Pious prayers echoed through the subterranean secret chamber.
Like ancient ballads, they sounded remote and mysterious.
These worshippers were naturally the You people.
Through the joint efforts of several of Li Ping's disciples, nearly all of the You people had been captured and brought into the Daqi pocket world.
Li Ping knew that the entity behind the Sea of Gloomy Darkness did not mind its believers adopting other faiths.
Thus, after a mixture of coercion and inducements, followed by a demonstration before the entire You race that coexistence was genuine, these You people quickly adapted to this new way of life.
Some even held a faith in the Holy Emperor that was firmer and more fanatical than their devotion to the Sea of Gloomy Darkness.
After all, at the perilous brink of their race's extinction, the Sea of Gloomy Darkness had manifested no miracles. The Destined Holy Emperor, on the other hand, truly distributed massive supplies of provisions to them at regular intervals.
In the darkness, listening to the synchronized chanting of the You people, Li Ping felt specks of golden Source Power generate within his body.
"The power of faith condensed and produced by merely a hundred You people is more than that of the entire populace of Great Qi combined.
"What secret could possibly be hidden within these You people..."
Li Ping had already sent the corpses of some You people who had resisted to Master Yin's side, asking him to help study them.
"His research into the new new method has hit a bottleneck anyway. Switching to a different subject might just spark unexpected flashes of inspiration."
Of course, Li Ping did not care much about the true cause behind the You race's unique constitution.
Whatever the cause, it mattered little as long as it could be put to use for him.
With a flicker of his figure, Li Ping arrived at another enclosed space near this prayer chamber.
"Xuanba, how is the research going? Can that transplanted flesh promote the You people's reproduction?"
Wang Xuanba, who had been staring intently at something straight ahead, hastily withdrew his gaze upon hearing his master's arrival.
Bowing respectfully, he reported, "After numerous experiments, I have found the optimal combination of strange beast flesh.
"I have named it the 'Life Primordial Fetus.'
"With merely an ample supply of male and female primordial essence, it can incubate vast numbers of infants at an astonishing speed.
"However..."
"Because they are not nurtured within a maternal womb, these infants are innately deficient. Not only are they born extremely frail, but their life expectancy will likely not be very long," Wang Xuanba said with great caution.
Unlike the honest, burly youth he once was, the current Wang Xuanba was lean and gaunt.
Having received Li Ping's meticulous guidance, he had subsequently devoured vast amounts of strange beast flesh and mastered numerous beast abilities. By now, his understanding of strange beasts had surpassed even Li Ping's.
Upon learning that his master was vexed by the You people's low birth rate, he had volunteered to share his master's burdens.
And so he had created something as shocking and monstrous as this "Life Primordial Fetus."
Composed entirely of writhing, pink strange-beast flesh, its interior consisted of enclosed chambers.
Innumerable tubes connected these chambers to the main body of the fetus.
While supplying energy to the developing offspring within, this also allowed the Life Primordial Fetus to absorb the traits of the vast numbers of offspring it nurtured.
"This is a win-win process. With every new offspring it incubates, it becomes increasingly intelligent and formidable.
"Although each increment of progress is minute, it can accumulate through sheer quantity, thereby achieving a metamorphosis within the anticipated timeframe.
"If my predictions are correct, in the future, the Life Primordial Fetus might not even require male and female primordial essence to create life on its own—so long as there is sufficient energy."
When speaking of strange beasts, even before his teacher, Wang Xuanba's tone was brimming with confidence.
Li Ping's gaze pierced through the darkness, looking toward the enormous, pulsing mass of flesh in the distance that seemed to be breathing.
"I only require that a sufficient number of them work for me at the same time. As for their lifespan...
"When they die, simply make more."
The Holy Emperor's words were utterly cold, yet Wang Xuanba felt no discomfort upon hearing them.
After all, in his eyes, these headless You people were no different from strange beasts and could hardly be considered human.
"You must keep everything here strictly confidential. That goes for your fellow senior and junior apprentice-brothers as well," Li Ping said once more.
"This disciple understands," Wang Xuanba said in a deep voice.
After Li Ping left, he resumed his research.
Compared to dealing with the tangled affairs of the outside world, he still preferred these pure, simple tasks.
In just a few short years, the life path of that burly youth beneath Mount Jieli had undergone such a tremendous transformation.
Yet among Li Ping's disciples, Wang Xuanba was not the one who had changed the most.
In Wang Xuanba's conduct, one could still faintly discern traces of who he used to be.
The one who had transformed entirely into a completely different person was Li Ping's fifth disciple, Ou Shangtian.
After following his father to Great Qi and being accepted as Li Ping's personal disciple, he had changed from a taciturn, wary, and insecure boy into a high-spirited youth.
He acted decisively, looking down upon all creation.
Although the youngest among the disciples, in terms of true strength, he surpassed them all.
In all of Great Qi, aside from Li Ping, there was likely no one who could stand as his equal.
Even if Li Ping took the field himself, subduing Ou Shangtian would be no simple matter without resorting to secret arts and divine abilities.
Beyond the two wondrous items Ou Shangtian had possessed from birth—the Kunqian Bone Hand and the Myriad Deaths Ledger—Ou Shangtian had also recently caught the Seven-Colored Divine Light in the fishing pond under Li Ping's guidance.
With the Seven-Colored Divine Light protecting his body, coupled with the Kunqian Bone Hand and the Myriad Deaths Ledger's heaven-defying escape capabilities, Ou Shangtian's survivability was superior to that of the vast majority of Dao Integration cultivators in the Xuanhuang Realm.
After stepping in several times and effortlessly suppressing multiple pocket worlds, the youth had grown increasingly arrogant.
Fortunately, with both his father and Li Ping keeping him in check, he had not done anything out of line.
Earlier, when acting alongside Wang Xuanba to capture the You people, he had taken an interest in Wang Xuanba's bizarre strange-beast abilities.
He had asked Li Ping for the cultivation method of the Creation Furnace Technique and had been practicing it diligently of late.
Li Ping was not worried that Ou Shangtian would lose control.
Before any sign of losing control appeared, he would strike decisively.
The golden Source Power condensed by the You people had already been quietly infused by him into the bodies of key figures throughout Great Qi.
This power, which was infinitely close to that of a True Immortal, was not something these so-called geniuses could detect.
Only an old fossil from the ancient cultivation world like Baihua could discern its true nature.
"Now that you have fallen into my web, your only choice is to toil unto death.
"After all, every gift has already had its price fixed."
With pure golden Source Power as his trump card, it was time to look ahead toward his invasion plan for the Xuanhuang Realm.
Chapter 1191