Chapter 740: The East, Once Again

"Widow? What do you mean, widow? Who's to say that I would be willing to remain your widow?"

After Zhang Lie and Li Qianlin familiarized themselves with each other, Li Qianlin's mischievous personality began to shine through.

"If you were to die, I'll have my father find me a new partner. How can a princess like me be without a prince?"

Zhang Lie's lips curled up in a smile. "Perhaps it's time to consummate our marriage, then."

Li Qianlin blushed all the way down her neck, and she snapped her mouth shut.

Thinking that he had gone overboard, Zhang Lie changed the topic. "I'm going to go see your father. Will you come with me?"

Li Qianlin frowned. "I don't really want to see him."

"You're still mad?"

Li Qianlin shook her head. "I'm just afraid it'll be awkward. We didn't talk much before this, at any rate."

After the death of Li Qianlin's mother, Li Zongming had become broody and prone to silence. He set his mind to governing the realm, isolating himself from worldly affairs. He had been rather strict and old-fashioned with his daughter, which was how the wedding with the prince of the west had almost succeeded.

In Zhang Lie's past life, that wedding had caused a disaster, one that might easily have been prevented with proper communication.

"It's exactly why you need to talk with your father more."

Li Qianlin smiled weakly. "What's there to discuss?"

Zhang Lie thought for a moment. "Well, how about this? Even if you don't want to talk to him, you should still go visit. I'll hide your traces—I promise your father won't know."

"My father's the king of the realm!"

"Is that all that impressive? After all, I just killed one such king..."

Li Qianlin: ...

"I have a convenient soulshard for you." Zhang Lie pulled out a multifaceted soulshard, one that would hide Li Qianlin's traces. Its effects were much like the venombane scorpion soulshard Zhang Lie had once possessed, but its stealth ability was of such high quality that even a king of the realm wouldn't be able to detect it.

He had obtained it by killing the disaster-grade lifeforms that the king of the west controlled, then absorbing their disaster-grade cores. As a result, his stats had risen once more.

Zhang Lie: a disaster-grade lifeform

Techniques: Rippling Walk (pinnacle), Three-Wave Crescendo (pinnacle), Calm Waters (pinnacle), Fists of the Silent Sea (pinnacle), The Boundless Blade (pinnacle), Eclipse (pinnacle), Syzygy (advanced), ?Ninesoul Dragonblade (advanced), ...

Genes: Basic, 160; Mutated, 150; Superior, 150; Peak, 150; Disaster, 60

Soulshards: White Grub (superior), Blood Ant (superior), Potbellied Toad (mutated), Eternalspring Cocoon (superior), Dragonwolf (superior), Moonlight Wyrm (peak), Golden Roc (peak), Mistmeld Clam (disaster)

Zhang Lie was now at a grand total of sixty disaster gene fragments. This, combined with the strong foundations he had developed in previous realms, made him far stronger than even a king of the realm.

He easily tore apart space and transported Li Qianlin back to the world of the east, in search of her father.

After the disastrous wedding, the eastern king's palace had received no small amount of damage, all of which had since been fixed by the king himself. Zhang Lie didn't hide his aura; Li Zongming sensed him almost immediately as he arrived outside the palace.

Li Zongming teleported himself to the entrance to the palace immediately. The two men stared at each other without speaking, until Zhang Lie tossed Duan Zisuan's head and the proof of kingship of the western world to the ground.

Duan Zisuan's head had been wrapped up in a cloth bundle. After it hit the ground, it rolled toward Li Zongming. The cloth bundle unraveled, revealing the head neatly sliced in two.

Li Zongming was startled. He had some understanding of Zhang Lie's strength, having fought with him, and he wasn't surprised that Zhang Lie was able to defeat Duan Zisuan. However, he was deeply impressed by Zhang Lie's speed.

It hadn't even been a month since Zhang Lie proposed to invade the world of the west, and he had already succeeded in what Li Zongming expected to be a time-consuming endeavor.

His target had been the king of the western world, which was considered highly developed even among large worlds.

Given the amount of resources and skill such a king surely possessed, attempting to kill them would be a difficult and foolhardy endeavor.

As the king of the east, Li Zongming knew very well just how many life-saving talismans and tricks such kings possessed. Unless his life were to come to a natural end, or if he didn't want to be king any longer, no one would be able to kill him. If he wanted to hide, no one would be able to find him.

As a result, although it might be possible to defeat a king of the realm, it was far harder to kill one. Such a feat was only possible if Zhang Lie's strength completely overwhelmed the king of the west's; otherwise, the king of the west would have been able to take advantage of even the smallest opening to escape.

A king of the realm who was in hiding, who possessed near-limitless resources in his own world, could hardly be found by his enemies.

Li Zongming was confident that Zhang Lie had the strength to defeat a king, but to also kill that king was much more demanding a request.

To be frank, he had expected that Zhang Lie might take years, even decades, to accomplish such a goal—to defeat the king of the realm, build up his forces, and then finally ferret out the king and kill him once and for all.

Li Zongming was simultaneously shocked and frightened. The fact that Zhang Lie had been able to get rid of the king of the west within a month meant that he could do the same with Li Zongming himself.

He couldn't help asking, "Just how did you do it?"

Zhang Lie shrugged. "With brute force."

This was the worst answer Li Zongming could have received, as well as the one he least wanted to hear. However, it was the answer that Zhang Lie gave: that he had overcome the king of the west on the basis of brute force alone, something so ridiculous it bordered on impossibility.

Li Zongming wouldn't have believed this if not for the incontrovertible proof lying before him—Duan Zisuan's head, and the proof of kingship of the western world. Killing the king and taking the proof of kingship sounded like an easy task, but who could actually manage such an impossible feat?

𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Li Zongming sighed as he glanced at Duan Zisuan's head.

Duan Zisuan had been sometimes his rival and sometimes his partner. Li Zongming knew how devious and wily the man could be; who could have imagined that this would be his fate?

He had claimed, and Li Zongming had likewise believed, that no one would be able to kill him in the world that was his domain, but there was always someone stronger out there. Even a king of the realm wasn't truly invincible—who knew when you might provoke an existence far stronger than you and be wiped out?

Li Zongming didn't know how he should treat Zhang Lie. After a very long silence, he finally asked, "What are your plans with Qianlin?"

The marriage mark remained on Zhang Lie's forehead, and Li Zongming sighed in relief.

Evidently, he had no intention of annuling his marriage with Li Qianlin. Perhaps his vows were even serious—perhaps he really had done all this not just to receive the resources from the two large worlds.

Li Zongming had once believed that Zhang Lie was doing all this for profit, but after witnessing Zhang Lie's strength for himself, he changed his mind.

There was no need for Zhang Lie to adopt such tricks and techniques, after all. If he really wanted to, he could take over the world of the east by brute force alone, too...