Dominator Emperor

The King and Marquis Realm has a total of four levels. From lowest to highest, they are: One Palace, Two Ask Heaven, Three Rebel Heavens, and Four Cuts of Calamity! The Princes of these four levels are also respectively known as: New Marquis, Imperial Marquis, Rebel Marquis, and Broken Destiny Marquis!

When a Cultivator reached the King and Marquis Realm—whether they were young or old, a genius or an ordinary disciple—this realm was incomparably important. It could even define the rest of their life.

This was because reaching the King and Marquis Realm meant one would have to face the first great tribulation of their life. This tribulation would descend upon a Cultivator when they reached the Great Perfection stage of the realm’s fourth level.

This great tribulation was the Fate Calamity! It was an unavoidable tribulation for any Cultivator who wished to break through this realm. In fact, some Cultivators who never reached the King and Marquis Realm would still encounter the Fate Calamity in their old age.

For countless Cultivators, a tribulation like the Fate Calamity was simply unavoidable. Those who failed to reach the King and Marquis Realm were only postponing the inevitable. Dying early was, in a way, a great fortune amidst misfortune, as it meant escaping the Fate Calamity. But for those who sealed themselves away, clinging to a meager existence, the day would eventually come when they had to face it.

Upon reaching the Great Perfection of the King and Marquis Realm, every Cultivator had to face their own Fate Calamity. The stronger the genius, the more powerful the Fate Calamity they would face.

However, if a Cultivator opened their fourth Life Palace, facing the Fate Calamity became much easier.

The King and Marquis Realm was the second stage for a Cultivator to open Life Palaces. At this stage, one only needed to open up to their third Life Palace. Of course, a sufficiently powerful Cultivator could also attempt to open a fourth.

However, opening the third Life Palace at this stage wasn’t difficult, but opening the fourth was harder than climbing to the heavens. This was because any Life Palace opened beyond the third was considered an extra, an act of Defying Heaven.

To open the fourth, or even the fifth and sixth Life Palaces in this realm, required not only immense aptitude but also, more importantly, profound wisdom and immense perseverance. Without this wisdom and perseverance, even a peerless genius could not open the fourth Life Palace, to say nothing of the sixth.

Once a Cultivator at this stage opened their fourth Life Palace, facing their Fate Calamity became much easier. Moreover, a Cultivator with four Life Palaces could absolutely suppress any other Prince at the same level.

For a Cultivator, more Life Palaces meant more power. Four Palaces Form Territory, Eight Palace Country Formation! Once a Cultivator possessed four palaces, they wielded the power of an entire territory!

In the King and Marquis Realm, six palaces was the absolute limit. Of course, possessing Six Palaces was far easier said than done—it was said to be tens of millions of times harder than ascending to the heavens!

Six Palaces, Supreme Marquis—the word ”Supreme” alone said it all. Once one became a Supreme Marquis, facing their future Fate Calamity would be much easier.

And now, Li Qiye possessed Six Palaces! To him, this was a miracle. He had always been supremely confident in his own wisdom and perseverance.

He had believed he could absolutely open the sixth Life Palace and reach the ultimate limit of the King and Marquis Realm. ’Possessing Six Palaces was, for me, only a matter of time!’

But things were different now. He had opened the sixth Life Palace in such a short time that even Li Qiye himself had to marvel. It truly was a miracle.

The Heaven and Earth Primordial Liquid had changed everything. He now possessed a Chaos Body. Before, he had a Mortal Life and Body. But after absorbing and completing the Refinement of the Heaven and Earth Primordial Liquid, his entire being had returned to the primordial chaos, granting him the Chaos Body!

At this moment, it mattered not to Li Qiye whether he had a Holy Destiny, a Sacred Body, or a Saint’s Birthday. All of it had become trivial. ’Chaos is the Origin. That is the most precious thing of all!’

Slowly, Li Qiye absorbed the surrounding Aura of Chaos. He took a deep, satisfied breath and murmured, ”The Heaven and Earth Primordial Liquid... truly extraordinary. It’s a shame I couldn’t find this for Little Black back then. If I had, he wouldn’t have been limited to two physiques in one body.” A pang of regret hit him at the thought.

In fact, he had once searched for the Heaven and Earth Primordial Liquid for the Black Dragon King, but to no avail. In the end, he was forced to give up. If he had found it for the Black Dragon King in his youth, things would have been completely different. In that case, what would an Immortal Emperor have mattered!

Li Qiye took another deep breath and decided to stay. He was in no hurry to leave. Although the Heaven and Earth Primordial Liquid here was completely gone, the place itself was still a treasure, an excellent spot for Cultivation.

「A year passed in a flash.」

By this time, some had already had their fortuitous encounters. Cultivators who had found their opportunities did not linger, departing in haste.

Even some of those who had climbed the World Tree obtained their own opportunities and were eventually sent out by the tree itself.

Some of those sent out by the World Tree left in such a hurry that outsiders had no idea what kind of opportunity they had received. These were typically people who had found treasures; as soon as the World Tree ejected them, their sects would immediately escort them away.

Others sent out by the World Tree were in no rush to leave, some even shamelessly flaunting the opportunities they had gained. Of course, these people had usually obtained a personal Creation rather than a physical treasure.

When the opportunity was a personal Creation, it couldn’t be forcibly taken, no matter how much others coveted it or what malicious intentions they held.

For instance, a Great Teaching Inheritor from the Western Wilderness received a significant Creation: his eyes had transformed into Yin-Yang Eyes. After being sent out by the World Tree, he showed them off to others without a care in the world.

”Yin-Yang Eyes! They can perceive the finest details between heaven and earth!” Anyone who saw his eyes was stirred. A Creation like this was equivalent to being born with Yin-Yang Eyes, perhaps even stronger.

Although many were envious, even jealous, of the Great Teaching Inheritor for receiving such a Creation—some to the point of wanting to dig his eyes out...

...it would be of no use. This kind of personal Creation belonged to him alone. Even if someone dug out his eyes, they would be useless. That was why those who received such a Creation were in no hurry to leave.

The ones in a hurry to leave were mostly those whose Creation was a treasure, something that could be snatched away by others.

Of course, there were also some unlucky souls who were sent out by the World Tree before obtaining any Creation at all. This simply meant they were not fated to receive an opportunity from the World Tree.

These unlucky souls could only give up on the tree and remain inside the Eternal Gate, digging around in the hopes of finding other opportunities.

By now, of course, the Eternal Gate was already being dug up with feverish intensity by countless people. They had practically dug three feet into the ground, turning over every promising location.

This filled those who had failed to get an opportunity on the World Tree with endless regret. ’If I’d known, I wouldn’t have wasted my time and energy on that tree!’

Over the year, some found treasures and left, while many newcomers swarmed in to take their place. Others still hadn’t found a single good thing from start to finish, yet they stubbornly remained, unwilling to give up.

In that short year, rumors flew wildly both inside and outside the Eternal Gate. One moment, someone would claim a certain person found a great treasure; the next, someone else had missed a legendary opportunity. Among all the mixed-up truths and lies, the news concerning Ji Kong Wudi was the most shocking of all.

No one knew who started the rumor, but word got out that Ji Kong Wudi was following in the footsteps of the Hao Hai Immortal Emperor. When the news spread, it shocked not only the younger generation but also the countless Great Teaching Territories waiting anxiously outside.

”Is Ji Kong Wudi really going to receive the same kind of opportunity as the Hao Hai Immortal Emperor?” Upon hearing this, it wasn’t just the younger generation; even many old experts from the Great Teaching Territories were green with envy.

Ji Kong Wudi was already ridiculously powerful, practically invincible among his peers. If he were to obtain another great opportunity like the Hao Hai Immortal Emperor, the thought was simply terrifying.

”Does this mean Ji Kong Wudi is destined to become an Immortal Emperor in this era? Will Takong Mountain become a second Thousand Emperors Sect?!” After the news broke, countless experts from the Great Teaching Territories were driven mad with jealousy.

”A pity! My son also came across the trail left by the Hao Hai Immortal Emperor, but he lost it in the end,” said a Great Sect Leader from the Southern Red Land, his voice full of a furious regret that twisted his guts.

”My disciple also encountered the Hao Hai Immortal Emperor’s trail, but alas, it changed too quickly, and he couldn’t keep up,” an old hermit from a Noble Family in the Western Wilderness lamented with immense regret.

It was rumored that several of the young geniuses with extraordinary backgrounds who had climbed the World Tree had also encountered the trail left by the Hao Hai Immortal Emperor. Unfortunately, none of them managed to follow it to the end like Ji Kong Wudi.

”I wonder what kind of opportunity Mei Fairy has found.” When discussing Ji Kong Wudi, the conversation inevitably turned to Mei Suyao.

Someone who had been gathering information shared a tidbit: ”I hear Mei Fairy is heading even higher. She intends to climb to the very peak of the World Tree.”

”The peak of the World Tree?” Upon hearing this, even a Saint Emperor, let alone a Saint Venerable, gasped. ”That’s an impossible task, isn’t it? I’ve heard that due to the World Tree’s suppression, not even a Great Sage can reach its peak!”

A Sect Leader from the East Hundred Cities, who knew a fair bit about the Long River Sect, sighed with emotion. ”I’m afraid she just might succeed. The Long River Sect’s resources are unfathomably deep. They possess several Immortal Emperor True Artifacts. They can certainly spare one to help Mei Fairy reach the peak!”

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