Chapter 1219: Zhang Lie Cedes Authority

"Zhang Lie is a true hero! He saved the third realm and all hunters within it."

Zhang Lie's heroism had spread throughout the forums.

"If not for Zhang Lie learning about this news ahead of time and taking preventive measures, we'd all be done for!"

"I was responsible for helping unify the third realm as well. When faced with a problem like the impending collapse of the high-dimensional spaces of the third realm, I certainly wouldn't have thought of unifying the three thousand worlds to stop it from happening."

"The three thousand worlds have been in tumult for so long... To think it was a hunter from the Milky Way who ended up unifying them."

"It's a pity that I left so quickly. Allegedly, upon unification, the hunters, aliens, and lifeforms on the unified world received the blessing of the restored will of the third realm and were greatly strengthened."

"That's right! After receiving that blessing, a hunter with maxed peak gene fragments could take on three opponents with the same but without the blessing."

The whole of the forums was in an uproar about what had happened in the third realm, but Zhang Lie didn't have the opportunity to read more posts. Just then, Hong Tianqi contacted him back.

"You've worked hard."

"Is something the matter? I heard you wanted to find me," Zhang Lie replied.

Hong Tianqi said, "I wanted to learn directly from you about what happened in the third realm."

"Did the hunters from the third realm not inform you of the situation?"

Hong Tianqi replied, "After all, you're the one who unified the third realm, and I'd like to learn about matters directly from the source."

"There's not much to say. We found that the high-dimensional spaces of the third realm were about to collapse. I came up with a strategy to deal with the problem, then returned to Earth to ask for your help, went back to the third realm, and executed it."

Zhang Lie summarized the events that had transpired. "I'm not the amazing one—it's simply that my subordinates and colleagues are all very talented."

Hong Tianqi steepled his hands to prop up his jaw. His eyes brightened. "It's basically what I learned, then. Now: does that mean that you're the ruler of the third realm?"

Zhang Lie rolled his eyes. "Is this why you summoned me back?"

Hong Tianqi replied, "I'm the highest authority of the world federation, after all. It's only natural that I'd like to understand the new structure of the third realm and the positions of power within it, king of the third realm."

Zhang Lie raised his hands in mock surrender. "Hold on, hold on! There's no such thing as the king of the third realm. I was simply once the king of the second realm—that's it!"

Hong Tianqi blinked in surprise. "You unified the third realm, and you didn't crown yourself king?"

Zhang Lie shrugged helplessly. "There's no fun to being king. I was one once in the second realm, and I don't want to be one again. There's nothing of interest and far too many responsibilities—it was lucky that I ascended quickly, or I'd be going bald."

Hong Tianqi chuckled wryly. "I suppose you might be the only one who feels that way."

He had expected that Zhang Lie would take over the third realm, which would save him significant trouble.

Zhang Lie had the qualifications and strength to take on such a position, and no one in the third realm could stop him. Zhu could well be exiled to the high-dimensional spaces of the realm, and no one would care.

The fact that Zhang Lie wasn't going to take such a position, however, gave Hong Tianqi a headache.

Hong Tianqi rubbed at his temples as he asked, "Who are the people in charge of the third realm, then? The ruler of the new unified world?"

Zhang Lie replied, "The ruler of the unified world will abstain from political office. According to the current discussions, the three thousand worlds will become three thousand kingdoms, with limited differences in terms of governance. Four superior kingdoms will take the lead among the three thousand."

These kingdoms would be represented by the former Zongming world, the former scaleman world, the former draconian world, and the coalition of Milky Way hunters.

"The four superior kingdoms will maintain law and order within the unified world, and they'll establish a Limit Committee to do so. The committee will be populated by representatives of hunters and aliens."

Hong Tianqi remarked, "You really are dead set on not taking power, aren't you?"

"After all, I'll be ascending to the fourth realm soon enough. It won't make sense for me to take power now; I just want to ensure that the Zenith Dojo has some amount of authority and status."

Zhang Lie no longer needed to pioneer new organizations as he did in the second realm, where he founded the kingdom of Limit and established sanctuary for the Zenith Dojo.

The disciples of the Zenith Dojo were rapidly growing strong, and the average disciple now surpassed a Milky Way hunter in strength. Even the four prime races might not be a match.

Zhang Lie intended to leave the unified world as a stage on which the disciples of the Zenith Dojo would be challenged.

There were few challenges for them in the first realm, and the second realm was entirely controlled by the Zenith Dojo. The disciples would grow lax in such a peaceful environment; Zhang Lie didn't want to rear pigs, but rather wolves.

If he were to continue smoothing out the path for the dojo's disciples, they would soon stagnate.

In the end, after careful thought, Zhang Lie decided to leave the unified world of the third realm as a challenge for the disciples, allowing them to develop and explore it at will, to create a haven for themselves. To them, he would leave behind his farm of genetic lifeforms, which would be more than sufficient to arm the disciples against even coordinated attacks by the other three superior kingdoms.

𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Of course, as long as Zhang Lie was within the third realm, no one would dare to do so, but Zhang Lie and the members of Team Zenith were destined to head to the fourth realm eventually. There might not be such a rebellion in a century, but how about in two or three? It would be far harder to be certain then.

With the firm foundation that Zhang Lie and the members of Team Zenith had established, however, even if there were some corrupt disciples among the ranks of the Zenith Dojo, it would be centuries before they dealt enough damage to destroy what Zhang Lie had laid down.

After finishing his discussion with Hong Tianqi, Zhang Lie again returned to the third realm. The moment he did so, he sensed a violent quake. Eight sources of energy formed hurricanes over the world, surprising Zhang Lie.

He sensed a familiar energy. "These people have all maxed out their monarch gene fragments..."

He stepped forward, shattered space, and teleported to the source of the disturbance, where the members of Team Zenith had gathered.

Zhu was attempting to suppress the instability caused by the eight hunters, but there were so many of them that she was having a hard time. Zhang Lie lent her assistance and quelled the disturbance immediately.