The Will of Legends

The unconscious girl reminded Qin Luming of the princess who had eaten the poisoned Apple—frail and beautiful, waiting to be rescued.

He felt a little excited. He held her in front of him, his palms sensing the soft warmth behind her knees and across her shoulders. Was this the heroine of his novel?

She was so real that even as he ran, Qin Luming could not help stealing a few more glances at her.

Her exquisite brows and eyes, every detail of her features and skin, seemed meticulously sculpted and polished without the slightest flaw. Qin Luming had only ever seen such skin and beauty on Zuozuo and Caicai.

But she was different from Zuozuo and Caicai. She possessed a feminine charm that drew Qin Luming in. He recalled the countless passages in his novel into which he had poured his feelings, and his chest grew hot.

He sprinted wildly onward, having long since passed the spot where the two Emperor's Guardians had stood. Behind him, the two statues, towering like mountains, had already fallen, shaking the earth and sending dust rolling through the air. Mixed with the continuing violent explosions of the coronal storm summoned by Aizen King, it looked like the end of the world.

Holding the beautiful girl, he ran forward with his back to the apocalypse.

Even his footsteps were cheerful. A tune almost burst from his chest: "What a bright and sunny day, lovely sights are everywhere, and birds are pooping all around."

A ravine lay ahead. He could have crossed it with a light step, but he could not restrain himself. He leaped high in abandon, and after landing, wanted to leap high again. Only when he saw her hair flying in the wind did he slow down.

Qin Luming felt that he had already traveled quite far from where they had begun fleeing. He ran into a forest and saw streaks of cracks in the air. He understood that these were not cracks in space, but fractures at the edge of the barrier... The barrier Zhou Nan had arranged with a formation could neither stop Aizen King's descent nor possibly remain intact under the impact of the coronal storm.

With the beautiful girl in his right arm, Qin Luming struck the cracks with his left hand. Punch after punch landed. Such impacts might alert the barrier's creator, but Qin Luming could no longer worry about that... Besides, even if Zhou Nan noticed, she probably would not have the spare attention to deal with him.

"This barrier condenses the national will of the Kingdom of Zhou. When one place suffers, aid comes from all directions—that has always been the will embraced by the Kingdom of Zhou and its people. The harder you strike one spot, the more strength flows in from elsewhere to reinforce it, making it even more impregnable. If you study it carefully, you can sense the great power of unity within it. The Kingdom of Zhou has suffered countless disasters throughout its history. Innumerable soldiers and civilians sacrificed themselves against natural and man-made calamities. A barrier condensed from such will, tempered through hardship, only grows tougher the more it is attacked."

Qin Luming stopped in astonishment and turned around, only to discover a woman as tall as Yao Ming standing silently behind him.

It gave Qin Luming quite a fright. But since she had not attacked, then even if her intentions were unclear, she did not seem hostile.

"Who are you?"

Qin Luming looked at the military uniform she wore, identical to Zhou Nan's except for the hammer-shaped medal on Zhou Nan's chest. In its place were nine other brilliant, magnificent medals, proclaiming their wearer's illustrious achievements and noble status.

She wore a mid-length skirt with protective knee-high boots. Several buttons of her top had been undone, revealing a grandeur no young girl could hope to match. Her rare height ensured that she always looked down upon others, yet her expression was gentle and dignified.

"Regent Jin, Regent of the Kingdom of Zhou."

Qin Luming immediately became wary. So this was the true wielder of military and political power, the foremost minister of the Kingdom of Zhou who had spent years campaigning in the northern desert and slaughtered more than a hundred million members of the northern tribes?

Other than the gentle expression of a refined gentleman on her face, her height and bearing certainly matched the setting... Qin Luming could not help suspecting Ma Shilong had some sort of fetish. Given this novel's harem-story style, such a powerful woman would surely have to be taken into the harem too... But she was two meters thirty!

With a male protagonist of normal height, few authors would create such a giant heroine. Once readers imagined the heroine being able to grab the male protagonist like a chick with one hand, they would have trouble accepting it.

"But even the strongest fortress can hardly withstand destruction and infiltration from within." Regent Jin raised her head to look at the snow-covered mountains fading in the distance, then pressed her hand against the barrier.

The barrier opened, and the fine cracks in the air vanished without a trace. A barrier gate, rippling like azure water, appeared before them.

"Go." Regent Jin pointed at the barrier gate.

Qin Luming desperately wanted to ask why she was letting him leave, but there was a saying that villains died from talking too much. After seeing so many villains die, did he still not understand that the important thing now was to stop talking and run? Qin Luming was not a villain, but his brain worked better than most villains'.

So Qin Luming asked nothing and ran away without looking back.

How many people had the Kingdom of Zhou sent? The Regent had come—would she have brought an army with her? Qin Luming remembered Ma Shilong's setting: every strand of the Regent's hair was a soldier, and she carried a hundred thousand troops with her at all times.

That damned Ma Shilong had written whatever the hell he wanted when he wrote novels, and now that those things had truly appeared in reality, he had turned into a pig and run away.

Qin Luming could only pray that the rulers of the Kingdom of Zhou would correctly recognize that Earth also possessed powerful military forces and would not start a war here. He could tell that Zhou Nan was not blindly arrogant and reckless. Her hiding within this barrier was probably because she still did not understand the military makeup of the real world... Aizen King's descent would make her wary of acting rashly too, right?

Thinking that Zhou Nan had captured Ma Shilong in order to return to the Kingdom of Zhou, Qin Luming felt somewhat relieved. At least Zhou Nan intended to return to the Kingdom of Zhou rather than establish another Kingdom of Zhou on Earth.

Watching Qin Luming pass through the barrier gate and flee without looking back, Regent Jin turned around. A huge horse wreathed in flames galloped toward her. Regent Jin lovingly stroked its mane, mounted in one smooth motion, and leaped through the air, arriving before Zhou Nan.

Twenty-four imperial statues surrounded Zhou Nan. In life, all twenty-four emperors had been recorded in the "Legendary Emperors" section of the Kingdom of Zhou's Records of the Grand Historian.

These statues retained the aura the emperors had possessed in life. Incomparably powerful, they formed an imperial-tier formation capable of both attack and defense, allowing Zhou Nan to survive the coronal storm just now.

"The emperors of the Kingdom of Zhou devoted themselves completely in life. After death, they left their power within the Emperor's Hammer, poured their flesh and blood into the land of the Kingdom of Zhou, and turned their bones into statues to continue guarding the Kingdom of Zhou. Every drop of their heart's blood was given for this great empire, and their will has been passed down into my body." Zhou Nan stared at Regent Jin. "That is why I must return to the Kingdom of Zhou."

"We will find a way." Regent Jin looked up at the statues of those legendary emperors.

Emperor—emperor.

King—regent.

The Kingdom of Zhou had no tradition of granting kingship through bloodlines. His Majesty the Emperor must embody the will of the Kingdom of Zhou, while the Regent was a king besides His Majesty the Emperor—someone of incomparably strong wisdom, power, and will, capable of serving as the spear and shield of the Kingdom of Zhou with her own body.

"Just now, I let that child named Qin Luming go, along with that Aizen King." Regent Jin frankly informed Zhou Nan.

Zhou Nan's brows furrowed slightly.

"We had no need to take the risk. That little girl's origin was immensely powerful and chaotic. Even after losing consciousness, she would have been difficult to control if she remained here. If her origin became chaotic enough to explode directly, then judging by the violent power she displayed when summoning the coronal storm just now, it could tear open a void rift and perhaps even devour the entire world." Regent Jin's reasoning was entirely sound. Facing Zhou Nan's gaze, she remained humble and sincere.

"She is the king of the Divine Kingdom?" Zhou Nan did not continue pressing Regent Jin over releasing the enemy. That was not the bearing of an emperor.

"That is what she called herself. It seems the Divine Kingdom has only a throne, not a singular emperor, a being called something like a divine emperor." Regent Jin looked up again. The endless ancient snow mountains that had appeared in the west due to Aizen King's descent had completely vanished. "She mentioned a woman named An Nanxiu and swore to kill the God King. Those who would contemplate such things are generally the strongest beings. The strongest only care about the strongest. If the God King were not the strongest, then the one she wanted to kill would not be the God King."

"The God King seems very powerful..." Zhou Nan sneered. "But throughout the history of my Kingdom of Zhou, there have been countless sages and worthy predecessors. Some possessed glorious military achievements and were invincible in their age. Some, like saints, delivered all living beings and gave themselves to their country and people, dying while their will endured. They protected hundreds of millions of people and forged the entire Kingdom of Zhou into an independent world that existed eternally. Over countless years, the Kingdom of Zhou gave birth to innumerable outstanding beings. With billions of bodies of flesh and blood nourishing it, wills capable of shaking heaven and earth defend it. This nation itself already rivals a Divine Kingdom. What is one mere God King?"

"Your Majesty, we have not yet glimpsed even the slightest trace of the Divine Kingdom. It would be unwise to make such a judgment." Regent Jin smiled. "But the kingly aura Your Majesty radiates is no less than that of the legendary emperors of past generations."

Zhou Nan nodded, though she did not believe there was anything improper about it.

"That pig... Why could the words he wrote reflect the Kingdom of Zhou? Was it coincidence, or some special ability?"

"This subject does not know."

"Have the imperial prison carry out castration first. The Records of the Grand Historian of this world was written by a scholar after he was castrated and imprisoned." Zhou Nan spoke to Regent Jin.

"Your Majesty is wise." Regent Jin did not take it seriously. She did not consider it a matter that had to be understood. His Majesty was young, after all, and somewhat overly curious.

"If Ma Shilong cannot write it, then find someone else with the same ability. Even if Qin Luming does not possess that ability, he should know who would be suitable candidates for us." Zhou Nan glanced at the Regent standing beside her. The woman's magnificent figure made Zhou Nan instinctively avert her eyes as she said flatly, "That young man also carries the aura of a false god."

"I sensed it as well. Perhaps a false god of this world is inhabiting his body." Regent Jin recalled the aura Qin Luming had emitted when attacking the barrier. "I let him go because I did not want his false god aura to seep into the barrier and affect our formation."

A false god... a powerful existence born from the faith of countless believers. It possessed great powers of infiltration and could easily take control of those whose wills and souls were not sufficiently steadfast and pure.

This barrier was also a form of willpower. It was often impregnable against powerful, swift attacks, yet it could easily collapse under the infiltration of a false god's power. Once the will was no longer pure, it was in danger of collapse.