Chapter 593: A Recipe and Some Information

Sun Mengmeng called Zhang Lie back. "Wait, Captain! We've acquired a lot of resources and rich, fertile land as a result of conquering the sura. Won't you have a look at it first?"

The distribution of land would have to await the meeting, but much of the treasures they had obtained from sacking the sura cities were already in hand.

The staggering amount of resources they had acquired through combat shocked anyone who saw it all, but Zhang Lie only waved a hand. "There's no need. Just leave me the sura corpses to feed my fish."

The extra-dimensional space he had set up in his whirlpool tyrant soulshard needed a huge amount of food. Although the bone-corroding shrimp was a good source, more was always better.

Every day, Zhu would bring an assortment of hypnotized peak-grade lifeforms into the ocean with her to fight and capture more such lifeforms. Those who perished would be used as food, and those who were caught alive would be reared in his soulshard as well.

Zhang Lie intended to expand his farm whenever he could; it could be a permanent source of gene fragments for humanity. Furthermore, he would later be able to pass this farm down to Zhang Hanxiang.

Hong Tianqi sat in his office dealing with the documents on his desk. Over the course of the last few months, he had continued exchanging blows with Amurong, who always seemed to be able to come up with the most malicious ideas—recently, he had tried to kidnap a member of a neutral authority's household, then to lay the blame on Hong Tianqi.

In a great twist, Hong Tianqi managed to turn the tables and uncover the truth—that it was Amurong's men who had done so. The neutral authorities had intended on staying well away from the conflict, hoping that both Amurong and Hong Tianqi's factions would be weakened, without expecting that they would end up as the targets themselves.

Hong Tianqi at least had the courtesy to send his men out to rescue Amurong's hostages, but Amurong became even wilder than he had before. He even set up a team specifically for such kidnappings, and they became far more frequent than before.

As Amurong's faction warred against Hong Tianqi's, the neutral authorities were the ones who suffered the most casualties.

Some among them deduced that the two factions were about to declare war on each other, and they were getting rid of potential enemies beforehand. In the end, they had no choice but to join one of the two factions, speeding up the rate at which the world federation was splitting apart.

After perusing a few documents, Hong Tianqi suddenly received a call from Zhang Lie.

"Zhang Lie, have you finished with your objectives in the second realm?"

Zhang Lie replied, "Martial Sage, given your network, I'm sure you're aware of what's been going on here even without my reports."

Hong Tianqi smiled. Of course he knew—if not for Zhang Lie arriving just in the nick of time, he would have descended on the second realm himself.

"Everything's dealt with, including the asura. The second realm will now be ruled by humanity," Zhang Lie summarized.

"I wasn't confident that you would be successful against the asura, but my confidence was clearly misplaced. Given the talent you showed in the first realm alone, I should have known better—but even then, I could hardly have expected that you would be able to kill him! Truly, you're a genius of your generation."

Hong Tianqi was lavish in his praise of Zhang Lie.

The sura had once been the hegemons of the second realm, and they had even reared humans like livestock back then. However, Zhang Lie alone had ended the tyranny of the sura and forevermore changed the landscape of the second realm.

Hong Tianqi continued, "On behalf of mankind, I thank you for what you've done."

Humanity would no longer be relegated to such a demeaning role, and tens of thousands of humans would be freed from the captivity of the sura. Furthermore, the members of Team Zenith would build a new kingdom in the ruins of the sura territory, one in which humans and aliens could coexist.

Because of the crucial role they had played in the battle, the members of Team Zenith had a commensurate say in dividing the spoils of war. With the four prime races backing them up, the humans would surely be able to advance their plan.

However, Hong Tianqi had expected that several of the alien races would try to advance their own agendas, and he was surprised that Zhang Lie had the time to return to Earth and to contact him.

"I'm part of humanity, after all. Furthermore, I didn't achieve all that much—it was largely thanks to Team Zenith's hard work."

Zhang Lie's words were unusually modest; if not for his killing the asura at the end, no matter how many alien races there were opposing the sura, they would all have lost in the end.

Hong Tianqi sighed. Zhang Lie, who had seemed like nothing more than a rascal during the Void Cup, had matured greatly since then.

Hong Tianqi had expected that it would take another three to five years before he would become a major player in the world federation, but Zhang Lie had corrected him with his actions alone. All it had taken him was less than a year in Earth's time.

"Don't you have to organize a meeting with the other alien races after the end of the war?"

"Well, the members of Team Zenith are going to handle everything for me. All I have to do is make an appearance."

.

Hong Tianqi sighed. "You rascal!"

He wanted to do the same thing Zhang Lie did, but there was no way he would be able to do so.

"How's stuff going with Amurong?"

"It's getting to be a real problem, but declaring a feud in earnest will have massive ramifications for the entire galaxy, so..."

Amurong was afraid of declaring a feud, whereas Hong Tianqi was worried about the results of doing so. Countless lives would have to be sacrificed if they truly began to fight, and it would be a terrible waste. Of course, if Amurong insisted on forcing the matter, Hong Tianqi wouldn't hold back, either.

"I have the means for a bloodless victory," Zhang Lie suddenly asserted.

"What? Don't joke around with me—Amurong and the conglomerates under his control aren't that easy to handle."

"What if I release the recipe for the limit-breaking potions #1 and #2? Would that help?"

"What? Are you really willing to do so?" Hong Tianqi looked at him in shock, then broke out into a smile. "If you do that, we really might be able to avoid a battle entirely, but... would you be willing to do so?"

"Well, I've been collecting a large quantity of herbs required for these potions, and I do want to start selling them off..."

"Oh, you!"

"Furthermore, I have some important information about disaster-grade lifeforms."

"Disaster-grade?"

"The rank above peak-grade in strength."

"Is that so? I've never heard of it."

Zhang Lie summarized the information briefly for Hong Tianqi, leaving him so excited he almost crushed his transceiver to pieces.

"With these two bargaining chips, Amurong's faction will surely crumble, I just know it!"