Chapter 521: Temporary Departure

The Bluemoon representative had blue skin and a pair of bright, lustrous dark eyes.

According to the Yeluo chieftain, the Bluemoon clan and Redmoon clan were known as particularly vengeful races. Any amount of disrespect was met with swift retribution in kind.

The Bluemoon representative glanced askance at the Yeluo chieftain, who immediately fell silent. If the Bluemoon representative were to maintain a grudge against him, he would never hear the end of it.

The representative smiled and said, "Compared to the Redmoon clan, we're actually rather mild. At the most, we'd poison you, not chase you to the ends of the realm."

Even Zhang Lie seemed rather taken aback by the Bluemoon representative's malicious smile.

The Bluemoon clan was as skilled at making poisons as the Yeluo clan.

"Thank you for introducing yourselves. I have just one question for you all—why have you come to Renhuang?"

The three representatives lowered their heads at the same time. The Lightborne representative stepped forward and formally requested, "Governor of Renhuang, we seek to join your city!"

"For what purpose?" Zhang Lie pressed. He didn't intend on allowing just anyone to join Renhuang.

"Because Renhuang is opposed to the sura, and it's the only known force that has managed to take down a sura empire."

The Lightborne were still being hunted down by the sura on sight, and it would be terribly difficult for them to survive in the second realm. As such, they sought to find shelter among one of the other races, but none would dare offend the sura by taking them in.

Fortunately, they were simply afraid of offending the sura rather than lackeys of the sura; indeed, many of the races of the second realm were dissatisfied with the sura's tyranny. It was thanks to these races that the Lightborne had even survived for so long—otherwise, the sura would long since have hunted them down to extinction.

The Goldherald representative also spoke up. The Goldheralds wanted to take revenge on the sura, but also to ally themselves with Renhuang. They needed quarries, which the sura monopolized in the second realm. The only other location which had plentiful ores and minerals was Renhuang. Without these ores, the Goldheralds would only get weaker generation by generation.

In truth, in the past few decades, they had already begun weakening dramatically.

Fortunately, the rock spirits were still digesting the resources they had amassed during the invasion of the empire of stars, and Renhuang had quite the supply of quarries at present.

That said, Zhang Lie didn't intend on offering these resources for free—the Goldheralds would have to offer something in exchange for them.

With the rock spirits temporarily immobilized as they digested their gains, there was plenty of labor opportunities for the Goldheralds. The rock spirits tended to be the ones who picked up dangerous hunting requests from the hunters' guild, and the Goldheralds would be reasonable substitutes for the task.

As for the Bluemoon clan, they wanted to join Renhuang because the sura had killed some of their clan members, and Renhuang was the most promising force inimical to the sura. Furthermore, they had heard of this unusual Yeluo poison that Renhuang had made use of, and believed that their specialty at poison would be useful to Renhuang.

Renhuang had already destroyed a sura empire, and it showed signs of being able to break the sura's hegemony over the second realm. The sura surely wouldn't give up on their position lightly, and there would be a showdown between the two forces sooner or later.

"Governor Zhang Lie, we hope you'll accede to our request!"

The three representatives each made their stance clear, ?and Zhang Lie agreed that a mutual partnership would be beneficial. After informing them of the primary laws within Renhuang, he instructed them to seek out Yun Bing.

On the hunters' forums, many hunters were still eagerly trying to find out just what had transpired during the fight between Zhang Lie and the monarch of stars, and the Renhuang hunters who had participated in the fight eagerly regaled them with what they had witnessed.

"I can't believe it either—the monarch of stars stepped into the battlefield himself, even before the rest of his army! It scared all of us stiff, but the champion of mankind, Zhang Lie, didn't seem to be startled at all, as though he had anticipated the monarch of stars' arrival.

"The monarch of stars is known to be the existence closest to an asura, and his appearance was absolutely appalling. He had four heads and eight arms, and was followed by all sorts of demonic shadows, each of which looked like a rampaging beast.

"When his aura hit me, I was struck dumb, moments from collapsing. Despite his horrifying appearance, the champion of mankind, Zhang Lie, stood stoically in front of all of us, his clothes fluttering in the wind. He unsheathed his twin blades and drew first blood..."

The bragging hunters spun a tale so fanciful it almost seemed to have come out of legend, and Zhang Lie's status took on a mythical quality.

"It was incredible! Even the legendary monarch of stars was no match for Zhang Lie. Except for an asura himself, no one could hope to best him!"

"The champion of mankind, Zhang Lie! He's never been defeated in the second realm, and I'm proud beyond belief to be a hunter of Renhuang. With him around, there's no need to worry about the fate of mankind!"

One of the hunters continued, "The fight between Zhang Lie and the monarch of stars shook heaven and earth. Zhang Lie ultimately claimed victory, but he paid a heavy price for it.

At the very end, the monarch of stars exploded into a mass of black tendrils, one that sought to swallow up our entire army. It was then that the members of Team Zenith stepped in, blocking their advance until Zhang Lie turned them all to ash with a slice of his sword."

"Zhang Lie is truly a paragon of a hunter, a role model for us all!"

"He's too handsome—Zhang Lie, I'm coming for you, I'm going to have your babies!"

The mockery and insults that had been heaped upon Zhang Lie had turned into the highest of praises.

As brilliant as his reputation now was, Zhang Lie paid these forums no mind.

After the celebration, Zhang Lie left Renhuang after just a few days in order to seek out the disaster-grade lifeforms whose information had been recorded in the monarch of stars' study. How could he rest? This information was so precious it had taken the empire of stars centuries to compile.

Disaster-grade lifeforms were so rare that meeting them generally required flukes of luck, but here was a premade list right for him. All the lifeforms recorded in the list were stronger than ordinary peak-grade lifeforms; even if they hadn't been disaster-grade lifeforms at the time, they might have ascended in the intervening centuries.

Zhang Lie had maxed out all his gene fragments save his disaster-grade ones, and his only remaining goals were to cap his disaster gene fragments and to kill an asura in hopes of going beyond the realm of disaster-grade genes.

Neither goal was straightforward, and he had to begin preparations immediately. Once matters within Renhuang were settled, he left the city with the list and a map in hand...