Ultragenic Warlord

Chapter 827: Merging of the Worlds

Just as Zhang Lie and Zhang Hanxiang finished up a pleasant meal between the two of them, Hong Tianqi called Zhang Lie up. As expected, he too was asking about a reliable source of disaster gene fragments.

"Zhang Lie, to think I treated you like a brother! Aren't you going to tell me about this stable source of disaster gene fragments I heard you have?"

Unfortunately for Hong Tianqi, Zhang Lie had no plans to reveal the existence of his disaster-grade farm at the moment.

"No, no, it's all a misunderstanding! How could I have a stable source of disaster gene fragments? I simply prepared enough for the members of Team Zenith beforehand, but all my stock has been consumed by now."

Hong Tianqi could hardly press Zhang Lie for more information given his stance, so he had no choice but to leave unsatisfied.

Before Zhang Hanxiang and the others had ascended with maxed disaster gene fragments, Zhang Lie had no plans to open the farm to his allies.

Zhang Lie continued, "In the near future, we'll likely be approached by all sorts of troublesome figures wanting to learn about our secrets. I won't be able to stay in the dojo all this time—there are still many affairs I'll have to handle in the third realm. I'm going to be heading back now, and you should return to the second realm as well. After all, it's safer there for you than it is here."

The second realm was now largely under Zhang Lie's control, and there would be many hunters looking out for her there. There were also many such people in China, but there was no analogue of Yun Bing to help her head off unwelcome guests and issues.

Zhang Hanxiang pouted. "Again? When's the next time I'm going to see you, brother?"

Zhang Lie caressed Zhang Hanxiang's head. "You're the princess of Limit, aren't you? You need to learn to be independent, and to focus on your own affairs."

After dinner, Zhang Lie returned to the third realm.

By then, a week had passed, and the draconian sage had finalized plans for merging the draconian world with its eight neighbors together. The synthesis of the nine worlds would happen the day after.

Li Qianlin found Zhang Lie almost immediately after his return.

"What's the matter?"

"The worlds of east and west are going to merge. Father is inviting us both to attend."

Zhang Lie did want to see what the merger of two large worlds was like for himself before he managed such a feat. He nodded. "Once the draconian world and the others start to merge, I'll have to spend some time planning for our next target. After that, we can return and have a look at my father-in-law."

Li Qianlin clicked her tongue. "I haven't promised to marry you, have I?"

"Hah! Would anyone else dare to take you as their wife now?"

Li Qianlin stuck out her chin proudly. "I'm as beautiful as a fairy, and the princess of the east besides."

Zhang Lie raised an eyebrow. "I'll destroy anyone who dares to talk to you."

Li Qianlin stomped on his foot.

"Alright, then. If you're unwilling to be with me, I have no choice. Your happiness should be prioritized above all else, after all. Very well. Do you think I would be a better fit for Sun Mengmeng or for Zhou Ying? I heard there were a lot of draconian women who were interested in me, too, and many races of the Milky Way have shown interest in me as well. Who should I choose? One, two, perhaps all...?"

Li Qianlin's face turned dark. "You dare!"

"Alright, alright, don't get angry now. Do you want to take a walk?"

Zhang Lie reached out and grasped Li Qianlin's slender, soft hand.

Li Qianlin didn't object. She nodded slightly.

The next day, all the humans and draconians gathered at the altar as the draconian sage attempted to merge the nine worlds. The dragon's scale that was the draconians' proof of kingship glowed with light. A pillar of light emerged from the proof and illuminated the world.

The will of the world descended, and the eight proofs of neighboring worlds floated into the air, surrounding the draconian proof and merging into it one by one. Eight shadows circled the world, translucent and illusory: a world of black sand, of bearmen, of frozen ice, of desert, of charred earth, of forest, and of Chinese parasol trees.

The eight different worlds were slowly combining into the draconian world, like eight different landmasses merging into one.

In a shaking forest, the bearmen watched in shock as their world merged with the draconians. The mammoths in the valley found the land shaking violently, and the air getting warmer. In the desert, the greenskins were at a loss for words.

Simultaneously, the eight proofs of kingship morphed into glowing balls that melded into the dragon's scale. With a loud roar from the draconian sage, the scale grew wild.

The will of the world was starting to merge with the other eight worlds, devouring their will and their power.

The draconian sage unleashed his aura. His strength had grown dramatically in an instant as the worlds combined. The dragon's scale had turned nine-colored after the merger, and visions of all nine worlds could be seen reflected on its surface: a world of draconians, of black sand, of bearmen, of frozen ice, of desert, of charred earth, of forest, and of Chinese parasol trees...

Zhang Lie remarked, "It looks like this is a large world now."

"Only a large world, after combining nine medium-sized ones?" Sun Mengmeng asked.

"It's not easy to become a world power, after all. Furthermore, the world of black sand was almost nearing collapse: the will of the world's strength had been almost entirely sapped even before Fang Yi severely damaged its foundations. It's lucky enough that it survived the merger. I expect the draconian sage will have his hands full for quite some time. The greenskins' proof is likewise cracked, and some energy has to be expended to fix it."

Fang Yi and Sun Xiaowu both lowered their heads, but Zhang Lie continued, "There wouldn't have been enough energy for the draconian world to become a superior one without twenty or so medium-sized worlds, or one or two large ones."

Sun Mengmeng sucked in a deep breath. "Are superior worlds so large?"

One medium-sized world was about the size of an Earth continent, and the draconian world was now about twice as large. Twenty continents would correspond to about five Earth volumes.

Zhang Lie commanded, "Next up, I'll be dividing the warlords into five groups. Each of you will be commanding a group of warlords and expanding in five different directions simultaneously."

Sun Mengmeng asked, "Captain, could you be..."

Yang Ze murmured, "Captain, you're not intending on founding a new kingdom of Limit in the third realm as well, are you?"

Zhang Lie smiled meaningfully.

Dong Mingxing was rather surprised by Zhang Lie's decision. "Isn't it a little foolhardy to be dividing your forces five ways?"

Although the members of Team Zenith individually had the ability to take on the king of the realm of a medium-sized world, they wouldn't simply be facing five worlds.

The kings of the other worlds weren't stupid; the worlds communicated, and if they realized that the humans were overextending themselves in an attempt to expand, they would surely band together, just like how the worlds neighboring the draconian world formed an alliance against the humans and draconians.

To others not familiar with Zhang Lie, such a reckless plan was doomed to failure, but no hunter of Team Zenith raised a complaint. They believed that, as long as Zhang Lie were commanding them, they could do anything.

Zhang Lie smiled. "Don't worry. I still have some tricks up my sleeve."

The merging of multiple worlds shocked many of the hunters of the Milky Way. Very few of them knew that the three thousand worlds could even be merged together, and even fewer had seen such an occurrence for themselves. Even the authorities of the world federation had mostly only heard rumors of such an event.

When the humans spread word of what was going on, the entire Milky Way was shocked.

.

"This is the first time I've ever heard of that..."

"The humans in the draconian world merged nine worlds together at once. Just what is the champion of mankind thinking?"

"Is the kingdom of Limit going to be reborn in the third realm...?"

"I feel like something big's going to happen!"

All the aliens of the Milky Way, particularly those who were situated in the third realm, were interested in what was going on. "If the humans are merging worlds together, there's no reason we can't do it too..."

"Perhaps we can give it a try."

"With what? Don't you all know?"

"Know what?"

"Essentially all the warlords on the warlord ranking have gathered in the draconian world. Only warlords have the strength to resist kings of the realm, and if you can't even defeat a king of the realm, how do you plan on obtaining proofs of kingship? Without these proofs of kingship, how will you merge multiple worlds together?"

Some of the more perspicacious hunters wondered, "Just what are the warlords doing, all gathered there?"

"I'm going to head to the draconian world too—see you! Given what happened initially when the kingdom of Limit was founded, we'll surely benefit if we head to where all the action is happening."

"Haha, as a third-realm hunter, I wasn't able to participate in defeating the sura kingdom in the second realm and constructing the kingdom of Limit. This time, I'm surely going to join in!"

After the merger of the nine worlds, the draconian sage's increase in strength and authority caused him to be surrounded by a mist—a manifestation of the strength possessed by the will of the world. It would take the sage some time to absorb and acclimatize himself to this newfound strength.

Zhang Lie had gone to find the sage for a discussion.

"How's absorbing the energy from the merger going?"

The sage blinked at him. "If there's anything I can do for you, please tell me. Without your help, the draconian world would have been destroyed. We wouldn't have been able to acquire eight proofs of kingship and strengthened our world, either."

Zhang Lie brought out a few tattered scraps of the map he had been collecting. "Have you seen these before?"

The draconian sage peered at them closely. "I feel as though I have, but it's so long ago that I can't remember any details."

Even the draconian sage didn't know about the secret lying within these scraps—it looked as though he would have a hard time obtaining all the fragments without merging all three thousand worlds together.

Zhang Lie continued, "How many disaster-grade lifeforms are there in the other eight worlds?"

The draconian sage easily accepted the new term 'disaster-grade lifeform' for what he knew as 'fifth-level beasts'. "There are five of them in all, two in the bearmen world, one in the frozen world, one in the greenskins' world, and one in the Chinese parasol world.

"Excellent!" Zhang Lie was lacking exactly fifty disaster gene fragments to reach maximum capacity. "Sage, would you be able to send me to where those lifeforms are located?"

"Of course. The first disaster-grade lifeform is the guardian deity of the bearmen, revered as their deity and located directly in the middle of their largest settlement."

With a wave of the sage's hand, Zhang Lie's vision blurred. The next moment, he found himself in the bearman settlement...