Chapter 732: His Life at Stake
The aliens of the Milky Way and the western elites were both extraordinarily relieved that they had been far enough away from the two combatants to not be caught in the aftermath of their fight.
"Oh? You're not too bad!" Zhang Lie stood atop a wave on the netherworld sea, a blood-colored whirlwind revolving around his sword.
"[The Boundless Blade: Dragon's Wrath]!" A blood-red dragon emerged from the sword, revolved around Zhang Lie, then soared toward Duan Zisuan and tore apart the defense afforded by his firestorm.
Duan Zisuan extended his claws and blocked the dragon's advance. His lightning armor fizzled and began to tear, and countless wounds appeared on his claws. Blood and flesh scattered in the air, where they lit up as though a thousand flames surrounded him.
Duan Zisuan swiped forward with his claws, sending a renewed firestorm spreading out around the dragon like a twister. After trapping the dragon, he easily shredded the outer layer of energy surrounding the dragon, but the backlash from doing so caused him to spit out fresh blood from his mouth. He was sent reeling backwards, crashing down toward the ground like a meteor.
Duan Zisuan had forced Zhang Lie to use an advanced technique against him, but that didn't make him stronger than Li Zongming.
In truth, Li Zongming was the stronger of the two kings, but Li Zongming hadn't been fighting Zhang Lie to the death.
Both combatants were holding back then; if Li Zongming truly did intend to prevent Zhang Lie from abducting his daughter, Zhang Lie wouldn't have gotten away so easily.
Of course, the only reason Zhang Lie dared to abduct Li Qianlin was because he was confident he could escape even if the two kings did their best to stop him.
Duan Zisuan's defense had dramatically weakened Zhang Lie's attack, which wasn't able to finish Duan Zisuan off. It wasn't that easy to kill a king of the realm of a large world, after all.
Red flames flared where Duan Zisuan had landed. He stood within the flames like a demon king being resurrected.
"It's time to end it—[First Form: Parting the River]!" Gleaming light honed the edge of Zhang Lie's sword, and a beam of sword energy rose into the air. Waves of sword aura poured from Zhang Lie.
The bright sword energy rushed toward the sky before falling back down like brilliant rays of sunlight, dissipating the darkness in a wave of energy so intense that it could be seen all over the western world.
The thunderclouds in the sky burst apart.
Duan Zisuan rose into the air, his claws burning with heat. Red light burst from his palms and formed what seemed to be a gigantic sun. The heat was so intense that it baked the air. Even from a distance, the aliens of the Milky Way and warriors of the west could feel the change in the atmosphere.
The sun was so large that it dwarfed even Duan Zisuan himself.
Undeterred, Zhang Lie launched an attack toward Duan Zisuan, a sword slash so strong that it tore the ground apart even before it landed. The sun was split in two, and it burst with heat so dramatic that the entire sky turned red as though it had been lit aflame.
Amidst this maelstrom of heat, Duan Zisuan caught the slash of energy with his two claws, crackling with lightning and fire. The energy dissipated as twin pillars of lightning and flame rose into the air.
With the blade Hanguang, Zhang Lie split both pillars in two.
Duan Zisuan howled. The red aura around him flared, and his last reserves of lightning burst forth from his body. His mane puffed out as the combination of fire and lightning pierced the air with heat more extreme than what had appeared in the battle thus far.
"[Blade of the Heavens: the Sea Swells]!" Energy poured out of Zhang Lie in waves, honing the edge of his blade. The pulses of energy struck the sea like a tsunami, devouring everything within.
Zhang Lie bisected even this pillar of impossible energy, tearing apart the elemental landscape and revealing the pale blue skies that had been hidden from sight all this time.
Duan Zisuan, wrapped in lightning and fire, invoked his authority once more to summon a thick pillar of lightning at Zhang Lie's location, which he blocked with his twin blades.
The lightning revolved in mid-air, forming a waterfall that poured over Duan Zisuan's body, causing it to radiate visibly. His claws, sharp and crackling, seemed as though they could tear through anything.
"[Rune: Resonate]!" Zhang Lie sent all four runic tablets down on him. They began to resonate as one, sending ripples that melded with the sky and forming an absolute domain over all things within.
Duan Zisuan's body suddenly slowed down, and the lightning and fire petered out. This was Zhang Lie's chance to counterattack. He sprung forward, blocking any bursts of energy with his blades.
Duan Zisuan suddenly noticed something amiss. From his perspective, Zhang Lie had suddenly sped up countless times, and his blades, whirling like the wind, easily cut apart his elemental phenomena.
He quickly realized that the four runic tablets were to blame for warping natural law around him. He thought that the two tablets controlling gravity were shocking enough, but for all four to be able to control space and time as well…
"As expected of the product of a higher realm..."
Duan Zisuan wasn't wrong; the origins of the manual from which Zhang Lie had learned his framework might well be from a higher realm.
With a moment's thought from Duan Zisuan, the array of runic tablets broke apart, but by then, Zhang Lie was already right in front of him. "[Second Form: Piercing the Soul]!"
He infused spiritual energy into his blade, and the blade gleamed more and more brightly as he charged up his technique.
The silvery-white glow illuminated the entire space.
Lightning and fire condensed around Duan Zisuan's claws as he tried to block Zhang Lie's blow, but the sword strike passed through his claws as though they were non-existent. It cut through his claws, through his body—and directly struck his soul.
Duan Zisuan howled in pain. The injury was far more serious than anything Zhang Lie had inflicted to date.
Unbidden, fire and lightning burst from him, but Zhang Lie didn't step back. He bore the brunt of Duan Zisuan's counterattack as he launched his own blow. "[Time's Passing]!"
Duan Zisuan's claws easily blocked this attack, but even so, his claws suddenly shuddered. Like plants that had become desiccated, his claws were quickly aging and chipping away. The power of time corroded his body, and huge patches of fur fell to the ground. Duan Zisuan's eyes widened in shock; he had the temptation to cut off his arm.
Fortunately, Zhang Lie's command over time was still weak, and Duan Zisuan himself was far from death...
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