Chapter 1196: Crisis of the Realm
Her father was here; her homeland was here. Upon hearing that a calamity was about to terrorize the realm, Li Qianlin almost collapsed in panic.
Zhang Lie comforted her. "Qianlin, calm down. I don\'t intend on leaving you behind. The third realm is important to all you indigenous peoples, and it\'s equally important to us. Unless it\'s absolutely necessary, we won\'t give up."
Sun Mengmeng continued, "Even so, these layers of space are collapsing at a terrifying pace. Captain, considering how long the evacuation will take, I think we should give that order sooner rather than later."
Zhang Lie shook his head. "The situation isn\'t quite so hopeless yet. I think there\'s still a possibility that we can save the realm."
"How?"
Li Qianlin and the others looked toward Zhang Lie with rekindled hope.
Yang Ze frowned. "If you and I can\'t do anything about it, Captain, I don\'t think there\'s anyone in the third realm who can."
Zhang Lie smiled. "No person, perhaps, but what if it weren\'t a person?"
Yang Ze seemed shocked. "You mean... the will of the third realm itself?"
Zhang Lie nodded. "We can\'t do so, but the will of the third realm can."
Yang Ze thought about the ramifications carefully before concluding that Zhang Lie\'s suggestion was sound.
"The will of the third realm doesn\'t have that ability at the moment."
Zhang Lie nodded. "Because it\'s fragmented. As long as we restore it to its original form, it would have the ability to proceed."
Yang Ze\'s eyes shone. "Unifying the third realm!
As long as we can unify the third realm, it\'ll be saved."
Li Qianlin frowned. "How do you plan on unifying it?"
Zhang Lie tried to avoid any problematic language. "I\'ll recombine the three thousand worlds into a single entity."
Li Qianlin seemed a little confused. "Recombining the three thousand worlds? How will that save us all?"
Zhang Lie explained, "The three thousand worlds were formed by the fragmentation of a single primordial world, according to the king of chaos. However, as a result of some accident or another, the world shattered into the three thousand pieces we know."
Zhang Lie had already resolved to unify the three thousand worlds, and now he had to speed up the timeline for doing so.
Li Qianlin frowned. "Will Father and the other kings be willing to give up their authority?"
Zhang Lie smiled. "Don\'t underestimate your father. He and the other two newly ascended superior kings are intelligent men, and they\'ll realize that this is the only possible plan.
Li Qianlin didn\'t want her father and Zhang Lie to oppose each other.
Yang Ze invoked spatial authority once more to send everyone back to the base layer of the third realm.
Now that the third realm was collapsing bit by bit, there was no time to waste. The members of Team Zenith sought out the draconian sage immediately.
The draconian sage wasn\'t hiding his aura, so it was trivially easy for them to identify his location.
The draconian sage cocked his head. "What are all of you doing here? I\'m a little worried that there\'s a disaster on its way..."
As far as the draconian sage knew, there was no one who could oppose Zhang Lie within the third realm, so there shouldn\'t have been any need for them all to call on him together.
"I want to unify the three thousand worlds," Zhang Lie began.
The draconian sage blinked, then sighed. "So we\'re finally at this point, are we?"
"You predicted this possibility, Sage?"
The draconian sage stood up and walked toward the window, where he looked out toward the draconian world.
"All men have the same desires. Once all of you acquired sufficient strength to dominate over the third realm, I anticipated that this would eventually happen—though not so quickly."
Zhang Lie continued, "I intend to discuss this with the three new superior kings."
The draconian sage clasped his hands behind his back. "I don\'t have an issue, but you need to leave enough land for the draconians to survive—and it can\'t be worse than what we already have."
"That\'s not an issue," Zhang Lie promised. "I guarantee your living conditions will only improve."
"I accept, then."
Zhang Lie turned to Li Qianlin with a smile.
"I told you, all three of them are smart fellows."
Sun Xiaowu wondered, "Sage, I\'m shocked you were willing to agree so easily..."
The draconian sage sighed. "Of course. After all, my position as superior king wasn\'t obtained through my own efforts. The draconians had initially only possessed a medium-sized world before you all came to the third realm. Our world quickly became a large world, then a superior one. I knew that, whatever I obtained from all of you, I would have to repay one day."
The draconian sage further knew the futility of his struggle. There was too big a gulf between him and Zhang Lie. If Zhang Lie wanted to, he would easily be able to crush even a dozen draconian sages.
If he had no power of his own, neither would he have free will.
Zhang Lie gave him a thumbs up. "That\'s very logical."
The draconian sage rolled his eyes. "What other choice do I have? It\'s hardly as though I can beat all of you."
The members of Team Zenith glanced at each other with a sigh.
"Go on, scram!" The draconian sage waved weakly. "I don\'t want to look at any of you right now."
Zhang Lie began, "There\'s an affair you should be aware of. If things were to go wrong, all of you will suffer, so just in case..."
Although Zhang Lie could have hidden the information from the draconian sage, the draconian sage was an ally to whom he would have to show some amount of trust. It was only reasonable to reveal all that he knew—it certainly wasn\'t because Zhang Lie couldn\'t help but want to make the draconian sage panic given how calm he was being.
The draconian sage suddenly felt a flicker of unease at Zhang Lie\'s expression.
"Why are you looking at me like that? Did something bad happen again?"
Zhang Lie gave the draconian sage a thumbs up. "You really are prescient, Sage!"
The draconian sage frowned. "But what in the realm would be able to stand against all of you?"
Zhang Lie shrugged. "Combat ability is measured by destructiveness, and it can\'t resolve all problems."
Sun Mengmeng\'s face was deathly serious. "Sage, the third realm is about to be destroyed."
The draconian sage gaped. "What are you talking about?"
Zhang Lie explained, "The third realm is about to suffer a crisis the likes of which have never before been seen in its history. My actions were in order to prevent it."