Chapter 710 – The Land United, the Beast Still Struggles - Part 3

Half a year later.

The Divine Dominion collapsed, absorbed directly into the territory of the Tang Empire.

And through it all, Li Yuan had not lifted a single blade.

In fact, the Tang Empire’s total military casualties had not even reached a thousand. Most of the bloodshed took place within the Divine Dominion itself, as it tore itself apart.

With the world once again united, Li Yuan held a second bestowal ceremony.

This time, not only did he confer ranks upon new ministers, he also officially declared the Three Great State Sects. The first two sects were the Church of Light and Sword Sect. The third was the Enigma Sect, which was renamed from the Tang Sect. Since the dynasty now bore the name

Tang,

the sect had to avoid using the same character to prevent conflict with the imperial name.

The Church of Light was dedicated to the visualization of Li Yuan himself.

The Sword Sect and Enigma Sect were still in development. Their leaders, of course, were Xie Yu and Lady Yu.

Li Youning, Empress of Tang, possessed no talent for cultivation. But even so, she joined the Church of Light.

She had sacrificed everything for her family. And perhaps for that reason or perhaps simply because she had fallen hopelessly in love, she became utterly devoted to the powerful man who now ruled the world.

But Li Yuan was rarely around.

If he wasn’t cultivating, he was busy running the empire. Other than the cold, mechanical encounters they had a few times on the bed, solely for the purpose of producing an heir, he barely saw her.

To her, he was like a beam of light she could never quite reach, always chasing his shadow, always trailing behind the back of a man who never looked back.

Li Yuan had no shortage of things to occupy his mind.

He still needed to reclaim the Beast Gate from the Huyan Clan..

He still needed the Huyan Clan to pay the price for breaking their pact.

𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

But he wasn’t about to storm the Northern Wasteland with sword in hand. Instead, he kept tightening the pressure, one calculated move after another, setting examples for all to see.

To the Golden Tent Nomads, he offered protection if they were willing to return to the Great Zhou.

If they agreed to settle in the Central Plains, he gave them generous benefits.

Word spread fast. Everyone knew now that a great war between north and south loomed on the horizon. And with that, many began heading south.

Li Yuan wasn’t impatient. Calm and composed, he kept sending messages northward, always with reason, always with emotion. A slow, steady campaign to sway hearts and minds.

But there was one thing he left unsaid.

Tuoba Yin, who had once gained his extraordinary powers through the visualization of Yu Lie, had lost all of those abilities after switching allegiance. The moment he abandoned the object of his visualization, his strength vanished.

Clearly, one could not borrow power from a

god

they no longer believed in.

Li Yuan quietly tucked Tuoba Yin away, having him study his own cultivation technique instead.

Meanwhile, he had Mister Mu take center stage, appearing frequently in public.

Now that the land was unified, the Qi of the Mountains and Rivers had become extraordinarily rich.

Even as a mere vassal of Li Yuan, Mister Mu was able to tap into that abundance. His cultivation soared faster than ever before.

As one faded and the other rose, Mister Mu’s growing presence stirred restlessness in the Phantom Camp.

After all, they were all reincarnators like him. And what they needed the most was resources to cultivate.

Now that the Tang Empire had united the land, with fortune favoring the south, what was the point of guarding some barren, forsaken wilderness?

The Huyan Clan might have a grudge against the Tang Empire, but the others didn’t.

Yes, they saw through the Tang Emperor’s strategy, driving out the tiger to devour the wolf, but what did it matter?

The Tang Emperor was offering too much.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

And so, five years passed since Li Yuan’s coronation.

It was the dead of winter.

Snow fell like blades, slicing across the dark wilderness that surrounded the Phantoms of the Northern Wasteland.

Wolves crept through the snow, glowing green eyes glinting in the gloom. They circled the camp in three layers inside, and three more outside.

At the heart of it all stood a broad-shouldered man, soaked in blood.

Huyan Hai panted heavily, standing amidst a pile of corpses, but there was no blade in his hand.

Across from him, a man in furs with braided hair dangled in the air, his throat clamped in Huyan Hai’s vice-like grip.

Where hand met flesh, something strange rippled beneath the skin, like water rushing through a pipe, swelling and sinking, twisting like a serpent devouring its prey. The current flowed one way: from the braided man into Huyan Hai.

“You’re not Yu Lie,” the man rasped, voice raw, eyes wide with horror.

“You’re not!”

His gaze twisted with hatred, then fear.

He was one of the reborn from Great Yu, brought north by the ancient nursery rhyme that stirred so many from the grave. He had followed Yu Lie loyally ever since.

So of course, he knew.

He knew that all of Yu Lie’s strength...had once come from a divine blade.

Yu Lie’s mastery of the Blazing Dance of the Land had reached its peak. He could gather the Qi of the land silently and effortlessly, channeling it into his weapon, allowing him to kill the extraordinary as easily as slaughtering a dog.

But that brought a new problem. Ordinary blades couldn’t withstand the force of such power.

So, Yu Lie needed a divine weapon. And with the help of another reincarnated cultivator, he finally forged one, a

divine blade

worthy of him.

With the blade in hand, Yu Lie was unstoppable. The man who had once been known in the pre-transmigration era as a martial titan was now living up to every inch of his legend.

But then the Tang Empire rose. With its influence spreading and propaganda weaving doubt, the other reincarnators began to feel the pressure, caught between promises of reward and the threat of being left behind. Secretly, they banded together, plotting to kill Yu Lie and surrender to the south.

And the key to killing him was that blade.

They spent months scheming, and eventually succeeded in stealing the divine blade. Then, they struck.

Their plan was simple. Without his weapon, Yu Lie would be powerless.

But they were wrong, terribly wrong.

What Yu Lie revealed next was a side of him no one had ever seen, a dark, twisted side. His arms transformed into weapons of devouring power. Where his hands touched flesh, energy surged like water through a pipe, pulsing and writhing, draining life in one direction only into

him

.

Caught off guard, the rebels fell one by one. And then the Wolf God’s pack arrived, surrounding them, aiding the slaughter.

This...wasn’t Yu Lie.

Yu Lie, for all his might, had always fought with honor. He would never use powers so vile, so utterly corrupt.

Only one man could know Yu Lie’s skills so intimately. Only one man had once betrayed Yu Lie and killed him.

The Emperor of Night Blades, Ye Lianhan.

“You’re...Ye Lianhan...” the man with braided hair croaked, his voice rasping in terror.

His body was almost completely drained now.

Across from him, the face of the towering man, once so open and proud, had lost all its warmth. The mask had been discarded.

“Correct,” he said with an expressionless face. Then he crushed the man’s throat with a single squeeze.

Blood sprayed across the snow. It splattered on the face of Huyan Hai, or rather...the man who now wore that name, Ye Lianhan.

He looked around at the field of corpses. But there was no joy in his eyes, only rage, grief, and a howl of anguish that tore through the frozen skies.

The wolves howled with him, a symphony of sorrow echoing across the ice.

Only after a long while did he stop.

A massive wolf had silently appeared at his side.

“I’m going to the Cloud Capital,” he said with a bitter smile.

The wolf spoke, its voice low and even. “You mean to surrender to him?”

Ye Lianhan shook his head. “He won’t forgive me. And besides...I’m not without power now.”

He looked again at the corpses, at the strength he had devoured from them.

He now carried dual streams of Qi. He wasn’t sure he’d win, but he wouldn’t go down easy.

“My only chance is to catch him off guard. Kill him before he knows I’m coming.” He wiped the blood from his hand and called out, “Xiao Bing!”

A woman emerged from the camp.

“Pick a body,” Ye Lianhan ordered. “Take the gate with you. Lead the group south. Tell the Emperor of Tang that Huyan Hai is dead. The Phantom Camp is ready to surrender.”

A glint of cold malice flickered in his eyes.

Many years ago, he’d killed Yu Lie the same way.

And now, he would do it again.

March thousands of miles, defy all odds, and deliver the impossible, and that was decapitating an Emperor.

Author’s Note

This chapter could’ve been expanded into something much longer. There’s a lot more to explore. But since it’s not the central focus right now, I’ve kept it brief and moved on.