Chapter 862: Zhang Lie's Might

Zhang Lie slashed forward. Guicang struck Potian in such a manner that both parties were shocked.

Potian was astonished that, even though it was using heaven's might, Zhang Lie was able to block its attack. Heaven's might was an attack that couldn't be blocked; it was karmic in nature. In other words, Zhang Lie was strong enough to affect natural law with nothing but his sword.

On the other hand, Zhang Lie was very surprised that Potian's attack had left a dent on Guicang. Potian's heaven's might was far superior to the heaven's might of the xuluo lords he had fought.

As Zhang Lie activated his [Ninecarp Transformation], water-attuned genetic energy wrapped around his sword and cascaded down it like a waterfall. The pale-blue shark behind him swam into the air.

Potian's tail grew taut like a steel cable as it struck Zhang Lie with its tail.

The pale-blue shark clamped down hard on the centipede's tail, only to be torn apart as Potian swung it around violently.

At the same time, Vemacitrin snuck up to Zhang Lie from behind, its nine mouths continuously producing purplish-black thread that its legs wove into huge fireballs, half the size of its body—and Vemacitrin's body was as large as a landmass.

The flaming balls of fire were far larger than Zhang Lie's own body. These fireballs, which Vemacitrin had woven in a hurry, were so large they could cover up a third of a continent. It had woven them while Zhang Lie and Potian were exchanging blows with each other.

The size of the resulting explosion would be unknown until they were launched, but they were so large that Zhang Lie certainly wouldn't be able to avoid them. If he had noticed them earlier, Zhang Lie would have stopped Vemacitrin at all costs, but Potian prevented him from doing so.

"Die!" Just as Vemacitrin was about to toss those fireballs out, however, Zhang Lie stepped forward. The image of a dragonturtle appeared behind him, and his genetic energy immediately turned from a pale blue color to a deep, dark brown, like muddy water.

The thick sludge then turned blood-red under the effects of his soulshard. The genetic energy froze space solid, trapping Potian and Vemacitrin within its domain.

Potian felt as though it were wading through a swamp, costing it tens or even hundreds of times more energy just to move forward, or even to wiggle a single finger. It felt as though a mountain were pressing down on its body, one so heavy it could barely breathe, slowing down all its bodily processes.

Even the air seemed to solidify and turn to syrup. The surface of the sea sank; its lowest point was right underneath Zhang Lie.

Potian and Vemacitrin found themselves restrained, leaving only Zhang Lie free to move.

"No matter how strong your heaven's might is, it won't matter if you're unable to cast it." Zhang Lie shot forward like a beam of light, and the genetic energy that had condensed on his blade erupted.

"[The Boundless Blade: Yawning Wave]!" A wave of energy rushed toward Potian, accompanied by a fountain of blood that swallowed it whole.

Vemacitrin, struggling against the solidifying space, managed to toss out its fireballs, which exploded in mid-air. A giant web of fire hung over Zhang Lie and Potian, with heaven's might imbued in every strand.

Vemacitrin's attack was intended to free Potian from the trap.

"[Rune: Control]!" Zhang Lie shouted, summoning the runic tablets controlling gravity and anti-gravity.

Zhang Lie's sword slash half-crippled Potian as the attack struck it head-on. Its head split into thirds and crumbled away in the aftermath of the attack, but Potian didn't die. Where the head had fallen off, a new one reappeared.

To Potian, losing a head was no big deal. There were thousands of human heads embedded in Potian's segmented body, but each of those heads were actually Potian's own. In other words, as long as any of the thousand heads remained alive, Potian would not die.

The two runic tablets reverberated, and golden runes appeared over their surface.

Black ripples emanated from the two gravity-altering tablets, forming a localized region of distorted gravity. The mysterious fluctuations in gravitational strength caused Zhang Lie's opponents to lose control of their own bodies.

"[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.

Zhang Lie swung his sword again, summoning a huge black serpent. The serpent wrapped around Zhang Lie's arm.

"[The Boundless Blade: the River Lethe]!" An underworld river materialized in the sky, one so vast the entire world could see it. Everything turned cold. A chill permeated the air, and even the sea froze over with a thin layer of red-tinted ice.

A strong wind buffeted the battlefield. Blood-colored frost appeared around them all. The world was turning into a hellscape. As though the doors to hell had just been thrown open, tens of thousands of serpents rushed out in a flood.

Zhang Lie leapt high into the air and into the flood of serpents, whose target was the web of blackflame hanging over them all.

The serpents crashed into the web, which sizzled as though it were being corroded away. As more and more serpents flung themselves into the web, it finally disintegrated.

𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Zhang Lie led the charge through the web. As he did so, the serpents clumped together and began to metamorphosize, transforming from a flood of serpents into one gigantic black serpent that broke through the enclosure and headed straight for Vemacitrin.

After activating [Ninecarp Transformation]'s serpent form, Zhang Lie's dragonturtle domain vanished, and Vemacitrin was able to move once again. It tried to avoid the attack, but it was too massive to be able to do so.

The black serpent pierced through Vemacitrin's body, and small serpents detached from the main body and began devouring it from the inside out.

Vemacitrin screamed in pain; its massive body was now an impediment. Pain swarmed its senses as it tried to peel off the serpents with its nine hundred and ninety-nine hands. The flowers on its heads grew vines that likewise did the same, but to no avail...