Some gasped after hearing this. They were completely speechless since he prefaced everything with massacring races. They understood that he only came to cause trouble with wanton regard for the prince and the others.
Li Qiye, who was floating in the air, slowly reached out and smiled: “Ruonan, come with me to the throne.”
The True Martial Goddess smiled and held Li Qiye's arm. The two then walked towards the imperial throne.
Everyone was silent while watching Li Qiye. Letting a sea god's daughter help him towards the throne — just how domineering was this? Who else in this world would dare to do something like this outside of a sea god?
No one knew what kind of spell he had to make the goddess listen to him in such a respectful manner.
Before all gazes, he finally reached the imperial throne above the royal thrones. He sat down in a nonchalant and natural manner as if this spot had always been meant for him.
Everyone immediately held their breaths while watching him loom above everyone else. They were completely marveled by this scene.
Even before top experts like the prince, Zhentian, and the overlord, Li Qiye didn't care for any of them. He tyrannically ascended to the throne and looked down on the nine heavens. Who else could do this in Heaven Spirit?
He leisurely sat there and was too lazy to glance at Zhentian's group. This group's expressions were quite unsightly. Li Qiye's actions not only suppressed their momentum, it was also showing blatant contempt. They were four top experts, yet Li Qiye treated them like air. Even Zhentian, who had mastered self-restraint, was angered.
If it wasn't for the True Martial Goddess and Lunargrasp Fairy backing him up, they would have rushed over to kill him. In their eyes, even if Li Qiye was strong, he wouldn't be able to escape the four of them. Unfortunately, the two women were on his side.
They didn't know how to feel at this moment. All of their calculations was for naught because of the heavens' whim. After reaching an agreement, they convened this meeting. In their eyes, even if the fairy and goddess didn't fully agree with their decisions, they might not necessarily oppose it either and definitely wouldn't be on Li Qiye's side.
After all, one was a sea demon while the other a charming spirit and Li Qiye was only a human.
Because of this, the group was very confident that during the convention, even if Li Qiye came to cause trouble, it would all be fine. It could even be said that they were certain of being able to kill him on the spot.
In their plan, they hoped that Li Qiye would actually come. Killing him here would allow them to deter the others who had their own plans.
However, this current development was beyond their expectations and calculations. All became meaningless because of the two women.
The Terra King couldn't help but scowl while looking at the throne above. He was the main proponent of this convention and aimed to kill Li Qiye for revenge. This development wasn't something he expected either.
Li Qiye took note of this and casually glanced at him with a smile: “Dragon Bamboo, you insignificant tree, there's no need to look at me like that. Don't assume that you are a treefather just because you learned the method to return to the origin from Terminus! Not to mention that you are only a little broken bamboo, even if you were a treefather, you still wouldn't be able to get into my sight.”
“Dragon Bamboo? The vice ancestor?” Many were startled to hear this name. At this moment, they finally understood why this no-name Terra King was this powerful and arrogant.
According to legend, the Dragon Bamboo Vice Ancestor from the Ancestral Terra was an existence only inferior to treefathers. He was able to take root in the earth just like them.
The Terra King coldly uttered with a murderous glint in his eyes: “We need to settle our scores.”
“You should crawl out with your true body now.” Li Qiye leisurely smiled: “Attaching to a junior like this, even if you could exert twenty to thirty percent of your power, it still wouldn't be fun. Come, I have a divine tree in need of supplements, and an old tree capable of connecting to the earth is very nutritious indeed!”
Li Qiye's blatant disdain left the Terra King with a twisted grimace. The murderous intent in his eyes grew even more intense.
It turned out that after being taught a bit by Terminus, he used this method to return to the origin and took root in the earth.
However, it wasn't easy for him to move afterward, so he couldn't leave the Ancestral Terra. Later on, he came up with a technique that allowed him to attach himself to a suitable junior.
The Terra King was a suitable host. Thus, one of the Terra King's three souls was left behind with the vice ancestor. Because of this, even if he were to die, as long as his soul was still there, rebirth was possible. This was the reason why he was still here after being incinerated to ashes by Li Qiye.
At the same time, this allowed the vice ancestor to walk in this world instead of being confined to his own ancestral ground.
“Daoist Li, the vice ancestor is an unparalleled existence.” Zhentian finally spoke: “Your words are too frivolous.”
Li Qiye looked at him and grinned: “Frivolous? I have always been frivolous like this, you got a problem?”
Zhentian shook his head in response: “I have always regarded you as a respectable opponent, it is unfortunate that you are shallow and arrogant like this. An Immortal Emperor is the ruler of the nine worlds, how could one be…”
“Okay, don't be sour with me.” Li Qiye interrupted him: “Shallow and arrogant? If I wanted to become emperor, what can the villainous heavens do about it? Don't use that crap about the prestige of the crown against me…
“… Zhentian, if you want the Heaven's Will, just go all out for it, there's no need to maintain a certain visage all the time. Stop being a prostitute yet still demanding an honorary plaque. Ta Kong is much better than you in this regard. At the very least, he wasn't like you who started hiding just because of the Dragon King's statement, 'a little legion playing around yet still dares to call itself Heaven Suppression? Not knowing your own limits'. [1]
“Although the emperor lost many times in his life, he still courageously walked forward without changing his initial goal. This is a must-have quality for all emperors. Being shallow and arrogant doesn't matter, as long as you have an unchanging heart, you will be qualified to compete for the Heaven's Will. Someone as indecisive and superficial as you will never become an emperor regardless of your talents.” With that, Li Qiye sneered.
“You!” Zhentian turned red after Li Qiye revealed his secret. He couldn't maintain his carefree act any longer and suddenly stood up to glare at Li Qiye.
This secret astounded the crowd. No one expected a story like this to be behind it all.
So it turns out that Zhentian didn't stop competing for the Heaven's Will in order to give it to Immortal Emperor Ta Kong. It was because of a single phrase from the Black Dragon King.
At that time, Zhentian was a hot-blooded youth reaching for the throne. He named his legion Heaven Suppression after his own name. However, the Black Dragon King's seaside city was named Heaven Protector. [3]
In one encounter with the Black Dragon King, the king gave him this evaluation: “A little legion playing around yet still dares to call itself Heaven Suppression? Not knowing your own limits.”
Because his legion's name conflicted with the king's city, the young Zhentian decided to give up after taking the king's attitude into consideration. He had offended the Black Dragon King and didn't want a direct confrontation, so he evaded him until after the king's generation before coming back out for the Heaven's Will.
There were rumors in Heaven Spirit saying that Meng Zhentian gave up the Heaven's Will because of his brotherly love for Immortal Emperor Ta Kong. No one expected that the truth was far from this.
In fact, some people were aware of this. Existences such as the Prince of Darkness knew full well. However, they had no need to make it public. After all, the Black Dragon King reigned for three generations. Being afraid of him wasn't shameful at all.
During his era, even Immortal Emperors respected him, let alone others.
Because no one revealed this truth, Zhentian's prestige became even better. Some people even praised him for being righteous and benevolent.
Now that this belief was completely debunked, Zhentian glared at Li Qiye and wanted nothing more than to rush out and fight him to the death.
It was the Conch Overlord's turn to speak: “Arrogant junior! Such malice in your slanderous words. You are only a villain, you're not qualified to reach the Heaven's Will!”
“Villains and the wicked are still capable of becoming an Immortal Emperor as long as their hearts are firm.” Li Qiye smiled and stated: “And if I'm a villain, what are you? Just a useless piece of trash. You thought that you could do whatever you want while relying on your father's power. Unfortunately, your eyes were there for no reason and actually offended Immortal Emperor Jiao Heng. His lone phrase robbed everything from you and turned you into a cowardly turtle!”
1. In the past, emperors would give out honorary plaques for virtuous wives/widows with exemplary character or achievements. The most common one is having a husband who dies young in war yet not remarrying. One more is taking care of her children alone and they grow up to be exceptional people that contribute to the government. As for the second part, Zhentian = Heaven Suppression.
3. This is a problem with translating sometimes. When there is a tool for mass change in the website, I'll have to change Heaven Protector City to Heaven Suppression City. This issue here is that the word 镇 has multiple meanings: press down, calm, subdue, suppress, guard, garrison, strategic (city). Without context, it can be a guessing game with words that have multiple meanings. In retrospect, I should have known that the Black Dragon King's city was suppression instead of protector because I've read ahead. Why do I know that Meng Zhentian's version is suppression and not protector? Because of the context; Heaven Suppression is a lot more arrogant which would prompt the Black Dragon King's comment. If it was protector, it would still be grand but not overly cocky.