Chapter 1196 Divine Empress
While Lingyun secretly reminded himself to be wary, Ye Qingyu was still feeling joyful.
What a curious coincidence.
He was getting ready to head for the Unmoving City of Darkness, but they had sent an emissary to him before he left. Come to think of it, according to what Wang Jianru told me, Song Xiaojun must have already become Empress of the Unmoving City. There has been unrest there lately—has she managed to suppress the elders that are a little unconvinced about her ability?
A wave of thoughts swept through Ye Qingyu's mind.
He waved his hand. Mo Weinan understood his intention and turned to leave. Ye Qingyu then channeled his Majestic Power formation with a thought, enveloping the entire great hall under a Majestic Power barrier to isolate them from possible prying eyes. Even though all surveillance enchantments had been automatically removed from the residence of the [Military Judge of the Nine Swords] after Ye Qingyu became Martial Emperor, and the absence of anyone daring enough to spy on him, he still took the necessary precautions.
His actions made Lingyun even more defensive and alert.
"Give up, I'll never betray my Empress. The sooner you give up the idea, the better for you," Lingyun steadied himself and said directly. He immediately channeled the remnant inner yuan within his body, intending to self implode. It was the final move he had left.
He was afraid that he could not withstand the techniques of this new Emperor, or that the other party would search his spirit and memories.
His behavior shocked Ye Qingyu greatly.
Of course, since Lingyun himself had not reached the Emperor level, he had no idea what remarkable abilities a true Martial Emperor possessed. With a thought, Ye Qingyu summoned a silver formation. It appeared in the void and instantly melded into Lingyun's body, disarming the energy that would cause him to implode.
"You… humph, give me all you've got," Lingyun said. He was extremely shocked, but his expression was one of extreme defiance. He stared daggers at Ye Qingyu.
"Seems like you have some sort of misunderstanding about me," Ye Qingyu remarked. From the Sinner's expression, he could tell that Lingyun was a brave and tenacious character. He must have had some misunderstanding to display such attitude. Was it something the people in the military headquarters said?
"Humph," Lingyun grunted coldly and sneered derisively.
To him, Ye Qingyu's methods and cheerful manner had a sinister meaning.
Ye Qingyu shook his head, not knowing whether to cry or laugh. "Since you're from the Unmoving City of Darkness and possess the cultivation level of a Quasi-emperor, you should be holding quite a high rank. Have you seen your Empress, Song Xiaojun, before?"
"Our Empress is a deity descended upon our world, a Divine Lord who has come to save us. How could a devious, lowly person like you who became Emperor by luck call her directly by her name?" Lingyun gave a look of despise and purposely tried to rile Ye Qingyu up in the hopes that he would kill him quickly.
Ye Qingyu nodded. "Looks like you know her. You sound very respectful toward Xiaojun."
Lingyun had not caught onto how Ye Qingyu had changed his term of address toward Song Xiaojun. After all, he was facing immense mental stress upon facing a Martial Emperor. He only continued to sneer and replied, "All loyal people in the Unmoving City of Darkness support and love our Empress."
"Is that so?" Ye Qingyu remarked. He thought about something suddenly and continued, "It's a pity that all of the people of the Unmoving City are from Sinner tribes, and can't accomplish much. I see that you possess a remarkable aptitude and the right spirit for cultivation. I treasure talent, and if you are willing to pledge your loyalty to me, I can pardon all of your sins and guarantee a great future for you. How about that?"
Haha, has he finally showed his true colors?
Lingyun began to laugh loudly, his laughter filled with despise and disgust.
Eventually, he ceased all laughing and channeled all of his thoughts into a single syllable—
"Bah!"
He sneered and lifted his head proudly to look at Ye Qingyu with contempt, seeming an indomitable Divine Dragon.
The thing that threw Lingyun off the most was that the new Emperor did not fly into a rage after being despised and taunted by him like he expected. Instead, he began to laugh loudly, seemingly overjoyed.
"I didn't expect Xiaojun's fame to have already reached this level. Haha, the fame of the Emperor of Darkness seems to have already rung out through the entire Unmoving City," Ye Qingyu said. He drew in the air with two fingers, and the shackles on Lingyun's arms and legs turned into dust instantly. He then threw out a token the size of his palm, saying, "You should recognize this thing."
Lingyun lifted his own arm instinctively and caught the token. He casually glanced at it, and his body began to shake as he realized what it was.
"This is… how could you have the Token of Unmoving Darkness? You…" Lingyun was incredibly shocked to realize that the token this new Emperor had thrown to him was a token possessed only by the people at the core of the Unmoving City. What shocked him the most was that the person who had originally kept it was someone he had complete faith in.
How could this happen?
Lingyun looked at the token before turning his attention to Ye Qingyu and back to the token again… he felt his mind overwhelmed by thoughts at the moment.
"Looks like you know about the origin of this token," Ye Qingyu said with a slight grin. "Can you trust me now, hmm?"
"Er…" Lingyun's attitude changed drastically. He dared not taunt the Emperor on purpose again. "Your Majesty, may I ask how you managed to obtain this token?" he asked somewhat suspiciously.
"Of course, the owner of the token gave it to me."
"Do you know the owner of this token, your Majesty?"
"Of course I do—Wang Jianru, the female Sword Immortal. Come to think of it, she was my first martial arts teacher," Ye Qingyu said, being completely transparent with Lingyun.
Suddenly, Lingyun's body trembled violently.
He completely believed Ye Qingyu at this point.
This was because he had suddenly realized who Ye Qingyu was.
"Is your surname Ye, your Majesty?" he asked in amazement.
Ye Qingyu smiled and nodded.
Lingyun was flabbergasted. "But, but… but shouldn't you be in the Vast Thousand Domains, your Majesty…?" he said, still unable to figure things out.
Ye Qingyu brushed his nose lightly and replied, "Looks like Sword Immortal Wang Jianru still hasn't told you about certain things… forget it, let me treat your wounds first before we speak further." He opened his palm and an invisible vacuum appeared, instantly drawing the black demonic sword out from Lingyun's back. At the same time, numerous chains of silver formations poured into the shocking wounds on his back.
Wisps of black demon qi emanated out from the wounds.
The columns of qi seemed to have lives of their own. They swirled in the void and gave out a really low and vengeful howl, as if they were struggling to break free.
However, with a wave of his hand, all of the black vapor landed in Ye Qingyu's grasp.
They were refined by Ye Qingyu along with the black demonic sword into a ball of light that struggled, twisted and shrieked. It fell into the space between his five fingers and could not break free of his grasp.
Is this the evil power of the Invaders?
Ye Qingyu had an inkling that a few demonic powers he had discovered on the Vast Thousand Domains and the Invaders originated from the same source. Does this mean that the Invaders have silently extended their reach into the Vast Thousand Domains?
"Your subject pays his respects to you, Divine Empress!" Lingyun exclaimed as he knelt down upon one knee. He could feel the wounds in his body disappear, and even his origin power, which was damaged, had been restored. His entire body felt extremely comfortable, and he had a new understanding of a Martial Emperor's techniques.
Ye Qingyu nodded before realizing something odd. "Divine Empress?" he asked, a strange expression on his face.
"To answer your query, Divine Empress, the title is bestowed upon the husband of the Divine Emperor," Lingyun replied.
"The husband of the Divine Emperor?" Ye Qingyu continued, still perturbed.
Lingyun continued to explain, "It's like this—several years ago, the Divine Emperor unified the Unmoving City, and a few venerated elders who had other motives, along with the other Sinner tribes and the four great Guardian Commanders of the Great Wall, brought up the idea of finding a partner for the Divine Emperor, with the excuse that it was historical tradition for the Emperor of the city to be wedded. The Emperor was forced to reply and harshly rejected them, telling everyone clearly that she already loved someone else. He was a peerless hero, and even though he was not a Sinner, nor was he in the Dark Realm, he was an incomparable talent. She was going to wait for her love to return, and she issued a decree, bestowing the title of 'Divine Empress' on this man."
Even though Lingyun was summarizing the entire affair, Ye Qingyu could understand what he was getting at.
Not only did he understand clearly, it made him feel incredibly emotional.
Lingyun might have described the entire affair nonchalantly, but it was not hard to imagine what a sharp political battle of wills it must have been. The suggestion of picking a suitable partner for Song Xiaojun was undoubtedly a targeted method of suppressing her. They used the ancient tradition of the Unmoving City of Darkness as an excuse in an attempt to sow division and fight over power. Such a struggle must have been incredibly cruel and complicated, but under such circumstances, she had still managed to make her stand clear. Even though he was not at the scene, he could imagine how much pressure and gossip the young girl must have withstood at that time.
With the triggering of the Dark Bloodline, could Xiaojun have already regained her memory?
"How did you know that I was the Divine Empress?" Ye Qingyu asked as he laughed.
He felt a little uncomfortable with the fact that Song Xiaojun was the Divine Emperor and he was the Divine Empress… their genders seemed to have been mixed up, and he did not know how to react.
"The military counselor once told me a few incidents about the Divine Emperor in the Vast Thousand Domains, as well as a few affairs about you, Divine Empress. As such, your humble subject made the bold guess that you had to be the Divine Empress," replied Lingyun.
As Song Xiaojun's trusted lieutenant, he had vaguely heard about a few murky details about Song and Ye Qingyu's love story. This was because Wang Jianru hoped that their relationship could be accepted by the warriors loyal to Song Xiaojun. To that effect, she had put in a few good words about Ye Qingyu in private, as well as telling them about how he had been willing to sacrifice everything for Song Xiaojun in the past. It was because of this that Lingyun had acknowledged Ye Qingyu as the Divine Empress so readily.
He managed to connect the stories to the token and how intimately Ye Qingyu had addressed Song Xiaojun, leading him to immediately deduce the identity of the Divine Empress.
There was no way to fake something like that.
This was especially true for the token. Even Lingyun himself had not earned the right to own one. He thought back about the time when the military counselor had left the Unmoving City alone for a while and was being hunted by the Royal City, but ended up safely back in the Western Region. Lingyun was very sure that the person who had secretly aided the counselor to return unscathed was the new Emperor standing before him.
Originally, when the Divine Emperor had issued her decree to inform everyone that her love was an outstanding man of the Vast Thousand Domains, many people were actually unable to accept it. After all, to many beings in the Dark Realm, the Vast Thousand Domains was just a sheltered world suitable for weak and tiny beings, and that any "talent" from such a place was no comparison for the warriors of the Unmoving City of Darkness. Even Lingyun himself felt a little disappointed at that time, but now it seemed like the Divine Emperor's love was really an incredibly powerful person. Not only had he walked out of the sheltered Vast Thousand Domains, he had even attained an unmatchable level of Dao and became the sovereign of Royal City… his strength and methods were alarming and frightening.
Only such a person was worthy of Her Majesty the Divine Emperor.
Lingyun was completely convinced by now.
"Military counselor? Could that be Wang Jianru, the female Sword Immortal?" Ye Qingyu asked again.
Lingyun nodded and replied, "That's right. She brought the Divine Emperor back to the Unmoving City, and it's due to her support that Her Majesty, the Divine Emperor, is able to unify the entire city…" He stopped mid-way, seeming to have thought about something. His expression grew tense and he hurriedly said, "Oh no… I nearly forgot about my actual task. Your Majesty, please hurry to the Great Wall of the Western Region. Her Majesty, the Divine Emperor, was ambushed, and her whereabouts are unknown currently. The situation is extremely dangerous, so I beg you to intervene and save us."
Ye Qingyu's expression changed instantly. "What's going on?" he asked.
