Dominator Emperor

Zhang Yu’s face paled and flushed in turn. He understood the stakes. To suddenly destroy five years of hard work meant he had practiced in vain all that time.

”If you can’t decide right away, go back and think it over. Come find me when you’ve made up your mind,” Li Qiye said without any pressure. ’Ultimately, one must walk their own path. Without this kind of resolve, forging a firm Dao Heart is just empty talk.’

”I... I’ll destroy it! I... I’ll cultivate the Biluo Heart Method.” Just as Li Qiye finished speaking, Zhang Yu gritted his teeth and made his decision, his tone resolute.

Li Qiye simply nodded, saying nothing more. He turned to Li Shuangyan beside him and said, ”Break his Dao Foundation. He’s starting from scratch.”

This time, Li Shuangyan didn’t hesitate for even a moment at Li Qiye’s command. She immediately carried it out...

Eventually, Li Qiye finished inspecting every disciple’s Dao Foundation. For the most part, the vast majority of disciples had no major issues with their foundational cultivation. As for major issues, Zhang Yu’s situation had been the most severe.

After examining all the disciples’ Dao Foundations, everything was on the right track. Li Qiye began to take a step back, letting the disciples cultivate on their own. With solid Dao Foundations, clear principles, and correct Cultivation Techniques, the rest was up to each disciple’s personal efforts.

Having brought them this far, Li Qiye had led the disciples of Washing Stone Valley to the threshold of cultivation. He would no longer guide them one by one, instead letting them walk their own cultivation paths. He would only occasionally set aside time to lecture them on the scriptures and the Dao.

Having drifted through countless eons and even trained Immortal Emperors, Li Qiye knew better than anyone that no matter how peerless a disciple’s talent, they could never truly mature if they were constantly supported and never allowed to stand on their own. How could one see a rainbow without first weathering the storm?

After stepping back, Li Qiye began to focus his energy on his own cultivation. In truth, he had slowed his progress considerably in order to teach the disciples of Washing Stone Valley.

Li Qiye had now reached the Blood Strengthening Stage of the Yun Body Realm. In fact, he had already reached Great Perfection at this stage and was advancing toward the Body Tempering Stage. For Li Qiye, it was the perfect time for another round of Body Tempering.

At this moment, Li Qiye took out an Ancient Box. Had Li Shuangyan been present, she might have recognized it as the very same one Li Qiye had taken from the Holy Cave of the Nine Saints Demon Gate.

In truth, none of the elders of the Nine Saints Demon Gate, not even the Sun Demon Emperor, knew what this Ancient Box contained. The Sun Demon Emperor was likely baffled as to why Li Qiye had chosen this unknown box over an Immortal Emperor’s Treasure. ’Just what could be inside it?’

In principle, when a disciple reached the Blood Strengthening Stage of the Yun Body Realm, their sect would bestow upon them a Longevity Treasure. However, the current Xiyan Ancient Sect was in decline and had a limited inventory. If they were to bestow Longevity Treasures even upon disciples who had not yet formally entered the sect, their stocks would be quickly exhausted.

The primary function of a Longevity Treasure was to extend one’s life and nourish one’s blood. Longevity Treasures and Life Artifacts were the two great treasures of a cultivator, and the vast majority of cultivators possessed both.

Life Artifacts, be they Treasure Artifacts or True Artifacts, were primarily used to protect one’s life and strike down enemies. For the most part, they were only brought out on the battlefield.

Longevity Treasures were different. They were needed at all times. A Longevity Treasure could extend a cultivator’s lifespan, strengthen their Blood Qi, and even refine their Longevity Blood.

Longevity Treasures could also play a significant role in battle. When one’s Blood Qi was depleted or Longevity Blood was heavily consumed, one could activate the Longevity Treasure to quickly replenish the lost Blood Qi or to unleash an explosive burst of it, boosting their combat strength.

Li Qiye opened the Ancient Box. Lying quietly inside were two items resembling Blood Pearls. The two Blood Pearls didn’t look particularly special, appearing only like two drops of congealed blood.

However, upon closer inspection, one would discover that these two Blood Pearls seemed to contain an endless supply of Blood Qi, as if they were two incomparably vast Seas of Blood. And upon even closer inspection, the two were different. Deep within one Blood Pearl, a Golden Sun seemed to be slowly rising, while in the depths of the other, a Divine Moon drifted up and down.

”The Yin Yang Blood Sea...” Holding the two unassuming Blood Pearls in his palm, Li Qiye sighed softly. ’The bloody battle of that year feels like it was only yesterday.’

Back then, Mingren Immortal Emperor’s Great Dao was complete. He shouldered the Celestial Mandate, had countless Divine Generals under his command, and swept through the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, utterly invincible. The very first battlefield he chose after shouldering the Celestial Mandate and becoming an Immortal Emperor was the Burial Ground of an eternal, monstrous fiend.

At the time, he, as the Yin Ya, was already beginning to grow unstable. Nevertheless, he still wished to witness Mingren Immortal Emperor’s first battle. For any Immortal Emperor, the first battle was crucial—it was an opportunity to temper their Celestial Mandate.

Li Qiye had chosen the Burial Ground of an eternal, monstrous fiend for Mingren Immortal Emperor. Although Li Qiye didn’t personally lead the army at the time, he still witnessed a battle that shattered heaven and earth and blotted out the sun and moon.

That battle shattered the starry firmament and trampled over the Ten Thousand Realms. In the end, Mingren Immortal Emperor led the charge, fighting his way into the deepest part of the Burial Ground.

One of the spoils from fighting into the deepest part of the Burial Ground was this very Ancient Box. At the time, Li Qiye was on the verge of slumber. He had personally hoped that Mingren Immortal Emperor would refine the Yin Yang Blood Sea into his own personal Immortal Emperor’s Longevity Treasure.

However, Mingren Immortal Emperor, who now shouldered the Celestial Mandate, had absolute confidence in himself. His own Longevity Treasure was already astonishing enough to shake the ages, so he was unwilling to waste this treasure. In the end, he bestowed it as a reward upon the Nine Saints Great Sage, who had contributed the most to the battle.

After Li Qiye fell into slumber, he never inquired about the matter again. He had assumed the Nine Saints Great Sage had refined the Yin Yang Blood Sea into his own Longevity Treasure. It wasn’t until he opened the Holy Cave that he learned the Great Sage had never used the treasure.

At the moment he opened the Holy Cave, Li Qiye also understood that when the Nine Saints Great Sage had spoken of entrusting the Nine Saints Demon Gate to him, the ”incredible item” he mentioned leaving behind was none other than the Yin Yang Blood Sea.

BOOM— As Li Qiye dropped the two drops of the Yin Yang Blood Sea into his Life Wheel, his entire body shuddered. In that instant, it was as if two massive Seas of Blood had submerged his Life Wheel. His Life Wheel instantly turned a brilliant, bloody red, the light flooding his entire body.

The Blood Qi erupting from the two Seas of Blood was far too powerful. In an instant, Li Qiye’s Life Wheel showed signs of shattering, and his Life Palace became unstable. Even his physical body was battered by the impact, as if the peerless Blood Qi intended to destroy it.

BOOM—BOOM—BOOM— In that same instant, the Moon Vortex Sun Wheel Technique activated in its most domineering fashion, guiding the Blood Qi erupting from the two Seas of Blood and channeling it into the Life Wheel with all its might.

Any other Longevity Technique would have been utterly incapable of handling such peerless Blood Qi; it would be like a small horse trying to pull a giant cart. But the Moon Vortex Sun Wheel Technique was just that heaven-defying. The stronger the Blood Qi, the more powerful its vortex became and the more forcefully its turbine spun. In an instant, the Moon Vortex Sun Wheel Technique began to madly channel the immense volume of Blood Qi, drawing it into the Life Wheel.

However, the origin of the Yin Yang Blood Sea was simply too immense; it was an item that would move even an Immortal Emperor. At its current realm, the Moon Vortex Sun Wheel Technique couldn’t possibly guide all of the Blood Qi, nor could it absorb it all into the Life Wheel.

For a time, a tidal wave of Blood Qi submerged Li Qiye’s physical body and Life Palace, and the peerless energy threatened to destroy them both in an instant.

At this incomparably dangerous moment, the Prison Suppressing Divine Body that Li Qiye cultivated finally erupted. CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! The sound of Laws rang out, like Divine Chains being dragged through Hell. Each Divine Chain was immeasurably heavy, and each chain of the Body Technique suppressed the monstrous Blood Qi, forcefully compressing it into Li Qiye’s physical body and into the Prison Suppressing Divine Body itself!

At the same time, within Li Qiye’s Life Palace, the Kunpeng Six Transformations that constituted his Dao Foundation transformed into a colossal Kunpeng. The Kunpeng opened its maw and devoured a massive amount of Blood Qi, as if it could swallow the entire endless Vast Sea in one gulp. The Dao Foundation-turned-Kunpeng devoured the endless Blood Qi, then nourished the True Destiny with it. For a time, the light radiating from the True Destiny within the Life Palace was dazzling—a truly spectacular sight.

Suppressed time and again by the Moon Vortex Sun Wheel Technique, the Prison Suppressing Divine Body, and the Kunpeng Six Transformations, the two Seas of Blood finally calmed down within Li Qiye’s Life Wheel. The two seas merged, forming a disk of yin and yang. One yang, one yin, like two Yin Yang Fish endlessly circling within the Sea of Blood.

At this point, the Yin Yang Blood Sea was nourishing Li Qiye’s Life Wheel and strengthening his Blood Qi. The Essence Blood flowing from the Life Wheel washed over his muscles and bones, with every wisp seeping deep into his marrow. It gave Li Qiye the feeling of being completely reborn.

Unconsciously, Li Qiye had already stepped into the Body Tempering Stage. By using the Yin Yang Blood Sea to refine his Essence Blood and cleanse his Prison Suppressing Divine Body, he had raised his physique to an entirely new level.

The Yin Yang Blood Sea, like a pair of Yin Yang Fish, circulated endlessly within his Life Wheel. It appeared calm, but Li Qiye knew that with his current Dao Practice, he couldn’t unleash even one ten-thousandth of its Blood Qi. If he could truly bring forth all of the Yin Yang Blood Sea’s Divine Power, the results would be world-shaking. Blood Qi would surge to the Ninth Heaven, and gods and demons alike would tremble.

When Li Qiye finished his meditation, he found that Li Shuangyan was already standing outside his door, though he hadn’t noticed her arrival. At this moment, her pair of incomparably beautiful eyes were fixed on him.

”What kind of Demon Technique are you practicing?” Li Shuangyan was visibly shaken. She had been meditating in her own pavilion when she suddenly sensed an unparalleled surge of Blood Qi, only for it to be suppressed in the very next instant.

Though the fluctuation lasted for only a moment, it couldn’t escape the senses of a genius like Li Shuangyan. She knew the disturbance had come from Li Qiye.

The sudden fluctuation of Blood Qi had been so shocking that it made her wonder if Li Qiye was cultivating some kind of Demon Technique.

”Do I need to practice a Demon Technique?” In response to Li Shuangyan’s question, Li Qiye simply smiled and replied calmly.

Li Shuangyan stared at Li Qiye with shock and suspicion for a moment longer. In the end, she didn’t ask anything else and simply turned and left.