Chapter 571: A Manmade Disaster

When the crag eagles consumed golden roc flesh, they obtained the ability to control flocks of weaker bird-type lifeforms, an incredible power with immense utility.

Zhang Lie was very curious as to just what power Zhu would gain. The multicolored mist hanging around Zhu began to spin, and her eyes glowed with light. Her body blossomed, her skin became smoother and shinier, and her face more exquisite, as though she were a doll in miniature.

She looked dreamlike in her evanescent, mystical beauty.

Subsequently, she curled up like a cooked prawn. The evolution continued for the entire night, and Zhang Lie stayed by her side all along. The rainbow mist finally began to dissipate as the transformation finished.

Zhu was still a young girl—her age hadn't changed, but she seemed to grow far more refined, with a mature aura unbefitting children her age. Though a girl in appearance, she had a face and charm that captivated one and all.

𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Her snowy-white skin was warm and flawless, and her jewel-like eyes shone with rainbow light. Her hair was glossy and seemed to contain all the shades of blue the sea had to offer. As she twirled in the light of dawn, her appearance captivated Zhang Lie's gaze.

She smiled at him. "How do I look?"

Zhang Lie nodded. "Very much like the disaster-grade clam I defeated. To some extent, you're able to hypnotize others and create illusions as well, perhaps at a level sufficient to control superior-grade lifeforms. Once you train your mind further, I believe this ability can be strengthened considerably."

To others, controlling superior-grade lifeforms would be a potent ability, but Zhang Lie thought little of it.

Zhu pursed her lips. She had tested her new ability out on Zhang Lie, but he hadn't seemed to be affected at all! Not only that, he even calmly and coolly analyzed her.

"You're far from being able to hypnotize me with your illusions just yet—but perhaps one day, we'll see." Zhang Lie rubbed her head, causing Zhu to smile. "You really are lucky—it's almost impossibly difficult to hunt down a lifeform whose genes are compatible with yours."

Countless alien races in the sura realm had tried to replicate the same feat to no avail, but Zhu had done it unintentionally.

Zhu rolled her eyes. "This was bound to happen eventually. You feed me different peak-grade lifeforms every day!"

Indeed, in the process of hunting down disaster-grade lifeforms, Zhang Lie and Zhu had come across all sorts of different peak-grade ones, and they ate a different species' meat daily. There was hardly anyone else in the second realm who could boast such treatment.

"Shall we set off now?" Zhang Lie turned to leave.

Zhu followed behind her. "In search of more disaster-grade lifeforms?"

"No. The efficacy is far too low." Zhang Lie had spent half a year to obtain 36 disaster gene fragments. At this rate, he would need another year or two to reach his disaster gene capacity, and that would require that he maintain his current good streak of luck. ?If he were unlucky, it might well take him half a decade to do so.

Zhang Lie didn't have much time to waste, and there were matters he had to resolve in the third realm. If he were unable to ascend within two years, he would miss quite a number of important opportunities.

He replied calmly, "Fighting against that swan has given me inspiration. My intention is to build an arena—or, more precisely, a farm—to raise my own disaster-grade lifeforms."

Zhu gaped at him. "A farm, to... farm disaster-grade lifeforms? How could that be possible?"

"We won't know until we try, will we?"

Zhu nodded for a moment before vehemently shaking her head. "No, that can't be! Peak-grade lifeforms are frightening enough—how do you expect to rear disaster-grade ones?"

Zhang Lie touched the water by his feet. "Isn't this ocean a convenient place to set up a farm? We won't even have to find any food."

Zhang Lie's words left Zhu agape. He wanted to make the seven forbidden regions of the sea... a farm for himself? Using the lifeforms within as food and opportunity to cultivate a disaster-grade lifeform?

This was an arrogant, insane plan, one that Zhu would have said was impossible for anyone else—and she barely knew anything about genetic lifeforms herself. If Zhang Lie's plan had been revealed to the sura, or even to any race within the Milky Way, those aliens unfortunate enough to overhear it might have fainted on the spot.

Hardly anyone knew of these supposed disaster-grade lifeforms, but ignoring that, just treating the seven forbidden regions of the sea like nothing but a common pond was shocking enough.

Before Zhang Lie entered the second realm, the hunters of the Milky Way had found it almost impossibly difficult just to survive on land, let alone the sea.

Just as they were finally experiencing a period of stable, uninterrupted growth, Zhang Lie was already setting his sights on something greater...

As he waded into the sea with Zhu, Zhang Lie activated his disaster-grade mistmeld clam soulshard at full power, causing rainbow-colored mist to pour out of his body.

That mist quickly dissolved through the sea, trapping all the peak-grade lifeforms it encountered in an illusion which compelled them to gather at a specific location, a basin of water formed by two crescent-shaped islands.This would be the site of Zhang Lie's first test.

Under the effect of Zhang Lie's disaster-grade soulshard, peak-grade lifeforms continuously swam into the basin, where they began to battle against each other. Blood dyed the basin red.

Countless peak-grade lifeforms flooded into the basin and fought against each other, battling with their lives on the line. As Zhang Lie hoped, the victorious lifeform ultimately evolved into a disaster-grade existence.

Lightning fell from the high heavens, striking a lifeform and sending ripples of energy from the point of impact. Huge waves disintegrated the two islands as the lifeform struck by lightning grew larger and larger, morphing finally into a gigantic bear.

But just as it finished its evolution and roared into the skies as if to announce its birth, Zhang Lie crushed it with a lone punch that fell from the skies like a meteor.

The lifeform that had just evolved to disaster-grade perished before its new genes had even settled in. A frightening burst of energy split the sea, vaporizing the water and forming a gigantic cavity.

Water rushed into that cavity like a whirlpool, dissolving everything within save for a crystalline orb as hard as diamond, the core of the newly minted disaster-grade lifeform. As Zhang Lie fished it up and stared at it, he began to laugh. This was the first manmade disaster-grade core—his experiment had been a complete success!