Chapter 640: The Fight for Succession

Chapter 640: The Fight for Succession"So there's something around even Red Comet can't deal with on its own..." Zhang Lie murmured.

He knew very well how quickly Red Comet could move, so this opponent clearly boasted some strength. The next moment, Zhang Lie vanished from the spot. He appeared right behind the man who was trying to run away.

When the man noticed his presence, he swung his polearm toward Zhang Lie, but Zhang Lie halted the attack with a single pinch of his fingers. His eyes took on a rainbow gleam, mirrored immediately in the other man's eyes. Red Comet rushed forward and knocked his polearm aside.

The man broke out of the illusion due to the intense pain of Red Comet's blow, but before he could react, Zhang Lie punched him in the face and sent him dropping to the ground in an explosion of dirt.

As the man clambered up, he was again caught within Zhang Lie's gaze.

White, whose body was bleeding all over, dragged over a corpse with its mouth, and Red Comet proudly displayed another corpse it had slashed to pieces.

When he saw the body that White brought over, Zhang Lie was momentarily shocked—it was the corpse of an alien not endemic to the third realm, but rather from the Milky Way.

Zhang Lie frowned. "Where's Whiter?"

He flashed over to Whiter's side. Compared to White and Red Comet, Whiter's battle was far more intense. Wounds festooned its body. One of its legs had been chopped off, and an eye had exploded from an unfortunate jab.

Zhang Lie instantly grew angry.

"Who dared to touch my cat?!" His aura swamped his surroundings like a tsunami. The entire world began to shake, as though a dragon were waking from deep slumber.

"And how about me?" an unfamiliar voice piped up.

Zhang Lie turned to the stranger, and his anger dissipated immediately. Whiter's opponent didn't have it easy, either; in fact, he had suffered worse than Whiter. All Whiter lost was a leg and an eye; its opponent had lost half its body.

"What sort of superior-grade lifeform is this? How does it have access to spatial abilities?" Whiter's opponent grumbled.

Zhang Lie glanced at Whiter in surprise. Had it really developed spatial abilities? It had to have gained a glimmer of understanding while they were traveling through a wormhole, one which solidified during this life-and-death battle.

In a moment of clarity summoned by the stress of battle, Whiter managed to infuse its understanding of space into one of its swipes, which had cut its opponent apart.

"Very good, Whiter." Zhang Lie retrieved a Yeluo concoction from his potbellied-toad pouch and applied it to Whiter.

Whiter's flesh squirmed, and one of its back legs and its mutilated eyeball were quickly growing back.

The alien who only had half his body left called out, "Lord of Renhuang, will you save me too? I think I'll make it with your help!"

Zhang Lie twisted his head. "You recognize me?"

The alien smiled at himself deprecatingly. "Who in the Milky Way hasn't heard your name or seen your face?"

It looked as though he really was from the Milky Way, after all.

Zhang Lie took out a vial of potion from his soulshard and waved it in front of the alien's face. "Do you want this?"

"Of course." Despite his apparent desire for the potion, however, this alien was hardly about to die. Even with the lower half of his body cut off, with his guts spilling out, he still spoke with gusto. He was a member of a very special race, and his body was segmented much like that of a centipede's.

That the lower half of his body had been cut off didn't seem very life-threatening, and he could very well have dragged himself back to the nearest city for emergency treatment.

"You don't seem particularly hurt."

The alien chuckled drily. "You must be joking, lord of Renhuang! I may look fine, but I'll surely bleed out in three to five hours."

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"I'm Heijie Niu, from the star Heiman in the Milky Way. I belong to the Heijie clan."

"I've never heard of it."

"It's a small clan, lord of Renhuang, completely unlike the humans whom you represent. After you managed to take over the second realm with the help of the four prime races of the galaxy, everyone knows of you and your clan."

Zhang Lie continued waggling the potion in front of the alien's face. "I'll exchange this vial of potion for whatever information you possess."

"Absolutely, lord."

"Tell me about the relationship between the various princes."

"The king of the realm is getting old, and he's looking for a successor."

"It looks like there are quite a few races participating in this competition."

"There are four clans participating in all—the Heijie, the Yinlian, the Jindao, and the Zijing."

"Which princes do the various factions support?"

"The king of the realm is fond of the eldest prince, and he's also supported by the various factions of the court. He commands the army of the kingdom, and he's the most likely successor at the moment.

"The second prince is supported by the Jindao, and the third prince by a local power, the Wang clan—the third prince's mother is the Wang clan head's younger sister. The fourth prince is supported by the Feng clan; his mother is the Feng clan's head's older sister.

"The fifth prince has the Qian clan's support. His mother's from a branch family of the Qians, and his wife is the Qian clan head's daughter. The Qian clan is a clan of merchants possessing tremendous wealth, and the fifth prince's information network is unparalleled.

"The sixth prince is supported by the Yinlian, and the seventh prince by us, the Heijie. The Zijing endorse the eighth prince, and as for the ninth prince—well, he's an orphan. His mother was a commoner who died a few years ago, and he's essentially a powerless pawn."

Zhang Lie frowned, causing Heijie Niu to duck his head and shut his mouth abruptly.

Zhang Lie continued, "How did these four clans end up participating in the battle for succession?"

"We Heijie wanted to establish ourselves here in the third realm. The Yinlian are indigenous, and they want greater authority here. The Jindao and Zijing clans are a little different."

"Oh? In what sense?"

"The Jindao are participating in order to obtain a certain treasure from the royal treasury."

"What treasure?"

"The primordial starflower!"

Zhang Lie's eyes glinted with frost. "Somehow, I have the feeling that's what your clan wants, too."

Heijie Niu smiled. "Of course, but our main goal is to establish a city on this world, one guarded by the king of the realm."

The Heijie claimed that they wanted a city, but it wasn't just that. The worlds of the third realm were fractious and prone to violent conflict, and the politics of the various worlds were often very unstable.

Zhang Lie suspected that the Heijie were trying to establish themselves here with the intention of conquering the nearby territory and spreading out from there.

"And the Zijing?"

"Well, they claim they're interested in the resources of this world, but I thought that that seemed like a mere excuse."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because they're very strong, far stronger than the other three clans."