Deep within a secluded valley, a fist broke through a gigantic black cocoon, and a humanoid figure emerged from within. His hair was black, his skin white, his muscles filled with strength, his eyes with a glint.

Zhang Lie had finally finished absorbing the disaster gene fragments he had obtained from the disaster-grade spider, and his body was filled to the brim with explosive strength. By now, Zhang Lie was peerless within the second realm, with only the asura able to fight on the same level as he did.

His clothes had become mere tatters upon the assimilation process for his disaster gene fragments. Luckily, he had packed a change of clothes, which he brought out now from his potbellied-toad soulshard.

After consuming his first disaster-grade core in the second realm, he continued searching for more and more disaster-grade lifeforms, knowing nothing of the fiasco that was shaking the human world.

Following the monarch of stars' information, he approached a patch of desert. 

There, he walked for a month on end, with nothing in sight but yellow sand all around him. There were barely a few genetic lifeforms that he had encountered, and none were strong enough to be worth a fight. He hadn't caught even the barest shadow of the promised disaster-grade lifeform in the monarch of stars' notes.

Fortunately for Zhang Lie, food and drink wouldn't be a problem. He had packed a large quantity of water in his soulshard, and he was a water-attuned genetic hunter in his own right.

However, navigation within the desert proved to be difficult. There was sand all around him, and the horizon remained the same no matter which direction he looked. He suspected he was tracing out circles in the desert; he didn't know how long he would have to continue such a seemingly fruitless search.

Meanwhile, the sura had convened a gathering of the kingdoms. Such a gathering required the uniform approval of all sura empires, and every sura kingdom that mattered would be present.

Such meetings always portended great changes in the realm of the sura.

"As you all know, the empire of stars has been defeated."

The ancient, weathered hall was filled with sura. Only nine seats were placed at the very center, each as ornate as a throne. However, of those nine seats, only five were occupied.

The sura on the thrones released fearful auras, ones that identified them as sura monarchs themselves.  To the back of the nine thrones was a gigantic statue of an asura, thrice the size of that within the monarch of stars' palace.

Everyone seated in the hall was a sura king.

Without fail, such meetings produced results, and these results would permeate the entirety of the second realm.

The five sura on stage were each sura monarchs, and they held vaunted positions in the gathering. Each had a single veto available to them.

"It's hard to believe that the empire of stars has fallen—and harder still that it was brought down by an alien race, a human settlement called Renhuang."

The sura kings sitting in the stands gaped. Although word had since spread among the sura, and although everyone present had heard the news, the fact that a sura monarch was confirming these rumors for themselves made them suck in a breath.

"Apparently, the governor of Renhuang is a human!"

"When did these humans get so strong? They can even destroy the empire of stars now?!"

The sura kings whispered to each other.

The leftmost sura monarch on stage began, "Renhuang's currently massing forces to target we sura at large. Many among these forces were once bitter rivals of the sura."

The throne on which this sura monarch sat was patterned with a shattered sun.

The monarch of the sun boasted the second strongest of the sura empires, barely weaker than the empire of stars.

Of course, by this point, it was now the strongest sura empire. The throne that had once been at the left was the monarch of stars'; it had since been replaced with the monarch of the sun's.

Below the stage, one sura king chuckled coldly. "Insolence! Don't they think we can beat them easily?"

"It looks like we must have been too lenient to the alien races in the past for them to think that such behavior is acceptable."

"They've forgotten who the true rulers of the sura realm are—it's time we teach them a lesson."

Upon hearing of the forces amassed against the sura, the sura kings were all incensed. They felt as though their authority was being challenged.

The second sura monarch affirmed the monarch of the sun's words. Behind his throne was a pitch-black moon. The empire of the moon was just slightly weaker than the empire of the sun.

The sura had quite a few subordinate races, and Renhuang had become a melting pot of sorts among the races of the second realm. They had managed to sneak in a few spies, and the sura monarchs were very well informed regarding Renhuang's affairs.

One sura king asked, "But isn't that what we want?

I heard that the Lightborne sought sanctuary in Renhuang. We were trying to hunt them down, weren't we? If we allow all our enemies to gather in Renhuang, we can defeat them in one fell swoop."

"Ants will be ants—they can never devour a dragon."

The sura kings rubbed their palms greedily, as though they were getting ready to charge toward Renhuang at any moment.

The third sura monarch began to speak. "I understand your feelings. Renhuang is strong enough to possess a threat to us, a threat to all sura. If we don't make a move, they might take the initiative instead."

The third sura monarch's throne was engraved with the sky.

The fourth sura monarch nodded in agreement with the third. Behind his throne was the roiling sea.

The fifth monarch concluded, "We have decided to launch an attack against Renhuang."

His throne was patterned with a crumbling mountain peak.

The monarch of the moon had silver hair and seemed to be getting rather corpulent. He warned, "Don't forget that all our enemies are gathering at Renhuang because it managed to take down the empire of stars."

The sura kings below the stage fell silent. Indeed, no matter how prideful they were, that was a truth they would have to keep in mind. The strongest empire of the sura and its monarch had died to Zhang Lie's hand...