Chapter 1144: One Mistake; An Eternal Sin

Being harshly scold by Li Qiye left Old Devil smiling wryly: “I was overwhelmed with the need for more power, so I carelessly tried to borrow this power to forcefully seize the Heaven’s Will.”

“Hah, forcefully seize the Heaven’s Will?” Li Qiye laughed in response: “That is only something found in legends. You couldn’t become an Immortal Emperor back then, so you definitely couldn’t succeed later on.”

Old Devil exhaled and said: “If I could have thought of that back then, the situation wouldn’t have deteriorated so badly. While focusing on obtaining the power underground, we opened the seal and unexpectedly found something else.”

Li Qiye didn’t say anything and continued to stare coldly at Old Devil.

The old man went on: “At that moment, I finally understood that outside of this power, there were other things down there, but it was too late. In order to protect this land from falling into the hands of the monsters, the other elders and I worked together. We spent countless efforts and refined jades in order to reseal the foundation!”

“Hmph! Immortal Emperor Min Ren and I were afraid that the power down there would break out again even from the foundation. But who would have thought that before it could break out, everything would be destroyed in your hands.” He glared at Old Devil.

The old man lowered his head in shame. His little brother spoke instead: “It is not all Big Brother’s fault. If it wasn’t for my curiosity, none of this would have happened.”

“Cleansing Incense’s situation today is because of me. My ambition blinded me, resulting in our decline and the elders suffering underground.” He spoke with shame: “If it wasn’t for senior Black Dragon King slapping me out of my stupor, I’m afraid I would have gone to meet the ancestors already.”

Li Qiye asked: “You all couldn’t suppress the old man underground?”

Old Devil smiled wryly and said: “The elders and I counter-attacked many times to no avail. We could only force him back at best. There was no way of re-creating the Immortal Emperor’s seal, so we had to stand guard there.”

Li Qiye coldly scowled: “If it wasn’t for your meritorious service, I would be too lazy to deal with this mess. I will intervene this time but never a second! One might be able to survive an act of god, but no one can survive a self-brought calamity.”

“Your Excellency, please reseal this land.” After hearing this, Old Devil immediately rejoiced and prostrated on the ground.

Li Qiye gently shook his head: “It is easier said than done to seal this land. It can’t be done in one or two days. When Immortal Emperor Min Ren erected the supreme imperial foundation in the past, it required a lot of time and effort.”

“What I can do now is make that old man run back and stop causing trouble!” Li Qiye paused and glared at Old Devil: “Whether this land can be sealed again or ends up being destroyed, I’ll deal with that later.”

“Your Excellency taking action is a blessing for the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect.” Old Devil could finally let go of what was tormenting his heart.

Li Qiye asked: “Do you know anything about that last battle?”

“Your Excellency, I did not participate in that battle.” Old Devil quickly explained: “I was haunted back then, so senior Black Dragon King awakened me with a slap. He told me to stay behind and guard the entrance without further explanations. Because I was suppressing the seal underground, I didn’t know what exactly happened in that battle. The moment I got out, the battle between the senior and Immortal Emperor Ta Kong had already ended. I didn’t meet the senior later on, so I don’t know the specific circumstances.”

Li Qiye pondered for a moment. He knew very well that the Black Dragon King must have survived the fight with Immortal Emperor Ta Kong. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to kill his way into the Immortal Demon Grotto.

After a while, Li Qiye lifted his head and told Old Devil: “I will go underground to deal with this matter to avoid further complications.”

“Your Excellency will certainly be successful.” Old Devil quickly stated in full exultation.

The two of them left Cleansing Incense and went to the town right below. After entering the small town, Old Devil led Li Qiye to the Happy Crimson Pavilion.

Old Devil was a regular here, so after he arrived, the ladies came to greet him in a very familiar manner. A gorgeously dressed woman coquettishly smiled: “Third Master, you are bringing along a young man today?” [1. Remember how Old Devil’s title is hard to translate and consists of three characters: “Third” + “Devil” + “Grandpa/Master”? She is calling him “Third” + “Grandpa/Master” here, omitting the devil/sly/crafty/perverted part.]

Old Devil laughed boisterously and brought Li Qiye inside. He looked for the old madame and told her: “Open the door.”

The madame noticed an outsider, Li Qiye, and was quite surprised: “Who is he?”

Old Devil knew about Li Qiye’s temper and quietly told the madame: “Don’t ask.”

The madame did not blabber and immediately took the two deeper into the pavilion. She opened a closed iron door and let them inside.

The door led to a different heavenly grotto that resembled a large courtyard with different types of strange grasses and spiritual medicines. Who would have thought that such a mundane location would contain a wondrous place like this?

Li Qiye took a look and spoke with a tinge of emotion: “This place is still here after so many years...”

Old Devil replied: “Your Excellency, this place has been running all this time. The ancestors of the sect believed that a cunning rabbit has three caves, so the entrance was shifted to this place.”

Li Qiye flatly said: “A cunning rabbit has three caves? Immortal Emperor Min Ren didn’t have this thought back then. This was meant to be a home for those pitiful mortal women. Only someone like Min Ren would trouble himself with the chaotic mortal realm, or maybe he was just soft-hearted like a woman.” [2. Okay, this phrase might look bad for Li Qiye, but in his defense, it is a popular idiom that is widely used in literature. It is definitely a cultural thing. This phrase is not politically correct in modern speech anymore, however. You can probably still see it in historical/xianxia novels due to the setting.]

Old Devil remained silent. He was not qualified to comment on the past and Immortal Emperor Min Ren. He had only heard many legends about Immortal Emperor Min Ren’s humane beliefs.

Li Qiye sighed and didn’t want to talk more about the emperor’s kind nature.

There were pitiful people all around the world, but as he had said before, he was not a savior. He couldn’t save and enlighten all living beings. The only thing he wanted was to preserve the nine worlds so that the human race could exist forever.

As for the weak and pitiable, they would need to rely on themselves. Only by growing stronger would they be able to escape their own destinies. Otherwise, it would just be empty talk. He could save one person, but not millions.

This was the biggest difference between him and Immortal Emperor Min Ren. The emperor had a tendency for clemency and wished to save all living beings in this world.

Old Devil opened another entrance to the underground and led Li Qiye inside. They were ported into the deepest location of Cleansing Incense.

A gigantic imperial foundation was located here. It was built upon the sweat and blood of Li Qiye and Immortal Emperor Min Ren back then.

One could see many great pillars shouldering the ground. The path was paved by refined divine stones and engraved with powerful imperial formations that were suppressing the entire area.

Walking into this place was the same as walking into the underground labyrinth of a palace. This underground base was huge. In the face of a disaster, it would be easy for all the disciples from the sect to come and hide here.

Li Qiye gently sighed after feeling the familiar power while walking inside the foundation.

This was an inheritance that could allow for Cleansing Incense to continue on. Even if it were to collapse one day, as long as this place was still here, it would eventually rise once more.

It could be said that in order to build this place, they had spent a countless amount of effort. Alas, after so many years, the future generations of Cleansing Incense did not utilize this inheritance to bring about prosperity for the sect.

They eventually went as far as they could go. Before them was an abyss that resembled a cave that led further down into the ground. It was pitch-black; one had no way to see what was down there.

Around this pit was an extremely powerful imperial formation. Many old men were sitting around it. Their vitality had weakened with age, but this didn’t mean that they weren’t extremely powerful. All were Virtuous Paragons.

At the same time, three weapons were floating in the middle of the formation. Two of them were life treasures that emitted imperial auras!

“Benevolent Saber!” Li Qiye glanced at the third weapon and immediately recognized it.

The Benevolent Saber was Immortal Emperor Min Ren’s true fate weapon. The other two weapons were also refined by him.

Back then, he left behind all of his weapons. Outside of one life treasure falling into the hands of the Heavenly God Sect, the others vanished without a trace, including the saber.

The older generation like Gu Tieshou didn’t know where these weapons went. They speculated that the weapons had been lost in the war.

When Li Qiye and Old Devil stepped closer, the old men presiding over the formation opened their eyes as if they were waking up from their slumber.

“Elders.” Old Devil looked at each one to say: “Young Noble Li is here today to deal with the calamity. After he is done with this crisis, Elders can return to the Cleansing Incense Ancient Sect. I have burdened everyone, forcing Elders to watch over this place.”