336: Chapter 72: Fish Leaps Over the Dragon Gate 336: Chapter 72: Fish Leaps Over the Dragon Gate “So all of this, it’s all fake?”
Although Xie Xuanyi didn’t have [Feng Mou].
But at this moment, he too understood the truth.
Sword Qi formed a circle on the ground, within this vast territory, Emperor Qi’s lingering thoughts were torn apart by Chen Ke, reassembled, torn apart, and reassembled again…
Ever since [Feng Mou] began to draw from the bone blood of the person on the throne.
The aura of Emperor Qi’s lingering thoughts started to grow increasingly stronger.
Accompanied by the crisp sound of iron scales resonating from the throne.
The whole hall began to tremble.
“What is true, what is false?”
Emperor Qi’s expression changed, reverting back to that first-seen face, the face known as “Zhong Wu,” and with a gaze of compassion and pity, he looked at the youth in front of him and said softly, “If I had exchanged only truths with you, how would you have entered the hall to break these shackles of Dragon Blood for me?”
Ao Ying’s complexion turned pale.
She wanted to call back [Feng Mou].
But it was already too late for that.
Or perhaps…
All of this, it only needed a small beginning.
Even without [Feng Mou].
Just a light touch of the body on the throne was enough.
That was all it took.
Ao Ying heard clearly, the iron scales in front of her emitted a crisp cracking sound.
At that moment, the figure seated on the throne, although exuding an air of majesty that looked down upon all others, turned into a fragile piece of porcelain, his body bursting forth with tiny cracks that spread from wrist to cheek.
“Crack.”
“Crack crack crack.”
This harsh cracking sound spread throughout the hall.
In stark contrast to it,
was Emperor Qi’s unrestrained and soaring laughter.
“A millennium has passed, and it’s still the same outside.”
Emperor Qi looked at Xie Xuanyi with a mocking expression: “You all are still as ever…
so clever for your own good.”
“…”
Xie Xuanyi responded with silence.
Emperor Qi concocted one lie to bolster another.
Blocking the Lifebound Cave Heaven with Ruyi Dao was already a dead end…
If no outsiders had entered this place.
All he could do was wait for death.
Therefore.
If Emperor Qi wanted to “live,” he had to let outsiders enter the hall.
Pretending to be Zhong Wu and making up a false history of regicide was just the first layer.
This layer of lies had many loopholes, which could be chalked up to the king’s arrogance causing abrupt mistakes, but they could also be seen as clues deliberately left for the entrants…
Emperor Qi, speaking through “Zhong Wu,” advised outsiders to stay away from this place precisely because he deeply understood human nature.
Human nature is the most greedy.
The more you dissuade, the more you provoke curiosity.
The more you forbid, the more people want to try.
The words “Ruyi” in Ruyi Dao are about probing the inner heart of people.
How to be Ruyi?
First, brush it off.
“So there was never such a thing as ‘regicide’…”
Xie Xuanyi looked at the remnants of Emperor Qi with pity and asked softly, “Back then in this great hall, the four generals were not hunting you, but that ‘True Dragon’.”
“Correct.”
The remnants of Emperor Qi frowned slightly.
He was really getting annoyed by the Sword Qi, and with a casual sweep of his hand, Chen Ke was sent spinning back.
Xie Xuanyi directly withdrew the sword domain.
Emperor Qi stood with his hands behind his back, recovering the imperial majesty.
He looked down at the young man in black and slowly said, “My ascension ritual was only a hair’s breadth from completion.
After trying everything, I finally lured this Evil Dragon here.
It was supposed to be trapped and killed with the throne as the core of the array…
Unfortunately, this Evil Dragon has profound cultivation, and before dying, it used Dragon Blood to form an array, dragging the entire Great Yue Kingdom underground.”
Upon saying this,
Emperor Qi sneered coldly, “This beast wanted to drag me down with it in a mutual destruction…
How would I fulfill its wish?”
Xie Xuanyi sighed softly.
Indeed, history is but a young girl to be painted upon by others.
If not seen with one’s own eyes, what is written in books and recorded on Jade Scrolls will always have a bias.
Whether it be the ancient histories recorded by the Historians of the Great Yue or the conjectures of Shan Man…
they all fall far from the true nature of this dragon-slaying battle.
Emperor Qi wanted to become a True Immortal.
What he needed was not merely the burial of an entire nation!
He also needed a ‘False Dragon’ that was close to ascending to a True Dragon, ready to be slaughtered at the same realm!
Such conditions were incredibly harsh to the extreme.
But back then, Emperor Qi was only one step away from success…
However, he underestimated the entity that was nearing the True Dragon.
The so-called battle to slay the dragon.
It was more like Emperor Qi’s battle for ascension.
If Emperor Qi had won this battle, by slaughtering the Demon Dragon and bathing in its blood, he could have become an “Eternal Emperor,” attaining True Immortality in an era when Primordial Energy began to deplete.
What a terrifying achievement that would be?
The Saints from the Taoist Sword Palace would have been slightly inferior to him, and the Da Chu dynasty would probably have been directly crushed.
Thinking about it,
Now Da Li and Da Chu would have been unified and swallowed by Great Yue.
Xie Xuanyi silently took out a Jade Scroll.
An image was reflected above the great hall.
“What is this?”
Emperor Qi narrowed his eyes with interest, watching the Divine Soul scene reflected by the Jade Scroll.
“Recorded by the Great Yue Historian,”
Xie Xuanyi said calmly, “The dragon-slaying battle drew to a close, the Dragon Blood splattered, shrouding the Great Yue Kingdom…
In this battle, the Great Yue Iron Cavalry won, and the Demon Dragon was executed.”
Emperor Qi sneered again but did not respond.
“The reason for such a record is simply because at this moment he does not know what the splatter of Dragon Blood signifies.”
Xie Xuanyi said calmly, “This ‘True Dragon’ trapped by the Ruyi Cave Heaven and slaughtered by a million iron cavalry knew that to break free from the Cave Heaven’s restrictions, it had to shatter your ascension ritual… so the Dragon Blood raining from the sky means it was preparing to fight you to the death.”
The shattered Dragon Array found in the outside world,
Was the transformation of the Dragon Blood spilled by that Demon Dragon!
A True Dragon.
It is one of the most noble immortal kinds in this world!
The blood of True Dragons contains the essence of Tao Rules and sacred patterns of the Great Dao.
The one you attempted to kill with your array…
although not yet having transformed into a True Dragon, was not far from it.
Each drop of Dragon Blood contained extremely pure power!
Your Ruyi Cave Heaven was shattered by the erosion of Dragon Blood.
This emperor, who was one step away from ascending, had no choice but to repair the Cave Heaven with all his might, applying all his Tao Rules to seal the royal palace above.
Thus,
Emperor Qi was also trapped by the Dragon Blood.
“The final outcome is that you lost,”
Xie Xuanyi gazed at the remnant Divine Thought of Emperor Qi and said slowly, “You refined as many as nine million souls, yet you were trapped in the Ruyi Cave Heaven for a thousand years, unable to leave…
You originally intended to ambush the ‘True Dragon’, but were instead killed by the ‘True Dragon’, leaving only a wisp of Divine Thought.
Moreover, your remnant power is sealed within the throne by the Dragon Blood.”
“Pah, True Dragon, True Dragon…”
Emperor Qi sneered, “Does she even deserve to be called a True Dragon?
She is but a Demon Dragon trying to overthrow the imperial power.
You say I lost this battle?
It is clear that I won!”
“That Evil Dragon has been utterly destroyed, yet I still retain my Lifebound Cave Heaven!”
“Now that the Dragon Blood seals have shattered, this Ruyi Cave Heaven…
should be restored to perfection.”
Emperor Qi extended his palm, and countless streaks of light rushed toward his palm.
These were the Ruyi Dao that had scattered throughout the Grotto Heaven.
For a thousand years,
they were used to seal the Grotto Heaven, to prevent it from being eroded by time.
Now they turn into a tide, all surging toward the remnant Divine Thought of Emperor Qi.
Ruyi Dao receded—
The originally splendid and solemn Imperial Palace suddenly changed its appearance.
It turns out this place was riddled with holes, long turned into ruins.
During the battle between the two back then,
they almost shattered this entire Grotto Heaven!
It turns out that Corpse Mountain and Blood Sea, the high throne, are all mere illusions.
From beginning to end,
these were all false illusions.
However, the dreamlike illusions of this Grotto Heaven were all personally created by Emperor Qi…
as long as the Ruyi Dao existed, with a single thought, the gilded hall could be restored to its original state.
It’s just a pity,
that the dead will not be reborn.
There are always some things in this world that are against one’s wishes, irreversible, and cannot be overturned.
At this moment, the “majestic figure” trapped within the throne gradually became visible…
It was a withered, dried-up corpse, eroded by the years, its true face even obliterated.
Pieces of scales were swept by the harsh wind, letting out a sharp whistle.
This dried-up husk of a human form with iron scales was filled with a deep sense of sorrow.
Sitting atop this throne did not signify glory.
It was a carefully designed “trap.”
She was summoned here only to be used as the last step of certifying Ascension to True Immortal, as bait.
The sole purpose of this throne was to imprison her, to kill her.
At this moment,
the throne trembled.
This withered husk was shattered by the surging Divine Thought of Emperor Qi, its chest bursting open with a dry bloom of blood.
Because of the force, she slightly tilted her head, and her hollow eyes “looked” toward Ao Ying…
perhaps because of their shared Dragon Descendant lineage, Ao Ying stared intently at the withered husk’s eyes, feeling a profound sorrow that seemed to fill her entire Heart Lake.
This sorrow came from a very distant, very distant past…
Was it because she was trapped and ambushed?
Or was there another reason?
“Did you win?”
A very light voice resonated above the great hall.
Xie Xuanyi retracted his Sword Qi, and the golden Sword Intent between his brows also gradually receded.
He looked at Emperor Qi whose aura was continuously strengthening and posed a question, “Have you ever truly looked at the Great Yue Kingdom over these years?”
“…”
Emperor Qi frowned slightly, dismissive.
“Whether it’s Tiesuo Alley or those resentful spirits wandering in the void…”
“These people who died because of you…”
“Have you ever cast even a feigned glance of pity their way?”
Xie Xuanyi said softly, “The land below is no longer a kingdom.
Those people, once dead, are no longer your subjects.
So you simply don’t care how their resentments play out.
Am I right?”
“Meaningless questions.”
Emperor Qi remained expressionless, indifferent, “Why should I spare another glance at existences as insignificant as ants?”
“What a pity,”
Xie Xuanyi said calmly, “If only you had looked one more time, perhaps you would understand why I call her ‘True Dragon’…
because she achieved Ascension quicker than you.”
Emperor Qi paused for a moment.
He looked somewhat blankly at the young man in black before him.
“Splashing Dragon Blood, may not only be for ‘mutual destruction’…”
“You have been struggling to survive in the Ruyi Cave Heaven for a thousand years.”
“While she has been reborn in the Great Yue Kingdom.”
As the words ended,
Clang!
A sound!
The noise of the iron scales suddenly intensified.
Along with the wind, it echoed through the palace.
“?!”
Ao Ying could see that the withered person on the throne, her head tilted, was gradually losing the last trace of life.
She had an illusion…
that the person on the throne voluntarily sent the last of her Essence Blood into Feng Mou, thereby releasing the shackles binding Emperor Qi’s Divine Thought.
So all this was not her own fault?
She looked blankly at Xie Xuanyi.
Suddenly and inexplicably, Xie Xuanyi spoke up, “I heard that if a carp leaps over the Dragon Gate, it can become a ‘True Dragon’.
Is this rumor true?”
This sentence, of course, wasn’t addressed to Emperor Qi.
…
…
Qing Li, who had been standing still from the beginning, her gaze fixed on the throne, felt her cheeks unknowingly become wet.
From the moment she stepped into the great hall and saw the figure on the throne,
she felt as if she saw herself from a thousand years ago.
Fleeting years, gone in a flash.
A thousand years of loneliness.
The pain she endured might be…
even longer than this.
Merely making eye contact with the figure on the throne for an instant,
Ao Ying felt a profound sadness.
Qing Li, on the other hand, had been staring at the throne from the very beginning until now.
“…”
Little Mute Girl, with tears streaming down her face, finally came to her senses.
She slowly opened her lips.
Qing Li’s voice was hoarse, as if reborn, uttering three words.
“It’s true.”