Chapter 371: Heading Toward QiZhang Lie stopped them at once. "Hold it! Musi Yu deserved to die. He came down to the second realm in an attempt to kill me, but I defeated him instead. Furthermore, you're both my disciples, and the Eclipse Sage is my benefactor. Isn't it natural for me to avenge the two of you?"
Hong Xiao replied, "No matter why you did it, Master, you were the one who avenged the Hong clan."
Hong Xi nodded. "Master, we'll do anything for you—not just because of what you've done for us, but also for the rest of the Hong clan."
Zhang Lie scoffed. "You're the last two descendants of the Eclipse Sage, and I swore I'd take care of you. Are you going to let me forswear my word? Cherish yourselves more!"
Hong Xiao let out a deep breath. "Yes, Master! With the death of the clan head Musi Yu, along with the majority of the Musi clan, our blood feud is over. I'm sure the spirits of the Hong clan will be gratified to hear of what you've done."
"Things aren't over yet."
Hong Xi and Hong Xiao looked at him warily. "Master, are there any lingering issues?"
Zhang Lie nodded. "Do you know how the feud between the Musi and Hong clans began?"
The two siblings shook their heads.
"Have you heard of the Sage of Black Sun?"
Hong Xi frowned. "I think I have. Allegedly, he was a good friend of our ancestor, the Eclipse Sage."
"Actually, Musi Yu is the Sage of Black Sun."
"What?!" the two siblings gaped.
"[Eclipse] and [Black Sun] were originally the same technique. Your forefather and Musi Yu obtained this technique during an expedition, and the two of them each learned half the technique. They planned on improving their halves and then trading with each other to learn the other half.
"However, out of greed, Musi Yu tried to ambush your forefather and steal his half of the technique, but his plan went awry. As far as I can tell, your forefather suspected that something like this might happen, and he left a partial version of [Eclipse] in his second-realm treasury under the assumption that Musi Yu would claim it.
"If you truly want to set the spirits of the Hong clan at ease, then combine [Eclipse] and [Black Sun]—finish the task that your ancestor couldn't."
"Yes, Master!" the two siblings replied firmly.
Zhang Lie warned them severely not to try to combine the two techniques before reaching advanced proficiency in each one, then headed off toward his old house. He hadn't seen his sister for quite some time, and it would be a good idea to catch up.
Meanwhile, a calamity had befallen Qi.
"Look at all the humans around!" Following Wang Yanyi's directions, the sura king and his party arrived at a tall hill overlooking Qi. From their vantage point, they could see the countless hunters within. The sura king began to drool, and the lower half of his body reacted to his thoughts.
Glancing at all the humans beneath him, the sura king quickly forgot about the reason he had left his palace, and thoughts of Musi Yu left his brain. There were so many men he could claim here! Why harp on just one?
He shouted, "Bring me my sura axe! I'm going to claim all of these hunters as my concubines!"
The sura elder's mouth spasmed once again. "Your highness, we can't let you charge the city alone." Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ ɴ0velFɪre.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.
The sura king frowned. "What do you mean? Surely you don't think I would be in any danger?"
"Of course not, your highness, but you'll need manpower to catch you some humans, don't you?"
The sura king thought for a moment, then nodded. "Good point. I'll lead the assault, and the rest of you can just help me catch the humans instead.
The sura elder coughed. "Your highness, I may have a better strategy in mind."
The sura king frowned. "What strategy?"
"Why do you want humans, your highness?"
"To have sex with them, of course!"
"In that case, your highness, isn't it inefficient for us to slaughter them all?"
One of the sura questioned him, "How else would we consume them?"
"Why don't we rear them like livestock?"
"But don't we already do that?"
The sura elder shook his head. "We can be more deliberate about it. Bring our troops over and threaten them until they give up some of their humans. The king can have all the concubines he pleases, and the rest of us can eat our fill. There's no need to slaughter them on the battlefield at all."
The sura king slapped his head. "You're right, what an excellent strategy! Let's do just that."
Then, he turned back to Wang Yanyi. "You've done well leading us here, and I very much enjoy having sex with you."
Wang Yanyi trembled, despair in his eyes. "Kill me, please."
The sura king shook his head. "You've been instrumental in helping the sura discover a human city. How could I bear to kill you after this? I'm going to make you my concubine—aren't you happy?"
"No, no, no!" Wang Yanyi wailed.
The sura king turned to an elder. "Make sure this human doesn't die, do you understand?"
"You're growing quite rapidly," Zhang Lie praised Zhang Hanxiang.
Zhang Hanxiang smiled. "Of course, Brother! With you as my role model, I could hardly afford to slow down."
"As expected of my sister." Zhang Lie rubbed the back of her head. "Now that you're already at the limits of the first realm, it's time to break through."
Zhang Lie was very heartened to see that his sister, Jun Jiuxiao, and Ye Xianchen had all passed the limit of regular hunters in the first realm.
"Now, I think it's worth taking some time to search for peak-grade lifeforms that might be hiding about the first realm. With your current strength and the effects of the limit fragments you've acquired, you should be fine handling them."
Zhou Ming rushed inside the governor's manor in Qi.
Xiao Zhengyang frowned. "What's the matter? Why are you in such a big rush?"
"Something's very wrong, Governor Xiao! The sura are here!"
Xiao Zhengyang's face turned pale. He rushed out and saw a huge mass of sura rushing toward Qi.
"How did the sura learn about where our city was? Someone had to have told them!"
Xiao Zhengyang waved a commanding arm. "Now's not the time for that. Sound the alarm. The whole city must be prepared for a sura incursion."
As human archers headed up the watchtowers of Qi, the sura halted, and the sura elder strode forward.