Chapter 503: Starshine Blades

The monarch of stars used yet another technique. The stars of the crimson night seemed to merge together into rivers of blood, through which a dark red dragon swam. The scarlet sun shone all the more brightly as the dragon roared, giving off such heat that the air seemed to twist. Rays of scarlet light shot toward Zhang Lie.

Zhang Lie met the attack head-on with his sword, sending blood-red flames splashing all over the ground and causing even more lava to erupt.

The force of the blow caused the monarch of stars' blade to crack and disintegrate, but he remained unperturbed. "This should be interesting data for the future."

Upon seeing Zhang Lie swallowed up by the lava, Sun Mengmeng tried to rush forward in an attempt to rescue him, but the other members of Team Zenith held her back.

"Next, I suppose I'll deal with Renhuang's forces."

A roar sounded from the lava as a blood-colored dragonwolf emerged. Thanks to his transformation, Zhang Lie had gained a particularly high resistance to heat. He appeared in front of the monarch of stars looking as though he was barely injured. "Sorry, but the battle isn't yet over!"

The monarch of stars shook his head. "Wouldn't it have been better to just lie there? Why rush out and condemn yourself to an early death?"

"An early death? No, I think that belongs to you!" Zhang Lie raised the sword in his hand high in the air, some fighting spirit in his eyes.

In truth, the monarch of stars' blows had been easily avoided thus far. This last strike was a rather skillful attack, but the energy had been too diffuse to achieve very much.

The monarch of stars retrieved another blade and used the same technique again, enclosing them both in blood-red flames that baked the moisture from the surroundings.

"[First Form: Parting the River]!" Zhang Lie's lips quirked up. Ripples spread out around his blade as genetic energy honed the edge to brilliant sharpness. The sword technique pierced the skies, shining radiantly against the scarlet tint that seemed to cover everything.

A patch of red and a patch of silver bisected the sky.

The monarch of stars' blood-colored blade struck Zhang Lie's sword. The former's weapon exploded again, releasing blood-red flames into the air in such a strong explosion it felt almost as though the sun had burst apart.

The air reached such a blistering temperature that all space was beginning to warp. Zhang Lie's strike split heaven and earth in two, splitting even the flames and lava that covered the ground.

The strength of the attack forced the monarch of stars back as his compass began to spin more and more rapidly, the miniature universe seeming to explode with supernova after supernova to defend against the blow.

Zhang Lie poured more genetic energy into his technique, breaking apart layer after layer of the universe. The monarch of stars' face turned worrisome.

This hunter in front of him was far too strong! He had underestimated Zhang Lie, treating him like nothing other than a lab rat with which to test the strength of his compass. At this point, however, he realized that Zhang Lie was more akin to a bomb, a dragon, a monster that could swallow him whole.

He believed that, even among the sura monarchs, none would be his match. If he didn't have his compass, even he might suffer the same fate.

As Zhang Lie's sword strike drew closer and closer to the monarch of stars, he activated his time-manipulation technique and avoided the blow by speeding up his local time.

The effect of Zhang Lie's sword technique was even more exaggerated than his own. The entire sky seemed to split in two, revealing pitch-black spatial cracks. The line of sword energy moved so rapidly, with so much momentum, that nothing could stop its advancement.

Moving ten times more rapidly than his usual speed, the monarch of stars appeared behind Zhang Lie. Unfortunately for him, Zhang Lie had predicted this move. With a yell, he sent four runic tablets crashing down around him. They began to resonate as one, sending ripples that melded with the sky and forming an absolute domain over all things within.

The monarch of stars' speed boost vanished as the flow of time was forcibly restored.

"[The Boundless Blade: Dragon's Wrath]!" A dragon's roar resounded through the air like peals of thunder. Zhang Lie struck forward with a thrust that morphed into a dark, rampaging dragon.

The monarch of stars activated his compass immediately, but the dragon ignored his defense as it struck. The monarch of stars had no choice but to draw his sword halfway through the attack. As fast as he reacted, it was too late—the attack tore a large hole in his body as the dragon charged forward.

The dragon twisted around, then made to attack him once more.

"[Thousand Beasts]!" Even so, the monarch of stars didn't give up. With a low shout, he materialized countless beasts behind him, each with such fine detail they almost seemed to be real.

Those images condensed and coalesced into a frightening chimera that darted into the monarch of stars' body. His muscles bulged; his eyes turned blood-red. Heavy pants of air came from his nose, steaming in the air. Like a beast, he charged forward in an attempt to block Zhang Lie's attack.

He clashed with Zhang Lie in mid-air, sending yet another frightening explosion into the air. The monarch of stars stumbled back with blood dripping from his palm, but he didn't spare it any attention.

𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

With his compass, he could recover from any injury that wasn't life-threatening.

"Ever since teaching my godson this technique, I've rarely used [Thousand Beasts] myself."

There were very few people who were able to force the monarch of stars to such an extent.

The forces of Renhuang, situated a few hundred kilometers away, were shocked by the extent of the battle between Zhang Lie and the monarch of stars—not just because of how devastating it was, but also that Zhang Lie had the strength to contend with the legendary monarch of stars.

The four prime races, who had the best understanding of the monarch of stars' strength, were the most surprised. The monarch of stars wasn't a regular monarch—he was the strongest among them, the one said to be the closest to becoming an asura!

Even so, Zhang Lie looked almost as though he were taking the upper hand.

They had known how strong Zhang Lie was, but not that he was any stronger than a sura monarch. In fact, they thought themselves overvaluing Zhang Lie to be placing him at the same level as a sura monarch, but now it seemed that they had underestimated him once again. He was as strong as the monarch of stars—no, stronger!

Hong Yu's face turned pale. Once again, she cursed how foolish the previous prince of the winged had been.

The four prime races believed, for the first time, that Zhang Lie really stood a chance of killing the monarch of stars. He would break new ground by being the first human to have killed a sura monarch—the first alien to have done so, even.

The members of Team Zenith, on the other hand, seemed much less shocked.

They had followed Zhang Lie all this way, after all, and his strength was well known to them. They were proud of his prowess—this was Zhang Lie, Zhang Lie of China, Zhang Lie who represented mankind!

Even the monarch of stars was surprised.

He couldn't help but wonder how a human could have become so strong. If he hadn't prepared his compass in time, he would have fallen to Zhang Lie in a mere two blows. He had to capture Zhang Lie and study his body carefully...