Ultragene Warlord

"As a hunter of Qi, I can promise you that all of this is true. If not for the injuries I incurred during the battle, there would have been 3001 soldiers entering sura territory."

"If I weren't injured, there would have been 3002!"

"If I were in Qi, there would have been 3003!"

"Ridiculous—there would only have been three thousand regardless! That was a number set by Zhang Lie himself!"

"Hmph! If I weren't injured, I would surely have been selected!"

"Zhang Lie's a true hero—of course humanity should fight back after repelling a sura invasion!"

Of course, there were those who doubted these proceedings.

"What happened in the end?"

"What else? They've surely all perished! We've sent quite a few forces against the sura, but we've never won a single altercation against them. Trying to counter-invade was a grievous mistake—I can't believe anyone would have allowed that!"

"But Zhang Lie caught the sura king alive, didn't he? That shows that he has enough strength to be able to combat the sura, surely?"

"Even so, how do you think these troops are faring? They have to be exhausted after defending their city, and now they're going to traipse all the way to the territory of the sura and launch a counterattack on the fly? Do you think they're strong enough for that? Not even Zhang Lie would be able to do anything under such circumstances.

"I believe in the hero of Qi!"

Another article took the world by storm.

[Zhang Lie seizes the sura capital, rescuing ten thousand human captives!]

"Under the command of the hero of Qi, we fighters launched a surprise invasion of the sura lands. Because of our blitzkrieg attack, the sura were unable to respond in time. We successfully captured the capital of the sura, only to find humans being reared like livestock in hundreds of locations throughout the capital. We immediately launched a search-and-rescue operation, and you can see our results."

It seemed as though one bombshell was landing after another: Zhang Lie asved Qi, then invaded the territory of the sura, succeeded, and even saved ten thousand humans!

"Zhang Lie's a true hero, and we never could have done any of this without him! He managed to take over the capital of this particular sura kingdom with just three thousand men—Zhang Lie's not just creating history, he's helping mankind reach new heights!"

"I've made up my mind: I'll report to the Zenith Dojo tomorrow, even if the only position available for me there is that of a janitor!"

"Zhang Lie's a true hero, a true paragon!"

Zhang Lie's renown rose like a rocket given his recent accomplishments. All of China—no, the whole world, the entirety of the Solar System, the breadth of the Milky Way—was paying attention to him and spreading the tales of his heroism.

Once the search parties had conducted a thorough search of the capital, everyone gathered at the palace, where Zhang Lie broke through the doors to the treasure with a technique.

The sura king's treasury was filled with all sorts of precious jewels and herbs.

The sura were a wealthy race, and that wealth pervaded the treasury. Treasures stacked up on piles the size of small mountains, and even the members of Team Zenith, who had seen their fair share of treasure, were eyeing everything greedily.

Zhang Lie's attention zeroed in on a specific herb with blood-colored fruit whose surface seemed to be burning up with flames. It had been preserved very well, and almost no spiritual energy leaked out of it.

This too was a key ingredient for Potion #4, and Zhang Lie was shocked that he had found it within the sura's treasury.

Sun Mengmeng asked, "Captain, what should we do with these treasures?"

"Each of you can pick and choose a few that you want to keep. We'll leave a portion for those human captives that have recently been released so that they can make a new life for themselves. Of the remaining treasure, give half to the hunters that have participated in this expedition, and we'll keep the rest for the Zenith Dojo."

It was only natural that Zhang Lie would reward the troops who had come all this way with him; after all, he would still need their manpower in the fights to come.

Xia Na rushed over in a hurry. "Captain, have a look at this!"

"What's the matter?"

Xia Na handed him a scroll on which a strange human-headed bird was drawn.

"What's this?"

"According to the scroll, this kingdom is protected by a mystical beast, one whose flames can melt iron and steel, whose gigantic wings can blot out the sky, whose mouth can swallow the sun, whose claws can split the sea, and whose blood-red feathers can purge all that live."

"In that case, why hasn't it appeared yet?" Zhang Lie asked in shock.

"Apparently, it can only appear after the appropriate summoning ritual has been performed, and we took over the city far too fast for the sura to perform this ritual."

Li Feng shrugged. "If it isn't going to appear, there's nothing to fear."

Zhang Lie mulled it over for a moment. "How strong is it?"

Xia Na continued, "According to the scroll, it's likely stronger than the sura king himself. It's a peak-grade lifeform, at the very least!"

At least a peak-grade lifeform... could it be a disaster-grade lifeform? Zhang Lie thought. If so, capturing the sura's capital really had been a worthwhile endeavor. Not only had Zhang Lie obtained another ingredient for Potion #4, he had even found the traces of another peak-grade, or even disaster-grade, lifeform!

"What sort of ritual does the summoning process require?"

"A hundred thousand bodies of the sura, along with a specialized altar."

"Good, very good. We haven't gotten rid of all the sura corpses, have we? Tell me where the altar is."

Sun Mengmeng interrupted, "Captain, are you intending to summon this mystical beast?"

"The only reason it hadn't been summoned was because we were lucky. I don't intend to keep a sword of Damocles hanging over my neck."

Indeed, if there were sura who had survived the purge and somehow knew of the ritual, it was possible that they could summon this mystical beast at an inopportune moment for the humans and land them all in trouble.

"We might as well defuse the bomb while we're able to do so. Sun Mengmeng, divide the spoils of war, and let the hunters who are able to fight continue to conquer the rest of the sura lands. I'll handle this mystical beast," Zhang Lie continued.

While Zhang Lie was talking, he spotted a vital treasure, something that caught even his eye. He glanced at it cautiously from afar, mumbling to himself, "A thousand-poison bloodsoul fruit! As expected, there really is a huge amount of treasure here. With this, I can brew..."