Chapter 760: Plans for War

Ren Kunjing couldn't help but ask the chieftains, "Why did you hide this information? Do you really think we wouldn't dare slaughter the Mengtai?"

None of the Mengtai chieftains responded. They would listen only to Zhang Lie's orders, since he was the one in possession of the mistmeld clam soulshard.

Zhang Lie echoed Ren Kunjing's question. "Indeed, why didn't you tell the truth? Aren't you afraid of our threat?"

The Mengtai would hardly need that proof of kingship when all of them were dead.

The chieftains replied, "Purging our race will take quite some time. Because you've killed the invading forces of other alien races nearby, they surely won't let you go.

"We attacked the humans because we thought they were growing to be too strong a threat. Now that everyone was defeated and the invaders' reinforcements have likewise fallen, the humans are a clear threat, and the invading races are surely all planning for a concerted attack even now."

The draconians' neighbors were no amicable ally; that was evident enough from the battle the humans and draconians had just gone through. The reason the aliens had launched an invasion of the human and draconian world was because they wanted to defeat the draconians once and for all, then nip the humans' growth in the bud.

The fact that none of these aliens had returned meant that the humans had defeated them all.

Without having seen the members of Team Zenith fight for themselves or how Zhang Lie led his group of warlords through a spatial rift, they had no clue just how strong Zhang Lie was. All they knew was that their forces hadn't returned.

How could the aliens do nothing? From their perspective, even if their forces hadn't returned, the concerted assault would have gravely weakened the humans and draconians, and both sides had to have suffered.

This would be an excellent time to commit more resources to the invasion and to swoop up the spoils of war.

The Mengtai chieftains snickered at each other. "We're familiar with the invading alien races, and we know how they'll respond. They know how threatening the humans are, and they won't be able to remain still. They'll attack sooner or later, just you wait."

Ren Kunjing seemed to understand what the chieftains were saying. "So the lot of you were just waiting for the other aliens to attack, thinking that your crisis would be resolved then?"

Zhang Lie nodded. "Even if we were to purge the Mengtai, that isn't something we could do in just a few days. As long as you manage to stall until more invading forces arrive, you would be able to protect the proof of kingship and crown a new king. With the king's presence, you'd be able to protect your world once more."

The Mengtai chieftains might appear pitiful in front of Zhang Lie, but they had their own plans and schemes.

Ren Kunjing snorted. "If we can kill one king of the realm, don't you think we can kill a second?"

Zhang Lie explained the chieftains' reasoning. "They must believe that we won't be able to withstand the assault of the alien races."

Ren Kunjing laughed coldly. "They truly underestimate us, don't they?"

Neither Zhang Lie nor Ren Kunjing were particularly concerned about the Mengtai chieftains' thoughts. After all, Zhang Lie's forces were sufficient to handle even the invaders of a few dozen different worlds.

"Are we going to be attacked by even more aliens, then?" Zhang Lie murmured. "An excellent opportunity to hunt down more proofs of kingship."

Ren Kunjing suggested, "Shall I send someone to retrieve the Mengtai proof of kingship?"

Zhang Lie nodded and added, "Help me prepare lifeforms of all rarities."

"Are you intending to help the members of Team Zenith get their gene fragments?" That was the first thing Ren Kunjing thought of.

"Indeed!"

"I'll go prepare the lifeforms at once, Zhang Lie!"

By the time the members of Team Zenith woke up, they found an orderly line of genetic lifeforms waiting for them. Ren Kunjing introduced, "The first row of lifeforms is regular-grade, the second is mutated-grade, and the third is superior-grade."

The members of Team Zenith blinked.

Yang Ze sighed. "I feel like collecting gene fragments has become far more boring than before. There's none of the fun of collecting them one at a time anymore—ah, my youth..."

Zhang Lie replied, "If you're interested in slowly collecting gene fragments, I won't stop you. Ren Kunjing, let one portion of the lifeforms go. This fellow wants to do it all himself!"

"Ah, wait, Captain!" Yang Ze hurriedly changed his mind. "No, pretend I didn't say anything! I'm very glad I can skip the tedious process of collecting gene fragments normally—only losers without powerful backers have to do that!"

The members of Team Zenith were stunned by Yang Ze's shamelessness.

Zhang Lie waved a hand. "Alright, get your gene fragments now. We have a lot of work to do!"

The members of Team Zenith began killing the lifeforms, then roasting the carcasses or making a hotpot by the side. They had never expected to find it so... painful... to collect gene fragments and consume the lifeforms' meat.

They could clearly recall how happy they had been to even get a chance to consume superior- and peak-grade lifeform meat, but now, they were forced to eat so much in one go that they were growing tired of it.

"Growing stronger is truly an arduous process," Yang Ze remarked, picking up yet another slice of peak-grade lifeform meat.

Ren Kunjing's mouth spasmed. If this could be considered painful, he was sure that 99% of all hunters would be more than willing to undergo such pain.

The members of Team Zenith quickly replenished their gene fragments. Meanwhile, the draconian sage and Warlord Chen Fan, after a period of rest, recovered from their injuries.

The next morning, Zhang Lie convened a meeting between them all, and the aliens of the Milky Way also joined in. They wanted to latch onto Zhang Lie, so they naturally had to ally with the humans as well. Even though quite a fair number of them had clashed against the draconians and Chen Fan in the past, on account of Zhang Lie, they were willing to let bygones be bygones.

"The aliens of the neighboring worlds will attack sooner or later. I suggest we take the initiative and attack them first," Zhang Lie began.

Chen Fan frowned. "Zhang Lie, I know how strong you are, and how your team has enough firepower to wipe out a medium-sized world. You've even brought so many aliens from the Milky Way with you, and there must be over half the warlords on the third-realm leaderboard here at the moment. Even so, I'm afraid you might not have a good understanding of the current situation in the draconian world."

Zhang Lie shook his head. "No, you're mistaken. I understand the situation very well: our foes are just small fry. There's nothing to worry about, so relax!"