Chapter 1204: End of the Realm
Although Li Qianlin's combat ability was rather weak, as the princess, she had received an elite, impeccable education, and she was as skilled as Yun Bing in matters of administration and government.
Zhang Lie's eyes widened in shock. "Still so many?"
Li Qianlin continued calmly, "According to our latest census, despite the 'three thousand worlds' refrain, there currently seem to be almost four thousand worlds in the third realm."
"And can't we do anything about the stubborn worlds?"
Although Zhang Lie's side was brimming with manpower, in the end, the main invasion force was composed of the members of Team Zenith. Furthermore, there were always wounded after each invasion, and those wounded would have to retreat for medical treatment.
Many kings of the realm were now aware that the genetic hunters and the three newly evolved superior worlds were working together to launch a conquest of the third realm.
Their justification, that they were trying to save the world, was clearly an excuse meant to lower morale. The stubborn worlds continued to resist the enemy incursion.
Some of the worlds even formed into a superior world so as to appoint a superior king to defend them all.
To the members of Team Zenith, however, this was unimaginably good news.
It would save them the trouble of going from world to world; they simply needed to handle the new superior king. Before the superior king could take his throne for more than a day, Sun Mengmeng killed him.
All the worlds learned that, even if they were to group together and form a superior world, they didn't have the ability to resist the incursion.
As a result, many kings of the realm began to sequester themselves with their proofs of kingship.
Although Zhou Ying had returned to the backline to render medical aid, wounded hunters continued to stream in from all over the third realm.
Li Qianlin thundered, "Those fellows might think that they're protecting their own worlds, but they're all going to be destroyed!"
Zhang Lie stood up. "There's no time to waste. We can't wait for all the worlds to surrender. In order to unify the will of the third realm, I'm going to destroy all the holdouts' worlds."
There was no time to waste. The fastest approach was to destroy the remaining holdouts.
Li Qianlin asked, "Just how many inhabitants of the third realm would die from such a ploy?!"
"If the third realm were to collapse, even more inhabitants would perish."
As much as possible, Zhang Lie wanted to protect the integrity of the three thousand worlds. Doing so would strengthen the resulting will of the world that was unified, and it would be able to better handle the issue of the impending collapse. However, the situation was so urgent that Zhang Lie had no time to consider things carefully.
Li Qianlin continued, "Now that it's obvious something is wrong with the realm, we can try to persuade them to surrender. Surely they'll understand!"
Zhang Lie shook his head. "It's too late. We've already invaded all the worlds around them, and they won't trust our words."
If the third realm had developed noticeable problems before the start of the hunters' invasion, they might have been able to resolve the issue bloodlessly, but the collapse of the high-dimensional spaces had caused no explicit sign of damage—until now.
Someone who randomly cried out that an earthquake or a tsunami were approaching would be apprehended as a madman.
As the stubborn kings of the world refused to submit, greedy for the power they possessed, Zhang Lie's patience reached its limit.
He decided not to bother arguing with these stubborn kings any further.
He had just stepped out of the palace when he saw two familiar figures. Waiting for him outside were Jun Jiuxiao and Ye Xianchen.
"Long time no see, Master!"
Zhang Lie was visibly shocked. "What are the two of you doing here?"
Jun Jiuxiao replied, "Upon hearing that you were in need of manpower, Master, everyone in the second realm who could advance did so."
Zhang Lie huffed, "I don't know what to tell you. To be honest, the third realm is in a crisis, but you needn't have done what you did."
Jun Jiuxiao smiled. "We know why you're angry, Master. Please don't worry—we ascended only after maxing out our disaster gene fragments."
Ye Xianchen continued, "However, there were a lot of affairs we had to settle in the kingdom of Limit, so things dragged out until now."
Jun Jiuxiao continued, "We're not sure we can be of help at this point."
Zhang Lie murmured, "I was intending on destroying the remaining holdouts."
Jun Jiuxiao asked, "Will you give us an opportunity to do something instead?"
Zhang Lie replied, "I do think I will. The third realm is about to collapse. Are either of you afraid?"
Jun Jiuxiao and Ye Xianchen immediately replied,
"No, Master!"
"There's not much time left, and the realm likely won't last three more days. You have two days to collect as many proofs of kingship as you can with the others."
Jun Jiuxiao and Ye Xianchen immediately beamed.
"We won't disappoint you, Master!"
They left in an excited rush.
Li Qianlin strode over. "What made you change your mind?"
Zhang Lie shrugged. "I saw my second-realm disciples advance in order to help me, and I wanted to give them an opportunity."
Of course, Zhang Lie wasn't about to state that he realized he could save himself the trouble by taking advantage of his disciples.
He could tell that Jun Jiuxiao and Ye Xianchen were invested not in saving the world, but rather in presenting themselves well in front of him.
Zhang Lie reflected that this crisis was hardly a complete disaster for him.
Even if the third realm were to collapse, he would be able to enter the fourth realm immediately, and his disaster-grade dragonwhale soulshard would be able to transport everyone he knew from the third realm. The collapse would still be troublesome and disastrous, but not crucially so.
Most importantly, when matters seemed to be at their worst, calmness was most important. Relaxing was known to produce better results in general.
As the deepest layer of space finally weakened to the point of collapse, the fragmented will of the third realm cried out.
Whether or not the world would perish depended on the next few moments.
The entirety of the third realm could hear the will of the world straining. The third realm itself seemed to start caving in, causing planets to fall toward the dimensional sinkhole, which was growing larger by the moment.
The genetic hunters began to panic and swarm toward the nearest teleportation apparatus. They, who came from the Milky Way, had no intention of dying in the third realm.
Unlike the indigenous aliens, they could still retreat.
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