3
Zheng’s expression was solemn. "I know your pain and hatred. But I’m not able to help you. All I can do is fight you fairly. Let victory or defeat be decided by our power. Is my conviction stronger or your pain and hatred? I chose a completely different path from you in terms of power. The attack just now was a fusion of Refined Qi and Magic, a mimicry of when Yin and Yang hadn’t been separated and everything was in chaos. I named this move Chaos. But that’s not my true Chaos. How about it? Show your Sinflame’s true power. Force me to use my killing move Chaos. Don’t tell me your Sinflame is as simple as burning. If that's it, how did those five broadswords appear and attack?"
"Sinflame is both material and immaterial at the same time. It’s a manifestation of the cruelty in my heart, and is related to the psyche. Unless you have firm willpower and won’t be corrupted by evil, you’ll suffer the corrosion of the heart’s devil inside even if you don’t get incinerated, slowly trapped in yourself unto death. Cruelty is born from the heart, and it can be in the shape of flames, swords, sabres, or anything… As soon as any intent forms in your heart, whether killing intent or excitement, it’ll cause a reaction in my Sinflames. I admit that destructive light of yours is already much too fast and powerful for me. I can’t react to it, but that doesn't mean intent isn't able to. As long as you form the intent to do anything, my Sinflames will automatically produce a reaction to block you."
Clone Zheng paused here, before continuing, "Perhaps you really are qualified to force me to go all-out. No one has been able to accomplish that to this day. Try your best…"
"That so? Should I be feeling honoured then? Zheng laughed coldly, rushing over to clone Zheng with Soru. He slashed out with Tiger’s Soul. The light emitted by the sabre wasn’t the mistiness of Refined Qi nor the great sense of presence Magic had [1]. It was instead chaotic and indistinct, and was like a fog that couldn’t be seen through.
In the beginning, Zheng had used Refined Qi for Tiger’s Soul. When he obtained Magic, he switched to that instead, and its power was much greater. As his level continued to rise, he had obtained the ability to control Refined Qi and Magic after Xuan had helped him successfully Establish his Foundation. Although he couldn’t modify Chaos into an Instant Chaos the same way he did with Destruction and Instant Destruction, just pouring in Refined Qi and Magic and letting them mix was much more powerful than any of the two alone. The concept behind it was similar to the Magic Cannon, which was why its power was so boundless.
Tiger’s Soul didn’t have any tricks behind it, but a mere horizontal sweep. Its power and speed were inconceivable, and with this simplified Chaos behind it, it really did embody the concept of a heavy sword not relying on its edge, but on its wielder’s skill. No matter
As expected, the broadsword in clone Zheng’s hands shattered upon contact, while the man himself was knocked several hundred meters back. As Zheng was about to give chase, the endless black flames abruptly gathered together again, forming swords, sabers, spears, bows, hammers, axes and whips. The number of types of weapons immediately encircling him didn’t stop at merely ten. There were at least a hundred of these weapons that all had black flames surging on them. Their aura wasn’t any inferior than that broadsword. Zheng gulped when he saw himself trapped.
(Fuck, is he still a human? I needed so much power to break one broadsword, and now there are over a hundred of them! Is his Light of the Soul infinite?)
"Sinflames, Burial Mound of Hundred Armaments…" Clone Zheng rose to his feet, and gestured to the hundred black flame weapons, causing the weapons to descend. This wasn't like the tornado that was a congregation of normal black flames, but actual material objects manifested through black flames. Its might was over a hundred times greater.
Zheng in Destruction was able to take the first three or four, but ten or twenty proceeded to rain down. If he used Refined Qi or Magic to receive them, they instead exploded violently in response. Just a few explosions left half of his Dragon Transformed body injured. Gradually, he was no longer able to endure it.
(...Chaos…)
"CHAOS, GENESIS SPLITTER!"
Zheng’s Refined Qi speedily flowed up from the Violet Palace in his Dantian while his Magic quickly flowed down from his head. The two energies with diametrically opposed attributes interacted in his heart, and an inconceivably mighty power burst out from his body. Not even his body in Dragon Transformation could endure it, and it begun to collapse. However, power was still power and this inconceivably mighty power was still used by Zheng in the end.
An enormous power permeated Tiger’s Soul, and he brandished it a single time in attack, sending dozens of weapons flying, which began to crumble into black flames once more in the face of this enormous power. The remaining weapons didn’t even have a chance to continue the assault, before Zheng merely took a single step forward. The ground disintegrated from the impact of the step, and the air currents that sprung up like a hurricane blew away the weapons. At the same moment, Zheng had rushed to clone Zheng, his sabre sweeping horizontally at his clone.
In the world the teams experienced, those who only had speed and power were akin to hired thugs, and were even just second or third-rate thugs. If you wanted to become strong, you need to improve your enhancements or grasp your own skills, such as assassination skills. However, when something was developed to an extreme, things would develop in the opposite way. When speed and power surpassed the limits of your imagination and reached a level where it couldn’t be described with words, it would become a true killing move no enhancement of skill could withstand. It was like that with Zheng’s Chaos, Genesis Splitter. Moving his arm or leg was like separating the heavens and the earth, possessing awesome power. Even that wondrous Sinflame of clone Zheng couldn’t obstruct it. If he didn’t have a move of the same level… clone Zheng would die for certain.
As Tiger’s Soul approached his body, the black flames around clone Zheng transformed in response to Zheng’s killing intent. However, it didn’t create material objects like weapons this time round, instead converting itself into a pure black substance that was even darker than the black flames. The meters thick black flames only produced a membrane that was only one to two millimeters thick. Tiger’s Soul hacked at this membrane, but its tenacity was shocking. The infinitely powerful attack was able to penetrate it, but was unable to rip it to shreds. Instead, the sabre lost power, losing it all within a short half a second. However, Zheng didn’t panic. He released Tiger’s Soul’s handle, using the freed up hand to unleash a punch at the ripped portion of the membrane. Although the punch was robbed of much power after passing through the membrane, the remaining force still slammed into clone Zheng’s right shoulder, vaporising half his body.
The power of Chaos, Genesis Splitter really was of the sort that separated the heavens and the earth. A fist with only forty to fifty percent of its strength left disintegrated half of clone Zheng’s body as well as the black flames outside his body that had been newly created. His remains were sent hundreds of meters away, crashing onto the ground, his life or death unknown.
Zheng had intended to pursue, but the membrane that was made of an unknown material actually produced a massive suction force that pulled him in. He could only helplessly retreat with Tiger’s Soul in tow, but in this brief moment, endless black flames were already burning where clone Zheng’s remains were.
"In the legends of old, the phoenix could resurrect from flames. Sinflames can create anything and everything, including my body. Good job, very strong. My original, you can be proud that you forced me to this stage. Then, as respect for your power and conviction, I shall show you…"
"Primordial Dusk! Universe Armageddon!"
[1] He's infused Magic into Tiger's Soul a few times, such as in Vol 19 Chapter 15-4(against prototype god) and Vol 20 Chapter 16-1(against Julian's mind controlled lackey with Avalon from the Fate series).