Emperor’s Domination

Li Qiye was trying to steer Si Yuanyuan on the right path. Of course, she couldn’t feel the true pulse here because this was a secret relating to the hill, the Hidden-dragon Mountains, and even the Holy City!

She curiously asked again: “If Young Noble’s knocking isn’t for enlightenment, then what is it for?”

Li Qiye smiled: “Enlightenment at Tiger Hill, treasures on the Dragon Platform — these are indeed not just empty words. To be precise, they are not two separate events. Without climbing Tiger Hill, how could one reach the Dragon Platform?!”

“Young Noble is saying that in order to obtain the treasures, one must climb Tiger Hill? That it is impossible to obtain the treasures by forcefully climbing up to the Dragon Platform?” She quickly replied.

“That’s one way to put it. Of course, climbing Tiger Hill does not guarantee treasures at the end.” Li Qiye shook his head: “The items here cannot be obtained overnight through comprehension.”

“So is it true that people have obtained treasures on the platform?” Si Yuanyuan inquired again with great interest. Everyone knew about the popular phrase, but no one knew whether someone had actually obtained treasure or not.

“Treasures. The Dragon Platform doesn’t only have one or two treasures; some of them are quite unfathomable. In fact, a small yet exceptional group was able to obtain a few treasures.” He stood to the side and elaborated: “Among them, the most incredible treasure was won by Immortal Emperor Xue Xi! Because he obtained the treasure from this place, he was able to escape from several mortal dangers along his arduous path!” 1

Immortal Emperor Xue Xi was one of the two emperors that were not an Ancient Ming during the Ancient Ming Era. Back then, this entire land was in the Ancient Ming’s grasp. Li Qiye tried very hard to bring the emperor to this place. They mixed in with the Ancient Ming and searched for enlightenment. Ultimately, they obtained quite an extraordinary item!

Of course, he didn’t come here for the treasures on the platform. He was walking these stairs in order to feel the land. Outsiders did not know, but Tiger Hill and the Dragon Platform had a lot to do with the Hidden-dragon Mountains. With the Dracofruit on him, he was able to confirm a few conjectures!

Si Yuanyuan stopped her questioning and continued to follow him quietly.

They walked one slow step at a time. During their trip, many people flew to the top of the Dragon Platform. They consisted of young experts invited by the Blood-devil Tribe, many of whom were geniuses.

Among these newcomers, Bai Jian — as one of the five saints — was just as famous as the Half-moon Princess. He only needed one step to climb the hill as ancient symbols floated around him. He seemed to have come from an archaic world while accompanied by a timeworn aura. A sword still sheathed; once released, it would be able to slash the sun and moon.

Both Bai Jian and the Half-moon Princess were part of the five saints. However, his background was even more frightening than the princess’. He came from an imperial lineage, the Grand Palm Ancient Court, an existence that the Half-moon Tribe couldn’t compare to.

“Will all five saints from the Blood Race be here this time?” After seeing Bai Jian, some cultivators down below wondered with a tinge of emotion.

“It is not only the older generation of the Blood Race that is full of solidarity, even the younger generation is united. If the five saints join together, geniuses from the other races in the southern region will not have an easy time.” A human cultivator lamented with a sigh.

In the Barren Earth, humans were definitely not weaker than the Blood Race and could even be considered stronger. Although the Blood Race had the Blood Primal Ground, the humans had an existence like Heavenguard as well as the Holy City!

However, over the years, Heavenguard had been indifferent to worldly matters and rarely interacted with others. The Holy City was even more distant and quiet. Because of this, humans lacked the same cohesive force compared to the unified Blood Race. Its momentum became stronger than the human race’s.

Si Yuanyuan saw Bai Jian flying up with his floating symbols and emotionally said: “The rune art from the Grand Palm Ancient Court is indeed worthy of its fame.”

Li Qiye only smiled and commented: “No need to be envious of others. As long as you go down this road, you will surpass them and go much further. Perhaps the responsibility of ruling over the Blood Race will fall onto your shoulders in the future.”

“I am only a little girl, how could I shoulder the Blood Race?” Si Yuanyuan gently shook her head. She was not looking down on herself but merely telling the truth. Not to mention lineages like the Crimson Night Kingdom and Blood-devil Tribe, just the Blood Primal Ground alone that had stood strong for ages made it unnecessary for her to do anything.

“Don’t belittle yourself. As long as you can cultivate the law I gave you, it will be possible.” Li Qiye smiled: “One day when the responsibility actually falls upon you, you will come to understand just how right I am. I didn’t just pick a random person to give this primordial law to.”

She sighed softly and didn’t want to respond. She had chosen to follow him so she shall do so without regrets.

They continued forward with their climb. Keep in mind that this stairway had several thousand steps; climbing it all was not something that could be accomplished in a short amount of time.

“Ay!” After reaching the halfway point, a sneer came out. The Swiftsword Marquis was floating in the air with many other young and famous experts from the Blood Race.

He coldly glanced at Li Qiye and mocked: “An errand boy wanting to be enlightened in Tiger Hill’s path! I’m afraid this is just an idiot’s dream.”

In his eyes, whether Li Qiye was Ye Chuyun’s errand boy or not didn’t matter. He just wanted to mock him because his senior brother, Chi Tianyu, liked Ye Chuyun while Li Qiye and her were always together. This was something his brother was very bitter about.

“Brother Swiftsword, he is only a mortal. Even if he lives till one hundred, he still wouldn’t be able to learn anything from Tiger Hill’s path.” A Blood expert next to the marquis burst into laughter.

However, Li Qiye was too lazy to even glance at these insects. He continued forward and simply ignored them. Si Yuanyuan behind him didn’t reply either. She was very obedient at this moment. If he didn’t speak, she wouldn’t take charge either.

“Haha, a lowly mortal trying to understand Tiger Hill, he doesn’t know his own limits. I suppose an ignorant fool can’t be scared of anything.” The marquis guffawed as well before bringing the group to the top.

As Li Qiye continued his ascent, the sensation that only he could feel became stronger. He couldn’t help but stare at the Hidden-dragon Mountains in the distance. Its dragon-like contours gave an indescribable and suppressive feeling, as if it was a sleeping dragon.

“Just like I thought. What is causing this?” He murmured with his gaze still on the mountains. He understood why the guru talked about the natal beat in that place. The truth was that it was not a real heartbeat, but the guru didn’t know about this particular secret.

As the Dark Crow, Li Qiye had studied the mountains before. However, this change exceeded his calculations; it was happening much sooner than he had estimated.

This puzzled him. What brought about this particular change?

Eventually, they finally made it past all the stone steps and reached the Dragon Platform!

The platform was at the summit of the hill. From a quick glance, it resembled a dragon head roaring at the sky. Another section paved with stone appeared to be very flat as if it was a training field.

There was a big cave along this flat peak with many sharp stone pillars jutting out from within. Looking downward at it, it seemed to be bottomless, reaching all the way down to the deepest depths of the earth. This was the part that resembled a dragon’s mouth.

It had a great origin story. Legend states that there was an incredible treasure trove down there, but only the fated ones were able to obtain them. No one dared to go straight down despite the rumors. This was out of fear due to past examples. Many had gone down before, including Godkings. However, no one made it out alive.

No one knew why, but in short, those who fell down wouldn’t be able to come back out. They would disappear completely, as if they had vanished into thin air. Later on, only the well-known phrase about the treasures here was left. People seldom heard about those in generations long passed who actually obtained something from this place.

Li Qiye couldn’t help but smile after stepping onto the platform since he had mastered the beat of this area. It was just like back then when he brought Immortal Emperor Xue Xi to this place. He could definitely take another treasure, but as for which one… that was up to fate.

Si Yuanyuan glanced around and saw many people gathering on the platform. All of them were young experts of the southern regions, many of whom were considered geniuses. The Blood-devil Tribe was the leader here.

There were also experts from the demon and human races. However, they were scarce in number.

1. I think everyone knows Xue Xi = Blood Seal by now. However, I forgot to add that “seal” here is an imperial seal used by emperors to endorse edicts. Thus, this name is even grander than previously.