Chapter 1045: The Kings' Uproar
Li Zongming turned to the king of keys. "King of keys, if I'm not mistaken, the superior kings brokered an agreement that they shall control all new superior worlds in their jurisdiction, unbeholden to all other kings."
The king of keys slowly replied, "That is indeed the case. If you permit other superior worlds to aid you—"
Li Zongming broke him off. "It won't be necessary, thank you. I do not need aid at the present moment."
"You won't even consider it?" the solar king asked, the suns behind him shining with blinding radiance. The scorching sunlight struck Li Zongming's body.
"If even a single superior world survives, it could prove quite troublesome." The ice queen's cold, crystal-like eyes lined with frost.
"You obtained more than sufficient rewards during the meeting. If you have sufficient time to grow, you'll surely take a great leap forward—but you may incur heavy losses before that." Black fog drifted from the king of black fog's body toward Li Zongming.
The gray fluid that made up the king of evil's body roiled. More and more mutated growths and abominations were visible within the main body's flesh, squelching as they tried to escape—before they were swallowed back into its interior and digested away.
Against the four superior kings' threatening auras, Li Zongming turned to the king of keys. "Is there anything else to discuss?"
The king of keys shook his head. "That was the last topic of discussion."
Li Zongming stood up. "In that case, I'll be leaving first."
When he arrived in the meeting room, Li Zongming's aura had been plain and unadorned. When he left, however, he demonstrated what he had just prepared.
The image of a giant beast appeared behind Li Zongming's back. It had scales in six colors, with a pair of golden wings behind its back. It had a long, narrow mouth, with eight horns on its head like a golden crown. A ring of light glowed behind him as brightly as the sun.
The sudden aura that Li Zongming displayed swept away the black fog, golden sunlight, and chilly air in the meeting room.
Li Zongming harrumphed as he stepped through the air and departed. Zhang Lie followed suit, giving Li Zongming a mental thumbs up.
The solar king, the ice queen, the king of black fog, and the king of evil could only watch on as Li Zongming left, unable to do anything against him.
Their eyes filled with rage and envy. Li Zongming had claimed the best spoils from this war—and now he was leaving without showing them any respect.
The solar king's golden eyes turned blood-red, and the ice queen's frosty orbs into congealed blood. The king of black fog manifested two red eyes, representing his jealousy and anger.
The ice queen's chilly aura turned to one of bone-chilling cold. "Arrogant. Arrogant to the extreme. He's completely ignoring us."
The solar king cried out with rage and envy, "If he's already like this now, will there still be a place in this room for us once he grows stronger?"
The king of black fog continued with displeasure, "And not only that, he interrupted the king of keys! It's clear that he doesn't respect the king of keys. How are we supposed to bear with such a fellow?"
Seven superior worlds' worth of energy, two new superior worlds, the world of black rain, the crystal of energy beyond that of a superior world—Li Zongming had claimed all these spoils, and what had they gotten? Nothing at all.
The ice queen snorted. "He clearly thinks our mercy makes us pushovers, that he's on the same level as the rest of us."
The solar king chuckled coldly. "A dog's a dog, no matter what. I shall go to war against Li Zongming."
The solar king's eyes burned. He repeated, "I'll take over the Zongming world by force."
The king of keys asked curiously, "For what reason?"
Naturally, it was because of greed, because of what Li Zongming had obtained during the meeting. The seven superior worlds' worth of energy was sufficient reason.
They had looked down on Li Zongming the moment he became a superior king, but with Zhang Lie around, no one was willing to pay the price of taking him down.
Even if they did, all they would obtain in exchange was a brief moment of pleasure and one or two superior worlds' worth of energy. It was an unfavorable trade, and not one that was worthwhile.
Furthermore, if their own strength were to weaken, the other superior worlds might gang up on them instead.
Now, however, the situation was different. The spoils that Li Zongming had claimed during this meeting would be more than sufficient to compensate for any losses incurred, but this certainly wasn't a viable reason for declaring war, ?even if all the superior kings present understood.
Li Zongming was himself a superior king, and he was an active participant in these meetings.
To declare war just because he didn't like Li Zongming, because he wanted to claim his possessions—that wasn't something the solar king could say explicitly. This wasn't a valid reason to attack another superior king.
All the superior kings present were essentially implicitly allied, and for the solar king to be attacking an ally right after the war against the death spirits had concluded, and in particular the ally that had contributed the greatest to the war efforts, was unconscionable.
Even though everyone knew what the solar king was up to, they couldn't say it out loud—there had to be a good reason to invade Li Zongming's territory, to find an excuse to start a war.
The solar king cried out, "Up until now, the Zongming king hasn't struck at the two newly evolved superior worlds. He's had a few opportunities to do so, but he hasn't taken advantage of them. Although he claims to be persuading them to surrender, I have reason to believe that he has other motivations in mind."
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