Emperor’s Domination

After hearing Di Wei’s praise, Li Qiye only smiled and didn’t say anything else.

Di Wei saw the four floating swords behind Li Qiye and asked: “You want to take that thing away?”

“I know Grandpa Wei is guarding this place.” Li Qiye smiled: “So please go easy on me, I wish to enter.”

Di Wei smiled and gently shook his head: “What is this about going easy on you, the most powerful Imperial King of the border and holder of the four swords? According to the rules, you are qualified to enter.”

“However, whether you can take the item or not is up to you.” Di Wei said: “You aren’t the only one to have come here. Even the most powerful general under the Imperial Lord has tried before, but alas, he couldn’t take it away.”

“I’m quite confident.” Li Qiye smiled: “Otherwise I wouldn’t have brought these four imperial swords.”

Li Qiye couldn’t help but chuckle: “Grandpa Wei, are you testing me? The truth is that I might not be too certain. It has been too long so there are virtually no records. Moreover, I think there is more than one name for this item.”

“It seems like you have done a lot of preparation.” Di Wei smiled and nodded: “If you can take it away, then it is all yours.”

Li Qiye slightly bowed before speaking with a smile: “Thank you, Grandpa Wei.”

Di Wei shook his head: “There’s no need to thank me. I know that the Imperial Lord back then wanted to take it too, but the conditions weren’t right so he had to give up. It was waiting for the fateful ones. If you are meant for it, then you can naturally take it away. But if not, then all will be in vain.”

“I understand.” Li Qiye acknowledged the fact that he might fail.

Suddenly, Di Wei shifted a tiny bit, but this movement carried the force of a shifting mountain. The stars suddenly turned upside down as a cavernous entrance appeared before Li Qiye.

It was shut tight with two imperial doors. It had an old architectural style with four sword grooves coming together. It seemed that these four swords were sealing the gate.

“Good luck.” Di Wei smilingly said: “If you can take the item away, then my mission can be considered complete. In the future, whether it be on the expedition or to fight for the plateau, I will no longer be tied down.”

Li Qiye gently nodded his head and went towards the entrance.

“Zzz—” Li Qiye took the four swords and pushed them into the corresponding grooves.

“Clank—” The heavy gate finally opened after he inserted all four.

He then entered without any hesitation. Once his figure disappeared inside, the gate slowly closed again.

The cave was not as dark as one would expect. On the contrary, it was very bright with a clear blue sky. One could hear the sounds of crashing waves. This was not a cave drowned in darkness but a vast ocean.

It was difficult for people to expect an ocean waiting behind the entrance of this cave.

“Squeak.” When Li Qiye looked at the sea, he heard a dolphin leap out of the water like a little elf.

Li Qiye smiled and jumped on the dolphin’s back then patted it with a smile: “Little fella, take me to the place where the rainbow rises.”

The dolphin merrily cried out then leaped up high. It took Li Qiye towards the end of the sea through the winds and waves.

It was extremely fast as it carried Li Qiye on this trajectory for a long time. Li Qiye stood on its back and allowed it to go where it pleased while watching the rippling waves of this ocean in silence.

There were many secrets hidden in the Lesser Imperial Devil World, an entire era was buried here. It was once a brilliant era that eventually tracelessly vanished outside of this lesser world.

Eventually, the dolphin stopped after it carried Li Qiye to their destination.

The sight ahead was as beautiful as a surreal dream, capable of ensnaring others. Ahead were many rainbows slowly rising from blue waves all the way to the recesses of the sky. Each of them was heading towards a different direction and destination.

Li Qiye glanced at each rainbow with a faint grin on his face. All of them had a different destination, but only one truly led to that place. The other ones were fruitless paths.

“Only those with the purest of faiths know the real path.” With a chuckle, he took out the Buddhist Lotus and loosened his grip. The flower flew outside as if it had grown wings.

After circling around in the air, it finally stopped in front of a rainbow.

“Buzz!” The flower went into full bloom and sent out a surging Buddhist light. It dyed the rainbow a golden shade.

“That is it.” He immediately knew that the dyed rainbow would take him to the right place.

He set foot on the rainbow and recalled the flower while walking into the sky. The rainbow acted as a bridge to a heavenly kingdom. He was crossing through space from one world to another, from one generation to the next. It seemed that he was going against the current to find out about the past.

Without this rainbow acting as a bridge, one would never be able to reach the other place because it was crossing through time and space. No matter how powerful one might be, they wouldn’t be able to pinpoint the coordinates.

There was no sun or moon here. The concept of time did not exist alongside this rainbow either. In this manner, Li Qiye kept on going forward for an unknown amount of time.

Eventually, he made it to his desired location. It was an island in an unknown space.

A refreshing breeze blew by once he reached the island. This was a reason for joy and gave off an indescribable feeling as if one finally met an oasis after a long trek in a desert.

It was not large and there was nothing else on it outside of an extraordinary lake.

Standing by the shore to look at the water, he felt that there was a dreamlike beauty to it. It seemed that it wasn’t water flowing within. On a more careful observation, the lake contained flowing golden sand.

This golden sand was very exquisite and gentle to the touch with great moisture. He blinked once and the water in the lake changed. At this time, golden fishes were swimming like little elves, full of spirit. With their swimming, the entire lake exuded a great amount of spirit energy.

Another second passed by and the lake changed again. Now, there were real elves this time. Some were formed by divine swords and others by treasure pagodas or immortal sabers… All were so real yet dreamlike.

If others were here to see these transformations, they wouldn’t be able to tell which were real and which were fake. Perhaps everything was fake and all part of an illusion.

Li Qiye, on the other hand, actually knew that everything was real. This was its original state, so no one could discern its authenticity.

Li Qiye murmured while looking at the lake: “Elusive Heavenly Golden Water, after searching for so many moons, who could possibly imagine that it was hidden in a place like this…”

After the sentimental statement, he slowly took out an item left behind by Immortal Emperor Qian Li… the Elusive Heavenly Vase.

In one particular generation, Li Qiye spent a lot of time to find this vase, but he failed. Later on, Immortal Emperor Qian Li found it for him.

The golden water must be stored in the Elusive Heavenly Vase; other items wouldn’t be able to contain it. More importantly, without the vase, one wouldn’t be able to truly use the water.

“Pluff!” Li Qiye placed the vase in the middle of the lake and allowed it to slowly sink to the bottom.

“Gulp—guk—guk.” The golden water crazily rushed into the bottomless vase that was expediting the process with an extremely powerful force of absorption.

In a short period of time, the vase swallowed all of the water. One could now see the bottom of the lake.

Li Qiye shifted his gaze down to an item at the bottom. It was the size of a thumb and exuded an extraordinary golden brilliance. Each golden ray was as tangible as strings of golden silk.

Moreover, it seemed to have its own life as it creeped around slowly.

While looking at it, Li Qiye’s brows slightly perched. He took a deep breath and said: “Just like the legends. Everything requires time as a witness. Without time, even the golden water won’t do. No wonder why the Imperial Lord didn’t take it back then.”

Li Qiye held the vase and slightly applied a suctioning force onto the item. It was attached to the bottom of the lake and seemed to be very reluctant to leave. However, before the mighty power of the vase, it no longer had a choice and was eventually sucked inside.

After collecting it, Li Qiye patted the vase and said: “A journey of one thousand miles just to take half a step further. Elusive Heavenly Mountain, one day, I will get what I want!”

With that, he put away the vase and left.