Chapter 545: Anointed by Fire

The process of absorbing gene fragments from genetic lifeforms was, in principle, a gradual transformation from a human hunter to a genetic lifeform. Absorbing basic gene fragments gave a human the strength to fight at the level of a regular-grade lifeform.

With sufficiently many mutated gene fragments, that human would become a mutated-grade lifeform, and subsequently a superior-grade lifeform.

Zhang Lie was undergoing such a process now.

Disaster-grade lifeforms were, in some sense, life on another level of existence. They were to superior-grade lifeforms what genetic lifeforms were to regular animals.

Disaster-grade lifeforms no longer possessed blood, and their organs were all crystallized. This was a fundamental difference into their genetic code, and Zhang Lie's body faced an incredible challenge in bridging the gulf between these two paradigms of life.

He had absorbed enough disaster gene fragments to initiate the evolution of a peak-grade to a disaster-grade lifeform.

The pain was unimaginable.

His skin crisped as it burned and flaked off his body. The heat was so intense that it caused the seawater all around him to evaporate and sent salt crystals flying.

The blood in Zhang Lie's circulatory system was replaced with scorching liquid energy that made his body burn up as it spread.

His cells exploded from the heat before being forged anew, once and again, changing his body from the inside out.

Zhang Lie circulated his [Ninecarp Transformation]. Filled with energy, each revolution of the framework took mere moments— just over half a minute, an incredible and previously unimaginable speed.

Even Zhang Lie himself could barely believe it, considering that this had previously been an hour-long process that required his full concentration.

Even more shockingly, this speed was increasing moment by moment. His new 'blood' proved to be incredibly conductive to his genetic energy, and his evolution was spurred further and further onward by the energy of the whirlpool tyrant's core.

By the very end of the process, Zhang Lie felt as though he was able to finish hundreds of revolutions of his framework within a minute.

His body creaked and ached as it reached its breaking point, his bones breaking and regrowing time and again, his capillaries bursting before coming back thicker and thicker.

His body was being rebuilt from the inside out.

Upon reaching the threshold of twenty disaster gene fragments, the process of absorbing disaster gene fragments grew even more strenuous. Energy from the core was being transferred directly to Zhang Lie and consolidated as his own strength.

Flames burst out of his eyes, mouth, nose, and ears, singeing his eyeballs and tongue. He blazed like a furnace, and the blood-red skies were saturated with heat and brightness. The seawater turned red all around him, seething and frothing in a white cloud that covered Zhang Lie's body. The entire world seemed ablaze; a pillar of fire rose into the air, expelling all impurities from Zhang Lie's body.

In these flames, Zhang Lie would be reborn.

Stricken by flame, his body was no longer able to support his human form. His body temperature rose to an incredible degree, and even his water-attuned framework was unable to cool him down. His evolution was growing entirely out of control.

This evolution was life-or-death for Zhang Lie. If he made it out alive, he would possess incredible power; if not, he would perish, disintegrated into nothingness by the overwhelming energy coursing through him.

𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

If not for his overwhelming willpower, Zhang Lie would long since have been rendered unconscious. Even so, with his body at its breaking point, consciousness didn't matter. That he had survived absorbing disaster gene fragments in the first realm was shocking enough, but the potency of this evolution in the second realm went even a magnitude beyond the first.

With the last shred of his consciousness, Zhang Lie activated the fifth form of his [Ninecarp Transformation].

The clouds above him turned golden. Golden scales encased Zhang Lie's charred body, almost like armor, and antlers grew out of his head. Golden flames burned all around him, releasing a holy aura. The black sun to his back and bloody moon beneath his feet made him look like a god that had descended from the heavens.

The golden sky and golden sea seemed to merge into one cohesive whole.

After taking on his draconian form, the strength and constitution of his body became much more potent than before. More importantly, the qilin was innately adept at controlling and manipulating fire, and Zhang Lie was able to curb the flames from scouring his body away.

As the flames of evolution continued to burn within him,his golden qilin scales grew brighter and brighter, twisting the very air with heat.

The flames continued to temper his body from within, and sparks of fire would flare out of his scales from moment to moment.

After an interminable period, when the flames finally subsided, Zhang Lie let out a hissing breath and canceled his transformation, returning to his original body.

His charred skin was growing back at a clip visible to the naked eye, revealing new skin as unblemished as white jade, as though he had been born anew.

Zhang Lie's eyeballs and tongue grew back. His tongue hadn't changed, but his eyes were completely different from before. His pupils looked like miniature scarlet suns, brimming with energy.

Even his bones and capillaries were well on their way to crystallizing, but the transformation was yet incomplete. Blood no longer flowed through his body.

Zhang Lie felt indefatigable, that he had boundless energy he would never be able to spend in its entirety.

Zhu swam back toward him from afar. He had caused such a great disturbance during the process of his evolution that she simply couldn't draw near; the air had turned superheated, and the sea had begun to boil. Zhu would surely have died if she had dared to venture closer.