Chapter 872: Collateral

Zhang Lie took over. "The other superior worlds treat this realm like a farm, but the death spirits treat it like a quarry—with a one-time supply of resources to be harvested."

The envoy was quite surprised. "Very few large worlds know of the death spirits, and it seems like you all know quite a lot beyond that, too."

Zhang Lie shrugged. "We're a superior world now, after all. Isn't it natural that we would have more information?"

Li Qianlin motioned at Zhang Lie. "Zhang Lie, how about we explain everything we know about the death spirits so that the envoy can correct us on our understanding?"

From Li Qianlin's glance, Zhang Lie understood that this exercise was for the benefit of the stupefied Li Zongming instead.

Zhang Lie began, "It's not anything extraordinary. The death spirits have continuously invaded the three thousand worlds unlike the other superior worlds, which only target newly evolved superior worlds' cores."

Zhang Lie knew quite a bit of information about the king of the death spirits, but the knowledge was hardly unique to him.

The superior worlds surely knew more; they had had to fend off the death spirits' incursions countless times over the last few millennia.

"The death spirits are in so much need of power that they strike at every world they come across, small or medium-sized or large. They devour the will of whatever world they invade, and they're the largest tumor among the three thousand worlds. I'll add that the other eight tumors of the three thousand worlds are you all—the remaining superior worlds."

Li Qianlin began, "The king of the death spirits is very ambitious. He's hoping to devour all the worlds of this realm, take over the realm, swallow up the will of the world, then do the same for all realms below and above this one."

The envoy clapped. "Except for your misunderstanding about the rest of us superior worlds, everything is correct! I hadn't expected all of you to understand so much about the death spirits. This makes things much easier."

Li Zongming finally spoke up. "Are the conditions for joining related to the death spirits, then?"

The envoy nodded. "Precisely. Since all of you know about what the king of the death spirits is planning, it goes without saying that, if no one stops him, that horrifying existence will swallow up the entire realm. Protecting the three thousand worlds has been the mission and mandate of all the superior worlds."

"You want us to wage war against the death spirits?" Li Zongming seemed somewhat perplexed.

The envoy didn't answer him directly. "The war between the superior worlds and the death spirits had persisted for millennia. When we realized we didn't have the resources to annihilate the death spirits once and for all, we decided to lay siege to them instead."

Zhang Lie laughed coldly. "Do you not have the resources, or are you just unwilling to commit them?"

The envoy glanced at him. "I know you're a strong warrior, but don't look down on the king of the death spirits. You'll suffer tremendous losses that way. To be able to survive the combined bombardment of the other nine superior worlds—the king of the death spirits is truly a frightening foe."

Zhang Lie's mocking smile widened. He knew the truth behind the envoy's words, but he didn't expose the envoy outright.

"Because of the protracted nature of the battle, the superior kings decided that the superior worlds would lay siege to the death spirits on a rotating basis for a century each, preventing them from expanding."

"But you didn't succeed, did you?" Zhang Lie interjected again.

The envoy grew visibly displeased. "Warrior, I hope you'll respect the superior kings. If not for their hard work, this realm wouldn't be at peace! Your world might have fallen to the death spirits without even getting the opportunity to evolve."

The envoy didn't mind others talking poorly about the superior worlds themselves, but not the superior kings. After all, he served one such king himself.

Zhang Lie didn't know whether or not the envoy was truly ignorant—or pretending to be ignorant—of the superior worlds' attitude toward the death spirits. He didn't want to drag out this pointless argument, so he just ignored the envoy.

Li Zongming broke the silence. He clarified, "Do you intend for us to join this siege?"

"Protecting this realm is the responsibility of all superior worlds. Now that the Zongming world is a superior world, it bears this responsibility as well. After all, we can hardly let the death spirits get their hands on the far weaker large and medium-sized worlds."

"But this world has just evolved!" Li Zongming protested.

The envoy shrugged. "The xuluo world's slot in the rotation is in a hundred years. Now that it's been destroyed, another world has to take over."

Li Zongming argued, "It's not that we're unwilling to take on this responsibility, but there's no way we can do a good job given our lack of resources."

The envoy sighed. "This isn't a problem I can help you with, but don't worry—you'll have a century to prepare."

Li Zongming frowned. "You expect our world to develop enough to take on the death spirits in just a century?"

The death spirits were so strong that even the nine other superior worlds working together couldn't take them down!

The envoy smiled. "The superior kings are understanding of your plight, and they're willing to loan you resources and manpower."

"Really? That's great!"

Unlike Li Zongming, who seemed relieved, Zhang Lie's face immediately darkened.

.

As far as he knew, the superior kings were all tyrannical and malicious. There was simply no incentive for them to help out a world that would encroach on their finite resources like the Zongming world.

The envoy nodded. "The superior kings are indeed very generous. They don't want to see the siege against the death spirits fail, either."

The envoy clearly didn't think much of Li Zongming; there was a clear gulf between how he thought of the other superior kings and Li Zongming himself.

The envoy continued, "However, our forces don't simply come out of thin air. They needed a large reserve of resources and time to train, and they're our strongest elites. If they die to the death spirits, the kings will be quite upset."

Li Zongming immediately reassured him, "I'll make sure these forces don't die for nothing."

The envoy shook his head. "King of the Zongming world, I'm afraid you don't understand my point. These forces are valuable to us, so you'll have to rent them out—and pay a collateral in case of their demise!"