Ultragenic Warlord

Chapter 1006: Snatching the Reward

Since the newly reborn death spirit king had inherited the original death spirit king's consciousness, he surely wouldn't give up on his ambitions, and he would end up trying to take over the realm once more.

With the death spirit king trapped in the Shining Trapezohedron, the battle was over for the moment.

The world of black rain had been destroyed, having cracked into several pieces. The death spirit king's forces had been destroyed by the aftermath of the fight between Zhang Lie and the death spirit king, leaving only pulverized ground behind.

The allied forces, led by Zhang Hanxiang and Hong Xi, had survived the battle. Zhang Lie, sensing that the allied forces were all safe and sound, smiled in relief.

Zhang Hanxiang and Hong Xi had done well during the battle, and throughout the entire campaign. The only mark against them was that they had been rather rash at the start of the fighting. When they all returned, he would award them each with a vial of Potion #4.

That said, it didn't seem to be a particularly meaningful prize, and his sister would surely call him miserly if that was all he gave them.

Only Zhang Hanxiang would ever say something like that—if word of Potion #4 were to spread, the entire Milky Way would be in an uproar over it.

"I still have some monarch-grade flesh—I suppose it would be a suitable reward too."

The defeated death spirit king left a mostly formed core behind, which was intended to form the heart of his newly forged body.

Zhang Lie had attacked and stalled the forging process before it could be completed, but the world's energy within had already evolved past that of a superior world. Zhang Lie estimated that this might well be the energy of the third realm at large.

The wills of the world that had been consumed by the death spirit king had all been mixed together by Zhang Lie's [Blades, Extinguish].

In some sense, the death spirit king's body was an incomplete form of the third realm. Perhaps this was the nature of fate: separated things would combine, and combined things would separate.

Once the death spirit king consumed all the wills of the world, he might become the will of the third realm itself. At that point, would the will of the world gain the consciousness of the death spirit king, be known as the death spirit king, or have once been the death spirit king?

The newly reborn death spirit king had been quite different from the original death spirit king. In the same fashion, the death spirit king who had combined the wills of all the worlds in the third realm would be significantly different from his present form. Could he still be considered the death spirit king in that case? No one could say.

It was possible that the death spirit king resulting from such a merger would have no shred of biological desire—no ambition, no humanity, and no interest in absorbing other worlds.

Zhang Lie wasn't going to bet on this possibility, nor the other superior kings, nor the biological lifeforms of the third realm.

Who would be willing to bet three thousand worlds on whether the death spirit king would become the will of the realm or a demon?

The superior kings certainly didn't want to see their position as rulers of the realm threatened.

Regardless of just what the death spirit king would become after swallowing up all those wills, the other superior kings would never allow this to happen. They couldn't countenance the birth of any being stronger than them in the realm.

Zhang Lie picked up the cracked core and looked up at the others. "How should we divide this?"

Wilbow shrugged. "I don't mind. I only came on my father's orders. I heard he owes you a debt?"

"A debt to the Zongming world."

"Then don't dream of my share," Wilbow replied. "The death spirit king consumed all the wills of the world and the world's energy he accumulated. What you hold is the concentrated essence of all that energy and spiritual matter, and it's of incredible value!"

"I suggest dividing the spoils during the superior worlds' meeting to be convened after the battle—but before that, I suggest you get the agreement of what's behind you," Nightdemon suggested.

Zhang Lie sensed danger coming from his back. He whirled around, his sword at the ready.

"[The Boundless Blade: Yawning Wave]!" The scarlet water-attuned genetic energy rose into the sky like an inferno. It lapped forward like a wave, and a blood-colored shark swam forth with the force of the entire ocean behind it.

It tore apart a piece of some black substance as a shrill scream sounded.

Zhang Lie glared at the sneak attacker, only to find that it was the decaying king.

The black mass of the decaying king sizzled where Zhang Lie's sword had cut apart a piece of its flesh.

The decaying king burst apart in an explosion of dark yellow pus, smothering the burning wound and destroying the shark of blood, which released corrosive energy of its own and countered the dark yellow pus.

"Give it to me!" the decaying king screamed shrilly, pouncing toward Zhang Lie.

Zhang Lie inhaled deeply. The decaying king's target was the radiant core that Zhang Lie possessed. He understood what was happening now. After all, the decaying king was a superior king in his own right.

Perhaps the death spirit king might be able to pin him down for some time, but the decaying king could, and indeed did, free himself in the midst of the heated battle between Zhang Lie and the death spirit king.

However, it had neither helped Zhang Lie against the death spirit king or Nightdemon and the others against the flagships. Instead, it lay unmoving on the ground, watching the fight between Zhang Lie and the death spirit king as it recovered its strength and waited for an opportunity.

When the death spirit king was killed for the first time, the decaying king had claimed all the world's energy that had burst from its body.

It was also responsible for the surge of world's energy that had helped Zhang Lie during his time of greatest need. Zhang Lie's final blow, [Fifth Form: Obliterating the Stars], was clearly an attack that would destroy the world. The world of black rain viewed Zhang Lie much like the death spirit king, and it was fortunate enough that the world of black rain didn't stop Zhang Lie, let alone help him.

The one who had ended up giving its hard-won world's energy to Zhang Lie wasn't the will of the world of black rain, but rather the decaying king, who had been forced to do so to avoid the revival of the death spirit king.