Chapter 679: Finally Entombed

Given the strength the king of the realm had revealed, the princes believed that he would easily be able to survive two or three more decades. The battle for succession would be drawn out as a result.

The crown prince continued to speak even as tears fell from his eyes; this finally made Zhang Lie feel as though he really were at a funeral.

"Today, the entire world shall grieve for your absence, the greatest of respects we can pay—a memorial to disaster and the resulting humanity we witnessed in its aftermath. Disaster may have struck, but we remain standing. It may have weakened us temporarily, but I assure you all, we shall grow stronger for it.

"We have worked together to overcome this crisis, and we can do so again. Our dead stand with us; we cannot let them down. Lie in peace, our dead brethren. To you we give our tears and grief, candles lit amidst the darkness. May the strength of this world bolster us."

Zhang Lie glanced around him as the crown prince's speech neared completion.

"We live on because of your sacrifice, with love and strength and endurance aplenty. We know that this will be the best way to commemorate you, that this is what you would have wished for, from a world away."

The crown prince bowed solemnly as the citizens of the capital clapped, recognizing his authority as the successor to the realm. As time passed, the king of the realm would gradually let the crown prince host all sorts of events, until the public and the officials were familiar with treating the crown prince as though he were the king himself.

Zhang Lie privately swore that he would never attend an alien funeral again; watching it all had been too much to bear. Commemorating the dead wasn't the issue—Zhang Lie simply found it far too hard to stifle his laughter for so long.

Zhang Lie thought that the end of the crown prince's speech would mark the end of the funeral rites, but there was actually more.

The princes all stepped up on stage, and Zhang Lie felt an uneasy premonition overwhelm him.

Indeed, in the very next moment, the princes lifted up the second prince's coffin, and the guards of the plaza and their friends and family lifted up the dead guards' coffins.

All the coffins that had been laid out in the plaza were now up in the air, supported by the dead's friends, relatives, and comrades-in-arms.

With the crown prince leading the ceremony, the princes began to sing and dance with the second prince's coffin as they led the procession out of the plaza, followed by the groups of people carrying the other coffins.

All those who had been chosen for this ceremony were trained in this unusual art form, and their performances were no inferior to that of the princes.

The procession passed all the way out of the capital, where the king of the realm had designated a plot of land in which to bury the dead who had given their lives to defend the capital.

The second prince should have been buried in the royal mausoleum, but his traitorous behavior before his death had repercussions, and this was one such. Although he was heralded as a hero who had died in defense of the king, he too was buried with the imperial guards. The families of those guards were very satisfied with this decision—it was a rare honor for their sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, to be buried together with royalty.

𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

The ceremony ended once the last coffin had been securely buried underground.

As several families grieved before the graves of the dead, the crown prince walked over to Zhang Lie. "I apologize, Master Hong, for being unable to spare any time for you over the past few days while I was busy with the palace and my second brother's funeral."

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Zhang Lie waved a hand, indicating that he didn't much mind.

"The remaining fourth-level beast carcasses should be brought back to the palace by tomorrow. I'll have the best cuts of meat prepared in the royal kitchens and sent to the ninth prince's chambers. In addition, I intend on hosting a private banquet tomorrow. Would you be interested in attending, Master Hong?"

Zhang Lie frowned. "Despite having just buried your second brother?"

The crown prince explained, "It's a small, private banquet hosted annually after the royal hunt, in which we consume the spoils that we princes have hunted."

Zhang Lie shook his head, causing the crown prince to sigh. "It's a shame. Master Hong, you saved my life, and I hope to be able to repay that favor in kind."

"I prefer to dine alone or with a few close confidantes," Zhang Lie replied mildly.

The crown prince smiled and nodded his head, with the grace and bearing that dignified royalty. "May I ask for your plans for the remaining fourth-level beasts, Master Hong?"

Zhang Lie had killed a large portion of the peak-grade lifeforms. According to the rules of the hunt, those carcasses were now his spoils.

However, he certainly hadn't killed them all, and a significant fraction had been killed by the guards in the princes' retinue.

If Zhang Lie insisted on claiming all the peak-grade carcasses, the royalty would have to give appropriate compensation to the guards who had worked hard for their kills and even, in some cases, placed their lives on the line.

Zhang Lie asked, "Do you have any suggestions, crown prince?"

The crown prince replied, "The carcasses of fourth-level beasts can be dismantled for furs, meat, and all sorts of medicinal ingredients. If you prefer not to consume them all, Master Hong, you may exchange their bodies for gold, gems, jewels, or spiritual herbs."

Zhang Lie shook his head. "I don't need wealth. Have it be exchanged for a suitable quantity of spiritual herbs, then."

Zhang Lie was an herbalist and pillmaster, after all, and he'd be able to do far more with herbs than gold.

Talking with the crown prince was relaxing; unlike the other princes, he never offered to recruit Zhang Lie outright. If not for his promise to the ninth prince, he believed that the crown prince would easily succeed the king of the realm.

After sending the crown prince off, Zhang Lie found the ninth prince rushing toward him, sweat staining his robes. "Master, how was my dance? I didn't embarrass you, did I?"

Among the princes, the eighth and ninth princes had the least strength. The eighth prince had flopped around like a salted fish after the ceremony, his face deathly pale. The ninth prince was in better shape, but even so, he looked as though he had just run a marathon.

Zhang Lie's mouth spasmed. "I've never had a chance to witness an alien funeral before, and I simply can't get used to it. That said, you princes were indeed the star of the ceremony."

The ninth prince blinked. "Thank you, Master. I'll keep working hard to catch up to my brothers."

Zhang Lie suddenly rapped the ninth prince on the head. "Your goal is to become the king of the realm, not to emulate your brothers in these funeral rites!"

The ninth prince yelped as he clutched his head. "Master, I had to spend a great deal of effort beforehand to keep up with my brothers for this ceremony!"

Zhang Lie sucked in a deep breath. "Then you've wasted all your time!"

1. I don't understand why the author is highlighting the protagonist's intolerance and disrespect for alien cultures, but there you have it.