Chapter 1285 – A Secret Plot
Ye Qingyu was extremely worried for the Divine Light Emperor, when he saw the Ancient Ghostly Emperor giving out orders.
The final move that the Divine Light Emperor had unleashed was astonishingly powerful, but it came at a high price. After he employed this move, the Divine Light Emperor was at the end of his tether.
That battle had led to the collapse of the Divine Light Court.
The large battle divisions, and the elite troops were almost all massacred by the formations that the Sky Emperor had laid in place. Countless Emperor-level martial experts were slain; the entire Divine Light Court was reduced to a pile of rubble. It was a huge blow to this world's formation martial way, since the top military strength of this world was practically wiped out. Those who died were fed into the blood formations by the Sky Emperor, who used the power contained in their flesh and blood to sustain the gate of blood. Thus, those elite men did not leave any legacies nor successors behind.
It was obvious that their demise was a huge blow to the entire world.
Ye Qingyu immediately knew this would bring fractures in the formation martial world.
This probably explained why the large numbers of Martial Emperors, and the six divine generals who were even more powerful than Martial Emperors who lived during the era of the Divine Light Court had not produced a large number of Martial Emperors in the later generations. In fact, the number of Martial Emperors had eventually decreased significantly. Even the camp that was secretly managed by the Sky Emperor had only produced several hundred Martial Emperors; he had spent millions of years grooming them, so it could not be compared to the Divine Light Emperor's era at all.
As newer generations came forth, each had only produced a single Martial Emperor.
Since these were the memories that belonged to the Sky Emperor's physical body, Ye Qingyu could only see things from the Sky Emperor's perspective. He saw the Divine Light Emperor and the others flee, but he did not know where they had gone. He also watched as the Ancient Ghostly Emperor injected a wisp of ghostly energy into the Sky Emperor, and how he commanded the Bloodied-Spear Daoist Grandmaster and the others to obey the Sky Emperor's orders. He found it odd and wondered why the Ancient Ghostly Emperor held the Sky Emperor—someone who had betrayed his master's formation martial world—in such high regard, and even seemed more enthusiastic in supporting him, instead of the Bloodied-Spear Daoist Grandmaster.
"Later, the Sky Emperor's soul was dark blue in color and he wielded the ghostly power. Could it be because the Ancient Ghostly Emperor had appointed the Sky Emperor as his successor?" Ye Qingyu wondered.
That was not the end of the memories ingrained in Lan Tian's body.
He watched as the Sky Emperor made the battle divisions of the other parts of the Divine Light Court to pledge allegiance to him, reorganized the other forces in the formation martial world and gradually consolidated these forces into a single entity—the truth of what happened to the Divine Light Court was not revealed to outsiders, and all those who knew the truth were massacred. No one from the imperial city lived to tell the tale; this meant that the Sky Emperor had an easier time getting the various battle divisions to pledge their allegiance to him. The entire world was shaken by the Divine Light Emperor's defeat. No one knew who could have been strong enough to defeat the Divine Light Emperor, but everyone knew that the Sky Emperor had always been the Divine Light Emperor's trusted right-hand man. He was also very authoritative, so he managed to gain control of these forces without much opposition.
"The Divine Light Emperor was not slain in battle. He sustained serious injuries and went missing while he tried to lead the enemy away, so we have to find him."
This was the news that the Sky Emperor released publicly.
Ye Qingyu had to admit that the Sky Emperor was a ruthless and ambitious man. It was not surprising how he managed to secretly command all the Martial Emperors of the formation martial world. If one did not take his moral conduct into consideration, he was indeed powerful enough to command these Martial Emperors.
The Sky Emperor gathered all the remaining battle divisions of the Divine Light Court, then issued a command to find the Divine Light Emperor and the six divine generals at all costs.
He continued to gather information about their possible whereabouts and screened all the information patiently.
He would also personally lead the Bloodied-Spear Daoist Grandmaster and the others to search any suspicious areas, but other than finding more clues, he failed to discover their actual hideout.
The Ancient Ghostly Emperor temporarily took up residence at the destroyed Divine Light Court to recuperate.
Countless powerful martial experts had died during that fateful battle; as a result, a dense death qi lingered on at the Divine Light Court. Most experts would avoid heading to such places, but the death qi found in the aftermath of that battle would effectively aid his recovery.
Unfortunately, the light energy that the Divine Light Emperor injected into his wound was more powerful than he had expected. Soon, the Ancient Ghostly Emperor discovered to his horror that he could not completely get rid of the light energy. That light energy constantly corroded his wound; it was a nuisance that gave him a headache.
He was even more annoyed by the fact that even after a year had passed, he still could not sense any destiny growing in the world. This meant that the Divine Light Emperor was still alive somewhere; the destiny he carried within him had not yet scattered. Moreover, if he could not sense nor absorb the power of this destiny, this meant that he would not be able to heal himself.
The Ancient Ghostly Emperor was extremely anxious.
He was in a worse state than the Abandoned Fiendgod who had decided to flee, instead of battling the Divine Light Emperor.
It would be extremely difficult to open the gate of blood to return to his world—all the top and elite martial experts of this world had been wiped out by the blood formation. It would be hard to find a large number of experts like those found in the Divine Light Court, to turn into energy and nourishment and open the gate of blood.
He was trapped in this domain.
Nonetheless, he was still a king of sovereigns.
He did not grow agitated, neither did he confront the Sky Emperor for failing to find the Divine Light Emperor after a year.
Instead, the Ancient Ghostly Emperor became a mentor to the Sky Emperor, giving him advice to improve his cultivation. He even selflessly imparted his ghostly techniques to the Sky Emperor bit by bit, and did not keep anything from him at all. Evidently, he held the Sky Emperor in high regard.
"You also have a rare ghostly physique; my techniques would be perfect for you. I guess I could call you my successor," the Ancient Ghostly Emperor said on many occasions.
The Sky Emperor was extremely grateful to the Ancient Ghostly Emperor.
The Bloodied-Spear Daoist Grandmaster and the others did not receive such preferential treatment; they were constantly searching for the Divine Light Emperor. They didn't dare disobey the Ancient Ghostly Emperor's orders, neither did they dare to show him any disrespect, even though he was seriously injured. They all knew extremely well how terrifying and incredibly powerful he was; besides, he was also an influential figure in the camp.
Countless centuries passed in the blink of an eye.
The Sky Emperor relentlessly searched for the Divine Light Emperor, in an attempt to repay the favor bestowed upon him by the Ancient Ghostly Emperor. He employed whatever methods he could think of, slaughtered and framed countless loyal subjects of the Divine Light Court, and ultimately caused the might of the Divine Light Court to decline. However, no matter what he did, he was unable to force the Divine Light Emperor and the six divine generals to reveal themselves.
A century flew by in an instant.
Many events happened over that century, but Ye Qingyu didn't find any of them noteworthy. They only managed to make him hate the Sky Emperor even more. He was a man who didn't mind destroying and slaughtering the entire world to achieve his own selfish goals. If he could, Ye Qingyu would have killed him many times over, but unfortunately, he was merely a spectator, browsing through Lan Tian's memories.
Ye Qingyu had an even better understanding of the Sky Emperor because of these memories.
The Sky Emperor was indeed a miraculous genius of the martial way. He abandoned all the techniques that the Divine Light Emperor had once imparted and turned to cultivate the ghostly power. Although he started from scratch, he still managed to cultivate them until he achieved a Martial Emperor cultivation once again. He was advised by the Ancient Ghostly Emperor, but his talent and willpower also played a large part. The Ancient Ghostly Emperor was also stunned by this incredible achievement and started to pour even more effort into grooming his successor. As time passed, the Ancient Ghostly Emperor guided the Sky Emperor as though he were his son, trusting him in full.
Over time, the Ancient Ghostly Emperor's injuries worsened.
The light energy that the Divine Light Emperor planted in the Ancient Ghostly Emperor's body flared up every day and tortured him until his body became frail and feeble. He was not from that world, so other than the destiny that he had wanted to seize from the Divine Light Emperor, absorbing any other spiritual qi from the world was like drinking poison, and he could not use it to replenish the energy that had been depleted from his injury. Thus, he was unable to recover his origin power; his strength continued to decline.
Another century later.
The Sky Emperor frantically searched for the Divine Light Emperor to no avail, while the Ancient Ghostly Emperor was on his last legs.
"One moment of greed led me to die by the sword," the Ancient Ghostly Emperor said with a sigh. He didn't have much time left, so he spent even more effort in grooming the Sky Emperor. He finally imparted him the essence and supreme mysteries of his ghostly techniques, then said, "Now that part of my ghostly Dao continues to exist in this world, I'm sure it will flourish, being handed down for generations to come. I haven't got much time left to live, so you must continue spreading my legacy."
He sounded like he was delivering his last words.
The Sky Emperor was extremely touched by his generosity, and unsuccessfully tried various methods to cure the Ancient Ghostly Emperor.
The only method was to kill the Divine Light Emperor, letting the destiny of the formation martial way that had gathered in his body to scatter back into the world. The Ancient Ghostly Emperor's wound would only be able to heal after he absorbed that energy but unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried nor how many tricks he carried out, he was unable to produce results. It was as though the Divine Light Emperor and the others had completely vanished from this world.
Another century later.
The Ancient Ghostly Emperor finally passed away.
The Divine Light Emperor's final attack had slowly but surely killed a supreme king.
The Sky Emperor was overcome with sorrow. He personally selected a blessed burial mound for the Ancient Ghostly Emperor and buried him there.
Approximately ten years later, after the Ancient Ghostly Emperor passed away, the Bloodied-Spear Daoist Grandmaster, the Dark Purple Sovereign, and the others conspired and plotted for a long time. Finally, they made their move against the Sky Emperor. They were the fiendgods and sovereigns of an alternate timeline, so how could they submit to someone who was their junior? Even if the Sky Emperor was the successor of the Ancient Ghostly Emperor, they still found it completely unacceptable.
However, they did not expect the low profile Sky Emperor to unleash such powerful strength. He easily overpowered the four fiendgods and trapped them inside a formation for all eternity.
Another century later, the Sky Emperor's strength skyrocketed; he cultivated his ghostly technique to unprecedented heights. He had far surpassed his strength when he was at his prime under the Divine Light Emperor and had a breakthrough. After this, he revisited the Ancient Ghostly Emperor's tomb and opened his casket.
"I know you're not dead; you're secretly plotting against me. Show yourself now," the Sky Emperor said with a cold laugh as he looked at the empty casket.
