Chapter 1005: All Sorts of DetailsZhang Lie hadn't been able to use this technique in the past, but after obtaining monarch gene fragments, his strength had risen significantly.
As a result, he was finally able to study the fifth form of his [Ninesoul Dragonblade].
The scarlet water-attuned genetic energy rose into the sky like a gigantic dragon of blood soaring toward the heavens. A frightening burst of genetic energy emanated from him. Even before his sword slash landed, the entire world of black rain was shuddering.
The cracks on the ground continued to propagate, faster and faster, as the burst of genetic energy spread out all around Zhang Lie like the tides. The neighboring worlds, possessing far less structural integrity than the world of black rain, burst apart one after the other.
Guicang flashed in Zhang Lie's hands as the neighboring worlds continued to pop. Zhang Lie's slash landed on the multicolored furnace, tearing the ground apart and causing the flames to scatter. Even so, as the sword slash struck the core of the furnace, it was blocked by a layer of energy. Even [Fifth Form: Obliterating the Stars] was insufficient to break through.
The multicolored crystal emanated a potent strength. Despite the fact that the core was still incomplete, the barrier was sufficient to defend against Zhang Lie's strongest attack.
The barrier was composed of huge quantities of the world's energy, purified and refined in a constant cycle. Its quality surpassed that of a superior world's energy, and it wasn't a substance that would ever have naturally occurred in the third realm.
It was so strong that Zhang Lie's attack was incapable of doing anything against it. Zhang Lie infused his attack with all his genetic energy, causing the barrier to crack, but it wasn't enough.
After a long, exhausting battle, Zhang Lie had consumed much of his reservoir of genetic energy. As the core continued to form—just as the newly reborn death spirit king was about to finish forging the heart of its new body—a rainbow beam of light fell from the heavens and struck Zhang Lie.
The will of the third realm itself seemed to be supporting Zhang Lie. As the realm's energy poured into Zhang Lie, his sword began to give off a multicolored glow.
Nightdemon glanced at the decaying king, who was still pinned to the ground, and gave him a meaningful smile.
Zhang Lie's attack, strengthened by the world's energy, broke through the barrier. The huge burst of energy obliterated the ground. The world of black rain, unable to resist the persistent battering, finally broke apart. Chunks of the world crumbled away.
Zhang Lie's attack left a crack in the core, from which a wisp of dark sand poured out.
Nightdemon struck then. He tossed out the Shining Trapezohedron, distorting space into twenty-four faces. Try as it might, the dark sand was unable to fly out of the trapped space. Nightdemon waved a hand, causing the Trapezohedron to contract into a glowing orb that flew back into his hand.
Nightdemon smiled at the dark sand in the orb. "Where are you headed, death spirit king?"
Wilbow asked curiously, "What's going on?"
Nightdemon shrugged. "The death spirit king's trying to flee."
Wilbow frowned. "What?"
Nightdemon explained, "After he realized that he was no match for Zhang Lie, the consciousness of the death spirit king tore its own soul apart and escaped from its newly forged body. If I'm not mistaken, it had been planning this all along."
The ink-black man had, at some point, appeared by Nightdemon and Wilbow's side. "While we were trying to drive the newly reborn death spirit king crazy, he was also trying to take advantage of us."
Wilbow's eyes widened. "You mean that the death spirit king had simply been acting?" Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ n0vᴇl(ꜰ)ire.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.
Nightdemon inclined his head. "In a manner of speaking, but also not."
The ink-black man nodded. "We can't exclude this possibility—it's very likely."
Wilbow scowled. "Explain yourselves clearly!"
Nightdemon replied, "Perhaps the newly reborn king did want to reforge its body. If it failed, however, its plan was to escape amidst the resulting chaos, once Zhang Lie relaxed after thinking that he had killed the death spirit king."
Nightdemon shrugged. "Actually, I suspected that the death spirit king was about to do something similar quite early on. After all, his actions haven't been logical. He's been behaving erratically from the beginning."
The ink-black man followed Nightdemon's train of reasoning. "Even if the death spirit king could defeat Zhang Lie, the three of us are still around, and it wouldn't easily be able to escape. He wouldn't gain anything by defeating Zhang Lie, since he'd have to face the rest of us, too. Furthermore, if we drag the battle out, Zhang Lie would recover and join back in, along with the decaying king."
Nightdemon took over. "As such, the death spirit king planned to escape instead, leading to the interesting scene we just observed."
Wilbow asked curiously, "Do the conversations between the two of you count as talking to yourself?"
After all, both the ink-black man and Nightdemon were clones of the king of chaos.
Nightdemon scowled. "Focus on the explanation!"
Wilbow thought about the situation for a moment. "In other words, this newly reborn death spirit king turned out to be exceptionally intelligent—his plan would have been beneficial regardless of whether he were to win or lose the fight against Zhang Lie."
For him to have concocted a plan so quickly, though a plan of rather limited success rate, was testament to his intelligence.
Nightdemon shook his head. "Not just that, I think. The death spirit king was frighteningly intelligent to begin with, and his newly reborn form has inherited that intelligence, after all. He could hardly be less intelligent."
The death spirit king had been the pioneer of science and technology in the third realm, and he had even created these massive flagships.
Nightdemon and Wilbow had taken quite some time and expended a considerable amount of energy to defeat those flagships. If the death spirit king hadn't been so ambitious, or had had a better understanding of the other superior forces' strength, the outcome of this battle could have been completely different.
The ink-black man continued, "I've been observing the newly reborn death spirit king all this time. It looks as though he's been thinking of running away all along, and this new body of his is just something to fool us."
Nightdemon added, "He's been consuming all the world's energy he gathered. Even with a newly forged body, without any world's energy, he wouldn't be able to beat us—so it's clear that the death spirit king had been planning to run away."
Wilbow contemplated these revelations. He was shocked and frightened by the depths of the death spirit king's intellect. "Thank goodness you realized. As expected of a clone of the king of chaos—indeed, the death spirit king has likely been planning this. If he were to escape, we would never be able to find him considering how large the third realm is!"