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Chapter 359: Winds of Change

It was rumored that Zhang Lie had issued this bounty because one of his apprentices had been bullied. Except to issue this bounty, neither Zhang Lie nor the Zenith Dojo had taken part in hunting down the Musi.

Those who had had altercations with Zhang Lie and the Zenith Dojo in the past suddenly began to panic, and the world federation felt as though it had to step in. After all, who knew whether Zhang Lie would place a bounty on them? No one wanted to become the next Musi clan.

The world federation had no choice but to convene a meeting. After all, were they to let Zhang Lie take over the galaxy?

Deep in the Milky Way floated a magnificent palace constructed for the highest authorities of the world federation. Thousands of members of the world federation now arrived at that gigantic palace, the strongest representatives of planets all over the Milky Way.

Among them, even the weakest was on par with a peak fourth-realm fighter, and they were uniformly lord- and monarch-class hunters. The four authorities representing mankind, Hong Tianqi, Wilson Peters, Gresham Anderson, and Jill Rodney were all in attendance.

The meeting quickly began. The representatives had divided into several factions, and one speaker was chosen for each faction. Any rulings proposed would have to be approved by vote from the ten judicial authorities of the world federation.

There were two main perspectives on the matter of Zhang Lie: one, that he had to be warned or even punished for his actions in issuing a bounty, and two, that this was a perfectly valid course of events, and that nothing needed to be done about him.

"Ridiculous! Everyone, haven\'t you seen just what has happened in the Milky Way since Zhang Lie issued that bounty? Citizens are being slaughtered left and right! What has the Musi clan done to warrant such an affair? Zhang Lie clearly doesn\'t care a whit for the laws of the land!

"Look at all these images! People are breaking into manors, beheading people in public—acts clearly, expressly forbidden by law, but which Zhang Lie has incited by issuing his bounty! How can we, the world federation, stand by and do nothing?" one representative challenged.

The authority who presided over this meeting, Amurong, stood up again. "We have heard from one representative, and we believe he makes valid points. Are there others who would wish to speak?"

Another representative strode forward.

"Yes! It\'s clear that Zhang Lie\'s bounty has manipulated the public for his own ends—even ordinary hunters are going crazy for these potions. Zhang Lie has ignored law and order by issuing such a malicious bounty, and the sins of the public must fall on him!

"Killers are prowling the streets, police officers are being alerted to all sorts of reports of beheaded bodies of the Musi clan in every city, in every planet—all this has been caused by the appearance of this bounty.

"From my perspective, Zhang Lie should be arrested by the world federation. He should be forced to cancel this bounty and be punished for his misdeeds. Furthermore, speaking of the bounty, we have to speak of these limit-breaking potions that he has devised. This sort of treasure should not be under the control of a single human or single country.

"Representatives, are you aware that, because of this bounty, tens of thousands of innocent victims have already been killed, mutilated, or heavily wounded? Will the world federation stand by and do nothing?

"Zhang Lie can\'t be allowed to monopolize these potions. We\'ve seen what the public has done because of his monopoly. Can we allow this sort of situation to happen again? Representatives, I urge you to consider this: who among you could bear to be the next Musi clan?

"To this end, let me suggest an adequate punishment for Zhang Lie: to divulge, without reservation, the full recipe behind this limit-breaking potion.

"I believe Zhang Lie is far too dangerous a criminal to leave on his own. He has to be arrested, to be under supervision from the highest authorities for life. If we leave him be, he shall ruin the entire Milky Way."

These representatives spoke of Zhang Lie\'s callous disregard for law and order, but their main intention was to seize the recipe of Zhang Lie\'s limit-breaking potion for themselves.

The conservative representatives, who felt that Zhang Lie had done nothing wrong, listened to the diatribes half-heartedly. Hong Tianqi, who stood on Zhang Lie\'s side, yawned and rubbed his eyes blearily as the representatives spoke.

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Only when their representatives had spoken their fill when Amurong turned to the conservatives. "Hong, as the strongest authority in the Solar System and one of the ten judicial representatives, do you have anything to say in response to these allegations?"

Hong Tianqi countered, "And what of you, President? What is your perspective?"

Amurong replied seriously, "These representatives do have a point, but they\'ve been rather uniform in their opinion. I would like to consider both sides of the debate carefully."

Hong Tianqi seemed to come out of his dazed stupor. In truth, the ten judicial authorities were the ones who held all the power to make decisions on behalf of the world federation, and the two most powerful among these ten, who would be able to cajole the others into agreeing with them, were Amurong and Hong Tianqi.

Hong Tianqi had already approached Amurong regarding this affair, and they had more or less brokered an agreement, but Amurong seemed to be changing his mind. As a result, Hong Tianqi certainly couldn\'t rest easily anymore.

"From my perspective, this was never a matter that should have been brought up to the world federation to begin with."