Fairy Kongyou was breathtakingly beautiful, boasting countless suitors within the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals. The heaven-defying efficacy of the Yin-Yang Jade was enough to drive the realm's cultivators into a frenzy.
Beyond her own uniqueness, Kongyou also appeared to have a hidden background.
Among the Alliance's upper echelons, whispered rumors circulated that Kongyou was the exclusive plaything of a certain Lord Dharma Transmitter. Not only did she hail from a pocket world exclusive to that Dharma Transmitter, but even the half-piece wonder of Heaven inside her body had been implanted in her—all for the sake of nurturing it until harvest.
Where there was smoke, there was fire; such rumors were not entirely without foundation.
The soul of heaven and earth she had integrated with, "Nether Hue," was one of those captive and stockpiled by the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals. Kongyou had silently claimed it to achieve her Dao Integration breakthrough, and throughout it all, the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals had never made any public statement or objection.
Furthermore, over thirty years ago, a cultivator surnamed Qin who had just advanced to Dao Integration fell hopelessly in love with Kongyou at first sight. When his ardent courtship bore no fruit, he actually schemed to take her by force through underhanded plots. In the end, not only he, but even the prominent Qin family backing him evaporated from the world, disappearing without a trace.
Sun Luyuan was not frightened by Kongyou's possible special status; on the contrary, it only strengthened his resolve to select her as a sacrifice. At this moment, he arrived at his younger brother Sun Luyao's dwelling, intending to use the power of the Heavenly Profound Mirror to pinpoint her current location.
"Brother, doing this, aren't you afraid of..." Sun Luyao asked, rather puzzled.
"The Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals currently knows nothing whatsoever about the Sacred Dynasty of Great Qi. What harm could there be in me merely inviting the world-renowned Fairy Kongyou to tour a pocket world within the Alliance's borders with quite unique scenery?" Sun Luyuan smiled faintly.
"A figure such as Fairy Kongyou will never face any mortal danger within the Sacred Dynasty of Great Qi. You can rest assured on that point."
In truth, Sun Luyuan harbored private calculations he did not share openly with his brother.
Beyond currying favor with the Sacred Dynasty, he also wanted to use the power behind Fairy Kongyou to test Great Qi's strength. True, his previous journey to Great Qi had shown that the Sacred Dynasty was extraordinarily powerful through everything he had seen and heard, but in the end, true capability was proven only through clashing hands.
If they cannot even handle a single Dharma Transmitter, how can they speak of contending with the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals? Sun Luyuan reflected silently.
What Sun Luyuan did not know was that his every move took place under the watchful gaze of Great Qi's Holy Emperor.
He fancied his actions covert, yet how could they possibly escape Li Fan, who had lived through countless reincarnations?
"Fairy Kongyou." A breathtakingly beautiful face flashed before Holy Emperor Li Ping's eyes.
"No matter. Those few disciples have indeed grown of age. If she can bear a few more prodigies for my Great Qi, that too would be a joyful occasion."
As for the being backing Kongyou, Li Ping truly did not care much.
However, Sun Luyuan's self-righteous cleverness earned him a special mark in Li Ping's mind.
Every act today shall have its reckoning.
Such a trivial matter was merely one of countless fleeting images passing daily through the mind of the Faceless Holy Emperor seated upon the Holy Emperor Throne.
It could not stir the slightest ripple in his heart.
Li Ping's primary focus currently remained on the Nether Realm and the deduction of the new method.
Ever since dispatching a portion of the You people to fill the energy deficit in the sea of gloomy darkness, Li Ping could only feel the degree of Xuanhuang heavenly favor bestowed upon him growing higher and higher.
Not long had passed since he assisted Tianyang in integrating with the Dao, yet the worldly power he could transpose through falsifying transposition and mobilize was dozens of times greater than before.
Alongside mastering more authority, an inexplicable urge originating from the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao emerged with increasing frequency in Li Ping's mind.
This body carried the hopes and future of Great Qi's hundreds of millions of subjects; naturally, Li Ping would not act rashly.
Images sensed through the Heavenly Dao flashed back before his eyes.
A desolate Gobi landscape. As far as the eye could see, a dusky, leaden expanse.
A towering stone mountain that seemed to bridge heaven and earth stood erect at the center of the scene.
Atop the stone mountain sat an elderly man.
Behind the elder rested a coffin. Though it was merely a sensed vision, Li Ping could still perceive the decaying, evil aura emanating from within that coffin.
It even caused Li Ping a faint sense of discomfort.
"The sealed malicious will of the Xuanhuang Realm?"
Li Ping naturally understood why the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao was persistently urging him.
With a part of itself sealed away, the Heavenly Dao's strength had drastically diminished—to the point where, after the great catastrophe millennia ago when dharmas could no longer be practiced concurrently, it had never again unleashed any measures targeting cultivators.
If it could retrieve this lost power, perhaps the situation might turn around.
However...
Even separated by hundreds of millions of li, Li Ping could seemingly feel the unsettling entity beneath that coffin lid.
If this malicious will is allowed to return after being sealed away and suppressed by cultivators for so many years, the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao will certainly undergo extreme changes. That may not necessarily be a good thing for human cultivators or even the Xuanhuang Realm itself.
Yet replenishing the power of the Xuanhuang Realm's Heavenly Dao is indeed worth doing.
In practically an instant, Holy Emperor Li Ping made up his mind.
He would first absorb this malicious will into himself.
Once he finished reshaping the universe in the future and returned to the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao, this power would naturally be returned to the Xuanhuang Realm as well.
Before that, whether this power was held in his hands or in the hands of the Xuanhuang Realm's Heavenly Dao...
...in Li Ping's eyes, made no difference.
With Li Ping's current strength, attempting to tame the Xuanhuang malicious will still carried some risk. In particular, that cultivator guarding the Xuanhuang malicious will named Xu Ke could not be comprehended through conventional logic either.
Therefore, until comprehensive preparations were in place, Li Ping would not act lightly.
He simply turned a blind eye to the Xuanhuang Realm's urgings.
When it came to dealing with the power of a world, there was actually a worthy subject to learn from right within the Sacred Dynasty of Great Qi.
Master Yin.
As the remnant soul avatar of another cultivation realm, Master Yin possessed rich experience in contending with a world consciousness.
However, there seemed to be some taboo involved.
Li Ping had sent inquiries several times, but Master Yin had, quite uncharacteristically, kept his mouth tightly shut and offered no response.
Fortunately, he truly was occupied with researching potential breakthrough directions for the new method, so Li Ping did not take issue with him.
"The will of a world..."
Without Master Yin's assistance, Li Ping could only rely on himself to find a solution.
In his memories, there were still quite a few fragments from other cultivation realms within the Xuanhuang Realm today that retained their own consciousnesses.
Perhaps contacting them might yield some insights.
Thinking this, Li Ping's figure flickered, arriving outside the entrance of the Great Qi pocket world, in the Congyun Sea.
At first glance, he saw the soul of heaven and earth about to be conceived between heaven and earth: Crimson Flame.
Seemingly sensing Li Ping's presence as well, Crimson Flame, still in the process of forming, transmitted a feeling of bewilderment.
Li Ping did not interfere with Crimson Flame's incineration of the sea.
He knew this was an indispensable process required for a fragment of another world seeking to truly integrate into the Xuanhuang Realm.
Chapter 1230