Dominator Emperor

When Li Qiye opened the Yellow Mud Box, it was completely empty—there was nothing inside. The moment he saw this, his expression changed.

”Are you looking for this?” Just then, a lazy voice suddenly piped up from the side.

A person had suddenly appeared beside them, startling Chi Xiaodie. She had no idea when the old Daoist, who had been lying inside the temple, had come to sit right next to them.

The old Daoist’s aged eyes were still hazy, as if he hadn’t fully woken up. They remained half-closed as he sat there, cradling a mud cannon in his arms. The Mud Cannon wasn’t large, but it seemed exceptionally heavy in his grasp.

Li Qiye leaped out of the mud pit. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the old Daoist, his gaze then shifting to the Mud Cannon cradled in the man’s arms.

”Sneaking into my temple to steal things... that’s not very nice,” the old Daoist said, still in that lazy tone, as he hugged the Mud Cannon.

Li Qiye glanced at the old Daoist and said nonchalantly, ”Steal? I think that word better describes you. My ancestor buried the Crossing Sky Worm here and left it for generations, specifically so that I could come and retrieve it in the future.”

”Your ancestor? And who might that be?” The old Daoist’s sleepy eyes drifted toward Li Qiye.

The old Daoist had asked the very question Chi Xiaodie was dying to know. But since Li Qiye didn’t elaborate, she didn’t dare to ask either.

”You ask too many questions. There are some things you shouldn’t ask. Otherwise, you’ll die a horrible death.” Li Qiye slowly set the Crossing Sky Worm down.

”Really?” the old Daoist said with a grin. ”I’ve been trying to die for a long time, but I just can’t seem to manage it. Since you’ve already dug this worm up... hehe, how about you give it to me? Hehe, it got away too quickly last time. If it hadn’t, I would have had it as a snack with my wine.”

”Old Daoist, this is not something you should be touching,” Li Qiye said slowly. ”Did the Primordial Ancestor of your Longevity Academy not tell you?”

”Heh, Little Ghost, don’t get carried away with your bluffs. I’m not one to be spooked so easily,” the old Daoist said with a sleepy grin, seemingly unconcerned.

Li Qiye’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the old Daoist and said slowly, ”And Ma Gu? Where did Ma Gu go?”

The moment he heard Li Qiye’s words, the old Daoist shot to his feet. All traces of drowsiness vanished in an instant. His eyes locked onto Li Qiye, his once-sleepy gaze now becoming utterly terrifying, as if it could devour all things.

Chi Xiaodie was stunned. Even if she had never met a true master, she knew at that moment that this old Daoist was terrifying. She couldn’t understand why he had such an extreme reaction to the name ”Ma Gu.”

”Who... Who are you?!” The old Daoist was horrified. He stared at Li Qiye and spoke in a low, heavy voice as a faint, blood-red light pulsed from his body.

In that moment, Chi Xiaodie felt the all-destroying Blood and Qi’s Power. Even though the old Daoist had already restrained his Blood Qi, the faint, blood-red light made her feel as if she were facing a Giant Dragon!

Li Qiye remained perfectly calm and said slowly, ”Old Daoist, it would be best if you didn’t try anything. Even if your Celestial Dao Academy’s Wang Yuan crawled out of his grave, he wouldn’t dare to lay a hand on me! If you do, I’ll tear your Celestial Dao Academy to the ground!”

”The Sub-Saint!” Hearing Li Qiye’s words, Chi Xiaodie couldn’t help but cry out.

Wang Yuan. That name was legendary, especially in the East Hundred Cities. Though he never became an Immortal Emperor, his fame was no less than that of one. In a far-flung era, he had single-handedly revived the Celestial Dao Academy, bringing it back from decline to a new peak of power. For this, his status within the academy was comparable to its Primordial Ancestor.

Although millions of years had passed and Wang Yuan had been dead for countless ages, the Celestial Dao Academy honored his contributions by bestowing upon him the title of Sub-Saint! He was the only one in the academy’s history to ever receive such a title!

The old Daoist was also shaken. His eyes went wide as he stared at Li Qiye, but he truly didn’t dare to make a move. Slowly, he retracted the blood-red light.

Li Qiye paid the old Daoist no mind. He began to lightly tap on the Crossing Sky Worm, rhythmically knocking on its Yellow Mud Box again and again.

WHOOSH— After a moment, the Crossing Sky Worm woke up. It shot out in an instant, zipping far into the distance.

”Aiyah, my heavens! Which bastard sneak-attacked me?!” The moment it was a safe distance away, the Crossing Sky Worm started cursing.

For a moment, Chi Xiaodie was completely dumbfounded. She had never imagined that a worm could talk, let alone curse people. The whole thing was just too absurd.

A talking worm that cursed, no less. Chi Xiaodie was left speechless. The East Hundred Cities were a place where all sorts of wonders could be found, and she had seen many a Great Demon, but she had truly never seen a worm that had achieved cultivation.

”Aiyah, my heavens, isn’t that the stinking Daoist?” The worm flew into a rage the moment it saw the old Daoist. Its anger spiked when it saw the Yellow Mud Cannon in his arms, and it began to curse loudly, ”You damned Daoist, you stinking Daoist! Give me back my Divine Cannon, or this Immortal will blast your shabby little temple to bits!”

The old Daoist narrowed his eyes and said with a grin, ”Such a boastful little worm. Be careful, or this Daoist Master will catch you and have you as a side dish for my wine.”

”Bullshit! That’s a load of dogshit! You’re full of it! You only got the jump on me because you sneak-attacked me! You and your third-rate skills want to steal my Divine Cannon? Pah! Pah! Pah! You stinking Daoist, give me back my Divine Cannon!” the worm shrieked viciously. ”Or else, I’ll banish this barren shithole of yours to the Zero Domain Otherworld! Damn it all! If I hadn’t promised I wouldn’t leave this Ghost Land, I would’ve banished you and this whole crappy place ages ago! Now give me back my Divine Cannon!”

Chi Xiaodie was completely stunned. It wouldn’t be strange for a person to be so foul-mouthed, but for a worm to curse with such skill... it was simply beyond belief.

”Alright, Xiao Niqiu, come over here,” Li Qiye said to the Crossing Sky Worm, patting the space beside him. ”I’ll get your Divine Cannon back for you.”

However, the Crossing Sky Worm was outrageously arrogant. It shot Li Qiye a sidelong glance and cursed, ”Who the hell are you, brat? You think you can call me Xiao Niqiu? Careful, or I’ll blast you to the Otherworld! If you dare call me ’Xiao Niqiu’ again, believe me, I’ll banish you to another Dimension, and you’ll never find your way back!”

”Xiao Niqiu, be careful or I’ll throw you back into the Old Wu Temple,” Li Qiye said slowly, leveling his gaze at the Crossing Sky Worm.

”How do you know about the Old Wu Temple?!” The Crossing Sky Worm jumped in fright and stared at Li Qiye in disbelief. ”Who are you?” In an instant, the foul-mouthed worm was on high alert.

Li Qiye said leisurely, ”I also know that a bird carried you out of the Old Wu Temple in its beak, and it was about to eat you for being so mouthy.”

”My god—!” The Crossing Sky Worm reacted as if it had seen a ghost, leaping into the air. ”Is... is that true?”

”What do you think?” As he spoke, Li Qiye uttered a True Word. The single word transformed into an Order Law that instantly pierced the Crossing Sky Worm’s body.

The Crossing Sky Worm shuddered and shrieked, ”My god! Young Master, you are Wudi throughout the heavens, invincible across the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, the Five Desolations, and the Ten Thousand Realms! This humble Xiao Niqiu knew that nothing in this world could stop your return! Young Master, you are a king returned, Ruling the World, reigning over all creation, grasping the universe in your hands, building a harem of three hundred billion, marrying a billion Fairies...”

In an instant, the Crossing Sky Worm unleashed a torrent of words, all of them shameless flattery aimed at Li Qiye. This left not only Chi Xiaodie dumbfounded, but the old Daoist as well. The worm had always been impossibly arrogant, cursing out anyone it met. They never imagined they would see the day it would suck up to someone so desperately.

”That’s enough. One more word of nonsense and I’ll throw you back into the Old Wu Temple,” Li Qiye told the Crossing Sky Worm.

The Crossing Sky Worm immediately scurried over to Li Qiye’s side, rubbing against him affectionately as if trying to curry favor. Li Qiye patted the Yellow Mud Box on its back, and it finally quieted down and stood beside him.

”You stinking Daoist, give me back my Divine Cannon!” Now, with Li Qiye backing it up, Xiao Niqiu became even more arrogant. It yelled at the old Daoist, ”If you don’t give me back my Divine Cannon, my Young Master will beat you senseless! He’ll tear down your lair—no, he’ll tear down that whole pile of broken temples and rotten buildings you call the Celestial Dao Academy!”?

”Alright, that’s enough out of you,” Li Qiye said, patting Xiao Niqiu. The worm immediately shut its mouth.

Li Qiye looked at the old Daoist and said leisurely, ”Daoist Priest, isn’t it about time you returned my pet’s Divine Cannon?” This time, Li Qiye’s tone was remarkably polite.

The sleepiness had completely vanished from the old Daoist’s eyes. He stared at Li Qiye, pondered for a moment, then gave a dry laugh. ”A joke, it was just a joke. I was only teasing this foul-mouthed worm. I just caught it off guard and borrowed its Yellow Mud Cannon, there was no ill intent.” With that, he handed the Divine Cannon he was holding back to Li Qiye.

Li Qiye placed the Divine Cannon back into the Yellow Mud Box on Xiao Niqiu’s back. But Xiao Niqiu wasn’t about to let things go so easily. It cursed, ”Damn it all, you stinking Daoist dared to ambush me! I’m not done with you! I’m gonna go find Ma Gu...” With Li Qiye’s support, the little creature grew even more brazen.

And upon hearing the name Ma Gu, the old Daoist’s expression immediately turned grim.

”Alright, since the Daoist Priest returned it, let it go. Besides, weren’t you borrowing the Celestial Dao Academy’s Heaven and Earth Vein?” Li Qiye said, placating Xiao Niqiu.

”Hmph. Hmph. I’ll let that stinking Daoist off easy this time,” Xiao Niqiu muttered resentfully, but ultimately dropped the matter.

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