Chapter 390: The Invaders' Defeat

As they sensed Zhang Lie's cold gaze, the invading forces couldn't help but take a step or two back. "Isn't this fellow supposed to be at a sura kingdom's capital? What's he doing here?"

"Damn it, there's been some mistake with our intelligence! The human who killed the sura king has returned to Qi!"

However, it would be far too embarrassing, and far too wasteful, to leave Qi again now that they almost had it entirely in their grasp.

"Don't think you're invincible just because you've defeated the sura. We're going to destroy Qi today, whether or not you're here! You must surely be tired after rushing into the territory of the sura, defeating the guards stationed there, and then rushing back to Qi. How much strength could you possibly have left? Hand over half the humans in the city and we'll promise never to come back."

Zhang Lie snorted. "Not a chance. In fact, since you're all here already, why don't you stay right here? [Fists of the Silent Sea: Hundred Dragons Soaring]!"

A horde of over a hundred black dragons launched out of Zhang Lie's left arm as he expended half his genetic energy in one supercharged attack. The dragons' cries sounded like peals of thunder as they swooped down on the invading troops, sending the battlefield into a frenzy.

Countless invaders turned into ash under the bombardment of the black dragons, but a storm of leaves quickly formed around the treemen and defended against Zhang Lie's attack.

A gigantic tree suddenly appeared from the midst of the invaders' forces. As it grew larger and larger, it turned into a titanic black treeman the size of a skyscraper, with a demonic face bulging out of the tree bark.

"Human who defeated the sura king, I am the demonic tree general, the commander of the treemen forces and of the allied invading forces! Send half of the humans from this city as captives, and I'll immediately leave with my troops!"

The invaders yelled out in excitement, "The demonic tree general's making his move! He's supposed to be as strong as a sura king himself!"

"I heard that he fought against one of the sura kings in the past, and neither of them were able to defeat the other. In the end, the sura king gave up on attacking him!"

"If he's that strong, then we should be able to attack Qi while the general holds Zhang Lie back."

"[Ninesoul Dragonblade—First Form: Parting the River]!" Zhang Lie didn't deign to negotiate. He raised Venombane high over his head as he launched a sword technique that split land and sky.

The battlefield parted in twain, and the demonic tree general was bisected in half.

The humans cheered. "We've won! We've won! Is that all the strength you invaders amount to?"

Meanwhile, the invaders recoiled in shock. "Isn't the demonic tree general supposed to be as strong as a sura king? Could Zhang Lie have grown this strong out of nowhere?"

Amidst the cheering, a long vine suddenly grew out of one half of the tree trunk, tethering the two halves of the demonic tree general together. The general shouted, "It's useless! Your technique won't be effective against me."

"If I can't cut you down with one blow, I'll do it with two, three, a thousand, ten thousand! I don't believe you'll be able to regenerate from ten thousand cuts at once. [The Boundless Blade: Dragon's Wrath]!"

As a blood dragon shot out of Venombane, it let out a corrosive breath that sent wooden chips splintering out of the demonic tree general's bark and the nearby invaders fleeing for their lives.

"[The Boundless Blade: Dragon's Wrath]!" Zhang Lie launched the same technique once again, spawning a blood dragon that aimed straight at the crack in the gigantic treeman's body.

As he repeated the technique twice more, the treeman's body fell to the ground in pieces.

.

Even so, the roots of the tree suddenly sprouted up from the ground, twisting together in a macabre rendition of the demonic tree general's face. "It's useless! No matter how many times you cut me, you won't be able to kill me."

The reason the demonic tree general had been able to force the sura king to retreat wasn't because it was all that strong, but rather because it had such potent regenerative abilities that even the sura king couldn't do anything to him.

"Then how about this? [Ninesoul Dragonblade—Second Form: Piercing the Soul]!"

A frightening aura enveloped the blade, one imbued with such potent power that the demonic tree general suddenly felt that his life was in danger. "Hold it!" he shouted. "We should have a peaceable discussion, not a fight to the death!"

"It's too late!" As the technique imbued with spiritual energy struck the demonic tree general, its massive body broke apart into a shower of splinters, which dissipated with the wind.

The demonic tree general possessed so potent a power of regeneration that it was virtually able to revive indefinitely, but Zhang Lie had a technique that was able to counter it: one that directly struck the soul.

The demonic tree general was equipped with incredible vitality, but his soul was far weaker.

The invaders couldn't help but shiver in fear. How had the demonic tree general perished so quickly? Zhang Lie had killed him with a single attack! Was he truly a human, a member of that weak race that everyone else had been able to bully?

At that very moment, Zhang Lie was disabusing the other races of their stereotypical notions about humanity. Even the sura wouldn't be able to take Zhang Lie lightly; he was propping up humanity's status in the second realm alone. No human before him had managed to kill a sura king, nor the demonic tree general, who had survived unscathed from a sura king's attacks.

He was far too different from the humans that these invaders knew about—was Zhang Lie actually a sura king disguised as a human, or an artificial lifeform that the humans had constructed?

"When did humans become so strong?"

"No! This is impossible—how could we lose against these humans?!"

"Zhang Lie's simply too frightening. We need to escape!"

Some of the invaders began to run away, but Zhang Lie called out,

"I told you, none of you will be able to leave Qi alive! Hunters of Qi, what are you waiting for? It's time to strike back!"

The hunters of Qi, still shocked that he had defeated the demonic tree general so easily, finally came to their senses upon hearing Zhang Lie's shout. As one, they charged forward and slaughtered the invaders that were fleeing the scene.

Only wounded hunters were left in Qi, but they charged at the invaders as though they had temporarily forgotten about their injuries. They had hardly been able to do anything during the initial part of the invasion; how could they stand still now that Zhang Lie had turned the tides?

Of course, the main attacker among the forces of Qi was none other than Zhang Lie. "[Fists of the Silent Sea: Hundred Dragons Soaring]!"