Chapter 697 – The Emperor of the Yu Dynasty, Calming the Battlefield of Love and Jealousy - Part 2

May arrived.

Li Yuan had left Southriver and made his way back to the bestowal altar, nestled at the border where Southriver met Northriver and Westgorge. With Xie Yu at his side, he ascended the platform.

There, they sacrificed pigs and oxen, and together, they recited the sacred rites, a solemn declaration to Heaven and Earth, for the mountains and rivers to hear.

Xie Yu stood beside Li Yuan, earnestly reciting the ceremonial words with him.

Halfway through the ritual, Li Yuan called the four maids up to the altar to join the rite. It wasn’t just symbolic; it was a quiet little experiment of his own.

An Emperor held all authority.

And those bound to the Emperor received their power through his will.

By that logic, Xie Yu, his wife, should have more

authority

than the four maids. This ceremony would be the test.

Once the rite was complete, Li Yuan felt a satisfying ease settle in his chest. A rare peace washed over him. As he looked around, he noticed the golden radiance flowing between the mountains and rivers had grown denser. This was the manifestation of a true ruler’s dominion over the land.

That also meant Lady Yu’s own influence and privileges within the world’s rules had likely decreased.

To confirm it, Li Yuan asked both Xie Yu and the four maids what they could see. Just as he suspected, Xie Yu reported seeing far more and richer golden light than the others.

Satisfied, Li Yuan led the group in a circuitous route through the region before turning back toward the Tang Sect.

Meanwhile, far to the north, just outside Song Clan territory, on the border between Silkfloss and Ocean Province, a refined-looking man slumped against a tree, disbelief etched on his face.

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

His body was riddled with arrows, like a bloodied porcupine.

That man...was Song Yu, the head of the Song Clan.

Song Yu’s transcendent ability was known as Mind’s Eye, a power that allowed him to anticipate danger. No hidden weapon had ever touched him; he always sensed it before it struck.

And yet, this volley had killed him outright.

The reason was chillingly simple. His power had vanished.

In an instant, he had become just another martial artist in the jianghu. And when faced with such a dense rain of arrows, death was inevitable.

But how? Why had his transcendent power suddenly disappeared?

Song Yu died without an answer. His eyes were wide open even in death, and the golden sheen that once colored the world around him had completely faded from his vision.

Thwip!

Another arrow came whistling through the air. With a dull thud, it pierced straight into his forehead, driving through bone, embedding itself deep into the tree behind him.

Blood gushed from the wound.

Only then did several black-clad figures step out from the woods surrounding the body.

One of them walked up and drew a curved bronze blade from his belt, favored by the northern wolf riders, built for killing.

He grabbed Song Yu’s hair, sliced through his neck in one stroke, and stuffed the severed head into a sack. Then he gave a sharp whistle.

From the distance, the wolves answered.

The assassins mounted the wolves and rode off, vanishing into the northern mist.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Several days later.

The wolf riders arrived at a desolate place. At the base of an ancient tree stood a tall, thin man, his presence shrouded in deathly stillness. As they dismounted, the lead rider quickly approached, dropped to one knee, and said with reverence, “Mister Mu, Song Yu is dead.”

Mister Mu’s voice was raspy, like dead leaves scraping stone. “He didn’t resist, did he?”

“No, sir,” the rider said, his voice rough. “When we loosed the arrows, he looked shocked, but he didn’t react at all. Just stood there and took it.”

Mister Mu’s tone turned cold. “Bury the head. Then head south and stay hidden. Wait for my call.”

“Yes, sir!”

The riders bowed deeply, then disappeared once more into the wilds.

Only Mister Mu remained, his figure hunched, his expression unreadable, standing like a shadow beneath the ancient tree.

Not far from where Mister Mu stood, there was a strange, hidden tomb, now completely destroyed.

No one else knew it, but that tomb had been the

lifeline

of the Song Clan’s connection to the

Qi

of the land. Once it was shattered, the Song Clan’s link to that ambient energy was cut. Without it, their transcendents would soon revert to ordinary mortals.

Mister Mu knew this because his true insight was tied to

graves

.

That was his power, the ability to locate the vital core of a person, family, or force, their spiritual lifeline, and destroy it. But this wasn’t some omnipotent ability. It required significant time and effort, and more importantly, close proximity to the target. Only through sustained presence could he use the target’s essence to track their hidden lifeline.

In this case, to destroy the Song Clan’s anchor, he had to remain close to Song Yu for a long time. Only then could he find the tomb and sever the connection.

He hadn’t originally planned to kill Song Yu.

But then Song Yu insisted on meeting with Lord Yu.

And at that point, Mister Mu had no reason to hold back.

His original plan had been far more delicate. He would use the Divine Dominion to draw the Tang Sect’s attention, lure them into an offensive. Meanwhile, the Song Clan would attack the Tang Sect’s headquarters. During the chaos, he would capture Grand MatronTang, and through her, locate the Tang Sect’s own vital

lifeline

and destroy it.

Grand Matron Tang wasn’t particularly famous in the martial world. Rumors often painted her as inferior to Lady Yu.

So Mister Mu was confident that, working with Song Yu and his allies, they could take her down.

But then, out of nowhere, Sovereign Ye died.

His plan unraveled before it even began.

He had to pivot. He sent Song Yu out to spread disinformation and keep the original strategy alive through other means.

But no, Song Yu wanted to

chat

with Lord Yu.

That was when Mister Mu decided he had to die.

So he waited for Song Yu to set out, destroyed the Song Clan’s tomb in secret, and had his wolf riders lie in ambush.

The kill was clean.

Still, Mister Mu didn’t look pleased.

Two major pieces on his chessboard, painstakingly arranged, had been taken off the board before the game even began. It made him feel like a fool.

But then he thought of the Phantom King and relaxed a little.

He knew the Phantom King was someone who could be trusted to deliver.

Back when they first arrived at Emperor Blessing Mountain, Mister Mu had never imagined that the one who summoned everyone there...was

that

man. He was Yu Lie, the Emperor of the Yu Dynasty.

Yu Lie was the true Son of Heaven, his talent far superior than others. He had grasped countless aspects of the heavenly seal, and among them, the

Dragon

.

The Dragon was immensely powerful. Not something that could be casually wielded, but when invoked, it could grant life extension, one hundred years, a thousand, or even ten thousand.

Some claimed Yu Lie could extend a person’s life by up to 100,000 years. Of course, there were only a handful of people who could ever receive such a gift.

It was because of the Dragon that he had changed his name to

Yu

.

The character Yu (禹) contained the radical for serpent, which in ancient form often referred to a coiled snake, a

dragon

.

Yu Lie adopted that name to proclaim his greatness. After all, dragons in the Great Yu Dynasty were sacred beyond compare. Anything linked to dragons carried divine weight.

Those who controlled the heavenly seal...also chased dragons.

Because dragons seemed to hint at some deeper, more hidden truth about this world.

Unfortunately, few had ever glimpsed that truth.

Beyond the Dragon, Yu Lie had mastered many other aspects of the Heavens. Eventually, he abandoned the title of Son of Heaven and became the Emperor of Heaven.

He founded the Heavenly Sect, withdrew from the mortal world, and quietly ruled from behind the scenes. His teachings spread far and wide, and he was held in deep reverence.

If you had to pick one person in the entire Great Yu Dynasty that everyone could unanimously respect, it would’ve been Yu Lie.

Unfortunately, in the end, Yu Lie died at the hands of a despicable traitor.

The killer was one of his own disciples.

But the rumors pointed to someone else entirely as the true mastermind, the reigning emperor of the Great Yu Dynasty at the time.

By blood, that emperor should’ve been Yu Lie’s descendant. It should’ve been impossible for him to turn on his ancestor.

And yet, the truth was, Yu Lie had grown too powerful, too exalted, creating an ever-deepening rift between him and the imperial throne.

The Emperor crafted a scheme. He sowed discord, set beasts upon each other, and ultimately had Yu Lie slain. He then devoured all the aspects of Yu Lie’s heavenly seal, retreating into seclusion to study them in secret, hoping to unravel their mysteries.

But in the end, he failed.

Discovered by the disciples of the Heavenly Sect, he was hunted down and killed.

As for that emperor’s name...Mister Mu couldn’t even remember it. He was just another scheming ruler, soon forgotten.

His thoughts finished, Mister Mu mounted a wolf that had been prepared for him and turned north.

He had to head to the Phantom Camp for a gathering. And he needed to report this failure to the Phantom King, or rather...to the man once known as the Emperor of Heaven, Yu Lie.