Ultragenic Warlord

Chapter 677: Unusual Rites

The will of the world's voice rang out in Zhang Lie's mind.

[For consuming the flesh of a peak-grade dragonsnake, you received one peak gene fragment. Current total: 41]

[For consuming the flesh of a peak-grade demonwolf, you received one peak gene fragment. Current total: 47]

Subsequently, Zhang Lie had a bowl of astral hydra porridge, which he pronounced irresistibly fresh and delicious.

[For consuming the flesh of a peak-grade astral hydra, you received one peak gene fragment. Current total: 51]

All sorts of delicacies were served to the ninth prince: crispy fried duck liver, iced monkey brain, wintermelon chicken soup, steamed bear claw—as expected of imperial chefs, their cooking was impeccable.

Zhang Lie vacuumed down the food almost as quickly as it came in to the accompaniment of pleasant chimes in his head.

Zhang Lie: a disaster-grade lifeform

Framework: Foundation, Lv. MAX; Ninecarp Transformation, Sixth Form: River Dragon 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 (advanced), Blade of the Heavens (intermediate)

Genes: Basic, 160; Mutated, 150; Superior, 150; Peak, 120; Disaster, 0

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

Zhang Lie leaned back and burped when he simply couldn't eat any more.

He was done with his superior gene fragments now, and he only needed thirty more peak gene fragments. Those would be easy to obtain, so it was well past time to focus on his disaster gene fragments.

The ninth prince's stomach was so full it almost seemed as though he was pregnant; he couldn't consume anything more.

To be frank, the ninth prince hadn't consumed much food, not even a hundredth of what Zhang Lie had eaten. The difference was that the intelligent races of the Milky Way were able to convert that food into gene fragments, whereas alien races didn't have this advantage.

That said, consuming high-quality meat like this would eventually allow them to grow stronger, and the alien races had specialized professions or techniques for increasing the rate of absorption.

The ninth prince, who had never had such opportunities, was naturally the weakest among the princes.

There was still plenty of food remaining on the table. The ninth prince wanted to keep the leftovers for the next day, but Zhang Lie shook his head immediately. "Dump it all."

"Wouldn't that be too wasteful?"

Zhang Lie rolled his eyes. "You're not the same ninth prince you were the day before—you're the victor of the royal hunt! All eyes in the palace are on you, and if you continue living the same way you used to, they'll start looking down on you again."

"But no matter what, we shouldn't be wasteful. That's what Mother always told me..."

It wasn't as though the ninth prince was starving for food; he simply wasn't used to banquets with such extravagance. There were hundreds of dishes arrayed in their quarters, and Zhang Lie had only taken a bite out of many. Dumping it all felt like a huge waste.

Zhang Lie rolled his eyes again. "When you become the king of the realm, you can implement such policies all you'd like, but for now, you have to act like a proper prince. Surely you aren't worried you won't have such banquets again with me around?"

.

The ninth prince sighed and replied resolutely, "Alright, I understand."

"We'll have such a feast again once the remaining carcasses from the hunt are brought back."

It took just one day for the king of the realm and the imperial guards to restore the capital to minimum working functionality. Before the restoration could continue in earnest, the king of the realm called for a day of mourning.

The entire capital seemed to be draped in white. All businesses had closed up for the day, the buildings shrouded in white cloth. Families hung white banners from their windows as the entire capital observed a day of grieving.

The king of the realm stood atop the stage in the central plaza of the capital, seemingly having grown much older overnight.

His speech began, "Yesterday, the capital was besieged by a large group of beasts, killing large swathes of our imperial guards. These same beasts attacked the royal hunting grounds, and my second son perished in the attack while defending against the beast onslaught. We have all suffered casualties and losses."

The aliens were all dressed in black or white, their heads lowered as they listened to their king.

"My son, the second prince, was a brave fighter and a virtuous man. He who should have led us to light and glory instead departed from the world too early—a tremendous loss." Tears trailed down the king's face. "I was very proud of him. He died a true hero, just like our fighters who stood against unimaginable odds for the sake of all."

From beyond the city gates, six princes draped in white marched toward the plaza bearing the weight of a coffin between them.

The ninth prince led the procession, throwing paper money into the air, which floated toward the ground like snowflakes. The third prince carried a portrait of the deceased second prince, and the second prince's wife carried the second prince's token of identification. Behind the princes were an honor guard playing the bugle in a funerary dirge.

An oppressive air of solemnity overcame the onlookers.

Just as the procession reached the plaza, however, the nature of the ceremony changed abruptly. The six princes all broke out into dance, still carrying the coffin as they did so.

Zhang Lie reared back in alarm. This was—a part of the aliens' ceremony?

Paper money floated above their heads, tossed toward them by the onlookers and honor guard.

The six princes danced wildly and vigorously amidst a shower of paper money. The coffin shook and rattled, as though the second prince himself were dancing along with them.

The princes' moves grew wilder and wilder, as though they were breakdancing.

Zhang Lie was horrified by the culture shock; it felt as though he was seeing a boy band intrude on and completely disrupt a solemn ceremony...