Chapter 609: The Disaster-Grade Revelation

Everyone was silent. One disaster gene fragment was the equivalent of a hundred peak gene fragments?!

The information rapidly filtered throughout the Milky Way, prompting a massive communal search for these supposed disaster-grade lifeforms.

Unfortunately, such lifeforms were so rare as to be almost non-existent, particularly in the first realm, which was far too weak for disaster-grade lifeforms. Zhang Lie's encounter was a pure accident, nothing more.

In the second realm, however, the hunters' efforts were more fruitful. Working together, they had identified quite a few such lifeforms, causing even Zhang Lie to be impressed.

The moment the meeting finished, Zhang Lie returned to the Zenith Dojo.

At this point, from experience, he knew that it was easy to mistake post-peak-grade and disaster-grade lifeforms.

"Ah, look—someone issued a bounty for information on such lifeforms! Wait, Hong Tianqi's doing it too! And I'm sure they'll be trying to hunt down such lifeforms sooner or later..."

...but how many would die as a result?

When the existence of such lifeforms had been revealed in his past life, a lot of overeager hunters who didn't know their limits had died. Despite the fact that limit-breaking potions could now be obtained, disaster-grade lifeforms were still far too strong for the average hunter.

Only those who had encountered them would understand their might.

Zhang Hong sent a cup of coffee into Zhang Lie's office. "How did the meeting go yesterday?"

Zhang Lie put both hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair. "It was very boring."

After the initial revelation of disaster-grade lifeforms, the rest of the meeting revolved around various problems in other solar systems.

.

"The committee members even voted to give me an award."

"An award?"

"For making an overwhelming contribution in the second realm by constructing a kingdom and giving the hunters of the Milky Way a stable foundation for their development. However, I rejected the award."

Zhang Hong seemed surprised. "Why? Isn't the award a good thing?"

Zhang Lie shook his head. "It comes with the expectation that I would do something similar in the future. If I accept, I'll be saddled with responsibilities I'd rather avoid."

Zhang Lie preferred his freedom, thank you very much.

Zhang Hong nodded, then asked, "Should we build a hunting team for these disaster-grade lifeforms ourselves?"

"Are there hunters in the dojo who are interested?"

"All sorts of factions have been sending us inquiries about cooperation, and there are many willing to provide us with manpower and resources. Their terms are very generous. A lot of hunters in the first realm have now joined our settlement, and hunting teams preferentially accept those from the Zenith Dojo.

Zhang Lie couldn't help but smile. "They don't want our hunters—just our information."

To date, only Zhang Lie was known to have any experience hunting down disaster-grade lifeforms, and those forces believed that he might have revealed something to the members of the dojo that he didn't in public.

However, Zhang Lie had basically shared all the information he had with Hong Tianqi; there was no information for him to squirrel away. The only important piece of information he had neglected, which only Zhang Hanxiang and the members of Team Zenith knew about, was the artificial farm he had constructed in the second realm.

Zhang Lie rubbed his jaw. "Accept the requests to form hunting teams. We have no reason to refuse such generous terms."

"In that case, is there special information or experience that you'd like to share with these factions?"

"In theory, I've told everyone everything..."

Zhang Lie mulled things over for a moment. His success had been predicated on his overwhelming strength, which wouldn't be useful for the general public.

"The most important thing to understand is that different disaster-grade lifeforms have different attributes. By figuring out what those attributes are and determining their weaknesses, hunting down such lifeforms will be much safer."

Zhang Hong nodded. "We'll be sharing this information with any hunters we cooperate with, then?"

"The second point is to make sure that they raise their strength to the utmost before attempting to take down such lifeforms."

Zhang Hong nodded again. "I'll make sure to inform our collaborators of these two points."

"Good. Alright, we're done here, and I have to head back to the second realm." Zhang Lie drained his cup of coffee and walked over to the teleportation array.

When he returned to the second realm, he found the members of Team Zenith hard at work training. Time passed like a dream.

Yelling, Fang Yi dashed forward with his spear in hand. Hurled forward by wind and storm, the spear shot forward with incredible force. Fang Yi's spear sent wind howling and lightning flashing through the skies. it left a dozen afterimages in its wake, surrounding Zhang Lie's body.

"Not bad, not bad!" Zhang Lie praised, but he hadn't taken a single step.

The clash of metal filled the room. Fang Yi waved his spear with lethal speed and precision, but Zhang Lie seemed to be able to block all his attacks with careless sweeps of his arm. No matter what he did, the tip of his spear would stop inches from Zhang Lie. Fang Yi knew that Zhang Lie surely had made a move, but his movements were so rapid that Fang Yi didn't detect them at all.

But Fang Yi never gave up. As Fang Yi attacked, Zhang Lie's body was buffeted by billowing winds and a gathering storm.

"[Heaven's Judgment]! [Tiger's Howl, Dragon's Bellow]!" Fang Yi's spear took on the aspect of a dragon of the winds and a storm tiger as he charged forward. Wind and storm combined and crackled at the tip of Fang Yi's spear, and a dragon's howl echoed resoundingly in the air.

The combination of wind and storm generated a frightening force that seemed to be able to penetrate space.

"Very good—you've improved much more than before. You understand the interplay between strength and flexibility now, so let me show you something new."

This was the first time Fang Yi had seen Zhang Lie move in this match with him. He leisurely stretched out a hand, his motions as slow as those of a snail, but his technique seemed to be faster than even Fang Yi's own [Heaven's Judgment].

Fang Yi's forehead beaded with sweat. Among the members of Team Zenith, Fang Yi had the fastest technique, but he was unable to keep up with Zhang Lie even in the domain of his expertise.

With a casual flick, Zhang Lie dissipated the wind and lightning surrounding the spear, sending it flying through the air before its tip speared the ground. Fang Yi himself had been sent flying. By the time he regained his senses, he was lying beside his spear.

Everything had moved too quickly, so quickly he couldn't believe it.

"Did you intuit something?"

Fang Yi wasn't hurt. He leapt up from the ground and bowed to Zhang Lie. "Thank you for the pointers, Captain. It's something to deal with time, isn't it?"

"Indeed." Zhang Lie smiled and nodded. He had since gained a deeper understanding of the twelve stelae of the monarch of stars, and he was able to disrupt the passage of time in the realm owing to his personal strength. No law of space nor time could constrain Zhang Lie any longer.

Fang Yi leveled his spear at Zhang Lie. "Here's my finishing blow. Captain, I'm coming for you!"