Chapter 819: Return of the Hunters

"You!" The black sun fell from the sky, heading straight for Zhang Lie. The Blackwind king was trying to strike Zhang Lie with his very body, but Zhang Lie instantly transformed into a dragonwolf and struck at the half-crippled sun with a punch that shook the entire world. The black serpent and sun exploded instantly.

Black flames roiled across heaven and earth. The serpent's black, corrosive energy rained down on the forest and melted it down.

As the rain landed on the ground, the earth began to sizzle—and for a hundred, a thousand years, nothing would ever grow on this soil again.

The Blackwind king was once again reduced to a candle-sized flame that could be snuffed out at any moment. He tried to run away, but found Zhang Lie waiting for him along his escape route, his hands clasped behind his back, a faint smile on his face.

The candle flame shivered in mid-air. "Hold on, hold on! I think we should have a discussion instead!"

The flame was so weak that it would have been snuffed out by a strong wind.

Zhang Lie's face was cold and dark. Water-attuned genetic energy gathered around him, shaking the space with its force.

"What's there to discuss?

"Did you have a discussion with the draconians before betraying them?

"Did you have a discussion with Chen Ruiming before killing him?

"Did you have a discussion with the humans before backstabbing them?"

The Blackwind king trembled again in fear. "I was wrong. The Blackwind clan shouldn't have attacked the humans; we're willing to serve the humans and atone for our mistakes!"

Zhang Lie's eyes glimmered with rainbow light as he searched through the king's memories for the location of the proof of kingship. After doing so, he reached out and grabbed the flame with his hand. "You don't deserve to serve us humans. Be extinguished!"

Zhang Lie snuffed the flame out in his palm, retrieved the proof of kingship, and returned to the draconian world.

By that time, the draconian world was safe from any incursion. The members of Team Zenith and the warlords of the Milky Way had successfully accomplished their tasks and resisted the incursion of the alien races.

As for whether or not they would be able to kill their respective kings of the realm, Zhang Lie wasn't concerned. He believed in the ability of his subordinates and the warlords he sent to tail them.

Once he returned to the draconian world, Li Qianlin asked him excitedly, "You're back! How did it go?"

Zhang Lie rolled his eyes at her. "Aren't you underestimating me? Even your father was unable to beat me up, let alone the king of a medium-sized world."

Zhang Lie placed an object on the table: a carving of a black phoenix, emitting the foreign and mysterious aura of a proof of kingship.

Li Qianlin stuck out her tongue. "I was simply worried for you."

Zhang Lie caressed her cheeks and gazed into her lustrous eyes. Li Qianlin watched him expectantly, and Zhang Lie was about to lean in when a voice came from outside the room. "Captain, I'm back!"

Yang Ze strode in to see the two people together before hurriedly covering his eyes and striding back out. "Ah, my eyes were injured in battle just now. I can't see anything, and I didn't see anything! Continue on..."

Zhang Lie sighed as he turned around. "Get back here!"

Yang Ze warily sidled back up to the entrance to the room.

Zhang Lie remarked, "I didn't think you would be the first one back—but I suppose it's not surprising. You're wily and cunning, and far more suited to war than the others."

Yang Ze grumbled, "Ah, what do you mean, Captain! You make it sound as though I'm weaker than the others—as though I'm only good at coming up with tricks! I won't deny that I'm smart and intelligent, but I'm a strong hunter, too! I'm not idly bragging—I'm as strong as I'm handsome."

Zhang Lie glanced at Yang Ze's face with interest. "What a pity... I didn't know you were so weak!"

Yang Ze frowned. "Captain, are you criticizing my strength, or criticizing my looks? You—well, you might not look favorably on my strength compared to yours, but you can't deny that I'm handsome!"

He retrieved a golden vertebra from his extra-dimensional storage and placed it on the table, right next to the Blackwind phoenix statue. The golden vertebra gave off the aura of a proof of kingship; it was the prize that Yang Ze had recovered after a heated battle.

"Look at this, look at this—it's proof of my handsomeness!"

Li Qianlin pursed her lips. "This proves your strength at most, not your handsomeness, surely?"

Yang Ze seemed to be terribly shocked. "Ah, Mrs. Zhang! Are those truly your heartfelt words? You're already treating Zhang Lie like your husband and agreeing with him on everything, aren't you? You'll make my heart bleed!"

Li Qianlin couldn't help but blush at Yang Ze's mode of address for her.

Zhang Lie waved a hand. "Alright, enough. How did you feel about the trial this time around?"

Yang Ze thought back to his fight. "Kings of the realm really are quite interesting, aren't they?"

Yang Ze's fight had been relatively straightforward, so he simply found the kings of the realm to be interesting, rather than exasperating, difficult, or troublesome foes.

Zhang Lie didn't comment. He raised his head and looked out the window, having sensed another party's aura even before they entered the draconian city.

"What's the matter, Captain?" Yang Ze asked.

Very quickly, a fiery-red figure appeared in sight: Sun Mengmeng had returned. She didn't have many injuries visible on her body; even her clothes hadn't burned off the way they tended to during a heated battle.

The moment she saw Zhang Lie, she smiled. "Captain, I'm back. I've accomplished the task you've set for me."

Zhang Lie nodded. The moment Sun Mengmeng stepped into the room, she locked eyes with Li Qianlin. Sparks flew where their gazes met.

As though challenging Sun Mengmeng, Li Qianlin sidled closer to Zhang Lie. Meanwhile, Sun Mengmeng marched into the room and sat on Zhang Lie's other side, the two women continuing to stare at each other all throughout.

Yang Ze coughed and dispelled the awkward atmosphere. "How were your spoils, Sun Mengmeng?"

"It took me some time, but I managed to find the proof of kingship in the devil tree king's body." Sun Mengmeng retrieved the proof of kingship, a glowing seed.

Zhang Lie asked her, "How did you feel about the trial?"

Sun Mengmeng thought for a moment. "It was an enlightening experience. The devil tree king was a very difficult foe, and the others would have had a much harder time with it than I did."

Yang Ze cocked his head. Did Sun Mengmeng really think her trial was difficult? Why was his different?

Sun Xiaowu was the next to return. He had a long, thin object draped around his shoulder, over three meters long in all. It was wrapped in cloth.

When he saw Sun Mengmeng and Yang Ze sitting within, Sun Xiaowu sighed in relief. He hung the cloth-wrapped object by the doorframe. "Luckily, it looks like I'm not the last one back."

Sun Mengmeng walked up to him and gave him a once-over, then patted him on the shoulder.

"You've done well," she reassured him.

Sun Xiaowu smiled embarrassedly and unwrapped the object. "Captain, I've brought back the proof of kingship."

Zhang Lie nodded and asked, "How did you feel about the trial?"

Sun Xiaowu's weariness was apparent from his face. "The king of the realm was very strong, and I almost failed to make it back."

Yang Ze frowned. "The king really was that strong?"

Sun Xiaowu nodded. "Of course! He could invoke the authority of the world itself! Didn't our captain mention that the king of the realm has to be essentially the strongest member of the strongest race in the world? How could a king of the realm not be strong?"