Chapter 530 – A Struggle Between Fates, the Emperor’s Mandate - Part 2

Far above, Ying Zhuoyao gazed down upon the land. Her snowy white, jade-like eyes reflected the vision unfolding beneath her.

She looked shaken because she didn’t understand what was happening. Not at all.

Strand by strand, the golden light flowed into the world.

It touched the flowers and grasses. Instantly, they grew more lush.

It entered the streams. Suddenly, the waters ran clearer, purer.

It merged with the beasts. They grew stronger, their eyes more alert.

It seeped into the people. Their backs straightened, their spirits lifted.

What had once felt like a world dimmed by ash and dust now gleamed with new life. The dull and grey was stripped away, replaced by vitality, by radiance.

“What...is this?”

The Celestial Sovereign, who had been preparing to leave, stood frozen in place, staring.

Like Xia She, he too was one of the ancient beings preserved in the Xia’s Dragon Vein. And yet, even he could not grasp what this golden light truly was. It had entered his body as well, but he felt nothing. No power surge. No resonance.

Frowning slightly, the Celestial Sovereign extended his hand, trying to draw the light toward him using domain force, but it slipped away. The light was ethereal, intangible, beyond his grasp. Not even domain power could touch it.

With a quiet sigh, he turned his gaze to Ying Zhuoyao. “Messenger, I want to go to the Eastern Sea’s Immortal Domain. I need to recover my strength.”

She didn’t answer immediately. Her snowy jade eyes remained fixed on the golden light for a long while before she finally spoke.

“Celestial Sovereign, I suggest you stay for now. Once our master has absorbed the other two ghost domains, we’ll move.”

The Celestial Sovereign exhaled softly, helpless.

He understood all too well. If something happened to the Ghost Lake, his own fate was sealed...just like the loyal souls who perished the moment the Dragon Vein began to collapse.

“Very well,” he relented. Then asked again, “What is this light?”

Ying Zhuoyao said, “Whatever it is, it’s the Dragon Vein’s final gambit. At a moment like this, it’s no surprise it would reveal cards we’ve never seen. We’ll understand soon enough.”

“A special moment?” the Celestial Sovereign narrowed his eyes, catching on to her phrasing.

Ying Zhuoyao turned toward him. “You only need to know this. This might be your last chance. If you close your eyes this time...they’ll never open again.”

The Celestial Sovereign’s pupils shrank.

Ying Zhuoyao’s voice grew cold.

“In this grand game between Heaven and Earth, no one gets to walk away.”

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

“Fight!”

Ji Hu was on the verge of death, but he had never felt more alive. He was fulfilling the path he had chosen. To die like this was already far better than the future he once feared.

He looked once more to the carnage outside the hall, mountains of corpses and rivers of blood. He clenched his sword again and prepared to charge.

But in that instant, a current of golden brilliance surged from deep beneath the earth and poured into his body.

Suddenly, a strange, immense power coursed through him, vast, unfamiliar, and overwhelming.

He could feel it: the living beings of the world, the mountains and rivers, the very lands of the empire—all their shadows, all their spirits—were flowing into him.

It was as though all of this had become his body. And his own will, his ambition, had become the soul of that new body.

He took a breath, stunned. Then he raised his sword and slashed.

That strike was aimed straight at Xia She.

The swordlight tore forward like divine wrath, shredding the net of spirit blades around Xia She, then slicing the last emperor of the Great Xia in two.

No defense could stop it. No resistance meant anything. Trying to block it was like throwing twigs into a tidal wave.

Xia She didn’t even have time to register shock. In the blink of an eye, his body split apart in midair and shattered piece by piece.

And in that instant, he finally felt it. A power beyond comprehension. The strength of the very land itself. The absolute peak of this world.

Ji Hu stared at his own hands in disbelief. For a long moment, he didn’t move. Only after glancing at what was left of Xia She, nothing more than shredded remains, did he finally step out of the hall in silence.

And just as he did, the air split with a sharp

twang

.

An arrow streaked through the sky, wrapped in a thick aura of blood and force. It screamed toward him, perfectly angled and packed with killing power.

But the arrow stopped, just inches behind Ji Hu, as if it had struck an invisible wall.

He didn’t even turn his head. With a mere thought, the arrow spun mid-air and shot back in the direction it came from, piercing clean through the fifth-rank cultivator who had loosed it.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

The golden light still shimmered across the land, coating the soil in a brilliant glow.

Back in Silver Creek, it fell over the garden of Li Yuan and Xie Yu. The light made even the plants shine.

Xie Yu blinked, startled. “Husband...what’s happening?”

Li Yuan was watching too.

He could see the golden light quietly soaking into his body. A strange, wondrous sensation stirred in his chest, like something ancient awakening inside him. But just as he tried to grasp it, the feeling slipped away, like trying to catch reflections on water.

He checked himself carefully. No visible changes.

He scanned his status interface. No difference in the usual numbers.

So...what exactly had changed?

A flicker of intuition passed through his mind. He opened his status window again and saw it.

A new entry had appeared in his Divine Ability List.

「

Name: Li Yuan

Divine Ability: Eternal Youth

Divine Ability 2: Six Paths, Mortal World Transformation, Myriad Beasts Transformation (2/4)

Divine Ability 3: Imperial Mandate 1 (0/9)

」

Li Yuan stared quietly at the new ability, and suddenly, a realization dawned.

The Human Emperor, the sovereign of humanity. When humanity thrived, the Emperor grew strong. When humanity faltered, the Emperor weakened.

Could the

9

likely refer to the nine provinces? Was this the key to uniting them all under one ruler?

If he became the acknowledged sovereign of all nine provinces, would that grant him the full power of this divine ability?

But then...what did the

1

in

Imperial Mandate 1

mean?

He didn’t know yet.

Driven by the urge to confirm his guess, Li Yuan decided to head to the King of Chu’s manor.

He had always made a habit of unlocking maps. During his ten years of roaming the land, acting as a wandering hero, he had marked many important cities.

Naturally, Mount Ying Prefecture of Hidden River Province, where the King of Chu resided, was among them.

Still, he didn’t leave right away. He waited a little longer, until Xie Wei returned.

As soon as she arrived, he hurried over to her and said, “Sister-in-law, with the ghost servants now running loose, take Yu’er and find somewhere safe. I need to head out.”

Xie Wei heard the words

Sister-in-law

and felt her heart flutter. When she met Xie Yu’s gaze, she quickly looked away, flustered, then stepped forward and gently grabbed the girl’s hand.

“A man should take care of his own wife,” she said with feigned sternness. “Your sister-in-law has a man of her own now. I can’t always be here to help you.”

Li Yuan cupped his hands and bowed slightly. “Then I’m grateful, Sister-in-law.”

Xie Wei nearly blurted out,

How exactly will you thank me?

But she caught herself when she noticed Xie Yu was still beside him. She swallowed the words, forced a straight face, and said instead, “Come back soon. Your wife is waiting.”

Xie Yu rested her hand on her belly and looked at Li Yuan with suspicion. “The whole world’s a mess out there, and you want to head out now? To practice your blade?”

Li Yuan replied, “This golden light...it’s strange. I want to go check the area.”

Xie Yu lowered her voice and said, “Sister is Lady White Plum now. You don’t think she’ll have questions? Just stay home and wait for news like a proper husband.”

“...” Li Yuan fell silent.

Seeing his silence, Xie Yu pouted. “Fine, go if you want.”

“...” Li Yuan was at a bit of a loss. So was that permission... or not?

Still, the golden light was too unusual. He had to confirm his suspicions.

With that thought, he smiled and said, “Then I’m off, my lady.”

And with a leap, he vanished into the distance.

Xie Yu smiled sweetly. “Sister, let’s go too.”

Xie Wei glanced at her grin and suddenly felt a pang of worry for Li Yuan. She muttered, “That Gucheng of yours...at a time like this, how can he not stay by your side? When he gets back, I’m giving him a good scolding. Irresponsible. Doesn’t care about you at all. A man like that, what’s the point?”

Xie Yu blinked, taken aback. She tugged Xie Wei’s sleeve. “Sister, he’s not that bad...”

Xie Wei rolled her eyes and kept going, “He

is

that bad. For all you know, he’s out fooling around with some woman. Maybe he saw the chaos as the perfect excuse to check on one of his secret mistresses.”

𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Xie Yu huffed. “You’re misunderstanding Gucheng! He’s—!”

A moment ago, she was sulking. Now she was suddenly in full defense mode, arguing passionately on Li Yuan’s behalf.

Meanwhile, Li Yuan had already found a secluded place. Holding the Nine Provinces Provisional Patrol Token, he attempted to teleport to the King of Chu’s stronghold.

It failed.

Frowning, he tried to return the token to his equipment box, only to discover he couldn’t. The richly charged item, once brimming with the power of the domain pathways, now looked like a piece of rotting wood. Before his very eyes, it dimmed and withered, and in the cold winter wind, it crumbled into gray dust and scattered.

Li Yuan stared at his empty palm and couldn’t help but curse. But he understood now. The Dragon Vein was gone. And the Imperial Mandate must’ve been the last thing it did before disappearing.

The Human Emperor...whoever could truly command this land, whoever could rally the hearts of its people, would gain unfathomable power.

The Dragon Vein, in its final act, had returned the fate of this world to the people themselves.

No more travel tokens. No more shortcuts. He couldn’t even use the thousand-mile-thread.

Left with no other choice, Li Yuan turned around and headed back, returning to the one still defending him just moments ago.

“You’re back?” Xie Yu asked.

“What can I say? I just couldn’t bear to leave my wife and child,” Li Yuan said with a grin.

Xie Yu gave him a long, suspicious look. Then she declared, firmly, “Liar.”

She gave him a gentle shove. “Now go already! I know how

important

you are. Go on, big hero. Hurry up!”