Rewinding to moments earlier.
Having devoured the remnant world consciousness of the Congyun Sea and returned to the Daqi pocket world, the Faceless Holy Emperor finally gained a clearer, more concrete understanding of the changes within himself.
In the past, he had needed to focus his full attention on overseeing the countless tedious affairs of the Sacred Dynasty, leaving him little leisure time to contemplate.
Now, however, without even exerting a third of his power, Li Ping could effortlessly handle every matter within the Sacred Dynasty, great or small.
Beyond the sheer quantitative growth of his spirit-soul, Li Ping's perceptions also seemed to have grown far sharper.
Looking down upon this world, he discovered the nascent, hazy consciousness of the pocket world currently germinating due to world elevation. Before this, the Daqi pocket world had merely operated on instinct, without the distinct personified traits of the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao. But because Li Ping had continuously restructured the Daqi pocket world, it now met the foundational conditions for birthing a self-awareness.
The birth of a world consciousness was an exceptionally lengthy process. By Li Ping's estimate, at its current natural pace, it would likely take at least a thousand years.
Yet if Li Ping continued to promote Daqi's elevation, this timeframe would shorten accordingly.
That the Daqi pocket world had reached its present state was entirely due to Li Ping's reshaping. Furthermore, the fortune of Sacred Dynasty Daqi was fused with Li Ping as one, and its flourishing, irresistible fortune exerted a subtle, pervasive influence over the pocket world as well.
Cultivators were traditionally nurtured by heaven and earth. Yet in Li Ping's case, the present Daqi pocket world felt more like his own creation. The grace of remaking it was akin to being its father and mother, its heaven and earth...
Seated upon the Holy Emperor Throne, myriad profoundly wondrous insights surfaced continuously in his mind.
They sprang not only from his own thoughts, but also from the assistance of this world.
Li Ping felt as though he had caught hold of some immensely vital revelation.
Right at this moment, however, his train of thought was abruptly disrupted by an unprompted warning sign ringing in his heart.
"Hmm?"
Upon investigation, Li Ping found that within the net of Source Power Essence he had cast, one of the prey actually showed signs of breaking free.
Strange ripples emanated from the target's body, as if trying to slip past the bounds of the golden net.
"Sun Luyuan?"
Li Ping still remembered this Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals Dao Integration cultivator, who had only recently declared his allegiance to the Sacred Dynasty.
"Could it be that someone in the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals noticed and made a move?" Li Ping could not help wondering.
Soon, however, he sensed what was actually happening to Sun Luyuan.
"Oh?"
Li Ping's mood instantly grew grave.
Channeling the Source Power Essence inside Sun Luyuan's body, Li Ping flashed instantly to his side.
Reaching out, he rested a hand on Sun Luyuan's shoulder as a surging torrent of golden power poured ceaselessly into his body.
Before long, Sun Luyuan's body—which had been gradually fading toward translucence—finally condensed back into solid form.
"Thank you, Holy Emperor, for saving my life," Sun Luyuan stammered in lingering terror once he realized what had just occurred, his face fraught with dread and gratitude.
Li Ping slowly drew back his hand, yet his senses remained fixed upon Sun Luyuan's back.
He could not directly perceive the entity known as "Qingfeng."
Even attempting to discern her through her indirect influence on the surrounding world proved futile.
"You're quite interesting."
Had Qingfeng's voice not chimed in right then, Li Ping would almost have thought she was merely Sun Luyuan's hallucination.
It was difficult to believe that within the Xuanhuang Realm, there was actually something Li Ping could not observe.
"What are you?"
Without any intent to insult, Li Ping asked quite solemnly.
Sun Luyuan lowered his head, concealing all expression from his face.
Surprisingly, Qingfeng was not angry either. "I want to know that myself."
"Too bad I forgot," she said with a touch of regret.
"My memory isn't very good. Aside from Little Xu, A-Liu, and a few others, I don't really remember anyone else clearly..."
"What's your name?" Qingfeng asked.
"Li Ping," he replied concisely.
From Qingfeng, he sensed an aura similar to Master Yin's, yet faintly different.
"Perhaps I can help you remember." Intuition told him that the secrets Qingfeng harbored might prove useful when war eventually broke out with the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals, so he took the initiative to speak.
"Tee-hee, I get the feeling you have bad intentions."
Unexpectedly, Qingfeng saw right through him.
"Sure enough, hardly anyone in this world is truly nice to me." Qingfeng's tone turned somber and resentful once more.
The moment Li Ping heard those words, golden Source Power surged forth spontaneously within his body.
A sign that his defensive wards had been triggered.
Since Qingfeng had chosen to strike, Li Ping naturally would not hold back.
Behind him, the grand phantom of the Sacred Dynasty abruptly manifested.
Endless golden light flew out from the Sacred Dynasty's projection, coalescing into a gigantic hand that snatched directly at the spot where Qingfeng was located.
Li Ping reasoned that if he could not perceive his opponent directly, he would simply seal and tear away the space Qingfeng occupied, taking it back to study at his leisure.
Yet this bizarrely eerie Qingfeng could not be subdued through such simple means.
The golden giant hand returned into the phantom of the Sacred Dynasty, leaving behind only a black void—proof that a small patch of space had vanished entirely.
Yet Qingfeng's voice still drifted from that hollow opening.
"Do you want to take me back with you?"
"Do you want to be with me forever? If so, why resist?"
"Nonsense." A cold snort from the Faceless Holy Emperor was the only reply she received.
Upon Li Ping's originally featureless face, vague facial features faintly began to emerge.
Yet they did not resemble an ordinary human's; rather, they seemed like manifestations of shifting energies.
Particularly his two eyes—silver-white vortexes, dazzling as the celestial river of stars.
"Might of heaven and earth, bestow upon me."
Li Ping's majestic voice boomed like thunder.
Across Luoyan Province, the firmament roiled and shifted in an instant at those words.
"You want to drag me down? You'd better have the weight to do it!"
Sensing his intimately close bond with the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao, Li Ping then lowered the protection of his golden Source Power, allowing Qingfeng's uncanny power to swallow him whole.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Lightning bolt after lightning bolt flashed through the dense, gloomy clouds as the earth trembled faintly.
For a brief instant, the hue of Li Ping's body faded.
Yet very quickly, it returned to normal.
In contrast, a vague, blurry silhouette was actually pulled into view on Qingfeng's side!
"Found you!"
From Li Ping's vortex-like eyes, two beams of light instantly shot forth, shackling Qingfeng like chains.
"Come out!"
Li Ping roared, and the golden giant hand manifested once more.
It grasped the silver chains and yanked violently.
The tiny, healing black sinkhole in space instantly showed signs of violently collapsing outward.
Chapter 1233