Li Zhen had tried to join the Enforcer Alliance a hundred thousand years ago, so he naturally paid a bit more attention to its affairs.
The alliance maintained a Bounty Ranking on which it offered rewards for capturing despicable villains of the realm. The Robber King in front of them was on that list. His bounty was a hundred million premium purple crystals for his head.
Though a hundred million crystals was impressive, it was far from enough to eliminate a third step king. Thus, the alliance’s Bounty Ranking was more used as a warning or deterrence.
Self-proclaimed as the greatest robber of the Hongmeng, the Robber King came and left like the wind. He stole from high level kings and inferior realm cultivators alike—in other words, a man without principles.
He was a very active individual and hailed himself as the benevolent Robber King in that he only ever took one’s goods and not one’s life. To think that he would be in Starspace Region and robbing anyone he came across!
“You know me, kid?” The Robber King started. “Since you recognize me, you can’t blame me for showing no mercy then!”
“Aren’t you supposed to be benevolent and only steal items? You never endanger lives,” Li Zhen asked with bafflement. He and Qing Ting were looking at the king with amusement, wholly unafraid of the newcomer’s arrival.
“Hmph! Those busybodies from the Enforcer Alliance are already here. If I don’t kill you, you might tip them off and I’ll have no place to go in Starspace or Cloudruin Region!
“And heh, you believe it when I say I don’t kill anyone? Come on, that Lewd King calls himself the Luminous King of Virtue and Integrity!
“…huh? Why aren’t you three half step king brats afraid of me?” He’d finally picked up on something odd—these three little fellows didn’t show any signs of fear.
“I recognize you, but you don’t know the person next to me…” Li Zhen jerked his thumb at Lu Yun and continued with relish, “Several sixth step kings followed us out as soon as this one left the city. We borrowed a battlefield of two high level kings to shake off our keepers. But you throw yourself in that spot instead? Tsk tsk tsk.”
The dumbfounded Robber King blinked; Lu Yun flashed a brilliant grin at him and snapped his fingers.
Snap!
A formation of hazy purple light appeared out of thin air and sealed off the area. An aura unique to king grade formations came down oppressively over the area, immediately confining the king. Huge handfuls of king grade Detonation Talismans appeared in Lu Yun, Qing Ting, and Li Zhen’s hands.
The Robber King’s expression froze, and the next development made everyone gape with shock.
Thunk!
The Robber King dropped to his knees and sobbed loudly, “Mercy, young masters and mistress! This humble one was forced to a life of thievery in order to provide for my family of elders and children! I’ve never harmed the innocent and anyone I killed deserved to die! Mercy, oh mercy!”
Slam slam slam!
He smashed his forehead against the ground in fervent kowtows.
Lu Yun’s expression froze and he turned around stiltedly, staring dumbly at Li Zhen.
“This… is the Robber King?” he asked with disbelief.
“I, er, I don’t know either.” Li Zhen didn’t know what to make of the situation.
The notorious Robber King, a third step king, was kowtowing to three juniors who weren’t even kings? People said that he had no bottom line, but this wasn’t even a bottom line, this was a black hole!
A guy like this can become a king? And his dao heart is still intact?? Lu Yun couldn’t believe his eyes.
“Kyakyakya, you little things are too young. Die!” Weeping up a storm and kowtowing as if his life depended on it, the Robber King suddenly jumped up with a shortsword in hand. He shot at Lu Yun and brought the weapon up to stab into the young man’s forehead.
Hummm!
Radiant golden light exploded out of nowhere and blocked his fatal stroke. Qing Ting had released her golden body on pure instinct, resulting in the one-meter-thick layer of light blasting out to nine meters and enclosing Lu Yun and Li Zhen in a dome of safety.
The golden body’s strength was determined by her cultivation level. Since she was currently a half step king, it could defend against a first step king or one blow from a second step king. The Robber King, however, was a third step king!
The tenacious light lasted only a moment before the king pierced through it with his shortsword.
Hummmm.
Multiple rays of brilliant light flared from Qing Ting’s body—her wondrous collection of king grade defensive treasures were all active.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
Metallic collisions sounded from the void as the Robber King’s attack was deflected.
“I forgot about my piles of treasures last time when I faced that second step king. I won’t forget this time!” Qing Ting mumbled.
The Robber King almost vomited blood at her words. When were king grade treasures counted in terms of “piles”?! The shortsword in his hands was very dear to him and was less than king grade—but the little girl had piles of them?
He didn’t feel any bliss at the thought of impending fortune falling into his hands. Rather, he drowned in dread!
He knew that these little fellows were extremely wealthy, but he’d never fathomed they possessed so many king grade treasures! Lu Yun’s Stellar Sword, Qing Ting’s king grade flying sword, Li Zhen’s ghost-headed blade… the king grade formation that’d appeared out of nowhere and almost confined him, and the king grade Detonation Talismans in their hands…
Just where did these little guys get so many treasures from? Had they robbed the Supplemental Dao Alliance??
He knew that the monopoly over supplemental dao was ended; he was robbing people in the Starspace Region so he could exchange ghost crystals for king grade treasures himself. To think that three little targets he had his eyes on were insanely hard to take down!
“The Robber King is too naive!” Lu Yun murmured to himself. He hadn’t been afraid from beginning to end—if Qing Ting possessed piles of king grade treasures, wouldn’t he have the same?
Indeed, he was assimilating into the Hongmeng so he could train the fire of order, but that didn’t mean he’d let himself come off worse for the wear here.
“Come on, let’s teach this young whippersnapper king a lesson!”
“Yeah, let’s teach him a lesson!”
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Detonation Talismans exploded one after another, terrifying the Robber King into wails and shrieks for his mother.
“Ghost Blade Method!
“Ghost Walk, go!
“You can’t see me, you can’t see me!
“Float like a spirit butterfly, sting like a dragon!” The Robber King jumped, ducked, and rolled into the void, trying to get away. Lu Yun’s formation proved insufficient to suppress him and all of his antics up to now were just to mislead the trio.
Though it couldn’t restrain the king, the formation still kept him confined to this part of the void. He ran out of space to dodge in the end and yelped when the talismans connected with their target.
“You three brats, this king will remember you!” he finally screeched.
Booooom!
He flung out a black bead that exploded in the air and blew a hole in Lu Yun’s king grade formation. Howling with tragic laughter, the Robber King fled through the hole.
On his way out, he turned back and committed the trio’s appearance and presence to memory. He’d journeyed the Hongmeng for countless years and evaded pursuit from the Enforcer Alliance all this time. It was the first time he’d failed so miserably.
