“Xiao An…”
Li Qingshan muttered to himself as he woke up from his dream. The night sky was boundless, and the stars were vast. He could not help but press down on his chest. He felt like there was a hole there, which made him feel extremely empty.
He had already become the lord of the world, obtaining everything that a man could ever want—authority, women, wealth, whatever he wanted. He even had a sufficiently long lifespan for him to slowly savour all of his, but he regularly experienced the same feeling as when he had first been reborn. He was so lonely, without anything at all.
When he fought over possession for the world, at least there was something to distract him, so he could temporarily forget about his predicament. Now that the world was unified, they had been at peace for many years. There were no longer any enemies. Even his greatest enemy, the will of the heavens, seemed to have given up.
Gu Yanying told him that it was because he had become the “chosen son of the heavens”. Back then, Li Qingshan’s reply was, “I have no father as foolish as that!”
The more accurate explanation was as the lord of the world, he ruled over all lives in this world, so everyone in the world was his supporter. He was blessed by all life. Even the will of the heavens could not go around punishing every single person.
He refused to go back to sleep, so he got up and paced around the place.
Even the ape demon could not cheer him up. Instead, it made him rather cranky. Neither the person most important to him nor the dream he cared about the most were beside him.
Shadows stretched throughout the depths of the palace. Feihong held a lamp as she approached his residence. Noticing his complexion, she asked carefully, “My king, why are you in a bad mood?”
“Feihong, I feel so lonely.”
Li Qingshan let out a heavy sigh. He did not try to hide his feelings like a shrewd person would.
“Which concubine would you like to join you in your residence?”
Looking at how sad he seemed, Fei Hong could not help but take pity on him.
“I don’t want to see them. They have many matters that are more important to consider.”
Li Qingshan waved his hand impatiently. Ever since he became the ruler of the world, those beauties had all become repulsive to look at. For the sake of their clans and sects, for the sake of authority and resources, they all came up with endless schemes and plans, basically demonstrating to him what a harem struggle was. They had almost turned against one another completely.
The battle blinded all those cute, innocent children of the past as well. The talent they had been born with turned into their weapons. Apart from each other, who else had the right to serve as their opponents?
All of this was merely the tip of the iceberg. As Gu Yanying had originally anticipated, when there were no more enemies left outside, the enemies were inside. Fragmentations and conflicts throughout the lands and halls became commonplace, but fortunately, there was Gu Yanying around to deal with all of this, or the newly-founded country would have collapsed a long time ago.
As a result, he simply slept. He could not be annoyed if he did not see it. He did not give anyone the opportunity to win over his favour and convince him to help them out.
Feihong said, “Then take on some new concubines?”
“Just spare me! Speaking of which, even if you bring all the women in the world here, it’s useless.”
“Don’t tell me… you want to change up your tastes?” Feihong whispered.
Li Qingshan smacked her in the head. “Change my ass!”
Feihong rubbed her head and said in a troubled manner, “Then I’m out of ideas, my king. If there’s anything else you’re unhappy with, I can try and help you out.”
“It’s too cramped here.” Li Qingshan stamped his foot.
Feihong looked around at the deep and spacious palace. Even the lamp in her hand struggled to illuminate it all. She said in surprise, “This is cramped?”
“Whatever. Even if I tell you, you won’t understand.”
Li Qingshan paced around where he was restlessly as his tail waved around casually. He was like a monkey trapped in a small, cramped cage. All that was missing was scratching his head in distress.
His heart moved like a monkey, while the world around him was like a prison. It was simply unbearable.
Suddenly, he stopped and said with a face full of seriousness, “No, I have to go!”
“It’s the middle of the night! Where are you going?”
“I’ll go back to the nine provinces first and pick up Xiao An before killing my way up the nine heavens and finding my brother ox!”
Li Qingshan’s eyes shone brightly. A smile appeared on his face again. Simply thinking about these things motivated him. It was much more interesting than claiming supremacy in this world. As he said that, he picked up a set of swaddling blankets and strode out of the palace.
Feihong’s face was a mess. What was going on? Every single word made sense, but strung together, none of it made sense. Return to what nine provinces? Who was Xiao An? Where were the nine provinces? And what was this brother ox about?
By the time she chased after him out of the palace, Li Qingshan had already vanished, which made her shake her head with a wry smile. He was still the same as before.
The moonlight was clear like frost. She raised her head and gazed at the bright moon above her, which reminded her of that night many years ago. Before she had realised it, so many years had passed already. She was no longer that lowly concubine but the authoritative caretaker of the palace, a supreme master whose cultivation had reached the ninth layer of the innate realm.
As matters progressed, everyone changed. Only he did not seem to change, not even in the slightest. He was neither a wise king nor a vicious demon but a brave and stubborn child.
She thought silently, May you have a safe journey!
Li Qingshan obviously could not just shatter through space like that and return to the nine provinces. He directly went to find Gu Yanying.
Gu Yanying was focusing on rectifying the laws when Li Qingshan suddenly barged in hastily. He pressed down on the desk with both hands. “I want to go back to the nine provinces!”
Gu Yanying lowered her brush and sighed inside, Here we go again!
“Qingshan, haven’t I told you already? It’s still not time! We’ve obtained an entire world after so much difficulty, so we should thoroughly temper ourselves. You should gather more power in your Divine Talisman of Great Creation too.”
“I don’t care. You’re the one who brought me here. You need to take responsibility, or pay with your body immediately. Ouch!”
Li Qingshan reached out, directly grabbing Gu Yanying by the shoulders. Pain appeared in the depths of his soul, making him cry out in pain.
“How’s that?” Gu Yanying smiled. Over the years, she had created laws and enforced the punishments. All of the death penalties required her to personally sign off on them, completely implementing the spirit of the school of Legalism in this world that originally had no laws. It also agreed with the will of the Hell realm, so her connection with the Hot Wind Hell grew stronger and stronger.
The pain from hell became deeper as well, but wondrously, the pain she experienced gradually lessened. She had reached a whole new realm, like she was going from the torturee to the torturer. She was confident that she could complete the Illustrations of Naraka before long if this continued, and she would not encounter any more bottlenecks. All she lacked was a slightly larger world.
However, she was not in a hurry to return to the nine provinces. She could even not go back, so she obviously did not experience the same sense of urgency as Li Qingshan.
It hurt Li Qingshan so much that his teeth creaked, but he refused to let go. “You can’t frighten me with this little bit of pain! Either we return to the nine provinces immediately, or you pay with your body immediately!”
Gu Yanying stood up and spread her arms. She asked with a smile, “If I were to agree to that, could you wait until the time is right?”
“No!” Li Qingshan answered without hesitation.
Sure enough! Gu Yanying shrugged. “Alright, let’s go back then!”
The fact that she had agreed so happily had instead surprised Li Qingshan.
“But before we leave, there’s still something we need to try out.”
“What?”
“Becoming the god of this world!”
