Chapter 614 – The Primordial Emperor - Part 2

Li Yuan could feel the strength of his Human Soul reaching its peak, while the harmony of Yin and Yang within him spun with perfect balance, pushing his cultivation to its current limit.

This balance, this harmony, allowed Li Yuan’s Heaven Soul and Earth Soul, once fundamentally at odds, to merge like Yin and Yang, two fish of black and white spinning in a perfect circle.

And as they turned within him, a mysterious, indescribable insight slowly blossomed in his heart.

Eyes shut, body still, Li Yuan sat in the carriage, but it no longer felt like he was

in

the carriage. He had slipped beyond it, detached from space and place.

His body remained caged, yet his spirit drifted freely through the unseen flow of the cosmos, resonating, faintly, eerily, with the heavens themselves.

Then he heard it.

Whispers, distant and quiet, not from this world. They blanketed all earthly sounds like a velvet hush.

He tried to focus on them, to make sense of what they were saying. But the whispers...were they voices? Or were they simply nature’s lullaby, like wind rustling through forest leaves, or waves breaking across the shore?

He sank deeper into that strange state. The image of the golden flame-bodied man seated on the black lotus became more and more defined, increasingly stable.

Outside, the rest of the world ceased to matter.

Let blades come, let heavens fall, nothing could touch him now.

Crack... Crack! CRACK! BOOM!

The two horses pulling the carriage suddenly buckled, their knees giving out. They crashed to the ground, eyes rolling in terror. With panicked screams, they bolted sideways, scattering filth in their wake, as if trying to flee from death itself.

The carriage slammed into the ground, and a tremendous force shattered its walls, wood splintering outward, to reveal the golden-bodied figure seated calmly atop the black lotus.

The horses from the rear carriage didn’t need prompting; sensing that unbearable aura, they stopped in their tracks, then staggered backward, shaking, before fleeing in a blind, terrified gallop.

Meng Xingxian and the others jumped down in alarm, staring wide-eyed at the strange and fearsome sight ahead.

Mortal horses cannot pull a true god.

That was the first thought that came to their collective mind.

Even just the presence of that divine aura was enough to scatter the animals and drive them mad with fear.

But what truly stunned the onlookers was that in their eyes, Li Yuan’s golden body wasn’t sitting still. It was...shifting, flowing, warping reality itself.

One moment, the black lotus was beneath the golden form. The next, it was above. Then back again. Up and down reversed, over and over, in a way that defied all logic. The entire structure had no fixed orientation, like watching a painting twist into a paradox.

Ping'an glanced at Meng Xingxian, who had seen more than her fair share of the strange and supernatural.

“Never seen anything like it.” She shook her head vigorously. Then added, more seriously, “This has never happened before. Ever.”

As they stood there stunned, the air ahead suddenly exploded into violent wind.

Then everything around them began to change.

The road vanished. The moonlight disappeared. The world itself transformed into a sea of petals, each one a scarlet lotus petal, vibrant and unreal.

But those weren’t ordinary petals. Each one radiated an overwhelming power of annihilation. That destruction flowed outward, forming rivers of ruin that flooded the entire area.

Everyone leapt back in alarm. Ping'an took up the rear, guarding their escape.

And it was only moments later, just as he turned to fall back himself, that he saw three very familiar figures stepping out from the storm of red.

He raised his voice in anger. “Dean Pang, Yun, and Shi! What are you doing?!”

The newcomers were none other than Pang Si of the Faculty of Martial Spirit, Shi Jialan of the Faculty of Ghosts, and Yun Ranzi of the Faculty of Heaven.

These three were practically the strongest formal combat power the Five Spirits Institute had to offer. The remaining two faculties, Seduction, which specialized in seductive arts, and Puppetry, focused on crafting constructs, were more support roles than front-line fighters.

Pang Si cast a glance at Ping'an and gave a dry chuckle. “Elder Li, what’s your honored father up to right now?”

Before Ping’an could answer, Meng Xingxian jumped in smoothly. “There’s been a surge of demonic beasts inside the city. The Primordial Emperor is currently unleashing his divine powers. Why don’t you stand back and watch a god at work?”

“...” Ping'an fell silent.

He quickly realized what she was doing. His sister-in-law was afraid he’d either hesitate and reveal too much. or worse, blurt out something dumb like,

He’s cultivating right now.

If these three found out Li Yuan was in the middle of cultivation, there was no telling what they might do. A sudden strike while he was vulnerable wasn’t out of the question.

And to be honest, the timing of their arrival was just a little

too

convenient. It smelled like an ambush.

Ping’an couldn’t help but admire her quick thinking. She even casually dropped the term

Primordial Emperor

, not only elevating Li Yuan’s status but also buying time. She really could spin a tale without blinking. He needed to learn a few tricks from her.

[1]

Even Sheng'er wisely kept quiet. In moments like this, it was best to let someone like Meng Xingxian do the talking. No matter how much experience she and Ping’an had gained, to the old monsters of this world, they were still

honest kids

.

Sometimes, it took an old monster to deal with old monsters.

Sure enough, Pang Si looked intrigued. Truth be told, even

he

had no idea what to make of Li Yuan in his current state.

That spinning golden body atop a black lotus was terrifying enough on its own. But those petals, dark as ink, resembled rows of howling ghosts. The whole thing was unnerving.

Pang Si glanced at Shi Jialan behind him.

Shi Jialan murmured, “Within that lotus...there are ghosts. Countless ghosts.”

Pang Si’s face twitched in confusion.

So...are we even supposed to fight that?

The more terrifying Li Yuan appeared, the more hesitant Pang Si became to make a move. But at the same time, the more powerful Li Yuan seemed, the more intense the killing intent surged in his heart.

Because Pang Si

knew

, no he was certain, that Li Yuan couldn’t possibly have surpassed third rank.

If he

had

, then there’d be no need for secrecy, no hiding out, no taking a slow public carriage from the sky port to the Arcane Supreme Sect. He would’ve just descended from the heavens like a thunderbolt.

All that meant this overwhelming display had to be a bluff.

And the bigger the bluff, the more it provoked Pang Si’s desire to eliminate the threat while he still could.

His massive, copper bell-sized pupils turned to Meng Xingxian. “And you are...?”

“Crawled out of a coffin.” Meng Xingxian answered cheerfully, Then she pointed to Li Yuan. “So did he.”

That wiped the smirks off all three faces.

The truth was, they had no idea what kind of ancient monsters might be waking up in the Western Extremes.

Meng Xingxian continued with a grin. “The Primordial Emperor is the leader of all gods in the Western Extremes. And more than 6,000 others are waking up too. I mean, you younger folks probably understand by now what kind of era you’re really living in.”

“...” Sheng'er and Ping’an blinked at each other.

But Pang Si wasn’t so easily fooled. He chuckled darkly. “And might I ask your name, then? Perhaps you know my master?”

“Yan Buer, right? Poor child, he never had any luck. The Deathless Tomb was too far, and he died before he ever had the chance to enter it.” Meng Xingxian smiled and said. Then she added casually, “As for me...ever heard of the Beastmaster Sect?”

Pang Si, whose origins were humble, didn’t recognize the name of the sect. But what she said about his master not being buried in the Deathless Tomb was true, so he turned slightly to glance back for confirmation.

From the mists behind him, a vast fog-like face emerged and replied, “A sect that vanished as quickly as it appeared.”

Meng Xingxian replied calmly, “Yes. Something I did in passing.”

That was when Shi Jialan, who’d been quietly observing, suddenly lit up with recognition. “You’re the Fleeting Dream Demoness, the Widow With the Poison Hands.”

Meng Xingxian froze for a moment, clearly caught off guard that someone still remembered

that

name. Feeling Ping’an and Sheng'er’s eyes on her, her expression turned into a flustered mix of embarrassment and annoyance. She pointed at Shi Jialan and snapped, “You impudent brat, don’t go spreading nonsense!”

But Shi Jialan turned to Pang Si and Yun Ranzi and said with certainty, “It’s her. She used to go by that name. My grandmaster mentioned her once.”

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Meng Xingxian froze again, then quickly turned to explain to Ping’an and Sheng'er, “I only took the name later, to avoid trouble. My real name is Meng Xingxian. It’s perfectly normal if these youngsters haven’t heard it before.”

Ping’an, at this point, was numb.

A silent wave of admiration rose in him for his little brother.

He’d underestimated Naran. Who knew his brother had managed to marry

this

kind of woman? A true Khagan, through and through.

Meanwhile, across from them, Pang Si and the other two wore expressions that flickered between doubt and unease.

They’d been successfully bluffed.

If what she said was true, if more than 6,000 ancient beings from the Deathless Tomb had truly awakened, then what kind of nightmare were they about to face?

But soon, a more calculating look returned to their eyes.

Even if all those ancient monsters had risen, their strength couldn’t have fully recovered yet. If they could lock down the sky port now, they could stop the rest from entering. As for those who’d already snuck in and were lying low, well, those could be dealt with one by one.

Pang Si smiled politely. “Might we ask, Senior Meng...how much of your power have you regained? Perhaps you’d grace us with a little demonstration?”

Meng Xingxian didn’t flinch. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she lifted her chin, smiling with serene confidence, staring them down.

The air grew tense, thick with pressure.

But Meng Xingxian had a will of steel.

The three across from her itched to act, but they all knew the rule. Once they made a move, there was no turning back. And without complete intel, none of them, cautious and calculating as they were, wanted to be the first to act.

1. The

Yuan (元)

in Li Yuan’s name also means

Primordial.

So while Meng Xingxian could be calling him Emperor Yuan here, I believe the author actually meant to play into the pun. ☜