Emperor’s Domination

The brilliance in the lake became brighter than ever after Li Qiye took out the piece of paper. Waves of immortal lights surged into the sky as if an immortal item was coming out.

A young stone golem from an ancient clan recognized the item in Li Qiye’s hand and jumped from shock before shouting: “That… That is the legendary Prime Ominous Key!”

The young cultivators in the far distance behind him were also astonished from disbelief: “What? The Prime Ominous Key?”

The Prime Ominous Key was something found only in the legends, very few actually saw it with their own eyes. It was said that in order to open the Prime Ominous Grave, one must possess the key.

Many people assumed that it had to be a key to open a lock. Who would have thought that it was not in a more traditional form and instead a piece of paper?

Everyone knew the significance behind the grave since there was a chance of obtaining the secret to everlasting life. This was something even more valuable than becoming an Immortal Emperor.

Qiurong Wanxue was stunned. At this time, she understood that he obtained the key from the Ancestral Flow Master.

Li Qiye held the key while spewing out a mantra: “Open!” The key emitted a bright radiance that shone down onto the lake, creating rippling waves.

The lake also displayed an image. This was a huge kingdom with as many divine temples and immortal pavilions as a city of the gods.

“Isn’t… that the kingdom in the sky?!” Someone exclaimed.

After being woken up by this person, everyone looked up to the sky for a comparison. It turned out that the lake’s image actually mirrored the kingdom in the sky.

Once people set foot on this landmass, many tried to reach the mysterious kingdom in the sky, but all had failed despite using a plethora of methods. Even geniuses like the Titanic Crescent Saint Child and the Ghost Insect Evil Child failed.

This created a lot of questions and aroused quite a bit of curiosity. Just where was this kingdom in the sky? What was inside? Could it be the dwelling of the gods?

A few suspected that it was only an illusion, but after many opened their heavenly gaze for a look, they found that it was real.

This then led to the question of how would one reach it since the kingdom was real?

Now, seeing the reflection of the kingdom in this lake, many young cultivators suddenly realized something.

“Could this lake be the key to reaching the kingdom in the sky?” One of them speculated.

“Rumble!” At a time when many were shocked, a platform rose up from the lake to reveal a gigantic dao gate.

A magical rune appeared on the key in Li Qiye’s hand. He quickly hugged Qiurong Wanxue and shouted: “Go!”

The moment the word came out, the dao gate sucked the two of them in.

Those who were following him became stunned. Someone who managed to react extremely fast quickly rushed after Li Qiye so that he could also get to the kingdom in the sky. However, he was blown away by the dao platform and couldn’t get close.

Right when others moved closer, the dao platform slowly sank back into the lake while the dao gate disappeared as well.

“What a pity!” Everyone stomped their feet with regret. They all just missed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“Maybe the kingdom in the sky is the place that contains the treasure mountain…” Someone murmured.

Everyone felt that this made sense. Rumor has it that the treasure mountain had never been found even after many generations. They couldn’t help but become very envious of Li Qiye when this thought came into their minds.

***

When Qiurong Wanxue regained her vision, she realized that the two of them had been transported to another location. Here, she felt herself floating since her body was as light as a feather. It felt as if she was about to ascend.

Qiurong Wanxue looked around and found herself in the middle of an ancient golden kingdom. Everything was covered by a magical light. This place was huge and had many ancient temples. These temples were gigantic; some were even bigger than a city.

At this time, Li Qiye and Qiurong Wanxue stood in front of the square of an ancient temple. The square was empty, but its vast size caused others to think that they were mere ants, that they were as insignificant as specks of dust.

This ancient temple was too large so one couldn’t see everything. It was as if this temple was a gigantic city.

Li Qiye brought Qiurong Wanxue towards this gigantic temple. They walked for a long time and eventually got closer. Here, Qiurong Wanxue noticed that there was a huge formation before the ancient temple.

To be more exact, it was a great ceremony. Many treasures were placed on top of this dao platform. After a careful look, she noticed that a few treasures on the platform were very familiar. She had seen them at Imp’s Coffin-tapping auction; they were the treasures other people traded to Imp.

That’s right, Imp was sitting in a meditative pose on the dao platform as if he was in a trance.

All of the treasures embedded on the platform emitted waves of tangible and lively immortal lights that ran across the markings until they entered Imp’s body.

After shooting out these lights, the light of the treasures dimmed as if they had lost their divinity.

She then understood that he traded and collected the treasures from Necropolis in order to use them. She whispered to Li Qiye who was beside her: “What is Imp trying to do?”

Li Qiye pointed at the gigantic temple before them and answered: “He wants to open the door to that place. He spent a lot of time to collect treasures from Necropolis in order to obtain the divinity hidden within them. Only a huge amount of divinity would be able to connect to the other side to open that door.”

Qiurong Wanxue stared at the ancient temple and noticed that the door was gigantic; it was even bigger than a city’s gate! It was not closed, but a barrier of light blocked the way, making it seem as if the path had been sealed by a supreme method.

However, this was not why she was shocked. She saw through the light and noticed the scene within the ancient temple and found herself completely stunned.

Inside the ancient temple was an endless sky filled with stars. In other words, it was another grand world.

This was a broken grand world. Stars were collapsing as the sky was shattered. It was a dead world where endless seas of lightning drowned everything. All dao were shattered. There seemed to be something tearing everything into pieces.

And this spectacle was not the most horrifying part. A rain of countless corpses fell down from the air. There were all kinds of creatures. From huge beasts to mummified human corpses to ant-like bodies… To sum it up, there were countless bodies falling down from the sky — such a terrifying scene.

In the sky was a huge opened door — the source of these falling corpses. It seemed that the power that wanted to tear this world apart came from this door.

Qiurong Wanxue saw a shadow standing by this door in the sky. It seemed as if this shadow was trying to stop the power from tearing apart the world, attempting to seal the countless falling bodies.

One couldn’t discern this shadow clearly as they could only see a vague outline, making it seem as if this shadow was only an illusion.

“What… is that?” Qiurong Wanxue asked. She felt a chill spreading throughout her body. Inside the temple was a terrifying image of the end of time. The world-tearing power and countless corpses raining down from the sky gave it a dreadful sense of foreboding.

Li Qiye had been quiet for a while. Eventually, he shook his head and gently sighed: “A disaster, a curse, a punishment from the heavens!”

Qiurong Wanxue looked at the shadow trying to turn the tide and asked: “Is that just… an illusion?”

Li Qiye also looked at the shadow, but he didn’t answer.

A long time later, Qiurong Wanxue shifted her gaze back to Imp sitting on the dao platform. By now, he had absorbed all the immortal lights from the treasures.

“How did Imp come in here?” Qiurong Wanxue curiously asked: “Does he also have the Prime Ominous Key?”

“No.” Li Qiye shook his head in response: “Imp is different from everyone else. As long as the conditions are there, he can come inside. However, Imp definitely cannot enter this ancient temple.”

Qiurong Wanxue didn’t know what the conditions were, but she remembered that Li Qiye once mentioned that Nightsea turning clear, the appearance of the golden ocean, and the confrontation between the Yang Nightfish and the handlers were due to Imp.

“Buzz!” Imp’s body became as bright as the sun. This radiance was intense to the point where no one could look straight at him. The treasures that were deprived of their divinity all shattered.

When the light from his body reached its limit, it suddenly turned into an unparalleled magical rune that seemed to block a supreme grand dao.

“Open!” Imp wildly shouted. At this moment, he had an invincible and heroic aura like a god of war that was peerless in the nine heavens; this aura made it feel as if an Immortal Emperor had arrived.

This aura was not aimed at them, but Qiurong Wanxue still couldn’t handle it and almost fell powerlessly to the ground. Li Qiye reached out and supported her back. A circular divine radiance from an unknown source appeared before him, but it was unable to stop this invincible aura.