<h4>Chapter 999: Self-Sealed</h4>


    "[The Boundless de: the River Lethe]!" Pitch-ck energy immediately spread outward and suppressed the exploding smoke. The huge sea of gic energy covered up the skies of the world of ck rain, the dark clouds, the rain itself.


    The allied forces participating in the battle all looked up at the sky, whereupon they found it wholly reced by a pitch-ck ocean.


    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 shed 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 ck 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.


    The death spirit king rose into the air, his fist wrapped in ayer of dense ck smoke. The punch struck the sea and caused it to quake as huge numbers of serpents were instantly obliterated.


    However, the serpents that perished immediately reformed. The death spirit king''s face grew serious. "He''s as disgusting as the king of evil..."


    The ck smoke, infused with the energy of annihtion, continuously sapped away at the gic energy that formed Zhang Lie''sherworld sea, but to no avail. The rate at which the death spirit king produced his ck smoke couldn''tpete with the rate at which the sea replenished.


    "Please don''t insult me byparing me to that monstrosity!" At some point, Zhang Lie had appeared behind the death spirit king''s back once more. In his hand, Guicang trembled and keened like a dragon. Blood-red gic energy emerged from him, manifesting in the phantasmal figure of a blood dragon.


    "I''m not a wretched monstrosity like him!" The blood dragon''s phantasmal figure soared into the air. Zhang Lie thrust forward with Guicang, the gleam of the de so bright that the world of ck rain weed a new dawn. The blood dragon melted into the de.


    "[The Boundless de: Dragon''s Wrath]!" Zhang Lie thrust forward with Guicang, unleashing the blood dragon anew.


    The blood dragon''s howls shook heaven and earth, and Zhang Lie''s thrustnded squarely in the death spirit king''s chest.


    The blood dragon caused theherworld sea to froth, turning the pitch-ck gic energy a garish blood-red color. With the might of the sea, the dragon shot toward the death spirit king.


    The death spirit king fell to the ground like a meteor. Thend quaked and split apart as the whole world rumbled as though it were about to fracture. The allied forces beat a hasty retreat—given their current strength, they would die just from the aftermath of the battle.


    The damage dealt by Zhang Lie''s skills had been almost entirely absorbed by the will of the world''s spiritme armor, but the damage was so immense that the death spirit king nevertheless suffered a serious injury himself. The multicolored spiritual mes turned dim and dull.


    If not for the armor, the death spirit king would long since have perished.


    The death spirit king called out, "I retract my previous words. I, the death spirit king, acknowledge your strength. You too have the right to stand at the peak of the third realm!"


    "Are those yourst words?" Bright sword energy radiated from Zhang Lie like brilliant rays of sunlight, illuminating the entirety of the world of ck rain.


    The death spirit king let out a long sigh. "To think there was still such a strong existence in the third realm that I didn''t know anything about… I expected that no one but the primordial chaos would be able to take me on after I absorbed so many wills of the world and world''s energy, but it looks like I was too arrogant."


    "[First Form: Parting the River]!" A frightening force descended on the death spirit king, energy rumbling and rippling around him. As Zhang Lie swung the de in his hand, a huge sh of sword energy shot toward the death spirit king.


    "I was nning to leave this for the primordial chaos, but you''ve forced my hand..." Despite the blinding white light that swiftly approached him, the death spirit king didn''t panic. His eyes were calmer than they had ever been as the bandages around his body loosened and fell.


    "Have you ever wondered why even someone as strong as I am wraps bandages around my body?" The death spirit king extended a palm.


    His action would have seemed ridiculous to anyone else. [First Form: Parting the River] was no weaker than [The Boundless de: Dragon''s Wrath]. In the eyes of others, it was undoubtedly a suicidal act—but Zhang Lie suddenly felt a particrly strong sense of unease.


    No, this was no sense of unease—it was the shock of sensing the death spirit king''s unbridled strength, an explosive strength, as though he had been suppressing it until now. This was impossible—how could the death spirit king still have such untapped reservoirs of strength even at this point in the battle?


    The pale white sword energy struck the death spirit king''s palm. Even before the sword shnded, the death spirit king''s pitch-ck bandages were quickly falling apart.


    The sword energy seemed to be spurring the awakening of whatever the death spirit king had sealed. Radiant multicolored light tore apart the ck bandages and split the force of Zhang Lie''s sh around the palm that he held up.


    Two deep furrows were left in the ground, extending indefinitely into the distance.


    The death spirit king''s ck robe turned radiant. "I apologize for not having considered you seriously. To think I would have found someone beyond the first door..."


    Upon witnessing the current state of the death spirit king''s body, Zhang Lie seemed very confused. Nightdemon, who was still facing the gships, turned serious.


    The death spirit king''s body swelled to an enormous extent, a dozen times its original size. Beneath the ck bandages were countless multicolored, grotesque faces. "Unfortunately for you, I''ve also passed through the first door. Like the primordial chaos, I''ve stepped within."


    Zhang Lie narrowed his eyes at the faces. Each face was a corrupted will of the world!


    The death spirit king continued, "So, as to why I needed to wrap myself up in ck bandages..."


    The ck bandages had appeared only on the ck spirits. The battleships and gships could likewise produce these ck bandages, but ordinary death spirits didn''t use them.


    "...it was to seal away my strength and stabilize my form."


    Multicolored radiance emanated from the death spirit king as though he were a sun. It should have been beautiful, but to Zhang Lie''s eyes, there wasn''t even a hint of beauty. Instead, the scene was umonly eerie...