Chapter 927: The Ninth Prince's Dire Straits

Zhang Lie shook his head. He told the Yeluo chieftain, "This isn't your fault."

"Thank you for your mercy, your majesty!"

Zhang Lie shook his head. "If you had improperly accounted for the potency of the vial or used inappropriate ingredients, I wouldn't have let you go so easily—but this potion contains elements beyond the purview of potionmaking, which can't be understood using the same framework."

The Yeluo chieftain was very surprised by what Zhang Lie said. He had brewed the potion himself; what extraordinary elements could Zhang Lie be talking about?

While Zhou Ying was absorbing the superior limit-breaking potion, Zhang Lie could clearly sense the power of heaven's might, the remnants of the energy that had been infused into the xuluo's very bones, which had added some variability to the effect of the potion.

Success and failure—both were governed by heaven's might. Without heaven's might, Zhou Ying wouldn't have been able to obtain limit fragments successfully.

But that wasn't quite right, either. It was more accurate to claim that Zhou Ying had successfully used her vitality as a conduit to absorb the power of heaven's might and use it to succeed in the absorption of limit fragments.

Heaven's might was a force much like natural law, and it was far more advanced and abstract an idea than spiritual herbs and ingredients. It was only natural that the Yeluo chieftain had been unable to take such a variable into account.

The draconian sage sighed, "Hey, now, don't ignore me! When are you going to answer my question?"

Zhang Lie and the Yeluo chieftain both turned toward the draconian sage. Zhang Lie apologized, "Sorry, Sage—we were too engrossed in our discussion."

The Yeluo chieftain added, "This is a new potion that his majesty had us research."

The draconian sage sighed again. "I don't know how you've been able to make so many discoveries, one after the other."

When Zhou Ying came to her senses, she smiled as she inspected her body. She had gained fifty peak limit fragments, just like that.

"How do you feel?" Zhang Lie asked.

"Remarkably good, just like when I consumed Potion #3—no, I feel even better than that! My combat strength has increased by leaps and bounds, maybe even by an order of magnitude. It's just that—"

Zhang Lie frowned. "Are there any issues?"

Zhou Ying continued hesitantly, "Why am I seeing these strange golden and black threads?"

"If I'm not mistaken, that should be the power of heaven's might. The golden threads represent positive karma, and the black threads negative karma. If you hone your senses, you may be able to control these karmic threads."

Zhou Ying frowned. "Karma? It sounds fantastical..."

"Such is the nature of natural law. At its extremes, everything looks that way—isn't quantum mechanics just like that?"

Zhou Ying nodded. She wasn't very familiar with quantum mechanics, but she had heard of it and learned a little of it, and it was as abstruse as Zhang Lie claimed.

The Yeluo chieftain continued, "Although it might be possible to absorb the entire potion by drinking it in portions, as a safety precaution, I intend on adjusting the recipe to ameliorate its devastating potency.

Although Zhang Lie was able to extract and expel the power of heaven's might from the xuluo bones, he didn't intend to do so.

The fact that hunters would be able to encounter and sense the power of heaven's might was undoubtedly a boon. Just because Zhang Lie himself wasn't interested in heaven's might didn't mean that the members of Team Zenith, or even the rest of humanity at large, would be the same.

𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Although Zhang Lie had learned from the xuluo king himself that heaven's might was a double-edged sword, it was a power of unbelievable potency. It was only one manifestation of karmic power, just like Zhang Lie's time-based attack was different from the one that Fang Yi had intuited.

In the xuluo king's hands, the karmic power had manifested as heaven's might; in his son's hands, it had manifested as the ability to penetrate one and all.

Zhang Lie didn't think much of heaven's might, but given the talents that the members of Team Zenith possessed, he was certain that they would be able to come up with their own unique manifestations of the power.

The double-edged nature of heaven's might could have been a deterrent for some, but Zhang Lie didn't feel that this was a big problem. He didn't intend on spreading the power widely, and only a rare few people would be able to access Potion #4.

Even then, only a fraction of those who consumed Potion #4 would be able to obtain a karmic power. Unlike the xuluo, not every human would have access to such power, and no calamity would doom the race.

With only a few members of humanity having this power, Zhang Lie would be able to nullify or otherwise deal with its negative side effects.

Regardless, the conclusion was that Potion #4 had an even better effect than expected, and Zhang Lie was very pleased with the Yeluo chieftain's efforts.

He retrieved a few more bones from his storage-type soulshard.

Upon sensing the power imbued in the bones, the Yeluo chieftain's face grew alarmed. "This strength—these bones are stronger than the previous batch you gave me!"

"These bones came from the four great xuluo lords. Chieftain, please help me concoct a few more vials of Potion #4 using these bones."

The Yeluo chieftain was visibly hesitant. "Your majesty, I'm afraid that the potions made with these bones will be even more potent than the sample vial we just tested..."

Zhang Lie shook his head. "It's not a problem. Brew the potions—I'm confident you'll be able to lower the potency, and I believe in the members of Team Zenith."

The Yeluo chieftain sighed. "If you insist, your majesty. I'll do my best, but I can't guarantee that it will work out."

After leaving the Yeluo chieftain with this task, Zhang Lie set off on his multicolored dragon.

Back in the world of the scalemen, the ninth prince, who had become king, was rather frustrated.

Zhang Lie had left over two years ago. After becoming king, the ninth prince had worked hard to maintain law and order, and the world seemed to be improving day by day. He had re-established connections with neighboring worlds, and even invaded and conquered some to expand his reach.

The ninth prince had never forgotten the lessons that Zhang Lie had taught him, and the world of the scalemen benefited as a result.

The new king didn't know whether he could be a ruler that his descendants would sing the praise of, but he was committed to being a wise and virtuous ruler, one who lived up to his master's reputation.

Even so, this king was now beset by a huge dilemma, one that could spell the death of the world: it was being invaded by hostile forces.

Wars between worlds was a common phenomenon, but the problem lay with the scaleman world's enemy—a mysterious foe whose units were wrapped up all over in black cloth, without any trace of life. No one understood how they were animated, and they had no weaknesses to speak of. They came forth in immense numbers, in what seemed like a neverending flood.

Those of the draconian world would recognize them instantly—the black spirits.

The appearance of the black spirits broke the peaceful atmosphere of the scaleman world.

The black spirits had suddenly swept through all the worlds around them before ending up at the scaleman world. Unable to handle the blitzkrieg assault, the new king of the realm panicked as the black spirits took over half the world.

The scaleman world had just managed to recover from the debacle with the Jinghun clan—and now, it seemed that they would be subject to yet another calamity. The new king had no choice but to enter the battlefield himself, but even so, the tide of black spirits seemed interminable...