<b>Chapter 282: Ancestral Divine Temple</b>
“You'd be wrong.” Li Qiye said with a smile: “Godkings are not necessarily greater than True Gods. There are many ways to call these beings, like gods, deities, or Godly Monarchs. The people with these titles were not necessarily real gods. Godkings were one thing, but most deities and Godly Monarchs were false gods; of course, some of them were also bestowed godhood.”
Li Qiye continued on: “As for the Godkings, this title was not bestowed to just anyone, and there are many things to keep in mind. Not just anybody had the qualifications to bestow this title. During the Desolate Era, Godking bestowment was quite a rare matter, and even living Immortal Emperors were quite envious of such a privilege. During the Emperors Era, only Immortal Emperors could bestow this title.”
Chi Xiaodie inquired again: “Was it an Immortal Emperor who bestowed the title to my ancestor?”
Li Qiye shook his head and replied: “No, even Immortal Emperors were not necessarily able to bestow the Godking title. There were so many generals amongst the many races that spanned across the Nine Worlds. Regarding the legends of the gods, the person who bestowed the title of Godking was a supreme existence; he created a divine investiture platform — a platform of a True God! The person receiving the title must be accepted by the generals of all the races. Once one was bestowed the Godking title, they would also be recognized by the True Gods. An accepted Godking was a real god, not a false god.”
“What about True Gods?” Chi Xiaodie asked: “Are they the real deities?”
Li Qiye answered: “You could put it that way. To bear the title of True God, one must have at least half the bloodline of a True God flowing in their veins. True Gods are not humans nor part of the other races.”
Chi Xiaodie jolted at the revelation: “Then there is a True God race in this world? Just what kind of race is it?”
Chi Xiaodie had always thoughts that deities were only legends and had never heard of anyone actually seeing real gods. She wouldn't believe Li Qiye's words before, but now, she felt that they had a great degree of validity.
Li Qiye didn't answer her, but she still couldn't help but to ask more questions: “Who bestowed the title to my ancestor?” Chi Xiaodie was quite curious. Who could it be if it wasn't an Immortal Emperor? Who was even more qualified than an Immortal Emperor to perform the ceremony for their Chi Ancestor?
Li Qiye gave her a look and said: “I'm certain that it wasn't an Immortal Emperor.” Chi Xiaodie's thoughts couldn't hide from Li Qiye's eyes, so he slowly spoke: “The Immortal Emperor of that generation would not bestow your ancestor the title of Godking. Do you know the name of the war your ancestor participated in?”
Chi Xiaodie said with a blank expression: “I think… it was called the Immortal War or something?” Chi Xiaodie pondered for a bit. She had heard of this legend, but as for the exact details, not to mention her, even the oldest member of the present Chi Clan would not be able to answer because there were no records of that year.
Li Qiye said: “The Immortal Massacre War, also known as the Immortal Massacre Campaign.”
She then asked: “The Immortal Massacre War? Could it be that it was about killing immortals in the mortal world? Are there really immortals in this world?”
Li Qiye shook his head and responded: “No, not killing immortals, but an Immortal Emperor.” In a flash, Li Qiye's gaze became profoundly deep. At this second, it was as if he had returned to the heroic yet tragic era of the past.
“Killing an Immortal Emperor!” Chi Xiaodie didn't dare to imagine such a frightening thing.
Before Immortal Emperors shouldered the Heaven's Will to become invincible, there was a chance for others to defeat or kill them. However, once they carried the Heaven's Will, they alone would stand at the highest peak and achieve solitary invincibility throughout the rest of their lives!
It was too unbelievable that there were people who had killed an Immortal Emperor in the distant ancient era.
Chi Xiaodie was shocked and lost her mind for a while after hearing this. She eventually murmured in a daze: “Immortal Massacre Campaign, slaying an Immortal Emperor!”
No one would believe such a tale about the Chi Ancestor participating in the Immortal Massacre Campaign and how he was present in a war to kill an Immortal Emperor. Even Chi Xiaodie couldn't believe it, but somehow she trusted that this matter actually happened.
One did not need to envision such a scene; only hearing about the legends regarding slaying an Immortal Emperor was enough to make one's blood boil with excitement.
After a while, she became calm again and took a deep breath to look at Li Qiye before asking: “What was the outcome?” She very much wanted to know the result of this mythical war.
However, Li Qiye didn't answer Chi Xiaodie's question. He simply gazed at the far distance with a profound glare.
Li Qiye withdrew his gaze after a long time and then looked at Chi Xiaodie to say: “You must be tired, go get some rest. There will be a lot more things to do in the next couple of days.”
At this time, Chi Xiaodie was quite dirty as her pretty face was covered in dirt. After a full day of manual labor, she almost turned into a stray cat.
After hearing Li Qiye's words, she became spirited again. After smelling the unpleasant scent on her body, she was both angry and annoyed as she quickly went to take a bath.
After she left, Li Qiye looked at the Chi Ancestor's statue and slowly spoke: “You were truly loyal that year and used your death to protect me. I gave your descendants three generations of prosperity so our karma was considered to be over. Today, I brought your descendant here in commemoration for your past devotion. Whether she will obtain a great fortune or not will depend on her and her alone.”
Li Qiye then changed his gaze to look at Myriad Images True God and whispered: “Today, I came to take it away since you promised me that year. As for the Void Gate, I will investigate it closely to find out the truth.”
Li Qiye had his reasons for picking the Ancestral Divine Region as his fiefdom. In fact, this temple was built by him. Because he promised to protect the Chi Clan for three generations, there was a period when he spent a lot of time at this place.
The first reason was to give Chi Xiaodie a great fortune as well as a chance for the Chi Clan. Second, Li Qiye came to study the defining technique of Myriad Images True God. Third, Li Qiye wanted to learn about the Void Gate; this was an unsolvable mystery since the ancient times.
In the distant past, Li Qiye once rescued Myriad Images True God from the Buddhist Burial Plateau, and then this god left behind his defining technique to repay the debt of saving his life.
Li Qiye had never taken the True God's defining technique — Thousand Hands Against the Nine Worlds! This time, by going to the Eastern Hundred Cities and traveling to this area, Li Qiye was going to pick up this defining technique out of necessity.
Today, Chi Xiaodie woke up quite early but Li Qiye was up even before her. He stood inside the main hall in front of Myriad Images True God's statue. He was in a strange pose as both his arms were horizontal to his shoulders with his palms stretched outwards. He stood on one leg and was half squatting.
While Chi Xiaodie was feeling strange while staring at this sight, Li Qiye suddenly moved. He used the tip of his foot to spin around like a spinning top at an inconceivable speed, becoming faster and faster. Chi Xiaodie became dazed from watching such a sight.
And in the midst of her blurred vision, Li Qiye suddenly disappeared. Chi Xiaodie stared and rubbed her eyes. Li Qiye indeed disappeared, and it was not because of her eyesight.
She was quite alarmed. Why did Li Qiye disappear when he was just here? She was gazing at him the whole time yet he managed to disappear without her awareness.
Li Qiye disappeared for a long time and Chi Xiaodie turned from calm to fearful. Chi Xiaodie was terrified and cried out: “Hey, don't mess around, I don't want to play with you!”
“Ommmmm!” While Chi Xiaodie was horrified, the True God's statue suddenly lit up as a brilliance appeared on its chest. Then, Li Qiye jumped out from inside.
With a blank mind, she was quite startled. She looked at Li Qiye then back at the statue, then back at Li Qiye.
She jumped up after regaining her wits and exclaimed: “There… There is a secret inside!” At this time, she suddenly understood that this was not just an ordinary statue.
“Obviously.” Li Qiye put away the True God's defining technique, the Thousand Hands Against the Nine Worlds. This was one of his goals when he decided to come here. [1. The raw was “Are these not superfluous/wasted/nonsense words ah?” I think the raw itself makes sense and it is a common saying but obviously seems to be better for the flow. Let me know which you prefer.]
He looked at her with one eye and said: “Do I have so much free time as to just come to this unwanted location to look at the scenery?” [2. Unwanted raw = where the birds don't even want to poop on — a location where even the birds do not want to poop at.]
Chi Xiaodie was quite surprised. She didn't expect this old temple to have a secret that no one knew about.
She took a deep breath and asked: “What kind of temple is this?”
Li Qiye — once again — didn't answer the question. He stood in front of the Chi Ancestor's statue and spoke in a grave voice towards Chi Xiaodie: “Sit down!”
Chi Xiaodie was caught off guard, but she suddenly realized something and sat at the location Li Qiye pointed to.
“The five minds to observe the heavens, the five bodies to communicate with the earth…” Li Qiye corrected her posture and taught her how to reach Samadhi. [3. Samadhi — a state of intense concentration achieved through meditation.]
After Chi Xiaodie reached a state of deep meditation, Li Qiye reminded her: “Look at your ancestor's eyes; always look at this pair of eyes.”
Chi Xiaodie quickly focused on her ancestor's eyes with a straight stare, but she couldn't see them at all.
Li Qiye gravely instructed her: “Look with your mind, not with your eyes. This thing cannot be seen by ordinary eyes.” Li Qiye put on the demeanor of a strict teacher. Chi Xiaodie followed his instructions, but she couldn't see the statue's eyes no matter how hard she looked.
After several attempts, although she was not willing, she had no choice but to accept the reality: “I still can't see anything.” Even after following Li Qiye's guidance and despite her hardest effort, she couldn't see her ancestor's eyes.