Chapter 641: The State of Affairs

"Strong? How strong?"

"The Zijing clan is the strongest among our four clans. They'll surely be able to get a considerable amount of resources by helping a prince ascend to the throne, but the Zijing are rich and strong enough that it can't be worth the effort in general. They surely have an ulterior motive for doing so."

"What motive?"

"I don't know."

"Are there humans in this world?"

Heijie Niu shrugged. "The humans are active in worlds that are seven or eight wormholes away. Lord of Renhuang, just how did you make it over here, anyway?"

"Seven or eight...?" Zhang Lie's face turned cold. That damned will of the world—it had to have done this on purpose!

Almost all hunters who ascended were sent directly to their respective race's settlements. Even if there were some error, they would at most be sent outside those settlements, or to nearby worlds.

That Zhang Lie had been ten worlds away from the nearest human city clearly wasn't an error, but a deliberate choice on the will of the world's part.

Zhang Lie had suspected that these wills of the world were impartial moderators of their respective realms, but it looked as though they could certainly favor or disfavor certain individuals. In that case, he wouldn't go easy on them when he took revenge, but that revenge would be a long way away in the making.

Zhang Lie's expression didn't change despite his thoughts. He coldly tossed Heijie Niu the vial of potion in his hands.

Heijie Niu swallowed it in one gulp. His wounds began to close, staunching the flow of blood. As the wounded portions of his body slowly began to regrow, he asked, "Lord of Renhuang, how did you end up traveling with the ninth prince?"

Although Wang Jian was the only person that had appeared in front of Zhang Lie and the ninth prince, there were still men from the various princes surrounding them, observing the ninth prince's new backer.

Zhang Lie smiled. "He's my disciple. Don't try to lay your hands on him, or I'll smash your head to pulp."

Heijie Niu ducked down. "To be honest, of the nine princes, the least likely to ascend to the throne is the ninth prince. Anyone else might win the succession, but not him."

"Why?"

"For one, the ninth prince was born too late. The other princes have all been amassing their forces for decades, the crown prince foremost among them. He's been a prince for sixty years by now, and he's built up an impressive network. His mother's the empress, and he's just half a step from the throne."

"In that case, this crown prince is particularly strong?"

"Of course! Otherwise, the other princes wouldn't be cooperating against him. If you're interested in this world, Lord of Renhuang, why don't you come join our clan and support the seventh prince? He's got quite a stable base of power himself. With the Heijie clan and the lord of Renhuang himself, he'd surely become the new king of the realm."

"I've already accepted a deposit from the ninth prince, and I certainly won't renege on my word."

Heijie Niu pursed his lips. "A poor bastard like him? What could he give you— the seventh prince will pay double that price!"

.

Zhang Lie snorted. "The seventh prince wouldn't be able to pay that price—not even the king of the realm would."

To be honest, if someone were to offer him two pieces of the map, Zhang Lie might have given in. These map fragments were particularly valuable, and he was lucky just to find two so recently. It was very unlikely that a second piece would be present in this world.

Zhang Lie asked curiously, "Why did so many princes decide to target the ninth prince together?"

He should have been the least threatening of all the princes, after all.

"The prince himself is useless, but his death would be a useful weapon."

"Oh?"

Heijie Niu narrowed his eyes. "It doesn't matter who strikes first—what's important is who his killer seems to be."

Zhang Lie contemplated this revelation. "You mean that, if this Wang Jian had failed to kill the ninth prince, you would kill the ninth prince yourself and lay the blame on the Wang clan?"

Heijie Niu shook his head. "No. We'd try to lay the blame at the first prince's feet."

"Oh?"

"Upon doing so, the first prince himself will be obligated to investigate the truth behind the ninth prince's death. Doing so, he'll surely uncover that the Wang clan's Wang Jian was the killer, and he would gain the impression that the Wang clan was trying to lay the blame on him."

Zhang Lie finished, "Regardless of the truth, it's sufficient for the first prince to find a scapegoat. He'll surely clamp down hard on the third prince. At that point, you'll give the third prince a push from the back to remove him from the competition."

Politics was indeed a devious field… "The princes certainly care very much for each other," Zhang Lie commented acidly.

Heijie Niu shrugged. "It's a competition for the throne, after all."

No one had expected the ninth prince to find a savior like Zhang Lie, who was able to repel all the assassins that had come his way.

"However, I can't be certain whether or not you've lied to me."

Heijie Niu replied seriously, "I can swear to the heavens that nothing I've told you has been a lie."

"Very well. Let me ascertain the truth for myself." Zhang Lie's eyes glimmered with rainbow light. Heijie Niu was caught in his gaze immediately.

"Did you lie to me during my interrogation?"

Heijie Niu shook his head. "No, but I left out a few details."

"Ha! What details?"

"The forces under our control, the princes' personality, the status of each prince's forces, the status of the king of the realm."

Zhang Lie thought back for a moment. Indeed, Heijie Niu had spoken a lot, but none of that information was particularly useful. Just as Zhang Lie was about to ask for the information that Heijie Niu had chosen to hide, some clatter came from behind him.

Without even turning his head, Zhang Lie smiled. "Come out—don't hide back there!"

The ninth prince walked out of the shadows. Zhang Lie wasn't surprised, because he had detected the ninth prince's presence some time ago.

"Did you hear it all?"

"Yes, I did."

The ninth prince was rather touched. He knew that the deposit that Zhang Lie had spoken of was just a scrap of tattered parchment, one that was important to him largely because his mother had bequeathed it to him on her deathbed.

The only thing special about that parchment was that even his father was unable to determine its provenance. It could neither be burned by fire or sliced apart by a sword—but that was it. Nevertheless, this seemingly useless fragment was, to Zhang Lie, something the seventh prince—or even the king of the realm!—was unable to procure.

Compared to him, he knew how much more competitive his seventh brother was. He had more strength and support, but Zhang Lie had nevertheless chosen to side with the ninth prince.

The ninth prince couldn't help but be touched. No one had ever been so kind to him save his mother and his mother alone. Most people approached him with a secret agenda in mind.

Most importantly, his brothers betrayed him and used him as a scapegoat at every junction.

Just like Heijie Niu had mentioned, he was like an orphan compared to the other princes. To add insult to injury, the reason he had been assassinated wasn't due to his status as a prince, but rather because his death could be used as a weapon to hurt his brothers.

And even so, despite all that, Zhang Lie had chosen to stick with the ninth prince.