Chapter 957: An Outlandish Bet

Li Zongming was very shocked. The king of keys' puppet-making ability alone was something that he wouldn't be able to learn without ten years of hard work, at least.

Because he had used the world's energy to make these puppets, the resulting puppets looked almost exactly like the kings of the realm that were participating in the challenge—the sunlight emitted by the solar king and the frost and ice surrounding the ice queen were captured perfectly.

"I'll be betting on my bones, of course." The decaying king pulled out an orb glowing with rainbow-colored energy.

Zhang Lie sensed what it contained—high-quality world's energy, the likes of which could have come from a peak large world. It was kneaded into an orb and sent forward by the decaying king, rolling to a halt by his puppet.

Li Zongming drooled. As expected of a superior world that had existed since antiquity—the wealth of riches the superior kings possessed were things he could only dream of. The Zongming world desperately lacked the world's energy, but these kings were so rich they could afford to gamble with it.

Was this the world of the rich? No other king had such energy to spare—they would have used it for their worlds or desperately hoarded it in case of emergency.

If he were to win this bet, he would be able to obtain fifty times its value...

"I'll bet on my suns, of course." The solar king rolled an equally large orb toward his puppet's feet.

"And I, my frost spirits." The ice queen retrieved half a large world's worth of energy and placed it beneath her puppet.

The solar king grumbled, "Queen of ice, when have you become so destitute? Are you unable to wager even a full world's worth of energy? Shall I help add to your wager, then? Or perhaps you're lacking confidence in your own forces? Is that it?"

The ice queen sniffed in displeasure as the air turned cold. "Ridiculous. My forces are your equal in every respect. This is but a game, and it's best if we take that into account."

The solar king waved a hand. The rays of light emitting from his body grew more intense as the temperature of the room returned to normal. "If you're scared, admit it. No one will laugh at you if you lose," the solar king teased.

"Scared? Who?" A blizzard spun into existence around the ice queen.

None of the other superior kings made a move. They watched the altercation silently. Each produced a barrier that shielded themselves from the blizzard.

Zhang Lie stood still, exuding genetic energy that served to block the blizzard from entering within a five-meter radius of himself and protecting the warlords behind him.

"It's true, isn't it? You're anxious about losing!" the solar king taunted.

The ice queen curtailed the blizzard around her. She was as cold as a block of ice. "Do you think this sort of provocation will be effective? If you want to play, I'll play with you."

"Do you dare?"

The ice queen produced another half a large world's worth of energy and placed it beneath her puppet.

"Thank you for your present, queen of ice." The solar king bowed, then added the same amount to his bet.

"Wait and see who wins first," the ice queen sniffed.

The king of evil placed the equivalent of a large world's energy by its puppet. The king of keys nodded. "The king of evil is betting on its own forces."

Even the mysterious king of black fog decided to participate, placing a large world's worth of energy by the decaying king's puppet.

The king of chaos retrieved a radiant, multi-colored crystal of energy, so bright it dazzled everyone present.

"A superior world's energy...!"

Even the other superior kings were shocked by the king of chaos's bet. It was only a half-portion, but its quality counted for far more than its quantity.

The king of keys praised, "As expected of the king of chaos!"

The kings all watched with bated breath, wondering on whom the strongest superior king would bet.

The king of chaos's actions shocked everyone present. He said, "I won't be participating in this bet—but I offer this energy to the victor as a reward."

The four superior kings' eyes lit up with greed.

The ice queen whispered to her frost spirits, "No matter how, you have to secure victory at any cost."

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

The solar king commanded his suns by mental transmission, "Win, win, win! Regardless of the price—and if you can't, use your trump card. Do you understand?"

The superior kings had enough world's energy to gamble relatively freely, but the king of chaos's prize had been a huge shock.

It was relatively easy for the superior kings to obtain world's energy—they just had to destroy a world within their domain. Every world possessed world's energy, but only superior worlds had a superior world's energy. This was a question of quality, and it was why the superior kings had tried their best to extort the energy of the Zongming world from its namesake.

A superior world's energy was precious beyond belief, and the only kings present who were rich enough to use it as a bet were the strongest king, the king of chaos, and the most ancient king, the king of keys.

The decaying king smiled. "I shall be the eventual victor, and this my prize."

The solar king smirked. He linked to his fifty suns that would be participating in the challenge and channeled his own power into them. They began glowing with blinding light.

The ice queen did the same, installing a seed of crystalline ice within each of her frost spirits.

"And you?" the decaying king turned and asked Li Zongming.

The solar king watched on expectantly. "Who do you intend to bet on? Surely you don't intend on betting on another king and losing the bet yourself? That would be far too boring."

Li Zongming turned to Zhang Lie, as though pleading for help.

Zhang Lie retrieved half a large world's worth of energy. "I'll bet on myself."

Li Zongming asked, "What should I do?"

Zhang Lie replied, "If you believe me, bet on me. Don't worry—I won't lose!"

"I'm not worried about that, I'm just worried about the other superior kings!"

Li Zongming was rather doubtful as to whether the other kings would honor the bet when they lost. He had never entertained the possibility that Zhang Lie would lose. He was absolutely confident in Zhang Lie's strength. The combined forces of four superior kings might have been a headache, but Zhang Lie had taken on the main xuluo army himself—and come out victorious. The four superior worlds' forces amounted to little more than a scouting party in comparison.

If Zhang Lie were able to take down the main xuluo forces by himself, then winning this challenge would be a piece of cake.

All the superior kings present thought that the Zongming world had won because of the strength the world possessed, but in reality, that battle was won by Zhang Lie alone...