Emperor’s Domination

“I know all of you are feeling indignant.” The old voice spoke: “But there is no other way about it. The Giant Bamboo Country is not considered strong, so even if they are listed amongst the first-rate powers, it would still be at the bottom. However, in the minds of all the great existences, it is a forbidden zone in our Stone Medicine World.”

“Forbidden zone?” All the elders were stunned since this was their first time hearing this. The clan master couldn’t help but ask: “Why is that?”

“Don’t ask me for I do not know either. In short, it is a forbidden zone. If this wasn’t so, then why does that country occupy a huge amount of worldly energy from the entire Elegant Azure Grand Vein and no one has ever dared to object to this since the ancient times?” The voice of the sacred ancestor continued: “Even the Alchemy Kingdom would not easily step into the Giant Bamboo Country. Their Hundred-Grass Alchemy Emperor had once coveted the Immortal Nectar, but even he didn’t dare to try and seize it!”

After hearing this, all the elders became confused. Could it be that this little country had something that even the Alchemy Kingdom was wary of?

“Is it because of their Divine Guardian?” The clan master asked.

The ancestor’s voice answered: “I’m afraid no one knows. At least, I don’t. In short, don’t think about attacking the Giant Bamboo Country. That peaceful land is a forbidden zone, breaking its tranquility will only invite a disaster.”

The elders and clan master became silent. Since their Sacred Ancestor Gu had said so, they didn’t bring it up again.

“But the blood of our Huangfu Clan will not be spilled in vain.” The ancestor spoke again in a grave tone: “Clan Master said that this whole matter is because of a junior named Li Qiye? That’s fine then, death will be repaid with one’s life; use his blood to wash away this humiliation. Do not step inside the Giant Bamboo Country. Wait until this junior leaves, then take your time to deal with him! Let the people of this world know that those who oppose our Huangfu Clan will not have a good end!”

The clan master bowed and said: “This disciple understands.”

“Bring Hao’er here, I will treat him.” At this time, the voice spoke again.

The clan master became ecstatic. Their Sacred Ancestor Gu not only had a profound cultivation, he was also an amazing alchemist. With his help, their Hao’er would definitely be fine.

***

At this time, the Giant Bamboo Country was completely quiet. The Qing Clan had been destroyed, and those who supported them accepted their sentence one by one. The imperial court was just as unshakable as before; perhaps it was even more stable after this event.

The giant bamboo tree inside the capital became even more awe-inspiring as well. At this moment, anyone who entered the capital and looked up into the clouds to see the giant bamboo would carry a sense of respect in their heart. There were even those who bowed and prayed for the tree to protect their homes and families.

After slaughtering the Huangfu Ancestor along with numerous experts, Li Qiye wasn’t asked to take care of any matters of the Giant Bamboo Country. All the work had been handed over to Madam Zi Yan. She was still the ruler just like before, taking care of the big picture.

In fact, she and the eighteen monarchs truly wanted Li Qiye to stay and even take the position of Royal Lord, but Li Qiye had no intention of doing so. Because of this, they didn’t dare to bring it up again.

Li Qiye remained in the palace and had never stepped outside, he only cultivated behind closed doors. He painstakingly trained and, with his effort, his cultivation advancement speed was quite ideal.

For cultivators, the Heavenly Sovereign realm was very important since this was the realm where one communicated with the grand dao to derive their own profundities. This was to build a great foundation for becoming a Heavenly King or even a Virtuous Paragon in the future. Only by truly communicating with the dao and deriving its mysteries would one be able to reach the sublime culmination. From doing so, one would be able to go even further in the Virtuous Paragon realm and create their own grand dao that belonged to them alone.

Communicating with the dao and deriving its mysteries was a piece of cake for Li Qiye. No one in this world was more versed than him with regards to understanding the dao and deriving the mysteries to its ultimate state.

Of course, this was needless to say. Li Qiye had thirteen Fate Palaces, the one and only person to achieve this. The thirteenth palace loomed above the high heavens and encompassed myriad laws. With such an unparalleled advantage, these issues were trivial to him.

Despite that being the case, Li Qiye still calmly cultivated step by step and derived each merit law and grand dao to its ultimate evolution, then he went one step further.

It could be said that Li Qiye was polishing all of his merit laws and techniques that were already outstanding to begin with. Under such training, even the most common art in his arsenal became incomparably enigmatic. A single gesture was enough to incite harmonization with the grand dao and myriad laws.

Outside of dao cultivation and strengthening his foundation, Li Qiye used his spare time to refine his World Seal. At this moment, his true fate treasure had taken form, so it needed even more blood energy and grooming from the dao.

During this period where he had nothing else to do, Li Qiye would take out the stone left behind by Immortal Emperor Wan Shi for a look. At other times, he would think about the other treasures. For example, the item taken out from inside the Alchemy Fowl.

Speaking of the Alchemy Fowl, it was very comfortable and free. It could even be said that it loved Li Qiye’s alchemy field to death. This alchemy field housed the Ancestor Ginseng, the Reincarnation Heavenly Soulvine, the Immortal Injury Peony… All kinds of great Immortal Medicines.

To the chicken, these were the medicines that it loved the most. It easily considered itself as the guardian of the field and took care of prepping the soil, watering, fertilizing, and catching insects…

Of course, the fertilizer was its urine and stool! Although Li Qiye’s alchemy field was indeed extraordinary, the Alchemy Fowl was born for the dao of alchemy. Its excrement was the best fertilizer, even for Immortal Medicines.

Because of this, the chicken was very welcomed in the alchemy field. Each of the Immortal Medicines really liked having it around.

Its hard effort eventually bore fruit. Since it was born for the dao of alchemy, it was the best medium for medicinal effects, so by staying in this field, it was nourished by the Immortal Medicines, causing its cultivation to become even stronger. Its body also underwent an innate change. At the same time, when its body was improving, it could do an even better job of benefiting the alchemy field.

Li Qiye had too many treasures, so he didn’t spend too much energy on cultivating these Immortal Medicines. The chicken watching the alchemy field in his stead saved him a lot of work, removing some stress from his agenda.

In the blink of an eye, Li Qiye had stayed at the Giant Bamboo Country for almost half a year, and the Alchemy Kingdom’s conference was approaching.

One day, Madam Zi Yan came to see Li Qiye and said: “The conference is almost here. I plan on going to the conference after the birthday celebration of the All-pine Treefather.”

“All-pine Treefather?” Li Qiye paused for a moment after hearing this. He then looked at the madam and said: “Is the All-pine Treefather you speak of the old man from the All-pine Grand Vein?”

“Yes, the Treefather from the All-pine Grand Vein.” Madam Zi Yan hurriedly responded: “His 500,000th birthday is coming up soon. At the moment, all the great powers and even emperor’s lineages from the grand realms will send people there to pay respects. Our Giant Bamboo Country was also invited, so I plan to personally go to express our good wishes.”

Li Qiye couldn’t help but recall a few things after the madam brought it up, so he murmured and chuckled to himself: “The old geezer from the All-pine Mountain eh…”

“Young Noble knows the All-pine Treefather?” The madam couldn’t help but ask after noticing Li Qiye’s expression.

Li Qiye only smiled and didn’t answer this question. Instead, he said: “500,000 years, truly difficult… This world is quite merciless after all.”

500,000 years definitely deserved a grand birthday milestone. Although there were many existences in this world that had survived since the ancient times, these existences were all entombed in Blood Era Stones underground. This type of cultivator couldn’t be considered to be alive. Even if one was sealed for a million years, this didn’t mean that they were one million years old. Their real age would be counted by the time they actually spent in this world.

500,000 years was absolutely a very old age. Although cultivators could live even longer, for the majority, living for 100,000 years was already extremely difficult, let alone 500,000 years.

In fact, even a Godking wouldn’t live to his 500,000 year birthday. It could even be stated that in the Nine Worlds, not even Immortal Emperors could live that long!

Madam Zi Yan nodded and said: “This is indeed the case. In the Stone Medicine World, outside of our Giant Bamboo Divine Guardian, I believe no one else is older than the All-pine Treefather. The All-pine Treefather and our Divine Guardian are known as the two great Demon Forefathers of the Stone Medicine World.”

“That would be incorrect.” Li Qiye smiled and gently shook his head to say: “Our giant bamboo is not a Demon Forefather…”

The madam was taken aback for a bit and said: “Not a Demon Forefather? Our Divine Guardian has been called a deity, so it must have reached the dao. Besides, I’m afraid no one in the Stone Medicine World has lived longer than our Divine Guardian.”

“Do you what defines a demon?” Li Qiye explained with a smile: “A demon obtains intelligence from the dao, but the giant bamboo has yet to achieve this.”

These words frightened the madam. She had always thought that the giant bamboo tree had become a demon, especially after its actions this time around. The recent events strengthened her belief that it had reached the apex and become a Godking.

Now, Li Qiye’s response took her by complete surprise. She couldn’t help but ask in a daze: “Our Divine Guardian didn’t become a demon?”

For an existence like the giant bamboo, becoming a demon was an easy thing, but it didn’t become one. This was truly a cause of bewilderment.

“No. To be exact, it is still just a green bamboo tree. Of course, you can also call it an Immortal Bamboo or Divine Bamboo, but it absolutely is not a demon.” Li Qiye responded.