Chapter 665: A Third-Realm Disaster

Despite the fact that the crown prince's blood was turning his armor red, he still roared out in laughter, "Second brother, it looks like your plans have gone awry—Father's not so old as to be incapacitated just yet!"

The second prince's eyes turned blood-red. He slashed forward with his sword. "It doesn't matter—if I kill you, I'll be Father's only successor. I'm far superior to his other choices!"

The crown prince snorted and blocked his blade. "Give up, second brother! Apologize now to Father and he might still forgive you. Give up now and we can still be brothers!"

"Shut up! My path is set in stone, now—there's no backing out for me."

The crown prince spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. He didn't know if he could hold out until the king of the realm got to him; he could only fight with his words. "Second brother, your beast stampede has been defeated. Why remain so stubborn—you don't have a choice? Kneel down and apologize to Father; that's the only way you might be able to live."

"I don't need a way out!"

The crown prince replied, steel in his voice, "Then you're destined to fail."

The second prince lifted his head to the skies and roared out in laughter, "Don't you think I would have a backup plan?"

A frightening aura descended from deep within the hunting grounds, one that made it feel as though a disaster was nigh. The aura struck at the guards' minds and souls oppressively, enervating them and canceling the morale boost from the king of the realm. The peak-grade lifeforms stilled and turned instead to this imposing existence.

The crown prince's face fell. "How could you—no, impossible, you can't control an existence of that caliber!"

The second prince shook his head. "As you know, nothing in this world is absolute—you simply need to use the right technique."

"You managed to control a fifth-level beast?!"

A fifth-level beast was a disaster-grade lifeform, the source of calamity, the talk of legends. Allegedly, these lifeforms could destroy whole cities just by walking through them, and destroying whole kingdoms wouldn't be much more of a struggle.

As the crown prince, he knew very well just what these fifth-level beasts represented. They were existences even the king of the realm had to be careful with.

That the hunting grounds would possess fifth-level beasts was an accident, one that even the king of the realm had never expected. In fact, this was the first time the king of the realm was sensing a legendary fifth-level beast for himself.

It might not be impossible for them to kill the beast, but they were too close to the capital for comfort. If they were to strike now, the capital would surely be affected in the aftermath.

𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

The fifth-level beast had actually been in the king of the realm's hunting grounds for some time. The reason it hadn't left was because it was enjoying its stay, considering that people were deliberately feeding it and providing it with amenities.

The crown prince shook his head in disbelief. "Impossible. No one can control fifth-level beasts, not even the Jinghun clan."

The second prince was rather surprised. "You know that name, eldest brother? Ah, I see—the ninth prince's master, again. He's an alien too, after all."

The crown prince frowned and narrowed his eyes at his second brother. "Just how did you do it?"

"We knew we couldn't control it fully, so we didn't try. All we did was make it want to fight."

Within the camp, Zhang Lie was happily consuming his roast meat.

[For consuming the flesh of a peak-grade jade rattlesnake, you received one peak gene fragment. Current total: 70]

The snake meat was fresh and delicious, and the entertainment was quite interesting as well. When he saw the second prince backstab the crown prince, Zhang Lie whooped in delight.

"He's finally made a move! Is it time for the climax?" He wasn't surprised; this was within his predictions. The second prince had been behaving erratically, and Zhang Lie suspected that one of the princes was the mastermind.

The ninth prince certainly couldn't have done it, and the crown prince didn't have a motive. He was the successor to the throne in all but name.

In that case, the culprit had to be among the seven princes. The third and fifth princes were mired in battle, caught unawares by the beast stampede, so he could exclude them both as well. Zhang Lie found the second and eighth princes most suspicious.

The reason he suspected the eighth prince was because he still didn't understand why the Zijing clan was willing to become his backer, but it was the second prince's strange behavior that ultimately drew his eye.

The second prince lived constantly in the crown prince's shadow, just one step from the throne. As long as the crown prince were around, the second prince would never be able to succeed; that feeling would eventually overwhelm him and cause him to do something crazy.

As a result, Zhang Lie wasn't surprised when he learned that the second prince was the mastermind. He had the power to stop the second prince from attacking the crown prince, of course, but he chose not to interfere.

He had no reason to do so; the crown prince's death would only help the ninth prince. As the second prince had said, the crown prince was far too outstanding, and such an outstanding competitor had to die. Otherwise, he would have to face the ninth prince in battle someday.

The crown prince might be the ninth prince's only backer now, but the ninth prince would gain more from the crown prince's downfall than he would lose. After all, the crown prince himself posed more of a threat than the other seven princes combined.

Just then, a golden beam of light shot toward the air, and Zhang Lie turned around. The Jindao fighter was making his move. Before the pillar of light could do anything to the camp, however, an even more imposing aura emanated from the golden tent at its center.

All living creatures of the world, in that one immortal moment, seemed to prostrate themselves to the king of the realm.

"He's made his move, has he?" The king of the realm might have seemed to be on his deathbed, but Zhang Lie knew that he had kept some of his strength in reserve.

The Jindao fighter might be strong, but he was nothing in the face of the king. It took just a moment for the king of the realm to annihilate him.

Within the tent, the king of the realm stood up with such authority that everyone knelt down. The ninth prince bowed his head and called out, "Your majesty!"

The guards present did the same, their gazes scorching. This was their king, the king of the realm!

Suddenly, from behind the second prince, deep within the hunting grounds, came a competing aura, a primordial aura that heralded disaster. Zhang Lie knew what this signified—a third-realm disaster-grade lifeform. It looked as though he couldn't remain a bystander any longer...