Naturally, the monarch of stars wasn't going to give up just yet. He began to spin his compass. The compass opened up, and the black orb dropped into its very middle. The monarch of stars grabbed the hilt of the sword and pulled it out. The golden blade turned a dark red, and blood-colored flames seemed to blaze over it.

This was a far stronger weapon than the monarch of stars had used to date. The scarlet tint in the sky grew even stronger.

Through the lens of his dragon's pupils, Zhang Lie could see countless wailing souls smeared over the blade. These souls were what lent the blade strength; they were fuel for the flames burning over it.

With his sword in hand, the monarch of stars chased after the moonlight wyrm. 

Perhaps because he had sensed something, or perhaps out of luck, the monarch of stars had brought out a weapon that was particularly effective against it. The flames on his blade which could burn spiritual matter was particularly effective against the half-spiritual moonlight wyrm.

"I'm your opponent! [Rune: Control]!" The image of a dragonturtle appeared before him as Zhang Lie raised his hand. Ripples spread out from the two tablets, diminishing the monarch of stars' will and strength.

"[First Form: Parting the River]!" Gleaming light honed the edge of Zhang Lie's sword, and a beam of sword energy rose into the air.

After being caught unawares by Zhang Lie once before, the monarch of stars knew that staying within the domain of Zhang Lie's tablets would render his body uncontrollable. He hurried out of the range of their effects.

Despite seeing Zhang Lie's strike, the monarch of stars didn't dodge or avoid the attack. As though it were nothing exceptional, he continued chasing after the moonlight wyrm.

The silvery-white slashes of sword energy cut off the monarch of stars' shoulder and arm, as well as half his heart. It should have been a lethal blow, but his groin suddenly began to glow, and his body regenerated instantly.

He was the one who had imparted Gaoyuan with his special regenerative ability, after all.

Zhang Lie frowned. 

The monarch of stars had decided to kill Whitey at any cost. He continued flying toward the moonlight wyrm, who whirled around upon sensing him. It suddenly opened its maw and spat out a pillar of bloody red light toward him.

"What?!" The monarch of stars' eyes widened, and he stilled in mid-air. The wyrm was able to attack on its own?!

"What made you think that Whitey can't protect itself?" Zhang Lie shouted as he chased after the monarch of stars, charging up for another blow against him.

The monarch of stars was struck by the unexpected blow, and he began to fall from the sky.

After consuming a large amount of spiritual essence, the moonlight wyrm had some ability to fight in its own right, shooting out compressed beams of spiritual essence. The blood-red beams would inflict damage both on a physical and spiritual level.

Upon being struck by the attack, the monarch of stars was temporarily stunned. Zhang Lie, standing below him, charged up toward the sky, his sword brimming with energy.

A silvery-white gleam split the sky, and the monarch of stars' waist, in two.

The upper half of the sura monarch's body continued waving the sword in his hands as he charged toward the moonlight wyrm. Due to how far apart they were, however, the moonlight wyrm easily dodged the attack.

The lower half of the sura monarch's body glowed with light as a new upper half grew out of it and transformed into a second sura monarch. He had regenerated his entire body from the waist up.

Zhang Lie stared at him with disgust. "Is the lower half of his body his true form?"

Just like Sun Xiaowu had mentioned, his testicles might be the crux; with his testicles unharmed, he could continuously regenerate his body. If not for his dragon's pupils, that was surely what Zhang Lie would have thought.

Upon regenerating, the monarch of stars's blood immediately began to burn as he continued attacking the moonlight wyrm. Though it shot another beam of blood-red light at the sura monarch, he was prepared and easily avoided the blow.

"[Rune: Resonate]!" The image of a dragonturtle appeared before him as Zhang Lie raised his hand. Ripples spread out from the four tablets, forcing the monarch of stars to a standstill for a moment.

This time, the monarch of stars ground to a halt. Zhang Lie didn't seem very surprised. He turned around and deflected a blow from the upper half-body of the monarch of stars, which had darted behind him.

As his lower half regrew, the monarch of stars remarked with surprise, "You could see through my clone?"

Zhang Lie didn't respond.

The reason he had identified the deception so readily was because the lower half of the sura king's body had no soul. From another person's perspective, the sura monarch would have seemed to have regrown from his lower half, but Zhang Lie's dragon's pupils revealed this as nothing more than an elaborate deception. It was simply a puppet controlled by the sura monarch.

And once Zhang Lie noticed this point, he was easily able to predict the monarch of stars' next move—to launch a sneak attack on Zhang Lie while he was distracted by the monarch's clone.

In the air, the moonlight wyrm sent another blood-red beam shooting toward the monarch of stars' clone, vaporizing it.

The monarch of stars tutted. "What a pity! I'd added sixty testicles to that clone, and it can revive at least twenty or thirty more times."

Sixty testicles?! As expected of the godfather of the perverted sura kings! Zhang Lie didn't want to imagine just what the monarch of stars' groin looked like—perhaps it was like a bunch of grapes.

"[Blade of the Heavens: the Sea Swells]!" The first form of Zhang Lie's [Ninecarp Transformation] activated, revolving quickly about his genetic core. Energy poured out of him in waves, honing the edge of his blade. The pulses of energy struck the realm like a tsunami, devouring everything within.

This was a sword art that Zhang Lie had created by combining the sword techniques from his past life and that from [Ninecarp Transformation]. There were three skills corresponding to this sword art, and this was the first time he was testing it out in practice.

The monarch of stars stumbled back, blocking the technique with his own sword. The waves of sword energy emanating from Zhang Lie snuffed out the blood flames on the monarch's sword and drowned him completely. He barely made it out alive, cuts and bruises marring his skin, his appearance disheveled.

Immediately afterwards, however, his flesh seemed to knit back together, and the injuries were washed away as though they had never existed.

The monarch of stars preened. "It's no use. You won't be able to defeat me—this body has plenty of testicles as well. I'll be able to recover no matter what."

"[Second Form: Piercing the Soul]!" The two types of energy from the first two transformations of [Ninecarp Transformation] were infused into the technique. Dark ink and deep blue genetic energy intertwined about the face of the blade as Zhang Lie poured his genetic energy within.

The soul that he had trained and honed over his previous life carried over to this one, and the blade gleamed more and more brightly as he charged up his technique. The silvery-white glow was so radiant it outshone the sun.

The monarch of stars glanced at him placidly. "It's useless," he repeated. "My regenerative abilities are unparalleled."

Zhang Lie didn't care; his attack cut the soul, not any physical manifestation. The silver slash struck the monarch of stars' body, but there was no visible injury.

The monarch of stars peered at his body, unable to hide a bout of laughter. "What are you doing, making a fool out of yourself?"

His laugh didn't last for long.

Especially after acquiring the peak-grade dragonsoul soulshard, Zhang Lie had improved his technique by leaps and bounds. His slash had bisected a third of the monarch of stars' bestial souls. With a second slash, the monarch of stars found his strength diminished to an even more significant extent.

He was unable to retain his original confidence. "What have you done?!"

In truth, he wasn't able to regenerate indefinitely, as he had claimed.

Gaoyuan's accomplishments in the field that the monarch of stars had guided him toward surpassed even the monarch of stars'. The only other godsons of his who had managed a similar feat were Xueju and Shicang.

The monarch of stars didn't enjoy consuming testicles, and he had no intention of sealing his soul within his testicles. As a result, his regenerative abilities were significantly worse, and his methods were far cruder.

He had installed a few dozen testicles all over his body, enough to regenerate him five or six times over. Most of his regenerative ability came from the lower half of his body, on which he had installed over sixty testicles.

However, with the lower half of his body sliced off, the monarch of stars had lost most of that ability, and he was simply trying to shake Zhang Lie with bravado and bluster.

Red light flared from his body, and his skin began to crack. He was burning his own blood to increase his strength, and his regenerative abilities would replenish the lost blood. Compared to Suiyue, he could keep this state up for far longer.

Through this process, he was barely able to retain his current level of combat ability despite the souls that Zhang Lie had extinguished with his attack.

With a wave of his hand, he extinguished the remaining stars that the moonlight wyrm hadn't consumed to strengthen his next technique. He cleaved downwards with his blade burning with blood-red flame. The flames covered his entire body, flaring up the more they burned, releasing searing heat.

"[The Boundless Blade: the River Lethe]!" The first form of Zhang Lie's [Ninecarp Transformation] activated, revolving quickly about his genetic core. Energy poured out of him in waves, honing the edge of his blade. The pulses of energy struck the realm like a tsunami, devouring everything within.

Half the world was an ocean; the other was a sea of flames. As the two fronts met, white steam rose into the air. The energy of the collision shattered the will of the world's cordon in an instant.