Chapter 824: In Search for the Proof

Indeed, the mammoths had lost in battle, and they had hardly any bargaining chips to their name.

The golden mammoth sighed. "As the herdleader, I can provisionally agree to your terms, but the ramifications of this agreement are extensive. I'll have to discuss this more with the entire herd before I can accept them in full."

Zhang Lie nodded. "That's acceptable. You must be tired—Sun Xiaowu, will you arrange some accommodations for our guest?"

Sun Xiaowu led the golden mammoth off. Sun Mengmeng stayed behind and asked, "Giving the mammoths a plot of land—"

Zhang Lie nodded. "It's not a problem. Once the eight worlds are merged into one, the draconians' medium-size world will become a large one, and there'll be plenty of space for the mammoths. One plot of land isn't much—the bearmen have a forest by their territory that we can have the mammoths move into."

The mammoths' phalanx formation boasted incredible defense. In Zhang Lie's past life, that defense had yielded astonishing results against the death spirits. Trading a largely worthless plot of land for the cooperation of the mammoths only had upsides, no downsides.

By the time Li Feng finished his bath, the golden mammoth and Zhang Lie had finished their negotiations.

"I apologize for troubling you, Captain."

Zhang Lie shook his head. "None of that. If you hadn't brought a representative with you, I would likely have sent one there myself. After all, the mammoths are strong and sturdy, and their prized froststeel ore is a very valuable commodity. For the moment, their thick hides and hearty constitution make them the best possible race for mining it."

Once the worlds merged, however, their frozen lands would become less cold, and other species would be able to mine the ore as well.

"Right, I also have this." Li Feng brought out the furnace in his extra-dimensional storage—the mammoths' proof of kingship. Everyone seemed surprised.

"This has to be the most unique proof of kingship I've seen..." Yang Ze murmured.

Zhang Lie asked, "How did you feel about this trial?"

Li Feng contemplated the question. "It was interesting. The king of the realm was surprisingly strong, and I did manage to improve my own abilities in battle."

"Good, very good."

Fang Yi clutched his face. "In the end, I was the only unlucky one..."

Yang Ze patted him on the shoulder. "Don't give up yet, Fang Yi. Zhou Ying still isn't back yet!"

Just as Zhou Ying's name was brought back, she finally returned.

Sun Mengmeng strode up to her and welcomed her. "You're back!"

Zhou Ying nodded. "I'm back. I killed the king of the realm, but I haven't been able to find the proof of kingship."

Yang Ze exclaimed, "So that's what took you so long! But our captain mentioned that killing the king of the realm was the primary objective, and it wasn't necessary to bring back the proof of kingship, didn't he?"

Zhou Ying smiled wryly. "I wanted to accomplish the trial as perfectly as possible—it's not every day we get a mission from our captain, after all. How did you all do?"

Yang Ze shrugged. "We killed the kings and brought back the proofs of kingship."

Zhou Ying glanced at everyone in the room. "All of you?"

The members of Team Zenith nodded.

Zhou Ying immediately got up. "In that case, I had better go have another look. I'm sure I can find the proof of kingship!"

Sun Mengmeng hurriedly held her back with a chuckle. "There's no need, no need! We simply got lucky, that's all."

Zhang Lie nodded. "There's no need to head back now. I'll assign some people to search for that proof of kingship later."

"Very well." Zhou Ying sighed and sat down.

"What did you think of the trial?"

Zhou Ying scrunched up her face. "It was disgusting, vile and disgusting from every perspective! That primordial demon was harder to kill than a cockroach and far more disgusting besides."

This was an unusual remark, especially for someone as composed as Zhou Ying tended to be. The members of Team Zenith looked on with interest. "Just what sort of king of the realm did you encounter?"

Zhou Ying described her experience, causing all the members of Team Zenith to gasp and frown.

Li Feng commented, "A viral king of the realm sounds absolutely horrible."

Sun Xiaowu nodded. "Even after its death, it'll spread to other hosts and continue living on—truly disgusting."

Yang Ze added, "And it can even self-destruct!"

Sun Mengmeng folded her arms. "Captain, how could you let someone like Zhou Ying deal with something so vile?"

Zhang Lie shrugged. "You chose the enemies you were going to face by lottery. I'm hardly responsible!"

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

With all the members of Team Zenith gathered, everyone began to chat and joke with each other.

Fang Yi led the conversation. "Zhou Ying, did you know that Li Feng came back with the enemy prince?"

Zhou Ying's eyes widened. "Oh, has Li Feng finally found a male companion? I thought that might be likely!"

Li Feng gaped. "Hold it, hold it! I brought back the new herdleader of the mammoths. She's not a prince, and I'm not interested in the same sex!"

Zhou Ying twisted her head. "Isn't it just a matter of time?"

Sun Xiaowu changed the topic. "Zhou Ying, Li Feng, do you know what happened to Fang Yi during his trial?"

The members of Team Zenith had all successfully finished their trials, and the two teams of warlords who had been dispatched to take down the other two kings of the realm had likewise returned.

The warlords were all elites among the races of the Milky way, and while it would still be difficult for one or two of them to deal with the king of the realm of a medium-sized world, dozens of them working together would easily be able to succeed. Not only that, they even retrieved the proofs of kingship as well.

Zhang Lie brought a number of warlords with him toward the giant demons' world, only to be stupefied when he found a verdant forest waiting for him at the other end of the wormhole.

He was very surprised by what had happened, but before he could ask, Zhou Ying hastily explained, "I reforested the entire world during my quest to subjugate the primordial demon."

"Even so, were you still unable to find the proof of kingship?"

Although he didn't know how precisely Zhou Ying could view the world through her greenery, she had transformed the entire world into a forest, and even searched through the world for quite some time. He couldn't imagine that she would be unable to find the proof of kingship after such a thorough search.

Could the king have transported it out of the world? Surely there was no king of the realm so foolish...

"Did you ever see the primordial demon use the authority of the king?"

Zhou Ying nodded. "I saw the primordial demon try to teleport away before I killed it."

"If it were able to make use of the world's authority, then the proof of kingship has to be in the world..."

The proof of kingship could be removed from the world, but that would strip the kings of the realm of their powers. In other words, the fact that this king could still use those powers meant that the proof of kingship hadn't been removed.

Zhang Lie asked, "Where have you looked?"

Zhou Ying replied, "Everywhere I could think of. The surface of the world, certainly, and even the poisonous sea that the king created and hid in..."

"If there are any places you've missed, that's where the proof of kingship is most likely to be hidden." Suddenly, Zhang Lie had a flash of inspiration. "Did you search in the world's core?"