Ultragene Warlord

Chapter 1517: Into the Heart

If the others were to try what Zhou Ying had done, they would be lucky if the bug emperors didn't bite them to death.

Zhou Ying's unique constitution allowed her to develop intimacy with the bug emperor, and she had endowed it with a great deal of vitality and natural energy before unraveling it from its cocoon. It was natural that the bug emperor would treat Zhou Ying like its mother, allowing for her unique method of absorption.

Using this method, she was able to obtain exceptional benefit from the bug emperor. The bug emperor willingly merged with Zhou Ying's body, naturally resulting in an incredible boon beyond that which Zhang Lie had obtained.

The moment Zhou Ying finished her transformation, the crystal barrier around the safe zone shook. A huge crack formed where Zhang Lie had left a scar in the barrier.

Yang Ze rubbed at his lower jaw. "At this rate, this barrier will only survive a few days at most."

The moment the barrier broke, the heavenly cordon would constrict the portion of the realm that remained accessible. There wasn't much time left for the cultivators within.

Li Feng nodded. "It's going to be wholesale slaughter while the remaining competitors fight their way to the heart of the realm."

However, it was none of their business any longer.

The two hunters' tone even seemed a little gleeful.

Originally, the crystal barrier should have been able to last at least ten days or so. The other cultivators' attacks had forced Zhang Lie to create an opening in the barrier, one which would dramatically reduce the time it took for the barrier to break.

More importantly, they could easily leave with their bone talismans, and didn't have to worry about the situation outside the heart.

"Are all of you ready?" Zhang Lie asked.

The members of Team Zenith nodded.

"Let's go, Captain! We're ready to head to the heart of the realm at any time," Yang Ze said.

Zhang Lie distributed the bone talismans among the hunters, and they activated them immediately. The hunters of Team Zenith transformed into beams of light that shot across the sky and headed straight into the heart of the realm.

As Zhang Lie and the others vanished from sight, the crystal barrier finally broke apart.

Light shrouded them as their vision blurred. Within moments, they found themselves in an unfamiliar environment.

By the time they came to their senses, they were within an ancient hall.

The hall was vast and filled with chaos. They felt as though they had reached the end of the realm.

There, they could feel the aura of time and age, as if backtracking through the river of time, ancient murals that recorded times long past, the rise and fall of tens of thousands of civilizations.

Not far away, they found a silver stele floating in the air, surrounded by a bloom of chaos. Only two characters were written on it, but they had long since been corroded away by the chaos.

At the heart of the ancient hall, a pillar of light shot into the sky and pierced through the heavens. The ground cracked; the central pillar was surrounded by countless chains of natural law that linked the entire realm.

There was clearly something unusual about this place.

Zhang Lie and the others naturally gravitated to the pillar of light, the most eye-catching part of the otherwise empty hall.

Beneath the pillar of light was a huge altar in gold, resplendent and majestic, surrounded by chaos.

It was almost as large as a mountain.

A man in a dark green robe sat on a flight of steps leading up to the altar, his hands on his knees. He wasn't surprised at all to see Zhang Lie and the others arrive. "You came, as expected. The moment I saw you, I knew that you would be my greatest enemy and the greatest obstacle to the success of my plan."

The man's eyes frosted over as he stared at Zhang Lie.

Sun Mengmeng frowned. "Who's this?"

"It's a cultivator we've met before. He's an enemy," Fang Yi said. 

"You must have been the one who dispatched those cultivators to the crystal barrier outside the safe zone," Zhang Lie stated.

The man sat casually on the flight of stairs, but a fearsome aura surrounded him as though he were an envoy from hell. He felt like a demon king, full of darkness beyond the likes of what the hunters could imagine, an aura barely concealing a horrifying craze.

The man countered, "Are you satisfied with the bone talismans I sent you?"

Zhang Lie frowned. "Why would you do that?"

It sounded as though the man had expected the cultivators he sent to fail.

"I want a glorious battle to celebrate my rebirth." The man spread his arms wide, his back to the pillar of light. Under the harsh light of the pillar, the man looked fearsome, his shadow stretched, elongated, and looming over the hunters.

The man snapped his fingers. "Come one, come all!"

Spatial fluctuations rippled as something shot horizontally across the void.

A halberd gleamed with light. The Immortal King's substitute stood tall and proud, his halberd directed at Li Feng.

Li Feng reacted quickly. White light surrounded his fist, which shone with a metallic luster.

The two cultivators struck each other in a deafening clash.

Li Feng sneered. "Do the successors of the Hall of Immortals only know how to launch sneak attacks?"

The Immortal King's substitute retreated.

Somehow, he had managed to make a full recovery from all his injuries, and his strength had even advanced to the next level. Li Feng had to take him seriously.

He was wearing a winged garment that radiated with light. The void halberd in his hand made him look the very part of an imposing guardian.

Beside him was Feng Xian, her white clothes fluttering in the air. She was a peerless beauty.

She glared daggers at Zhang Lie, as though she wanted to eat him alive.

Then, even more beams of light appeared.

A Holywing cultivator emerged, silver wings outstretched and blazing even more brightly than before. Qingyue Ge, dressed in green, arrived atop a flaming golden lotus. There was a man crackling with golden lightning, his face a golden mask, his body shrouded by golden light, as if he were himself a man of gold. A golden sun shone on Resplendent Sun as he sat cross-legged in meditation atop the void, austere and holy.

A cultivator in blue, with a golden lamp in his hands, appeared. All manner of cultivators were arrayed around the man in the dark green robe, each illustrious and renowned in their own right.

In addition, there was even an arcane centipede, a golden elephant, a jade mantis, and other such creatures which had once been seen within the halls of the realm. There were also beasts responsible for guarding the hall, a golden luan and a sapphire-blue scorpion.

The sapphire-blue scorpion's body seemed to be made of crystal. A fearsome cold seeped out of its body, clearly an incredible toxin.

Somehow, the black-robed man had gained control of the beasts responsible for guarding the hall.

The Immortal King's substitute pursed his lips in distaste. "They're all trash. Puffed up and proud though they were when they sought rewards for their contribution, they achieved nothing of note at all."

The Holywing cultivator said, "I was certain that such a group of cultivators would be able to block them from entering the cordon, but it looks like you're right, Your Highness. This group of cultivators is worth considering seriously."

The man waved a hand carelessly. "I never bore high hopes for those pieces of trash. It would have been ideal if they had succeeded, but we'd get a bit of entertainment otherwise. Wouldn't it be good to have a few more sacrifices?"

Zhang Lie and the members of Team Zenith were beneath him; they might as well have been nothing but sacrifices.

Qingyue Ge smiled at Sun Mengmeng, besotted. "Miss, we meet again. We are truly connected by fate." Sun Mengmeng made a nauseated expression.