Chapter 1327: White Cutout  

"[Ninecarp Transformation]!"

Zhang Lie caught the cat's claw. A black serpent appeared behind him. The black serpent, which resembled the world-swallowing serpent Jormungandr, let out a threatening hiss as its scales clicked together.

Pitch-black genetic energy spread out all around Zhang Lie, corroding at Bast's form of starlight and moonlight.

Bast swung its other claw, holding onto the golden lion shield, at Zhang Lie, who leapt up to avoid it and pulled away. At the same time, pitch-black genetic energy gathered around his arm, twining around it like a black serpent.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Fade]!"

Zhang Lie punched forward, and the black serpent behind him shot forth.

Bast transformed fully into a cat and leapt into the air to avoid the serpent's attack.

Even when the serpent turned back in mid-air, it was unable to strike Bast, who had become far more agile after the cat transformation.

As Zhang Lie activated his blood ant and dragonwolf soulshards, he transformed into a dragonwolf with russet fur and limbs covered with dragons' scales. His aura became magnified as a hurricane of blood spawned around him.

The next moment, Zhang Lie vanished from the spot. Just as Bast avoided the serpent's attack, Zhang Lie appeared in the guise of a dragonwolf and kicked at Bast's waist.

Bast's waist was soft and suppl, and Zhang Lie's kick did little lasting damage.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Fade]!"

As Zhang Lie punched forward, a blood dragon roared in outrage and shot forward.

Bast rolled in order to avoid the blood dragon's rampaging attack, then leapt several times in succession, causing the blood dragon to miss again and again. Then, Bast swiped her claws with a steely flash. A wave of annihilation exploded around the dragon. Pitch-black energy swallowed everything in the vicinity like a storm at sea. Pulses of energy spread over the arena.

The pitch-black energy formed a black hole that devoured its surroundings. Bast was quickly overwhelmed and devoured, and her name turned dark on the runic tablet, indicating her defeat.

Bu Wentian clapped. "Excellent! As expected of the one who smashed apart Radiant Sun's bejeweled vase. The first eidolon didn't pose a challenge."

"Is this it?" Zhang Lie asked. How could a challenger with such limited strength ever have survived against Radiant Sun's attack? Even Ling Gu should have killed her!

Bu Wentian shrugged. "It's an eidolon, an imperfect reflection of an ancient challenger. There's a significant difference between the level of skills that could be conveyed—say, this eidolon only has 30% of the strength of the real thing."

"No wonder."

Bu Wentian continued, "The Bast of the present is surely far stronger than in this eidolon. After all, she was the first alien to have passed the sixth trial, and her strength has only grown since. If I'm not mistaken, she's already created an organization of her own in this realm, called the Ancient Gods' Abode."

Zhang Lie gaped. "She's the creator of Ancient Gods' Abode?"

That was one of the three largest organizations of the fourth realm!

Bu Wentian scoffed. "That said, the organization is entirely useless. If you ever meet her, give her a good beating from me. She's turtled up in the fourth realm thinking that it'll be safer, draining its resources and fearing the stronger existences from beyond the realm! A piece of trash—I had to be blind to have picked her."

Zhang Lie dissolved his dragonwolf transformation. "It looks like you once harbored high hopes for this Bast."

Bu Wentian snorted. "Do you intend to rest, or to continue the trial?"

"Let's continue. I didn't exhaust a significant portion of my strength during the last bout. I could handle twenty more such eidola."

Bu Wentian laughed. "The next eidolon will be far stronger. I rated Bast as one star. She's agile, but rather than focusing on that strength, she chose to use some strange shield, ruining both her defense and agility. She has no offensive ability to speak of; second-rate reflexes, third-rate defense, fourth-rate offense—this is how I would rate her."

Zhang Lie asked, "What about me?"

Bu Wentian refused to answer. "I haven't probed the limits of your abilities, so I can't evaluate you."

Zhang Lie then raised his head and looked toward the stone tablet. "How strong is this Aforgomon?"

"I rated him two stars. You'll see for yourself soon enough." The stone tablet shook, and Aforgomon's name lit up. A pillar of light summoned another figure onto the arena.

The white humanoid cutout seemed to have come from a two-dimensional world.

The cutout waved a hand, as though it bore a huge sword that was slashing toward Zhang Lie's front. Zhang Lie hurriedly evaded as the space where he had been was cleanly snipped apart, just like a scissors cutout. A clear black line scored the arena in two. This was an incomprehensible ability.

There was little question that Aforgomon was a two-star challenger, to have caused Zhang Lie to treat it seriously from its very first attack.

"[Ninecarp Transformation: Golden Tiger]!"

The image of a golden tiger appeared behind Zhang Lie's back, and its roar echoed through the air. A golden aura suffused Zhang Lie. A mountain of blades rested atop the tiger's back, and Zhang Lie's body itself underwent a transformation. His hair turned silvery-white, until they became akin to silver needles.

His genetic energy likewise became more honed. Silvery-white genetic energy gathered over his body, and tigers' stripes appeared on his arms. His eyes became those of a tiger's, and steely sharpness erupted from every pore.

Zhang Lie pounced forward like a fierce tiger. Aforgomon repeated its previous action, waving its hand as though a formless blade were cutting apart the air.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Fade]!"

Concentrated genetic energy solidified into sharp silver crystals. White crystalline shards struck the black shadow with a clear ring. The shards were cleanly cut in two.

Sharp though Aforgomon's cuts were, and long its attack range, the attack itself didn't span a significant distance, and it was relatively easy to avoid if its direction of advance was known.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Fade]!"

After avoiding the attack, Zhang Lie pulled back. A crystal wall appeared behind Zhang Lie, reflecting light in five colors, so dazzling it dazed any who looked at it, so beautiful it sparked their desire. magic

As Zhang Lie manipulated space, that crystalline genetic energy shot out of the wall behind him in the form of sharp daggers, in a rain of crystals that were able to penetrate anything thanks to Zhang Lie's mastery of space.

The daggers tore through space in a storm of silver.

Eyeballs appeared over the paper cutout, floating above its surface. They looked toward the silver daggers, as if penetrating space and time. Aforgomon seemed to have an ability akin to predicting the future and was able to avoid the daggers' trajectories.

It was almost as though the daggers were avoiding Aforgomon. Aforgomon's eyeballs seemed to allow him to manipulate the surrounding space and time to some extent.