Chapter 861: Potian's Arrival

Vemacitrin's five legs seemed to be hard at work weaving something as purplish-black flames continued to pour out of its nine heads.

"[Web of Heaven's Might]!" A web of red and black flew out from Vemacitrin and smashed into the bloody dragon. Vemacitrin had quickly realized that heaven's might was ineffective against Zhang Lie and came up with a countermeasure. Instead of trying to use it directly on Zhang Lie, it targeted Zhang Lie's attacks instead.

The blood dragon exploded instantly—but Vemacitrin could hardly have predicted that the true horror would only start then.

Zhang Lie had been inspired by Sun Mengmeng's refinement of her own techniques. She had split her technique into two components; the truly devastating part of Zhang Lie's skill would only be triggered after the blood dragon's explosion.

A wave of annihilation exploded around the dragon. Pitch-black energy swallowed everything in the vicinity like a storm at sea. The entire sea of blood began to boil. Vemacitrin's web of red and black, stitched with heaven's might, was shredded in an instant.

Its nine heads glanced at the explosion in dismay. The explosion had occurred so close to Vemacitrin's body that it didn't have the time or space to avoid the attack.

Just then, a tail emerged from underneath the sea of blood, curled around Vemacitrin, and pulled him underwater before the dragon's carcass detonated completely.

The explosion of the energy of annihilation that made up the blood dragon's body was on the level of a weapon of mass destruction, one that seemed as though it could even destroy a large-sized world.

It enveloped the sea of blood, decomposed it at an atomic level, and transformed the energy so produced into more destruction. Even Zhang Lie, who had launched the attack, had to flee in order to avoid being caught by the aftermath.

The explosion was like a black hole that consumed everything in sight, draining the sea of blood until it reached some threshold. At that point, it shrunk down to a pinhole and vanished, leaving a vacuum in the water. A storm manifested around that vacuum as the seawater cavitated, leaving a spherical hole where Vemacitrin once stood. The sea of blood, drained at least in the vicinity of the hole, was now nothing more than seabed.

As the black hole vanished, the seawater that had been held at bay flooded back into the vacuum in a tumultuous cascade.

Zhang Lie stood in the air as he glanced down at the destruction he had wreaked.

He suddenly felt a sense of premonition. A high-pressure stream of bloody water shot at him, but Zhang Lie was able to react and dodge near-immediately.

Two figures emerged from the sea of blood, one of which had a centipede's head. "Well, he really is quite strong, if he can even avoid such a blow."

The other figure was Vemacitrin.

Zhang Lie frowned. Given what happened right before the explosion, Vemacitrin shouldn't have been able to escape. In that case, there was only one possibility.

Zhang Lie turned to the centipede. "Did you save the spider?"

The centipede was none other than Potian.

Potian replied, "He's my brother, after all. If he were to die in front of me, my father would give me a beating."

That said, Vemacitrin was hardly unscathed. It had lost four more of its eight legs, and the back half of its body had been consumed by the energy of annihilation.

Despite its heavy wounds, Vemacitrin seemed very happy. "I'll admit that you're strong, stronger than the great lords of the xuluo, but now that my brother is here, you're dead now!"

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

The blood-colored centipede emerged fully from the sea.

The centipede was composed of thousands of segments, each of which had a human face embedded on its back, and whose limbs were a human's arms and legs. It was almost as though its body were formed from over a thousand interconnected humans.

Vemacitrin introduced his brother. "You're aware of heaven's might, and presumably of its ascended version, after having fought the xuluo lords. My brother, Potian, was the one who pioneered the development of this ascended form of heaven's might thousands of years ago."

Zhang Lie looked the centipede up and down, unable to believe that the centipede in front of him was the one who had made that astounding discovery.

"Enough!" Potian called back. "No need for your introduction. I'd like to preserve some of my mystery."

Vemacitrin shuddered. "I'm sorry, Brother, I shouldn't have revealed everything!"

Potian sighed. "I can't tell whether you're doing these things deliberately or by accident."

Vemacitrin continued, "But so what if he knows? Surely he's not an opponent for you, Brother!"

Potian rolled his eyes. "You might underestimate your opponent, but don't underestimate your father. He's at the pinnacle of heaven's might, and he wouldn't have released me if not for the existence of a foe even he would have a hard time dealing with. He'd much rather lock me up for life. Even now, I don't understand why he released me rather than fight himself."

Allegedly, Zhang Lie was the karmic backlash from the xuluo's actions all these millennia for invading and conquering newly evolved superior worlds.

Potian had yet to study the base version of heaven's might as deeply as its father did, and this notion of karma wasn't something it could confirm. Nevertheless, its face became serious. "I don't know what you are, but for my freedom, you'll have to die here. Vemacitrin, you'll support me from the back!"

"Yes, brother!"

Potian soared into the air. Vemacitrin began to spit out threads of red and black fire from its nine heads, which it wove deftly with its remaining appendages.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Hundred Dragons Soaring]!" Zhang Lie cocked back his left arm, channeled his genetic energy into the attack, and sent it straight at Potian.

Howling with the force of thunder, a horde of over a hundred dragons flew toward Potian.

The dragons were fierce and domineering, and all hundred of them boasted the power of annihilation. It was as though Zhang Lie had used [Fists of the Silent Sea: Fade] ?a hundred times in succession.

Simultaneously, Vemacitrin tossed out a purplish-black fireball which flew over Potian's head and struck the dragons soaring overhead. It burst apart into a flaming web that seemed to surround the entirety of the sky, and its threads were reinforced with heaven's might.

The black dragons exploded in mid-air far from Potian, the energy of annihilation they contained within them forming a chaotic storm and tearing the web of threads apart. Seawater was sucked up from the sea and into the sky, into the mess of black genetic energy that hung overhead.

Potian used its own body as a sword, reinforcing itself with potent penetrating ability. It flew right into and through the middle of the explosion, detonating what dragons remained.

The storm continued raging overhead, but Potian, who had reinforced its own body, suffered no damage from passing through the storm.

Zhang Lie's lips finally quirked up in a faint smile. "Interesting. Finally, a worthwhile enemy!"