Emperor’s Domination

An ancestor shouted at Hong Tianzhu: “Traitor, surrender now!”

Tianzhu instinctively stumbled back and shouted as well: “Young Noble Li, go!” He became fairly desperate the moment the four Virtuous Ancestors showed up. There were no chips he could use to bargain against them.

“Get down!” Li Qiye’s eyes focused as he chanted an oppressive mantra.

“Boom!” The ancestor that wanted to capture Tianzhu lost control of his body. He was struck by Li Qiye’s spell and was forced several steps back.

The four Virtuous Ancestors turned serious after seeing the mantra Li Qiye chanted. They immediately opened their eyes completely. The sharpness of their vision painfully scraped others’ skin.

“Junior, you are indeed strong.” One of them coldly uttered: “But you are wrong about one thing. Our Dongting Lake might be willing to negotiate for peace with others, but this does not mean we are weak!”

“I understand.” Li Qiye chuckled: “You want to use Wyvern to suck up to the Roaring Conch like a dog in order to obtain longevity pills from them. This is throwing away all the face of your ancestors, no, you descendants are spitting on your ancestors’ faces.”

“Little animal, you can keep running your mouth.” A different ancestor sneered: “We’ll sever your limbs and muscles before handing you over to Miss Shangguan.”

With that, all four took out their weapons. Their expressions became quite solemn and ruthless afterward.

These four weapons were quite old; their spots and scars spoke volumes of the many battles they had seen. The ancestor’s battle intents surged with the appearance of the weapons like a battle horn riling up the mighty cavalry.

In a short amount of time, a ferocious bloodthirst filled the entire chamber like a true dragon entering the sea, a thirsty tiger leaving the mountain, or a direwolf leaving its cage. The four weapons’ will to kill was unstoppable. They could destroy everything standing in their way!

“The forefathers’ weapons.” The members here were dazed to see these ancient weapons and retreated. There was a sense of reverence in their eyes.

“Junior, accept your defeat.” The four ancestors revealed menacing smiles. They shouted at the same time and attacked with their weapons. It was the start of a great formation!

They had confidence that the moment this formation was formed, they could even stop a Godking, let alone a young junior.

“Whoosh!” However, before the four weapons could suppress Li Qiye, he slammed both hands down on his chair and an order writ came flying towards the banner on the wall. The fox on it seemed to be coming back to life.

In this split second, the four weapons continued to fly towards Li Qiye, but it wasn’t to attack him. They jumped to him as if they had just seen a family member.

An incredible thing happened. The weapons floated above his head in a very happy manner like singing skylarks.

The four ancestors were aghast before this scene. These weapons had always been in their possession. After abandoning the iron creeds, they had full control of the weapons until today.

“Return!” The four recalled the weapons in unison. However, there was no reaction. The weapons continued to float above Li Qiye.

“Start!” The four didn’t give up and didn’t mind using their own longevity blood to amplify their summon. Alas, it was still useless.

“Impossible!” This spectacle left everyone speechless. Their lake’s weapons were being controlled by an outsider. However, how could they possibly know that these weapons were personally created by Li Qiye who then handed them down to their forefathers from the Hong, Zhang, Xu, and Lin Clans? Who in this world could understand these weapons more than their own creator?

“The four weapons of the Indomitable Battalion belong to everyone, they’re not the personal properties of you fools.” Li Qiye coldly uttered: “Your foolishness has ruined your ancestors’ prestige and glory. Today, on their behalf, I sentence you to death!”

While issuing large explosions, the four weapons immediately attacked the four Virtuous Ancestor; all of them were aghast. They took out their own strongest weapons in order to stop the assault.

“Boom!” Another loud blast resounded. The four ancestors had to take several steps back. They were indeed powerful and stopped one attack from these ancient weapons.

Li Qiye shouted: “Where are my generals of the Indomitable Battalion?!” At this time, the crow on the back of the seat suddenly came back to life. It spread its wings and covered Li Qiye completely while flying above him.

This was initially a carved image of a crow, but it suddenly came back to life. It poured down one holy, untouchable law after another.

“Splash!” The part of the lake that faced the chamber had bubbles and waves everywhere. Four sturdy figures emerged from the lake.

These four came into the chamber. They were made from the lake water, so they were sparkling and translucent.

The crowd became astonished the moment they saw the faces of these figures made from water. One person glanced at the portraits along the wall and screamed: “Ancestors!”

Though there were many portraits on the walls, the paintings of these four were bigger than the others. Without a doubt, their status was much higher as well.

At this time, the members here found four particular portraits that matched these figures. They were the first forefathers of the Lin, Zhang, Xu, and Hong Clans!

“Our ancestors’ spirits!” Hong Tianzhu shouted while recalling what Li Qiye had said before. He quickly prostrated on the ground, bowing his head.

This scene was too shocking. Their oldest forefathers suddenly appeared in spiritual form. All the ancestors and lower-ranking members were scared out of their minds. They never thought that such a day would come.

“Ancestors…” After seeing Tianzhu kneeling on the ground, the other elders and protectors quickly followed suit.

“Unfilial bastards!” The four men made of water released a shout that shook the mountains and rivers. They were existences that had once swept through the world. All the ancestors here shivered in the face of their pressure.

The four Virtuous Ancestors turned pale and turned to flee. They had abandoned the iron creeds and the union — this was a clear violation of the ancestral teachings. They had a guilty conscience, so the appearance of these spirits made their souls fly away and scatter from fear. All they wanted to do was to get the hell out of this place.

However, these water figures wouldn’t let them escape so easily. They casually reached out and the four weapons fell into their hands. This heralded the coming of four godly generals.

“Boom!” The weapons mercilessly suppressed this entire area and set off a monstrous battle aura.

“No…” The four Virtuous Ancestors had already lost their will to fight and couldn’t react in time. All four were swiftly suppressed by these weapons.

The water figures threw these suppressed ancestors down before Li Qiye.

Li Qiye stared and coldly uttered at the four Virtuous Ancestors on the ground: “The Dongting Lake of today and the Indomitable Battalion of past, what is the judgment in accordance to the iron creeds?”

The four water figures mercilessly replied: “Death!” At the same time, all the portals on the walls lit up. Every single one of them exuded an invincible battle aura. Ruthless laws emerged from these paintings, the symbols of their honest and incorruptible creeds within a martial order.

“Kneel!” Li Qiye’s eyes turned cold. The crow above his head exuded a supreme divine aura. It seemed like an eternal existence was coming back to life. This crow proceeded to glare at everyone present. At this time, Li Qiye’s words represented an untouchable will.

“Bang!” The four water figures kicked the ancestors, forcing them to kneel on the ground.

“Kneel!” Li Qiye shifted his attention towards the other ancestors from the great clans. At this time, all the elders and protectors were already prostrating while these ancestors were trembling with fear.

After seeing his cold glare and the iron creeds within the portraits, they didn’t dare to resist and immediately kneeled on the ground.

Li Qiye declared: “Abandoning the iron creeds, shattering the union, violating the ancestral teachings, what should the punishment be?”

“Clank! Clank! Clank!” Metallic reverberations came about. The iron creeds within the portraits intertwined to form a tiger tally with the word “death” on top of it. 1

The word was full of blood and instilled fear into all the spectators.

1. The two-piece tiger tallies (hu-fu, 虎符 in Chinese) were used by kings or emperors to command and dispatch their army. The right piece was retained in the central government while the left piece was issued to the local officials or commanders. If someone wanted to dispatch the troops from a certain area, he had to show the right piece of the tiger tally in order to gain authorization; both pieces of the tally had to match each other. I thought a fox tally would be more fitting in terms of the context, but a tiger is the historical symbol.