Chapter 430: Prepare to Die

In the kingdom of Xuechi, within the sura king Xuechi's sleeping quarters, the odor of blood spread throughout the air. In the center of his palace was a pool of dark-colored blood, in which the king had immersed himself to take a bath.

"Your highness, there's been a missive from the monarch!" An old official walked toward the edge of the pool.

"What news does he bring?"

The official replied, "It's with regards to the destruction of the kingdom of Xueju, your highness."

Xuechi pondered the matter over for a moment. "Ah, yes. Xueju was captured, and you wanted me to absorb his kingdom into my own. I've sent troops over to do so; how's their progress?"

"They've consumed the entire border, and they're spreading deeper into the kingdom as we speak."

Mobilizing large numbers of troops was a slow process, and the troops had already made impressive progress as they were.

Xuechi stood up and donned a black robe lined with golden thread. On the robe's back was sewed the figure of a three-headed, six-armed sura.

The elder glanced again at the contents of the missive and gasped in shock.

Xuechi poured himself a cup of wine and swirled it around. "What's the matter?"

The official replied with a stammer, "According to the missive, the sura king Xueju was killed by a h-human!"

The wine that Xuechi had just imbibed sprayed out of his mouth toward the unfortunate official. He began to laugh so much that he wheezed. "Y-You, surely you're joking!"

The sura official shook his head. "No, your highness!"

Xuechi continued to laugh, so much so that he couldn't hold his cup straight. "Killed by a human! Truly?"

It was little wonder that Xuechi was shocked: in the eyes of the sura, humans were nothing more than cattle, nothing more than pigs, dogs, sheep, or cows. Perhaps an ordinary sura might have fallen to an exceptional human, but they were talking about none other than a sura king!

In other words, it was as if a tank that could dominate the entire battlefield had been destroyed by a pig. Comparing a sura king to a tank was an insult; no, each sura king was more like a galactic cruiser. How could a pig take down a galactic cruiser? The very thought was ridiculous.

"Let me have a look." Xuechi grabbed the missive and skimmed through its contents.

As he read on, his face turned dark. "The humans dared take over the capital and make their own city from it? How dare they! When have we sura ever been polluted by these humans?!"

The official hurriedly retrieved a suit of battle armor for Xuechi. It was so dense and heavy that even the official could barely carry its weight.

After Xuechi put on the armor, he instructed, "Have a few more humans slaughtered and their blood fed into the pool. It's getting cold."

The official blinked a few times. Wasn't Xuechi about to set off to take on the humans? What was the point of filling up the pool some more?

"Summon my bloodwinged dragon riders! When I come back with the heads of these insolent upstart humans, I want a hot blood bath!"

The official was simultaneously shocked and confident when he heard that Xuechi was mobilizing the pride of the kingdom of Xuechi: the bloodwinged dragon riders.

Initially, the hunters who had followed Zhang Lie from Qi were rather displeased by the presence of alien races in the city, considering how Qi had once been invaded by hostile races. After living with them for some time, however, they began to change their minds and perspective.

Not all alien races were bad; indeed, trading with them could lead to untold fortune.

A few children's toys and trinkets could be traded for spiritual herbs from the wood spirits, and pieces of gold and minerals for freshly killed genetic lifeforms from the rock spirits. They were even occasionally able to buy superior-grade lifeforms' flesh from time to time.

No longer did they need to rely on dangerous hunting to form a good foundation in this realm—no, they could defray some of that labor to the alien races instead.

For this, they had to thank Miss Yun Bing, along with the members of Team Zenith.

Those who wanted to go out hunting could hire a few mercenary bodyguards to make it safer, and those who didn't want to go out at all could become guards within the city. The guards earned a decent wage for their labor, and they would be able to buy genetic lifeforms from the bazaar with that coin.

𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

It was no longer difficult to increase the number of their gene fragments—the task had gotten much simpler. Zhang Lie and the city of Renhuang was the root cause behind that simplicity, and those hunters who had chosen to follow him here were very proud of their decision.

As the Yeluo drank a bowl of meat broth, they could feel strength and warmth filling their bodies.

Many among them had been unwilling to move from the Yeluo Valley, but some were rather curious as to what the outside world was like. They were worried whether they could get accustomed to living here after being in the valley for so long, and they found, to their surprise, that their standards of living were actually higher in Zhang Lie's city.

They lived in houses of stone, which were much more comfortable than those of wood. They would be able to acquire food and other resources without having to battle against poisonous insects, and they were even able to obtain the soulshards that would otherwise have been impossible to obtain.

Even the Yeluo themselves didn't realize just how valuable the recipes their ancestors had left for them were—a small vial could be exchanged for soulshards and food. The chief of the Yeluo drank himself drunk daily with the wood spirits' alcohol, praising Zhang Lie day in and day out.

The wood spirits didn't eat meat, but they were very fond of the Yeluo clan's herbal concoctions. They sat and sipped as they enjoyed the joyous atmosphere around them. This was quite a different experience from living in a peaceful, idyllic forest, but few of the wood spirits would have wanted to return.

The rock spirits sat around the plaza, each gnawing on a massive boulder. Ever since they arrived in the city, they had never once gone hungry.

The crag eagles were particularly excited to consume yet another feast, and especially the meat of the golden rocs.

All sorts of meat was being roasted by the side of the plaza, and everyone could take their fill. The leader of the rock spirits had brought a freshly slaughtered superior-grade lifeform with him as a gift.

Zhang Lie glanced all around him as human, wood spirit, Yeluo, rock spirit, and crag eagle interacted in harmony, and he too smiled brightly.

Sun Mengmeng suddenly tugged on Zhang Lie's hand. "Come, Zhang Lie, come here and dance with me!"

She pulled him toward a campfire, where a group of people were already dancing. This was a celebratory custom from the Yeluo clan. When those present saw Zhang Lie approach, they began to cheer.

Just then, as they eagerly waited for Zhang Lie to start dancing, a dragon's roar came from the horizon.

Everyone lifted their heads. Someone pointed at the sky and shouted, "What's that?!"

A black shadow was darting down toward them.

Zhang Lie frowned. It was already nighttime, so the flyers were hardly visible to a large part of the crowd.

Just then, a red glow lit up the sky and grew larger as it approached the party. Sun Mengmeng frowned. "What's approaching?"

The red glow fell toward them like a meteor, laden with killing intent. Streaks of red filled the air and shot toward the plaza. Everyone could all sense the danger posed by this sudden attack. If the attack was to land, there would surely be casualties all around.

Almost the entire city was gathered at the plaza; it would be a devastating blow to Renhuang, one that Zhang Lie wouldn't let happen. Renhuang was something everyone present had put all their hard work into, and he wouldn't let it get destroyed so easily!

He leapt into the air and flapped the wings that sprouted from his back, blocking the red glow with his hands. The red glow was stronger than he had expected, and the momentum it carried forced Zhang Lie down. Zhang Lie gritted his teeth and flapped his wings at full force, barely slowing himself down.

"[Rune: Resonate]!" The image of a dragonturtle appeared before him as the four tablets revolved in mid-air, forcibly stopping the red glow from moving.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Quake]!" Zhang Lie shoved the red glow away, sending it flying into the air, where it burst apart like fireworks.

Zhang Lie narrowed his eyes as he scouted his surroundings, glancing at the group of fliers that had just approached.

His targets were all sura, ones that were riding on some dragons with blood-colored wings. They wore black armor that camouflaged them against the night sky.

The leader of the riders rode a dragon about three times the size of the others. He wore blood-red armor with flames emblazoned on them, and even his skin was dark red. Two horns grew out of his forehead like a crown.

Judging by his unusual appearance, Zhang Lie was certain that he was a sura king himself.

Xuechi glanced at Zhang Lie with interest. "Are you the one who killed Xueju?"

Zhang Lie frowned. The sura king's tone carried marked disdain; no matter how strong Zhang Lie was, he was still a human. Xuechi believed that he had only managed to assassinate Xueju in the middle of sex.

Zhang Lie didn't know who Xueju was, but there was only one sura who fit the bill. "You're here to take revenge for the sura king I slaughtered?"

"Indeed, I am!" The sura king's face turned dark. "Are you an idiot or a reckless fool, to be so daring as to kill a sura king and then to claim his capital as your own city? Are you prepared to die?"