Chapter 392: Champion of Mankind, Zhang Lie

Zhang Lie wasn't about to take the attack on Qi lying down. Since these races had tried to invade Qi, it was only reasonable that they be prepared to be invaded, too. He tracked down, attacked, and destroyed the territories of the races that had taken part in the invasion.

Most of his original group of three thousand hunters remained in Qi to prevent a similar situation from occurring again; Zhang Lie, with solely the members of Team Zenith, Hong Xi, and the Qi special forces at his disposal, was able to crush just about whatever resistance he encountered.

In the next few days, he terrorized the nearby territories with his team of elites, none of which contained a fighter strong enough to stop him. With his small band of hunters, he was able to strike deftly at their weakened defenses.

After Zhang Lie destroyed the coalition's main strike force at Qi, it was hard for them to muster sufficiently many fighters to defend against Zhang Lie, so they had no choice but to turtle up in their respective territories and hope that Zhang Lie didn't come for them.

Upon seeing the havoc Zhang Lie was wreaking, they very much regretted having attacked Qi.

Zhang Lie and the members of Team Zenith responded flexibly and creatively to whatever strategies the alien races employed, and Zhang Lie was far too strong for them to beat with brute strength.

Could a mere human really be this strong? In the past, they had successfully attacked human cities quite a few times before, and the humans had never dared to retaliate. None of them had ever done anything akin to what Zhang Lie was doing now, roaming around their territories and ambushing their own kind!

While he was in the middle of attacking yet another territory, Zhang Lie met a rather interesting king, perhaps a representative chosen by the allied territories, who tried to conduct negotiations with Zhang Lie.

"Don't think we'll allow you to keep this up, human! We're the ones who were defeated during the invasion—how dare you continue culling our forces?!"

If they allowed Zhang Lie to rampage further, their reputation would be ruined—to think they had been defeated so soundly by a mere human!

Zhang Lie folded his arms. "In that case, how do you plan to resolve this problem? Shall we pretend that you didn't invade Qi, or that we humans didn't perish as a result?"

"This is what we've always done!"

"The past is the past, and the present is different. We humans won't allow you to invade our lands any further. Anyone who strikes mankind had better be prepared to suffer our wrath."

Having said his fill, Zhang Lie struck. "[The Boundless Blade: Dragon's Wrath]!"

A blood dragon rushed out of Venombane, piercing the king's chest and causing blood to bloom from his body like a flower.

"Times have changed, and it's time for humanity to rise up," Zhang Lie announced.

The death of their king caused the fighters of the alien race to cry out in surprise, shock, and then indignation. They charged toward Zhang Lie.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Hundred Dragons Soaring]!" Zhang Lie sent a horde of dragons at the invaders, decimating them in the blink of an eye. As the ground turned red with blood, Zhang Lie wiped the dust off his hands. "Come, it's time for our next target!"

There was some benefit to be had from culling these invaders: some of them were considered genetic lifeforms, though none were particularly high-ranking. Once the members of Team Zenith had all maxed out their superior gene fragments from consuming the flesh of these aliens, he had the rest of the corpses sent back to Qi.

After Zhang Lie's demonstration, the invading races had no choice but to pack up and establish new borders farther from Qi. If they couldn't beat Zhang Lie, they could at least run further away, even if that meant they would have to give up some of their land.

Zhang Lie claimed that land for Qi with relish while the alien races once again regretted their decision to invade Qi. Not only had they failed in their invasion, they even had to cede some of their land!

Mankind had grown so much stronger so quickly that the alien races could hardly keep up; it shocked them to realize that they were no longer a pushover. And if even the invasion force composed of all the races' top fighters combined couldn't handle Zhang Lie, what could any of the nearby kingdoms individually do?

The only logical choice was therefore to retreat. The land controlled by Qi expanded by almost ten times that day as the kingdoms were forced to cede their land to Zhang Lie, and the governor of Qi, Xiao Zhengyang, almost cried when Zhang Lie presented him with his new territory.

This was the crowning glory of his tenure as a governor, he was sure of it.

Besides the land, Zhang Lie had obtained quite a number of treasures from his excursion into enemy territory. After some experimentation, he decided that he needed only two more ingredients for Potion #4.

"Times have changed, and it's time for humanity to rise up," Zhang Lie announced.

Someone had captured footage of this particular scene, and the hunters of Qi all cheered upon seeing it. For what Zhang Lie had done, they crowned him with a new accolade: champion of mankind.

When he learned of what had happened, Amurong smashed a vase in his study to smithereens. "Champion of mankind, is he?!"

He was very upset that Zhang Lie, who had seemed like a talented hunter but nothing extraordinary, was quickly becoming a rising star.

If Zhang Lie continued on that trajectory, sooner or later, he would take down Amurong himself. His reputation in the world federation was growing at a burgeoning pace, and everyone knew what he was up to.

He had saved Qi in a time of crisis, then counter-invaded the sura kingdom that had attacked Qi. After taking down its capital, he rushed back to Qi to fend off another invasion, then claimed the enemy kingdoms' lands for Qi!

"Your highness, the humans of Qi must be punished. They have no sense of propriety; not only did they forcibly expel us from our own lands, they're even hanging a sura king from the city wall, subject to public humiliation! It's clear that these humans don't respect the authority of the sura!"

A representative from one of the enemy races that had invaded Qi relayed a sordid tale to the sura king who had granted him an audience, one who controlled another nearby sura territory.

The representative and the king were in a lavishly decorated audience chamber; if Zhang Lie were present, he would have noticed that it was decorated in much the same style as the sura king's palace which he had been in just a few days ago.

The sura king chuckled coldly. "Don't you think we can tell when you're trying to manipulate us?"

A sura elder tutted by his side. "You want to make use of our forces to slaughter Qi and to reclaim your own lands, don't you?"