Chapter 922: A Large-Scale Assault

Zhang Lie continued to absorb more gene fragments.

[For consuming the flesh of a monarch-grade blood mantis, you received one monarch gene fragment. Current total: 3]

In the end, because of the limited amount of meat that was available, Zhang Lie only recovered five monarch gene fragments.

Zhang Lie: a disaster-grade lifeform

Techniques: Rippling Walk (pinnacle), Three-Wave Crescendo (pinnacle), Calm Waters (pinnacle), Fists of the Silent Sea (pinnacle), The Boundless Blade (pinnacle), Eclipse (pinnacle), Syzygy (pinnacle), ?Ninesoul Dragonblade (pinnacle), Blade of the Heavens (pinnacle)

Genes: Basic, 160; Mutated, 150; Superior, 150; Peak, 150; Disaster, 100; Monarch, 5

Soulshards: White Grub (superior), Blood Ant (superior), Potbellied Toad (mutated), Eternalspring Cocoon (superior), Dragonwolf (superior), Moonlight Wyrm (peak), Golden Roc (peak), Dragonwhale (disaster), Mistmeld Clam (disaster)

Just five monarch gene fragments brought Zhang Lie incomparable strength. He could hardly imagine just how strong he would become after maxing out his monarch gene fragments.

Zhang Lie felt strength coursing all over his body, and he wanted to work it off.

Just then, however, Zhang Hanxiang rushed up to him.

"Is something wrong, Hanxiang?"

Zhang Hanxiang jumped up in shock as Zhang Lie suddenly teleported to her side.

"Did something happen in the frontline?"

"Brother, you scared me!" Zhang Hanxiang had still been quite a fair distance away from the farm, but Zhang Lie had already noticed her coming from that far away… "Just as you anticipated, Brother, the coalition is launching a joint attack in response to Team Zenith's antics."

"Faster than I thought... Are they really that easy to bait?"

None of the kings of the realm had planned for Team Zenith's sudden reappearance, and they had all been unpleasantly surprised by their sudden encounter with Team Zenith. They were the ones who were supposed to be harassing the draconian world—but Zhang Lie had flipped the tables on them!

Furthermore, Zhang Lie had controlled a small group of their soldiers via his mistmeld clam soulshard, which provided him with ready information about their plans, and which he could take advantage of to induce delays.

With sufficient information and a much-reduced defensive border, the draconian territory was largely immune to the sneak attacks that the coalition carried out, and the coalition forces' retreat was frequently delayed by the soldiers controlled by the mistmeld clam soulshard.

The coalition forces were getting pincered by warlords from the front and Team Zenith from the back, and the status of the coalition was deteriorating faster than even Zhang Lie had predicted.

Zhang Hanxiang continued, "The coalition isn't composed of idiots, either. They're unwilling to give up on the fruits of their labor that they worked so hard for. Before the coalition collapses, they're planning on doing one final invasion attempt, as you expected, Brother."

"Excellent news. We'll be able to take them all down in one fell swoop, then." Zhang Lie smirked.

This would be a great opportunity to test out the strength of the gene fragments he had just acquired.

Gold Comet flew over to Zhang Lie's side, and he rubbed the mantis's head. "Would you like to come with me?"

Gold Comet nodded: it too wanted to test the limits of its strength.

Zhang Hanxiang glanced at the mantis with some surprise. "This is Red Comet, isn't it? How did it turn golden?"

Zhang Lie shook his head. "It's not Red Comet any longer,but rather Gold Comet."

Zhu smiled. "Red Comet has evolved, Hanxiang."

Zhang Hanxiang's eyes grew wide. "Beyond disaster-grade?"

Zhang Lie nodded. "Monarch-grade."

Zhang Hanxiang sucked in a deep breath. With evident pride in her eyes, she announced, "Brother, you're going to shock the galaxy once again."

The existence of a monarch-class lifeform meant that there were corresponding monarch gene fragments, which would be able to elevate hunters to yet another level of strength.

"Not quite yet. Monarch-grade lifeforms might exist, but Gold Comet's the only example of it in the third realm. Even if more such lifeforms appear, I can't imagine they could do so naturally—so we, the Zenith Dojo, will maintain a monopoly over them."

.

At the very least, Zhang Lie didn't have any intention of releasing this information publicly in the short term.

He turned to Zhu. "Zhu, continue cultivating more disaster-grade and monarch-grade lifeforms. One or two won't be enough—I want at least a dozen, preferably two."

Only Zhang Lie could dare to make such an outlandish claim. All Zhu's efforts had produced a single monarch-grade lifeform, and producing a dozen or two would require immense numbers of disaster-grade ones.

The draconian sage shook his head. "Cultivating more such lifeforms will be impossible, not even two or three. It'll ruin this world."

Zhang Hanxiang was visibly confused. "What's the matter, Sage?"

Zhu frowned. "But haven't you agreed to let us use this land, Sage?"

The draconian sage sighed. "If you want to cultivate more lower-grade lifeforms, be my guest—but the evolution from disaster- to monarch-grade consumes incredible amounts of the world's energy."

Zhang Lie recalled the phenomenon that had appeared during Gold Comet's evolution.

"If more such evolutions occur, this world will be drained dry."

Zhang Lie nodded. "Zhu, I'm afraid I'll have to make life somewhat more complicated for you. You can continue cultivating disaster-grade lifeforms here, but we'll have to go elsewhere for the monarch-grade evolution."

It looked as though it would be necessary to take over more worlds so that they could be used as hatching grounds for such lifeforms.

"Let's set out to meet this coalition, shall we?" Zhang Lie shattered space, bringing Zhang Hanxiang and Gold Comet with him to the frontlines of the invasion.

When he arrived, the warlords were in heated combat with the kings of the realm, who had swarmed the battlefield in large numbers and were pushing the warlords back.

The kings were potent fighters in their own right—but no match for Gold Comet, who was happily sharpening its scythes, excited to test out its newfound strength.

Zhang Hanxiang looked into the distance, at the air covered by flame and smoke. "Brother, be careful. The king of Chiyan was injured in battle against Yang Ze, but after he recovered, he grew even stronger. He's already past the limits of a peak king of a large world!"