<b>Chapter 1086: Imperial Border</b>
While the girls were surprised, Bai Jianzhen was in such awe that she blurted: “Immortal Emperor Nu Zhan, he had a grand completion Immortal Physique too…”
The nine worlds had a particular belief. When a grand completion Immortal Physique user was at their peak, they could assail Immortal Emperors. Immortal Emperor Nu Zhan was not only at the top already, he ended up becoming an emperor as well!
Just think about it, his power must have been unfathomable.
“Are there existences in this world that are even more powerful than Immortal Emperors?” Li Shuangyan murmured in a daze.
Li Qiye slightly shook his head and answered: “In the nine worlds, there might not be something stronger than an Immortal Emperor. In a one-on-one fight, Immortal Emperors have always been invincible. The fact that Immortal Emperor Nu Zhan couldn't get to the other side doesn't necessarily mean that he wasn't strong enough.”
“Then for what reason did he fail?” Chen Baojiao quickly asked. Anyone would be curious about a secret like this.
Even Mei Suyao looked over at Li Qiye. Even though she was the main successor of the Eternal River School, not even its ancestors knew this matter very well, let alone its disciples. Immortal Emperor Nu Zhan rarely talked about this matter. At best, he only left behind a few words. The majority was speculation by future generations.
Mei Suyao realized that Li Qiye knew a lot more, even things that weren't privy to her ancestors.
Li Shuangyan looked at her Young Noble and couldn't help but ask: “What is the reason for the emperor's failure in crossing to the other side?”
In her mind, there was nothing that her Young Noble didn't know or couldn't do. If he didn't know, then others definitely wouldn't know.
“Because there were too many uncertainties on the other side.” Li Qiye didn't want to talk about this matter. Back then, Immortal Emperor Nu Zhan had specifically asked him about this, but he wasn't willing to disclose its secrets unless he was capable of solving this mystery.
“Okay, let's go to the Imperial Border. I'll take you guys to have a look at a certain place, it will definitely defy your common sense.” Li Qiye smiled.
Having heard this, the girls became happy and even excited. They came with their Young Noble for the experience and to broaden their horizons.
Even the otherworldly Mei Suyao felt quite happy. She didn't come with Li Qiye for treasures or merit laws. She wanted to see a world unreachable and unviewable by others.
Li Qiye and the girls began to head for the Imperial Border at an extremely fast speed.
The Imperial Border was the other half of the Lesser Imperial Devil World. The Imperial Border and the Devil World each took half of the entire land.
No one knew why this lesser world was divided into two regions like this. What was even stranger was that imperial soldiers and dark cultivators existed together in this place, but they never mingled.
A boundary separated the two worlds. Even when the two different existences were right beside each other on opposite sides of the boundary, that small distance was the same as that between heaven and earth.
The Imperial Border gave a completely different feeling than the Devil World. The Devil World was indeed majestic with great sceneries, but it was engulfed in dark energy. This, in turn, resulted in an oppressive atmosphere.
The Imperial Border was different. Anyone who stepped inside would instantly feel a sense of heroism and ambition.
Regardless of whether one was a big shot or a minor character, once inside the Imperial Border, they would instantly feel a free and unrestrained momentum permeating this vast world.
“Imperial momentum…” Mei Suyao couldn't help but murmur after sensing this atmosphere and feeling an ambition rising in her heart.
The imperial momentum was the foundation of the Imperial Border. It was the same as the evil energy in the Devil World and the Buddhist affinity in the plateau.
Because of this atmosphere or perhaps the border itself, everyone would think that this scenic area was magnificent. Each peak and river gave off a royal and righteous aura.
The Devil World had dark cultivators and the Imperial Border had imperial “weapons”. “Weapon” here was not referring to an Immortal Emperor Life Treasure or something of that sort but rather the troops of the border! [1. This sentence won't make as much sense in English. The word 兵 has the following definitions: soldiers; a force; an army; weapons; arms; military; warlike. In ED, it is often translated to weapons, which is why this paragraph is necessary. I knew they were soldiers from the start due to the context.]
Both dark cultivators and imperial soldiers had a few similarities. The first was that soldiers didn't have blood energy and had eternal life as well. The second was that they didn't care for outsiders either.
However, dark cultivators were easier to provoke because at the Imperial Border, messing with one imperial soldier was the same as messing with an entire nation. Any powerful cultivator would still be trampled to bits under a great army.
“Kill!” The screams of war resounded on a plain. Two armies launched a great offensive on each other. In the blink of an eye, the armies collided and an earth-shattering battle ensued.
This was a war between two empires of the border, causing the world to tremble.
In the face of such a battle, powerful cultivators didn't dare to come close. The powerful imperial momentum and fierce bloodthirst made them turn pale.
The majority of imperial soldiers wore armor. They didn't have blood energy but rather a powerful imperial momentum instead. Even a little footman would have quite a powerful momentum.
As for the generals, they were much more extraordinary. Their momentum was as powerful as a god's.
“Rumble!” The two armies raged on in this ruthless battle. However, imperial soldiers couldn't die. A very strange scene appeared. After imperial soldiers defeated their enemies, they would instantly absorb their imperial momentum. At that point, the losing victim's momentum would reach an all-time low.
After doing so, the victors would let go and instantly attack someone else while shouting: “Kill!”
The losing side eventually retreated. They didn't abandon their comrades who had had their imperial momentum sucked dry and instead carried them along to flee.
The victorious side didn't give chase. They headed for a different location with a mine.
After seeing this, many people learned quite a few things. A battle of imperial soldiers was completely different from that of cultivators. Moreover, it looked like imperial soldiers were quite united!
In fact, the wars between empires here were all like this. They happened quite often as competitions for the mines.
Chen Baojiao saw the losing side retreat and asked: “Do imperial soldiers want to absorb their enemies' momentum to become stronger?”
“That's one of the methods. Outside of absorbing momentum, the other is excavating the mines.” Li Qiye explained: “Regal Gold is a very magical type of gold in these mines. Outside of increasing their momentum, it has other important uses as well.”
“Such as?” Li Shuangyan asked further.
Li Qiye watched the victorious side rush into the mine and didn't answer. Mei Suyao had to answer instead: “For the Expedition Path. If the soldiers want to go there, they have to use Regal Gold. Something that is different about dark cultivators and imperial soldiers is that dark cultivators are solitary beings. For example, when boarding the platform, they will not form teams. This is not the case for imperial soldiers. If they want to embark on the Expedition Path, their entire empire would do so. All of the soldiers would follow their imperial monarch, so they require a huge amount of Regal Gold.”
At this point, the victorious side had entered the mine shaft. This mine could be described as spectacular. From the ground to the area where the veins were located, a mighty imperial momentum could be found surging to the sky like a spring. The unsuspecting would think that it was spewing out pure gold.
“Can we dig up Regal Gold as well?” Chen Baojiao asked curiously.
“Just watch and find out.” Li Qiye smilingly responded.
At this time, a cultivator had watched the whole event play out for the first time in their life. He noticed that the entire army was inside and that there was no one guarding the entrance, so he snuck in, wishing to excavate some Regal Gold as well.
He jumped to a vein inside the mine. What came next was a burst of screams. Everyone saw this cultivator being pushed out into the sky by the gushing momentum. He was instantly torn into pieces and created a bloody downpour.
After seeing this, the other cultivators who also wanted to get closer to the mine lost their courage and quickly retreated far away.
“Let's go. Even though Regal Gold is essential to imperial soldiers, no one has found any uses of this material for cultivators, at least for now.” Li Qiye smiled and turned away.
The girls followed him as they continued on. They saw a huge citadel along the way. It was no lesser than a great city back in the Mortal Emperor World.