Emperor’s Domination

“Dongting Lake now…” After hearing this, Li Qiye glanced at Hong Yujiao and shook his head disapprovingly: “This once all-accommodating land of treasures has lost the model crafted by the old wise sages. It no longer has the same temperament in its attempt to vie for power.”

After hearing such words, Hong Yujiao’s heart skipped a beat. She wasn’t too clear on the meaning of his emotional statement.

Li Qiye dazedly stared at the barely visible islands scattered across the lake. He eventually calmed down and stared at her to speak with a dismissive tone: “I am only here for a bit and will leave soon. Don’t worry about me.”

She looked back at him and cupped her fists to say: “If Fellow Daoist will leave soon, then I won’t bother you any longer. However, if you want to stay here for more than one day, I hope that you will cooperate with us by filing and receiving a label. If you have any questions, feel free to find me anytime.”

Li Qiye only smiled and lied down on the sand to watch the blue sky and white clouds without a care for others.

Hong Yujiao took another look at this ordinary and strange fella. Eventually, she refrained from commenting and let her people steer the ship away.

Li Qiye softly sighed again. Dongting Lake was indeed a nice place. In the past, several wise sages established this location as a starting point for the humans to have a strong backing in the Heaven Spirit World.

These sages were very broad-minded; they were oceans that could shelter a hundred streams. Because of this, the lake was once more powerful than the Exquisite Valley.

Unfortunately, prosperity came and a desire for profits and gains arose. Not just anyone could be so magnanimous and altruistic like these sages; their descendants didn’t share the same attitude. When they eventually gained power, they couldn’t escape the temptation of having even more.

“This lake used to be so wonderful…” Li Qiye was slightly disappointed: “Alas, its descendants have fallen short.”

He dispelled these thoughts from his mind since he was enjoying a rare moment of peace.

Time continued to pass like the quiet white clouds gently drifting in the sky, something that nobody would pay attention to.

No one knows how long he had been lying on the sand for. Suddenly, his mind shifted after feeling a summons and immediately opened his eyes. In a split second, he leaped into the sky and rushed out of the lake.

The Giant Dragon Mountain Range was more than just a ring of mountains surrounding Dongting Lake. Many islets were right outside, and the majority of them already had owners. These islets scattered outside the lake were like thrown out pearls.

One of these islets in particular was quite large. Many old pavilions and buildings were built on it, though most had collapsed and were invaded by thickets of weeds.

It was a desolate location. Only a few buildings at the very top of the island remained intact. These buildings were built around an ancient temple.

The temple was very old. The whole structure seemed to have stemmed from one solid piece. The gray walls appeared to have been carved out of a single gigantic stone.

An old plaque was hung above the old temple. It appeared to be made out of bronze yet wasn’t bronze, iron but not iron, wood but not wood. Who knows what it was made from?

The plaque had been through many years and looked like time had polished away all traces of what was written on this plaque. Nevertheless, one could still see three faintly visible words engraved on it — Hundred-Saints Hall.

These words were etched with an archaic style, so only the knowledgeable would be able to recognize them. The three words had suffered the battering of time for too long, so they became quite blurred. One could almost see stars lingering around them, as if they contained a portion of a vast universe.

If someone with good insight took an even more careful look, they would find something else. It looked like there was indeed a celestial system and a universe around them. Within this universe was a great army, an invincible cavalry that was stationed here.

However, they were too tiny, especially for those with weaker vision. Everything was placed around these three words. There was also a figure. Upon careful examination, one would find a crow carved above these three words. When it spread its wings, the crow shielded the words as if it was granting them its protection.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!” At this time, sounds of violence could be heard. A young man holding a giant hammer was fiercely smashing the doors to the ancient temple. Alas, it didn’t matter how hard he slammed down, he couldn’t break open the doors even though they were made out of wood.

An old man that looked nearly fifty shouted: “Stop!” He wore gray clothing and had distinct facial features, but his body was thin and feeble. One could see that he was a cultivator, but his blood energy was incredibly weak, indicating his shallow cultivation.

The old man shouted to stop the young man, but before he could do anything, five other burly men stopped and immobilized him.

“Bang!” The youth mercilessly smashed the door, but it still wouldn’t open.

He had a pair of hawk-like eyes while his back was covered with armored fish scales. The five men holding down the old men had the same scales.

This was a big race in the Heaven Spirit World. The scales were the defining characteristic of the Ironscale School, a fish tribe among the sea demons. They barely meet the qualifications to be considered a big race with their nest being around one thousand miles away from the Giant Dragon Mountain Range. The ideal nests for them were deep in trenches.

The youth was the young lord of the Ironscale School, Lei Yu. He wanted to establish a stronghold outside of his school and had chosen this island.

Unfortunately, the only descendant of the Hundred-Saints Hall was this old man. He didn’t want to sell the island, leading to this conflict.

“Old geezer, didn’t you say your hall was protected by the sacred sages of the nine heavens and ten earths? Where are they now?” Lei Yu looked at the captured old man and laughed boisterously.

It was a pity that the old man’s cultivation was too weak. He simply was not a match for the muscular men.

He struggled but was pushed down again. Alas, he was unyielding and lifted up his head to declare: “I will not sell off the Hundred-Saints Hall even if it means my death!”

“If you don’t want to sell it, then I might as well smash it apart!” Lei Yu turned cruel and glared at the ancient temple.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!” More explosions could be heard, but he still couldn’t break open the temple no matter how hard he tried.

He mustered all of his strength like a baby drinking its mother’s milk, but it was all for naught. He became quite angry and decided to take it out on this old man by mercilessly stomping on him.

“Old geezer, I have plenty of time. Today, I’ll torture you to death and my school will take its time breaking down this place. Don’t worry, I won’t kill you quickly, not until I flatten this land. I want to see the despair in your eyes!” With that, he unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks on the old man.

The youth was livid. He originally wanted to break this temple down first before forcing the sale. However, he simply couldn’t destroy this building at all; this only provoked his greed to possess this place. He believed that there was definitely an incredible treasure on this island, perhaps inside the temple.

He became even more determined to occupy this island before others caught wind of it.

The old man was quite stubborn. Despite vomiting blood from Lei Yu’s barrage, he still kept his head high without letting out a single groan.

“Old geezer, your bones are quite hard, yeah?” Lei Yu sneered and stomped on him again; a crisp crack made it apparent that a bone snapped.

The old man finally grunted. He was clearly in deep pain, but he didn’t let out a full scream.

“Heh, geezer Zhang, no matter how hard your bones are, I can still kill you as easily as killing an ant. Beg for your saints to come and save you. Where are they now?”

The old man still didn’t utter a word and spent all of his energy on keeping his head high. His unyielding attitude only further enraged Lei Yu.

Lei Yu stomped on the old man’s face and sneered: “Hahaha, tell these saints protecting your temple to appear already so that I can see what these so-called saints of the nine heavens and ten earths look like!”

“Is that so?” A chilling voice sounded at this time: “Do you really wish to see the saints of the nine heavens and ten earths?”

Li Qiye landed in front of the temple with a frigid demeanor and glared at Lei Yu’s group.