Chapter 1364 – Leaving
One could easily guess how valuable the things mentioned by the physical body of the Divine Light Emperor were.
He had gained power, wisdom, and way too many other things from the Vast Thousand Star Domains, such that even a King of Sovereigns-level being would be envious of this kind of fortune.
However, Ye Qingyu shook his head. "I have already gained enough. Your Highness, why don't you bring this power and wisdom back to your hometown?"
The body shook its head. "As the saying goes, one comes to this world naked, and will leave naked too. I came here with nothing and shall leave with nothing too. The only purpose of returning to my hometown is to see the people and things I know and get rid of my inner obsession." He wanted to return to his hometown in the same state that he left in, rather than with a different face and identity.
He then added, "Besides, if I bring these things with me, your innate self will never attain perfection despite the fact that you've perfected the King of Sovereigns realm. This is because you've gained the fate of the Underworld Star Domain yet were born in the Vast Thousand Star Domains. Though it's indeed rare to see a combination of the fates of two star domains, borrowing the power of a foreign domain before attaining the King of Sovereigns realm has left flaws in your cultivation. If the Four Symbols of the Heavenly Dao cannot attain perfection, myriad star domains will turn into ashes when the time comes, and everything will be nothing more than a dream."
Ye Qingyu's heart trembled when he heard this.
He had heard the words "Four Symbols of the Heavenly Dao" when watching the battle of the Divine Light Court in Lan Tian's physical memory.
However, they were not spoken by the Divine Light Emperor but two other mysterious youths instead.
These two youths could be considered supreme, and had left an especially deep impression on Ye Qingyu.
Back then, when the Vast Thousand Star Domains had fallen into absolute peril, the coming of the projections of several King of Sovereigns did not faze the Divine Light Emperor at all. Instead, it was the appearance of these two young supreme beings that terrified the Abandoned Fiendgod and the King of Destruction.
Ye Qingyu recalled that these two young supreme beings were called the Sword-Saber Divine Emperor and the Emperor of Azeroth.
At that time, they scared the King of Destruction off just by saying a few words, indicating that their strength and cultivation were probably superior to the latter's. Over the years, Ye Qingyu had never forgotten about them. He was terrified by their great strength and worried about their alignment. After all, as such world-shocking beings, it would be an irreparable catastrophe should they ever be covetous of the Vast Thousand Star Domains.
Unexpectedly, the words "Four Symbols of the Heavenly Dao" were instead uttered from the mouth of the Divine Light Emperor's physical body on this day.
Ye Qingyu immediately realized that there were yet more secrets he did not know about hidden in this world.
"What are the Four Symbols of the Heavenly Dao?" he asked.
"Heavenly Dao is variable and separated into symbols. The Heavenly Dao of uprightness is separated into four symbols, which can defy heaven when combined." The body looked at Ye Qingyu. "The Sword-Saber Divine Emperor is one symbol, while the Emperor of Azeroth is another. You should already know about them."
Oh.
Ye Qingyu was instantly enlightened.
It turned out that this was what the Four Symbols of the Heavenly Dao were about. The two mysterious and powerful youths constituted two of them.
"How about the other two symbols?" Ye Qingyu questioned further.
The body smiled. "One is half-formed, while the other is yet unborn."
Taken by surprise, Ye Qingyu tried hard to figure out the meaning of this.
However, the body continued, "Everything will make sense after you've perfected enough realms. There's not much time left…" It looked at the others and finally set its eyes on Little Nine the silly dog, before shaking its head and saying, "You cannot gain Dao in this life. Why don't you follow me to undergo reincarnation and then come back?"
"Woof, what are you saying, you…" Little Nine, who had always thought most highly of itself and was not afraid of anyone except its owner, abruptly leaped up as if its tail had been stepped on. "How do you know…. what nonsense… you… you actually want to abduct me? You must have an ulterior motive."
"It's just a suggestion. Think about it yourself. You won't have another opportunity if you miss this one," the body replied. "You should know full well that you cannot return to your ancestral roots or gain Dao in this life."
With that, the body swept its gaze across everyone once more until it spotted Old Fish. "Are you willing to follow me back?"
The latter laughed as his eyes spinned wildly, revealing a doubtful expression. Though it was unclear what he was thinking about, he did not turn down the body directly. Clearly, he was hiding something.
"Your Highness, do you know where this silly dog came from?" Ye Qingyu could not help asking.
He had obtained the silly dog Little Nine in Youyan Pass, albeit its origin remained extremely mysterious. It had displayed incredible talent all this time, yet it did not possess the aura of any realm and its battle strength was wildly inconsistent. Up until now, Ye Qingyu had not properly figured out the real identity of Little Nine, or even what species it belonged to – except that it was clearly no ordinary dog.
"Dragons were born together with the four symbols, in accordance with the will of the Heavenly Dao. None of the nine offsprings of a true dragon are born as true dragons themselves. They require unparalleled opportunity and luck to find their real owners and turn into true dragons. During this life, it used its innate instinct to find you, but it was too late because you already had a dragon by your side. Having missed out on this opportunity, it can only continue to wait."
The body did not explain things too clearly.
Nevertheless, Ye Qingyu understood what it meant.
The silly dog Little Nine is actually one of the nine offsprings of a true dragon?
But the nine offsprings of a dragon each has a figure that's known throughout the world, and none of them has the figure of an ordinary dog. Little Nine doesn't have the figure of a dragon's offspring at all.
Is it because its talents are insufficient?
Or is there some story behind this?
"Woof, shuddup, what do you know…" Little Nine bared its fangs and made a low growl.
The body smiled without saying anything else. Forming a handprint with both hands, it delicately spread its ten fingers like lotuses while a strange magical power began to emanate from its body. A series of different faces appeared behind him, flashing across one after another. These were the human faces of his various incarnations, including the Human Race's Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, the supreme War God, Ye Chongsheng, and more.
Each time these faces sparkled, a layer of splendor would fly out and inject itself into Ye Qingyu's body.
These were the things that the body wanted to give Ye Qingyu.
This was everything that the Divine Light Emperor obtained in the Vast Thousand Star Domains. Strength, wisdom, experience, fate, knowledge, and life experiences. However, his will was not part of this.
Ye Qingyu felt nothing but soft breezes brushing against his face. Something in his life was gradually attaining perfection.
There was a total of 106 layers of splendor.
106 faces had turned into splendors and entered his body.
He seemed to hear a strange noise that sounded like the breaking of eggshells, as if a certain complete life form was breaking out of its shell. An indescribable feeling propagated, circulated, fused, and attained perfection in his body and soul…
In correspondence to this, the figure of the physical body was continually changing. The originally corporeal body gradually became transparent until it finally turned into a pale-green specter of a youth in strange clothing, carrying a backpack on his shoulders. He had short hair, an emaciated figure, and average height. Though his face was somewhat similar to that of the Divine Light Emperor, he had an extremely peculiar foolishness and muddle-headedness about him. His clothing made it apparent that he was not from the Vast Thousand Star Domains.
"It has taken me until today to revert to my original looks."
The spectral youth sighed in a youthful voice.
This was the original and true face of the Divine Light Emperor.
Back then, he got into a car accident yet also had a miraculous encounter, and eventually arrived in this world most incredibly. And now, having removed all of the strange powers in his body, he reverted to his true state, which was the state that he most hoped to return to his hometown in.
Raising his head to look at the space-time gate that had been fixed by the three bright pearls, he knew that he could return to his long-yearned-for hometown just by stepping into this gate, back to the point in time when the car accident happened… The feeling of being so close to home even made him a little nervous.
"Are you not going to follow me back?" The youth looked at Old Fish.
Laughing, the latter finally made a decision, quickly arriving beside the youth and holding his hand.
"Goodbye, everyone." He looked at Ye Qingyu and the others "I'll be back."
Born in the Chaotic Ocean, his nickname Inspiration naturally showed that he possessed great talent that can surpass the scope of martial ability in this aspect. He had sensed a couple of things and needed to escort the youth back to his hometown. This was because the opportunity of the final symbol of this universe lied there.
"Kiddo, are you really not going?" The youth looked at Little Nine and asked. "This may be your last chance. I know that you can't bear to part with your owner, but there may be a chance in the future for you to return here if you leave today, whereas you'll have no more opportunities if you don't go."
"Woof, don't try to entice me. Who knows whether you're telling the truth?" Little Nine grunted, revealing its inner agitation.
At this time, Ye Qingyu finally understood something.
He placed Little Nine down from his shoulders and gave it a good rub. "Go. While there may be countless star domains in this boundless galaxy, that doesn't necessarily mean that it cannot be traversed. When you've become a true dragon, you'll be able to travel through the galaxy to find me."
"Woof…" Little Nine grunted without saying anything further.
Ye Qingyu patted its head intimately. "Go on."
Raising his hand, he threw Little Nine directly toward Old Fish.
"Take good care of it," he said. As stupid and ignorant as Little Nine was, he did not have to worry much with wily Old Fish taking care of it.
Sparkling, the space-time gate discharged an attraction force that pulled the spectral youth, Old Fish, and Little Nine inside.
"Your Highness!"
"Let me follow you."
Wen Wan, Gao Diping, Sun Wukong the battle pet monkey, and others were unable to restrain their feelings at this moment. This farewell had been preordained ten million years ago, and the day had finally arrived. All of them were former subordinates of the Divine Light Emperor and held profound feelings for him. Though they had all become Emperor-level characters, they were unable to keep calm.
"Remain here. All of you belong here."
The youth smiled while waving a hand.
"Woof, my owner, wait for me to return… Even if there are myriad galaxies to cross, I'll definitely come find you through the winds and rains, riding on a rainbow-colored auspicious cloud." Little Nine struggled and howled, its eyes full of tears.
Eventually, all of their figures were pulled into the space-time gate and disappeared among the space-time vortex.
