Chapter 602: Don't Get Complacent

It was easy for someone like Zhang Lie, who boasted a great deal of power and strength and had two lifetimes' worth of experience, to be a good monarch.

He was easily able to command his populace, and he had the strength to back up those commands. On the other hand, Zhang Hanxiang was different. She had grown up under Zhang Lie's protection, and he knew far more about commanding others than she did.

Furthermore, because she was so sheltered, she could be rather naive and knew quite little about some parts of the world, which would make it easy for others to take advantage of her. She was also a fair bit weaker than Zhang Lie.

Even if Zhang Lie were to raise Zhang Hanxiang's gene fragments to the peak of the second realm, allowed her to imbibe Potions #1, #2, and #3, and fed her some disaster gene fragments, Zhang Lie would still worry that she could become the puppet of some mastermind behind the scenes who wielded true power over his kingdom.

"Hanxiang grew up under my wing, and she doesn't know much about the world. She wouldn't be able to last long against those wily old foxes all around. Even if she had the ability to do so, I'd be worried for her to grow too attached to her authority. Authority's a drug, and countless people ruin their lives because of their addiction to it. Just look at the former presiding authority of the world federation—he's been sent to a mental institute!"

He was a brother and essentially a father figure to Zhang Hanxiang, and he couldn't bear for her to suffer any pain. How, then, could he push her into this trap?

Yun Bing frowned. "Aren't you being too much of a worrywart, Zhang Lie? Hanxiang's very smart, and she knows enough to take care of herself!"

Zhang Lie shook his head. "Regardless, my hope is for Hanxiang to focus on her cultivation, to go out wandering the kingdom with her friends. Wouldn't it be both tiring and boring for her to become a monarch?"

Yun Bing muttered in a small voice, "Well, I don't see you being very tired at all!"

"What did you say?"

"Ah, nothing—just that with Sun Mengmeng and the others around, nothing will happen to Hanxiang."

"But Sun Mengmeng can't stay in the second realm for the rest of her life. She'll advance sooner or later, as will Zhang Hanxiang. I refuse to let the kingdom of Limit hinder our advancement. The second realm is only a stop along our journey of cultivation, nothing more."

Yun Bing rolled her eyes. "And how about my cultivation?"

Zhang Lie chuckled. "You're always welcome to quit your position, but I hope I've given you adequate compensation for your troubles to date."

"Perhaps so," Yun Bing acknowledged. To be honest, she felt as though she were being handsomely—perhaps even too handsomely—rewarded for her position.

Given her strength and skills, she was unlikely to have been able to finish maxing out her peak gene fragments even after two decades in the second realm. Since following Zhang Lie, however, she had done the impossible in just one year.

Indeed, before Zhang Lie's ascension to the second realm, even veterans wouldn't have been able to max out their peak gene fragments without two decades of hard work, let alone a novice like Yun Bing. The death toll that these hunters faced was also immense.

On the other hand, Zhang Lie had managed to supply all his followers with peak gene fragments in just one short year. The day he was crowned king, Zhang Lie even gifted Yun Bing a vial of Potion #3.

Yun Bing alone could never have reached such strength, not in this life, and not ever.

She was greatly relieved to have chosen to traipse all this way through the second realm to find Zhang Lie, along with Chu Feng. If she hadn't made that decision that seemed so crazy at the time, she wouldn't have accomplished so much today. Despite the perilous journey, despite all the dangers she had barely skirted by, the outcome was all worth it.

Most importantly, Yun Bing herself boasted strong administrative abilities and had shown dedicated interest in learning to do more. Naturally, Zhang Lie had made use of her well.

She patted herself on the chest. "Very well. I'm confident I can take on anything you want to accomplish."

Zhang Lie nodded. "I want to establish a parliament to guarantee proper functioning of Limit even after I ascend to the third realm—even when Hanxiang does so as well."

Limit was composed of a dizzying number of alien races. With Zhang Lie around to maintain centralized power, there would be few conflicts to resolve. As time passed, however, and as Zhang Lie left for the third realm, problems would naturally arise. When Zhang Hanxiang herself departed, the kingdom would begin to splinter.

As a result, he had to develop a contingency plan beforehand.

He continued, "Divide the parliament into two levels. The upper level shall consist of eighteen seats: three humans, one wood spirit, one Yeluo, one crag eagle, and one rock spirit. These four other races were present in Renhuang since the very beginning, and they deserve a seat of their own. Give one seat each to the four prime races, and let the other seven be contested by all the remaining alien races."

By giving the humans three of the eighteen seats, he would guarantee that they always had a say, but didn't necessarily monopolize all decision-making.

"How will these parliament seats be assigned? Election via the lower level of parliament?"

.

Zhang Lie pursed his lips. "With me around, there's nothing for something so complicated. We'll settle the matter with brute force—let the eleven strongest leaders of the various alien races take the seats."

Yun Bing's eyes widened. "Is that really alright?"

She wasn't sure that personal power and governing ability was correlated.

"We'll have the eleven seats be decided in such a fashion for now. Every year, the lower level of parliament can vote whether or not to expand the upper level by one seat—but only one seat at most."

Yun Bing frowned. "If we leave this decision to the lower level of parliament, what if another race starts to dominate parliament at that level?"

"The humans will have to fend for themselves, of course. We're not their nannies—there's no reason we should have to take care of them to such an extent."

"You'll allow the kingdom of Limit to fall to another race's hands?"

Zhang Lie frowned and glanced into the distance. "Of course not. Don't you know how many disciples are in training at the Zenith Dojo, and how many Chinese hunters are rapidly ascending through the realms? Furthermore, I think you might be forgetting or misinterpreting something."

The reason Zhang Lie had founded Limit was to reduce human casualties in the second realm and provide an opportunity for stable growth for human hunters, but that didn't mean that he would excise all conflict.

In the past, human hunters had grown stronger and stronger by repeatedly clashing against the sura. Now that Limit had been founded and the humans were in power, they had lost that natural impetus and incentive to grow, evolve, and thrive. It would be short-sighted of Zhang Lie to remove all modes of competition entirely.

"I'll repeat once more: the kingdom of Limit is nothing more than a stop along the grand path of cultivation. No matter how comfortable, spacious, or opulent this stop is, it's not the end of humanity's evolution—a far longer chapter of our lives lies ahead. Yun Bing, you won't remain in the second realm all your life, either. We have to keep looking forward, and we have to keep moving forward."