Ultragene Warlord

Chapter 1556: A Bit of Time

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. A sea seemed to rest in the crack between the two domains, unable to be touched or otherwise sensed.

The transient, illusory nature of the light captivated everyone who saw it.

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.

The high-temperature steam was so hot that it visibly glowed an alarming shade of red.

This domain of scarlet steam was so dangerous that an ordinary lifeform would likely be vaporized without a trace.

The temperature around Zhang Lie grew so hot that his surroundings began to warp. Mirages formed all around him.

One of Zhang Lie's blades glowed with radiant light; the other shone scarlet with water-attuned genetic energy.

The illusory sea combined with the scarlet ocean of reality, the attack simultaneously in the boundary between the real and the illusory, linking together the physical and metaphysical, the real and the abstract.

The two halves of the attack clashed with each other.

The spiritual sea began to burn, as though it had been ignited by the scarlet steam, forming spiritual flame. The scarlet steam, bolstered by the spiritual sea, grew even hotter. Contact with the steam seemed to sap at one's very soul.

Zhang Lie had allowed these two disparate sources of energy to combine, and their merger was so intense that the distinction between the real and illusory began to blur.

The surface of the sea frothed with angry waves, like dragons emerging with the tide.

The waves roared through the sea like galloping steeds, like thundering dragons.

From afar, the waves looked like a coven of flaming phoenixes spreading their wings and taking flight; from close up, they looked like flaming dragons.

These manifestations all drew from Zhang Lie's immense spiritual and genetic energy reserves, along with the sword techniques and willpower that he had honed over countless battlefields.

The spiritual sea seemed to belong to a separate dimension altogether, whereas the scarlet water-attuned genetic energy was in Zhang Lie's current dimension. The two sources of energy were linked and made manifest by Zhang Lie, and they both surged forward as Zhang Lie swung his twin blades.

The two blades combined spiritual and genetic energy, willpower and time. All that melded into a tsunami which surged forward.

"Break!" As his blades resonated, the man in dark green robes was sent flying.

The man activated his [Seal of Deific Descension], but the blades still tore at him. Reality and illusion overlapped in a barrage of light.

"Die!" the man roared. His armor shook. He turned his strength into a supercharged attack.

Another [Seal of Deific Descension] activated. The deity that had melded with his body flew out, as tall as an ordinary person, and struck at Zhang Lie.

The fact that he was able to use such a complex technique almost at will was worthy of genius.

Zhang Lie's twin blades struck the deity and thrust into its body.

The blades that lay at the intersection of reality and illusion shook violently, as though they were about to break.

However, the deity had likewise turned faint and dim, until it vanished entirely.

Zhang Lie's twin blades shot forward and clashed against the man's [Solar Tortoise Fist]. The forces of yin and yang struck the blades of reality and illusion in a tremendous explosion.

The man in dark green robes coughed out blood. He had suffered tremendously from the confrontation. He stumbled back, his Divine Embrace broken, his robes torn, revealing his true appearance underneath his cowl.

The remnant energy from Zhang Lie's attack only sufficed to tear apart his robe, not damage his body.

Zhang Lie had seen the man's soul with his dragon's pupil soulshard and thought that there would be nothing extraordinary about his physical body in comparison, but when he saw what was revealed underneath those dark green robes, his eyes turned wide with disbelief. His heart thumped. Nothing before him seemed real.

The man's limbs were thin and his body emaciated, as though the barest wind would cause him to collapse.

His entire body was filled with scar after horrifying scar. Just what had the man experienced? One particularly large scar ringed his neck—no, it was too wide, too deep to be considered a scar. It was as though his head had been cut off before it was reattached with thread.

Half his face had decomposed, with a terrifying claw mark across one eye and cheek. What Zhang Lie paid attention to was the other half of his face. He couldn't tear his gaze away.

Sun Mengmeng frowned. "Does he seem..."

Sun Xiaowu nodded. "I agree."

Yang Ze frowned. "This man looks a little like our captain, doesn't he?"

Upon seeing the appearance of the man in dark green robes, Zhang Lie's lips couldn't help but murmur, "Father...?"

The man blinked, then clasped both hands behind his back. "You've matured, after all. To be frank, everything until now has been a test—is that what you think I'm about to say?"

Zhang Lie immediately frowned. "That can't be. Just who are you?"

Despite the fact that the man's appearance was that of his father, his soul was something entirely different.

The soul that Zhang Lie had seen through his dragon's pupil soulshard was wholly incompatible with his physical body. Although he had never seen his father's soul before, he instinctively knew that it had to be different from whatever mangled... thing... he had seen.

The man before him possessed no soul that a human ever could have.

The man shrugged. "If you'd like, I could pretend to be your father and have a tearful reunion with you. There's still some time before my plan succeeds, after all."