Chapter 376 Emperor Qin Ming
The sudden change in Li Mu’s expression puzzled Xu Sheng, Qiu Yin, and the others.
“Third Brother, what’s the…” Qiu Yin inquired with confusion.
But before he could finish the sentence, his countenance paled drastically.
His heart started racing.
In a second, the entire Yue Mountain Faction was appalled by a wave of demonic wrath.
In due west where Qin City, the capital of the Western Qin, sat, a streak of blazing orange glow emerged. Next, a giant palm that shaded half the sky appeared. It manipulated the sea of clouds to shatter the heavens, as though it was determined to crush that corner of the world. Then, it bore straight down upon the Yue Mountain Faction.
Compared with that enormous palm, the main peak of the Yue Mountain area that was more than 10,000 meters in height looked like as minuscule as a hill.
As Li Mu and the others looked up, they felt their soul give a shudder, for the lines they saw on that palm were as wide as the Milky Way.
“What’s that?”
“Is it… the Great Devil?”
“Gosh…”
The brains of numerous disciples of the Yue Mountain Faction went numb at once. They were too overwhelmed to think.
That gigantic palm slowly bore down. Air seemed to be bursting under its weight.
Everyone felt their chests were squeezed, their hearts about to be forced up their throat.
Those low-ranking disciples spilled blood from their mouths and nostrils and directly pa.s.sed out.
“Quick! Switch on the All-side Starlight Deployment!” Shouted Xu Yue, Head of the Yue Faction, in panic.
All of them just stared at that palm in trepidation.
The palm was strewn with complex star patterns, tallies, and Taoist scriptures, which looked like chains. The Taoist qi crossed thousands of miles and permeated the field as if it had come there from another world.
Li Mu felt the qi of the Southern Fire Emperor and the Eastern Wood Emperor was boiling, perhaps on the verge of eruption, as though they had come across a foe they had not met for a long time.
Nevertheless, Li Mu made a firm judgment that the Emperors’ Fire that he lately acquired after an epiphany was definitely not the match of that colossal golden palm…
“Has that ‘divine master’ Yingshan Snow-eagle mentioned finally stepped forward?”
Spontaneously, Li Mu felt small and humble at the sight of that palm.
He had never felt that before.
Even when he first faced Yingshan Snow-eagle before he had obtained the qi of the Eastern Wood Emperor nor the liver qi out of the qi of the five organs, he did not feel that helpless.
If that palm fell on the land, perhaps the entire main peak would crumble.
“Can the All-side Starlight Deployment withstand it?”
Li Mu was not certain about that.
But in that very moment—
Actually, all of that happened in a twinkling.
Just as that mountainous golden palm was about to plunge to the main peak of the Yue Mountain, suddenly, an unexpected, marvelous change occurred.
A huge wolf with pure silver fur darted to the field from the void in the northeast, roaring. It seemed that it had just ripped the void apart and leaped out through the hole. The wolf was extremely gorgeous, as though it were from the heavens. Then, it pounced on and sank its teeth into that gigantic palm…
The whole thing happened too fast. All the people, including Li Mu, were still caught in their astonishment.
“Howl!”
The huge silver wolf howled furiously.
Its large, pillar-like fangs penetrating into the gigantic palm closed tight and the wolf began to tear the palm with its sharp teeth. Then, all the inscriptions and patterns on that gigantic, demonic palm bearing down upon the land from the universe began to flash. Eventually, unable to resist the bites of the silver wolf, the marks cracked and were torn up.
Golden fluid, which seemed to be golden blood, dribbled down from the void.
“Our big brother is here!”
Li Mu soon came to his senses and noted what just happened.
His big brother, Guo Yuqing, had finally hurried there.
Qiu Yin also recovered from the shock and jumped with joy. “Big Brother is finally here!”
Xu Sheng, Xu Yue, and the other members of the Yue Mountain Faction had no idea what kind of man the big brother Li Mu and Qiu Yin referred to was. But at the sight of the relieved expressions on the two’s faces, they instantly felt easier in their mind.
“Who tries stopping me?”
A majestic voice that made people tremble in fear swept over from the west.
The broken golden palm transformed into a blurred figure several thousand meters high. The figure stood upright on his two towering legs between heaven and earth, as though he was standing in the outer s.p.a.ce and looking down upon the planet. That fuzzy figure was crowned. He was cladding dragon-patterned imperial robes and wearing a pair of imperial shoes. A long sword was dangling from his waist. At first sight of him, everyone had an inclination to drop onto their knees and prostrate before him.
“It’s the emperor!”
Xu Sheng suddenly let loose a yelp.
Everyone’s heart gave a shudder.
The emperor?
The current emperor of the Western Qin Empire, Qin Ming?
Didn’t rumor say Emperor Qin Ming was doing closed-door training in the private land of the royal force?
It was alleged that 40 years ago, Emperor Qin Ming was in the last days of his life. To break through the Sage Realm, he shut himself up in the private land and declared that he would never go out unless he became a Sage. Up to that day, no one had heard he was out of the closed-door training. Even when Lord Zhenxi launched a revolt and the border area of the Western Qin was lost, the emperor did not come out to deal with the issues. Thus, some surmised that the emperor might have died when his urgent training went seriously wrong. But now…
Emperor Qin Ming had finished the closed-door training?
Judging by his fierce aura, his strength was beyond measure. Certainly, he was way more powerful than Yingshan Snow-eagle, the Emperor’s Broadsword.
Even the Nine Superbs could not possibly be more potent than he was.
Li Mu, too, was astounded.
“The emperor of the Western Qin turns out to be so frightening?”
At that point, in a distance, that ma.s.sive silver wolf roared and reared up to stand on its hind legs. Shortly, silver light bloomed around him as he eventually transformed into a st.u.r.dy man.
That man began to march toward them. He crossed miles in a few strides and arrived at the main peak of the Yue Mountain.
He was in a set of coa.r.s.e robes. His square face was bearded. His eyes showed his toughness and stalwart. Although he dressed like a humble hunter and his figure did not expand as to block the sun and the sky like Emperor Qin Ming’s, the aura he emanated was not less majestic. And as if could not bear the horrible power inside him, the s.p.a.ce and light in his vicinity were contorted into a vortex.
Who else could that man be except for Guo Yuqing, the master of the Wolf Temple on the vast pasture?
“Emperor Qin Ming, you haven’t brought your real body here. You are not my equal. Just back off.” Guo Yuqing remarked. His voice was quite calm.
The mountainous Emperor Qin Ming lowered his head and let out a small cry of bafflement. Then, he said, “It’s you… Have you forgotten the harsh vow you made on that day?”
Looking quite composed, Guo Yuqing answered, “I’m sorry that the insignificant detail of my life has bothered Your Majesty. But, as Your Majesty started the closed-door training 40 years ago, how could you know all those things that happened during the past 40 years?” Indeed, a decade had barely past since the day Guo Yuqing made that vow. Normally, the emperor who was still in the closed-door training at that time should not have learned that.
“I— know— everything.” Emperor Qin Ming’s voice rang again, carrying the domineering edge and the confidence only a superb master could have. The world seemed to be resonating with the voice, as though a demon were echoing a devil. Everyone felt an unparalleled pressure had gripped them.
“Your Majesty sure has quite an endurance. 40 years ago, others only knew you had gained the Full Achievement of the Celestial Being Realm, while, in fact, you were already a Semi-Sage.” Guo Yuqing remarked. “However, forty years is not enough for a Semi-Sage to put a foot in the Void-breaking Realm.”
“My powers are beyond the imagination of a pasture barbarian.” Emperor Qin Ming said haughtily. As those words came out, the earth quaked, the clouds surged, and all the living creatures s.h.i.+vered.
Guo Yuqing was hovering in midair. Rings of silver light rippled across the air and offset the pressure Emperor Qin Ming imposed. The lands in the northeast, including the main peak of the Yue Mountain, were s.h.i.+elded by his silver light, which was not less fierce than Emperor Qin Ming’s aura.
The two mighty pract.i.tioners locked their horns from a distance. They seemed to have cut the world in half and each taken one piece.
Those were the real powers of the superb masters. They could absolutely rival the powers of an immortal or a devil.
Guo Yuqing bellowed, “Even the pasture barbarians know they have to fight against foreign invasions. But why has the emperor of the Western Qin chosen to yield to the Extra-terrestrial Devils?”
With such powers, Guo Yuqing easily spotted the aura of the Extra-terrestrial Devils among the overwhelming pressure Emperor Qin Ming cast. He also noted that by the time the emperor had thoroughly turned that evil force into his own power.
Emperor Qin Ming snorted, then, broke into a roar of laughter. “Haha, I rule the world. I overawe the planet. There is n.o.body I can’t tame, no power I can’t rein. The Extra-terrestrial Devils have also submitted to me. So, how can you say I yield to them? Master of Wolf Temple, you have lost your iron fist after wasting five years. Now, you are no longer qualified to battle me.”
Guo Yuqing shook his head and countered, “You’re such a blockhead. The one playing fire will get burnt. Your Majesty, you’d better look back and return to the right track.”
“Only those with short vision will look back. The road I’m on is the path to the Great Way.” Emperor Qin Ming announced with overbearing a.s.surance. Sending forth potent aura, his towering body leaned forward as he roared, “Today, I will crush the Yue Mountain Faction. Are you going to stop me?”
“Your Majesty, I suggest you going back.” Guo Yuqing did not budge at all.
He was issuing silver light like the moon. s.h.i.+mmering ripples spread out, soft but resilient. The silver light covered half the field. No matter how threatening Emperor Qin Ming went, the light did not flinch.
“Wolf Temple on the vast pasture. Good. I won’t forget what you’ve done today.” At last, Emperor Qin Ming retreated.
The pending war did not break out.
His majestic golden figure that shadowed the heavens faded into the sky like the sunset glow.
But his domineering aura did not disappear for a long time, which made all the creatures within a thousand miles tremble as if the doomsday had befallen. On the outskirts of the Yue Mountain, innumerable beasts and birds were frightened to death. There was no way the ordinary creatures could stand that kind of daunting pressure.
But all that was cast merely by the projection of the emperor’s martial art intent. He had not really come to the field.
A pract.i.tioner who had had one foot in the Void-breaking Realm sure could rival an immortal or a devil.
Guo Yuqing looked out in the direction of Qin City, his eyes filled with solemnity.
Emperor Qin Ming had done the closed-door training to break through the Sage Realm. But judging by the current situation, he had digressed into a corrupted way.
Now that he had fully mastered his evil arts, who in the world could still fight him other than the few best combatants?
Emperor Qin Ming was a high-handed dictator, but he was also a patient conqueror. Guo Yuqing knew the emperor did not retreat for fear of him, but for a more urgent issue that he needed to sort out at once. As an emperor, he could not prioritize his tasks with his personal choice. Before he made any decision, the first he had to consider was the relevant interest. Guo Yuqing was certain that when that more urgent issue was settled, Emperor Qin Ming would not allow the Yue Mountain Faction to exist in that world for one more second.
The royal force of the Western Qin was more resilient and formidable than he had a.s.sumed.
Yet, the Guanshan Pasture holding the Western Qin in check had fallen apart as Li Poyue, the Guanshan Master, met his tragic death. At the time, who else could rein in the royal force of the Western Qin?
Guo Yuqing had a wild guess. Maybe the culprit behind the death of Li Poyue and Dao Chongyang was not some Extra-terrestrial Devils but the royal family of the Western Qin itself.
Right at that moment, two streaks of light flashed.
Li Mu and Qiu Yin also flew to the air to join Guo Yuqing.