Chapter 657: The Jinghun Clan

The famed Jindao warrior idly murmured, "If you hadn't approached us, we wouldn't have known that your race were participating in this battle as well. Just what is your true objective?"

The second prince clapped his hands. "That's enough! We're all working together now—let's focus on achieving our goal. If you can aid me in becoming the king of the realm, I'll satisfy all your requests."

The mysterious figure asked, "Is it time to make a move?"

The second prince rubbed his hands in anticipation. "I can't wait."

The mysterious figure snapped his fingers, as though sending out a signal. Purple ripples of light emanated from his hand. The effect of the snap was obvious. Moments later, the howls of subdued beasts could be heard all over the hunting grounds.

Purple crystals grew out of the superior-grade lifeforms within the hunting grounds; their eyes took on a purple sheen.

In a hidden part of the hunting grounds, the peak-grade lifeforms that had been gathered together began to roar the moment they sensed the signal. Crystalline purple horns grew out of their heads, and their eyes likewise turned purple.

As he heard the echoing roars in the air, the second prince laughed wildly. "Roar and howl, you beasts! Your blood and flesh shall propel me to the throne!"

All the lifeforms gathered in the hunting grounds suddenly began to rampage, forming a massive stampede that shook the ground wildly. Even the air was vibrating, as though fireworks were being set off continuously in the distance.

The beast stampede rushed in one direction: the entrance to the hunting grounds, from which the king of the realm was located.

The Jindao warrior jumped onto his mount. "It's time for us to set off as well."

The second prince nodded and motioned for satchels of blood to be distributed to his guards. "Make sure you act properly later, you hear? Don't raise any suspicions. Now, set off—we must save the king!"

The sudden stampede surprised Zhang Lie and the others.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Quake]!" Zhang Lie's fist caused a geyser of water to erupt. The sea and the sky shook. Frighteningly strong water-attuned genetic energy, imbued with the power of space, swallowed up a huge wave of beasts in a tsunami.

Blood and flesh scattered across the ground, which had exploded into shards of granite and dust.

The will of the world's notifications chimed endlessly in Zhang Lie's head.

[You successfully killed a superior-grade strikebreaker leopard. By consuming the flesh of the superior-grade strikebreaker leopard, you may receive one to ten superior gene fragments.]

[You successfully killed a superior-grade demonic starlion. By consuming the flesh of the superior-grade demonic starlion, you may receive one to ten superior gene fragments.]

[You successfully killed a superior-grade brightsnow ox. By consuming the flesh of the superior-grade brightsnow ox, you may receive one to ten superior gene fragments.]

Before Zhang Lie had the time to collect their carcasses, another wave of genetic lifeforms had emerged.

The superior-grade lifeforms in the hunting grounds were so densely packed that only Zhang Lie's personal farm boasted a higher density of such lifeforms.

The ninth prince, White, and Whiter rushed around the battlefield, collecting Zhang Lie's spoils. The ninth prince grumbled, "Just what's going on? Why did these beasts suddenly begin to stampede?"

Zhang Lie asked, "Did something like this happen before?"

The ninth prince retorted, "Master, given Father's strength, would he have allowed this sort of thing to happen in the past?"

Zhang Lie quickly noticed that the superior-grade lifeforms' carcasses all seemed to have a crystalline, purple growth. When he tried to pull out the crystals, he found that they seemed to have grown out of the lifeforms' brains.

"This is... some sort of mental manipulation?" It was somewhat like the mistmeld clam soulshard he possessed; the difference was that his soulshard was more like hypnotism, whereas these crystals were parasitic growths that physically controlled their targets' brains.

Zhang Lie smashed a crystal with his fist.

"The Jinghun race!"

He suddenly recalled a name. They were among the top twenty races of the galaxy, and their name alone would cause a stir among much of the galaxy's races. They had risen up rapidly in strength because they had a special ability to control genetic lifeforms.

By feeding lifeforms a diet contaminated with crystalline powder, they were able to induce the growth of a crystal in their bodies that would eventually invade their brains and gradually gain control of their nervous system. As necessary, this crystalline powder could grow into a crystalline shard that would be able to manipulate these lifeforms' bodies directly.

The Jinghun were rumored to be unable to control intelligent lifeforms, whose brains were far more complicated to be subject to the Jinghun's powder.

Only this rumor saved the Jinghun from extinction—otherwise, the other races of the Milky Way would have banded together in an attempt to eradicate this threat once and for all.

"To think that some of the Jinghun have managed to sneak into this world..." That would be rather troublesome to handle.

Among the hundred strongest races of the galaxy, the top fifty largely had the ability to conquer a middle-sized world. The presence of the Jinghun here meant that there was something they wanted to acquire on this world at any cost.

The ninth prince shouted, "Master, another wave of beasts is approaching!"

"How troublesome!"

The water-attuned genetic energy in Zhang Lie's body frothed as space around him started to distort and fray.

Zhang Lie's fists rippled with energy. When he punched forward, that energy erupted and exploded amidst the beast horde in a torrent of water, sending frightening waves of energy emanating from the point of impact. A tornado of energy swallowed up half the beast horde in an instant, leaving nothing but bone and blood behind.

[You successfully killed a superior-grade starbreath tiger. By consuming the flesh of the superior-grade starbreath tiger, you may receive one to ten superior gene fragments.]

[You successfully killed a superior-grade amber dragonturtle. By consuming the flesh of the superior-grade amber dragonturtle, you may receive one to ten superior gene fragments.]

[You successfully killed a superior-grade dark ox. By consuming the flesh of the superior-grade dark ox, you may receive one to ten superior gene fragments.]

The will of the world's notifications continuously rang out in his head. Red Comet whizzed through the superior-grade lifeforms, killing more with every second.

White, Whiter, and the ninth prince worked tirelessly to amass Zhang Lie's spoils, which had grown to the size of a small mountain. Zhang Lie stored it all in his soulshard with the wave of an arm.

The ninth prince, weakest among Zhang Lie's party, grumbled tiredly, "When is this stampede going to dissipate?!"

Zhang Lie frowned. "It looks as though I'll have to revise my strategy."

Zhang Lie had intended on killing all the lifeforms that came his way. That wasn't a problem, but he was now more interested in the beast horde's target, as well as what exactly the Jinghun were up to.

1. Jinghun (晶魂), lit. crystal-soul.