Ultragene Warlord

That he had gathered so many ingredients for Potion #4 already meant that he would have to move up his plans. Even after entering the second realm, his growth rate wouldn't stall—no, it might even increase!

Thus ended the expedition within Hong Tianqi's personal treasury.

After bidding farewell to Yan Long and Su Feng, he brought the members of Team Zenith back to the Blacksteel Inn, where he retreated to the best underground laboratory the inn had to offer.

His plans had all been going smoothly to date, and his own strength, and those of his allies, were all improving rapidly. His next goal was to consolidate that strength and to make use of his recently obtained peak gene fragments to enhance the abilities of his framework and techniques.

He would also be busy processing the piles of herbs that he had just obtained; after all, Yan Long, Su Feng, and even the Martial Sage Hong Tianqi viewed him so favorably largely because of his research on limit fragments.

In the near future, there would be countless piles of herbs being shipped to China from countries worldwide, and Zhang Lie was even considering buying a few robots that would be able to perform basic precision lab work. After all, if he had to concoct all the potions himself, he would soon work himself to death.

Zhang Lie spent his days concocting potions, improving his framework and techniques, mentoring his apprentices and disciples, and supervising his teammates. Before the disaster-grade lifeform appeared in the first realm of the dimensional world, there would be a lull of sorts, the calm before the storm.

It was during this lull that Zhang Lie managed to improve his techniques—in particular, [Eclipse]'s domain, which he had spent so much time and energy on. Thanks to the strength afforded by his newly acquired peak gene fragments, Zhang Lie finally managed to combine [Eclipse] with the three forms of his [Ninecarp Transformation].

The combined [Eclipse] possessed the specialties of all three forms, increased strength, and even more devastating abilities. Zhang Lie couldn't help itching to test out the technique in practice.

After succeeding in strengthening [Eclipse]'s domain, his next goal was on cultivating [Ninesoul Dragonblade], the auxiliary technique that came with [Ninecarp Transformation].

"[First Form: Parting the River]!"

Within the training chamber, Zhang Lie leapt up into the air with a shout, Venombane glinting with tri-colored genetic energy. As he swung his blade downward, a frightening resonance humming by its tip, the simulated river beneath him really did seem to split apart.

Zhang Lie reveled in the destruction that his single attack had caused. He had succeeded, he had finally succeeded! It had taken him over twenty days in the training chamber before his breakthrough, and it was time to observe how his teammates were getting along.

When he opened the door to the training chamber, however, his nose was assailed by a strong herbal aroma. Fang Yi, Sun Mengmeng, and the others were diligently sorting a pile of spiritual herbs.

"What's going on?"

"What else? You were in there for three whole weeks, so when we got tired of cultivation, we continued to collect more herbs. We just got all these. Didn't we do a good job?" Sun Mengmeng teased.

Zhang Lie's eyes widened. "Indeed, there are probably enough herbs in here to make another dozen bottles of Potion #1 or so—ah, wait, didn't you guys already collect all the herbs from around the Blacksteel settlement when I made you each a bottle of Potion #1? Where did all these come from?"

As far as he knew, most of the herbs in and around the Blacksteel settlement had already been collected by Team Zenith, and it was unlikely that there would be so many herbs left in the vicinity.

"Haha, Captain, there are settlements all over the dimensional world, aren't there?" Yang Ze became cocky after seeing that even Zhang Lie seemed perturbed by just how many herbs they had acquired.

"You've gone past the eastern forests into western territory? Is that where you acquired all these herbs?" Zhang Lie didn't know any other possible explanation for their haul. The dimensional world was extremely large. The Blacksteel settlement was located near the eastern forests, and they hadn't ever ventured far from it.

In the past, Zhang Lie had warned the members of Team Zenith not to head out of the eastern forests at this stage in order to protect them, but they had clearly violated this warning.

"Captain, we didn't do it intentionally! Li Feng walked out of the border without knowing it, and since we had already done so, we decided to acquire the herbs available there." Since Zhang Lie didn't seem particularly angry, Yang Ze immediately dragged Li Feng down with him.

"Don't worry, it's not a big deal. At any rate, all of you are strong enough that there are only a few places in the first realm that you shouldn't go toward. Well? How did the hunters in the west feel about your presence, and how much were they asking to sell these herbs for?"

Rather than being upset that they had gone against one of his warnings, he was glad that his teammates were independent and forward-looking—after all, it was best for them to be fending for themselves.

Sun Mengmeng replied earnestly, "They didn't think much of us. Most of them thought that we were merchants from the settlements of the eastern forest, but they did seem to value their herbs much more, especially after the revelation of limit fragments in the worldwide stage of the Void Cup. The price that we had to pay for these herbs is already threefold our original value!"

Zhang Lie sighed. "It looks like we had better take the opportunity to seize whatever herbs we can, or they'll all be bought out quickly."