Emperor’s Domination

“It finally came.” Li Qiye excitedly stared at the shadow with his bright eyes.

The girls have never seen this kind of expression from him. Even when countless treasures presented themselves, he didn’t bother batting an eye as if indicating that they were nothing. However, this shadow warranted so much attention from him that it seemed as if it was a supreme immortal treasure. The girls were curious, just what was this shadow and its uses?

Li Qiye commanded: “Everyone, wait here.” He took out a treasure and threw it into the sea.

The item he threw into the sea was a medium-sized shuttle. It was translucent, making it seem to be made from crystal. He then jumped inside and with a swish, it swiftly dove into the sea and disappeared from sight.

The rest of the group was dumbfounded. They were aware that anything that fell into the sea would be done for. Nothing could float in the Bonesea outside of bones. Both the living and treasures would start to sink without fail.

But now, Li Qiye threw out a shuttle-like boat that could actually travel in the Bonesea. This was quite unfathomable. Such a treasure would be coveted by everyone since it would allow for free travel in this region.

They naturally didn’t know that Li Qiye borrowed it from the Bones Lord. This was the place where the boat would shine. Because of this, the island lord considered this boat to be as valuable as his own life. No other treasure could compare to it.

At this point, the shadow that was slowly drifting in the sea suddenly ran for dear life towards the horizon.

The group immediately knew that Li Qiye was chasing after it. Qianbei watched and murmured: “Just what the hell is that thing?” Li Qiye who didn’t care for all the treasures here was now running for this shadow.

The truth was that none of them knew anything about the shadow. This was their first time hearing about its legend as well.

Ruyan was very inquisitive about this matter. She asked the daoist: “Hey, Puresun Island Lord, your four branches are considered the oldest lineage in Heaven Spirit. Does it not have any records about this thing?”

The daoist shook his head: “I wouldn’t need to lie to you if I knew about it. We really don’t have anything written down about this shadow.”

Jianshi asked: “I heard Immortal Emperor Gu Chun had been there. Immortal Emperor Yan Shi was even more amazing. There are tales about how she nearly turned the Bonesea upside down. One even wrote that she made it all the way to the depths of the Bonesea. Even the two of them don’t know anything about this shadow?”

Their curiosity was warranted, especially after seeing Li Qiye’s unexpected action. The shadow must be unparalleled!

“I don’t know whether our patriarch was aware of the shadow or not, but we simply don’t have any records about it. If we were to talk about shadows and darkness, then I actually do know one particular matter that is written down at our sect. It states that for generations, a dark curtain has always been covering the nine worlds.”

“The mythical dark curtain!” Both the sisters’ eyes widened. Ruyan said: “Are you referring to the dark hand behind the curtains?”

The daoist said: “Yes, the dark hand, but this has nothing to do with the shadow here.”

Jianshi replied: “Yes, these are independent matters. The dark hand is something else entirely. We also have records about the dark hand, but it’s not very clear. There are only a few sentences here and there without any details.”

“This dark hand is an existence that has been around since the start as well.” The daoist commented with a tinge of emotion before stopping.

Qianbei curiously asked: “Dark hand? What is this dark hand?” He naturally knew nothing about it.

The others didn’t want to talk about this topic and kept their mouths shut. Even though they didn’t know much about the dark hand behind the curtains, they were still aware that it was a taboo subject. Even those who knew the truth were unwilling to discuss this topic.

Qianbei understood right away that he had asked the wrong question and laughed awkwardly.

In the end, the daoist shook his head and said: “It’s a taboo subject, we can’t dwell on it.”

***

In the sea, the shadow was escaping with great speed as if it didn’t want to make any contact with Li Qiye. When Li Qiye got near, it would start to retreat again. Of course, Li Qiye had no intention of letting it go. He rode the shuttle and gave chase.

No one could see the figure of the shadow due to its incomparable agility. There was only a fuzzy blur while the actual thing inside was hidden.

Li Qiye was fixated on the shadow and murmured: “Keep running, I want to see where you will take me.”

No matter how fast it was, it couldn’t escape Li Qiye’s shuttle. Remember that this shuttle was a supreme treasure. Nothing could outrun it in the Bonesea.

After failing to evade the shuttle, the shadow suddenly leaped up out of the surface. The shuttle didn’t give up and jumped out as well. However, after getting out, no more muddy waters or bones were in sight.

This seemed to be space with stars and bright lights. It was spectacular with colorful spots in the distant just like a nebula. Who knows where this place was? It seemed to be another world altogether. The shuttle continued chasing the shadow without giving up an inch.

After noticing that it couldn’t escape the shuttle, the shadow suddenly dove and rushed into the deepest part of space with the shuttle right behind it.

They quickly entered another world once more. This place was extremely dry and barren like a desert as far as the eye could see. There were many pits in the sand spewing fire out into the sky. One could hear explosions with magma gushing out everywhere as well. This magma was red with a metallic hue. Who knows what it was?

Li Qiye didn’t care for the location and continued on chasing the shadow: “It doesn’t matter where you flee, you won’t be able to escape like last time!”

The shadow suddenly leaped into a different world once more. The process repeated. It was a watery world, but it wasn’t the Bonesea. This was a sea of blood in a vast and boundless expanse of red. Anyone would be frightened before this scene that could be hell itself.

The more horrifying part was that this sea of blood was not calm. There were storms everywhere with waves of blood that towered for endless height, filling the sky. Such terrifying storms seemed to be destroying the world.

Amidst the continuous explosions were pillars of blood gushing to the sky like springs. It seemed that nothing could survive among these blasts spraying everywhere. This place was very dangerous, yet the shadow came and went freely. Its speed was completely unaffected.

However, the island lord’s shuttle also had a great origin, so it could cross this sea of blood unhindered. Under Li Qiye’s control, the shadow couldn’t lose him at all.

This shadow was both angry and surprised at this development. If it was any other existence, it would have turned around to tear them into little pieces. However, it had lost to Li Qiye in the past. It didn’t matter what form Li Qiye was in, an evil apparition or a living being, it could sense his unique aura regardless!

So now, it could only desperately flee in order to not be tricked by him again. Even though it escaped safely last time, it became afraid for many years afterward.

The two continued their cat and mouse game through many worlds. Li Qiye laughed at the shadow running for its life and sent a telepathic message: “Really, you don’t have to run. We can sit down and have a nice talk, maybe even work together.”

However, the shadow ignored him and sped up to escape!