Chapter 377: Gene-Based Poison

Zhang Lie didn't waste his breath replying to the sura elder's arrogant claims. He summoned Venombane in his right palm.

The sura elder laughed coldly. "Give up, you stubborn fool! Do you think you can slaughter all of us here?"

The sura fighters began to laugh again. "Laughable, laughable indeed! Do you think you're stronger than the governor of Qi?"

"Stand still and defend against my attacks, then," Zhang Lie suggested, bringing out a large quantity of vials and causing the sura fighters to laugh even more loudly.

"Come at us if you dare!"

"If you can slaughter us despite the sura king's protection, we'll accept our deaths."

"Stop struggling, human beast! Kneel down and I'll consider letting you be a dog at my place!"

The sura elder tsked. "Honestly, if I were a human myself, I'd be ashamed of your behavior."

The sura king watched Zhang Lie curiously, wondering what he would do next. Zhang Lie summoned a black dragon and affixed his vials to it, then sent it soaring above the sura fighters. The liquid sprayed all over their bodies.

The sura fighters thought nothing of the errant drops of liquid.

.

One daring fighter spoke up, "Was that it? I thought that you might have some skill to dare to step forward, but it looks like it's all a charade! You aren't a clown sent over by the humans, are you? Perhaps the humans thought we were so bored of killing them that we needed more entertainment!

"Well, you did make us all laugh, so how about this? I'll escort you to the palace myself and let you become our king's next concubine. However, he's a strong and sturdy male, so who knows if you'll even be able to make it out alive?"

"Hahaha!" The sura fighters continued to laugh, but as they glanced at each other, they became rather taken aback. "Stop laughing! Your eyeballs look like they're about to bulge out of their sockets!"

"Haha, your mouth's all misshapen!"

"Haha, you, your head's melting!"

The sura fighters found themselves shrinking as flesh... melted off their bodies. Black spots appeared on their skin, then festering tumors.

"What's all this?!"

𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

The sura elder's face grew alarmed. "That was poison!"

The sura fighters immediately began circulating their genetic energy in an attempt to dispel the poison, but the effects of the poison grew even more serious once it came in contact with their genetic energy. Their bodies ballooned, and blood and flesh exploded out of their bodies.

Only the sura king and sura elder seemed to be able to counter the effects of the poison.

The sura elder glared at Zhang Lie.

"Just what did you do?!"

"Haven't you already guessed it?"

"Hand over the antidote immediately."

"Unfortunately, this poison targets the genes directly. There's no antidote." The potion that Zhang Lie had employed was naturally the special tonic of the Yeluo clan, which was anathema to the sura. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a biological weapon. Any member of the sura who came into contact with the poison would find their DNA irreversibly corrupted, causing their bodies to decompose from their very genetic code alone.

As he watched the sura fighters keen in agony, the sura elder shouted, "If you don't hand over the antidote, I'll slaughter the entire population of Qi!"

Zhang Lie shook his head. "I won't let you do that."

The humans watched the sura fighters decompose with shock, fear, and some amount of satisfaction.

"I'll kill you!" the sura elder shouted. There wasn't any more time left; if the poison spread further, all the sura fighters would perish. The sura elder sent a bloody mist rising into the skies.

"[The Boundless Blade: Dragon's Wrath]!" Zhang Lie cut apart the mist—and beheaded the sura elder. He moved so swiftly that even the sura king wasn't able to react in time. The sura elder's head rolled on the ground, and his body crumpled.

The sura king walked up to Zhang Lie slowly. "Interesting. You're the strongest human I've seen," he commented. He was smiling serenely, as though he didn't notice his decomposing fighters, nor the head of the sura elder that had rolled to his feet.

Zhang Lie frowned. "You don't care about the death of these other members of your race at all?"

The sura king spread his arms. "They're nothing more than fighters. I have an entire kingdom under my control, and I can easily get more of those."

"You're cold-blooded."

"Well, I liked the elder." He glanced down at the rolling head. "It's a pity you killed him."

The sura king eyed Zhang Lie's buttocks. "You're a very interesting human. I think I'd like to take you as my concubine."

Genetic energy flared from Zhang Lie's body in response. No matter what, he had to kill the sura king here—he was too perverted an enemy that Zhang Lie didn't want to encounter him ever again!

"Oh? It looks like you're quite resistant to the idea," the sura king sighed. "You need to give me a name so that I know what to address you by."

"I won't give you that opportunity!"

"Are you unwilling to tell me even your name?" The sura king narrowed his eyes. "I suppose the elder was right to call the humans all cowards."

Zhang Lie scoffed. "My name is Zhang Lie."

"You—you're Zhang Lie!"

The sura king immediately became enraged. The bloody sea that was his domain began to pool all around him, and a cyclone of blood swirled by his feet. The skies looked as though they had been dyed in carmine.

The human fighters jumped up in fear, then scurried off into hiding behind the walls of Qi.

"It was you who slaughtered my darling, my dear concubine, Musi Yu!" Genetic energy gushed out of the sura king. The bloody sea turned choppy; the sea's boundless rage seemed to be focused on one target: Zhang Lie.