Chapter 454: Ahead of the Pack

In his office, Amurong continued to dictate all sorts of rumors that his underlings began to spread: Zhang Lie was half-alien, Zhang Lie was a member of the sura, Zhang Lie refused to hand over his research on the theory of limit fragments in order to control the entirety of the world federation...

All sorts of rumors, no matter how ridiculous or how unbelievable, were sent out.

Amurong could hardly wait for Zhang Lie to die. Only with his death would his theory of limit fragments finally land in Amurong's hands; otherwise, he would never be able to force it out of Zhang Lie.

He had even wanted to forbid anyone within the world federation from volunteering to help Renhuang for a simple reason: because no one could defend against the combined forces of seven sura kingdoms.

Rather than sacrifice a large number of seasoned hunters, why not save their strength? Renhuang only contained three thousand humans, after all, and it would hardly affect the world federation.

On the other hand, the loss of tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands or millions of hunters would be a far more significant loss. Wasn't it natural to sacrifice the few for the many?

He had almost come to blows with Martial Sage Hong Tianqi on this point during a committee meeting among the highest authorities of the world federation.

Hong Tianqi wanted to summon reinforcements from the world federation, but Amurong was wholly opposed to the idea. In the end, Hong Tianqi had no choice but to announce a summons as a private individual rather than an authority of the world federation.

When the meeting ended and Amurong's closest ally gathered at his office, they asked, "What will you do? Ignoring the other races for now, the martial sage himself will be able to draw many reinforcements to his cause. I anticipate that the majority of Chinese hunters in the second realm will march to support Renhuang."

Amurong sipped from a cup of tea unhurriedly, causing his ally to frown. "How can you be drinking tea at such a juncture? If Zhang Lie survives, our plan will be for naught!"

Amurong replied impassively, "Ignoring whether or not the humans' aid will be sufficient to defend against the sura, it's not even certain that Zhang Lie will be able to hold out until the reinforcements arrive."

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

"I should hope so—I don't want to suffer another loss."

Amurong smiled primly. "Don't worry—I have a plan in mind."

"A plan?"

"I've already set up my men in positions of power in countries other than China—for instance, three hundred bureaucrats in Qi are under my sway.

With these people around, it'll be easy for me to delay the reinforcements by a day or two. By the time the human reinforcements set off, they'll be doomed."

"Is that so? What's your plan?"

"Once the humans set off, my people will announce their location to the sura and those alien races hostile to the humans. Don't you remember when Zhang Lie fought off the Qi invaders? There are quite a few races whom he's angered."

Amurong began to cackle. "Renhuang will be the grave of mankind, and Martial Sage Hong Tianqi, who gathered human hunters to a doomed cause, shall become the scourge of humanity! Not only will he lose his reputation, but also his seat in the world federation—and I shall remain in power!"

His ally advised, "You'll need a contingency plan. Be more careful—if this plan were to fail, mankind's reputation will only continue to rise, and the martial sage's words will hold more authority in the world federation."

Amurong shook his head. "They're done for. Whether or not Zhang Lie can defend Renhuang, we'll be poised to secure our power. How are your preparations going?"

The other party smiled coldly. "Rest assured. My men are stationed within the Zenith Dojo, and once something happens to Zhang Lie, I'll have them kidnap his sister."

Amurong smirked. "Very good. Considering how deadly the hunter profession is, he's surely left a will and an inheritance behind for her. It's very likely that part of that inheritance is the recipe for brewing his limit-breaking potions—or a clue to it, at the very least. As long as we can capture that girl, we'll be able to secure Zhang Lie's inheritance."

If Zhang Lie were still alive, no one would dare to touch his family after seeing the example he had made of the Musi clan. However, a dead Zhang Lie wasn't something anyone would be afraid of.

Twin cackles resounded within Amurong's office.

"So this is Renhuang? It doesn't look like anything special."

In just half a day, Shouta and his band of elite fighters had arrived in Renhuang.

They walked into the nearby forest as they scouted Renhuang's surroundings, but they had barely gone deep within when vines suddenly dropped down from the trees overhead to entangle them.

Shouta reacted quickly, waving the blade hitched around his shoulder and cutting apart the trees in a radius of five hundred meters around him.

"How curious," he murmured.

Only the stumps remained, but the wood spirits' vitality was so strong that the stumps began to regrow near-instantaneously.

Shouta frowned, then swung his blade again, destroying stump after stump.

The wood spirits hidden within these stumps were so scared that they began flying out into the air, and Shouta struck them down one after another. The blood-colored edge of his blade began to glow, as though it had come alive.

A band of hunters stood atop the city walls. Their leader was Su Hong. Upon seeing the sura king and his ilk, he shouted, "Another sura king? What are all of you doing here?"

Shouta didn't deign to respond. His executioner's blade swung down from above, and Su Hong and the others dodged instinctively. The blade left a huge crack on the city walls.

Shouta swung his blade once more as the hunters shielded their heads and ducked down.

The top of the watchtower beside them began to slide down, then crashed into the moat outside the city walls—Shouta's blade had sliced it cleanly off.

The hunters recoiled in shock. Had they been even a little slower, their heads would have been chopped off by now.

Shouta shouted, "Which of you killed my fifth and seventh brothers?"

"Who are they?"

"Ah, I forgot to mention them... They're two sura, one of which likes to have sex with human males and the other of which bathes in human blood."

Su Hong didn't know about the latter sura, but there was, to his knowledge, only one sura known for his proclivity toward human males. Every hunter from Qi knew of him.