Chapter 1315: The White Tiger
The white tiger stared at Zhang Lie with baleful eyes. Radiant light shot out from its mouth straight at Zhang Lie, who shattered the light with Guicang.
"[The Boundless Blade: the River Lethe]!"
Zhang Lie raised the blade in his hand high into the air, encircled by black genetic energy. The temperature of the air dropped to sub-zero values, and a strong wind buffeted all combatants present. Blood-colored frost appeared around them all.
An underworld river materialized in the air. As though the doors to hell had just been thrown open, tens of thousands of serpents rushed out in a flood.
The tiger widened its jaws and began swallowing the serpents up, but hidden among the flood of dragons was a sword slash. Zhang Lie shot forward with Guicang in hand.
The tiger roared as blood sprayed from its body. Before it could react, one of its back legs had been cut off.
The netherworld river had only been a bluff; the true attack was from the blade in Zhang Lie's hand.
"[The Boundless Blade: the River Lethe]!"
Pitch-black genetic energy filled the air. Waves surged forward, sounding like peals of thunder, like stampeding hooves. The surface of the sea frothed with angry waves, like dragons emerging with the tide. The entire sea roiled, and lightning crackled amidst the void. Countless serpents swam across the raging sea as lightning flashed ominously overhead, a scene right out of an apocalypse.
As Zhang Lie struck, an underworld river hurtled into existence, roaring into the sea. The sword energy roiled like black waves. 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.
Zhang Lie's sword had been hidden in the midst of the attack. The white tiger's absorption ability was limited, and by the time it realized what was happening, it had already been cut apart at the waist. Crystal shards shot into the air.
The tiger struggled once more, releasing all the energy of annihilation it had absorbed.
The pitch-black energy transformed into a ray of annihilation that seemed poised to destroy the world.
A blood dragon's phantasmal figure soared into the air. Zhang Lie thrust forward with Guicang, and the blood dragon swooped down and merged with the sword.
"[The Boundless Blade: Dragon's Wrath]!"
Guicang unleashed a barrage of sword energy in the form of 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-colored hurricane which struck the ray of annihilation in an explosion of terrifying force.
Zhang Lie thrust his sword straight through the white tiger's head, sending shards flying.
Half the tiger's head was cut open, revealing its silvery-white core. It tried to struggle once again, swiping its claws with radiant light.
"[First Form: Parting the River]!" fre(e)webno(v)el
Bright sword energy radiated from Zhang Lie like brilliant rays of sunlight.
A frightening force spread out from Zhang Lie, energy rumbling and rippling around him. As Zhang Lie swung the blade in his hand, the tiger's body, along with the ground, split open. He seized the tiger's disaster-grade core.
[You successfully killed a disaster-grade blessed white tiger. By consuming the core of the disaster-grade blessed white tiger, you may receive one to ten disaster gene fragments.]
The silvery-white core gave off a metallic luster. It gave off a prickling, painful sensation, as though you were touching the naked edge of a sword.
Zhang Lie cut his palm with his sword, then dripped blood onto the core. The moment it touched the core, the blood was quickly absorbed into its interior. It sucked up more and more of Zhang Lie's blood until it turned blood-red. magic Zhang Lie opened his wounds again and again until the core became perfectly transparent. Then, he closed his eyes and began pouring concentrated, black genetic energy from his body into the core.
As Zhang Lie clutched the crystalline orb, he felt some unusual sense of kinship with it, as though it was already part of his body. Zhang Lie swallowed it whole without even daring to chew it.
The core was cold and prickly as it slid into his stomach. Subsequently, all that energy contained within the core burst apart.
Almost immediately, Zhang Lie took on the color of a boiled prawn.
As the energy in the disaster-grade core gushed through his body, he circulated genetic energy through his framework, faster and faster.
While he assimilated the disaster gene fragments into his body, Zhang Lie gave off stronger and stronger beams of light.
His body seemed to grow firmer, and his organs and bones all glimmered with a metallic luster.
He circulated genetic energy through his body at an incredible pace, his framework fully activated to capture and transform his newfound strength.
His [Ninecarp Transformation] activated involuntarily, and the image of a golden tiger materialized behind him. It roared; the disaster-grade energy was particularly compatible with this form of his framework. Two dozen blades shot out from Zhang Lie's back in a fan. It cut apart distant mountains and tore apart the earth. A cocoon of golden light surrounded him.
The energy of the disaster-grade core and of his evolving framework ran rampant within his body, as though there were swords clashing against his innards, but as an emperor-grade lifeform, Zhang Lie could withstand the discomfort.
He roared loudly. The sound waves split apart the cocoon and caused the ground to quake. Countless rays of light transformed into sharp blades that pierced heaven and earth, once again heavily damaging the already battered ground. The small world finally gave out, cracking amidst the golden light. Void was visible where the damage was most apparent.
The light dimmed as Zhang Lie absorbed all the excess energy he had vented. The disaster-grade core had made him even stronger.
After finishing the absorption process, Zhang Lie headed right back to the trial-taker's chamber.