Ultragene Warlord

Chapter 1003: I Am Not Me

From the perspective of Zhang Lie's draconic vision, the death spirit king's soul was entirely different. The form of its soul had been unusual to begin with: a lump of black sand mushed with pudding.

Now, the death spirit king's soul was like the slurry that was produced by blending a large number of fruits together, then adding a layer of mud over it.

All he could see with his eyes was a pile of squirming fluid. He didn't even know if it could be considered a soul any longer.

The death spirit king announced proudly, "Thank you for chopping up my soul and allowing it to combine with the remnant soul fragments of the wills of the world embedded in my soul!

From now on, I'm simultaneously the death spirit king and the will of the world, the strongest existence in the third realm!"

Zhang Lie asked, "Who are you?"

The death spirit king narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean? Have you been so scared by my reappearance that you can't think straight?"

"Who are you?" Zhang Lie asked again.

Zhang Lie really was a little scared—bodies and appearances could be manipulated at will, but not souls. However, the soul of the death spirit king in front of him had been mutilated and permanently transformed.

The 'death spirit king' replied, "As I've said, I'm the death spirit king!"

Zhang Lie countered, "Are you really the death spirit king?"

The 'death spirit king' replied, spreading his arms, "Who else could I be?"

"The death spirit king perished in that attack. You may have revived in the death spirit king's old body, but you're not the death spirit king. You've simply taken over his name and body. What are you?"

The reason the 'death spirit king' believed he was the death spirit king was because the wills of the world had no sense of ego; only the death spirit king's original soul did. As a result, the revived 'death spirit king' believed himself to be the actual death spirit king.

In some sense, it wasn't wrong, but that was hardly the full story. It was an existence similar to the death spirit king but different from it.

.

The 'death spirit king' frowned. "Laughable. Who else could I be?"

Nightdemon exhaled in relief. "I thought that Zhang Lie had produced something crazy, but it looks as though digesting all those wills of the world required a commensurate price."

The bundle of souls that comprised the 'death spirit king' began to vibrate.

The 'death spirit king' cried out, "If I'm not the death spirit king, then who am I?!"

Zhang Lie replied, "I think you'd know better than I do just what you are. You can sense it, can't you?"

Zhang Lie's words seemed to penetrate the 'death spirit king' deeply, causing his emotions and strength to go out of control. Rainbow light flickered and dimmed. "Of course I know what I am! I've been rebirthed—it's obvious that I would be different from before."

"Different from before, you say?" Rainbow light shot out of the 'death spirit king'. "Don't try to confuse me. I'll kill you! With this reborn body, I can surely do it."

Zhang Lie commented, "You're simply trying to prove yourself, to demonstrate that you're stronger than the past death spirit king, that you've surpassed yourself."

"What do you mean, the 'past' death spirit king? I'm the death spirit king, I'm myself!" the 'death spirit king' howled, transforming into the brightest object on the world of black rain.

Zhang Lie shook his head. "No, you can't do it."

The 'death spirit king' roared in outrage, "Now that the issues with my body have been fixed, I'm the supreme existence of the realm! Even the primordial chaos wouldn't be able to do anything against me."

Zhang Lie's expression remained calm as scarlet steaming water-attuned genetic energy exploded from him like a volcanic eruption.

"[Ninesoul Dragonblade—Third Form: Separating Earth and Sky]!" White light split the sea and the sky, cutting apart the horizon. The skies split; the black- and white-colored energy that went into the slash erupted like a volcano. White energy drifted toward the skies, and black energy caused the sea to quake.

As the two shades of energy combined, everything in sight was destroyed. A patch of void and chaos expanded where the horizon had been, tearing apart the world of black rain.

The world seemed to quail when faced with such a devastating blow.

The defensive barrier formed by the world's energy was incapable of handling an attack of such magnitude. Zhang Lie easily penetrated the barrier, bisecting the 'death spirit king' at the waist. The two halves of his body fell from the sky.

Zhang Lie sheathed his blade and reined in his genetic energy. "As I've said, that's impossible."

The 'death spirit king' cried in shock, "How could you be so strong? Even my ascended form is no match for you!"

Zhang Lie explained, "Regardless of whether you truly 'ascended', you haven't grown stronger."

"How could that be?!"

"Haven't you noticed?"

"Noticed what?"

"The world's energy within your body has grown weaker."

The 'death spirit king' froze. After Zhang Lie pointed it out, the 'death spirit king' did notice that his reservoir of world's energy had grown considerably weaker.

Zhang Lie shrugged. "You might have resolved the problem plaguing your body, but you've also lowered the quality of the world's energy in your body by at least three levels."

The death spirit king's original plan was to reforge the world's energy he possessed while in battle with Zhang Lie, and to digest the remaining stubborn lumps of the wills that were embedded in his soul.

The resulting world's energy would diminish greatly in quantity, but improve by leaps and bounds in quality.

However, Zhang Lie had destroyed the death spirit king's plan. His attacks were far stronger than the death spirit king had anticipated.

Although he had successfully made use of Zhang Lie's [Blades, Extinguish] to absorb the wills of the world into his soul, the creature that had been rebirthed into the death spirit king's body was no longer the death spirit king, but rather an entity that had his memories and some semblance of consciousness.

It wouldn't be inaccurate to call it a new death spirit king.

Zhang Lie continued, "If the original death spirit king were the one to command this body, despite the reduction in quality of the world's energy, his reforged body would be more than sufficient to counteract that loss. The problem is that you're no longer the death spirit king, but rather a new existence birthed from the death spirit king's soul—and combined with the fragments of the wills of the world."

The 'death spirit king' immediately denied Zhang Lie's assertion. "No, I'm the death spirit king!"

Zhang Lie shook his head. "You might have inherited part of his memories—perhaps shattered fragments thereof—but you don't have the combat instincts that he honed over millennia. As a result, your combat strength has weakened dramatically!"

The 'death spirit king', who had affirmed his identity once and again, began to believe Zhang Lie for the first time.?Who am I...?