The Great Worm Lich

Walking through the corridor into the quiet study, Zhang Lisheng clapped twice, and the crystal chandelier on the ceiling glowed up naturally like a flame.

“There are only two of us left now. You can tell me everything you want to say.” The young man walked up to the large mahogany desk and sat down on the wooden chair wrapped in soft leather. He turned around and looked at Yeegan casually as he asked.

“Great God, I’ll always be your Wizard Li religion’s Paladin Yeegan, who will protect your glory and majesty,” The young paladin kneeled on the dark red velvet carpet in front of the desk to express his infinite loyalty to the Wizard Li God first before solemnly saying, “However, before I was sold as a slave to the island, I had another name called Wenjiyee de Sagan. My ancestors used to rule the vast expanse of Songee Desert in the north of the Green Leaf Mainland and built the three dynasties of Tanasa, Potoya, and Mofamo in the heart of the five oases. It was only until the barbaric Atandin people who came up with a ruse to massacre our army and burned the Mofamo palace that they managed to seize hundreds of oases…”

“Alright, Paladin Yeegan, I understand what you mean now,” Upon hearing that Yeegan’s name contained the word ‘de’ that symbolized the kingship feudal lord in the Green Leaf Mainland, Zhang Lisheng whose expression had become severe contemplated for a while before saying with a smile, “A cliche passion of a prince. I’ve heard the Sea Haines City merchants mention the Atandin war on the Scorpion Island before. Looks like they’ve tried their best to destroy a brilliant dynasty but did not eradicate all sources of trouble. Yeegan, since you’ve taken the initiative to reveal your identity to me, you must have wanted to rely on my power to avenge.”

“Great God, the Sagan Family had lost their kingdom twice before but had eventually re-established a more powerful dynasty; it won’t be an exception this time as well,” Yeegan suppressed his ambitious heart and answered respectfully, “In this thousands of years, the herdsmen in the Songee Desert has become accustomed to the ruling of the glorious surname Sagan. As long as you can give me an army to return to my homeland, a victory can reinvigorate the ambitions of the sand people, and I’ll be able to raise a million soldiers to defeat the Atandin people to re-establish a country. By that time, I’ll establish the Wizard Li religion as the state religion, and force the people of all the oases in the desert to embrace your faith.”

The young paladin jabbered on his own planning while kneeling on the ground with his fists clenched tight, waiting for fate to reach a verdict. However, after a long time, he did not hear any answer from the Wizard Li God.

No longer able to suppress his anxious heart, he secretly looked up and just so happened to meet the strange look cast by Zhang Lisheng.

When the two pairs of eyes met, Yeegan hastily lowered his head again and laid on the ground, not daring to move at all. Zhang Lisheng, on the other hand, stared at the young man who was worshipping him with a strange expression for a while before suddenly waving his hand and said, “You may retreat first.”

“T-This…” The young paladin was hit by disappointment but relaxed and blurted out in gaffe. He immediately returned to his senses and stood up in reverence, “Yes, Your Majesty!” before leaving the study room.

After watching him disappearing, Zhang Lisheng frowned and muttered to himself, “Is this an idiot who has had his head damaged by his ambition, or a genius madman who has the confidence to play God on the palm of his hand…” After thinking for a while, he rang the brass bell on the desk.

“Ding ding ding…” After a few quiet sounds of bell ringing, a four-feathered Wizard Li chief choresman pushed the heavy wooden door and walked into the study room before kneeling on the ground.

Now that the young man was living in the Golden Flower Terrier Manor, he had become accustomed to calling the butler and servants, but when it came to serious matters, he would still give his orders to the aborigines.

“Aruruge, ask Chief Priest Tuan to come to see me.” Zhang Lisheng looked at the indigenous choresman at his feet and ordered.

“Yes, Your Majesty!” Arugege kowtowed and retreated. More than ten minutes later, when he entered the study room again, he was followed by the mainland chief priest who was looking high in spirit.

“Great God, did you look for me?” Upon seeing the black-haired young man sitting lazily at the large wooden chair, Tuan stepped forward and respectfully kneeled on the ground before speaking in a gentle voice. He was no longer as fearless as he looked when he first met the Wizard Li God to make a deal.

“Yes, Tuan. I have encountered an interesting question, and I can’t seem to figure out any answer, so I want to hear your opinion.” Zhang Lisheng waved to the indigenous choresman and motioned for him to retreat. He then gave a detailed description of the situation that took place with Yeegan just now before casually asking, “That Songee Desert’s Prince knows that I’m ruling the world with theocracy, but he still asked me to send troops to help him take back his country. This is really strange. It makes sense if he’s a faithful believer, but I can sense that he’s a person without faith, or should I say, a person who only believes in himself. Does he think that I am better than the Atandin?”

“Your Great Majesty,” Tuan contemplated in silence for a while before suddenly replying out of the blue, “Looks like your order of deploying troops to the border between Fran and Yassen is only a cover-up. Your ultimate goal is to annex the whole mainland eventually.”

“You can hear my thoughts from just a few words? Then again, I have nothing to hide from you, Tuan. My ultimate goal is not just the Green Leaf Mainland but the entire Gaia World,” Zhang Lisheng was stunned for a while before replying unscrupulously, “I already have a perfect plan for this matter, and we will talk about it in the future. Right now, I want you to think about my questions instead.”

“Your Majesty, it looks like I’m destined to leave a strong imprint in the history of the Gaia World that will be called as the Wizard Li World in the future,” An irrepressible impassioned look appeared on the old chief priest’s face. After taking a deep breath to precipitate his emotions, he smiled and said, “The answer to your question is this—Paladin Yeegan doesn’t understand your true thoughts actually…”

“Oh? You mean to say that Yeegan has thought that I’m already contented with the current situation, and my next step is to seek the recognition of my territory by the mainland powers and will not launch another large-scale war of aggression? In that case, the Songee Desert is located at the northernmost tip of the Green Leaf Mainland and is thousands of miles away from the land covered by my faith, with several dozens of countries of various sizes in between. If I send out several tens of thousands of soldiers to help him recover his country successfully, it’d be a great win for me to be able to harvest the faith of hundreds of millions of believers, and if it was too far away from my grasp, then I’d have no choice but to allow the Sagan Family to control the secular world. If he failed the battle, I’d only lose the life of several tens of thousands of warriors and some armaments, it’s no big deal anyway…” Now that the fog was cleared away by a single sentence from Tuan, a pang of realization hit Zhang Lisheng as he uttered his answer.

“This can be a trivial little gamble for you, isn’t it?” The mainland chief priest smiled and respectfully replied.

“It’s indeed a small gamble for me, but at this subtle time at the moment, I can’t just simply make an idle chess move,” The young man smiled before rubbing the spot between his brows with a frown, “The mainland coalition has not yet formed. It’s a surprise that Sun King’s messenger is suddenly coming for a visit. The situation is really confusing… By the way, where is the messenger now?”

“The airship that is taken by Fran’s messenger has just flown across Tarodi City. He should be able to arrive at Sea Haines City in the early hours of the morning.”

“Then I’ll see him at noon tomorrow and decide after that… No, it shouldn’t be me who is anxious to see him. Only in that way can I take the upper hand of the situation. What do you think, Tuan?” Zhang Lisheng pondered.

“You can do as you wish, Your Majesty,” The mainland chief priest replied respectfully.

“That’s right, this is only a small matter. It seems like I’ve been overthinking and is too particular about imperfection,” The young man chuckled as he shook his head before adding on, “That’s right, Tuan, since you have proven your ability and loyalty to me, it’s just right that I’ll give you more power. Pick 500,000 warriors from the prisoners of war to increase the size of the paladin troop. Also, from now on, all mainland warriors will be allowed to be equipped with the God-bestowed shell.

“Great God, I’ll use the power and authority you bestow to defend your glory and majesty.” Tuan showed a grateful expression as he kneeled on the ground.

“It’s what you deserve. You may retreat now,” Zhang Lisheng spoke with a smile and a wave of his hand.

“I’ll take my leave first, Your Majesty,” After Tuan prayed to him, he turned around and left the study, leaving Zhang Lisheng alone to extinguish the lights and stayed hidden in the dark night so that he could sit on the wooden chair and close his eyes to contemplate.

Although the actual battle had proven that the strength of the mainland countries was stronger than the young man’s expectations, in his opinion, the most challenging thing in mastering the Green Leaf Mainland was not the conquest of force. If he could have a rapid recovery of the fruits of victory and became more potent as he battled on while he took the entire Gaia World in his hand, he could use this as the foundation and return to Earth to wait for his opportunity to make a move.

Therefore, the beginning of a new order in the fallen land and the continuous improvement along the benign track was essential to Zhang Lisheng, for this meant that it was no longer a problem to replace the ruling of the feudal lord to theocracy after rapidly occupying the mainland. The time to swallow more territory had finally arrived.

Of course, after launching a new battle, the ambitions of the Wizard Li God to swallow the entire mainland would be exposed, and the old regime of the mainlanders would fight to their death without the slightest scrupulous. For this reason, he must choose the timing of the war correctly.

Unwittingly, the night slowly faded away. The sun that was emitting faint golden glow rose in the distant mountains, giving off a radiant brilliance.

At dawn, when the sun shone through the large floor-to-ceiling window onto the young man’s face, Zhang Lisheng, who had contemplated the entire night, finally snapped back to reality. He walked to the window and looked at the lush green farmland in the distance, and eventually left the study to step out of the manor.

Standing on the stairs breathing in the fresh air, Zhang Lisheng stretched his muscles in content and waved his hands gently a few times. At once, water vapor condensed in the entire courtyard, and by the time the dense fog tumbled and dispersed, the young man was already gone.

Just when Zhang Lisheng cast his divine power to go out for a leisure walk to take his mind off, the Fran’s messenger, who had only drink a few mouthfuls of water within more than ten hours tossed and turned all night unable to sleep, was asking his administrator to bring him to see the Wizard Li God.