Chapter 279: Pain Worse Than Death

As a reincarnator, Zhang Lie's plans had naturally been superb, but there were still some assumptions that he had taken for granted.

A disaster-grade lifeform was an existence that could only be supported on the third and higher realms of the dimensional world, and their strength was so frightening that it would take a third-realm hunter with maxed genes to be able to absorb it—but Zhang Lie was just a first-realm hunter!

Although he had an astounding collection of gene fragments, and although he would be able to easily deal with a mutated-grade third-realm existence, he was ultimately just a first-realm hunter, and his body and fundamental genetic code hadn't yet been tempered by the process of advancing from realm to realm.

Given his combat strength, he hadn't imagined how dangerous absorbing these disaster gene fragments would be for him. His body was close to succumbing to the rampant energy that the disaster-grade core was giving off.

As his body continued to balloon, Zhang Lie spat out a mouthful of blood. Following that, blood began to well out of all of his orifices. The moment he spat out that mouthful of blood, it evaporated instantly, revealing just how hot his body had become.

After all, his framework was water-attuned, and the fact that his body temperature had somehow ended up so high meant that his body had gone entirely out of control. The overwhelming strength of the disaster-grade core had caused him to enter a mental state in which he felt dissociated from his physical body.

If not for his overwhelming willpower, Zhang Lie would have gone unconscious, but even with this shred of clarity, there was little he could do. His body had reached its limits, and he was about to explode.

His skin was already starting to crack and tear, and black genetic energy was seeping out from within. Black rays of genetic energy, much like the rays of annihilation that the disaster-grade lifeform had given off, shot out indiscriminately from Zhang Lie's body, destroying all that they touched.

The Blacksteel Inn was quickly shot through with all manner of holes, and quite a few unlucky guests in the inn became injured, or even lost their lives, as a result. The inn, which had withstood the beast stampede not a week ago, finally collapsed as a result of Zhang Lie's unintentional attack. The moment the inn fell and the beams of genetic energy were exposed to the first realm at large, urgent messages filtered through the depths of Zhang Lie's mind.

[An unknown high-dimensional energy source has been detected. Activating extraction procedure!]

[An unknown high-dimensional energy source has been detected. Activating extraction procedure!]

[An unknown...]

Forcing himself to retain consciousness, Zhang Lie noticed that his environment seemed to be changing.

He was teleported away from the ruins of the inn into an extradimensional space, a white room illuminated by a seven-colored light.

[Energy has exceeded the maximum threshold. Activating second-realm transferral routine.]

[Energy has exceeded the maximum threshold. Activating second-realm transferral routine.]

[Energy has...]

The next moment, before Zhang Lie could react, the seven-colored light suddenly flared, forcing the disaster-grade energy that was rampaging his body back within it.

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Because of the will of the world's expulsion and forceful teleportation into this unknown space, Zhang Lie was barely saved from death, but the pain that wracked his body, that scoured his insides and colored his vision in shades of red—that didn't stop.

The will of the world had forcibly activated the transferral procedure that would send him to the second realm, and it would endow him with a refined body as part of this process. The energy that was supposed to fuel this refinement was now contesting the energy from the disaster-grade lifeform.

Zhang Lie's body was at the center of this unstable equilibrium; it was a miracle that he had somehow managed to cheat death once and again. The two frightening sources of energy continued warring over his body, a process that brought him unimaginable pain, one that caused even the strong-willed Zhang Lie to wish for death—the sensation of his body tearing itself apart from the inside wasn't something he would ever willingly bear.

Caught in the grasp of two forces beyond his ken, beyond his control, driven half-mad with pain, Zhang Lie sought the only solace he could: his framework. He cycled genetic energy through his body following the patterns inscribed by his framework, focusing on this singular objective over which he still had some control.

.

The disaster-grade genetic energy which was running rampant around his body was far stronger than what his framework could generate and control. Whenever he cycled his framework, he would be able to process a skein of that disaster-grade genetic energy, nothing more. That energy was holding the refinement energy at bay, preventing it from entering Zhang Lie's body.

This process would only end once Zhang Lie was able to incorporate the will of the world's energy into his own body, but in order to do so, he would have to strip the barrier of disaster-grade genetic energy surrounding his body first—and with nothing more than his own framework to do so.

Forcing himself to ignore the pain that felt poised to send his body into shock, Zhang Lie gritted his teeth and began the arduous task of cycling genetic energy throughout his battered body.