Chapter 1229: Did You Intuit Something?
The sea had morphed into a boundless battlefield. The sea breeze was as a horn to action, and the serpents, thousands of courageous soldiers heeding its call.
The million serpents passed through Yang Ze's body with a force that could not be repelled.
Zhang Lei frowned. "Spatial force? No..."
Even in the eighteenth layer of space, Zhang Lie was also able to invoke spatial authority.
"It has some flavor of karma, as though you're reversing heaven's might..."
Yang Ze explained, "I call this technique [Moon Within the Lake]."
"Referring to the surface of a placid lake as a mirror that captures the moon's reflection?"
Yang Ze grinned. "How's my skill, Captain?"
Zhang Lie replied with a smile. "It's interesting, but to have manifested a karmic power about avoidance... Just how much do you fear death?"
Yang Ze countered, "Are you trying to think of a way to handle my technique?"
"I'll simply shatter karma and space together! [The Boundless Blade: Dragon's Wrath]!"
Zhang Lie thrust forward with Guicang, summoning a blood dragon.
A dragon's roar shook the void as the pitch-black genetic energy turned blood-red. The underworld river roiled, forming a gigantic blood dragon, its jaws wide open and its claws poised to swipe. The high-dimensional space was disrupted as a burst of spatial force pulsed through it, distorting Yang Ze's figure.
Yang Ze screeched strangely as he was knocked out of the reflected space and sent smashing into the dimensional barrier.
Zhang Lie's attack indeed tore apart karma and space before striking Yang Ze.
The distortion of karma sapped away some energy, and Yang Ze's body overflowed with spatial force as he passed through the barrier into the nineteenth layer of space.
During his heated battle with Zhang Lie, Yang Ze's spatial manipulation improved sufficiently that he was able to pass through without any resistance whatsoever.
The moment he entered the nineteenth layer, a crash rang out behind him.
Pale-white sword energy pierced through the dimensional barrier barrier. The force of the attack sent Yang Ze tumbling through space as Zhang Lie entered the nineteenth layer.
Yang Ze raised his hands up in the air in surrender as he chuckled wryly. "As expected, I can't beat you, Captain. I surrender."
Zhang Lie asked, "Did you intuit something?"
Yang Ze nodded firmly. "Yes, yes, of course! Everything pales in comparison to absolute strength, and no skill and strategy can bridge the gap.
Regardless of whether we were in the high-dimensional battlefield I prepared for, or in the mirror dimension of [Moon Within the Lake], everything is hopeless in front of you, Captain. Captain, you're trying to tell me that strength is might, that there's no need for anything else!"
"Ridiculous!"
Shocked by Zhang Lie's sudden bark, Yang Ze took a few steps back. "No?"
"It looks like you haven't intuited a thing! In that case, we had better continue."
Yang Ze shivered in fear. "No, Captain, please!"
"No more nonsense. Take this!"
As Zhang Lie shouted, sword energy soared into the heavens and illuminated the nineteenth layer of space.
Shortly thereafter, Zhang Lie dragged Yang Ze back from the crack in space.
He tossed the bedraggled, wounded Yang Ze to the ground like a piece of trash, then commanded, "Treat him, Zhou Ying."
Zhou Ying immediately stepped forward to heal Yang Ze as Zhu walked up to him in dissatisfaction.
"Zhang Lie, aren't you being a bit too much?"
Zhang Lie replied, "Don't worry, Yang Ze will be just fine. He just has to rest for a week or two."
"I'm not talking about Yang Ze, but rather this!" Zhu pointed at the dimensional crack that was slowly repairing itself.
Zhang Lie was instantly embarrassed.
Zhu grumbled, "Zhang Lie, you should know just how damaging it can be to the third realm when high-dimensional space is destroyed like this. Now that you've damaged the spatial integrity of the third realm once more, I'll have to request that the will of the realm repair it. How am I supposed to explain what happened?"
Zhang Lie spread his arms. "I know that the will of the realm can repair the damage, so I didn't pay much attention to it..."
Zhu sighed. "I don't want to blame you, Zhang Lie, but I do want to remind you to watch out and to avoid damaging the high-dimensional spaces of the third realm!"
Zhang Lie nodded.
Sun Xiaowu asked, "Aren't you going to stop our captain, Zhu?"
Sun Xiaowu had been raring to fight Zhang Lie after maxing out his monarch gene fragments to test out his strength, only to realize that the gulf between Zhang Lie and the rest of them had only widened.
Upon witnessing Fang Yi and Yang Ze's sorry states, the other members of Team Zenith shrank back.
Zhu turned to Sun Xiaowu. "Why should I prevent Zhang Lie from testing your strength?"
"You aren't afraid that the realm will be destroyed?"
"Even if it does, I don't care. Zhang Lie can handle his own business. I'm just here to remind him of it."
The members of Team Zenith couldn't help but pity the will of the third realm for having a ruler who would prioritize Zhang Lie instead.
Even if Zhang Lie wanted to destroy the world, this ruler wouldn't impede him; no, she very well might aid him instead. No, she absolutely would.
Under Zhou Ying's rapid healing, Yang Ze recovered. "Ah, thank you, Zhou Ying!"
Zhang Lie asked, "Did you intuit something?"
Yang Ze immediately nodded. "Yes, yes! Captain, you're trying to tell me that everything is founded on strength, that technique and strategy is meaningless without a solid foundation! Your strength might be suppressed in high-dimensional spaces, but you're still far stronger than I am, and I'm still no match for you despite my home field advantage."
Zhang Lie cracked his knuckles. It looks like you still haven't learned your lesson. Shall we have another go?"
Yang Ze hurriedly called out, "No, no! Captain, I can't take it anymore. Can't you tell me what I'm doing wrong?"
Zhang Lie sighed. "To be honest, your strategy and attempt to lure me to a disadvantageous battlefield are both excellent, but you're still too weak in a direct fight. You need to stop focusing on running away; work on attacking your opponents as well!"
Yang Ze was exasperated. His attacks weren't weak; his opponent was simply too strong. He pursed his lips. "I understand, Captain."
"Go take a break. Sun Xiaowu, it's your turn."
As Yang Ze walked off, Sun Xiaowu let out a huge sigh as he strode forward.
"Must we really do this, Captain?"
Zhang Lie had reverted to the appearance of a human, rather than a dragonwolf. He curled a finger at Sun Xiaowu. "Don't talk nonsense. I want to see how much you've grown after maxing out your monarch gene fragments."
Starting the fight with the dragonwolf transformation active would be akin to bullying.
"The high-dimensional space hasn't been fully repaired yet, and it would be a problem if we were to break it some more, wouldn't it?"
Zhang Lie rolled his eyes. "Do you think you can escape into it like Yang Ze?"
Knowing that he couldn't escape, Sun Xiaowu's body flared with golden light. "In that case, Captain, be careful. [Blinding Flash: Thousandfold Echo]!"
Sun Xiaowu's body split into over a thousand clones, so many they seemed to fill the sky. "[Golden Divide]!"
The thousand clones all used [Golden Divide] simultaneously, coloring the sky in gold and raining down golden feathers in such numbers that it seemed as though a thunderstorm had just formed out of thin air.
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