Chapter 1215: The One and Only King
Bright sword energy radiated from Zhang Lie like brilliant rays of sunlight, illuminating the entirety of the new world.
"[First Form: Parting the River]!"
A frightening force spread out from Zhang Lie, energy rumbling and rippling around him. As Zhang Lie swung the blade in his hand, a huge slash of sword energy shot toward him.
The nine-headed lion opened its maws wide open and swallowed all that lay around him, all sorts of boulders flying into the air and being sucked into his mouth.
Zhang Lie shouted, lifting Guicang high up in the air. He flicked his arm and sent a burst of sword energy through the air, blocking the nine-headed lion's breath attack and leaving a scar on its forehead.
The lion growled. 28 silver blades trembled as one, shooting straight at Zhang Lie in an attempt to pierce through him. The nine-headed lion used its full strength in an attempt to kill the human hunters before it.
Zhang Lie's pupils were cold. As he whirled Guicang around him, a frightening burst of sword energy spread out like a tsunami, cutting all 28 blades apart.
The nine-headed lion howled in fury, but Zhang Lie was in the acme of his strength. He charged forward with Guicang.
The nine-headed lion stared at him with baleful eyes. Radiant light shot out from its mouth straight at Zhang Lie, who shattered the light with the blade Guicang.
"[Shadow and Light]!"
Zhang Lie whirled around. Time suddenly sped up in the vicinity of Zhang Lie.
The outcome of this battle had been decided. Zhang Lie slashed forward as the nine-headed lion howled, fresh blood spurting from its wounds. Before it could react, one of its hind legs had been chopped off.
The nine-headed lion tried to resist, but Zhang Lie was too quick under the effects of the time dilation. By the time it could react, its body had been bisected. A sword thrust straight through its heart.
[You successfully killed the post-monarch-grade beast of a hundred forms. By consuming the flesh of the post-monarch-grade beast of a hundred forms, you may receive one to five emperor gene fragments.]
The moment Zhang Lie pulled out his blade, the multicolored light in the air flashed. Zhu and the restored will had successfully repaired the realm and stabilized the unified world.
Zhu extracted herself from the multicolored scale, which merged into the heart of the realm. As the will of the world departed, it favored Zhang Lie with a smile.
Without Zhang Lie's presence, the third realm would long since have collapsed; it would hardly have been able to repair itself.
The fragmented will had no thoughts of its own; just like an incomplete computer, all it could do was operate according to its programming. After being restored, however, it became much like artificial intelligence, with a will and judgment all its own. It was naturally thankful to Zhang Lie for what he had done.
The will of the realm knew that, even if it could have restored itself, it would have been unable to defend against the nine-headed lion while it was repairing the deepest layers of space. In the end, the nine-headed lion would have devoured it whole.
From Zhang Lie's perspective, the existence of the nine-headed lion was entirely his fault, but the will of the realm had a broader perspective. Even without Zhang Lie's involvement, there would have been some kind of trouble or another, and the nine-headed lion had coincidentally been the calamity at the right place and time.
This was an affair of karma and fate; a calamity was fated to appear, and Zhang Lie was fated to resolve it.
Of course, Zhang Lie was yet unaware of the greater machinations of karma and fate, and his perspective as a single hunter was limited. Even if he were aware of his role, however, he would have been happy to take part—obtaining the next grade of gene fragments this early was a tremendous boon.
The unified world expanded ten times in size after its restoration. Perhaps this was how the realm should have been in the first place—but despite being a new world, it didn't look brand-new at all.
After the calamity of the nine-headed lion, the unified world now looked somewhat battle-worn and shabby.
The light in Zhu's eyes dimmed as the draconic robe faded away from her body, as did the crown floating above her head. Zhu became a young woman again, though her body radiated a formless aura. With a moment's thought, she teleported to Zhang Lie's back and leapt toward him.
"Zhang Lie!"
Zhu nuzzled Zhang Lie's neck from the back, while Zhang Lie sighed in exasperation.
"You're the ruler of this realm now! You can't be behaving like a young woman."
"But I've always been a young woman. After all, even if I were the ruler of all worlds, I'd still be a young woman in front of you."
Zhang Lie sighed. "Has the condition of the world stabilized?"
"Do you mean the void?" Zhu asked.
"Everything," Zhang Lie replied.
"The dragon scale and I worked very hard to repair the realm. The world itself is... alright... but because of your fight with that odious lifeform, Zhang Lie, this world almost collapsed!"
Zhang Lie dipped his head in apology.
Zhu continued, "However, it won't be that easy to damage this world anymore. You don't have to worry, Zhang Lie. After a bit more time, the world will have fully stabilized, and the will and I will be around to take care of any mishaps."
Zhu continued, "As for the void, the will and I have patched up what we can. The rest will heal by itself; fixing up the rest is tedious work, and not particularly rewarding. At the very least, the realm is safe for the moment."
Zhang Lie released a deep breath and rubbed Zhu's head in praise. The immediate danger was past, then.
Zhu closed her eyes in relaxation.
Zhang Lie continued, "What powers do you have now as the ruler of the third realm?"
Zhu replied, "I have a piece of good news and a piece of bad news. Which would you rather hear first?"
"Either is fine."
"The bad news is that the system of government you wanted to set up will be impossible."
Zhu had learned of Zhang Lie's plans for the third realm while fixing it up.
"I am the only, as well as the last, ruler of this realm."
Zhang Lie seemed rather surprised. "What do you mean?"
"As you know, the wills of the three thousand worlds were fragments of the shattered will of the realm."
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