Chapter 1001: Believe in Him
As the pitch-black storm grew fiercer, the air around the battlefield turned dark, and the two flagships were being drawn into the whirlpool. Even Nightdemon and Wilbow were unsteady on their feet.
Fortunately, the allied forces had already evacuated, or they too would have been sucked into the mess.
The black spirits, so numerous they looked like ants, were torn and shredded apart by the force of the whirlpool.
Shielded by a truly massive quantity of the world's energy, the death spirit king survived the otherwise deadly impact. His spiritflame shield grew even dimmer, reduced in quantity and quality.
"Keep going!" The death spirit king charged forward once again.
As though he just understood something, Nightdemon called out, "Be careful! The death spirit king is making use of your blows to digest the wills of the world!"
Zhang Lie jumped back in shock, trying to cancel his attack and dodge the death spirit king's punch instead.
Wilbow blinked. "Is the death spirit king that intense...?"
Nightdemon sighed. "He's trying to make use of external strength to do what he can't accomplish by himself."
Zhang Lie recalled how the death spirit king hadn't seemed to grow even slightly weaker despite the force of the impacts he had suffered.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtThe death spirit king scowled. "I was just moments from succeeding! None but the primordial chaos would have seen through my plan so easily..."
Although it looked like he was merely getting beaten by Zhang Lie, he was actually taking advantage of Zhang Lie's strength to suppress his own and increase the speed at which he would be able to digest the wills of the world that were stubbornly resisting him.
The death spirit king continued, "Primordial chaos, even if you saw through what I was doing, you shouldn't have revealed it! You've made everything far more boring now!"
The death spirit king was truly daring to be attempting such a feat during a battle to the death.
He snorted, "And so what if you know what I'm up to? It's hardly as though you can stop me. If you keep trying to dodge, then I'll attack and kill you."
Zhang Lie's eyes glimmered with rainbow light. Rainbow fog shrouded him, as though he were a dream, an illusion. Spiritual energy from two lives surged forth as his body glowed with a layer of white light.
Wilbow cried out, "What's Zhang Lie doing? He knows that his attacks are only going to strengthen the death spirit king! If the death spirit king goes back to normal, he's going to be a huge threat… Is this fellow going to betray us and join the death spirit king instead?!"
Nightdemon, sensing the nature of Zhang Lie's attack, smiled in admiration. "Believe in him. There's a reason he's doing what he is!"
"[Second Form: Piercing the Soul]!" Zhang Lie's disaster-grade mistmeld clam soulshard activated as he infused its energy into his swords, causing them to shine radiantly with multicolored light.
He activated the dragon's eye soulshard that Zhang Hanxiang returned to him, causing his pupils to turn pale white as he looked directly toward the death spirit king's soul. It was wrapped around dozens of multicolored soul fragments, as though it were the base for some sort of pudding.
These multicolored soul fragments were likely from the various wills of the world that the death spirit king had consumed. Those soul fragments were embedded throughout the death spirit king's soul to continuously strengthen it.
The death spirit king's soul was the most unusual soul that Zhang Lie had ever seen.
While in the third realm, he had seen the superior king Feitian's soul and those of many aliens besides, but no soul was as unusual as the death spirit king's.
It was like a bundle of black sand, seeming to be on the verge of collapse at any moment, but somehow unusually strong despite that.
Countless soul fragments from various wills of the world patched it together and kept it held firm. On the outskirts were various wills of the world trying to break away from its grasp, as though they were about to tear the death spirit king's soul into pieces.
A rainbow arc accompanied Zhang Lie's slash, as though an aurora were visible in the sky. It shone in all the colors of the rainbow, momentarily hypnotizing anyone who looked at it.
With Guicang in hand, Zhang Lie flew through the heavens. His sword shone as brightly as the auroras overhead, bringing him momentarily out of the physical into the intangible.
The disaster-grade mistmeld clam soulshard, when incorporated into Zhang Lie's soul-targeting attack, had the ability to target and corrupt its opponents' souls.
As the rainbow light swirled, Nightdemon, Wilbow, and the death spirit king found themselves momentarily stunned. Zhang Lie took advantage of the minute opening to strike, slashing down with his rainbow blade.
"Haha, your attack won't be able to kill me—it'll only make me stronger!" The death spirit king chose not to block or dodge the blow. He stood still, laughing madly, as the slash landed.
Rather than the desired strengthening effect, however, the death spirit king felt a sharp, stabbing pain as the blade pierced through his soul. A tremor of pain vibrated from deep within him. He gasped in surprise. "What sort of attack was that?!"
Zhang Lie attacked not the death spirit king's body, but instead his soul.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmHowever, even his [Second Form: Piercing the Soul] didn't achieve the desired result. All the death spirit king felt was a sharp pain. The many soul fragments of the wills of the world embedded in his soul protected him from the worst of the attack.
Zhang Lie's attack had only injured the soul rather than slashed it apart.
"As expected, he'll be difficult to kill..."
It was ironic that the wills of the world, that were trying to tear the death spirit king apart from within, were simultaneously protecting him from the worst of Zhang Lie's assault.
If [Second Form: Piercing the Soul] were insufficient, then he would use a stronger attack instead.
"[Ninecarp Transformation]!" The sky turned red as red scales covered up Zhang Lie's body like a plate of armor.
What looked like scarlet flames surrounded Zhang Lie, but it was actually steaming, blood-red water-attuned genetic energy. A black sun rose behind his back, and a blood moon shone at his feet.
A long tail grew out of his back. His black hair took on a red tint, as though they were lit up by an inner fire. Interlocking rings of black and red that warped natural law surrounded his body, and a domineering aura exuded from him.
As the moisture in the air vaporized, black smoke roiled into the heavens. The blood-red 'flames' that surrounded him looked like a coiled dragon.
"[Blades, Extinguish]!" Guicang gleamed brightly in Zhang Lie's hands as he infused more and more spiritual energy into it, causing it to flare as it reached a critical threshold.
From the surface of his spiritual sea came waves surging forward, sounding like peals of thunder, like stampeding hooves.
Zhang Lie's spiritual sea expanded greatly, past the confines of his own body. As the mistmeld clam soulshard's energy was infused within the blade, it began glowing with multicolored light, simultaneously illusory and real.
The mysterious and phantasmagorical light stunned and captivated everyone in sight.
The sword in Zhang Lie's hands burned with scarlet water-attuned genetic energy. Billowing clouds of red-tinted steam surrounded him as though he were a burning pyre...