Chapter 361: An Upgraded Bounty

As the presiding representative of the meeting, he had one opportunity to turn the tables and veto the results of the vote. However, the moment he used this privilege, any of the other nine members of the judiciary committee could challenge his decision.

If he were to win this challenge, all would go according to plan; on the other hand, if he were to lose, his position would be usurped by the victor instead. If Hong Tianqi hadn't revealed the extent of his strength, Amurong would surely have used that veto now, but since he was now uncertain that he would be able to take Hong Tianqi down, using that veto would be pointless.

As a result, he had to grit his teeth and accept the tie.

The moment the meeting ended, Hong Tianqi messaged Zhang Lie. "Next time, let me know before you make such a big fuss! Don't you know I was almost ousted from my position?" Hong Tianqi grumbled.

Zhang Lie laughed sheepishly as he apologized, "Ah, sorry, I'll let you know next time, I promise."

"Next time?! You're on your own in the future, brat! I'll warn you of one thing: one of the highest authorities of the world federation, Amurong, seems to have turned against you. Be careful, and keep a low profile."

"What? Haven't I been keeping a low profile all this time?"

"You think destroying an interplanetary conglomerate with one bounty is considered keeping a low profile? Scram!" Hong Tianqi laughed as he hung up. He had to admit, Zhang Lie was a very interesting hunter. He was skilled, knowledgeable, talented, and was excellent at getting the upper hand. In other words, Zhang Lie would be a perfect successor for him.

On the other side of the call, Zhang Lie was likewise smiling. He had never imagined that he would be able to have such a casual, friendly conversation with a hunter like Hong Tianqi. He whistled as he strolled back to the dojo's training chambers, where Hong Xiao and Hong Xi were seated face to face in training.

"How's it going?"

Hong Xiao respectfully lowered his head. "Master, I've already undergone the foundational breakthrough."

Zhang Lie praised, "Good, very good! I think you'll be well-suited to [Eclipse], just like your sister."

Hong Xiao smiled proudly upon hearing Zhang Lie's praise.

Suddenly, someone barged in from the outside—Zhang Hong.

"What's going on?" Zhang Lie asked.

"Something's terribly wrong. Look!" She handed him a transceiver.

Zhang Lie scrolled through the contents and smirked. "Interesting."

"Interesting?! They've placed a bounty on every hunter in our dojo!"

Zhang Lie tapped on a certain cell. "Oh? I'm only worth ten billion points. That's far too cheap—and Sun Mengmeng and the others are only worth ten million points!"

Hong Xi peeked over his shoulder. "Let me have a look, Master!"

Zhang Lie handed her the transceiver, and she scowled. "Look at how ugly they've made my picture, and how fat I look! And they've even made your handsome appearance ferocious and evil. I'm going to sue them!"

Zhang Hong glanced at their cavalier antics with worry. "How can the two of you be focused on such matters now? What will we do with our disciples?!"

"The bounty's issued by the Musi clan, I assume?"

Hong Xiao had also walked over. "Che, my sister and I are only worth a million dollars! I'm surprised they still have the time to be issuing bounties on us instead of worrying about their own survival."

"Given that the entire dojo's been placed under a bounty, shall we have the disciples gather here and shelter for a few days?" Zhang Hong suggested.

"Hide? Why would our disciples need to hide? The situation's not nearly as bad as you might imagine. The entire galaxy's hunting down the last remnants of the Musi, and no one will care about us," Zhang Lie retorted.

"But at this rate, the Musi will surely be slaughtered to the last sooner or later!"

"Don't worry, I have a plan. Zhang Hong, can you gather all the disciples over here?"

Zhang Hong's eyes brimmed with hope. "Yes, I'll head out immediately!"

𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"Ah, wait a moment—there's something I need your help with. Raise the bounty we're issuing on the Musi clan!"

Zhang Hong's eyes widened. The effect of the last bounty was enormous, and now Zhang Lie intended on upgrading it further?

On the other hand, Hong Xi and Hong Xiao glanced at each other in shock and awe. Zhang Lie's bounty had destroyed their clan's longtime rival, and they had cried for an entire night as they watched the news of the Musi clan's destruction.

These days, all they did was cultivate and read the news about how any errant survivors from the Musi clan were being chased down. No matter how tiring their training was, they would always be filled with strength when they read the news.

Zhang Lie smiled evilly. "Of course we have to repay them in kind for this bounty they've issued."

"How, Master?" Hong Xi asked. "Haven't most of the members of the Musi clan been chased down already?"

"Well, their clan head is still alive. This time, we'll issue a bounty on him. The reward will be five mutated-grade limit-breaking potions."

Hong Xi's eyes widened. "Will that be effective, Master? Musi Yu's a warlord of the third realm!"

"Well, I'm not sure myself, but it's the first time we're releasing Potion #2 to the public. I'm sure someone will give it a go." Zhang Lie was so daring that he was even setting his sights on the head of the Musi clan himself.

Zhang Hong had all the disciples assemble in one of the largest courtyards of the dojo. The Zenith Dojo had grown tremendously after the Void Cup, and seeing all the disciples gathered at the behest of the dojo leader was an amazing sight.

"I'm sure all of you have heard about the bounty issued on the disciples of the Zenith Dojo," Zhang Lie began, glancing at the gathered disciples. "I'm very glad that none of you were so cowardly as to leave the dojo as a result. Don't worry. I, Zhang Lie, will protect all of you.

"A specialized settlement solely for the dojo has been constructed in the first realm of the dimensional world. From tomorrow onwards, all the low-ranked disciples of the dojo will enter the first realm, where you'll help construct the Zenith settlement."

The disciples gaped, and hushed conversations immediately broke out.

There were quite a number of settlements in the dimensional world, but most were constructed by the world federation or left behind by pioneers. No one had ever heard of a settlement being constructed by one faction or another.

Doing so would require humongous manpower and wealth, and no ordinary faction would be able to afford such a cost. A settlement in the first realm, widely understood as a tutorial world for hunters, didn't seem meaningful.

Nevertheless, their dojo leader seemed intent on constructing such a settlement. When the young disciples learned that they would be able to build their own settlement from the ground up, they were evidently very excited.

"Don't be worried about your families, either. I'll ensure that they're adequately protected, and none of your relatives will come to any harm. In the meantime, I hope you'll all work hard within the dimensional world."

After the sudden announcement, Zhang Lie dismissed the disciples, then convened a meeting with the instructors and staff of the dojo to discuss the protection of the disciples' relatives.

This turned out to be quite an easy problem to resolve. Lin Xiu would remain behind to guard Ning, in conjunction with the members of Team Zenith, the generals of the Chinese military, and the special forces troops.

The entirety of Ning would become closed off from the outside world, and no assassins or bounty hunters would be able to find their way in. As for the citizens of Ning, none of them would dare lay a hand on the Zenith Dojo.

With all these affairs settled, Zhang Lie finally returned to his private chambers to review the manual of [Black Sun] that he had obtained from the Musi clan.

It was obvious from name alone that [Black Sun] was at least tangentially related to [Eclipse]. Considering how avidly the members of the Musi clan were chasing after the manual, he was certain that there had to be some deeper connection between the two techniques.

As he scrutinized the manuals more carefully, Zhang Lie found that there were surprising similarities behind the foundation and formation of the two techniques, as though they were mirrored reflections of one another.

[Eclipse] was born of shadow, and [Black Sun] of light. Could the origin of the two techniques have been the same? Or perhaps the two techniques had both derived from a higher-ranked technique? In that case, would he be able to recombine them into one cohesive whole?

The more he thought about it, the more plausible that idea seemed to become. However, the results of his experiments were disappointing. His copy of [Black Sun] was incomplete, so there was no way he would be able to combine the two techniques so simply.

The fact that an additional bounty had been posted quickly caught the eye of the bounty hunters and assassins of the world federation.

"Did you see? Musi Yu's head can be exchanged for five vials of the newest limit-breaking potion, Potion #2!"

"What? Really?! I can't believe the Zenith Dojo's daring enough to issue a bounty on a warlord of the third realm!"

"Che! So what if Musi Yu's a famous figure? I bet Zhang Lie's already come up with a plan for dealing with him!"