Chapter 734: Sword Splitting the Sky.
The spectators' eyes widened—Duan Zisuan seemed as though he had suddenly split in two, but it was only a trick of the light that occurred because of how fast Duan Zisuan was moving!
Zhang Lie laughed. "Shall we keep fighting, old man?"
Duan Zisuan's body was growing bruised and battered, and more and more wounds had appeared on it. He had received quite a few crippling blows. Forcefully shredding apart the hurricane had caused serious injuries to his claws, which were so bloody parts of his bones could be seen.
Zhang Lie continued, "Just how much combat strength do you even have left?"
"It looks as though I'll have to use my trump card," Duan Zisuan acknowledged.
Light flashed from his body as he began to transform. His mane turned into pale blue flame, his body likewise went from red to pale blue, and dragon scales appeared over his claws.
Duan Zisuan's sudden transformation was, nevertheless, wholly familiar to Zhang Lie.
This was the favorite trick that the aliens of the Milky Way employed—soulshards.
The king of the east had soulshards of his own; it stood to reason that so too would the king of the west.
Pale blue fire burned over the wounds on Duan Zisuan's claws. He looked the spitting image of a lion from hell. With the authority afforded the king of the realm, Duan Zisuan summoned lightning and imbued spatial aura into it, turning it from purple to black. The black streaks of lightning cut across the air like void, more frightening than any physical attack. Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ ɴøvᴇl_Firᴇ.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.
This void lightning was something that Duan Zisuan had produced only by appealing to his authority as the king of the realm, which he surely could not have generated otherwise.
The authority of the king was a massive boon, and different people could use this boon in very different ways. Whether or not a king of the realm was weak depended not only on their own strength, but also their mastery over their authority.
Duan Zisuan's pale blue flames and void lightning were far stronger weapons than his lightning, fire, or twin claws.
Upon seeing Duan Zisuan's transformation, the spectators uniformly thought that victory had been decided.
After that transformation, even an ordinary civilian would be able to sense the power billowing from Duan Zisuan. If he had been a tall mountain, he was now a planet.
Duan Zisuan laughed coldly, "Everyone thinks that the world of the west was suppressed by the east because of Li Zongming's unparalleled strength, but in truth, he's no stronger than I am. At least in terms of martial force, I'm absolutely confident that he's no match for me."
After all, Duan Zisuan and Li Zongming had never faced each other in direct battle. If they really were to start fighting, at least one of their worlds would be destroyed entirely, and the two kings had stopped their fights before they ever got to that extent.
Zhang Lie seemed rather surprised. "Oh? An interesting trump card, indeed."
"And now, it's time for you to die!" Duan Zisuan swiped his claws. Though he was far away from Zhang Lie, the void lightning and pale-blue flames tore apart space and flew toward Zhang Lie in the blink of an eye. The ability of the lightning to move directly through the void was what made it so overwhelmingly strong.
Even so, the attack that Duan Zisuan thought would surely end Zhang Lie was easily blocked.
Golden scales like armor appeared over Zhang Lie's arms. He murmured, "Surely you don't think you're the only one with a trump card?"
Golden radiance filled the sky. Its source was the golden scales that had densely covered Zhang Lie's skin, and deer's antlers sprouted from his head. Golden flames burned all around him, releasing a holy aura. The black sun to his back and bloody moon beneath his feet made him look like a god that had descended from the heavens.
Even the ground seemed to be dusted with a layer of gold.
The golden light was so bright and reflective that the spectators all had to cover their eyes. Zhang Lie had transformed into a de facto golden sun.
Duan Zisuan didn't expect that Zhang Lie would also possess a trump card of his own. This was the first time in the fight that he truly felt fear, even before Zhang Lie launched any of his own upgraded attacks.
Even being armed with void lightning and his pale-blue flames brought Duan Zisuan little comfort. He had never felt fear since becoming the king of the realm—not until now.
Dispelling his thoughts forcefully, Duan Zisuan struck. Void lightning criss-crossed in the air, forming countless serpents—but they were all vanquished with a straightforward slash from Zhang Lie's sword.
Duan Zisuan could hardly believe his eyes. He swiped forward with his claws, summoning even more lightning serpents, imbued with his pale-blue flames—but Zhang Lie easily dodged all their attacks, sauntering through the air as though he were doing nothing more taxing than taking a stroll through his backyard.
Duan Zisuan howled in outrage. The pale-blue flames surrounding him began to blaze, and the void lightning smashed into the flames and formed huge pillars of fire. The ground beneath him cracked where the pillars blazed.
Against the pillars of fire, however, Zhang Lie was unperturbed. He unsheathed Guicang, and golden light spilled out from the blade.
"[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.
The whole world quaked.
A patch of void and chaos expanded where the horizon had been, tearing apart the world of the west.
Duan Zisuan sensed his control over the void lightning being stripped from him—as though the lightning were leashed, and now the leash had been cut.
His face grew alarmed. His leash was formed from spatial authority that came from the world itself. "How could there be anyone in this world who can cut through that authority—!"
Duan Zisuan's pale-blue flames all winked out as his body fell from the sky. The slash happened so quickly the spectators could have easily missed it with a blink.
Indeed, they were all stupefied, wondering just what had happened—given their level of strength, none of them had a clue what was going on.