1348 - The Final Preparation

Chapter 1348 The Final Preparation 

Five centuries was a huge amount of time for ordinary beings, but it was a short span for strong martial artists. Ordinary people would die before even understanding much about the world they inhabited, but warriors could gradually gain a sense of its evolution. 

Nature's spiritual qi was gradually intensifying. 

The lifespans of warriors were lengthened. 

Various kinds of talents began to be cultivated again. 

As a result of the abundance of spiritual qi in the Vast Thousand Domains, the average battle prowess of its warriors increased exponentially. Once, experts at the Heaven Ascension and Immortal Steps were strong enough to gain a foothold, but now, even those at the Saint realm were as powerless as ants. Large numbers of Quasi-emperors emerged, as did experts of the current Emperor realm. Outstanding talents kept appearing, and prodigies of peerless aptitude were churned out by the Immortal Dojo, turning into current Emperors. 

Similar incidents happened in the Underworld Domain, a place where the inhabitants of the Vast Thousand Star Domains did not understand. 

All of this resulted from Ye Qingyu moving the star formations in both domains. 

Ye Qingyu expended most of his energy over the last five centuries on his project. He thought carefully and acted fearfully, as if he were treading on thin ice. He hid himself behind the scenes to refine the star formations. It was a monumental and arduous task. One wrong move would cause him to lose everything, and all his efforts would be wasted. As such, he did not dare to slack off in his preparation in the least bit. 

Ye Qingyu kept appearing in his true sovereign form and stood erect within the void of the universe. 

Time passed. 

By the sixth century, Ye Qingyu began to gradually sense a vague, amazing connection between the Vast Thousand Domains and Underworld Domains auras in his body. They began to merge, even though they had mutually repelling natures.

Under the influence of both powers, Ye Qingyu could clearly sense that a new form of power was gradually being born within his body. 

The power of a King of Sovereigns. 

"The change in the star formations has finally taken effect... So, this is how a King of Sovereigns' power is being obtained. To merge the auras and powers of two star domains, firstly I have to form a connection between both of them, thereby forming the existence of a sovereign. The star domains' evolution will increase my level of cultivation and battle prowess. This is not merely training, but a form of protection for life and my homeland. Indeed, reincarnation and karma are part of the Heavenly Dao." 

Ye Qingyu sighed. 

He gradually retracted his true sovereign form. 

By accident, he had bashed out a path to attaining the King of Sovereigns realm. In truth, previous sovereigns like the Ancient Ghostly Emperor and Abandoned Fiendgod had attained King of Sovereigns realm because the star domains linked with them had advanced to a stage during their lifespans that allowed them to do so. According to logic and order, it would take a few billion years for a King of Sovereigns to be born in the Vast Thousand Star Domain. This meant that Ye Qingyu should have taken this amount of time to become a King of Sovereigns, but because of his accidental luck, he had obtained Underworld aura during his battle with the Ancient Ghostly Emperor and attained the Sovereign realmin less than a millennium. 

Ye Qingyu sensed that his body was increasingly getting stronger. 

He knew that with time, as the channeling of the transformed star formations of both the Vast Thousand and Underworld Star Domains became smoother and gathered more power for him, and as they got more closely connected, his power would, in turn, increase faster. 

Countless mysterious Dao principles appeared in Ye Qingyu's mind. 

Naturally, he mastered many more kinds of remarkable abilities. 

The might of his power as a King of Sovereigns was gradually displayed within Ye Qingyu's body. 

With a thought, he could travel from the Vast Thousand Star Domain to the Underworld Star Domain and back. He no longer had to rely on the small time portal beneath the black tombstone. 

"These two worlds are gradually merging into one." 

Ye Qingyu nodded in satisfaction. 

His plan began to unfold. 

In the [Cloud Top Cauldron], within a confined space— 

The Dark Purple Sovereign, King of Destruction, and the other Fiendgod Sovereigns from a different space-time looked at Ye Qingyu with incredible shock. Even though they had been imprisoned for a very long time, and their strength was greatly weakened, they could still clearly sense that this human expert, who was on par with them just a few centuries ago, had already taken that important step forward. 

"You..." 

"Impossible." 

They were fearful and paranoid. 

As sovereigns, they knew how tough it was to take that leap forward. Otherwise, they would not have taken the huge risk to descend upon the Vast Thousand Star Domain after repeated failed attempts. They wanted to seize the aura from this domain before it had evolved, and everything they did was to enter the King of Sovereigns realm. Ordinarily, even tens of millions of years of tough training and planning would not lead one to enter this realm, but now, in less than a millennium, the sovereign of the Vast Thousand Star Domain had accomplished this feat? 

How did he do it?

The Dark Purple Sovereign and the others were incredibly shocked. They looked at Ye Qingyu in disbelief. 

Immediately after, they were immensely terrified. 

This was because a method of attaining the King of Sovereigns realm was to use one's divine prowess to slay other Sovereign realms. This was a power that was only below that of suppressing their lives, and even if it did not destroy the star domains connected to them, it would still completely wipe out their willpower and spirit. 

"No, we're willing to surrender and follow you." 

"Spare us, my lord... we're willing to become your subjects." 

The Dark Purple Sovereign and other Fiendgod Sovereigns from different space-times were unable to remain calm after sensing Ye Qingyu's killing intent. They let go of their ego and began pleading. They were beings that possessed nearly indestructible bodies, and would not even blink when slaughtering millions of beings with a thought, they were even willing to cause destruction to planets and star domains. But when the thought of dying grabbed ahold of them, they behaved no differently from ordinary warriors of the Vast Thousand Star Domain. 

Ye Qingyu did not give in. He instantly unleashed his divine prowess and completely crushed the spirits and wills of the Dark Purple Sovereign and other three Fiendgod Sovereigns. He extracted the essence of their bodies and absorbed it into the [Blood Drinker Sword], before slowly refining it. Even at the current standard and power of the sword, it would take only a while to completely refine this level of blood essence. 

The power of the aura contained within these four Fiendgod Sovereigns was instantly released. 

Ye Qingyu was waiting for this moment. 

The divine prowess channeled in the [Cloud Top Cauldron] instantly retained the power of the four fiendgods. 

The four were the Destined Ones of their star domains, and they had already turned them into their connected domains. As such, the aura in their bodies was the essence of the destiny in their respective star domains. 

After his previous experience, Ye Qingyu understood that such destiny was the most important thing for experts who were about to attain the current Martial Emperor realm. 

Ye Qingyu was prepared for these four kinds of aura. He wanted to give them to Song Xiaojun, Bai Yuanxing, Jin Ling'er, and the others. 

Not only could they cultivate four sovereign level beings with such auras, but it would create four allied star domains for the Vast Thousand Star Domains. This would greatly increase the chances of Ye Qingyu surviving his upcoming ordeal. 

This was also part of Ye Qingyu's plan all along. 

Three days later, in the Dark Purple Star Domain— 

Ye Qingyu and Song Xiaojun, the Emperor of Darkness, appeared. 

"Train here, regain the Emperor level of cultivation of Dark Purple qi." 

Ye Qingyu suppressed his power personally, and even controlled it until it was merely at the Quasi-emperor level. He infused a little luck of the Dark Purple Realm to bring Song Xiaojun here. He had chosen this star domain as Song Xiaojun's domain, as the power and aura here were greatly compatible with her power of black flames. 

Fate was often so wondrous. 

The small time travel portal to the Vast Thousand Star Domain that was built up painstakingly by the Dark Purple Sovereign was his pathway for invasion and marker in space. Now, however, it had turned into a gateway for Ye Qingyu to dominate this star domain, and it aided the sovereign's enemy instead. 

He left after settling Song Xiaojun down. 

After that, he brought Bai Yuanxing, Jin Ling'er, and Ximen Yeshui to three other star domains and did the same thing. 

He set up arrays in each star domain. He also left escape routes in case it was necessary to use them in the future. 

After that, he returned to the Vast Thousand Star Domain. 

Liu Shaji had already re-discovered his own story. He still had not regained his memories, but from the description of the others, and from the fragments of his past stored in the [White Lotus Immortal Sword], he basically understood his past. His enemies from that time had already passed on, and his old friends were still alive, with the exception of Hu Bugui and Nan Tieyi. He stopped trying to search for his so-called memories and began to embrace life with an entirely new attitude and feeling. He decided to join the Immortal Empire.

Due to the fact that his body was created from the World Tree, Liu Shaji's physique could be considered extremely exceptional. The strength and excellence of his aptitude and talent could be considered on par with that of Ye Qingyu's. Centuries of training and observation of the statue of Emperor Techniques in the Immortal Dojo led him to merely be a small half-step behind the level of a current Emperor. 

He began roaming the world. His biggest targets were the missing Nan Tieyi and Hu Bugui. 

It was an extremely arduous task. 

That was because there were only two possibilities if even Ye Qingyu, at his current level of cultivation and power, could not find them. They were either dead or stranded in a world beyond the Vast Thousand Star Domains. The probability of the latter was even less, but Liu Shaji did not want to give up, even if there was only a glimmer of hope. 

Ye Qingyu was a little ashamed as he noticed how resolute Liu Shaji was. 

All these years, even though he kept thinking about Hu Bugui and Nan Tieyi, he actually spent little effort searching for them. As his power increased, and as the reality and cruelty of this world were displayed before him, he could not help spending increasing time on the so-called more important things. To be exact, he had not fulfilled his duty as a friend. 

In comparison, Liu Shaji was more thorough. 

However, Ye Qingyu could not simply put everything on hand away. 

He had lost two friends and could not afford to lose any more. 

Time passed. 

The situation of the Dark Realm's Great Wall defensive line was turning increasingly grim, and the pressure on the warriors increased. 

According to the latest reports from the military department, the Invaders in the Chaos District already had dozens of Emperor strength experts on their side. Furthermore, they were still planning, as if they were about to welcome the arrival of a more powerful being. 

Ye Qingyu had already predicted that the last battle was drawing nearer. 

At this moment, two millennia had passed since the creation of the Immortal Empire. 

In this period of time, Ye Qingyu had already set up various measures and made all preparations in expectation of the final battle. 

He could even sense the aura of the Abandoned Fiendgod and other King of Sovereigns. 

The final moment was about to descend upon him.