Chapter 1052: A Wealth of Knowledge

The guard sucked in a deep breath. "You mean that the grandmaster was responsible for putting his majesty on the throne?"

The former crown prince nodded. "You can interpret it that way."

The guard asked, "Why have I never heard of this man, Your Highness?"

The former crown prince smiled. "You must have recently been selected as a guard. You don't look like a scaleman."

The guard replied honestly, "Yes, Your Highness. I'm a foreigner."

"Then it's only natural that you haven't heard. Without the appearance of the grandmaster, the scaleman world would have perished before ever evolving into a superior world."

Only after this conversation did the guard realize just how instrumental a figure Zhang Lie was in the scaleman world. Not only had he cultivated the former ninth prince and put him on the throne, he had even saved the world—and multiple times, at that.

Zhang Lie and the king stepped through the air.

Zhang Lie smiled. "I haven't yet congratulated you for your world's successful ascension—and your growth into a superior king."

The king smiled. "Please don't make fun of me, Master. Others might not know, but you surely do."

Zhang Lie smiled.

The king continued gratefully, "My present accomplishments and the evolution of the scaleman world—all of it is thanks to you."

Zhang Lie asked, "Have you considered changing the name of the world?"

The king nodded. "I'm considering it. After all, there are lots of races present here, not just the scalemen."

It was evident that the scaleman king was very different from the draconian sage, who had likewise ascended by combining countless different worlds, but who had never considered changing the name of the draconian world.

To the draconian sage, the name of the draconian world was both a testament to its history and a memorial to countless generations of draconians who had protected the world with their lives, as well as countless draconian kings who had kept the world functional.

If the draconian sage were to change the name of the world, it would be as though he were burying this history and forgetting about the draconians and draconian kings who had given their life for the world.

The scaleman king, on the other hand, didn't care too much for history and tradition. He was relatively young, and hadn't had the same depth of experience.

Zhang Lie asked, "What do you plan on calling it?"

The scaleman king laughed. "How about Lie Jiu?" [1]

Zhang Lie was momentarily speechless. "You should probably change that name to include the character 'Lin', so that others can remember the past and know that this was once the scaleman world." [2]

"Perhaps I'll call it the Lie Lin superior world, then."

The appearance of the envoy from the Zongming world had made it known that the scaleman world was now a superior world.

Zhang Lie laughed. "Are you serious?"

"Lie Lin..." the superior king puffed out his chest.

𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Zhang Lie nodded wryly. "I'll leave the choice to you."

The king pointed before him. "The scaleman world's farm lies up ahead. I've modified the flow of time in the vicinity, spurring the growth of these lifeforms. With the evolution of the world, many fifth-level beasts were produced."

Zhang Lie closed his eyes and spread his senses out. Indeed, he discovered a large number of disaster-grade lifeforms. They filled the forests and the plains like stars in the night sky. Zhang Lie smiled. "Excellent."

The king asked, "Would you like to take some with you?" It was as though he were offering up a specialty of the world to Zhang Lie.

Zhang Lie mulled it over for a moment. "I'll happily accept."

The king and Zhang Lie walked a little further before the king pointed before him. "This is the town that I built with you, Master."

After a few years, that small town had grown into a large city that could harbor tens of thousands of people. It was crowded to the extreme, with long lines of people snaking in and out.

The king introduced, "As planned, Master, once we opened up a wormhole between this world and a neighboring world, the trade that resulted made the town prosper. In a decade or so, it'll likely become the most prosperous of the scaleman cities."

Zhang Lie asked, "You've been focusing on this city?"

Ever since the ninth prince became the king of the realm, he had clearly been steering the development of the small town—otherwise, it would never have evolved into its present state.

The king laughed. "This is a town that we worked hard to build together, Master. How could I give it up?"

Zhang Lie praised, "You've been working hard."

The king smiled at the praise. "It's all thanks to you, Master."

The king continued showing Zhang Lie around. At some point, Zhang Lie said, "I've seen enough of your world. It's time to explain what I'm doing here. Do you have a guess?"

"Isn't it to have a look around the scaleman world?"

"Partly, but not primarily."

The king thought for a moment longer, then excitedly replied, "Have you returned in order to assist me, Master?!"

Zhang Lie shook his head. "Unfortunately not."

"Then why have you returned, Master?"

Zhang Lie explained kindly, "Do you know how many superior worlds there are in this realm?"

The king shook his head. "I only learned of these superior worlds recently. The only one I've made contact with is the Zongming world.

Before this, none of the scalemen or the neighboring aliens knew of these superior worlds."

Zhang Lie continued, "In that case, let me explain these superior worlds to you. The reason none of you have ever interacted with one is that the superior worlds of antiquity are arrogant beyond belief. They treat the inhabitants of all other worlds like ants."

The king seemed rather concerned. "Perhaps I should be glad not to have interacted with them before, then."

Zhang Lie said, "As far as I know, there are now nine superior worlds in the third realm, just as there were in the past. Of these, six are superior worlds of antiquity: the unclean world, the world of blazing sun, the white world, the world of black fog, the king of keys, and the world of primordial chaos."

The king of keys was an extremely unusual existence—he was a world in his own right.

Zhang Lie continued, "The new superior worlds, who have recently evolved, are the Zongming world, the draconian world, and your world, the scaleman world."

The king remarked, "To think there are so many! But it's no surprise, I suppose. There are three thousand worlds in this realm, after all."

1. The same Lie as in Zhang Lie, and Jiu, meaning ninth, representing the former ninth prince. 👈

2. 鳞 (Lin) means 'scale'. 👈