Chapter 563: The Dragon of the Clam

The compass in the monarch of stars' hands began to spin, causing thousands of stars to drop from the sky.

"[The Boundless Blade: Yawning Wave]!" Zhang Lie's sword technique drew on the boundless nature of the sea. A tidal wave rose up into the sky and smashed the starlight to fragments. The monarch of stars shielded himself with his compass, which formed a translucent barrier around him.

As Zhang Lie's sword energy clashed with the shield, a thick scar appeared on the compass before it broke into two.

Darkness erupted from the monarch of stars, and eyes and mouths appeared all over his body. The pupils of those eyes were darker than the abyss, darker than the night, filled with corruption and chaos.

"[Rune: Resonate]!" Zhang Lie sent all four runic tablets crashing down on the monarch. They began to resonate as one, sending ripples that melded with the space and forming an absolute domain over all things within and without.

Before the array could reach maximum strength, however, the tablets ground to a halt. Countless tentacles, so thick they seemed like molasses, had filled the space the tablets created.

"[First Form: Parting the River]!" Gleaming light honed the edge of Zhang Lie's sword, and a beam of sword energy rose into the air. Waves of sword aura poured from Zhang Lie.

The bright sword energy rushed toward the sky before falling back down like brilliant rays of sunlight, dissipating the darkness in a wave of energy so intense that the remaining galactic battleships began to sputter and fall.

An incredible wave of energy tore a trench in the sea.

Zhang Lie waved the blades in his hands, cutting the darkness to pieces. The silver sword energy formed a hurricane in mid-air, batting the battleships aside.

After considerable effort, the battleships finally stabilized. Some shot ballistic missiles toward Zhang Lie, other laser beams, and a few even employed their starbreak annihilators directly.

"[Shadow and Light]!" In the blink of an eye, Zhang Lie flashed away. He darted from battleship to battleship, tracing out afterimages in the sky, before appearing in front of the gigantic clam. Behind him, the battleships burst apart in spectacular explosions, almost as though there were hundreds of suns in the sky.

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

Zhang Lie activated his blood-ant and dragonwolf soulshards, smashing the clam apart in mere moments. His eyes turned to the surface of the sea. His pupils gleamed; he had found his true target, the disaster-grade clam that lay hidden.

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

In conjunction with [Fists of the Silent Sea: Soar], Zhang Lie tore the surface of the sea apart, unleashing a primordial aura. The jewel-studded clam slowly appeared above the surface of the sea and opened up, causing multicolored mist to seep into the air.

His sword energy was countered by a bout of sword energy from within the clam, one that was an exact copy of his own.

As the mists cleared, Zhang Lie glanced at his new enemy with wide eyes. Standing in front of him was none other than... himself.

"I'd considered the possibility that I would become my own opponent, but it still shocks me to see it happen."

The other Zhang Lie raised the blade in his hand. "Your struggles are futile. You'll simply perish, just like all the corpses in that room in the warship!"

"[The Boundless Blade: Dragon's Wrath]!" Two blood-red dragons howled and tussled simultaneously in the air.

"Take this! [Second Form: Piercing the Soul]!" Zhang Lie infused spiritual energy into his blade, and the blade gleamed more and more brightly as he charged up his technique.

His ghostly counterpart, which boasted no spiritual energy of its own, was incapable of using this technique. The sword sliced into the fake Zhang Lie's shoulder, but he only laughed. "And how do you intend to pierce my soul, a soul that doesn't exist?"

Energy poured out of the fake Zhang Lie in waves, honing the edge of his blade.

"[Blade of the Heavens: the Sea Swells]!" The pulses of energy struck the realm like a tsunami, devouring everything within.

Zhang Lie used the same technique simultaneously, triggering yet another cataclysmic explosion which tore apart the sea and sky, shattering the spatial distortions that lay above the sea of mists and snuffing out the mist.

The fake Zhang Lie's body began to destabilize.

The sea of mists was able to impart form and function to an illusion, but even it had a limit. Zhang Lie's abilities were far too strong for it to emulate in whole.

Upon realizing this fact, Zhang Lie used his strongest technique.

"[Blades, Reverberate]!" A blood dragon revolved around Zhang Lie. 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.

A dragon of blood rushed out of the tide accompanied by a series of dark, black waves.

The fake Zhang Lie tried to use the same technique, but it was simply beyond his capabilities. The dragon of blood roared toward him, causing even the multicolored mist to dissipate, when a dragon's claw emerged from within the clam to block the devastating blow.

The sea calmed down. Sunlight shone brightly from above, and the sea turned a deep, sapphire blue. The jewel-studded disaster-grade clam opened up more fully, causing more multicolored mist to seep into the air and revealing an ornate, baroque palace.

Within the palace was a dragon, one with deer's antlers on its head, a dark red mane trailing down its neck, deep blue scales, sharp, fierce teeth, emerald-green eyes, and a fearsome aura. At times real, at times illusory, it looked simultaneously a creature out of this world and one fully steeped in reality...