Chapter 835: Black Hole

As more and more genetic energy gathered around Zhang Lie's arms, a whirlpool of energy formed around him, around the entirety of the forest. Black leaves began to fall from their branches as the genetic energy overwhelmed the air, spinning so quickly that it made the remaining trees in the forest swerve and bend.

The giant fish in the air swam and waved its fins, marshaling the wind and clouds in the sky.

The remarkable surge in energy that resulted from Zhang Lie's attack startled the translucent egg awake. It shook, and a crack marred its surface—but it was too late.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Soar]!" Zhang Lie's attack was ready. Huge gales of wind surrounded him, and giant waves lapped the border of the forest. As Zhang Lie punched forward, the fish slammed its huge tail on the ground and sent a torrent of water surging into the settlement.

Ripples of energy spread out from Zhang Lie, warping the space around him.

Although Zhang Lie had released many such punches before, this was surely the strongest among all his attacks to date. Not only had Zhang Lie charged up a massive attack, he was now at a staggering ninety disaster gene fragments, and he was far stronger than before.

The ocean waves swallowed up the translucent egg as shockwaves surged forth from Zhang Lie, as though a rampaging beast were devouring everything in sight.

Even the tallest and sturdiest Chinese parasol trees began to crack at the trunk and fall to the ground, sending leaves and splinters of wood through the air. Some of the trees were uprooted completely and sent flying. An entire layer of dirt was scraped off the ground, and even the air seemed to be charged. Everything in the vicinity was destroyed, swept clean.

From the air, one could see that a patch of open ground had just been cleared within the forest. The detritus had all been swept against the neighboring trees.

Despite taking Zhang Lie's remarkably strong blow head-on, the translucent egg hadn't yet perished. It burst apart in a flurry of pale white flames, which reached toward the sky and spread apart like a fresh flower. Finally, the flames transformed into a white phoenix.

The phoenix was surrounded by pale white flames, which produced not physical heat but rather spiritual heat. The flames were almost illusory in nature; at the very least, they couldn't do much in the physical realm. Instead, in the spiritual realm, they would burn at your very soul.

Being struck by this sort of flame would be no joking matter. No matter how hot physical flames got, Zhang Lie wouldn't be afraid of them. His vitality and constitution meant that he would easily be able to regenerate and recover from wounds, and he was quite confident of being able to resist intense flame. After all, he had killed quite a few disaster-grade lifeforms specializing in exactly that.

However, this was the first time he had encountered a disaster-grade lifeform that directly attacked the soul, other than the mistmeld clam that he had faced way back when.

If his soul were to be injured, it would take a long time for it to heal properly. After Zhang Lie finished maxing out his disaster gene fragments, he would have to return to the world of the east with Li Qianlin to witness the merger of the worlds of east and west.

The two worlds were large even for large worlds. Despite the battle that Zhang Lie had had with the king of the west, the world of the west was still largely intact—or rather, a world of that size was basically impossible to destroy.

The merger of the worlds of east and west was therefore very likely to create a superior world, and if that were to happen, the other superior worlds likely would make a move. A spiritual injury at this moment would be no laughing matter. Zhang Lie would be forced into passivity, into letting things happen without his explicit control.

Zhang Lie had no choice but to treat this fight even more seriously.

The pale-white phoenix lit up the entire forest in a shade of ghostly white, as though the black Chinese parasol trees had been bleached of their color. The pale-white phoenix's wings fluttered, and it looked as though it were the lord of this ghostly domain. Flames continued to blaze in the air.

As it cried out, it swooped down at Zhang Lie, bringing huge clouds of pale-white flame with it.

Zhang Lie countered with a tidal wave of water-attuned genetic energy. A fierce shark appeared from behind Zhang Lie as genetic energy gathered around him, condensing by his index finger in the form of a small whirlpool.

"[The Boundless Blade: Yawning Wave]!" As Zhang Lie pointed that finger toward the phoenix, the fierce shark shot forward, opening its bloody maws wide and revealing row after row of ferocious teeth. It smashed into the white phoenix, causing steam to rise into the air, and bit off one of the phoenix's wings. However, Zhang Lie's water-attuned energy wasn't able to snuff out the flames.

The pale-white flames glowed brightly as they burst apart in the shark's stomach. Fire poured out of its mouth and lit it aflame. The shark perished under the flames' onslaught.

Zhang Lie frowned. "Looks like I've underestimated this phoenix. Not only do these flames target the soul, they even seem to be able to counter water-attuned genetic energy."

In other words, the phoenix's flames were an ascended, evolved form of ordinary fire. Despite its elemental advantage, it had paid quite a price to counter Zhang Lie's attack. Its flames, which had originally filled the entire sky, seemed to have shrunk considerably.

"[Ninecarp Transformation]!" A black serpent materialized behind Zhang Lie, by now so large and so developed that it resembled the world-swallowing serpent Jormungandr. It let out a threatening hiss as its scales clicked together.

The pale-white phoenix and pitch-black serpent clashed together, dividing the sky between black and white. The phoenix released its pale white flames, while the black serpent emitted black mist.

The two types of energy sizzled as they came in contact with each other.

The pale-white phoenix swooped down from the sky like a meteorite, trailed by a long stream of white fire. The flame trail grew longer and longer, as though the phoenix were a saw that were cutting apart the heavens.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Fade]!" Zhang Lie punched forward. The black serpent shot forth, clashing against the phoenix once again.

Unlike the shark from before, the serpent wasn't immolated from the inside out by the phoenix's pale-white flames. Instead, the air itself sizzled as they crashed against each other.

Neither party was about to relent. The pale-white flames tried to devour the black serpent; the black serpent corroded and consumed the energy that made up the flames. Both forces pitted themselves against the other fervently. In the end, the phoenix's flames won out, but at great cost.

The phoenix's body reduced in size once again. It sprayed out a mist of white flame, covering itself under a smokescreen.

Zhang Lie transformed into a dragonwolf with russet fur and limbs covered with dragons' scales. His aura became magnified as a hurricane of blood spawned around him. The next moment, Zhang Lie vanished from the spot.

In the blink of an eye, he appeared behind the pale-white phoenix...