Ultragenic Warlord

Chapter 365: Secrets of [Eclipse]

Zhang Lie raised his hands to the skies, sending two tablets from his fourth form's dragonturtle crashing down. His prey, the peak-grade whitegold tiger dashing away from him, crumpled to the ground.

"[The Boundless Blade: Dragon's Wrath]!

Zhang Lie thrust Venombane straight into the tiger's head.

[You successfully killed a peak-grade whitegold tiger. By consuming the flesh of the peak-grade whitegold tiger, you may receive one to ten peak gene fragments.]

With his current strength, he was easily able to kill a peak-grade lifeform by himself. Suddenly, he felt a foreign aura some distance away, and he immediately turned around. "Who is it?!"

The sun suddenly turned dark, and black flames rapidly circled him.

"Zhang Lie, I've been looking for you for quite some time!" A man walked through the flames, a black sun at his back.

"Who are you?!" Zhang Lie raised his sword. The black flames frolicked as though they grew more intense with his anger. Zhang Lie couldn't help but take a few steps back. These flames were strikingly familiar. Could the man be...

"You don't recognize me?!" the man hollered in rage. "You slaughtered my entire clan! Hand over the recipes for Potions #1 and #2, as well as the manual for [Eclipse]."

"What makes you think I'll agree?"

"Ha! Zhang Lie, don't think you can ignore me just because you've amassed some power for yourself in the second realm. I'm a third-realm warlord, and killing you would be as easy as squashing an ant to death!"

"A former warlord, you mean. Now that you're in the second realm, I don't expect you'll be able to use your full strength," Zhang Lie corrected.

Musi Yu snorted. "As if it won't be enough to deal with you!" He absorbed the black sun hanging in the sky into his body, and the fluctuations of genetic energy radiating from him rapidly grew much stronger.

Zhang Lie narrowed his eyes. "This is different from the standard copy of [Black Sun] possessed by the Musi clan. As I expected, you didn't impart the full technique to them!"

"That bunch of trash doesn't deserve it," Musi Yu replied, shrugging. "[Eclipse] originally belonged to me as well, but the damned Eclipse Sage stole it. Now, it's time for [Eclipse] to return to my possession."

Zhang Lie cocked an eyebrow. "Is that so? I've compared [Eclipse] and [Black Sun] myself, and they seem like two parts of a whole. My understanding is that they were both cleft from some more superior technique instead."

The killing intent in Musi Yu's eyes grew sharper. "I won't permit anyone who knows that secret to live."

Zhang Lie rubbed at his jaw. "There used to be a Sage of Black Sun, but he vanished shortly after the death of the Eclipse Sage. I suspect this is likely his technique. When the Sage of Black Sun vanished, rumors had it that he perished of a wound inflicted by the Eclipse Sage himself, but it looks like there may be more to that story. Musi Yu, the first recorded sighting of you occurred right after the disappearance of the Sage of Black Sun. Have you been disguising yourself all this time?"

"Haha! Well done, lad—I hadn't expected you would uncover the truth that I had hidden for so long. I'll at least do you the honor of revealing the truth to you before you die. [Eclipse] and [Black Sun] did derive from the same technique, and the Eclipse Sage and I were the best of friends.

"Together, we found a peerless technique that was divided into two portions, each of which could be learned separately and combined into one cohesive whole. However, we would each have to master one portion of the technique before the other. The Eclipse Sage and I decided to each learn one portion, then to trade our portions with the other."

By then, Zhang Lie had guessed the truth. "You plotted against the Eclipse Sage!"

"Indeed. The day we were slated to exchange our portions of the technique, I was blinded by greed and attacked my good friend. Unexpectedly, he was so strong that, even with his wounded body, he managed to deal me a serious injury, and he even destroyed his portion of the technique before I could claim it. After my injury, I hid my identity, knowing that the Eclipse Sage would have a plan to counter me.

"I believed that the Eclipse Sage would have passed [Eclipse] to his family, the Hong clan, so I founded a clan with my new identity and targeted the Hong clan with all my might. However, even after all these years, the useless hunters in my assumed clan still haven't been able to claim [Eclipse] for themselves."

Zhang Lie's eyes gleamed in understanding. This was why the copy of [Eclipse] in the Eclipse Sage's treasury was incomplete! He had predicted that Musi Yu would target the Hong clan; the partial copy of [Eclipse] in his treasury in the second realm was nothing more than bait. Even if the Musi clan were to lay their hands on it, they would never be able to acquire the complete inheritance, and Musi Yu would stop trying to target the Hong clan after realizing that he wouldn't benefit from it.

The true inheritance had been left on Earth, and Zhang Lie had become the Eclipse Sage's successor. It was that successor who would be tasked with the responsibility of taking care of the Hong clan and dealing with the Musi.

However, the Eclipse Sage had failed to account for the stubbornness of his clan. His descendants refused to give up his treasure, even at the cost of their lives.

"Now that you know the truth, I can't let you leave. If you hand over the recipes for Potions #1 and #2, along with [Eclipse], I'll give you a clean death."

"Oh? Attack me if you dare—I'm curious just how strong a warlord of the third realm is!"