Ultragene Warlord

Chapter 355: The Musi Bounty

 

In the past, he didn't understand why his sister would idolize such a hunter, why she would buy his posters and newspapers with articles about him to pin up in her room.

Now, however, he understood.
He too would admire a man who was willing to live for his ideals, unflinching against authority and strength.
Hardly anyone else would be willing to go against the Musi clan, who controlled an entire planet, for a single disciple, and the courage and resolution that Zhang Lie had shown was second to none.

After stabilizing Hong Xi's condition, Zhang Lie turned to Hong Xiao.
“You must be Hong Xi's brother.”

“You know of me, Mr.
Zhang Lie?” Hong Xiao's eyes widened in amazement.

Zhang Lie looked him up and down.
“Yes, your sister has mentioned you before.”

Hong Xiao's injuries were only slightly better than his sister's, and his left arm seemed to have been incinerated during the fight.
Zhang Lie strode forward and cleaned his wounds, then asked, “Why don't you follow me back to the Zenith Dojo as well?”

Hong Xiao gaped.
“C-Can I really go with you?”

Hong Xi weakly rolled her eyes at him.
“You idiot, kneel down and kowtow to your new master!”

After doing so, however, Hong Xiao suddenly sighed.
“But my genetic core was shattered to pieces by Musi Te…”

Zhang Lie didn't think much of it.
“Then you can start anew.
Do you have the courage to do so?”

“Wait, please! I have one last question—where did you obtain your copy of [Eclipse]?” Hong Xiao asked, staring as sternly as he could at Zhang Lie.

Hong Xi replied, “Our master's the successor of the Eclipse Sage! It was only because of him that I managed to make it into our ancestor's treasury.
Otherwise, I would have perished months ago to a superior-grade lifeform.”

Hong Xiao lowered his head.
“Thank you for saving my sister.”

“I'm the successor of the Eclipse Sage, after all.
His visage left me with two tasks: one, to take care of the Hong clan, and two, to get rid of the Musi clan.” Zhang Lie continued curiously, “How did you know that I possessed [Eclipse]? I don't think I've used it in front of you.”

Hong Xiao lowered his head.
“We've met in the past.”

Zhang Lie frowned as he glanced at Hong Xiao more closely.

“The deepsea vines,” Hong Xiao reminded him.

“Ah, that's right! You were the kid who tried to steal my vines!” There had been so many things happening around that time that Zhang Lie would hardly have remembered what had occurred without a reminder. 

He smiled bitterly.
Even before then, he had already begun searching for the descendants of the Hong clan—only to have one appear in front of his eyes without realizing it.

Hong Xiao cupped his fists and lowered his head.
“I apologize for striking you, Master, but I urgently needed the vine to save someone.”

“To save someone? What happened in the end?”

Hong Xi shook her head.
“Our elderly housekeeper passed away.
He had doted on us while he was alive, and he wouldn't have suffered such grievous injuries if not for the Musi clan.”

Zhang Lie swallowed, feeling somewhat guilty about what he had done.
“Let's let bygones be bygones.
Once we're back at the dojo, I'll teach you about the foundational breakthrough.”

Zhang Lie had exchanged blows with Hong Xiao before, and he knew that Hong Xiao was a talented hunter.
However, Hong Xiao shook his head regretfully as he supported his sister's body.
“I apologize.
I'm very grateful for your help, but I can't drag you down with me.”

Zhang Lie waved a hand carelessly.
“I promised the Eclipse Sage I would take care of his descendants, and that includes the two of you.”

“The Musi clan won't let either of us go.
They're essentially the rulers of Tarkus and the nearby planets, and the Musi clan head himself is a hunter of overwhelming strength.
They have a conglomerate that spans the entire galaxy.

I'm worried that—”

“Worried? Don't be, there's no need.
I don't fear the winged, one of the four prime races of the Milky Way, let alone the Musi clan.
Come, follow me back to the dojo!”

Hong Xi added, “Hong Xiao, believe in our master! He—”

“I know that you're very strong, Master, but the Musi clan isn't as easy to deal with as you would imagine.
As far as I know, the Musi clan head, Musi Yu, is a warlord of the third realm, and it's been at least a century since he reached the peak of his cultivation.
He's a peerless fighter!”

Zhang Lie snorted.
“Will you follow me back to the dojo if I can deal with the Musi clan, then?”

“I'd love to, but I don't want to bring you trouble,” Hong Xiao insisted.
“The Zenith Dojo's in a period of growth.
If you rouse the Musi clan's ire now, it might be a devastating blow for your dojo.
I can't be so selfish, and—”

“You think the Musi clan has more influence than I do?” Zhang Lie interrupted him again, rolling his eyes.
He was about to pull out his transceiver when he remembered that he had crushed it to pieces in his hurry to find Hong Xi.
“Hong Xi, lend me your transceiver.”

Hong Xi nodded.
As he took the transceiver, Zhang Lie made a quick call.

“Zhang Hong, please help me place a bounty on the entire Musi clan.
I'll trade one vial of Potion #1 for ten subordinate hunters of the Musi clan, five branch hunters, or one hunter from the main family.
For a core hunter of the main family, two vials of Potion #1! Announce this bounty immediately—and if there aren't enough vials of Potion #1 around, have the labs halt their research and focus on producing as many vials as they can.
Alright, I'll speak with you once I get back.” Zhang Lie hung up.
“The Musi clan's finished.”

Hong Xiao and Hong Xi stood stock-still.

The two siblings were almost entirely unaware of the true value of these potions, and they weren't certain if anyone would actually be willing to anger the Musi clan just for one or two such vials.

Of course, just because they didn't appreciate the value of these potions didn't mean that other hunters didn't, either.
A golden bounty shone at the top of the largest bounty hunters' forum in the galaxy, and the appearance of that bounty immediately led to repercussions throughout the dimensional world.

“Just what sort of enmity could there be between the Zenith Dojo and the Musi clan for Zhang Lie to be willing to hand over his precious potions as a reward?”

“The Musi clan's done for, I say!”

“Eh, where are you off to?”

“Isn't it obvious? There's a branch company of the Musi on this planet, and the managerial staff are all members of the Musi clan!”

The assassins of the Milky Way reacted even more decisively, and one of the most infamous such organizations, the Night Shadows, recalled all its members immediately.

Seated on his skeletal throne, the leader of the assassin troupe announced, “From today onwards, the night shadows will cease all other activity and focus solely on killing those of the Musi clan.”

There were quite a number of outstanding assassination requests, for which the troupe would have to pay a hefty cancellation fee, and one daring member asked about them.

“Haven't you all seen the news about the bounty from the Zenith Dojo? Do you know how much these potions are worth? Pay the cancellation fees—they're nothing compared to the profit we'll get in return!”

Some of the killers, who had yet to hear about the news, immediately pulled up the corresponding information.

The champion of the Void Cup, Zhang Lie, had grown rather famous in the Milky Way, and many believed that the source of his extraordinary strength in the first realm was the additional fifty limit fragments and ten peak gene fragments that he possessed.

If they too were able to obtain a vial of Potion #1 for themselves, even if they couldn't become the next Zhang Lie, their strength would surely improve by leaps and bounds as well. 

The assassins vanished from sight even before their leader dismissed them all.
After all, there were only a limited number of people in the Musi clan, and they were afraid that others would get to the Musi hunters first…

The Beika plane in the third realm was an unusual location, filled with an endless swarm of bugs whose numbers never seemed to get smaller no matter how many were killed.

A man bathed in blood stood atop a hill of bug corpses, a bowl of ramen in his hands and a transceiver on his wrist.
He was glancing at the daily news from the world federation.

“A bounty on the Musi clan?  Interesting.” Xing Yan stood up and tossed his cup of ramen aside.
 “In that case, it looks like it's finally my turn to shine.” 

To the pack of starbeasts below him, he announced, “Xing Zhi, inform the entire clan that the Musi clan is now our sworn enemy.
We'll kill their hunters on sight!”

Xing Zhi seemed rather flummoxed.
“Why, young master? We won't be able to make use of the humans' limit-breaking potions!”

Xing Yan smiled again.
“That's unimportant.
What matters is that Zhang Lie's a good friend of the clan, and helping him out in his time of need is worth far more than any material possession.”

The other three prime races felt much the same way.
Destroying the Musi clan would be as easy as squashing a fly, and that was a cheap price to pay for winning Zhang Lie's goodwill.