After a while, the girls calmed down. Jians.h.i.+ quietly asked: “Is she an Immortal Emperor?”
But then she thought about it and found it impossible. If there was an empress present, there would be no chance for everyone to be unaware of her presence. Moreover, this was a new generation with an upcoming Heaven’s Will, so how could there already be an empress?
Li Qiye looked at her and flatly stated: “No, she’s something even greater.”
Everyone inwardly trembled after hearing this terrifying sentence. No one else in this world would say such a thing outside of Li Qiye in this specific circ.u.mstance. Moreover, the existence mentioned should not exist! How could there be something greater than an Immortal Emperor?!
Ruyan blurted in disbelief: “There are people more powerful than Immortal Emperors?”
Since ancient times, the belief was that Immortal Emperors were invincible and matchless.
Li Qiye smiled and looked over at the daoist: “There are differences among Immortal Emperors. Back then, Immortal Emperor Yan s.h.i.+ made a very famous statement, commenting on the differences. I’m sure your four branches have recorded this.”
Puresun mused a bit before answering with uncertainty: “I believe our ancestor did say something along these lines: among the nine levels of Immortal Emperor, I am at the seventh.”
He was hesitant because as a descendant, he wasn’t qualified to comment on invincible emperors, especially his ancestor.
Li Qiye smilingly said: “Not exactly true but pretty much correct. In her words, if there are nine levels to Immortal Emperor, I would place her at the eighth. Of course, this was a matter to be discussed later on.”
“Later on?” Ruyan was quite sharp and could vaguely guess something from his statement. What happened after that?
Li Qiye laughed and didn’t answer: “Let’s go. I’ll take everyone somewhere where there is a real treasury, but just like before, whether you can get anything or not will depend on your own fortune.” Having said that, he maneuvered the s.h.i.+p towards a particular direction.
They swiftly traveled through countless bone mountains on this sea. In the beginning, the group thought that there was nothing except bones, but they soon found out that this was a misconception.
“There’s something under the water!” The meticulous Jians.h.i.+ noticed something beneath the surface that has been secretly watching them inside the bones.
Li Qiye smiled and told the group: “You can practice here for now. These things aren’t that strong, but once we go deeper into that place, it will be a fight with your lives on the line.”
“What is that thing?” Jians.h.i.+ was surprised. She initially thought that there were no living creatures in this area.
“Screech!” The moment she finished speaking, the sky turned dark. A giant eagle approached them from overhead. To be exact, it was the skeleton of a giant eagle. It spread its ten-meter-long wings and came out of nowhere only to dive towards them.
Its beak was immensely sharp and its hook-like claws were equally deadly. One could hear the wind howl as it dived down with a momentum capable of tearing this s.h.i.+p into little pieces.
In face of this, Puresun unsheathed his sword on his back without delay. His quick-draw was impeccable. Others could only see a flas.h.i.+ng glint followed by a clank that came from the air.
With one slash, the giant bird was split into halves and fell into the sea. His Ancient Purity Blade had already returned to its scabbard. No one actually had a chance to see it clearly.
From the unsheathing to the sheathing motions, it was a continuous and flawless flow. This was indicative of his wondrous mastery. Soon after dealing with the bird, the water down below began to splash all over the place. Countless skeletal monkeys sprang up onto the s.h.i.+p. They squeaked and screamed before lunging at the group.
“Come!” Ruyan chuckled and activated her Evil Devourer Physique. A black hole appeared right away and started to grind away at the bones. Virtually all of these skeletal monkeys were rendered into dust in an instant.
After the eagle and monkeys were killed, the rest of the skeletons seemed to realize that the group was too strong, so they quietly hid and halted their attack for now.
Jians.h.i.+ asked: “What are these things again?”
Li Qiye nonchalantly answered: “In this place, the majority of the corpses have been erased. However, a few of them remain unyielding and turned into skeletons on these s.h.i.+ps in order to escape from the Bonesea. There is another group that have been morphed into evil spirits by the death energy here. They consider this sea to be their home and would attack any intruders they see.” He sighed at the end.
Jians.h.i.+ noticed these shadows hiding in the sea. They seemed to be everywhere, prompting her to be vigilant.
Li Qiye smiled and added: “These spirits are not much; the ones later on will be much more powerful — a true eye-opener. Remember, you can abandon s.h.i.+p and jump to the bone piles if necessary, but never fall into the water no matter what happens. If you do, it will be the end of you; escaping would be even more difficult than reaching the heavens.”
The group memorized his warning. Even though there was still a lot of spirits around, Li Qiye didn’t mind too much. His focus was on Fairy, evident by his occasional glances. In fact, he was very worried about her emotional instability because it could end in an eruption. As he had said before, dealing with a furious Immortal Emperor would be very problematic.
Fortunately, the situation was looking fairly optimistic since she remained stable just like the glowing moonlight that’s encompa.s.sing her body. She even had a smile on her face, as if she was recalling some happy memories.
The s.h.i.+p continued forward. They didn’t get too far before another s.h.i.+p came by. An old man was glad to see them and called out: “Young n.o.ble Li, may I have an audience?”
Li Qiye controlled his s.h.i.+p so that it would block the other one and sat down while lazily mumbling: “Come.”
The old man jumped on board and cupped his fists after seeing the group: “Schoolmaster Zhuo, Schoolmaster Liu, Daoist Puresun, my greetings.”
“Third Elder, you still haven’t given up? What kind of conditions are you bringing with you this time?” Ruyan chuckled after seeing the old man.
This was the elder from the Seven Martial Pavilion. He only smiled and maintained his courteous and thoughtful bearing.
The daoist smiled: “I’ll go keep watch so that the spirits can’t attack the s.h.i.+ps.”
He understood that if the third elder was here, there was important business to be discussed. As the Puresun Island Lord, it was not his place to eavesdrop. Xiong Qianbei didn’t dare to stay even more. He followed the daoist and kept guard on the deck.
“The Bonesea is too large, it wasn’t easy to find you, Young n.o.ble. I had to switch several s.h.i.+ps.” He bowed and initiated the conversation with a relaxed tone.
He came with great sincerity this time to get things done. It was evident that he ran here as he had to spend a lot of effort just to talk.
Li Qiye smiled and replied: “I hope you are bringing me good news.”
The elder bowed his head again. He was much more polite and respectful compared to the last time. Keep in mind that the pavilion was an incredible lineage in Heaven Spirit. One sect with three sea G.o.ds was enough to let them talk proudly to any other power.
As an elder, he commanded great respect, so his courteous act towards Li Qiye was quite sincere. Of course, Li Qiye showed him respect as well, contrary to his usual nonchalant act.
As the saying goes, bring gifts to avoid a scolding; smile to avoid a slapping! He was willing to give the third elder a chance due to the respectful gesture.
The elder said with reverence: “I came here this time to talk to you about the life renewal again.”
“I’m listening.” Li Qiye only smiled and showed a more amicable att.i.tude compared to his indifferent manner upon their first meeting.
The elder solemnly said: “Our elders have discussed your condition last time and we have agreed to parts of it. If you can perform the life renewal successfully, we will impart to you three out of the seven styles.”