Dominator Emperor

Li Qiye came back to his senses and slowly walked toward the toad lying on the Dao Platform. He hadn’t expected the runaway toad to be lying here, completely still.

”What is this?” Chen Baojiao stared at the Dao Platform before her, momentarily dazed, and muttered to herself.

”Shhh—” Li Shuangyan gently shushed her, gesturing for Chen Baojiao to be quiet. She, too, stared intently at the toad on the Dao Platform. She knew this was the very toad Li Qiye had been relentlessly pursuing, the one he had chased for hundreds of thousands of miles without success.

Li Qiye stepped onto the Dao Platform, yet the toad remained completely motionless. A thumb-sized seed was perched on its forehead. The seed wasn’t very conspicuous; it was pitch-black and covered in barbs.

”Little guy, look what kind of treasure you’ve found.” At this moment, Li Qiye finally understood why the toad hadn’t fled. The problem lay with the seed perched on its head.

Li Qiye was visibly moved. He crouched down, stared at the seed, and said slowly, ”Incredible. To think it survived after all these years.”

If anyone knew the origin of this seed, they would be utterly astonished. This was a seed from the Pumo Tree, a rarity throughout the eons!

Back when the Pumo Tree was slain, the seed it had nurtured for millions of years had also matured. At that time, its nemesis, the Six Paths Lotus, had made a move. Simultaneously, Li Qiye and the Blood Seal Immortal Emperor, who had come here, launched an ambush against the Pumo Tree.

That battle was nothing short of tragic and brutal. The Pumo Tree had grown for countless eons, existing since the incomparably ancient Desolate Era. It was the supreme Demon Lord of this land! However, sniped by its nemesis, the Six Paths Lotus, and ambushed by Li Qiye—in his form as the Yin Ya—and the Blood Seal Immortal Emperor, even a being as powerful as the Pumo Tree couldn’t escape death.

As its main body was being destroyed, the Pumo Tree tried to send its seed away. However, it was incinerated by the Blood Seal Immortal Emperor’s Supreme Immortal Fire and pierced by the Six Paths Lotus’s Six Paths of Reincarnation. It was safe to say that a seed escaping underground under these conditions had no hope of survival.

Unexpectedly, after millions of years, this seed—which had basically been handed a death sentence—had actually repaired its fatal injuries. It just lacked a suitable opportunity to germinate and sprout.

This toad was an expert at identifying Spiritual Medicines and Immortal Herbs. After darting in here, it had managed to find this seed. The toad had originally intended to eat it, but the seed was no pushover and ended up perching on the toad’s forehead.

Both had astonishing origins, and they attacked each other. For a time, the toad was stuck with the seed clamped to its forehead, neither able to get the better of the other. The toad also possessed Spirit Communication, and it found this place, hoping to use the Dao Platform to kill the seed, but it didn’t know the proper method.

”Little guy, this isn’t going to work,” Li Qiye said with a grin as he crouched. ”You won’t be able to get rid of it like this. How about we make a deal? You stick with me, and I’ll help you remove it. Otherwise, if too much time passes, I’m afraid it will take root in your head. You’ll be in for a world of hurt then.”

The toad looked at Li Qiye for a long while before croaking once. Without a doubt, it had accepted Li Qiye’s terms.

”That’s more like it.” Li Qiye smiled, then took out the Lotus Ash and gently sprinkled it on the seed. As soon as the ash touched it, the seed immediately weakened. Its barbs instantly retracted, curling up like a suit of armor.

The moment the seed fell from the toad’s forehead, it tried to escape. However, with the Lotus Ash on it, even its escape attempt was at a snail’s pace.

”Trying to escape? Not today, don’t even think about it.” Li Qiye snatched the seed and placed it inside a Treasure Box filled with Lotus Ash, burying it. Although the seed was incredible, the Lotus Ash was its nemesis. Buried within the ash, it was completely at Li Qiye’s mercy, able only to retract all its barbs and lie dormant.

After securing the Pumo Tree’s seed, Li Qiye extended his palm toward the toad and said with a beaming smile, ”Little guy, it’s time to come home. Only I can unearth your true potential.”

The toad was very quiet. It then leaped onto Li Qiye’s palm. As it lay there, it slowly petrified, finally transforming into a small, wide-mouthed, toad-shaped furnace.

Seeing the toad transform into a small, wide-mouthed furnace left not only Li Shuangyan but even Niu Fen visibly moved.

”This isn’t an Immortal Beast, it’s a Furnace God!” Li Shuangyan exclaimed in astonishment. They had pursued this toad all this way, and Li Qiye had placed so much importance on it, making them think the unremarkable toad was some kind of Immortal Spirit Divine Beast. They never imagined it was actually a Furnace God.

Li Qiye carefully put away the Furnace God and said with a smile, ”I never said it was an Immortal Spirit Divine Beast. That’s right, it’s a Furnace God!” ’A peerless Furnace God,’ of course, he didn’t say that last part out loud.

This made Li Shuangyan and the others exchange glances. A precious Furnace God was indeed extremely rare, but this didn’t seem like Li Qiye’s style. No matter how precious a Furnace God was, could it be more valuable than a million-year Annual Ring? More valuable than Immortal Gold? Probably not.

Yet, Li Qiye had ignored the Treasure Gold Divine Iron hidden beneath Demon’s Back Ridge and tossed away a million-year Annual Ring like scrap metal, while placing so much importance on this wide-mouthed Furnace God!

This made Li Shuangyan and Niu Fen realize that this toad was likely more than just a simple Furnace God. However, since Li Qiye didn’t elaborate, they didn’t dare to ask.

Only then did Li Qiye pick up the Wooden Sword floating above the Dao Platform. The sword, like Obsidian Jade, was formed from two intertwined black and white strands, looking as if it were a natural creation.

The sword was incredibly heavy in his hand, even heavier than any Treasure Artifact forged from Divine Gold, possessing substantial weight.

BUZZ— The moment the sword was in his hand, it instantly erupted with two streams of light—one as white as an immortal gleam, the other as black as a demonic glow. The two streams of light intertwined, flowing ceaselessly like a pair of taiji fish, without beginning or end, a clear division of yin and yang!

At this moment, to hold this sword was like grasping black and white, like controlling yin and yang. Within the intertwined black and white light, ancient runes floated. This black and white radiance was like a vast, endless sea. And within this boundless black and white ocean, it seemed as if the infinite Great Dao, ancient Mystical Meanings, and the very origin of gods and demons were submerged.

”A million years have passed. To think it would draw the two root sources together. Mutually restraining yet generating each other... this is truly the Creation of the heavens and earth.” Li Qiye sighed, moved, as he held the sword.

This sword had an astonishing origin! Back then, during the great battle between the Six Paths Lotus and the Pumo Tree, he and the Blood Seal Immortal Emperor had ambushed the Pumo Tree. The Pumo Tree’s Primordial Spirit shattered, and its doom was sealed.

Knowing its life and death were on the line, the Pumo Tree, which was already on par with the gods, ejected its ancient root source, intending for it to escape underground.

One must understand, the Pumo Tree’s root source had an astonishing origin. If the Pumo Tree itself came into being during the ancient Wilderness Era, then its root source was born in the untraceable Mythical Era!

The entire Pumo Tree grew from this root source, eventually achieving its Dao and attaining Divinity Transformation! This root source hailed from a distant, untraceable age.

When the root source fled, neither Li Qiye, who was the Yin Ya at the time, nor the Blood Seal Immortal Emperor could catch it. In that instant, the root source of the Six Paths Lotus also ejected itself. The two became entangled, fighting to the death as they both plunged underground. After that, Li Qiye and the Blood Seal Immortal Emperor never found the root sources of the Pumo Tree and the Six Paths Lotus again.

For both the Pumo Tree and the Six Paths Lotus, losing their root source meant death!

Li Qiye had never expected that the Six Paths Lotus Root and the Pumo Tree’s root source would ultimately fight to their mutual demise, intertwining to become an Ancient Sword!

The root sources of the Six Paths Lotus and the Pumo Tree... they contained far too much. This practically represented the legacies of the Divine Tree and the Demon Tree!

”What a fine sword—” Niu Fen also had a discerning eye. Seeing the sword, he couldn’t help but say with emotion, ”Even a Divine King’s Artifact would be no better than this!”

”This is a Divine King’s Artifact?” Even Chen Baojiao was moved. Looking at the Dao Platform that pulsed with light like a blood diamond, she said, ”Could this be the Treasure of the Gods?”

Chen Baojiao had come for the Gods’ Technique. A Divine King’s Artifact held no allure for her, but the Gods’ Technique was what truly moved her heart.

”Treasure of the Gods?” Li Qiye laughed and shook his head. ”There are no gods here, nor is there any Treasure of the Gods. Heh, if there really were a Treasure of the Gods here, do you think it would be your turn to get it?”

”Then what’s inside?” Chen Baojiao looked at the Stone Platform, which resembled both a Dao Platform and a giant Treasure Box. It clearly looked like a container for something, especially with the blood-diamond-like light seeping out. Anyone would assume it held something extraordinary.

”I’m afraid that’s not something you want to know,” Li Qiye said, his eyes narrowed. ”What’s inside is a demon’s temptation. To open it is to open the Demon Box. It is when the Demon arrives.”

Li Qiye wasn’t joking. His words didn’t just startle Chen Baojiao; even Li Shuangyan and the others felt a jolt in their hearts. At that moment, they realized something.

”Come on up. It’s time for us to hunt the Demon,” Li Qiye instructed everyone.

Li Shuangyan and the others didn’t dare to hesitate and immediately stood on the Dao Platform. After stepping up, Chen Baojiao couldn’t help but ask, ”Is there really a Demon here?”

”What do you think?” Li Qiye shot her a look and said, ”What do you think those stems and roots that were trying to kill you just now were? Did you really think they were just enchanted tree roots? Heh, those were merely the tendrils growing from its body.”

Hearing this, Chen Baojiao’s expression changed. She thought back to the flood-like stems and roots from before, and a chill ran down her spine. If anything could be called a demon, then those tendrils certainly fell into that category.