Chapter 959: The Kings' Dismay

Feitian was a superior king of antiquity as well, and the fact that a newly evolved superior world could deal with him suggested that there was some backer behind its growth.

Now, that riddle had been unraveled. Within this new superior world were multiple existences with the level of a superior king.

"[The Boundless Blade: Yawning Wave]!" Zhang Lie extended his pointer finger like a sword, and water-attuned genetic energy gathered around it. As he waved his finger, sword energy erupted like a wave, accompanied by a giant shark.

The beam of sword energy shot across space and tore apart the forces that the king of evil had manifested from its body. The energy exploded into tens of thousands of tons of pressure, tearing apart the gruesome, malformed masses that were the king of evil's forces. They burst apart and morphed into gray fluid, which reconstituted into formless bodies.

Pale blue sharks swam over, opened their bloody maws, and chomped down on the king of evil's forces. Zhang Lie's genetic energy digested the gray fluid, leaving nothing behind.

None of the superior kings expected Zhang Lie to be so strong.

"[Ninecarp Transformation]!" A black serpent materialized behind Zhang Lie, by now so large and so developed that it resembled the world-swallowing serpent Jormungandr. It let out a threatening hiss as its scales clicked together.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Fade]!" Zhang Lie punched forward, and the black serpent shot forth.

He had no intention of approaching these malformed creatures himself.

The king of evil was the king of the unclean world. In his past life, while fighting against the death spirits, Zhang Lie had seen such disgusting creatures—but in far greater numbers than now. Interspersed among them were quite a few giant kidney-like organisms.

As the king of the unclean world, the king of evil's forces harbored viruses, poisons, and toxins. Once one of the kidney-like organisms died, all who were struck by its gray fluid or attacks would be afflicted by a lethal virus, which would cause them to die a horrible death. Their bodies would fill up with pustules and then slowly decompose, turning them into vile gray matter.

As a result, only a small number of forces were battling against the king of evil's troops.

Zhang Lie's strength was enough to confer him immunity to those viruses, but he was disgusted enough by them to not want to fight them close-up. After all, he would easily be able to deal with them with his constructs of genetic energy—there was no need for him to get his hands dirty.

By then, the ice queen and solar king had come to their senses. Their faces flashed with anger—they had underestimated Zhang Lie.

Neither the ice queen nor the solar king expected that Li Zongming would be so malicious as to hide a unit as strong as a superior king within his forces participating in the challenge. Nor could they have suspected that Li Zongming possessed such a strong subordinate as well.

The two kings frowned at Zhang Lie. Within a short period of time, he had dealt with the decaying king and the king of evil's forces, and it was no time for their forces to be clashing against each other. If they continued to look down on Zhang Lie and the warlords, they wouldn't be able to gain any world's energy—no, they'd even lose part of their large stockpile.

Upon thinking back to the specifics of the bet, the ice queen and solar king turned pale. Li Zongming's victory was at fifty-to-one odds. He had bet half a superior world's energy, and his claim would be 25 superior worlds' worth of energy.

The ice queen and frost king sucked in a deep breath. They had no way of acquiring that much world's energy… They glared at Zhang Lie, and then looked toward Li Zongming simultaneously.

The solar king gnashed his teeth. "You tricked us!"

Had Li Zongming been putting on a show to accentuate the other kings' disdain for him? The gathered kings felt as though their intelligence had all been insulted.

The solar king roared, "You dare trick us?!"

Li Zongming shrugged and spread his arms. "Solar king, I don't understand what you're saying. You were the ones who proposed this challenge, and you were the ones who proposed this bet. They were foisted on me."

The solar king gave him a thumbs up. "Very well. Very well! I suppose you must have some strength of your own if you managed to defeat Feitian, but don't think you'll be able to win so easily just because you snuck such a strong subordinate into your forces."

The decaying king shouted, "What nonsense are all of you spouting? Focus on the challenge—if we lose, we're all done for!"

None of the kings could afford to pay out fifty-to-one odds.

On the battlefield, the serpent swallowed up and dissolved the king of evil's forces within moments.

"You guys can't lose!" The king of evil's forces had been vanquished; all he could do now was support the other kings.

The ice queen shouted, "Ignore those balls of light! Go deal with the Zongming world's forces first!"

The solar king likewise shouted, "Get rid of those aliens before focusing on the spirits!"

Even without the bet, their reputations wouldn't allow them to lose to a superior king many times their junior.

The fifty suns of the solar king's forces shone with blinding light as they conjured a solar storm.

The ice spirits let out a shrill screech, simultaneously summoning a howling blizzard. Their cries struck at their enemies' very souls. As the solar storm and howling blizzard spread across the battlefield and clashed with each other… they canceled themselves out.

The solar king roared, "What are you doing? You're hindering my forces even now?"

The ice queen stood up in rage. "I should be asking you that. Are you in cahoots with the Zongming king? Are you?"

The solar king roared back, "Me? If anyone's the traitor, it's you!"

The two superior kings began arguing at this critical moment...

Li Zongming: ...

The king of chaos: ...

The king of black fog: ...

The king of keys: ...

The king of evil: ...

In the end, it was the decaying king who clutched his head and yelled out, "Focus on your common enemy— or do you not care about losing?!"

The combination of solar storm and blizzard gave rise to huge quantities of fog and steam, which covered up half the world.

The kings could barely make out a human figure transforming into a wolfman behind layers of steam and fog. Bestial eyes emerged through the fog, and blood-red claws rent the fog apart.

Blood-red fur, four limbs covered in dragon's scales—Zhang Lie's aura strengthened once again. A blood whirlwind manifested around him, dispersing the fog. Zhang Lie had activated his soulshards and transformed into a russet dragonwolf.

The solar king's eyes widened. "This fellow—he can grow even stronger?"