Chapter 1216: Limitless Authority
"Because these fragments aren't capable of independent thought, they needed intelligent lifeforms to help manage their associated worlds. Now that the will of the third realm has been restored, however, kings of the realm are no longer necessary.
"I will be the last ruler acknowledged by the third realm, and no successors shall follow me."
Because Zhu had been the one to meld the proofs of kingship together, and because she had assisted the nascent will before it had come into its power,
Zhu was allowed to remain in this position for now, but she would be the last of her kind.
Zhang Lie continued, "And the good news?"
"The good news is that, as ruler of this unified world, I have immense privilege." She snapped her fingers, and the world's energy began to fluctuate.
The energy of the unified world was a few grades beyond even a superior world's energy. Where the world had been impacted by Zhang Lie's fight against the nine-headed lion, the land repaired itself; no traces of damage remained.
Zhu smiled. "Furthermore, even if I leave the third realm, it'll continue operating as is."
Zhang Lie returned the special lifeform's carcass to his dimensional storage.
"Let's go back, then."
Zhu teleported the two of them back to the palace, where the crowds cheered to see Zhang Lie and Zhu return. The fact that the unified world no longer shook or trembled, and no further spatial rifts or void storms spawned, meant that the plan had gone successfully.
The members of Team Zenith returned to report to Zhang Lie.
"Sorry, Captain, but the monarch-grade lifeforms resisted violently. We had to kill ten of them along the way, and there are only five left alive."
Zhang Lie waved a hand. With a ruler of the unified world around, it'll be far easier to cultivate monarch-grade lifeforms. We don't have to worry about them anymore."
"Really?"
The eyes of the members of Team Zenith lit up.
Zhu patted her chest. "Leave it to me. There'll be at least fifty times more such lifeforms than before—eat your fill."
The members of Team Zenith cheered. Zhang Lie laughed along with them and said, "As for the monarch-grade lifeforms you killed, make a feast out of them. Bring the other genetic lifeforms that perished over and have the genetic hunters without maxed gene fragments split them up and consume them. We'll celebrate the birth of a new unified world, and the start of a new chapter of the history of the third realm."
The hunters cheered and feasted. The members of the Zenith Dojo and those hunters who hadn't evacuated had received a tremendous boon from the creation of a unified world; it was more than worth the risk.
Just then, the genetic hunters who had departed from the realm began to stream back from the Milky Way, many regretting that they had left so hastily.
Zhang Lie killed the remaining monarch-grade lifeforms in the farm.
[You successfully killed the monarch-grade blackwind elf. By consuming the flesh of the monarch-grade blackwind elf, you may receive one to ten monarch gene fragments.]
[You successfully killed the monarch-grade inkscale leopard. By consuming the flesh of the monarch-grade inkscale leopard, you may receive one to ten monarch gene fragments.]
[You successfully killed the monarch-grade starburst eagle. By consuming the flesh of the monarch-grade starburst eagle, you may receive one to ten monarch gene fragments.]
With Zhu imposing a field of time dilation over the farm and furnishing it with the unified world's energy, monarch-grade lifeforms could be cultivated within just a few days.
[For consuming the flesh of a monarch-grade blackwind elf, you received one monarch gene fragment. Current total: 98]
[For consuming the flesh of a monarch-grade blackwind elf, you received one monarch gene fragment. Current total: 99]
[For consuming the flesh of a monarch-grade blackwind elf, you received one monarch gene fragment. Current total: 100]
When Zhang Lie maxed out his monarch gene fragments, he felt a wellspring of strength suffuse him from within his body. Zhu immediately established a pocket dimension and dragged Zhang Lie inside.
The pocket dimension was filled with the unified world's energy, and it was far purer and stronger than anything he had ever encountered.
This energy, which the superior kings of antiquity would have given all their possessions for even a meager bit of, Zhu was squandering as though it was worthless. In such an energy-filled environment, even a pig could have been cultivated all the way to disaster-grade.
Zhang Lie breathed in the unified world's energy and circulated it through his body, as though burying seeds deep within the earth and watching them sprout with life.
Zhang Lie sat cross-legged in that pocket dimension, deep in meditation, his body forging itself anew with every breath.
An indeterminate amount of time passed, but Zhang Lie remained perfectly in harmony with his environment the entire time. Without anyone to disturb him, without any sudden fluctuations to his emotions, he gradually began to smile, a reflection of his heart and inner being.
Light began to shine from his body. He was surrounded by a glowing ball of light, and the skin beneath that was revealed was a pearlescent white, supple and smooth.
A spiritual glow suffused him.
His bones cracked as they became even stronger and sturdier, taking on a metallic luster. A membrane of crystalline light formed over their surface, strengthening them, improving their ductility and hardness. His body was being reforged from the inside out and the outside in, as though becoming that of a deity.
Muscle, flesh, skin, and bone merged together in a flash of blinding light, which coalesced into a skin-like membrane that gave Zhang Lie a holy, immaculate appearance.
He looked like a man from the heavens above, one untouched and unsullied by mortal contact.
Membranes of diaphanous light brimmed with vitality.
In that transcendent state, time passed in the blink of an eye. He spent a week in meditation, freed of worry, freed of strife, freed of turmoil and dissonance. There he found an intrinsic joy.
Zhang Lie breathed out with a puff of light. The air that was sucked into his body took on the shape of dragons. He breathed with a particular rhythm, neither quick nor slow, ever following the pulse of the world...
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