"A long time ago, I was very interested in genetic lifeforms. In order to have relations with more such lifeforms, I worked hard to strengthen my body, challenging them one by one as I came across them in my travels. Over a prolonged period of time, I became stronger and stronger without realizing it, and I often accidentally killed them during the course of copulation."

The monarch of stars continued blathering away, causing Zhang Lie to suspect that he had some mental illness. Even if he were interested in bestiality, just how much strength did he need to be able to... kill... these genetic lifeforms?!

As though it were a badge of pride, the monarch of stars puffed up his chest and added, "After it happened multiple times, I realized that these genetic lifeforms would generate spiritual matter upon their deaths. At that point, I had yet to conduct a deep and deliberate study of spiritual matter—until I accidentally absorbed this spiritual matter into my body and felt it come to live within me."

Zhang Lie frowned as he activated his peak-grade dragonsoul soulshard. His eyes turned silvery-white and widened as he looked at the sura king.

"It compelled me to search far and wide for genetic lifeforms, then to kill them all while I'm at it! I must have explored half the sura realm, until all those lifeforms that came across me knew of me and knew to run. I gradually grew tired of chasing after them, so after becoming a sura monarch, I imparted some of what I knew to my godchildren."

From his dragonsoul pupils, Zhang Lie was able to discern thousands of lifeforms trapped within the monarch of stars' body.

No, those weren't complete souls—they were remnant pools of spiritual essence that were left behind when the corresponding lifeforms died while feeling great emotion. That spiritual essence, tainted by grievance and anger, was sucked into the monarch of stars' body.

These remnant souls shrieked in anger and flailed in grief, but their resistance was futile in light of the monarch of stars' dominance.

Given the number of creatures that were forcibly stuffed into the monarch of stars' body, Zhang Lie was very surprised that he hadn't gone crazy.

In some sense, a body was like a glass bottle, one which would explode upon being stuffed with far too many objects. The only reason it hadn't was because of the monarch of stars' overwhelming strength. Even so, it was shocking that he hadn't gone crazy—no, perhaps the monarch of stars was crazy, after all. Who else would roam the world in an attempt to kill genetic lifeforms by copulating with them?

And with every additional lifeform he collected, he grew crazier...

The behavior of the monarch of stars was very similar to one of the sura kings he had fought against—the sura king Xueju. It was very likely that Xueju had learned his techniques directly from the monarch of stars himself. The monarch of stars was the source of all his godsons' perversion!

After activating his dragonsoul soulshard, Zhang Lie saw the world anew. In the sky hung not scarlet stars, but rather orbs filled with spiritual essence. Each orb was composed of a few dozen grieving souls, squished and compressed together to form a sticky, disgusting substance.

There were a few thousand of these "stars" filling the sky, dyeing it scarlet. It was difficult to imagine just how many lifeforms the monarch of stars had killed in order to fill up the entire night sky. The monarch of stars was a truly depraved being, far worse than his nine godsons combined!

Hold on—what was happening? Zhang Lie raised his head and looked up at the sky again. The scarlet tint had grown more and more intense as the number of stars increased, out of nowhere, by a factor of ten.

The entire sky was filled with stars.

The monarch of stars smiled. "It looks like you've noticed it too."

This was clearly part of the sura monarch's plan. During the battle, he had continuously activated his compass and allowed Zhang Lie's attack to break his shields in order to fill the sky with stars.

Most importantly, all those stars were gathered above Zhang Lie's head, forming a dense stellar cloud that began to spin more and more rapidly. It was growing so large that Zhang Lie was unable to avoid the attack no matter how or where he moved.

As the monarch of stars made a hand gesture, the stars filling the sky rushed down toward Zhang Lie like a waterfall, so numerous and so massive that they broke the constraints of space. The air began to hiss; lava exploded from the ground. It felt as though a thousand elephants were charging toward Zhang Lie at once.

Zhang Lie's [First Form: Parting the River] would need to be charged to be able to achieve the same level of strength. Zhang Lie didn't have the time to do so, and the monarch of stars wouldn't give him the time to do so.

Upon seeing the shift in the skies, the forces of Renhuang gaped and began to worry for Zhang Lie. Here they thought that Zhang Lie had a chance at victory! Were they too naive? The monarch of stars was truly a strong foe—no one could counter this attack!

The monarch of stars crowed, "I have to admit that you're a strong hunter, and the old me might have been no match for you. Unfortunately, I now possess the ability to rule over this entire sura realm! No one in the realm will be strong enough to be my opponent. Once I kill you, I'll easily dispatch the rest of Renhuang's forces. Haha!"

The monarch of stars was growing so strong that even the will of the world couldn't remain silent any longer.

After being forced to retreat from the monarch of stars once already, the will of the world was a little afraid of him, and it refused to make an appearance no matter how large a disturbance the two fighters were causing.

With this new attack from the monarch of stars, however, the will of the world couldn't remain a mere spectator any longer. If it didn't react, a fraction of the sura realm might be destroyed. A hemisphere of light guarded the monarch of stars' attack and prevented it from leaking out.

Faced with a sword of Damocles over his head, despite how worried the Renhuang forces seemed to be for him, Zhang Lie was nevertheless a paragon of calm. The attack didn't faze him at all.

"Now that you've told me all about yourself, there's nothing to fear."

Zhang Lie waved an arm and summoned Whitey, his peak-grade moonlight wyrm. It rose into the air, spreading a silvery glow as it did so. Its scales were pearlescent, and its serpentine body gave off a radiant sheen that made it seem ethereal.

The wyrm swam toward the sea of stars, opening its maw wide and consuming all that stood in its way. The scarlet sea, boasting enough energy to destroy the sura realm, was easily counteracted by the moonlight wyrm.

The monarch of stars stared open-mouthed at what Zhang Lie had done—at how easily the wyrm was destabilizing the sura monarch's attack.  The moonlight wyrm's body grew and grew as it feasted, and its scales turned red. 

Upon seeing the moonlight wyrm tear apart his stellar clouds piece by piece, the monarch of stars felt as though he himself was fraying. All his preparations to construct this compass—and he was being foiled by a mere wyrm?!

"What have you done, human?!"

Zhang Lie raised his head. "As long as I can understand the fundamental principles behind your attack, I have nothing to fear."

The thousands of stars that the monarch of stars had amassed over the course of his lifetime had enough power to destroy half the second realm, but these stars were ultimately spiritual constructs—and his moonlight wyrm was the ultimate counter to such attacks.

The moonlight wyrm had managed to devour even a disaster-grade soul, and it had evolved beyond its origins as a peak-grade lifeform. It was hardly impossible for it to devour the monarch of stars' handiwork.

The monarch of stars, knowing nothing of the moonlight wyrm's specialty, again raised the compass in his hands.

Zhang Lie glanced at the compass. The miniature scarlet sun that had risen over it had, at some point, morphed into a creature of pure darkness.

It was a small, black ball, but one that was far darker than anything Zhang Lie had ever experienced. A single eye and a wide, ravenous mouth were visible; it seemed to be mocking the entire world.

Activating his dragonsoul soulshard, Zhang Lie inspected the black orb even more carefully. Suddenly, countless eyes appeared all over the orb's surface. Zhang Lie winced and reared back; bloody tears fell from his dragon's pupils.

The black orb was very similar to the peak-grade dragonsoul he had encountered.

Zhang Lie's eyes widened. "Could this be another peak-grade spiritual lifeform?"

As the monarch of stars manipulated the compass, another blood-red beam of light shot into the air. From his dragon's pupils, Zhang Lie could identify it as another spiritual construct, filled with countless tormented souls, squeezed together so tightly that they had liquefied. The high-pressure liquid exploded into the air so fiercely it felt as though it would rupture space itself.

Nevertheless, the moonlight wyrm was still able to devour the red beam.

"Damn it, just what kind of being are you?!"

The moonlight wyrm's appearance completely flummoxed the monarch of stars. Against the wyrm, the compass that he had constructed by sacrificing three sura empires seemed to be all but useless!