Ultragene Warlord

Chapter 1533: Core Enlightenment

When the golden lotuses were lit aflame, they didn't release a holy golden luster. Rather, they burned with pale blue cursed, malignant flames—because what was lit up wasn't just the golden lotuses, but also the malevolent bones and corpses beneath them.

A huge explosion of lotus seeds shot toward Sun Xiaowu and Sun Mengmeng. Each lotus seed glowed in scintillating gold, like the shell of the sun itself. The seeds were wrapped in malice and malevolence. Now that Qingyue Ge had been unable to obtain Sun Mengmeng for himself, he would destroy them both.

"For bullying my sister, I'll kill you!"

Golden radiance struck. Sun Xiaowu's palms brimmed with golden light as a dense layer of golden scales covered his skin.

"[Goldenscale Palm: Split]!"

His aura suddenly shifted, and his right arm glowed with resplendent light.

An aura of intense strength emanated from the heavens.

Sun Xiaowu took a step forward, then punched with all his might, generating a dominating wave of genetic energy.

Sun Xiaowu had obtained incomparable benefits from this virtual world, and he was far stronger than before.

The golden energy burst as the lotus seeds were blown away. They exploded all over the ancient hall. The golden realm that formed Qingyue Ge's domain shattered as the lotus flowers were torn apart, the bones and corpses sent flying. Qingyue Ge spat out golden blood. Despite his incredible regenerative ability, he wasn't able to heal from a wound of this magnitude.

Qingyue Ge was a strong opponent relative to ordinary cultivators. He was able to contest and even overwhelm Sun Mengmeng only because she used fire-attuned genetic energy, which Qingyue Ge strongly countered. However, the outcome was clearly different when his opponent was someone else—like Sun Mengmeng's brother, Sun Xiaowu.

Sun Xiaowu didn't adopt fire-attuned genetic energy, and wasn't restricted by Qingyue Ge's abilities.

Not only that, Sun Xiaowu had entered the ancient hall before anyone present and obtained overwhelming benefits within.

Upon seeing that Sun Mengmeng had been saved, all the members of Team Zenith relaxed. They were struck by confidence upon seeing that Sun Xiaowu was so much stronger than before.

Qingyue arduously stood up and clenched his hand around that strange lotus spear. "Die!"

Sun Xiaowu punched forward in a burst of golden light that pierced straight through Qingyue Ge.

Qingyue Ge howled soundlessly as he transformed into a shower of light that shot toward the pillar.

On the other side of the altar, Fang Yi laughed uproariously. "It looks like your plan is a failure."

Leiting Ya frowned as vital lightning crackled around him. He didn't expect that Qingyue Ge would be such an utter failure. He had chosen to distract Fang Yi without caring about the injuries he sustained—but not only had Qingyue Ge failed, he was now at a disadvantage himself.

"[Tiger's Howl, Dragon's Bellow]!"

With Sun Mengmeng freed, Fang Yi could attack at will.

Fang Yi's spear took on the aspect of a dragon of the winds and a storm tiger as he charged forward.

Wind and storm roared around him, and his spear resonated with his genetic energy. The spear which the king of chaos had granted him demonstrated shocking strength, infusing chaotic energy into the mix.

Leiting Ya transformed his vital lightning into a looming cliff.

The combination of wind and storm, and vitality and destruction, led to an explosion of light.

Leiting Zi made his move then.

Having finally dealt with the vital lightning running rampant through his body, he manifested a huge palm that covered the skies above. Solid as a mountain, it caused Leiting Ya to still for a moment. Lightning arced as it exploded forth in a wave.

Leiting Zi had decomposed lightning into yin and yang, then into the five fundamental elements. Finally, he had combined them all into a supercharged earth-attuned attack. The resulting mud-yellow hand looked like a mountain, infused with earth-attuned energy.

From behind, Leiting Ya shot out a bolt of destructive lightning that struck the mud-yellow hand in an explosion.

"[Heaven's Judgment]! [Tiger's Howl, Dragon's Bellow]!"

Fang Yi's spear took on the aspect of a dragon of the winds and a storm tiger as he charged forward. Wind and storm combined and crackled at the tip of Fang Yi's spear, and a dragon's howl echoed resoundingly in the air.

Fang Yi infused the strength of [Heaven's Judgment] into [Tiger's Howl, Dragon's Bellow].

The combination of wind and lightning generated a frightening force that seemed to be able to penetrate the vital lightning, as though the spear had transformed into an electric saw.

The spear thrust into Leiting Ya's shoulder, almost cutting it off entirely.

After dealing with Qingyue Ge, Sun Xiaowu landed beside Zhang Lie.

"Captain, leave these cultivators to me. You should handle the one up there." Sun Xiaowu motioned at the man in dark green robes.

Zhang Lie nodded.

Sun Xiaowu continued, "He's no easy foe. Although I don't know where he came from, he's surely one of the elders from the Hall of Immortals. I learned a few pieces of information when I joined them. He's trying to seize the core enlightenment of this virtual realm."

"The core enlightenment?"

Sun Xiaowu continued, "This virtual realm is exceptionally special. It can transform high-level intuition into spiritual objects."

Zhang Lie had once obtained the silver-dragon lotuses and a bug emperor within this realm, and he was aware of a portion of its secrets.

Sun Xiaowu continued, "What many people don't realize is that the realm itself is a manifestation of a particularly high-level intuition, which is related to this ability to physically realize thoughts. The death of each competitor generates mental energy, a portion of which goes to the killer, and a portion of which is taken by the virtual realm and used to shore up its foundations."

Zhang Lie immediately understood what Sun Xiaowu was saying. "So this fellow's trying to forcibly extract intuition from the virtual realm via this altar?"

Sun Xiaowu nodded seriously. "Captain, you ought to seize that intuition for yourself."

Just then, the man with a black knife shot forward from behind.

"Don't neglect me while you're chatting away!" he shouted.

The man flashed behind them, the black bone knife in his hand striking at Sun Xiaowu's head.

"Traitors ought to die!"

Sun Xiaowu didn't react as the black knife struck his neck.

The moment it did so, a metallic clank resounded. The wielder of the knife felt as though he had just struck a beam of metal.

A dense, overlapping layer of runes appeared by Sun Xiaowu's neck, each like a chunk of metal. The black knife which had been able to slice easily through iron was held back against Sun Xiaowu's neck.

"Captain, there's no need to worry. Leave things here to me. I obtained an incredible reward for being the first to enter the ancient hall, and there are few who will be a match for me here." Sun Xiaowu turned back and punched at the man with the black knife, who spat out a mouthful of blood as he was sent flying.

Zhang Lie nodded. Sun Xiaowu had proven his strength with his fists, and he was completely confident in the strength of his own teammates.

With Sun Xiaowu's entrance, Zhang Lie headed up the stairs of the altar without any hesitation.

He stared straight at the man in dark green robes. Radiant Sun, who stood beside him, stepped forward to block his arrival.