<h4>Chapter 143: An Opening Celebration</h4>
Zhang Quan''s face turned pale the moment he saw the imposing figure, and the n heads and dojo leaders opposing Zhang Lie suddenly turned uneasy. Why was Su Feng visiting Zhang Lie? Even the titles of gxy fighter and dragonsoul warrior shouldn''t have been enough to attract his attention.
Was there some unusual rtionship between them? Doubts filled the audience''s mind.
"Not bad! There are quite a few people here, aren''t there?"
Su Feng''s eyes swept over the guests—just an ordinary nce, nothing more, but everyone seemed to collectively hold a breath. Su Feng, from the ckwind Fort, along with his team of elite soldiers... none of the guests present dared to draw attention to themselves.
The ckwind soldiers were elite warriors that the military had stationed at the third realm. As soldiers whose primary purpose was to counter alien invasions, their martial ability was naturally staggering. A few dozen soldiers had apanied Su Feng on this sudden visit.
"Is that Commander-in-Chief Su Feng?" someone whispered.
Qin Zongming and the others swallowed a gulp of saliva—who would have expected that Su Feng himself would attend such an event?
"Commander-in-Chief Su Feng!" Zhang Quan and the n heads of the capital hurriedly stood up and bowed in deference, and they were quickly followed by the rest of the audience.
Hovercar after hovercar filled the entrance to the dojo, and a staggering number of soldiers spilled out.
"Look—there must be at least a whole toon of soldiers gathered here!" The citizens of Ning had never seen such a scene. They wanted to find out just what was happening within the dojo, but they didn''t dare step too close.
"Here! A congrattory gift for you," Su Feng spoke to Zhang Lie, then nodded at the gathered guests. He motioned for his subordinates toe forward with thevish present. Thest two ckwind soldiers strode forward bearing an object.
Zhang Lie was surprised by how much thought Su Feng had put into this: his appearance alone was shocking enough, let alone the gift he had prepared.
"Congrattions on the opening of your dojo, Dojo Leader Zhang!" Su Feng handed Zhang Lie the prepared gift himself, his face beaming.
Zhang Quan and the others felt their hopes shatter. Given these circumstances, it seemed as though Zhang Lie would be protected by Su Feng from now on.
"Commander Su, you''re too kind."
The object that Su Feng presented him was pitch ck and gave off surprisingly concentrated cosmic energy. As Zhang Lie stepped closer to it, he realized that the gic energy he had consumed during the fight against Li Xin was quickly being regenerated. Zhang Lie gaped in surprise.
"This is a starstone?!"
"Indeed. A small gift—don''t mind it." Su Feng smiled.
Despite the pressure that Su Feng gave off, the guests still began to chatter away.
"A starstone, such arge starstone!"
"No wonder I felt as though my gic energy was trying to burst out of my body when Commander Su appeared—it must be the effect of the starstone!"
"What a generous gift! Who could this Zhang Lie be? Surely not a rtive of Commander Su... surely not his illegitimate son...?"
"Oh? This isn''t something you can find on Earth, and it''s rare even in the Milky Way. The disciples of the Zenith Dojo are really going to get a big boost!"
Su Feng''s generosity shocked them all.
Of course, what they didn''t know was that Zhang Lie''s value to Su Feng was worth far more than this starstone.
"In that case, I really have to thank you, Commander Su."
Many of the guests were eyeing that hunk of starstone with jealousy and envy, even the five major n heads of the capital.
"Between us, there''s no need for courtesy! The starstone is a gift, yes, but also the precursor to a request. As themander-in-chief of the ckwind Fort, I''d like to hire you as an instructor for the fort—I hope you won''t deny this request of mine!" Su Feng continued.
Zhang Quan''s forehead beaded with sweat.
Zhang Lie was going to be employed as an instructor for the ckwind Fort? Why was he receiving such preferential treatment?
It was rare for even the most notable third-realm hunters to be employed as external instructors for the military, let alone a first-realm hunter like Zhang Lie!
Why? Why did everything good seem to happen to Zhang Lie?
"What? Is Commander Su serious?"
"The Dragonwolf Zhang Lie as an external instructor for the ckwind Fort? Just what can he teach the soldiers?"
The guests gasped to themselves as they added Zhang Lie to the list of people they would never dare to offend. Who would dare touch an instructor of the ckwind Fort?
"Of course, Commander Su!" Clearly, Su Feng wanted to invest in his future potential, and Zhang Lie wasn''t going to turn him down. The information that Zhang Lie possessed certainly qualified him as an instructor. After all, he would be primarily responsible for handling affairs rted to limit fragments.
Su Feng casually nced around him. "Is the opening ceremony over?"
"Yes, yes, it''s over! There was a small misunderstanding just now!" Zhang Quan interjected hurriedly before Zhang Lie could speak, as though he wouldn''t have the chance to do so if he were too slow.
"No, Commander Su, please wait a moment. The ceremony isn''t yet over. I want to take this opportunity to spread an important piece of information," Zhang Lie rified.
Sun Mengmeng and the others hurriedly added another seat to the VIP area by the stage. However, instead of leaving the stage, Su Feng patted Zhang Lie''s shoulder and stood behind him, as though he were trying to transmit some of his strength and authority to Zhang Lie.
"Good, good. It isn''t a bad idea to announce it now!"
Zhang Lie''s enemies went pale: with Su Feng as his backer, they would have no chance of dealing with Zhang Lie at all!
Zhang Lie began, "Everyone, the ceremony traditionally ends with an advertisement for the new dojo, but I''m sure you''re all well aware of what the Zenith Dojo has to offer by now. As a result, I''d like to take the opportunity to share a gift instead, a gift for one and all. Let me pose you all a question: as a first-realm hunter, am I strong?"
The room burst into an uproar.
"Of course!"
"What other first-realm hunter would have been able to defeat a third-realm hunter in a single blow?!"
Zhang Lie smiled. "In that case, would you all like to know the secret to my strength?"
Chu Feng, Yun Bing, and the Chu and Yun n heads realized the identity of the gift that Zhang Lie was about to share.
When Zhang Lie sold the Chu and Yun ns the information about the limit fragments, one unusual stiption that he added was that neither n would be allowed to pass the information to the authorities. Only now did the Chu and Yun n heads understand why—had Zhang Lie been nning to found a dojo all along?
This was certainly an excellent opportunity to spread this piece of information: there were countless strong and famous hunters present, as well as a few reporters from the media.
Once this information was revealed, the Chu and Yun ns would have no advantage over the other factions who had yet to learn about the existence of these limit fragments, and given the Chu and Yun ns'' decision to remain neutral, it was unlikely that Zhang Lie would be willing to work with the two ns with regards to manufacturing Potion #1.
Chu Feng and Yun Bing nced at each other, sighing again at their elders''ck of foresight. In the end, as members of the younger generation, they had no authority to direct n affairs.
The other guests were quite curious about what Zhang Lie was hinting at.
"It''s because our gene capacities aren''t capped at a hundred fragments each—I''ve ovee this limit!"
Despite the series of shocks that had stunned the audience, this was the most overwhelming of them all.
"What?! How could our gene capacities not be a hundred fragments each? Isn''t thismon knowledge?"
"You must be joking! What''s the limit, then? A thousand gene fragments?"
"Dojo Leader Zhang, you must take responsibility for your words!"
This news, if it were true, would be overwhelming indeed.
Except for Su Feng and the Yun and Chu ns, who already knew about this information, everyone else, Lin Xiu included, stared at Zhang Lie.
"Yes, you''ve heard me correctly: I don''t know what the upper limit to our gene capacities is, but it isn''t a hundred fragments!"
Having revealed this piece of information thrice already, Zhang Lie was getting quite used to handling the disbelief and shock that resulted from it, and his performance greatly enhanced his credibility.
Thinking back to the unusual strength that Zhang Lie had shown, much of the audience was willing to entertain the notion, even if they weren''tpletely convinced.
However, a small minority believed that Zhang Lie was trying to hoodwink them all.
"That''s impossible! It''smon knowledge that the gene capacity is a hundred fragments. You''re just spouting nonsense!"
Beside him, Su Feng red in irritation. Clearing his throat, he called out, "Listen up! Asmander-in-chief of the ckwind Fort, I validate Zhang Lie''s words."
The audience fell into stunned silence. If Su Feng was willing to back Zhang Lie up with his authority granted by the world federation, then things were different. No one doubted the truth of Zhang Lie''s words any longer—or if they did, they weren''t foolish enough to say so.
After all, themander-in-chief of the ckwind Fort certainly wouldn''t joke about such serious matters. There was only one conclusion: the maximum capacity wasn''t a hundred gene fragments.
"No, how could this be?!" several dojo leaders muttered to themselves, clearly needing some time to digest the news.
Just as the crowd was all reeling, Zhang Lie continued, "And now that I''ve brought up these limit fragments, I''ll continue with the gift I have for all of you: information about obtaining these limit fragments for yourself, based on my own experience."
Zhang Lie paused while his words sank in.
"Quick, this is important news! We have to record it!" The members of the media who were present at the ceremony pulled out their own recording devices to capture this moment when the truth of these limit fragments was revealed to one and all. As media reporters, they knew how momentous this asion would be.
"To surpass the basic gene capacity limit of a hundred fragments, there are three important requirements. The first, and most basic, condition is to raise your foundational framework to its tenth stage, and to not have progressed to a more advanced framework in the meantime. The second is to consume sufficiently many white grub cores, or their extracted growth factors. The third is to reach a certain density of adrenaline in your body, so as to spark a transformation in your gic core."
Zhang Lie revealed everything he knew about the foundational breakthrough. This was information that every member of the audience undoubtedly would attempt to confirm for themselves.
Many of the guests dropped their sense of propriety and began contacting their disciples, subordinates, or other n members to have them verify this information immediately.
Zhang Lie paused while the guests mulled over the shocking information. Most people focused on the white grub cores, a key ingredient that Zhang Lie had mentioned, but only a rare few noticed the crux of the issue, such as Lin Xiu, still standing by the side of the arena. "And what about those who''ve already moved to a more advanced framework?"
Zhang Lie''s reply was somber. "Those hunters must choose to either purge their framework and start from scratch, or to ept their inability to obtain these limit fragments."
"Purge their framework—" Lin Xiu hesitated, his face turning nk. Purging one''s framework wasn''t a hard decision for first-realm hunters, but for those who were already in the second or third realms, this was a far more devastating requirement.
After all, they had spent the majority of their lives cultivating their framework, and if they had to start from scratch—the very thought of it was enough to cause them pain!