Ultragenic Warlord

Chapter 829: A Lost Cause

Zhang Lie's sword clashed against the bearman deity's axe without any special effects whatsoever, as though a leaf was lightly touching down on the surface of a still pond, as though it were perfectly natural. It met the axe's swing head-on and sliced through it with no resistance.

The bearman deity's eyes opened wide. It simply couldn't believe that its powerful swing had been so easily dispelled. His powerful swing brushed by either side of Zhang Lie, leaving countless stumps in its wake and creating a road in the forest.

The bearman deity's golden fur glowed even more brightly, until a radiant golden light condensed and concentrated on the head of his axe. He had transferred all the strength of his domain into the axe for a supercharged blow in hopes that it would block Zhang Lie's finger-sword. However, his efforts were in vain. Zhang Lie's attack, which seemed to bypass physical and natural law, completely ignored the bearman's defense.

The fundamental idea behind Zhang Lie's attack was to concentrate a sea of energy into so narrow a beam that it could cut through everything, the same way a steel sword could easily cut through a wooden axe.

The beam of sword energy broke through the axe and struck the bearman deity's body. Cracks and splinters propagated over its surface.

The next moment, water-attuned genetic energy gushed out of those cracks in a flood, obliterating the bearman.

The will of the world's voice rang out in Zhang Lie's head. [You successfully killed a disaster-grade goldsword bearman. By consuming the core of the disaster-grade goldsword bearman, you may receive one to ten disaster gene fragments.]

The water-attuned genetic energy transformed into a twister that tore apart the trees in the area. Thick bark and branches were reduced into nothing but splinters and leaves.

Where the bearman settlement had once been, where an ancient, weathered tree reached toward the sky, there were now nothing but destruction and desolation. The tree had been uprooted whole, and even a layer of dirt, grass, and leaves was scraped off the ground.

.

In the epicenter of the devastation was a glowing golden orb in the ground, surrounded by an aura of sharpness like a miniature gale. A mountain of swords seemed to be reflected in the center of the orb.

After picking up the orb, just as Zhang Lie was about to be teleported away, he noticed something unusual by the bearman deity's axe.

"Hold on!" Zhang Lie disrupted the impending teleportation with his own spatial manipulation, then walked up to the axe. There was a box located within the blade; if not for the fact that [The Boundless Blade] had pierced through it, he wouldn't have discovered the secret lying within.

After retrieving the box and opening it, he found another box nestled within, then another, then another...

Zhang Lie's face turned dark. After opening a dozen boxes in succession, until there was only a palm-sized box left, Zhang Lie found a few scraps of the map he had been trying to assemble.

Zhang Lie was stunned. He frowned and glanced around him, then vanished from sight moments later. He reappeared by one of the bearmen who had survived the assault, then woke him from his daze with a sharp slap.

When the bearman saw the destruction before him, as well as Zhang Lie standing malevolently above him, he opened his mouth and tried to scream, only to be shut up immediately by the rainbow gleam in Zhang Lie's eyes.

Zhang Lie asked, "Where did the bearman deity's axe come from?"

Zhang Lie wanted to know whether the axe was of bearman make, and why the axe contained a few scraps of the map within it.

The bearman was silent for a moment, then responded, "I don't know."

Zhang Lie frowned.

"It's the first time that those of our generation have seen the bearman deity strike, but I heard my father mention that, in the past, there were frequent incursions into our territory by demonic wolves. Back then, he and the elder had fought alongside the bearman deity, and the bearman deity had already possessed his axe by then."

"Are there others in your tribe who know where the axe might have come from?"

"The chieftain and the elder!"

"Where are they?"

The bearman didn't answer immediately. He turned to the ruins of the bearman settlement and hedged, "I suppose they're dead."

Zhang Lie's brows furrowed.

"A few days ago, the chieftain was killed while heading toward the draconian world, and even the proof of kingship was taken from us. And in his old age, the elder likely didn't survive the destruction of the settlement."

If not for the fact that this bearman was well and truly under his control, Zhang Lie could very well believe that the bearman was taking him for a fool. Yang Ze had clearly finished off the bearman chieftain, while Zhang Lie himself had killed the elder in the aftermath of his attack...

"Is there anyone else who might know?"

"I suspect they're all dead, too."

Zhang Lie sighed and raised his head. "Sage, please teleport me back!"

The draconian sage had been paying his full attention to Zhang Lie. On Zhang Lie's shout, he teleported Zhang Lie back to his residence.

"Sage, do you know about the history behind the axe of the bearman deity?"

Zhang Lie was grasping at straws, but surprisingly, the sage did know. "I'm not sure about the specifics, but I know that the bearmen found it in an ancient ruin."

"A ruin?" Zhang Lie's eyes brightened. "Sage, where's this ruin?"

"It was too long ago. The ruin has long since vanished from the annals of history."

Zhang Lie sighed again. "Well, I didn't expect it would be so easy. I need to absorb this core, so please send me to somewhere deserted."

The draconian sage nodded, teleporting Zhang Lie to the world of black sand—or rather, the region of black sand, now that it had already merged with the draconian world. There were no living lifeforms in the region, and no matter how large a disturbance Zhang Lie caused, there would be no issue.

With the destruction of the black pyramid in the region, the souls that had been trapped in the desert were finally released. The void spirits had likewise disappeared.

This was the ideal place for Zhang Lie to absorb disaster gene fragments.

After a long, exhausting process, Zhang Lie finally acquired ten more disaster gene fragments, and his data reached even more ridiculous heights.

Zhang Lie: a disaster-grade lifeform

Framework: Foundation, Lv. MAX; Ninecarp Transformation, Sixth Form: River Dragon Techniques: Rippling Walk (pinnacle), Three-Wave Crescendo (pinnacle), Calm Waters (pinnacle), Fists of the Silent Sea (pinnacle), The Boundless Blade (pinnacle), Eclipse (pinnacle), Syzygy (pinnacle), ?Ninesoul Dragonblade (advanced), Blade of the Heavens (pinnacle)

Genes: Basic, 160; Mutated, 150; Superior, 150; Peak, 150; Disaster, 60

Soulshards: White Grub (superior), Blood Ant (superior), Potbellied Toad (mutated), Eternalspring Cocoon (superior), Dragonwolf (superior), Moonlight Wyrm (peak), Golden Roc (peak), Mistmeld Clam (disaster)