Madam Zi Yan displayed absolute loyalty during her time with him and continued to do so after his departure. Unfortunately, her devotion was not rewarded for she was gone now.
Everlasting life birthed these sad moments, watching loved ones and friends vanish into thin air. Although no one could truly live forever, some lived longer than others. Bidding farewell to those departing on the next journey first became torturous.
“It will be the same as before, I shall stay.” Li Qiye sighed and said.
“The mortal world welcomes your presence, Young Master.” Her soft voice echoed in his ears as the image dispersed into violet particles. He reached forward and felt them warming his hand, letting out a wistful sigh.
“The emperor has returned.” Resplendent Monarch and the others kowtowed while chanting: “Please return to the palace and wield your authority once more.’
It turned out that after returning to his dynasty, Hallowedsteel Ancestor carefully thought about the meeting.
He summoned ancestors from the various powers before confirming that Li Qiye was who they were waiting for. This has been their mission for eras now.
Of course, Li Qiye wasn’t interested in such mundane matters, sitting on the throne and exerting his dominion over others.
Nonetheless, he glanced at the duel in the sky and assented: “Let’s go to the imperial hall then.”
“Yes, Emperor!” The others became ecstatic and smashed their head on the ground. Tears of happiness streamed down their cheeks. Not even in their dreams did they see themselves being the ones to fulfill the eternal mission.
The group began heading to the main palace of Imperial Gate – the source of the city. City Lord Zi Yan once resided here and gave commands during the great wars.
The wise sages participated in these wars on top of supporting and saving emperors. After her departure, Peerless Monarch and the others kept her legacy and mission alive.
Their golden age has become a distant past. Today, Imperial Attendant City was only known for Alchemy Dao. During Suppression Conqueror’s takeover, it strayed farther from the orthodox branch.
From a distance, the imperial palace resembled an unbreakable fortress, built from divine metals meant to endure any offense.
The palace itself was clearly impressive but the most conspicuous things were towering giants standing in the courtyard. In fact, one could spot the giants from nearly everywhere in the city.
The giants consisted of golden pieces assembled with immaculate precision. Not a single gap or flaw could be seen. Regular cultivators resembled ants while standing next to them.
Seeing this for the first time would leave everyone in awe. This was a legion known as Machine. [1]
Some believed that City Lord Zi Yan found them from another domain. Others said that this was a gift from Cleansing Incense Dynasty or even Imperial Field.
They appeared first during the calamity and then in the subsequent wars. At first, the legion consisted of numerous mechanical giants. Unfortunately, only a small number made it to the present day.
After City Lord Zi Yan’s death, no one could control them until the appearance of Armor Conqueror. He was one of the machines who managed to reach the dao, eventually becoming a conqueror through cultivation.
He could communicate and control his fellow machines. They served as the protectors of the city during Emperor War, warding off the enemies until reinforcement.
After his death, the machines became decorating giants outside of the main palace, no longer able to move.
In reality, the descendants of Imperial Attendant from all the branches had tried to activate them. Even Suppression Conqueror himself had done ample research on the mech only to find nothing. None was able to activate them.
The machines were highly regarded even by apex conquerors and emperors. After all, heroic tales of the legion were still sung today.
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In fact, conquerors from the reclusive Cleansing Incense Dynasty came to help as well. This didn’t yield any fruit either outside of confirming the relationship between the dynasty and the machines.
Li Qiye took a look at the giants. This was a familiar sight since he was the one who dragged them back from a broken world. He spent a long period thinking about how to activate them only to fail.
This changed once he started the new epoch. The natural laws changed since the world was filled with his power and chaos true energy.
The machines that were once blessed with his power could finally start moving again.
1. Tempted to use mecha or some Gundam references ☜