Emperor’s Domination

Si Yuanyuan stared at Li Qiye for a long time before asking: “What do you want me to do?”

No one believed that a free lunch existed in this world.

“What do you think I can get from you? Your beauty? Talent? Strength?” Li Qiye smiled and shook his head: “While it is true that you have a lot of potential, you aren’t the most exceptional in my eyes. You don’t need to do anything for me. In a way, I can’t give you anything either, outside of introducing you to the primordial law of your Blood Race. What’s next is up to you.”

“I don’t understand.” Si Yuanyuan shook her head and grimaced. She couldn’t be blamed. Anyone else would be quite cautious at this development.

The two of them didn’t know each other, this was their first meeting. Nevertheless, Li Qiye was still willing to teach her the Blood Race’s primordial law as well as take her under his wing. How could there be such a good opportunity with no cost?

Si Yuanyuan’s brows furrowed in contemplation. After a bit, she asked: “We don’t know each other and this is our first meeting, why do you want to pass this merit law down to me?”

Li Qiye smiled and said: “If you must think that I have an ulterior motive, then you can think about it this way: this is for the Blood Race, for the human race, and especially for the nine worlds. Perhaps the day will come when the fallen beneath the abyss will rise again, when your Blood Race becomes engulfed in darkness. I believe that they will need a great person to lead them.”

“What is this ‘fallen beneath the abyss’?” Si Yuanyuan didn’t understand his answer.

“This topic involves too many things, even the origin of your Blood Race.” Li Qiye explained: “You don’t need to know for now. If such a day comes, I believe you will come to understand…” But before he finished his explanation, Li Qiye disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Near the entrance by a bush of flowers, a head was popping in and out to catch glimpses of the entire valley. This was the Crimson Night Duke who was blown away by Arcane Guru’s sleeve.

He was bedridden for a long time after the attack and was truly resentful about the whole matter. He couldn’t provoke an existence like Arcane Guru, so he placed all of his hatred onto Li Qiye instead.

Recently, he tried to find Li Qiye’s whereabouts. At the same time, Li Qiye took his time strolling through this area and didn’t try to hide his position, so the duke came running.

“What are you looking for? Me?” As he was still peeking his head out to take a look, a leisurely voice suddenly came from behind him.

The voice startled him. He immediately turned around and saw Li Qiye, prompting him to yell: “It’s you!”

Li Qiye looked at the duke: “So? Following me all this way, are you tired of living?”

Meeting one’s enemy again was definitely an emotional matter. The duke’s eyes turned fierce as he coldly spoke: “Tired of living? It’s you who is ignoring the accepting heavens and barging into the unwelcoming hell!”

During his period of tracking, he became certain that Li Qiye was an ordinary person. Without the presence of an expert like Arcane Guru, the duke became bolder. The hatred in his heart wouldn’t go away until he killed this nobody.

“This sentence seems to apply more to you.” Li Qiye smiled.

“Good, good, such a big tone. A feeble ant dares to bluster in front of me… If I don’t kill you today, I wouldn’t be the Crimson Night Duke!”

He believed that without the guru present, no one would know if he killed Li Qiye in this desolate place.

“Duke, don’t. You really aren’t his match.” As the duke became more audacious, a calm voice resounded. Si Yuanyuan made her appearance.

“Senior Sister Si…” The bold duke took an alarmed step backward at the sight of her.

He calmed down and looked at Li Qiye then glanced over at Si Yuanyuan. He sneered and spoke words with a thinly veiled meaning: “Sister Si, the ancestors have been searching for you for a long time now. I was also ordered to come here to look for you. If something happens to me, the ancestors will know that I’ve been to this place.”

The duke’s words were too obvious. He was implying that if Si Yuanyuan wanted to kill him, the ancestors would find out right away.

Si Yuanyuan was not angry after hearing him. She slightly frowned and spoke: “Duke, you are too paranoid. It is not too late to leave right now.”

The duke looked at the two again with uncertainty. He wanted to kill Li Qiye, but he was also very afraid of Si Yuanyuan.

Although he came from the imperial family and Si Yuanyuan came from a side branch, she was very powerful. Otherwise, the main descendant of the imperial family, Chi Zixian, wouldn’t be so wary of her.

Li Qiye glanced at the hesitating duke and spoke: “I’m in a good mood right now, and since Miss Si has pleaded for you, scram.”

The duke snorted in response. He told Si Yuanyuan before leaving: “Sister Si, don’t forget to return to the kingdom. The ancestors miss you.” He turned around and left after that. He was worried that she might change her mind.

After he disappeared outside of the valley entrance, Li Qiye looked at Si Yuanyuan: “You shouldn’t have let him go. Now you won’t be able to hide in this place anymore.”

Si Yuanyuan paused for a moment before answering: “We disciples of Crimson Night are taught not to kill each other. I have the responsibility to protect him.”

“Unfortunately, he does not share the same sentiment.” Li Qiye gently shook his head: “It isn’t too late for you to follow me right now.”

Si Yuanyuan mused it over. She turned around to look at the flower valley behind her and felt a bit sad. She understood that after the duke left, the ancestors were certain to come to this place. However, she didn’t want to go back to Crimson Night right now!

“Where are we going?” Eventually, she made her decision and took the next step.

Li Qiye looked at the horizon and slowly said: “The Holy City.”

“The Holy City!” Si Yuanyuan’s expression quickly shifted: “Our kingdom’s largest external division is located right in the Holy City. Going there is the same as jumping into a net!”

“You just need to follow me. Crimson Night can’t do anything to me.” Li Qiye nonchalantly claimed.

Such a nonchalant sentence was full of overbearing confidence. Even Si Yuanyuan, who only came to know him recently, felt a sense of safety at hearing this.

“I’m actually more afraid that your kingdom won’t come to bother me at the Holy City this time around.” With that, he looked at her for a bit before continuing: “If you want, I can give you the Thunder Tower!”

Her expression sank after hearing this. She gently shook her head to refuse: “I don’t want to harm any disciples of the kingdom. I agreed to follow you, not to oppose Crimson Night!”

“Very well.” He replied: “Then let us hope that your kingdom’s disciples have eyes like yours.”

She gently sighed and curiously asked: “You have a feud with the Crimson Night Duke?”

“Feud? He isn’t qualified for that.” Li Qiye gently shook his head: “But if he wants to die, I can help him.”

“The duke is part of the imperial family, a distant relative of Chi Zixian.” She warned: “If you kill the duke, I’m afraid that not only Chi Zixian, but the entire family will not let it go.”

“So what?” Li Qiye answered dismissively as if he didn’t care about such a thing.

She continued: “The backing behind Chi Zixian is no joke. The ancestor behind them is the Storm God. In our kingdom or maybe even in the entire Barren Earth, no one dares to provoke Ancestor Storm.”

“Storm God, right?” Li Qiye calmly said: “I know who she is. She’s the daughter of Immortal Emperor Chen Xue — a vixen, that’s all.” 1

Si Yuanyuan was speechless. The Storm God didn’t only have a high position in their kingdom, she was a very influential character across the southern region. Her stomp could cause the entire Barren Earth to tremble.

She was Immortal Emperor Chen Xue’s second daughter. No one in this entire region would dare to offend her.

Because Chi Zixian had such a backing, Si Yuanyuan couldn’t obtain the grooming of the imperial family. In fact, some ancestors wanted to train her, but Si Yuanyuan was too big of a threat to Chi Zixian. At this moment, she was already a strong rival even before training in any emperor laws. Once she did, she would be much more powerful and control of the kingdom would fall into her grasp!

Because of this, the ancestors from Chi Zixian’s branch vetoed her entrance to the imperial family. This left the other ancestors who wanted to train her helpless since they couldn’t oppose the pressure coming from the other branch.

“Come, it’s time to go.” Li Qiye told Si Yuanyuan: “As long as I’m here, the heaven and earth shall be vast and myriad dao shall be smooth. This Storm God or whatever, she’s not worthy to be in my sight.” With that, he walked outside the valley.

Si Yuanyuan gently sighed. She had to keep up with him. She didn’t know whether following Li Qiye was the right choice or not, but she didn’t have many options right now and wasting more time was not something she wished to do!

1. Chen Xue = Blood of the Earth. Earth here could also be referring to the mundane/secular/mortal world. It is a very humble title compared to Jiao Heng or Hong Tian.