Chapter 752: Three Choices (Second Update, Seeking Everything)

Li Zhangsheng's mind was active; since the gains far outweighed the costs, how could he push away this piece of meat delivered right to his mouth?

"Good!"

Li Zhangsheng agreed, taking the two precious gifts of introduction in stride.

Zhao Rui could not help but show joy; although with his status, he could also defect to other powers, or even more powerful ones, one must plan for the long term, and how could the potential of those powers be mentioned in the same breath as Li Zhangsheng?

Taking advantage of the fact that Li Zhangsheng had not yet become a Monarch, Zhao Rui becoming Li Zhangsheng's first follower would bring him huge benefits.

When Li Zhangsheng became a Monarch or even a Double-Character King, his status would rise, and the benefits he obtained would naturally be greater.

The benefits of being a follower from the start were not just empty words; the Spirit King Liu Yongtu of the past was exactly like this, and in the end, he became a Monarch with the help of the Dark Night King Dou Cangqiong.

If Li Zhangsheng became as powerful as the Dark Night King in the future, Zhao Rui believed he also had the possibility of becoming a Monarch; this was equivalent to an early-stage investment.

Of course, investment had risks, and there was a possibility of it going down the drain.

"This subordinate pays respects to my Lord!"

Zhao Rui used the term "Lord," which was how a subject addressed a Monarch, though Li Zhangsheng was not yet a Monarch for the time being.

Li Zhangsheng accepted Zhao Rui's form of address calmly; this meant that from now on, both parties would interact with the status of lord and subject.

"Zhao Rui, I hope you stay in the Dai Kingdom for the time being, because there are some things that need you to handle in the Dai Kingdom, but your family can move to Yuan Province of the Langya Kingdom at any time; I will have my clan settle them well."

With Zhao Rui's status and position, the benefits were self-evident, and Li Zhangsheng naturally would not let them go, laying out some of his thoughts.

Zhao Rui naturally had no objections; although the Dai Kingdom was currently in a precarious situation, there was still some time before the second Abyss Gate opened completely, and at least he would be safe during this period.

In addition to collecting treasures and wild Spirit Beasts, Li Zhangsheng also asked Zhao Rui to keep an eye on other forces in the Dai Kingdom that had not yet relocated, preparing to take in some forces that met his requirements.

Before becoming a Monarch, Li Zhangsheng also had to take precautions.

Once Li Zhangsheng became a Monarch, he would face three choices: one was to defect to another country, one was to establish his own country, and the last was to become a free Monarch.

For the first choice, Li Zhangsheng's best target for defection would be the Langya Kingdom, but unfortunately, his conflict with the Langya Kingdom's Third Prince Dou Yuanbin had intensified, making them mortal enemies.

Li Zhangsheng had to kill Dou Yuanbin; this was certain, otherwise his thoughts would not be clear.

However, the Imperial Family was not the Langya Liu Clan; even if Li Zhangsheng destroyed all the evidence, how could the Imperial Family swallow this bitter pill?

As the Sovereign of the Langya Kingdom, the Imperial Family would not be too particular about evidence, and besides, they could easily pin a trumped-up charge on him.

Clearly, there was a high possibility that Li Zhangsheng would leave the Langya Kingdom in the future.

If he joined other countries, the representative figures were the "Butterfly King" Luo Qingning, the "Flame King" Qin Mingqing, and even the fallen "Spirit King" Liu Yongtu, who held transcendent status in the Langya Kingdom, one could say they were below one person and above ten thousand.

The benefits were obvious: while having a transcendent status, they could also receive a large amount of cultivation resources every year.

But the disadvantages were also obvious, because the best resources were often not their turn, as the rulers usually saved them for their descendants; the Dark Night King Dou Cangqiong was such a person.

In addition, they had to accept some assigned tasks, such as suppressing the Abyss Gate, exploring the Silent Forest, etc., many of which carried significant dangers for Monarchs.

If Li Zhangsheng joined other countries, he would likely be the same as them.

For the second choice, it was relatively simple for a Monarch to establish a country; one just needed to find a large enough piece of ownerless land, but to make this country prosperous, it would require a lot of time.

Unless Li Zhangsheng received a relatively complete country, he would have to take it one step at a time, slowly developing and strengthening the newly established country.

The third choice was not to join other countries and not to establish a force; this was the so-called free Monarch, and the representative figure was the "Flame King" Di Zhiyi.

From some of Di Zhiyi's memories, he learned that free Monarchs seemed free, but they were not welcomed by the rulers of various countries; after all, this was an unstable factor, and if things went wrong, they could suffer huge losses.

As long as a free Monarch was discovered, the rulers of these countries would basically not let them stay.

In this situation, free Monarchs either hid themselves or went to ownerless lands.

Most of these free Monarchs were loners; they might control a certain amount of power, but compared to the state machine, they were clearly inferior.

Without a large number of subordinates to help, and having to be secretive when entering and leaving the main cities of other countries, wanting to collect resources often required a lot of time, which was also the main reason why the vast majority of free Monarchs found it difficult to go further.

The Flame King Di Zhiyi was a good example; the quality of his Spirit Beasts was actually quite good, but it was precisely because of the resource problem that he never achieved the status of a Double-Character King.

Using a Xianxia novel as an analogy, if a Monarch was a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator, a Monarch who established a country was equivalent to a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator backed by a sect, while a free Monarch was equivalent to a Nascent Soul Stage loose cultivator; the former's speed of collecting resources was often far greater than the latter, mainly reflected in the gap in channels and subordinates.

Li Zhangsheng did not want to become a free Monarch; the drawbacks of a free Monarch were too great and would slow down his growth speed.

Likewise, he had no intention of defecting to other countries, mainly because he did not want others to manipulate his destiny, especially since he was too young, and which ruler would not be wary of him?

Among these three options, Li Zhangsheng undoubtedly preferred to form his own country; if he could receive a ready-made country, that would undoubtedly be even better.

It must be said that the currently precarious Dai Kingdom was a good choice.

Zhao Rui hurriedly replied respectfully: "This subordinate will definitely do his best to complete the tasks assigned by my Lord!"

"Very good, sit down; there is no need to be too restrained in front of me!"

Li Zhangsheng's initial impression of Zhao Rui was quite satisfactory, and he felt that he was very smart and completely disregarded his own face.

Who would have thought that a dignified Prince of the Dai Kingdom would take the initiative to defect to a Pseudo-King? One must know that their identities were actually equal, especially since Zhao Rui himself was a Sixth-Rank Expert.

"Zhao Rui, how long have you been here?"

Zhao Rui sat in his seat and said: "I came here the day before yesterday!"

"Is there any news about the other contestants?"

"Yes!" Zhao Rui paused, organized his words, and continued: "There are a total of 208 people in this session who have the qualifications to compete for the seats in the Heavenly Dao Secret Realm, including 18 Pseudo-Kings, 115 Sixth-Rank, and 75 Fifth-Rank."

(End of this chapter)