Chapter 540: Battling the Disaster-Grade Lifeform

"[Rune: Control]!" Zhang Lie raised both his arms into the sky, and the image of a dragonturtle appeared behind him. The two gravity-controlling tablets smashed into the ground… before being swallowed up by the whirlpool.

"You can't eat everything you see." Zhang Lie snapped his fingers and detonated the two tablets. The swirling water suddenly began sloshing around, and the sea level began to fall.

A black shadow was emerging from the depths of the sea.

Zhang Lie activated his blood ant and dragonwolf soulshards simultaneously. Thick fur grew from his skin, followed by scales and a dragon's claws, as he transformed into a draconic wolfman.

"[The Boundless Blade: the River Lethe]!" An underworld river hurtled into existence, roaring into the seas. The haunted souls of the underworld could almost be seen in the darkness.

Zhang Lie caught a glimpse of the gigantic lifeform beneath the sea, but before he could do more, huge waves rose all around him, trying to sweep him within. He sent the waves crashing down with a slice of his sword, only to be met with the humongous tail of a whale, which swung down at him with the force of the boundless sea.

In its domain, the whirlpool tyrant was able to fight at full strength, but Zhang Lie avoided the attack deftly.

Subsequently, a silvery-white pillar burst out of the surface of the sea. Zhang Lie moved to dodge, only to see the remnants of his stone tablets being spat out by the whirlpool tyrant. Its gigantic tail slammed down on the surface of the sea and split it in two. Wind wailed, battering Zhang Lie, and a torrential downpour began to fall.

"[The Boundless Blade: the River Lethe]!" Zhang Lie thrust his blade toward the sea as the ocean was dyed black all around him. The sword energy roiled like black waves as they spread out around the whirlpool tyrant.

Only at sea could Zhang Lie's [The Boundless Blade] show off its true potential.

The waves of the underworld river smashed against the whirlpool tyrant's tail, causing a huge explosion of genetic energy. The ramifications of the fight extended from shore to shore.

Zhang Lie's technique broke against the underworld tyrant's tail, but the tyrant didn't go unharmed. It howled in pain, and the surface of the sea morphed into a giant tsunami.

"[The Boundless Blade: Dragon's Wrath]!" A blood-red dragon tore apart the forming tsunami and out its other end.

Zhang Lie immediately felt an aura that threatened to stop his body cold as a humongous black figure, wreathed in seawater, appeared before him. It was so large that Zhang Lie seemed like an ant in comparison. The blood dragon smashed into the seawater and landed on the black figure's skin, leaving nothing but a faint scratch behind.

The surface of the ocean trembled. Thanks to the moonlight, Zhang Lie was finally able to discern the true appearance of the figure that had previously been shrouded in shadow. It was a genetic lifeform that combined the characteristics of three lifeforms: the turtle, the dragon, and the whale. It had the form of a whale, the shell of a turtle, and the claws of a dragon.

Its gigantic body was covered by a thick, sturdy shell, and four claws grew out where a turtle's flippers would be. Its skin looked like a starry sky. Seawater revolved around it, as though the ocean itself was submitting to its presence. It was the tyrant of the whirlpool strait, the hegemon of the entire sea, the legend that swallowed the sun and stars.

It opened its mouth and shot a golden beam of light at Zhang Lie.

His eyes wide, Zhang Lie's body split into dozens of clones. The golden light scoured the entire ocean before exploding over a nautical mile away. It vaporized part of the sea instantly. A wave of superheated water vapor smashed into Zhang Lie from the back, and he turned to see a cloud of steam rising into the air.

The golden light left a deep furrow over the surface of the sea for minutes afterwards.

Zhang Lie's lips quirked into a smile. "Not bad, not bad!"

He knew that oceanic lifeforms were stronger than terrestrial ones. After his battle with the nine-headed sea cucumber, he estimated that they were roughly 30% stronger, but he hadn't expected an oceanic disaster-grade lifeform to be so much stronger.

The whirlpool tyrant opened its mouth again. Its starry skin seemed to glow and shift rapidly as stellar radiance shot toward Zhang Lie like a thunderstorm, the brightness so piercing that it filled the entirety of Zhang Lie's vision.

"[Blade of the Heavens: the Sea Swells]!" But Zhang Lie didn't fear the attack. Energy poured out of him in waves, honing the edge of his blade. The pulses of energy struck the realm like a tsunami, devouring everything within.

Zhang Lie's attack clashed against the stellar beams. The force was such that the very sea parted in two, forming a front where the attacks clashed against each other.

Gleaming light honed the edge of Zhang Lie's sword, and a beam of sword energy rose into the air. Zhang Lie continued pouring more and more genetic energy into the technique, until it shot up a thousand meters high into the air.

The whirlpool tyrant then expelled a beam of red light, one so scorching-hot steam trailed its path along the sea. This was surely the essence of the sunset, part of the strength that the whirlpool tyrant had accumulated over the years.

.

𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"[First Form: Parting the River]!" As Zhang Lie's sword technique clashed against the red beam, a large quantity of seawater evaporated as steam.

Zhang Lie's technique might have been able to part a river, but not the sun. That said, the whirlpool tyrant's attack was hardly as strong as the sun, and Zhang Lie's own strength eclipsed his technique's.

With a loud shout, Zhang Lie infused more and more genetic energy into his blade, until he was able to split the beam in two. The energy whizzed around him and exploded to his back, sending his hair and clothes fluttering.

Sensing that its attack had failed, the whirlpool tyrant tried to duck back underwater.

"I won't let you run off! [Shadow and Light]!" Zhang Lie's blade gleamed brightly as it cut across time and space, and he appeared right behind the whirlpool tyrant.

The tyrant reacted near-instantaneously. As Zhang Lie emerged, it tried to sweep him away with its tail.

"[Rune: Control]!" Zhang Lie raised an arm into the air and sent the gravity and anti-gravity tablets crashing down by the tyrant's side...