Emperor’s Domination

“Well, where do I start…” The monarch rubbed his palms nervously with a worried and embarrassed expression: “I don’t really know the exact situation within the imperial family right now.”

Li Qiye grew serious: “Monarch, tell me what you know. There are no outsiders here, so you can be frank.”

The monarch pondered for a moment before speaking: “In the worst case scenario, the princess might have been temporarily restrained by the ancestors. After receiving the last message, I haven’t received anything new from her, and I can’t find Grandma Bai either.”

“Under house arrest or removed from her position?” A pensive glimmer appeared in his eyes. He considered her as one of his people, so he absolutely didn’t want anything to happen to her.

The monarch smiled wryly and said: “Hard to say. I am almost blind with no information regarding the imperial family’s situation right now. Currently, the ancestors are in charge, and even His Highness can only follow orders.”

“What actually happened?” Li Qiye deepened his tone.

As its descendant, Ming Yexue was extremely important to the kingdom. If the ancestors actually wanted to remove her status, something big must have occurred.

“Young Noble Li, this matter stems from your driver.” The monarch responded seriously: “Plus, this guy caused big trouble in the past.”

“Do tell.” Li Qiye knew that things really weren’t looking so good after hearing about Tie Yi’s involvement.

“Young Noble Li’s driver is the infamous Black Fox!” The monarch said: “Did you know his identity?”

“Black Fox?” Li Qiye rubbed his chin in contemplation. In fact, Tie Yi’s identity didn’t matter to him. The crucial point was that he trusted Tie Yi, and Tie Yi was loyally working for him.

“Young Noble Li, this is no laughing matter.” The monarch raised his voice: “The Black Fox caused huge problems back then. He offended all the sects in this world and even stole a few treasures from our kingdom!”

“Tie Yi is the Black Fox?” The madam standing to the side was startled. As a great Demon King and the ruler of Giant Bamboo, she couldn’t be more familiar with the tales of Black Fox. Back then, everyone in the Stone Medicine World heard of his stories.

Plus, Black Fox had always been very mysterious. There was a rumor that no one had seen his face or knew of his background.

The madam asked with surprise: “No one had seen his true appearance or knew his background, so how could the kingdom be so sure that Tie Yi is Black Fox?”

The monarch responded: “I am not very clear on the exact circumstances. I heard that the Stony Peak’s Ye Qingcheng had come to meet the ancestors from the imperial family. It seems that Ye Qingcheng is the one that found out Black Fox’s identity.”

“Ye Qingcheng?” Li Qiye’s eyes flashed. Ye Qingcheng actually came to the kingdom and discovered Black Fox’s true identity — this was too much of a coincidence. It seemed like Ye Qingcheng came for him specifically.

The monarch continued: “I heard that the ancestors reacted very strongly about Black Fox’s matter, but the princess tried her best to calm the opposition and the ancestors. She wanted to wait until Young Noble was finished with your refinement to settle this matter peacefully. Later on, I don’t know how Ye Qingcheng convinced the ancestors to eventually make a move to capture Black Fox.”

“Ye Qingcheng!” The glimmer turned cold in Li Qiye’s eyes. This was a clear shot at him. Ye Qingcheng wanted nothing more than for both him and the kingdom to be destroyed. Perhaps this was a method to use the kingdom against him.

Although the two had never met, their feud had been forged long ago. Plus, if he couldn’t recruit an existence like Li Qiye, then Li Qiye would be a great threat to him in the future. Because of this, he must kill Li Qiye as soon as possible before Li Qiye’s wings matured; he must erase this anxiety from his mind!

“Ye Qingcheng is still an outsider though.” Yuan Caihe interjected: “Miss Ming is your descendant, so your ancestors could not have foolishly listened to an outsider and restrained her.”

“Virtuous Niece, there is no point saying these words to me.” The monarch wryly laughed and said: “This is the decision of the ancestors. I am only a noble and have no power to question or interfere, not to mention that I don’t know the exact details either.”

“No.” Li Qiye waved his sleeve dismissively: “Ye Qingcheng is only fanning the fire, and Black Fox is only an excuse. The ancestors of the kingdom are simply playing dumb! They wanted to take action long ago but were missing an excuse! They want to capture Black Fox first, then point their swords at me later!”

Li Qiye sneered after saying this. He knew what the ancestors wanted to do. First of all, the God-Monarchs would not easily let this go after suffering such a humiliating defeat. Second, Li Qiye had the heart of the Phoenix and even the skeleton. The ancestors would want these treasures back. The third and most crucial point was that they wanted to break the vow of old!

The powerful kingdom had been keeping a low profile since that year and never showed itself to the world. However, as time passed, things would change.

Perhaps within the last one or two generations, a few ancestors of the kingdom had become restless. This was especially true during the Difficult Dao Era. Some of the ancestors might have lost their patience.

However, the kingdom was indeed a monstrous behemoth; no one had dared to try them on. But now, Li Qiye offended the kingdom and even brought the fire of war all the way to their ancestral ground.

How could these restless ancestors let go of such a good opportunity? They needed Li Qiye to fan this fire of war, preferably to also involve Allpine Mountain and the Allpine Ancestors.

As a result, they would have a reason to break the vow of old and escape from its restraint!

A few ancestors had been waiting for this kind of opportunity for too long, and now the time was ripe!

The monarch could only sigh. This matter was on a level that far exceeded his influence and capabilities.

“Where is Black Fox right now?” Li Qiye raised his voice.

The monarch responded with a wry smile: “I don’t know this either. He is very clever; after catching wind of this, he immediately escaped before our ancestors could even take action. Later on, his whereabouts were discovered several times, but he still managed to flee. Right now, our kingdom is mustering all of our might to capture him.”

The monarch looked at Li Qiye: “Young Noble Li, I’m afraid such a situation will not last. The patience of the ancestors is limited. If they can’t catch Black Fox, they might move onto you instead!”

“I understand this.” Li Qiye nodded gently. In fact, this was only a matter of time for the ancestors of the kingdom.

“Young Noble Li, this is all I can do. If it wasn’t for the princess entrusting me…” The monarch only sighed and didn’t finish the sentence.

Li Qiye replied: “I appreciate Monarch taking the risk to come here. Please return. The longer you stay, the more dangerous it will be for you.”

The monarch coming here in secret was a very risky undertaking. If discovered by the imperial family, then a light sentence would be a grave punishment, and a harsh sentence would be treating it as treason against the kingdom and the ancestors! This was a very heavy crime.

If it wasn’t for Ming Yexue’s request and that Li Qiye had saved his son’s life, the monarch wouldn’t have been willing to take such a risk to tell Li Qiye this information.

After sending the monarch away, the madam worriedly asked: “Young Master, what should we do now?”

“No rush, this is only a speculation from the ancestors, they have no evidence.” Li Qiye chuckled: “Otherwise, would they be waiting all this time? No, they would have taken action already. If they want evidence, then they have to capture Tie Yi first!”

“With their formidable strength, capturing Tie Yi might just be a matter of time.” Yuan Caihe was concerned as well. It was completely different this time since the kingdom was determined to fight.

“Not true.” Li Qiye shook his head: “If the kingdom could capture Tie Yi, then they would have done so by now.”

Li Qiye smiled: “This old man’s ability to run for his life can definitely overwhelm an entire generation. He can instantly disappear from this earth if he really wanted to run, and those old geezers would have no way of finding him. Why is it that these geezers were able to find his location several times?”

“Young Master is saying that Tie Yi purposely exposed his whereabouts in order to attract the ancestors so that they won’t disturb your refinement…” The madam speculated.

Li Qiye nodded: “You can put it that way. Those old geezers know that I am not easy to trifle with, and they have no evidence so they can’t directly aim for me. This being the case, things were not right for them to make a move. However, if Tie Yi disappears completely, then these geezers will immediately break all pretenses. They must first capture Tie Yi alive.”

At this point, he sneered: “If they manage to capture him, then it wouldn’t just be him stealing from their kingdom! Perhaps I am the dark hand behind the curtains, or perhaps Allpine Mountain and even the forefather will be the real culprit.”

“How can that be?” Yuan Caihe was astonished: “They would even antagonize Allpine Mountain or even the forefather over just a Black Fox?”

“They might not necessarily want to fight against the forefather. However, they need an excuse to maneuver their troops, a reason to show themselves in the world again!” Li Qiye chortled contemptuously. How could he not know what these ancestors were planning?