Chapter 889: A Trial Ahead
Hong Tianqi asked curiously, "How many fragments of the map have you collected?"
"About ten thousand or so," Zhang Lie replied, intending to be truthful with Hong Tianqi.
Hong Tianqi was so shocked that he could hardly speak. "How many? T-Ten thousand?!"
Zhang Lie had barely ascended to the third realm a month ago for an observer in the Milky Way. How had he already accumulated ten thousand fragments? It would have taken a very dedicated or very well-connected hunter to do so.
Hong Tianqi took what seemed like an eternity to recover from his shock. "As expected of you… But are you still not done with the map even after collecting all these pieces?"
Zhang Lie shook his head, a small smile on his face.
"Thank goodness I didn't collect these fragments on my own, then—ten thousand and counting, is this meant to be a puzzle or something?"
To be honest, Hong Tianqi didn't know what those fragments were part of. It looked like a map, and Zhang Lie had called them map fragments, so Hong Tianqi followed suit.
Zhang Lie replied, "It should be a map. I'm almost halfway done with it, and I expect that there will only be another ten or twenty thousand fragments or so."
"A thirty-thousand-piece puzzle...?" Hong Tianqi felt nauseous just thinking about it. Once again, he was relieved that he hadn't tried to complete the collection—it would have drained his time and left him with nothing to show for it. Could someone really finish the map?
"It's very impressive that you managed to get this far."
Zhang Lie smiled. "I made use of the other races of the Milky Way."
"That said, don't get too enamored with it. Who knows how much longer it'll take you to get the remaining ten or twenty thousand? You're even more talented than I was at your age, and far stronger. I'm amazed by your talent, and I believe that you'll reach far greater heights than I did. Don't waste all your time and talent on this map."
"I understand."
"You may have gotten closer than anyone since the appearance of these fragments, but even so, I urge you to focus on what's important."
"I know, I know. Leave matters on Mars to me." Zhang Lie was unwilling to speak more regarding the map, because this was one of the only hints about his parents' disappearance.
As he hung up and flopped onto his bed, Zhang Lie began to think about matters on Mars once more. If the invasion of these space bugs really had been masterminded by a third party… Regardless of what was going on, however, they wouldn't be able to stop Zhang Lie.
He left his room and walked around the dojo as he checked on the disciples who were diligently training.
The incoming disciples were all talented and highly motivated youth. As Zhang Lie's name spread, more and more people became interested in joining the Zenith Dojo, and the selection process grew correspondingly rigorous. As a result, anyone who could make it in had to be the cream of the crop.
As far as the older disciples went, however, Zhang Lie was a little displeased. They had grown somewhat indolent and were resting on their laurels.
The reputation of the Zenith Dojo afforded prestige to anyone who was part of it, and the first batch of the Zenith Dojo's disciples essentially had VIP status no matter where they went—in China and even throughout the rest of the Milky Way.
Either they were chatting instead of diligently training, simply going through the motions without putting any heart into their work. Zhang Lie was very dissatisfied by these disciples' actions, but he didn't criticize them outright.
"I heard someone say that the dojo leader himself was out inspecting the disciples' training. Is something the matter?" Just then, Zhang Hong walked up to him.
If not for Zhang Hong's appearance, the older disciples wouldn't have noticed that Zhang Lie had appeared in the dojo.
Zhang Lie was largely focused on the dimensional realm, rather than on the Zenith Dojo, so his presence here was unexpected and shocking.
The older disciples jumped up in shock, hastily bowed toward him, and went back to training.
"Zhang Hong, gather all disciples in the dojo. I intend to make an announcement tomorrow morning during the morning drill."
Zhang Hong asked, "Shall I inform those in the first and second realms as well?"
Zhang Lie thought for a moment. "Yes, have them all return. It should be an eye-opening experience for them all—but there's no need to bring back anyone in the third realm. All the combat-ready hunters have returned already."
Zhang Lie didn't intend to call Zhang Hanxiang back. Although participating in the crisis on Mars would certainly help her mature, Zhang Lie was worried that something untoward would happen to her during such a large-scale crisis.
Zhang Hong asked, "Is something wrong?"
To her knowledge, the Zenith Dojo had never convened such a large-scale gathering before, as though it were about to go to war. However, in the Milky Way, with Zhang Lie and Hong Tianqi around, who would dare to mess with the Zenith Dojo?
"I accepted a request from Hong Tianqi. It'll be a good opportunity for the disciples to gain practical experience in fighting."
Zhang Lie intended to make use of this opportunity to shock the lazier disciples into training hard again.
Back in the first realm, the members of the Zenith Dojo had tried to build their own settlement and had to defend against quite a few waves of enemies—some from other settlements, and others from groups of genetic lifeforms. Thanks to the disciples' hard work and cooperation, they were able to overwhelm their enemies and successfully construct a settlement.
After that, however, Zhang Lie had constructed the kingdom of Limit in the second realm. No one dared to provoke those disciples from the Zenith Dojo who ascended to the second realm, and they were easily able to obtain gene fragments for themselves—there was far less opportunity and reason to go out hunting for genetic lifeforms.
The members of Team Zenith were working hard to expand their territory in the third realm. By the time the disciples in the second realm were ready to ascend, it was likely that there would be no threats waiting for them in the third realm as well.
If this were to proceed indefinitely, the members of the Zenith Dojo would be useless hunters.
After his conversation with Hong Tianqi, Zhang Lie realized one thing. He and Hong Tianqi wouldn't be able to serve as guardians of humanity indefinitely; humanity needed not only a second Hong Tianqi, but also a third, a fourth, a fifth, an endless supply of Hong Tianqis.
Zhang Lie was certain that he could become the second Hong Tianqi, or even a superior Hong Tianqi, and so could the members of Team Zenith. But what about the future?
Zhang Hanxiang, Jun Jiuxiao, Ye Xianchen, Hong Xi, and Hong Xiao might succeed—and then what?
Zhang Lie had realized one thing: if he wanted to prevent others from daring to meddle with humanity, from scheming against humanity, what he needed wasn't a singular Hong Tianqi, but a whole band of them.
He intended to make use of this opportunity on Mars to reforge and temper the disciples of the Zenith Dojo—to metamorphosize as hunters after facing a foe that had swallowed up half the planet already.
Zhang Hong had some idea of what was going to happen, because she knew that there was no force on Earth that could stand against the Zenith Dojo.
Even so, she asked, "Are we waging war?"
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