Chapter 592: Two Factions

Zhang Lie ignored the warning thrice over.

Where he landed in the sura realm, the skies shook and the ocean quaked.

The space all around Zhang Lie was fragmenting. His strength had reached the peak of what the second realm could withstand, but it was thankfully stronger and more resilient than the first. At the very least, Zhang Lie's presence alone wouldn't destroy the realm for the moment.

To the will of the world, however, Zhang Lie was a nuisance and a pesky disturbance.

[Warning! Your continued presence in this realm will cause irreparable damage! Expulsion procedure commencing!]

[Warning! Your continued presence in this realm...]

[Warning! Your continued...]

Zhang Lie felt an immense force, much like a formless hand, reaching down toward him.

"I've told you, I don't intend on advancing for the moment!"

Zhang Lie shot a beam of black genetic energy into the air, fending off the formless hand that sought to capture him.

A huge shock rumbled through the ground. The devastating force of the attack caused the skies to warp, and cracks began to propagate all across the realm.

Zhang Lie, stubborn as he was, refused to be compelled to another's will again.

Energy roiled through the cracked and leaking skies, as though an apocalypse was nigh. His surroundings suddenly turned gray, and the oceans lost all sign of life. As the grayness spread, all the lifeforce it captured was transferred to the will of the world as energy, strengthening its attacks.

In order to deal with Zhang Lie, the will of the world had begun consuming the lifeforce of the lifeforms within the second realm, as well as the ambient energy present in the realm itself. Back in the first realm, it had done so as well; Zhang Lie was now fighting against the entire realm itself.

After the refinement process, Zhang Lie's strength had grown dramatically, and he could easily distort natural law with his attacks. In order to suppress him, the will of the world would need a far stronger source of energy.

.

As they clashed with each other again and again, destruction spread across the realm. Now that Zhang Lie was a post-disaster-grade lifeform, he would irrevocably damage the land beyond repair if he were to use even a fraction of his total strength.

In terms of strength, he was now far stronger than even an asura. The will of the world, believing that Zhang Lie had the capacity to wreak tremendous havoc, was trying to remove him at any cost.

Zhang Lie had suffered the same fate in the first realm already.

"I've told you, I don't intend on advancing for the moment!" Black genetic energy burned brightly around Zhang Lie, shining with tiny pinpricks of light that were reminiscent of a galaxy of stars. With a casual flick of an arm, he shattered the constraints the will of the world was trying to impose on him.

"If you keep bothering me, I'll crush you whole!" Zhang Lie's words caused the will of the world to go silent. It didn't depart immediately, but it didn't strike at Zhang Lie, either. It knew that doing so would be meaningless.

Once the will of the world stopped attacking him, Zhang Lie reined in his energy and repaired the cracks in the world all around him. He sealed off much of his energy within an extradimensional space to reduce the burden on the realm.

By the time he returned to Renhuang, the battle between the sura and Renhuang's forces was over.

Sun Mengmeng glanced at him, overjoyed. "Zhang Lie, you're back!"

Zhang Lie nodded with a smile.

Sun Mengmeng looked him up and down. She felt as though something had changed, but she couldn't say what. He seemed too approachable, so approachable his aura felt like that of an ordinary human. Where had that domineering aura gone? It felt as though he had no gene fragments at all.

This was clearly impossible for anyone in the second realm.

Sun Mengmeng tried to scrutinize him carefully; he seemed like a deep lake, placid on the surface, but with a depth that belied the senses. Just sneaking a peek at him made her feel as though she were staring into the heart of the sun. She shivered, and cold sweat beaded over her forehead.

Zhang Lie pretended not to notice anything. "How did the battle go?"

Sun Mengmeng replied, "We've dealt with all the sura. There are a few alien races opposed to what we're planning to do, so we're convening a meeting to discuss what happens next."

"About what? We'll build a kingdom the likes of which have never been seen atop the ruins of the sura empires. Those who are willing to stay can stay; those who aren't should scram."

From Zhang Lie's perspective, these races that had contributed barely anything to Renhuang's victory had no right to dictate what happened to the spoils of war afterwards.

Sun Mengmeng nodded fervently. "With you around, Zhang Lie, I agree that there's no need for a meeting. We can simply announce our plan and let the alien races themselves decide whether or not to continue working with us."

Zhang Lie nodded. "I'll leave you to it, then. I need to return to Earth—it's been too long since I've visited. I wonder how Hanxiang's doing?"

"It hasn't been too long, has it? Two years in the dimensional world, but fewer than three months in the real world. Right, speaking of Hanxiang, I remember something that happened recently. Are you aware of it, Zhang Lie? No, no, of course you wouldn't be—you haven't been in Renhuang."

Zhang Lie immediately grew interested. "What happened?"

Sun Mengmeng replied, "I'll tell you, but you have to promise me not to get upset."

"Go ahead, tell me."

"The Zenith Dojo was attacked a while back. If we're not mistaken, the target was your sister, Zhang Hanxiang."

Zhang Lie's eyes widened. A fearsome aura emanated from him, and the air around him began to hiss.

Sun Mengmeng stepped back in shock and fear. "Zhang Lie, calm down, calm down! Nothing happened to the Zenith Dojo or to your sister. We have plenty of experts in the dojo, along with the protection of Martial Sage Hong Tianqi and troops from the Chinese military. We suffered no losses at all—"

𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"Who did it?!"

"Amurong!"

"That damned authority from the world federation?" Zhang Lie narrowed his eyes, which glinted with killing intent. "Rather daring, isn't he?"

"Hold on, Zhang Lie!" Sun Mengmeng shouted. "He's not the presiding authority of the world federation anymore. Hong Tianqi forced him to cede his role. It's precisely because of this incident that the world federation has been divided into two factions."

"Divided? The martial sage really is working hard on my behalf..."

"He really supports you, Captain. Of the two factions, one is formed primarily by you, Hong Tianqi, and the representatives of the four prime races. Many are in support of you."

Zhang Lie seemed a little surprised, but he motioned for Sun Mengmeng to continue.

"The other faction, naturally, is composed of Amurong and the conglomerates that support him. Our faction currently has the upper hand, but Amurong's more wily than we expected. The two factions are holding each other back in an unstable equilibrium for the time being."

"That's natural. If a fight really breaks out between the two factions, it won't benefit anyone in the Milky Way. I think I had better go have a talk with this Amurong fellow."