Chapter 1143: Old Devil’s Past
While Li Qiye was deep in thought, Gu Tieshou hesitated for a moment and didn’t know whether he should speak up. He had a question but didn’t dare to ask.
Li Qiye noticed his demeanor, so he smiled: “Elder, we are not strangers, so you can just speak your mind.”
Gu Tieshou chuckled awkwardly with an embarra.s.sed expression. He rubbed his palms together and asked: “Virtuous Nephew, hmm, about this… Ah, oh, the other elders in the sect, they are very curious, so, so they asked me to ask…”
Gu Tieshou didn’t know how to phrase this delicate matter.
“Elder Gu, go ahead.” Li Qiye smiled.
Gu Tieshou took a deep breath and calmed down before looking at Li Qiye with a serious expression: “Virtuous Nephew, are you the descendant of our patriarch?”
“You and the other elders are thinking too much.” Li Qiye knew what he was thinking and laughed.
Gu Tieshou was still as awkward as before: “Well, the elders think that you are either the patriarch’s direct descendant or perhaps even an imperial prince who was sealed.”
The older generation of the sect felt that Li Qiye was Immortal Emperor Min Ren’s descendant. He could even be a sealed child from the emperor.
No one would doubt Li Qiye if he came out right now and claimed to be the emperor’s son.
Li Qiye burst out into laughter and shook his head: “Elder, you are overthinking it. I am not Immortal Emperor Min Ren’s descendant and definitely not his son.”
Gu Tieshou could only smile awkwardly in response. He actually hoped that Li Qiye would be related to the emperor somehow.
He had to ask: “Then what about the Benevolent Armament?”
For millions of years now, no one had heard of this Benevolent Armament. Moreover, the triangular building had always been there. No one was able to connect with it, let alone control it. But now, Li Qiye had used it freely at his whim.
Thus, it was understandable to think that outside of the emperor himself, only his son would be able to use the Benevolent Armament.
Li Qiye smilingly said: “The armor was waiting for the fateful ones. It has been buried deep underground. When the right person comes again, it shall show itself once more.”
He didn’t need to explain this armor clearly because Gu Tieshou didn’t know that despite its name, it didn’t have a lot to do with Immortal Emperor Min Ren; he was not the one who refined it.
Back when Li Qiye couldn’t come up with a good name, the emperor had already worn it to battle. From then on, people called it the “Benevolent Armament.” Li Qiye had no problems with this name, so he didn’t change it afterward.
Eventually, Gu Tieshou stopped bothering Li Qiye and bowed before leaving.
“Is Old Devil still here?” Li Qiye asked: “Tell him to come here, and Mu Shaohuang too.”
Gu Tieshou’s heart jumped out of confusion after hearing this. It was clear that he lacked the knowledge about their relations.h.i.+ps.
Old Devil Mu Shaodi was their ancestor. With regards to status, Li Qiye should be calling him ancestor, but strangely enough, Old Devil listened to Li Qiye’s commands. This was a chaotic mess that Gu Tieshou couldn’t figure out at all.
“I, I will go consult the ancestor.” What else could he say? He was several generations below Old Devil.
In fact, the entire sect was still dumbfounded at the moment. Both elders and ordinary disciples couldn’t believe that the perverted Old Devil was their most powerful ancestor, Mu Shaodi.
In the past, an elder had proposed to expel Old Devil from the sect, lest he stain the sect’s reputation even more. But now, after finding out that he was an ancestor, many people broke out in cold sweat.
After a while, Old Devil and the burly man, Mu Shaohuang, came. While looking at Li Qiye, even characters like Old Devil didn’t dare to show any slight. He respectfully bowed and said: “Greetings, Your Excellency.”
Li Qiye glanced at him and said: “It looks like the Black Dragon King told you about me.”
“Senior Black Dragon King only mentioned a few things.” Old Devil smiled wryly before giving introductions: “Your Excellency, this is my little brother.”
“I know who he is.” Li Qiye glanced at the young king and then both of them before stating: “If I’m not mistaken, the two of you are the reason for Cleansing Incense’s decline.”
Old Devil quickly said: “Your Excellency, it was my fault. I was the one who destroyed the sect. I’m ashamed to meet our forefathers.”
Mu Shaohuang hastily interjected: “Your Excellency, my big brother is not to be blamed for this. It was all my fault. I was the one who found the secret underground and invited trouble, so Master sentenced me to an eternal imprisonment.”
Old Devil busily a.s.serted: “No, Your Excellency, if it wasn’t for my obsession with power and desire to open the seal, the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect wouldn’t have faced that disaster.”
Li Qiye gently waved his sleeve after looking at the two: “Okay, there’s no need to claim the blame from each other. If your master declared your sentence, then I’m too lazy to care about who was right and wrong. I only want to know the process and details. Be specific.”
“It was my fault.” Mu Shaohuang deepened his tone: “Big Brother and I grew up at Cleansing Incense and joined under our master at the same time. I was not as gifted at cultivation as Big Brother since I was addicted to occult and bizarre matters. Thus, I read many scrolls of the sect when I was younger.”
“So you traced back to the roots and thought about obtaining the power.” Li Qiye said while looking at Mu Shaohuang.
“Your Excellency, it was not so. My little brother likes strange things and didn’t care for prestige and power, so he was still nameless when I became famous.” Old Devil quickly interrupted.
Mu Shaohuang scratched his head and went on: “Through the scrolls from our sect, I knew that there was a secret buried beneath Cleansing Incense. At the start, I thought it was the Benevolent Armament, but later on, I found that this was not the case.”
Li Qiye flatly said: “A very powerful force is hidden underground.” Back then, there was a reason why he let Immortal Emperor Min Ren establish the sect on this land.
“Yes!” Mu Shaohuang wryly smiled: “In the beginning, I only wanted to obtain the Benevolent Armament in hopes that Big Brother would be able to successfully seize the Heaven’s Will just like the patriarch back then. However, I didn’t understand the true principles behind the armament. It was not a treasure, so I couldn’t take it.”
“... Moving on, with my research, I found that there was something even more powerful beneath the imperial foundation of the sect. It was an eternal power, perhaps even more terrifying than the Benevolent Armament, so I became fascinated by it.” He explained.
“It was because of me.” Old Devil joined again: “It was because I wanted that power which led to the calamity later on.”
He recalled: “I competed against Immortal Emperor Ta Kong. Out of our six duels, the score was three to three. However, after each battle, the emperor’s dao became much more polished than mine. I understood him very well. During our last confrontation which led to my defeat, a huge gap was between us. I couldn’t stand it… so I had the urge to obtain an even greater power.”
Li Qiye coldly said: “You were obsessed, charmed by the devil.”
Old Devil sighed in response: “I was truly charmed by the devil back then with my desire to become the Immortal Emperor. My thirst for power was what led me astray.”
The old guy became dejected at this point: “At that time, I heard Little Brother say that he had finished researching the seal underground. I thought about a few legends back then relating to the power underground, a power that would make me invincible in the nine worlds.”
Li Qiye glared at him and asked: “Did you know what their end result was?”
Old Devil gently sighed: “At that time, I was completely obsessed and didn’t think much of it. I just wanted to obtain this power in order to surpa.s.s Immortal Emperor Ta Kong, to seize the Heaven’s Will and ascend to the throne.”
Li Qiye emotionlessly scolded: “It doesn"t matter what kind of person an Immortal Emperor is. Regardless of whether they are a murderer or a righteous gentleman, no emperor cultivating an unorthodox and evil method has ever been accepted by the heavenly dao. Only a supreme grand dao can carry the Heaven’s Will. Even if you obtained that power, you still wouldn’t have become an Immortal Emperor.”
Old Devil smiled sadly: “I was blinded by my miserable defeat. I was unwilling to lose against Immortal Emperor Ta Kong, so I became h.e.l.l-bent on obtaining that power underground. Master and the elders did not agree in the beginning, but under my constant pleading, master eventually agreed to open the seal underground. No one expected that everything would go wrong and a calamity would befall us.”
Despite knowing the dangers, the elders still ultimately agreed. This was their desire to have another Immortal Emperor. Without a doubt, Mu Shaodi was a great candidate.
“Hmph! You all only knew that this power was strong but never thought about what was sealed underground!” Li Qiye coldly stated: “Otherwise, why would Immortal Emperor Min Ren and I waste so much time to lay such a strong imperial foundation in order to seal this land?”