Chapter Eighty-Nine: Where Are the Twelve People?

Tian Zhong did not pick up the receiver; instead, he pressed the speakerphone at once.

“This is Tian Zhong,” he said coolly when the call connected.

A middle-aged man’s voice came through the landline. “I am Yamamoto Kenfu. Tian Zhong, as the leader of Huaxia, you must give our Fusang Nation an explanation! Yang Ye is a butcher. He has killed more than a hundred Stellar-ranked warriors of our Fusang Nation, and he has tarnished the dignity of His Majesty the Emperor of our Great Fusang Empire. Therefore, he must die. That is the premise.

“In addition, Huaxia must allocate a tract of land in the Northeast Region equal in size to our Fusang Empire as compensation. Otherwise, I will personally go to Huaxia together with Mr. Tazawa Hiroki and make Huaxia pay a heavy price for this. You must give us an answer within one day.”

With that, the other side hung up.

In all of Fusang Nation, only two superstellar powerhouses had ever emerged: Yamamoto Kenfu and Tazawa Hiroki.

Looking at the landline now blaring with a busy tone, He Wei sneered. “Tian Zhong, see that? This is the price of indulging Yang Ye! Because of him, our Huaxia will lose a vast stretch of territory. As a national leader, do you not know that the people of Fusang have always coveted Huaxia’s land? Now look—at last they have found an excuse.”

Tian Zhong lifted his eyes and glanced at He Wei, who was bristling with anger, then said flatly, “Huaxia, including the three of you, has a total of five superstellar powerhouses, does it not? Are you all simply going to stand by and do nothing about this?”

Li Feihu shook his head. “Once we reached the Superstellar rank, our duty ceased to be the defense of any one city or nation. We can no longer risk our lives for matters like this.”

“Heh.”

Tian Zhong could not help but shake his head, letting out a disdainful laugh.

At that moment, Jiang Zhenghong said, “Do not look at us like that. Only Superstellar cultivators know that in twelve years’ time, the trial of the main clan will begin. When that day comes, we will have to fight to defend Earth. There are already so few Superstellar people now; we cannot afford to consume one another through internal conflict.”

Bang!

The moment Jiang Zhenghong finished, Tian Zhong slammed the table and sprang to his feet, pointing at the three of them as he cursed, “Nonsense! All excuses! At the time of the trial, with the sort of rotten character you have, you will probably abandon every human being on Earth, even your own families, and flee alone for your lives! Do not think this old man does not know what the trial is about!

“If you cannot even protect a single city or nation, what right do you have to speak of protecting the whole of Earth? In these hundred years of cultivation, you have all cultivated your dog brains dry. Selfish, narrow, and base—Huaxia has no need for people like you!”

Tian Zhong’s furious rebuke made the faces of the three present burn with shame.

Because he had struck directly at their hearts.

In the secret realm, they had witnessed the illusions of the successive trials, scenes so real they were indistinguishable from reality.

In those illusions, all twenty-eight Superstellar powerhouses had joined forces, yet they still failed to pass even the simplest trial.

Thus they had lost confidence. By then, they had decided that when the time came, they would simply refuse the trial and attach themselves to an alien race.

Because to take part in the trial meant death; to depend on an outside race still left room to live.

After a hundred years of bitter cultivation to finally reach the Superstellar realm, how could they die so easily? It was far too unworthwhile.

And it was not only the three of them. Of the remaining twenty-five Superstellar cultivators, most of them probably thought the same.

For that reason, they had even found a justification in their hearts: if they survived and left Earth, they would still be the seeds of humanity on this world. Given the chance, they would rebuild their people and let the race flourish again.

Driven into humiliation and rage, He Wei said coldly, “A mere ant like you, how could you understand the great righteousness in our hearts? You are courting death!”

As soon as the words left his mouth, a wildly intense surge of stellar power erupted from his body.

“Hehe.”

Suddenly, a voice full of contempt rang out behind Tian Zhong.

Immediately after, four equally formidable auras exploded forth.

He Wei, Jiang Zhenghong, and Li Feihu all froze, turning in astonishment toward the four people behind Tian Zhong.

At that moment, Tian Zhong left his seat and stepped back to stand behind Zhou Hun and the others.

It was Zhou Hun who had uttered the mocking laugh.

“Four Superstellar powerhouses!” Li Feihu exclaimed in surprise.

“How is that possible?” Jiang Zhenghong cried out as well.

Within Huaxia, including the three of them, there were only five cultivators at the Superstellar realm in total, and the other two were people the three of them knew all too well.

Seeing the surprise on their faces, Zhou Hun raised a hand and gestured toward a bookshelf behind Tian Zhong. “Our boss, Ye Xun, is obsessed with livestreaming, so everything that happened in the office just now was recorded. Right now, the whole of Huaxia—no, the whole world, should know what the three of you are really like.”

“Seeking death!”

He Wei roared in fury and thrust out a palm toward Zhou Hun.

Boom!

A thunderous explosion rang out.

Zhou Hun and the other three joined forces to withstand the power of that strike.

When Superstellar cultivators fought, the destruction they could unleash was immense. Violent stellar energy scattered in all directions, shaking the entire office tower to pieces.

Amid countless shattered bricks and stones, eight figures burst out into the open.

“Old Jiang, Old Li, the four of them are no match for us. Kill them!” He Wei shouted to Jiang Zhenghong and Li Feihu in midair.

“Of course!” Jiang Zhenghong ground out through clenched teeth.

Li Feihu said nothing, but murderous intent burned fiercely in his eyes.

Pursuing Zhou Hun and the other three, the trio descended onto the square before Huaxia’s congressional office tower.

All around was silence. Aside from the seven Superstellar powerhouses, not a single figure could be seen.

Before the battle began, the surrounding people had already been ordered to evacuate.

“I never expected those old foxes to find Chairman Tian first. Good thing I arranged for Zhou Hun and the others to protect him in advance.”

On the rooftop of a distant building, Yang Ye and Long Xiaoqing were sitting on the guardrail of the terrace, looking toward He Wei, Jiang Zhenghong, and Li Feihu on the square. Yang Ye smiled as he spoke.

From midnight until dawn the previous night, things had seemed calm on the surface, but in truth, a great many events had taken place.

The Sky Patrol, anchored in Tianjin Port, had been smashed to pieces by a Superstellar expert with stellar power. Fortunately, Captain Wei Yong and the others had already left.

All the martial halls across Huaxia had also been shut down.

Meanwhile, Mao Li and a team of twenty men had set out overnight for Fusang Nation.

What He Wei and the others did not know was that just after Yamamoto Kenfu finished that phone call, he and Tazawa Hiroki were already under siege from Mao Li’s group.

There were also sixteen other Superstellar powerhouses, split into teams of eight, dealing with the two remaining Superstellar cultivators, Han Mu and Hu Tianyun.

These five Superstellar cultivators all bore a blood feud of annihilation with Yang Ye.

Nor could Yang Ye really be blamed. Whose fault was it that these families, protected by ancestral Superstellar elders, had grown arrogant and unrestrained, acting with such domineering insolence?

On the square, the garments of the seven people fluttered without wind, and the auras they exuded were like seven suns contending for brilliance.

At such a moment, even cultivators at the Stellar rank would not dare draw near the square.

Merely the pressure of that presence could shatter their minds.

“You four are no match for us! After finally cultivating yourselves to the Superstellar realm, why die for the Yang family’s lackey?”

He Wei said coldly.

He intended to use words to erode Zhou Hun and the others’ will to fight.

Zhou Hun smiled. “The four of us are indeed no match for the three of you. But what about twelve people?”

As he finished speaking, Zhou Hun swept a hand outward.

Around the square, eight sharp auras suddenly erupted.