Chapter 667: Quelling the Threat

Zhang Lie wasn't finished. At the same time, he punched forward with his left fist. "[Fists of the Silent Sea: Quake]!"

The world shook. The skies trembled. The ground beneath his feet quaked.

Before Zhang Lie's punch could land, however, a man flew through the air and beheaded the disaster-grade lifeform with a chop, stealing Zhang Lie's kill.

[You successfully assisted in killing a disaster-grade world-bearing tortoise. By consuming the core of the ?disaster-grade world-bearing tortoise, you may receive one to ten disaster gene fragments.]

Zhang Lie, unable to dissipate the force he had gathered in his left fist, redirected it at the ground instead. ?A crater formed out of nowhere, causing the entire hunting grounds to shake. It was so large that perhaps a third of the tortoise could have fit within it.

Upon seeing that crater, the guards present—and even the crown prince himself—all swallowed a gulp of saliva. If Zhang Lie's attack had landed on any of them, they would die without a corpse.

Zhang Lie smiled. "I apologize, your majesty—I was unable to hold back."

The king of the realm's face was turning green. "It's quite alright—I understand."

The figure who had darted out to claim the disaster-grade lifeform's head was, of course, the king of the realm. Glancing at the damage that Zhang Lie had wrought, even he couldn't help but worry about what might have happened if the blow had struck him, instead.

Fortunately for Zhang Lie, his blow did enough damage that the will of the world had counted him as a participant, or he wouldn't have received anything from that fight.

With the disaster-grade lifeform dead, the king of the realm easily subdued the remaining peak-grade lifeforms.

Once all of them had been killed and the hunting grounds were once again free from threats, all the guards began to cheer as they collected the spoils of war and tended to the wounded. The crown prince directed the guards to store those carcasses in the camp.

According to his agreement with Zhang Lie, he was collecting all the carcasses for him to sift through.

The second prince was brought back to camp trussed up and tied down. The other princes gradually made their way back from deep within the hunting grounds—first the third and fifth princes, clearly wounded.

When the third prince returned, he quickly inquired, "How is Father?"

The ninth prince replied, "Please don't worry, third brother. Father's still hale and hearty. He slew a fifth-level beast and quelled the stampede."

The fifth prince sounded as though he couldn't believe his ears. "What did you say?"

The ninth prince clarified again, "Father hasn't yet lost his strength.

The third and fifth princes couldn't believe it. They had seen the king of the realm grow so weak that he had to be supported even when walking—but now the ninth prince was claiming that he hadn't lost his strength? ...and that he had even killed a fifth-level beast?

The ninth prince continued, "Father was just pretending to be old in order to ferret out any conspiracies against the crown."

The third and fifth princes glanced askance at each other.?No wonder!

The third prince exclaimed, "I knew it! Father's heroism surely can't be defeated by age."

The fifth prince nodded. "Indeed. As the king of the realm,even in old age, Father would still have the strength to quell any threat."

The remaining princes slowly trickled back to camp: first the fourth, then the sixth, and finally the seventh and eighth princes.

This could be viewed, in some sense, as a ranking of their respective strength.

The third prince was wounded and his guards had all died, but the severity of his wounds didn't require immediate treatment by the imperial physician. His dual-blade cultivation had proved immensely valuable for his strength, and he was a post-peak-grade fighter in his own right.

The fourth prince's guards had been so heavily wounded that they required immediate attention from the imperial physician, but his troops were already remarkably well preserved compared to those of the other princes.

The fifth prince, who had returned with the third prince, likewise had lost most of his guards, and he himself was wounded as well.

The sixth prince, protected by the Yinlian, returned with only a scant few guards. He had even lost an arm.

The seventh prince's Heijie had also suffered grievous losses. He might have been covered in dirt, grime, and blood, but he was at least in better shape than the sixth.

Zhang Lie was most surprised by the eighth prince. Although his guards were wounded, he had barely a wound on him. Only the crown and second princes had survived the stampede better.

It looked as though his guards were surprisingly strong, but in that case, why didn't they try to make their way back to base camp? If they had done so, the king of the realm would surely have taken note of their strength.

The princes were all shocked and later overjoyed to hear that their father had retained his strength, but their supporters and backers were much more ambivalent.

The third and fifth princes came over to Zhang Lie to thank him personally. Zhang Lie shook his head, indicating that it was no big deal.

The third prince smiled. "It might only have been a small gesture to you, but it was a big help to us."

The fifth prince even suggested, "Would you like to become my guard? I'll fulfill any request and satisfy all your terms!"

.

The princes had all noticed Zhang Lie's strength; having experienced it for themselves, they knew how difficult it was to make it out of the beast stampede and how strong Zhang Lie had to be to have done all that alone.

The ninth prince and Zhang Lie had been the first to make it back. They knew how weak the ninth prince was, so the only reason they had succeeded had to have been Zhang Lie alone.

The princes tried to tempt Zhang Lie with ever higher compensation, but Zhang Lie rejected them all.

The eighth prince snorted. "Who do you think you are, to refuse us all? A strong alien, perhaps—but still an alien nonetheless."

Zhang Lie ignored the eighth prince's remarks as he continued devouring peak-grade lifeform meat with gusto.

𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Just then, the king of the realm's personal guards walked over to them. "His majesty would like to invite the princes and the ninth prince's master for an audience."

The princes and Zhang Lie walked into the tent to find the king of the realm seated upright on his throne, giving off such an imposing aura that the seven princes were forced to their knees.

Their foreheads beaded with sweat as they felt the king of the realm's imposing aura for themselves, overjoyed that the king of the realm was still strong enough to protect the world, but simultaneously worried that they would never be able to obtain an opportunity to inherit the throne.