Chapter 1230: Absorbing the World's Malice
Chapter 1230: Absorbing the World's Malice
Fairy Kongyou was a woman of breathtaking beauty, with no shortage of suitors in the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance. The heaven-defying power of her Yin-Yang Jade was enough to drive any cultivator in the world to madness.
Beyond her unique constitution, Fairy Kongyou was rumored to have a hidden, powerful backer. Whispers circulated among the Alliance's elite that she was the private treasure of a certain Dharma Transmitter. It was said she hailed from a small world exclusive to these powerful figures, and that even the half Heavenly Wonder within her had been implanted—all to cultivate her for a future "bountiful harvest."
These rumors were not unfounded.
The Earth's Soul she used to achieve Dao Integration, Nether Color, was one of the very treasures nurtured and stockpiled by the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance. Yet, Kongyou had taken it for her breakthrough without a word, and the Alliance had remained conspicuously silent on the matter.
Furthermore, some thirty years ago, a cultivator of the Qin family, having just ascended to the Dao Integration realm, became infatuated with her at first sight. When his persistent advances were rebuffed, he resorted to devious schemes to possess her by force. In the end, not only did he vanish, but his entire family—once a prominent name—evaporated from the world as if they had never existed.
Sun Luyuan, however, was undeterred by Kongyou's potentially formidable connections. If anything, it only strengthened his resolve to select her as the offering. He went to his younger brother, Sun Luyao, intending to use the power of the Heavenly Profound Mirror to pinpoint her exact location.
"Brother, are you sure about this? Aren't you afraid...?" Sun Luyao asked, puzzled.
"The Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance is still completely in the dark about the Sage Dynasty of Great Qi," Sun Luyuan replied with a smile. "I'm simply inviting the renowned Fairy Kongyou to admire the unique scenery of a small world within our territory. What could possibly be wrong with that?"
In truth, Sun Luyuan harbored a hidden agenda he didn't share with his brother.
Beyond currying favor with the Sage Dynasty, he intended to use Fairy Kongyou's mysterious backer to probe Great Qi's true strength. While his previous visit had shown him a powerful and prosperous nation, the true measure of their might could only be determined through a direct confrontation.
*"If they can't even handle a single Dharma Transmitter, how could they possibly hope to contend with the entire Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance?"* Sun Luyuan thought to himself.
What Sun Luyuan failed to realize was that his every move was being observed by the Sage Emperor of Great Qi.
He thought his actions were clandestine, but how could he possibly deceive Li Fan, a man who had lived through countless cycles of reincarnation?
"Fairy Kongyou." A vision of her exquisite face flashed through Sage Emperor Li Ping's mind.
"Very well," he mused. "My disciples are certainly of age. If she could bear a few more prodigies for Great Qi, it would be a joyous occasion indeed."
As for the power behind Fairy Kongyou, Li Ping was genuinely unconcerned.
Sun Luyuan's clever little scheme, however, earned him a special mark in the Emperor's memory.
"Today's deeds will be repaid in kind."
This minor affair was but one of countless visions that flickered through the mind of the faceless Sage Emperor on his throne, failing to stir the slightest ripple in his heart.
Li Ping's primary focus remained on the Gloomy Realm and the deduction of the New Method.
Ever since he had dispatched a portion of the You Clan to replenish the dwindling energy of the Gloomy Sea of Darkness, Li Ping felt the Heavenly Grace bestowed upon him by the Xuanhuang Realm growing ever stronger.
It hadn't been long since he'd aided Tianyang in achieving Dao Integration, yet the celestial power he could now command and manipulate had already multiplied dozens of times over.
But with this greater authority came a strange, persistent urging from the Heavenly Dao of the Xuanhuang Realm, a summons that echoed more and more frequently in his mind.
The future of Great Qi's countless citizens rested upon his shoulders; Li Ping would not act recklessly.
The vision sent by the Heavenly Dao flashed before his eyes again.
It was a desolate, windswept desert, a vast, gray expanse stretching to the horizon.
In the center of this wasteland stood a towering stone mountain that seemed to pierce the heavens.
At its peak sat an old man.
And on his back, he carried a coffin. Though it was only a vision, Li Ping could sense an aura of decay and profound evil emanating from it, a malevolence so potent it made him faintly uneasy.
"The sealed malice of the Xuanhuang Realm, then."
Li Ping understood why the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao was so insistent. With a part of its very essence sealed away, its power had been drastically diminished. So much so that in the millennia following the great calamity of the Law of Incompatible Cultivation, it had been unable to muster any new measures to restrain cultivators.
If it could reclaim this lost power, the balance might shift.
But... even across an impossible distance, Li Ping could feel the disquieting presence stirring beneath that coffin lid.
"If I allow this malice to return to its source," he considered, "after being sealed by cultivators and suppressed for so long, the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao would undoubtedly undergo an extreme transformation. Such a change would not necessarily be a good thing—not for humanity, and perhaps not even for the Xuanhuang Realm itself."
"Still, the value of restoring the Heavenly Dao to its full power could not be denied."
In a flash, Sage Emperor Li Ping made his decision.
He would absorb the malice himself.
When the day came that he had reshaped the world and his will merged with the Heavenly Dao, that power would naturally be returned to the Xuanhuang Realm.
Until then, whether the power was in his hands or the Heavenly Dao's...
From Li Ping's perspective, there was no difference.
Even with his current power, attempting to subdue the Xuanhuang malice was not without risk. The cultivator guarding it, a man named Xu Ke, was an enigma who defied conventional understanding.
Therefore, Li Ping would not make a move until he was fully prepared.
He simply ignored the Heavenly Dao's increasingly urgent pleas.
When it came to dealing with the will of a world, there was an expert within his own Sage Dynasty worth consulting:
Master Yin.
As the remnant soul of a being from another cultivation world, Master Yin possessed a wealth of experience in contending with planetary consciousness.
However, the subject seemed to be taboo.
Li Ping had sent several inquiries, but each time, Master Yin remained uncharacteristically silent, offering no response.
Fortunately, the man was genuinely preoccupied with researching potential breakthroughs for the New Method, so Li Ping didn't press the issue.
"The will of a world..."
Without Master Yin's guidance, Li Ping would have to find a solution on his own.
He recalled that the Xuanhuang Realm still contained numerous fragments of other cultivation worlds, remnants that retained a sliver of their original consciousness.
Perhaps interacting with them would provide the insights he sought.
With that thought, Li Ping's figure flickered, and he appeared outside the entrance to Great Qi's small world, above the Cong Yun Sea.
His gaze immediately fell upon Crimson Flame, the Spirit of Heaven and Earth that was on the verge of being born.
As if sensing his presence, the nascent entity transmitted a wave of confusion.
Li Ping did not interfere with the process of the Red Flame Burning Sea.
He knew this was an essential trial the world fragment had to endure to truly merge with the Xuanhuang Realm.
Comments