, a golden tiger, a dragonturtle—the possibilities were endless.

He opened his eyes wide. A black dragon roared from deep within his pupils. A golden tiger shot out swords from its body, and a dragonturtle bore four tablets on its back. Universal and natural law peeked out.

The sun and moon shone; celestial phenomena appeared.

His entire body transformed into a ball of light. Pale blue genetic energy spread out, vast as the sea. The sea then transformed into pitch-black corrosion that spread across the ground, then silvery-white crystal, then mud, then flame...

Wisps of white fog, like divine qi or like bursts of primordial chaos, wreathed around him, mysterious to the extreme.

Divine fog surrounded him.

Around him, all manner of grass, shrub, herb, and plant began to grow: some in blue, gold, silver, dark yellow, fiery red, purple, black, and white. All radiated with luster.

Blue plants filled the ground. Small fish and prawns swam through the plants, as if everything were part of an oceanic world. It was extraordinarily beautiful.

The black plants were covered with a layer of snake's scales, each like a black snake giving off a toxic aura.

The silvery-white plants were like crystals. The gold plants were like weapons and looked like tigers.

The dark yellow plants seemed to be made of mud, with gravitational fields around them. They looked like dragonturtles.

The fiery-red plants were blazing flames that looked like qilins and dragonlions.

The purple plants were made of lightning and looked like serpents.

Windstorms raged around the white plants that looked like phoenixes.

What lay before Zhang Lie was no ordinary greenery, but rather manifestations of his intuition—genetic constructs that reflected the nature of vitality itself, or perhaps [Ninecarp Transformation] brought into the physical world.

The nature of vitality and life could be sensed through each of these disparate colors.

Zhang Lie had simultaneously embarked down seven different paths of life—involving water, destruction, gold, earth, fire, and even lightning.

𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The sevenfold evolutions of [Ninecarp Transformation] each represented a unique path.

No ordinary cultivator would be able to handle—or even come into contact with—so many at once. They tended to grasp one or two at most. Only with an exceptional framework like Zhang Lie's [Ninecarp Transformation] were so many avenues open to him.

Even so, no matter how many paths were available to Zhang Lie, if he couldn't grasp the true essence of life in each one, it would ultimately be useless.

During the virtual realm, Zhang Lie had chosen to prioritize his gold attunement and his most widely used water attunement. That intuition had been emblazoned in his soul, and he wouldn't need to do anything extra to incorporate life and vitality into his manipulation of the two elements.

The benefits he had obtained in the virtual realm would be reflected in his physical body through his mental avatar and spirit. This was an incredible boon, and Zhang Lie intended to take advantage of this opportunity to explore more paths.

He had intuited seven different paths of life. If he had to put numbers to everything, his compatibility with water was 100%, that with destruction was about 30%, that with gold was 70%, that with earth was 50%, that with fire was 60%, and that with lightning was maybe 20%.

The 30% compatibility with destruction was all but worthless.

When he made his initial choice, Zhang Lie had chosen the two elements with which he had the greatest compatibility. Now that he was able to redo his selection, he intended to try out different paths. He wanted to explore the path of fire.

The reason he chose not to explore two paths like in the virtual realm was because he already had access to two different paths of life. A third one was already risking dilution. Perhaps Zhang Lie could grasp two more paths, but having access to so many might not be stronger than focusing on just one. It was a matter of depth, not breadth.

All the greenery began to burn.

Fluid gushed down around Zhang Lie, a pale-blue, crystal-clear liquid in which fishes swam. It was filled with vitality, bubbling and vivacious.

Water was the source of life; through his recent revelation about life, his water-attuned genetic energy was granted vivacity.