"[Second Form: Piercing the Soul]!"

Zhang Lie's disaster-grade mistmeld clam soulshard activated as he infused its energy into his swords, causing them to shine radiantly with multicolored light. He glanced straight at the chimera's soul.

The disaster-grade chimera's soul was speckled with six different colors: black, whitegold, red, purple, gold, and ink. The six different colors rippled and drifted, but gold was predominant.

A rainbow arc accompanied Zhang Lie's slash, as though an aurora borealis were visible in the sky. It shone in all the colors of the rainbow, momentarily hypnotizing anyone who looked at it.

All those who witnessed the hypnotic light would stand still in a daze.

With Guicang in hand, Zhang Lie flew through the heavens. His sword shone as brightly as the auroras overhead, bringing him momentarily out of the physical into the intangible.

The disaster-grade mistmeld clam soulshard, when incorporated into Zhang Lie's soul-targeting attack, had the ability to target its opponent's soul. As the slash landed, the chimera shrieked.

The chimera was clearly stronger than an ordinary disaster-grade lifeform, and it managed to survive Zhang Lie's [Second Form: Piercing the Soul].

Even so, its soul had been dealt a serious injury. Its six-colored soul trembled and quivered, and its constituent components shook. Its wings, tail, body, and claws spasmed wildly and out of sync, while six of its heads suddenly seemed to be in wild disagreement with the other three.

This was... multiple personality disorder?

According to the study of psychology popularized in the Milky Way, the disaster-grade chimera was clearly undergoing multiple personality disorder.

One common philosophical question of the Milky Way was whether the soul or the physical body was the core of a being.Many believed the soul was the core; in fact, the body was.

All those who claimed that beautiful appearances all meld together after a while, but interesting souls are few and far between—those tended to be the ones who cared about appearance most of all.

Why was the body the core? The Milky Way was a fundamentally material world, and a soul without a body could hardly be part of it.

On the other hand, a soulless body was a material existence.

The body was the root of the spirit, which allowed it to take material form. On the other hand, the soul wasn't an independent existence; its form depended on the condition and age of its body.

The disaster-grade chimera combined the special properties of many different disaster-grade lifeforms, and its existence was unique. Now that its soul was so severely damaged, it was clearly incapable of handling this combined body. Each constituent part of the body was now controlled by the individual souls out of which the chimera had been made.

Zhang Lie naturally didn't intend on giving up on such an excellent opportunity to end the match. He unsheathed Hanguang.

"[Blades, Reverberate]!"

A blood dragon materialized around Zhang Lie. Energy poured out of him in waves, honing the edge of his blade. The pulses of energy struck the realm like a tsunami, devouring everything within.

The twin blades Guicang and Hanguang emitted a fearsome aura, shining as brightly as the sun and moon. Sword energy materialized from Guicang into a blood dragon that revolved around his body.

The blade Hanguang morphed into a black dragon, and the blade Guicang into a blood dragon. The two dragons, coiling together as one, shot out toward Zhou Ying like a hurricane, bearing down on him with the might of Zhang Lie's spiritual sea between them.

Infused with the blood moon and the black sun, the twin dragons formed a black whirlpool. Tremendous suction, like that from a black hole, sucked up everything around the two combatants—layers of earth sank into the whirlpool, obliterated in an instant.Three of the nine chimera heads' eyes turned red. They roared with the power of the blood sun and black moon, causing the other heads to regain focus. The radiant light emanating from its body transformed into a thousand rainbow banners that filled heaven and earth.

With their life in danger, the disparate parts of the chimera were forced to reunite.

The chimera turtled up in its shell.

The black and blood dragons from Zhang Lie's attack penetrated the shell, sending it flying like a cannonball with the strength of their attack. It smashed apart a ten-thousand-ton mountain and crushed countless others. It took a long while before the chimera could recover.

silver blades trembled and shot straight at Zhang Lie in an attempt to pierce through him. The chimera had used its full strength in an attempt to hurt Zhang Lie.

"[Blade of the Heavens: the Sea Swells]!"

Zhang Lie stared at the chimera, his eyes cold. Energy poured out of him in waves, honing the edge of his blade. The pulses of energy struck the realm like a tsunami, devouring everything within.

A frightening burst of sword energy spread out like a tsunami, cutting all the blades apart.

The chimera howled in fury, but Zhang Lie was in the acme of his strength. He charged forward with Guicang.

The chimera stared at Zhang Lie with baleful eyes. Radiant light shot out from its mouth straight at him, who shattered the light with Guicang. It roared and flew through the air, then swooped down toward Zhang Lie with blazing breath.

"[Ninecarp Transformation]!"

Red scales formed a natural suit of red armor around Zhang Lie. He was surrounded by what looked like scarlet flames, but was actually steaming, blood-red water-attuned genetic energy. A black sun rose behind his back, and a blood moon shone at his feet.

A long tail grew out of his back. His black hair took on a red tint, as though they were lit up by an inner fire. Interlocking rings of black and red that warped natural law surrounded his body, and a domineering aura exuded from him.

Red water-attuned genetic energy surrounded Zhang Lie, manifesting in the shape of a dragon.

He sent a sword slash, blazing with fire, at the chimera. The fiery-red genetic energy was interspersed with radiant light, suppressing the chimera's flames in favor of his own.

The chimera howled. Before it could react, one of its hind legs had been chopped off.