Chapter 461: The Horns of War

Zhang Lie raised his head. "I'll start delegating tasks now. Sun Xiaowu, you have the strongest defense, so I'll leave you to deal with Gaoyuan."

Sun Xiaowu nodded. "Yes, Captain!"

"Yang Ze, you and Hong Xi will team up against Suiyue. Hong Xi, your domain of [Eclipse] should be able to affect Suiyue's body."

Hong Xi asked, "What if he uses his time-reversal technique?"

"Take him down each time he uses it. It should get easier as he gets weaker and weaker; once you deal with him, head back to meet with Sun Xiaowu."

Sun Xiaowu turned to the sky. "Yu Huantian, I'll be relying on you for our communication lines."

The shaman of the wood spirits spoke up. "There's no need for all this trouble. I have a special herb here, a doublegrowth flower. If you apply a special potion to a part of one flower, both flowers will turn the same color. For instance, if the plan fails, you can turn the flower red; if the plan succeeds, turn it blue."

Zhang Lie nodded. "Excellent. Fang Yi, you'll deal with Niutou. Your battlefield will be right here."

Zhang Lie pointed at a certain spot on the map that he had pulled out, a river that blocked the northern parts of the second realm from Renhuang.

"Minotaurs aren't very comfortable with water, so bring a few more water-attuned hunters with you, as well as hunters equipped with long-range techniques. Hold them off at the river and take them down there."

Fang Yi nodded.

"Li Feng, your technique is light-attuned, so you should be able to counter Moyan best."

"Zhou Ying, you and the shaman of the wood spirits will deal with Fenghe together."

"Sun Mengmeng, you'll work with the leader of the rock spirits against Shicang. Your large-scale attacks should be particularly good against his forces."

"Yes, Captain!" Sun Mengmeng replied earnestly.

Sun Xiaowu's eyes widened. Shicang had over a million troops, after all.

"Captain, where will you be?"

"I'll be in Renhuang—I don't want to repeat what happened last time. There won't be any more invasions while I'm away!"

Sun Xiaowu sucked in a deep breath. "But, Captain, my sister's opponent has over a million troops!"

Zhang Lie's resolute gaze swept over everyone present. "I've seen how all your skills have grown over the past few months, and I believe that each of you can take down the sura king I've assigned you. Believe in your strength—you're far stronger than you think."

Sun Xiaowu worriedly tugged at his sister's hand, hoping that she would speak up for herself, but Sun Mengmeng said nothing. This was a task that Zhang Lie had personally assigned her, and she would carry it out without fail.

𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

Zhang Lie could see that Sun Xiaowu was simply worried for his sister. "Don't worry—I have no intention of sending you to your deaths."

Zhang Lie handed Shouta's executioner's blade to the leader of the rock spirits. "Consume this blade. It might be helpful to your evolution."

Zhou Ying glanced at it in surprise. "Isn't this the weapon of the sura king that attacked Renhuang?"

Sun Mengmeng frowned at it. "It seems to be quite a bit weaker than when the sura king was using it."

The leader of the rock spirits looked at the blade with shock. "C-Can I really consume this?"

"We need your strength."

Zhang Lie certainly wasn't going to use the executioner's blade himself, and he didn't trust anyone else with it. Indeed, there seemed to be no easy way of disposing of it than to have the rock spirits consume it.

Sun Mengmeng asked curiously, "Is there anything special about this blade?"

The rock spirit, who had traveled widely around the second realm, exclaimed in shock, "I don't know just what this blade was made of or the techniques that went into it, but it's certainly a weapon that would be fit to be in the treasury of a sura empire."

"You're absolutely right. This executioner's blade belonged to the monarch of stars himself."

Everyone seemed taken aback. Sun Mengmeng asked, "Aren't you going to use it yourself, Captain?"

"I don't intend to sully my hands with a sura's weapon, and our soulshards are far better than any ordinary weapon."

Since Zhang Lie had already given it to the leader of the rock spirits, they didn't have anything else to say.

The leader of the rock spirits consumed it with gleaming eyes. As expected, it catalyzed the rock spirit's next evolution. Rays of light exploded from his body, which shone as brightly as the sun. Its armor turned from a dull red to a gleaming silver; the metamorphosis took only a few moments.

Although there were few visible changes beyond the color and texture of the leader of the rock spirits' armor, it seemed very pleased. "Haha, as long as I have enough time to continue growing, I'll be undefeatable!"

Zhang Lie activated his dragon's pupils to inspect the changes to the body of the leader of the rock spirits. Its soul was very interesting, like a jewel or gem wrapped by a large quantity of spiritual matter.

For the rock spirits, what determined their strength was the quantity and quality of spiritual matter that surrounded their jewel-like core. The leader of the rock spirits had accumulated so much spiritual matter that it formed what was essentially a small mountain, and its strength seemed easily comparable to that of a sura king.

"Governor, I have no words for my gratitude. Even in my youth, I hadn't explored enough or consumed enough matter to undergo my second evolution." The rock spirit rushed over in excitement, spread its arms wide, and was just about to hug Zhang Lie tightly when he suddenly activated [Mirrored Refraction] and shifted to the side.

He changed the topic quickly. "Did you unlock any other abilities after your second evolution?"

"Yes, of course!" The rock spirit nodded eagerly. "I can absorb the souls of the lifeforms that I kill to enhance this patina of light on my body, and hence my defense."

In some sense, this was very similar to the effect of the executioner's blade that the rock spirit had absorbed. The executioner's blade's augmentation was to its sharpness and length; the rock spirit's augmentation was to its defense.

Sun Xiaowu frowned. "But Shicang's forces are zombies, soulless zombies!"

Zhang Lie shook his head. "Souls are remnants of living matter. Except for man-made objects, everything in this realm has a soul. Actually, I had a special plan for dealing with Shicang. You can think of it as trying to understand these zombies from a more scientific, principled approach..."

Sun Xiaowu frowned. "Based on your hypothesis, Captain, the combination of Sun Mengmeng and the leader of the rock spirits could really take down Shicang's entire force in one fell swoop!"

The Yeluo chieftain jumped in. "I have quite a number of vials of sura poison ready for all your needs. Thanks to the stable environment Renhuang has provided, as well as all sorts of spiritual herbs and plants that the wood spirits have provided us with, we've made a breakthrough in the strength of the poison!"

Zhang Lie's eyes brightened. "How does this new concoction differ from the last?"

The Yeluo chieftain smiled pridefully. "Oh, there's a big difference! You see..."