Chapter 694: Storming the City by Force

The crown prince's voice was tinged with excitement. "With your help, Elder, I'm sure we'll have a good chance at success."

Jian Nong's expression remained calm. "You haven't yet responded to my question. How is the Wang clan now?"

"Elder, the Wang clan worked together with us to resist the Jinghun, but we were ultimately all defeated. I don't know what happened in the end, but with Jianzu protecting the Wang clan, I suspect the clan territory is still safe."

Zhang Lie instructed, "We set off immediately. We'll deal with all this mess before the eighth prince is crowned."

It took them only two days to return to the capital, but by then, the Jinghun had already taken control over it all.

As they glanced toward the city walls from afar, the crown prince asked, "What should we do nex—"

Before the crown prince could finish his question, Zhang Lie was already taking action.

Ripples of air formed around Zhang Lie's arm, growing more and more intense as Zhang Lie combined spatial force with his water-attuned genetic energy. The streams of water revolved more and more quickly around his wrist, augmented by the two streams of energy, summoning what seemed to be a massive whirlwind. The crown prince stepped forward and shouted, "Hold on!"

However, he was too late.

As Zhang Lie punched forward, that energy erupted in a flood, arcing through the air and swamping the entire capital like a giant tsunami.

When the guards on the city walls saw what was happening, their faces turned alarmed. "An enemy attack!"

However, their voices were drowned out by the flood of water, which crashed against the tall, sturdy walls of the capital and broke a gigantic gap through it.

The crown and ninth princes stood frozen in shock. The capital, which had survived all manner of assault for millennia, had just been broken through by Zhang Lie. How many enemies had the wall stopped? How much invaders' blood had the wall absorbed? And yet, despite all that, the wall crumbled with just one punch.

The walls were hardly shoddy; Zhang Lie was just too strong.

The entire capital shook in the aftermath of the punch. After the flood of water, the water-attuned genetic energy exploded through the air, sending pulses of energy that covered the entire capital. It seemed almost as if a disaster-grade lifeform had gone on a rampage within the capital, sending wind and rain so strong that some of the guards were blown straight off the walls.

Zhang Lie's genetic energy shot through the gap in the walls and annihilated whatever it touched.

As the hurricane revolved, the buildings nearest the palace were uprooted and sent flying. Pillars of shattered stone and balconies of wood whipped through the air, and even the palace infrastructure became unstable.

The crown and ninth princes continued watching the aftermath of the attack in shock.

Behind the walls stood nothing but rubble. None of the guards who were patrolling the walls were anywhere to be found; they had either been blown away or had fallen to the ground as the walls did.

The crown prince's lips twitched. "Master Hong, we came here in order to prevent the Jinghun's dastardly plans, not to destroy the capital."

"I know!"

The crown prince felt as though he were about to pull out his hair.?You know? And yet you still punched down the city walls? Don't you know how much damage that would cause to the city's foundations?

Zhang Lie knew what the crown prince was thinking, but he was unperturbed. "I simply want to resolve this problem as quickly as possible."

The crown prince retorted, "Your attack would have drawn the attention of all our enemies! You—hold on, was that your intent?"

The crown prince realized that Zhang Lie really was trying to deal with everything with brute force alone—and indeed as quickly as he promised.

Quite a few members of the Zijing and some of the scalemen rushed over to check out the problem.

Neither of the two princes were surprised to see some of the scalemen working with the eighth prince. Despite the fact that the eighth prince was in cahoots with the Jinghun, he was still a prince in his own right, and he held the jade seal that was proof of kingship.

The Zijing were formed out of purple crystals. They and the accompanying scalemen rode out to the site of the incident on superior- and peak-grade mounts. There were three hundred or so Zijing and a few tens of thousands of scalemen, but they were less frightening than the mounts that they rode.

Likely, over half the superior- and peak-grade lifeforms in the entire world were gathered in the capital of this kingdom.

The Jinghun had prepared for this takeover for years, decades even, and they wouldn't allow for anyone to get in their way. The stampede that had occurred at the royal hunt was nothing compared to what came at Zhang Lie and the others now.

One of the Zijing leaders rode up to them. "Hah! To think you would come running back here—we were wondering how to chase you down."

One of the scalemen shook his head. "All your guards who gave up their lives for you to escape, crown prince, and here you are again! They've wasted their sacrifice!"

The crown prince shouted, "Where's the eighth prince?"

"His majesty is preparing for his coronation with Warlord Ren Kunjing."

"Let that bastard come out here!"

The Zijing leader smiled. "Why don't you and the ninth prince come into the city instead? Come witness the eighth prince's coronation."

The ninth prince frowned. "This is improper—the king of the realm hasn't received a proper burial, and you're already trying to hold a coronation?"

"The kingdom can't go without a king for too long, after all."

The crown prince frowned. "Having no prince on the throne would be better than having the eighth prince there."

Zhang Lie rolled his eyes. "Why bother trying to reason with them? We'll fight our way in."

The Zijing leader grew noticeably displeased. "Do you think you can get through me? I'm the 99th warlord on the leaderbo—"

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Quake]!" Zhang Lie punched forward, shattering space and causing a massive explosion that struck at the very will of the world. Another boom of energy rippled through the capital, and the 99th warlord disappeared from the face of the world.

"This trash is fit to be a warlord?"

Zhang Lie's [Fists of the Silent Sea] was more destructive than a hurricane. Even before the superior- and peak-grade lifeforms could do anything, they were blown away along with the Zijing and scalemen mounted on them. The Zijing's bodies disintegrated in midair, as did the scalemen who had sided with the Jinghun.

The will of the world's voice continuously rang out in Zhang Lie's head as he received notifications for his kills, but Zhang Lie ignored them all...