Chapter 970: The Shattered Battlefield

Chapter 970: The Shattered BattlefieldZhang Lie suddenly sensed a disturbance and frowned. "Who's there?"

The forces that accompanied Zhang Lie now gathered behind him, eyes alert, ready for a battle to break out at any moment.

Zhang Lie shouted, "Show yourself! Don't force me to act!"

Light glinted. A throwing knife imbued with frost shot toward Zhang Lie from behind a boulder.

Snow poured from the air. The temperature in the air suddenly dipped, as though it was suddenly the deep of winter. The throwing knife froze everything it passed through, leaving a thick layer of ice along its path.

"You must have a death wish!" Zhang Lie called out. Water-attuned genetic energy gathered by his fingertips as he swung his arm.

"[The Boundless Blade: Yawning Wave]!" Zhang Lie swung downwards with a heavy blow, and a shark swam forth. His technique sundered the ice and split apart any boulders along its trajectory. Subsequently, the pale blue shark opened its bloody maw wide.

"Hold on! We're allies!"

The shark stopped short. Its maw was still wide open, but it didn't chomp down.

Behind a boulder was an armored frost spirit, pale blue and with a half-ethereal body. He emitted an aura of frost as he floated in the air like a ghost. He raised both hands high, an apologetic expression on his face, and a troop of frost spirits followed behind him.

Zhang Lie chuckled. "Allies, you say?"

The frost spirit at the front laughed wryly. "It was just a joke—don't take it so seriously."

Zhang Lie snorted. "Do you think you'd still be alive if I were taking it seriously?"

The shark drew closer. As the frost spirit looked into row upon row of sharp teeth, it grimaced.

The shark formed from genetic energy was so large that, if it bit down, both he and the frost spirits cowering behind him would all be devoured in a single gulp. If he could sweat, his forehead would be dripping.

"I only wanted to see for myself how strong your forces were, and whether or not you qualify to work with us."

Zhang Lie sneered. "Is that so? More like you wanted to intimidate us or even kill us outright."

"No, no, I wouldn't dare!" the frost spirit cried, waving his hands frantically in disagreement.

He really did just want to test the humans' forces, not realizing that Zhang Lie was so strong or that his retaliation would be so swift.

Zhang Lie called out harshly, "And what do you think you should do after you've realized that you've made a mistake? Didn't anyone teach you that?"

The frost spirit immediately apologized. "I'm sorry, I've made a mistake! We've made a mistake!"

Zhang Lie grudgingly dispelled the shark, and the frost spirits gulped in a breath of relief. They felt as though they had somehow survived a calamity.

Zhang Lie snorted. "You guys really enjoy playing with fire, don't you? It's fortunate you met me rather than someone else—you'd be dead a hundred times over by now otherwise."

The frost spirits thought to themselves,?You're not much better.

"If the frost spirits are here, are the other races here, too?"

The leader of the frost spirits replied, "The creatures from the unclean world are here as well, but I don't suppose you want to work with them."

Creatures from the unclean world— those monstrosities? Zhang Lie recalled the mutated growths and abominations that he had seen birthed from the king of evil's flesh: limbs without bodies, rolling heads, and struggling kidney-shaped objects with gills.

Indeed, Zhang Lie had no interest in seeing those monstrosities at all. If he did, he didn't think he would be able to eat anything for the next day.

"Why?" Zhang Hanxiang asked.

Zhang Lie rolled his eyes. "They indiscriminately devour any lifeform they see. Remember, during the war, don't ever get close to the unclean world's forces. They won't care if you're friend or foe—and be wary of the world of black fog as well."

This was precious experience that he had learned in his past life during the war against the death spirits. Zhang Lie had seen those monstrosities devour anything in their path with his own eyes.

The monstrosities from the unclean world were exceptionally dangerous, but they were also a strong tool against the death spirits.

One of the most problematic aspects of fighting the death spirits was that any corpses and captives would be converted into black spirits. Captives were guaranteed to transform, whereas corpses had a varying chance of transforming depending on their strength. Weaker corpses who failed to transform would instead become void spirits.

The monstrosities from the unclean world were vicious existences that countered the death spirits to a considerable extent. They could devour black spirits to augment their own strength, and even if they were to die, they wouldn't leave a corpse behind. They would turn into gray fluid, which the death spirits could do nothing about.

The black shadows of the world of black fog were much the same. After they died, they would vanish in a puff of black fog, so the death spirits were unable to augment their numbers.

Many of the superior worlds' forces had participated in the initial war to barricade the death spirits, and they had some experience working with the others.

The frost spirit remarked in surprise, "Ah, you're aware of the characteristics of the monstrosities of the unclean world and the black shadows from the world of black fog? How did you know?"

The frost spirits were very surprised. Given Zhang Lie's strength, they would have heard of him if he had been among the superior worlds in the past.

Zhang Lie smiled. "I fought off those monstrosities during the meeting convened by the superior kings." Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ NʘvᴇlFɪre.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

Zhang Hanxiang gave off an aura of frost, one that attracted the frost spirits to her.

The leader of the frost spirits warned, "Is that so? I'll give you a warning, then. Be careful of the unclean world and the world of black fog. If you're ever consumed by those lifeforms, you're done for.

"Even if your superior king personally tries to reclaim you, all he'll get back is a monstrosity, or a figure wreathed in black shadow. There's nothing anyone can do at that point—the transformation is irreversible."

The frost spirits were clearly very familiar with what would happen. Likely, this was something that they had seen quite a few times.

In this war, everyone would have to be wary of not just the threat of the death spirits, but also of their allies. The frost spirits had drilled that lesson into everyone's heads the moments they stepped onto the shattered battlefield...