Ultragenic Warlord

Chapter 688: Independent Research

He was the inventor of these limit-breaking potions in this life. At this period in time, he was certain he possessed the most knowledge of these potions out of anyone in the entire galaxy—so he was even more astounded to hear about this from the Jindao.

The Jindao continued, "In order to develop potions suitable for the Jindao, corresponding to the mutated-grade limit fragments provided by Potion #2, any sacrifice is worth it."

The ninth prince asked Zhang Lie, "Master, what are these limit-breaking potions?"

There was no one better the ninth prince could have asked.

The strongest limit-breaking potions in the Milky Way were developed by Zhang Lie alone. He was their inventor and their foremost researcher, and he controlled over eighty percent of the limit-breaking potions available in the Milky Way, as well as over ninety percent of the ingredients and spiritual herbs required for the potions. The remaining ten percent were largely general-use herbs that were available in large quantities.

And yet, despite all his knowledge and his stranglehold on these limit-breaking potions, he had never expected to hear about them from the Jindao in the third realm. He didn't intend to reveal all this to the ninth prince, however; it would be meaningless.

Even though Zhang Lie himself didn't respond, the hypnotized Jindao did it for him. He shouted passionately, "A hero whose intelligence and courage has overcome the very heavens! In the second realm, he overthrew the sura and founded a kingdom of his own, pulling humanity out of the weeds of the weak. He is the champion of mankind and the discoverer of these limit fragments, Zhang Lie!"

...Zhang Lie? Champion of mankind, who founded a kingdom in the second realm...??The ninth prince peered at his master, his lips twitching.

Zhang Lie hadn't wanted to expose his identity too early on, but now...

The Jindao explained, "Limit-breaking potions allow you to increase the number of gene fragments you can absorb, raising the upper limit for the entire race as a whole. At present, only the humans have access to three different limit-breaking potions, whereas the other races of the Milky Way are far behind. With the help of Zhang Lie, several races have begun making headway, but they've only developed one such potion so far."

Zhang Lie frowned. He murmured to himself, "With the help of the limit fragment research society, the one that Amurong had spearheaded? Surely not—if that society were behind all this, the world would have fallen long ago."

The strongest races of the Milky Way had pooled their assets to fund this society, and destroying a middle-sized world in the third realm was well within their capabilities.

The Jindao continued, "According to our investigation of these limit fragments, the primordial starflower will be a vital ingredient for our race's Potion #2."

Zhang Lie sighed in relief. "An internal investigation, then..."

He could hardly have known that the Jindao's rebellion was all for a limit-breaking potion, but it did make sense. Now that Zhang Lie had published the recipe for his limit-breaking potions, each race was competing to come up with variants suitable for their consumption.

"Our plan should have been flawless. The king of the realm would have rushed back to the capital to deal with the beast stampede along its borders, giving us an opportunity to sneak into the imperial treasury."

Zhang Lie asked, "What would you have done if the king of the realm had chosen to return to the capital to quell your uprising instead?"

"Given the king of the realm's weakness, Warlord Jin Yu would have been able to stall him for long enough for our plan to succeed. The Jinghun warlord also lay in ambush."

Zhang Lie recalled Jin Yu, whom he had fought. Given Jin Yu's defensive ability, he really might have withstood the king of the realm's assault for some time, and the Jinghun's own warlord would have provided critical support.

However, no one predicted Zhang Lie's involvement. If not for Zhang Lie, the Jindao and Jinghun's plans would have succeeded already.

Given Zhang Lie's understanding of the Jinghun, he believed that they had a third objective in mind: weakening the king of the realm.

This seemed like an intricate plan to Zhang Lie, but it was commonplace for the Jinghun; the second prince, and even the Jindao clan as a whole, were both just pieces on a gameboard for them. The Jinghun's unbelievable ability to scheme and manipulate was why they were so hated by one and all.

Zhang Lie asked the Jindao a few more questions, but was ultimately unable to obtain more information about the Jinghun. He called the interrogation off.

By now, the official in charge of the interrogation was simpering to him, his original arrogance gone. "Master Hong, I am truly grateful for your assistance. I must report this to his majesty at once—for the Jinghun to be lurking by a prince's side is far too dangerous a thought to behold."

"Hold it." Zhang Lie's eyes shone with a rainbow gleam, mirrored in the official's gaze.

The ninth prince frowned. "Master, what are you doing?"

.

"I'm simply removing some information from his head that I'd like to keep a secret."

For instance, Zhang Lie didn't want anyone else to know how his mistmeld clam soulshard operated. The official had understood it as a form of hypnotism, but Zhang Lie had hidden that understanding away and replaced it by something inscrutable; all the official would be able to say was that Zhang Lie used some mysterious technique to get the Jindao to speak—just like how someone with no knowledge of Chinese might be able to recognize that certain logograms were Chinese characters, but with no idea of what they meant.

Zhang Lie had preserved his memories but obscured his understanding.

"We've gotten all that we came here for. Let's go!" Zhang Lie commanded.

The ninth prince asked, "Where to next, Master?"

"I'm tired. I'm going back to your quarters to sleep."

He had learned quite a wealth of information from the Jindao, but none of it was particularly actionable.

However, the king of the realm didn't give Zhang Lie the opportunity to sleep. The moment they returned to the palace, they received a summons from the king.

When Zhang Lie arrived at the king's quarters, the king praised, "To think that the Jinghun were in the palace! You've done very well, Master Hong."

"It was nothing, your majesty."

"Which prince do you think the Jinghun are working with?"

"To be frank, we haven't caught sight of any of the Jinghun to date—we don't even know how many of them are present in this world. I don't have a good guess."

"How many of the Jinghun would be required to control such a large group of beasts?"

"At least thirty. More, since they had to cause a havoc in both the hunting grounds and the capital simultaneously."

"I understand," the king replied, nodding. "Excellent work. I've just had the fifth-level beast core extracted, and it's a convenient time to gift it to you." The king of the realm clapped his palms and commanded that the beast core be presented to Zhang Lie.