Dominator Emperor

Zi Cui Ning was utterly shocked. The Immortal Blood Spear... just what kind of weapon was this? She had always believed it was a weapon forged by her Heavenly Sea City’s founder, the Black Dragon King! But now, it seemed that wasn’t the case at all.

For a moment, even Zi Cui Ning—a peerless prodigy who had weathered her fair share of storms—needed to calm herself. The day’s events had completely surpassed her expectations, and worse, they were intimately connected to her Heavenly Sea City.

Seeing Zi Cui Ning holding the Immortal Blood Spear with both hands, Li Qiye stated flatly, ”You wield the Black Dragon Spear and hail from Xiaohai Village. There’s no need for me to elaborate on the mission you carry, is there?”

Zi Cui Ning raised her head and stared at Li Qiye. After a long moment, she said in a deep voice, ”Who on earth are you?” At this point, she refused to believe Li Qiye was merely the Chief Disciple of the Xiyan Ancient Sect.

”That’s not important. What’s important is your mission!” Li Qiye said calmly. ”I left something in Xiaohai Village. Since you bear this mission, you should know what to do. Go see the Elders of Xiaohai Village and bring that item to me.”

Zi Cui Ning stared at Li Qiye, momentarily at a loss for words. She shouldered a mission unknown even to the disciples and leadership of Heavenly Sea City! The Black Dragon Spear was the token, but... ’She never imagined it would transform into the Immortal Blood Spear!’

”I must report this matter to the Elders,” Zi Cui Ning finally said, her voice grave.

Li Qiye gave a slight nod. ”You should. Otherwise, you won’t be able to retrieve the item. But you must not let anyone from Heavenly Sea City know about this—and that includes any of its current Elders!”

Zi Cui Ning took a deep breath. ”If you want this item, why not come to Heavenly Sea City with me?” She knew her mission was related to an item, but she had never known what it was.

”Me? Go to Heavenly Sea City?” Li Qiye chuckled. ”It wouldn’t be difficult for me. But if I did, I’m afraid your city would become a river of blood, a mountain of bones! Would you want to see that? Your founder, the Black Dragon King, wouldn’t want the countless disciples of his Heavenly Sea City to be slaughtered by my hand!”

”Such arrogance!” Zi Cui Ning’s expression turned grim, her eyes flashing with a cold light. In that instant, she was like the Hanhai Goddess, her aura overwhelming the heavens. Across the entire Human Emperor Realm, let alone the Nine Realms, how many dared boast of massacring their Heavenly Sea City? Even Emperor Immortal Gates gave Heavenly Sea City a wide berth, treating it with extreme caution!

Li Qiye glanced at Zi Cui Ning and chuckled. ”No need to get agitated or angry. I’m only speaking the truth. With your current Dao Practice and power, you’re strong enough to look down on the entire younger generation of the Human Emperor Realm. You could even challenge figures of the older generation. But in my eyes, killing you would be effortless. With a single thought, I could have the Immortal Blood Spear execute you...”

”...The Immortal Blood Spear is a peerless Fierce Weapon that wouldn’t shy away even from an Immortal Emperor True Artifact. Why did I give such a treasure to you? Because I don’t care about it! Just as I don’t care how powerful your Heavenly Sea City might be. I don’t want to see your Heavenly Sea City flow with rivers of blood because your founder, the Black Dragon King, was a remarkable man. I have no desire to slaughter his descendants!”

Li Qiye delivered this speech with an air of complete nonchalance, but a chill went through Zi Cui Ning’s heart.

’The Black Dragon Spear, the Immortal Blood Spear... whatever its name, it’s undoubtedly an invincible weapon. Yet Li Qiye clearly couldn’t care less about it. If it were anyone else, would they have been willing to return such a peerless Fierce Weapon after getting their hands on it?’

”Go back and bring me what’s mine,” Li Qiye finally said to Zi Cui Ning.

Zi Cui Ning took one last deep breath, retracted the Immortal Blood Spear, and finally said to Li Qiye, ”I will fulfill my mission. However, I can’t guarantee when I can get you the item you want.”

”I can wait,” Li Qiye said calmly. ”But don’t test my patience. I’d rather not make a personal trip to Heavenly Sea City, and I certainly don’t want my next visit to be one that unleashes a bloodbath.”

Zi Cui Ning snorted coldly, clearly displeased with his words. ’If anyone else had dared to provoke Heavenly Sea City like this, she would have taught them a harsh lesson!’

”Remember my words: be wary of Gu Venerable!” Li Qiye called out as Zi Cui Ning reached the doorway.

Zi Cui Ning spun around, staring coldly at Li Qiye. ”Are you trying to sow discord?” she asked in a low, dangerous tone.

Gu Venerable was the patriarch of Heavenly Sea City and one of the most powerful existences in the world. He had once been invincible in the Human Emperor Realm, had swept through the Nine Realms, and was a supreme genius who had been qualified to become an Immortal Emperor! Today, though Patriarch Gu Venerable rarely made public appearances, he was still the ultimate authority in Heavenly Sea City. Some even claimed he was the single most powerful being in the entire Human Emperor Realm.

As a disciple and successor of Heavenly Sea City, the idea that Li Qiye was telling her to be wary of her own patriarch was simply preposterous.

Li Qiye showed no reaction to Zi Cui Ning’s attitude, only offering a faint smile. ”Believe it or not. In my eyes, what’s a Gu Venerable? To your Heavenly Sea City, what’s a Gu Venerable...? Forget it. It’s a waste of breath telling you these things.”

Zi Cui Ning stared coldly at Li Qiye, but in the end, she said nothing more. She turned and left in a hurry.

After Zi Cui Ning was gone, Li Qiye let out a soft sigh. ’The things I left behind in Heavenly Sea City... it’s far more than just one item! I have a supreme Treasure Vault there. If the world knew about it, they would go absolutely mad!’

’If Lu Changsun were still alive, opening the supreme Treasure Vault wouldn’t be difficult at all. But unfortunately, Lu Changsun, the Black Dragon King’s chief disciple, is long gone. Now, the ruler of Heavenly Sea City is Gu Venerable! Now, unless I’m prepared to bathe Heavenly Sea City in blood, retrieving that Treasure Vault won’t be so easy.’ The Black Dragon King had sacrificed too much. As the one who had personally nurtured the Black Dragon King, Li Qiye didn’t want to one day personally destroy the flourishing Heavenly Sea City.

As for Gu Tieshou, he was drenched in a cold sweat. ’The successor of Heavenly Sea City came in person! What an earth-shattering event!’ To a behemoth like Heavenly Sea City, the Xiyan Ancient Sect’s current strength wasn’t even worth a second glance. The personal visit from the Heaven-Suppressing Goddess put immense pressure on him. He was terrified of angering such a colossal power.

What was the mere Holy Heaven Sect compared to Heavenly Sea City! So, after seeing Zi Cui Ning off, Gu Tieshou, who had been on pins and needles the entire time, finally let out a sigh of relief.

”Will there be trouble from Heavenly Sea City?” After seeing Zi Cui Ning off, Gu Tieshou found Li Qiye and asked probingly. He had no idea what Zi Cui Ning and Li Qiye had discussed, let alone why she had come looking for Li Qiye in the first place!

”I’m the only one who causes trouble for others. If others come looking for trouble with me, they must be tired of living,” Li Qiye said nonchalantly.

Speechless in the face of Li Qiye’s arrogance, Gu Tieshou could only manage a wry smile. ’This is Heavenly Sea City we’re talking about!’ But by now, he had grown accustomed to Li Qiye’s audacity.

Li Qiye looked at Gu Tieshou and shook his head gently. ”Our Xiyan Ancient Sect is too weak. Our foundation is too shallow.”

”We lacked the resources,” Gu Tieshou replied helplessly with a wry smile. As a former Guardian of the Xiyan Ancient Sect, of course he wanted the sect to grow stronger. He had the will, but he lacked the means.

”We’ll just have to work at it. We’re slowly starting to accumulate resources now,” Li Qiye could only say. Rome wasn’t built in a day. The current Xiyan Ancient Sect still had a long road ahead. Most importantly, they needed to nurture the younger generation.

”I’ll have the Spiritual Elixirs and Herbs sent over in the next couple of days.” Gu Tieshou was truly giving his all for the Xiyan Ancient Sect.

Li Qiye nodded. ”Let’s start recruiting disciples. Have Luo Fenghua take charge of training the new entry-level disciples. That kid has a talent for it.”

Gu Tieshou nodded in agreement. In truth, the Xiyan Ancient Sect had improved dramatically over the past two or three years. During that time, the development of the younger generation had been quite successful, especially the disciples from Washing Stone Peak, who were particularly outstanding.

At the same time, the batch of disciples Su Yonghuang brought back had also significantly bolstered the sect’s strength. However, compared to powers like the Holy Heaven Sect or the Qingxuan Ancient Country, the Xiyan Ancient Sect was still far from their equal. They had a long road ahead and would have to work diligently to build their strength.

「Three days later.」

Gu Tieshou delivered all the Spiritual Medicine Li Qiye required. The sheer volume of Spiritual Elixirs and Herbs filled an entire hall—it was practically the Xiyan Ancient Sect’s entire remaining inventory.

The moment he heard Li Qiye was going to perform alchemy, Elder Sun, the Xiyan Ancient Sect’s foremost Pharmacist, was the first to rush over. After all, Elder Sun had always been incredibly optimistic about Li Qiye’s talent for alchemy; he had even once wanted Li Qiye to become the sect’s official Pharmacist.

In fact, Li Qiye intended to pass on some of his Alchemy Techniques to Elder Sun and his disciples, so he not only permitted Elder Sun to observe but also told him to bring the sect’s most talented pharmacists to assist.

”Prepare all the ingredients for one-transformation and two-transformation pills. Get ready to add them to the cauldron,” Li Qiye commanded directly when he saw Elder Sun and his group arrive.

”Get ready to add them?” Elder Sun glanced at the mountain of medicinal ingredients. ”But... with this many ingredients, refining them all into one and two-transformation Life Pills would take two or three years.”

”I have a plan,” Li Qiye stated.

Seeing Li Qiye’s brimming confidence, Elder Sun didn’t dare to tarry. He immediately led his disciples to carry out Li Qiye’s orders, eager to see what new miracle he would perform.