Chapter 557: Another Disaster-Grade Lifeform

A dense curtain of mist pervaded the sky above the sea. Zhang Lie had cleared all the figures off the rusty cruise ship. He and Zhu stood above deck.

Zhang Lie asked, "What does the sea have the most of?"

"Water and salt."

"And except for those?"

Zhu cocked her head. "In the sea of mists, it's mist, in the sea in general, it's fish and genetic lifeforms... Mister, do you think our opponent's in the sea?"

"More accurately, at the bottom of the sea."

Zhang Lie jumped into the sea and activated his dragon's eye soulshard as he swept his gaze over the seabed. There were barely any lifeforms active by the surface of the sea, but countless deep within.

This wasn't particularly unusual—there was no reason that oceanic lifeforms would want to make their way to the surface.

How was he supposed to find the culprit among this mess? There were far too many lifeforms living in the sea that had gone uncatalogued, and Zhang Lie hardly knew them all. He killed everything in sight, but nothing changed. The lifeform that was creating these illusions seemed nowhere to be seen.

When he noticed that the cruise ship was turning away, Zhang Lie immediately returned to the surface of the sea. "Zhu, did you discover anything?"

Zhu shook her head. "No. Nothing happened!"

It was very unusual that the cruise ship was changing its course.

"Perhaps I've found it." Zhang Lie glanced in the direction at which the cruise ship was headed with his dragon's eye soulshard and found a small flame—so far away it seemed almost invisible, but Zhang Lie was certain that a soul lay in that direction.

He scooped up Zhu and shot forward like a loosed arrow, his anger propelling him forward. 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.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Fade]!" With a punch, he summoned a blood dragon that tore apart the mist and spatial distortions ahead and flew straight toward his target.

Just then, something unusual happened again. An entire fleet of galactic battleships emerged from the sea, sending laser beams shooting toward Zhang Like like raindrops in a thunderstorm.

His body covered with a blood-red aura, Zhang Lie escaped the bombardment by brute force, piercing through all the cruisers in his way.

"Finally!" The truth behind the sea of mists had finally been revealed to him. All that mist was being sprayed out of a gigantic clam, the mastermind behind the sea of mists.

Initially, he was quite flummoxed. When he saw his sister and parents, however, Zhang Lie was almost certain that the sea of mists revealed only illusions, though these illusions boasted an attack power close to what they would have in reality.

All these illusions were courtesy of the giant clam in front of him. They had been extracted from his memories and formed out of the mist that surrounded them—or, more accurately, not his memories but rather his brain waves.

Without his dragon's eye soulshard, Zhang Lie might have been mired deeper and deeper within the illusions. The warship that had emerged from the sea of mists was exactly like the one he had seen in a museum.

If not for the subsequent appearance of his parents and sister, Zhang Lie might never have found the truth.

The fleet of battleships surrounded Zhang Lie and Zhu.

"Remember: you were the one who started this. [Fists of the Silent Sea: Hundred Dragons Soaring]!" Zhang Lie punched forward with his left arm, sending a torrent of dragons flooding outward.

Keening like peals of thunder, the horde of dragons smashed into the battleships that had gathered about Zhang Lie.

The battleships exploded in the sky like fireballs, vaporizing the mist around them.

The dragons fought against the battleships in what seemed to be an apocalyptic battle. Some of the dragons were pierced through by the battleships' lasers, while some battleships were smashed apart by the dragons. Fire and light filled the air.

The gigantic clam shut its shell and tried to retreat back underwater, aware that Zhang Lie was a dangerous target to provoke.

.

"It's far too late!" Zhang Lie sent a dazzling streak of sword energy toward the clam.

"[Rune: Control]!" He raised an arm into the air and sent the two sealing tablets crashing down. They began to resonate as one, sending ripples that melded with sea and sky, suppressing the clam's unique ability.

"[The Boundless Blade: the River Lethe]!" An underworld river hurtled into existence, and the haunted souls of the underworld could almost be seen in the dark water. The river smashed toward the gigantic clam, destroying it whole.

[You successfully killed a peak-grade mistmeld clam. By consuming the flesh of the peak-grade mistmeld clam, you may receive one to ten peak gene fragments.]

By that time, the battle between the dragon horde and the fleet of galactic battleships had likewise come to an end. With the destruction of the clam, the battleships puffed into mist.

Zhang Lie drew a long breath. He swept over the surface of the sea with his dragon's eye soulshard, observing to his satisfaction that the mist was slowly beginning to dissipate.

Sunlight shone down over the sea of mists once more, and the sea breeze sent the last few patches of fog drifting into the distance. The world regained its usual color.

Zhang Lie stretched. "Problem solved."

Zhu exhaled. "So this was the truth behind the sea of mists!"

"There are countless mysteries in this world, and some have a very simple resolution—" Zhang Lie suddenly whirled around, his eyes gleaming with cold light. "—or is that just what you'd like me to believe?"

He was glancing at a specific spot in the sea. He drew his blade.

"[First Form: Parting the River]!" An incredible wave of energy tore a trench in the sea.

Zhu shrieked. "What's going on?!"

Others might not have noticed it, but Zhang Lie's dragon's eye soulshard easily identified a massive spiritual flare from underneath the surface of the sea— a disaster-grade soul.

Zhang Lie's attack revealed part of the lifeform that lay hidden beneath the surface, a massive shell even larger than the clam that they had vanquished, a lacquered gold shell studded with gems and jewels and brimming with light.