Chapter 928: Reappearance of the Black Spirits

The black spirits had fielded a fighter as strong as the king of a large world. Countless strips of black cloth filled the air like giant serpents, twisting together into a construct twenty meters tall.

Although the new king was a king of a large world, he was unfamiliar and unpracticed with combat. The black bandages that danced in the air blocked all his attacks even as they laid waste to his soldiers.

The new king grew wounded almost immediately. Just as he thought he would die, a fish the size of a whale materialized in the sky.

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 toward the black spirit.

Ripples of energy spread out from Zhang Lie, warping the space around him. The towering waves looked like enraged black dragons, and they swamped the battlefield.

Upon seeing the flood of genetic energy, the new king's eyes widened with disbelief. He was familiar with this genetic energy, intimately so—he had seen it destroy the walls of his empire.

The memory flashed before him, as though he were experiencing it anew.

𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Just as he and the crown prince thought themselves trapped in a dead end, despair drowning them from all directions, that figure had made an appearance.

Ripples of air formed around Zhang Lie's arm, growing more and more intense as Zhang Lie combined spatial force with his water-attuned genetic energy, sucking in the nearby space like it was nothing more than papier mache.

Howling gales formed in the air, causing a flood that arced through the air and swamped the entire capital like a giant tsunami.

When the guards on the city walls saw what was happening, their faces turned alarmed. "An enemy attack!"

The flood of water crashed against the tall, sturdy walls of the capital and broke a gigantic gap through it.

The crown and ninth princes stood still at that moment.

The entire capital shook. The water-attuned genetic energy exploded through the air, forming a hurricane of water and sending pulses of energy that covered the entire capital. It seemed almost as if a disaster-grade lifeform had gone on a rampage within the capital, summoning wind and rain so strong that some of the guards were blown straight off the walls.

The storm swallowed up all the infrastructure and buildings close to the city walls, turning them into a pile of ruin and rubble.

As the hurricane revolved, the buildings nearest the palace were uprooted and sent flying. Pillars of shattered stone and balconies of wood whipped through the air, and even the palace infrastructure became unstable.

The crown and ninth princes watched the aftermath of the attack in shock. It seemed as though the figure towered over all walls, despite the walls being far larger than he was.

The pale-blue energy that had reappeared in the new king's sight, different though it had become in the meantime, was immediately recognizable. That one punch had dispelled the danger that the scaleman world faced, the danger that the ninth prince himself was in.

If Zhang Lie hadn't broken down the city walls, the Jinghun would have claimed the scaleman world for themselves. What Zhang Lie's fist had broken wasn't just the walls to the city, but also the dark clouds that threatened to overwhelm the scaleman world—the power of fate. Everything that had followed, including the ninth prince's ascension to the throne, had come as a result of that punch.

Now, when the scaleman world was once again in crisis, Zhang Lie used the same attack against its enemies.

The flood of genetic energy smashed into the giant formed from black cloth. Shockwaves surged forth from Zhang Lie, swallowing up the giant and ripping it to pieces. The storm then sucked up all the black spirits nearby, sweeping through them and decimating their number.

"Ninth prince, how did you end up in such a sorry state?" A familiar voice rang out by the ninth prince's ear. He raised his head and looked toward the sky, where a familiar and imposing figure had once again appeared in sight. The ninth prince's eyes welled with tears.

It had only been two years since they had last seen each other, but it felt like an eternity.

To the new king, that familiar figure was more worthy of respect than even his father. He was a master to the king, but one to whom the new king felt more kinship than even his father.

A torrent of emotions welled out of him and crystallized into a single word. "Master!"

The new king, who hadn't cried despite the doubts and suspicions of his officials and people against his rule, despite the appearance of the black spirits, despite the overwhelming odds and despair he faced—he cried now, bawling like a child, because his master had returned. No longer did he need to suffer needlessly, to pretend that he was invincible, because now he had a backer.

That which could pierce a man's heart wasn't a blade or bullet, but a kind word and a gentle gaze. Zhang Lie dropped down by the new king's side and patted him on the shoulder.

"Ah, you. You've become the king of the realm—it's past time to stop crying."

The king smiled like a child. "In front of you, Master, I'll always be a kid."

It felt as though he had returned to the day two years past, when the man in front of him had saved him from haplessness.

Zhang Lie commented, "You don't seem to be doing too well over here..."

The new king sighed. "These invaders are far too difficult to deal with. After they entered our world, they've been slowly eroding our control over the land. I learned from a few refugees that these invaders are known as the black spirits. Allegedly, they've invaded quite a few nearby worlds."

Zhang Lie frowned. Things weren't progressing as he remembered.

To his knowledge, the sudden invasion of the black spirits was something that should have occurred years down the line. Was the fact that their invasion had moved forward a result of the butterfly effect he had caused?

Zhang Lie had no other explanation for the phenomenon.

The new king was paying close attention to Zhang Lie's expression.

"Master, are you aware of the origin of these invaders?"

Zhang Lie nodded. "More or less. As you know, they're known as black spirits. In some sense, these spirits aren't living creatures—they might as well be mindless spirits of death, like zombies."