Chapter 737: A Ruined Mind

"[Ninesoul Dragonblade—Fourth Form: Warping Space and Time]!" Put simply, Zhang Lie's technique allowed him to cut space and time—to cut apart his enemy in the past, rather than the present.

.

As long as Zhang Lie was able to pinpoint his opponent's location in spacetime, he would be able to kill anyone.

Zhang Lie had slashed at where Duan Zisuan was before he fled from Zhang Lie—before he had shot out his final blow.

With the Duan Zisuan from the past dead, his attack likewise vanished into thin air, and there was no chance of self-destruction at all.

In the end, because Duan Zisuan was too slow to react to Zhang Lie's abstruse attack, he was even unable to use any of his life-saving talismans.

Zhang Lie sheathed his blade and slowly descended to the ground.

The skies thundered and turned blood-red—clear proof from the world itself that its king had perished. The king of the west was finally dead.

The aliens of the Milky Way cheered, overjoyed, while the western elites despondently tossed aside their weapons. Since Zhang Lie was able to kill even the king of the realm himself, their resistance would be futile; all they would accomplish was die. As one, the elites chose to drop their weapons and surrender.

A furor descended on the capital with the king's passing. Some of the more daring citizens pillaged from the palace or from the wealthiest of nobles—the entire capital was a mess.

The king of the realm of the scaleman world had perished too, but there, because of the presence of several princes and the Jinghun, who had rapidly restored order, the king's passing had proceeded smoothly.

On the other hand, the world of the west had been invaded, and the king's original successor, Duan Gen, had been crippled. The natural order of things had been turned upside down, and no one could muster up the forces to quell the riot.

Those in the know, who might otherwise have taken control over the world, were wary of Zhang Lie, whom they couldn't defeat. Without anyone in a leadership position stepping forward, the furor in the capital only grew wilder and wilder.

More and more citizens took to the streets and snatched whatever they could.

"Your highness, we have to run! Our enemies are here—everything's over!" In the palace, one of the loyal servants of the Duan clan tried to drag Duan Gen away in hopes of sustaining the royal line and returning to power one day, but Duan Gen only snorted.

"Don't talk nonsense. There's no way Father can lose—not even if my father-in-law were to show up! He'll surely return with the head of his enemy. He promised me that he would make the bastard who shamed me pay a hefty price! Don't forget: my father is the king of the west, a veritable god in this world!"

The servant shook his head. "Your highness, please, I'm not lying to you. The entire world is in an uproar. Thunder crackled through the skies, which changed color between gold and black.

"Subsequently, the entire world was shrouded in darkness, then an eerie blood-red gleam showed up. You may have lost your eyes, your highness, but you surely heard the will of the world mourning for its lost ruler!"

Duan Gen thundered, "Did the enemy send you to corrupt my thoughts? I'll wring your brain off! Don't you know what sort of existence Father is? He's the king of the realm, and there's nothing he can't do in this world! He promised to bring me back the fellow who crippled me so that I could torture him to death myself—he wouldn't lie!"

Duan Gen had, in fact, heard the will of the world's mourning cries, but he resolutely pretended not to have done so, nor to entertain the thought that his father might have died.

The loyal servant huffed. "Your highness, we have to leave immediately, before our enemies arrive! If we don't run away now, everything will be over. You're the only son of his majesty, the only hope for the royal family of the west—you can't die!"

"Indeed, your highness! Times have changed, so you'd better listen to that advice!" a voice boomed from a distance. To the officials of court, this voice would be unfamiliar, but to Duan Gen, it was nightmarish. Even after quite a few days had passed, Duan Gen would dream of this voice every night.

"Aaargh!" Duan Gen twisted his head in the direction of the voice. Though he had lost his eyes, he could keenly feel Zhang Lie's presence. Zhang Lie had walked into the room, he was sure ofi t.

"Fortunately, I rushed over right after killing your father, and even more fortunately, you're stubborn and foolish. Otherwise, I really might have missed my opportunity to kill you!"

Zhang Lie was sitting by the windowsill, with something in his hands.

Duan Gen fell from his wheelchair onto the ground as he screamed, "What are you doing here?!"

Zhang Lie laughed. "I'm here to find you, my little eunuch! It's been a while. How are you doing?"

Duan Gen rolled and crawled his way to a corner of the room and shouted, "What are you doing here? You shouldn't be here!"

Zhang Lie pursed his lips. "I came over here specifically to see you. Your reaction upsets me, you know?"

The servant, who hadn't met Zhang Lie before, blocked Duan Gen protectively. "Who are you?"

Zhang Lie shrugged. "Old man, this is none of your business. Step outside and let me speak with his highness." As Zhang Lie spoke, his eyes glowed with a rainbow gleam. The servant hurriedly made himself scarce, as did the scant few officials remaining with Duan Gen.

Duan Gen, who had boldly claimed that he would chop off Zhang Lie's head, now turned toward his leaving retainers as though his lifeline was slipping through his fingers. He immediately shouted, "Where are you all going? Come back immediately! Aren't you my father's most loyal subjects?"

Zhang Lie instructed them, "Close the door as you leave."

The men did so.

Zhang Lie smirked. "Now that we're alone, I'm a little nervous. Aren't you?"

Duan Gen cried out in panic, "Don't leave! I'm the last hope of the western world—don't desert me!"

Zhang Lie laughed. "You? You're just a piece of trash."

Duan Gen shrieked. "Guards! Guards, where are my guards?!"

Zhang Lie cut him off. "There's no need to shout. Even if you shout your throat hoarse, no one will appear. The fact that I'm right here in front of you should be sufficient evidence that your father's dead—that his dynasty is over."

Duan Gen shook his head. "No, that can't be! It has to be because the soundproofing in this room is good enough that they can't hear my voice!"

Zhang Lie laughed. "Oh? So what if they can hear you? The capital's a mess. Who still remembers that you exist, I wonder? I'll open the door for you. Shout all you want—I'll let you go if even one person shows up."

With the power of the mistmeld clam soulshard, Zhang Lie had convinced all the guards that nothing was amiss in the prince's quarters.

In truth, however, the enemy of the world was right in there with the prince himself. This was the biggest threat to his life Duan Gen had ever faced.

Zhang Lie's cruel revelation of the truth was like a bucket of cold water over the pampered prince's head; he was clearly intending to crush the prince from a psychological level...