Zhang Lie smiled. "Don't worry, I have my own tricks for negotiation!"

The stone giant repeated, "Tiny creatures, why have you come here?"

Zhang Lie strode forward decisively. "I'd like to see the leader of your clan."

"Scram!"

"You aren't going to ask why I'm here?"

"Our clan leader won't pay attention to the affairs of the tiny, let alone your words."

"I recommend you listen to me."

"On what grounds?"

"To avoid the extinction of your clan."

"And what news could a puny creature like you bring that could destroy our clan?"

"That news is me."

The rock giant stared at Zhang Lie for a moment and, upon understanding his words, began to laugh. "Haha, do you think you tiny creatures can do anything against my clan? I could squash you all with my foot!"

"I'll repeat myself: I want to see your clan leader."

The rock giant replied seriously, "And I'll repeat myself as well: you don't have that right."

With a gigantic boom, the rock giant flew through the air like a missile, his momentum only depleted after knocking down five or six rock spires.

Everyone looked at Zhang Lie in shock, not expecting him to make a move so suddenly.

Zhang Lie's punch caused the entirety of the rock forest to react. Rocks began to fall from the nearby spires, each transforming into a rock giant and surrounding Zhang Lie and the others.

The hunters' faces turned serious, but Zhang Lie seemed as calm as before. "I want to see the leader of your clan," he repeated.

A rock giant howled. "After beating one of our kind, why should we grant you that privilege?"

Zhang Lie frowned impatiently. "I'm tired of repeating myself. I want to see the leader of your clan. Don't force me to make a move."

The rock giant snorted. "Don't you realize you're encircled by all of us? The only way you'll get to see our clan leader is if we squash you into a human pancake first!"

"Do you all have rocks for brains? Can't you understand what I'm saying?"

Hong Xi whispered, "Master, they do have rocks for brains..."

"It looks like you'll all need a good beating before you're willing to listen."

"Ha! Can a tiny creature like you take us down?" The rock giants began to rampage as they made to attack the gathered hunters.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Hundred Dragons Soaring]!" Zhang Lie sent a horde of dragons soaring into the air, howling as they swooped down and bombarded the rock giants, whose bodies burst apart as the dragons exploded.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Fade]!" Zhang Lie himself shot forward like a bullet.

Two strikes from Zhang Lie alone had cleared a large patch of land all around them.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Fade]!" Zhang Lie's fist pummeled the rock giant in front of him, smashing its body to smithereens. The giant fell to the ground. Zhang Lie stepped on its chest as he thrust his palm within the cracked rock and pulled out a black creature.

The creature was like a lump of coal, its body as squishy as a pile of jelly. When Zhang Lie pulled it out of the chest of the rock giant, it began to tremble, and all the rock giants around him stopped moving.

"Hold it!" A rock giant studded with jewels and golden veins walked out from the rock forest.

"Are you finally willing to make an appearance, leader of the rock spirits?" Zhang Lie asked slowly.

The rock spirits were an interesting race: their status in their clan was determined by the amount of gold and jewels within their "bodies". The rock giant in front of him, glowing resplendently in the sunlight, his body filled more with jewels than with rock, was undoubtedly their leader.

"Let go of my kin, and I'll let you leave peacefully."

Zhang Lie was clutching onto the true form of a rock spirit.

Hong Xi gasped. "This is what a rock spirit actually looks like?"

Zhang Lie explained, "The rock giants you see are really just rock formations that the rock spirits control. Their true selves are these stubby, fragile pieces of coal. The reason they always make fun of other races for being tiny is because of an inferiority complex that results from their being even tinier themselves."

Su Hong gaped. "I would hardly have imagined it!"

"More accurately, this is more like the heart of a rock spirit. As long as its heart remains intact, a rock spirit can regenerate with a sufficient quantity of raw material around. This was why the rock giants were so agitated when I removed this rock spirit's heart."

If he were to exert even the slightest amount of force, the rock spirit's heart would crumble, and it would die.

The leader of the rock spirits said, "You might be tiny, but you seem to understand a lot about our race."

Zhang Lie shrugged. "It has nothing to do with my size. I simply overheard a few important pieces of information about the rock spirits in the past.

"Now that I'm here, will you let go of the spirit in your hands?"

Zhang Lie tossed the rock spirit aside; he had no intention of threatening the entire clan with the life of one spirit.

Kidnapping a rock spirit and threatening the clan into compliance was a dishonorable method, one that Zhang Lie would hardly deign to use. Furthermore, the rock spirits would hardly work for him willingly, and their construction would be shoddy and prone to failure.

The clan leader announced, "Human, on account of your clemency, we'll allow your companions to leave safely."

"I have something to inform you."

"What?"

"I have a city to construct, and I need the manpower of your clan."

The rock giants began to laugh. "Haha, who do you think you are? Why would we follow your demands? You're a puny human with a tiny brain! Why should we do as you say?"