Chapter 1180: I Want Map Fragments
"I certainly didn't want to have a bug's intellect forever."
Thinking about how it had been dazed and mindless just a few moments ago, the Null Source shuddered.
Fortunately, four of the Keys had been taken away, freeing the Null Source from that gross indignity.
Zhang Lie continued, "In other words, you didn't end up like this because you managed to decipher the Keys? It was because of the Keys' influence instead?"
The Null Source replied, "This is difficult to explain. It's one of the reasons I ended up this way, but of course, the influence of the Keys is impossible to neglect. Now that you've taken away four of the Keys, that influence is waning, and I can partake in basic conversation. However, anything more complex is still out of the question."
The king of chaos volunteered, "Although i was able to decipher and understand a small part of the information in the Keys, the contents of the tablet are largely far too complex and abstruse. I'm very curious just what is described in the Keys—history about the primordial era, or the path to godhood?"
Information about the primordial era was particularly valuable, and no entity in the third realm knew of it.
The Null Source explained, "The Keys reveal different information depending on how you decipher them. All that information is correct, but what information you get will vary."
The king of chaos continued, "In that case, despite how much time you've spent with the tablets, are you still unaware of their full capacity?"
The Null Source replied, "Not quite. I've managed to decipher a bit of it, but certainly not all. To put it nicely, I'm the owner of the Keys; to put it unkindly, I'm nothing more than a tool."
"Really?"
The king of chaos suspected that the Null Source didn't want to reveal the contents of the Keys.
The Null Source sighed. "Despite how long I've spent with the tablets, I was only able to uncover a bit of information."
Since the Null Source was unwilling to share, there was little the King of Chaos could do.
"If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving now."
The Null Source squirmed toward the edge of the hall.
The king of chaos turned to Zhang Lie. "Zhang Lie, you succeeded in overcoming the Null Source. To be honest, I'm very surprised—and simultaneously regretful. Does someone as brilliant as you really not wish to join me as a companion, to forge the world in our image?"
Zhang Lie refused once more with a shake of his head.
"State your wish, then. Any wish," the king of chaos announced regretfully.
"Any wish?" Zhang Lie clarified.
The king of chaos emphasized, "Please don't question my ability once and again."
"And if I want the three thousand worlds?" Zhang Lie asked.
Everyone in the halls of chaos was astounded, and they began murmuring with each other about Zhang Lie's wish.
The king of chaos began to laugh. "Haha, you truly have a big appetite, don't you? Others have tried making such a wish as well, but winning this one battle isn't enough for a wish of this magnitude."
Zhang Lie shrugged. "So you won't fulfill all wishes in the third realm, then."
The king of chaos warned, "You're not here just to embarrass me or to make my life difficult, are you?"
Zhang Lie shrugged. "Forget it. If you're unwilling to grant me such a wish, I'd better change it."
The king of chaos asked again, "What sort of wish do you want?"
Zhang Lie retrieved a map fragment from his dimensional storage, the fragments of the map that he had been diligently collecting within the third realm.
"I want all the map fragments from within the three thousand worlds."
Zhang Lie had once hoped to unify the three thousand worlds, and then to slowly acquire the map fragments scattered about the three thousand worlds. Now, however, since the king of chaos was promising him a wish, why not take advantage of it?
Zhang Lie intended to take advantage of the king of chaos' strength to gather those fragments.
"Ah, those mysterious fragments."
The king of chaos considered the fragments in Zhang Lie's possession.
They had been scattered throughout the third realm for many years, and the king of chaos naturally knew of them.
"I once found that these fragments were very special, but I don't know what they are. Do you know the truth behind them, Zhang Lie?"
Zhang Lie shrugged. "If even the strongest king, the king of chaos, is unaware of the true purpose behind these fragments, how would I know? I simply think that they're very interesting, and there might be a large secret hidden within it. That's why I started trying to collect them all."
The king of chaos glanced at him skeptically. "Just out of interest?"
"What's the matter?" Zhang Lie countered. "King of chaos, as the strongest superior king amidst the three thousand worlds, it wouldn't be difficult for you to find the remaining fragments, wouldn't it?"
The king of chaos pondered the situation for a moment. He could tell that Zhang Lie did know about the purpose of these fragments, but that he was unwilling to reveal that information.
Otherwise, Zhang Lie wouldn't have needed to use a precious wish on this goal.
"Or is this something that even you can't accomplish, king of chaos?" Zhang Lie had no intention of revealing the truth behind the map fragments. There was no need to do so, and he was wary of the king of chaos.
"You won't reveal the information you have?" the king of chaos reiterated.
Zhang Lie turned around. "You can't do this, and you can't do that. So your claim of being able to fulfill any wish among the three thousand worlds is nothing more than a joke. Forget it. I won't make things difficult for you. Team, we're leaving."
Sun Xiaowu added knowingly, "Don't be angry, Captain! The king of chaos isn't a god, after all, and he could hardly manage everything. The three thousand worlds represent a huge area, and the map fragments are tiny. It's akin to trying to pick needles out of a haystack, and gathering all the map fragments is no easy task."
"There's no need for this good cop, bad cop routine. It's just somewhat troublesome, hardly impossible. To be frank, I've collected a few of these fragments myself." The king of chaos tore apart space and dumped out a handful of fragments.
He clenched them tightly. Zhang Lie saw thousands, tens of thousands of gold threads suddenly flare to life between the fragments, tangling with each other in the hall.
Only those entities who had some understanding and interaction with karma would be able to see those golden threads.
"Finding these objects isn't difficult, as far as the required power goes. I simply have to make use of karmic strength, to draw on the connections between these fragments."
As the strongest king among the three thousand worlds, the king of chaos naturally was familiar with karma.
To Zhang Lie, the golden threads had gradations in shade, some deep and some faint in color. The fainter ones had less of a connection; the deeper ones had more.
Even if one could see the golden threads, there were differences between each thread that were only visible to those particularly skilled with karma. Zhang Hanxiang, for example, would be able to see a few of those golden threads faintly, but not them all, not their precise shade, and not the shape they formed amidst the hall.
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