Chapter 834: Phoenix in White

"Sage, please send me to Red Comet, the disaster-grade lifeform I brought here with me!"

The sage had been paying attention to Zhang Lie's actions. The moment he heard Zhang Lie's request, Zhang Lie was surrounded by spatial fluctuations.

Red Comet and another disaster-grade lifeform had remained in the draconian world all this time as Zhang Lie's mounts and brawlers. Except for Zhang Lie, no one could command them.

Zhang Lie's sudden appearance startled Red Comet, but it quickly recovered and nuzzled against the side of Zhang Lie's body.

Zhang Lie patted Red Comet and jumped up onto it. "Bring me to the desert region where the mother of cockroaches has fallen. Help me retrieve the disaster-grade core within."

Red Comet flapped its wings and shot forward like a beam of light. As a disaster-grade lifeform that focused on speed, its base movement speed was comparable to Zhang Lie's. If it were to activate its domain, it would be able to move so quickly that it could eclipse even Zhang Lie. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, it had already appeared within the desert.

However, by then, the mother of cockroaches' body had already begun reforming into crystalline chunks that pulsed as though controlled by some heartbeat or another, or as though something were gestating in its midst...

Zhang Lie had no intention to allow the mother of cockroaches to recover. He struck with a snort, sending a tidal wave of water-attuned genetic energy toward it. A violent shark appeared from behind Zhang Lie's body as the energy circled around his body and condensed by his index finger.

As Zhang Lie pointed that finger toward the pulsing tumors, the violent shark shot forward, opening its bloody maws wide and revealing row after row of ferocious teeth. It bit apart the tumors, allowing some unidentified object to fly out and flee. With its incredible speed, Red Comet caught it easily, slashing it apart with a scythe-like appendage.

The gestating object was a small cockroach, the heart of whose body was the mother of cockroaches' disaster-grade core.

A large group of mysterious black dots pulsated and squirmed within the pitch-black core, like small tadpoles but somehow far more sinister. It was shrouded by a dark aura. As Zhang Lie reached out toward it, water-attuned genetic energy wrapped around it and brought it back to Zhang Lie's palm.

Zhang Lie shuddered at the strange way it felt in his palm, then turned to Red Comet. "Good job. You can return to the draconian world now—I'm going to be absorbing this disaster-grade core."

Red Comet nodded obediently.

"Sage, to the black desert!" Once again, spatial fluctuations surrounded Zhang Lie, and he reappeared within the black desert. After he absorbed yet another disaster-grade core, his disaster gene fragments reached a critical threshold.

Zhang Lie: a disaster-grade lifeform

Techniques: Rippling Walk (pinnacle), Three-Wave Crescendo (pinnacle), Calm Waters (pinnacle), Fists of the Silent Sea (pinnacle), The Boundless Blade (pinnacle), Eclipse (pinnacle), Syzygy (advanced), Ninesoul Dragonblade (advanced), Blade of the Heavens (pinnacle)

Genes: Basic, 160; Mutated, 150; Superior, 150; Peak, 150; Disaster, 90

Soulshards: White Grub (superior), Blood Ant (superior), Potbellied Toad (mutated), Eternalspring Cocoon (superior), Dragonwolf (superior), Moonlight Wyrm (peak), Golden Roc (peak), Mistmeld Clam (disaster)

Just one more disaster-grade core would be sufficient for Zhang Lie to max out his disaster gene fragments.

After he finished the absorption process, the sage sent him back to his residence, whereupon he provided Zhang Lie with information about the final disaster-grade lifeform in the newly combined world.

"The last disaster-grade lifeform is originally from the Blackwind world. The Chinese parasol forest within was half-destroyed because of a battle between the king of the realm and another man whom we shall not here name."

Zhang Lie rolled his eyes. "Do you intend to blame this on me?"

Zhang Lie had no intention of acknowledging responsibility: the forest had been burned down by the Blackwind king!

"The disaster-grade lifeform of the forest is apparently from the same ancestor as the Blackwind clan, and was once on good terms with both the Blackwind clan and the draconians. I have quite a bit of information on the lifeform: a white phoenix. It has chosen to live in seclusion in the Blackwind world, and as far as we know, it's an ancestor of the Blackwind clan—or at least the Blackwind themselves think so."

"They think their ancestor is a genetic lifeform?" Zhang Lie seemed astounded. "Are they crazy?"

"I'm not familiar with the details, but according to the Blackwind clan, their clan arose as a result of one of their forefathers coupling with the white phoenix..."

Zhang Lie seemed unsettled by the idea. "The Blackwind might consider themselves mongrels, but I'll hardly subscribe to the idea."

If that disaster-grade lifeform were truly an ancestor of the Blackwind clan, why didn't the white phoenix help them when Zhang Lie was slaughtering them all?

Zhang Lie shook his head. "Send me over. It doesn't matter what connection it has with the Blackwind clan."

With a wave of a hand, the draconian sage wrapped Zhang Lie up in spatial energy and whisked him away. The next moment, he appeared in the Chinese parasol forest.

This was the site of the battle between the Blackwind king and Zhang Lie. After the battle, a large swathe of trees had been uprooted where they stood, and the Blackwind king had even burned much of the forest down.

Fortunately, about half the trees still remained. The draconian sage sent Zhang Lie to the largest remaining tree in the forest.

Zhang Lie glanced around him. "Where's this supposed white phoenix? I don't sense any disaster-grade aura at all..."

Was the sage mistaken? Had he made a mistake after chauffeuring Zhang Lie around for so long? That was impossible—the authority of the king of the realm should have perfect control over incoming and outgoing teleportation.

Zhang Lie glanced all around him in search of something amiss before his gaze finally landed on the crown of the tree.

"What an interesting hiding technique..." Atop the highest branches of the largest Chinese parasol tree was a gigantic translucent egg. "Even spiritual perception can't sense it, let alone visual perception."

Visual stealth alone would do nothing against Zhang Lie; what really mattered was spiritual stealth. This effect was comparable to Zhang Lie's disaster-grade mistmeld clam soulshard—no, it was even better.

The mistmeld clam's soulshard was only able to hypnotize a target, while the egg affected the target's spiritual senses directly. If not for Zhang Lie's remarkable spiritual integrity and his belief in the draconian sage's abilities, he might well have been fooled.

"Looks like it's still asleep..." Zhang Lie smirked. He clenched a fist tightly as spatial fluctuations gathered around it. Blue genetic energy condensed around Zhang Lie's arms, causing a frightening aura to descend on the world. The skies began to darken, and a fish the size of a whale materialized in the air.

"...perfect timing for me to strike, then."