Chapter 1388: Vanquished Smugness

Chapter 1388: Vanquished Smugness Within the stands, a number of spectators began to glow with silver light. They appeared behind the Splitsilver combatant on stage. Only Zhang Lie could see what was going on; the spectators didn't seem to notice.

The Splitsilver combatants imparted their energy to the silver lotus above the arena, forming an ethereal bridge of energy. The silver lotus glowed brightly, more so than the sun itself.

The glow became an order of magnitude brighter, so much so that it hurt to look toward the silver lotus. The Splitsilver combatant clearly hadn't displayed this level of strength before; this was the effect of a hack.

A large number of roots and tendrils surged toward Zhang Lie.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Fade]!"

Zhang Lie punched forward, and the black serpent behind him shot forth, tearing through the roots as it swam toward the silver lotus.

The Splitsilver figures behind the combatant trembled, not having expected that, even working together, they were no match for Zhang Lie.

The combatant himself was stupefied. Why had he never heard of such a fearsome race?

The Splitsilver combatant cried out, "Damn it, hand me back that relic!"

"Claim it yourself if you can!"

Zhang Lie clenched his fist. Pitch-black genetic energy, shot through with gold, surged forth as he punched toward the void. A hurricane spawned, and many of the Splitsilvers on stage were blown away. Their figures almost dissipated. As the attack struck the Splitsilver helpers, their figures in the spectator stands reeled back, as though they had been severely injured.

"As expected, there's a connection there."

Zhang Lie's blow had been infused with karmic energy. The relationship between the arena and spectator stands had been minuscule. With Zhang Lie's limited understanding of karma, it would have done nothing—if not for the Splitsilver hack.

Not only had Zhang Lie deeply wounded the Splitsilver combatant, he had also simultaneously hurt his helpers.

The Splitsilver combatant, either out of shock or because of the damage he had incurred at Zhang Lie's hands, found his body on the verge of dissipating. He roared, "This is impossible, absolutely impossible! No one in the Cup can manage such a feat!"

How could he have heavily wounded his helpers in the spectators' stands while on stage? This was the equivalent of striking a gamer through the computer screen! Only those who wielded the power of karma could achieve such a feat—but how could that be? How could this unknown combatant before him be one such?

If not for the fact that combatants in the Cup had to be under a hundred years old, the Splitsilver combatant might really have believed that he had encountered one of the powers of the world.

Zhang Lie sneered disdainfully. "So this is the strength of you Splitsilvers' hacks? It's not much."

"Damn it! I might not be able to win, but don't think you'll get past the qualifiers, either!"

the Splitsilver combatant howled. The silver lotus in the air began to tremble violently, tarnished though it was from the corrosion of pitch-black genetic energy.

"[Silver Veil - Infinite Reduplication]!"

The silver lotus burst with light. Pinpricks of silver light appeared in the sky, millions upon millions of lotuses hovering in the air blooming and forming a long, white river of light. They expanded as they flowered, reduplicating indefinitely.

The crowds all began to chatter away.

"The Splitsilvers are hacking again! Look!"

"In the end, the Splitsilvers are hacking this year too!"

"To be forced to this point by an unknown challenger... these Splitsilvers are really growing weak, generation after generation!"

"That said, their hacks are growing stronger, too. This is far superior to that thousandfold reduplication from the last iteration. I have to imagine the other combatant will be taken out of commission, too."

"That unknown challenger's rather strong in his own right, isn't he? It's unfortunate that his opponent was a Splitsilver, though."

The tens of thousands of silver lotuses formed a long river in the air, reduplicating the Splitsilver combatant's attack once for each lotus.

"Die!" The Splitsilver combatant waved a hand, sending the river crashing down toward Zhang Lie.

"Is this the power of a hack? It's rather interesting." Zhang Lie's lips curled up. Genetic energy surged forth.

As Zhang Lie activated his monarch-grade limitless universe soulshard, he glowed with stellar radiance, like a burning star. Starlight flowed through his body in phantasmagorical colors. Zhang Lie's body transformed into a glaze of the dark cosmos, as though the Milky Way itself flowed through his body. His aura grew tremendously. He defended with one open palm.

The Splitsilver's attack landed with a huge explosion, splitting the ground, shaking the heavens, and causing the world to break apart. It was a frightening blow that struck with the force of an earthquake.

Zhang Lie's stellar river and the river of white lotuses struck each other in mid-air, causing the arena to crack and natural law to break down. Reality and illusion shook. Auroras formed in the air. The white lotuses began to explode, one after the other, as the stellar river penetrated and decisively crushed the other stream of energy.

The spectators gaped in shock. They stood up in surprise as they watched the fight unfold. Zhang Lie's technique had been so strong that it had bypassed even the Splitsilvers' hacks!

Some of the spectators rubbed their eyes in shock. Others slapped themselves, thinking they were dreaming.

They were certain that the Splitsilver would be undefeated after activating his hack, but Zhang Lie had blocked the blow—and by the looks of it, easily at that.

A tremendous will imposed its consciousness on the world, both on stage and on the spectators' stands. The spectators felt a tremendous pressure, as though the sky was about to fall. The virtual realm's will had manifested itself. Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ NʘvᴇlFirᴇ.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

Zhang Lie raised his head. This was the first time he had seen its like, an existence that straddled the real and the illusory. He couldn't inspect it from either perspective individually, but was nevertheless able to sense it somehow.

This was a strange, almost paradoxical, feeling.