Chapter 825: Back to the Milky Way

"No," Zhou Ying replied. "My vines can't reach the world's core."

"In other words, it's very likely that the proof of kingship is hidden there," Zhang Lie surmised. "Everyone, we'll dig deep toward the world's core until we find that proof of kingship!"

"Yes, Zhang Lie!" the warlords shouted, beginning to dig straight away.

Meanwhile, Zhang Lie walked toward the poisonous sea and rubbed his jaw. He believed that the most likely place the proof of kingship could be was deep below the sea.

As he clenched his fists, blue genetic energy gathered and rippled around his arms. He flicked his wrists, causing a frightening aura to descend on the world. The skies began to darken, and a fish the size of a whale materialized in the air.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Soar]!" Ripples of energy spread out from Zhang Lie, warping the space around him and roared through the skies like galloping steeds, like a rampaging sea.

A huge wave soared into the air. As Zhang Lie punched forward, the fish slammed its huge tail on the ground and sent a torrent of water surging into the poisonous sea.

The poison splashed all over. Spatial fluctuations caused the poison to break down in the air, and it fell to the ground like heavy rain.

None of those currently present on the world were weak, and they all activated their own defenses before the poison reached them. Zhou Ying stood still, thick vines erupting from underneath her legs and wrapping around her body tightly.

After the rain of poison stopped, the forest around them had melted. All the leaves had dissolved and fallen to the ground, leaving only pitch-black bark behind, along with muddy ground that was starting to give off a fetid stench.

Everyone present had been able to deal with the poison in their own way. Zhou Ying walked forward, only to see that the sea of poison had become a huge pit, the mud within having been excavated by Zhang Lie's punch.

A green barrier of energy enclosed her as she transformed. Her hair turned the color of jade, floating in the windless air. She was so beautiful no one could take their eyes away, and she seemed to have become one with nature. Motes of vitality sprung into existence around her like fireflies.

"[Avatar of the Fae: Worldbound Enclosure]!" Natural energy poured out of her, causing a mass of green dots to emerge from the ground, like sprouting seeds. The ground quaked. Moments later, burgeoning roots emerged from the soil and transformed into huge dragons of wood, which dove deep into the pit.

Zhang Lie asked, "Do you think you'll be able to find the proof of kingship?"

Zhou Ying shook her head. "I can't be certain."

No one present knew precisely where the king of the realm had hidden the proof of kingship, nor how deep it was.

Zhou Ying frowned. "The primordial demon truly is disgusting. Not only was he difficult to kill, he's even leaving us with this mess after his death."

Zhang Lie nodded.

Other worlds still had inhabitants who could be interrogated for information after the king of the realm was killed, but the primordial demon king was the last remaining inhabitant of its world—all the other inhabitants had to be killed before it could die, and there were no clues to go off of.

Trying to find the proof of kingship under such conditions was akin to searching for a needle in a haystack. The only solution was brute force, with as much manpower as they could bring to bear.

Zhang Lie finally understood why Zhou Ying had had so much difficulty trying to find the proof of kingship. The hidden proof wasn't something a single person alone could find.

Zhou Ying began, "While hunting for the proof, I wondered whether there might have been some other inhabitants besides the demons. The primordial demon might have arisen from a mutation that subsequently infected all the other inhabitants of the world."

"It's possible," Zhang Lie replied, "but we won't be able to find anyone to confirm or deny that hypothesis anymore."

Even though Zhou Ying's root dragons dug deep into the ground and searched systematically for the proof of kingship, they were unable to find anything.

"As expected of that disgusting, vile virus—it won't let us succeed so easily!"

Since it wasn't buried deep within the sea of poison, the primordial demon had to have been prepared for such an event and hidden the proof of kingship long in advance, in a location near-impossible for anyone else to discover.

Zhang Lie sighed. "The primordial demon was prepared to waste our time from the very beginning."

As Zhou Ying unleashed her energy, waves of vitality poured out from her and into the forest, rippling through the trees. All the leaves began to rustle as the trees uprooted themselves from the ground, their thick branches twisting into gigantic arms. The trees emerged as treemen, all of whom began to dig into the ground in search for the proof of kingship.

In the end, thanks to the many treemen that Zhou Ying animated, along with the warlords who had skilled perception abilities, the proof of kingship was finally uncovered after a long, exhausting struggle.

It was hidden nowhere special, buried in a plot of unmarked, perfectly ordinary land. Not only that, the primordial demon had made the proof of kingship a tiny grain smaller than a pea. If not for the aura it gave off, as well as the warlords' sharp senses, they would easily have overlooked it.

Finally, they returned to the draconian world, where Zhang Lie assembled all eight proofs of kingship in front of the draconian sage.

The draconian sage peered at the items. "You've really managed to obtain all eight proofs of kingship—but why place them in front of me?"

Calm though the sage looked, he was unbelievably shocked. Although he knew that Zhang Lie and the others were very strong, he hadn't expected that they would be able to acquire all eight proofs of kingship at all—and hardly so quickly. Kings of the realm could be defeated with great difficulty, but killing them was exponentially harder. It required absolute, overwhelming power.

The draconian sage even knew that the hunters who had accomplished this task wasn't the man in front of him, but rather his subordinates. For the humans to have become so strong all of a sudden was something that the draconian sage was still unaccustomed to.

Zhang Lie explained, "I hope that you'll combine all these worlds with yours."

"Very well!"

Zhang Lie seemed rather taken aback by the draconian sage's easy acceptance. "Aren't you going to ask why?"

The draconian sage replied calmly, "I'm sure you have your own reasons. It only matters to me whether or not your requests are beneficial to the draconians."

"Thank you, then."

The moment Zhang Lie walked out of the draconian sage's residence, Sun Mengmeng ran up to him. "Right, Captain, when are you going to head back to Earth? Hanxiang's very worried about you."

Zhang Lie's eyes widened. "Ah, I've forgotten entirely!"

He had asked the Jinghun to relay news about him back to his friends and family on Earth a long while ago, but he had forgotten to follow up after that because of the whole string of events that ensued afterwards.

Zhang Lie hurriedly ran to the teleportation apparatus and back to Earth.

At the same time, Li Qianlin suddenly received a message from the king of the east.

Li Qianlin was still able to maintain communication with the king of the east through special means, and she gasped upon reading the contents of the message. "The worlds of east and west are going to combine..."

Over a year had passed in the third realm, but only two months back on Earth. When Zhang Lie returned to the Zenith Dojo, he found it largely unchanged.

Upon seeing Zhang Lie's return, Zhang Hong sighed in relief. "Dojo leader, you're finally back! When you vanished after ascending to the third realm, we were all shocked to death. If not for the fact that this had already happened once before when you ascended to the second realm, we would all be on a manhunt for you!"

Zhang Lie winced. "Did anything happen to the dojo during the two months in which I was gone?"