Chapter 716 - Dusk and Shadow - Part 3

For martial artists of this era, reaching such a realm was nearly impossible, like climbing to the heavens on foot.

But there was another path. A far easier one.

Visualization...

Once a single person achieved the Greater Insight Realm, others could reach that same height by visualizing that person, studying their form and imitating their power. That was the difference between a creator of a cultivation technique and a mere practitioner of one.

In the previous era, creating a new cultivation technique was an ordeal of legendary difficulty.

And in this era...the very concept of cultivation techniques had all but disappeared. Even Li Yuan hadn’t thought much about it early on. And even when the thought

did

cross his mind, his instincts would push it away with dismissive notions like,

why bother with a technique? Just comprehend it on your own.

And truthfully, that

was

how things worked now.

But that path, the path of self-realization, was brutally hard.

Anyone could see that in Lady Yu and Li Yuan himself. It was plainly obvious with the four maids, Joy, Anger, Sorrow, and Delight.

Compared to that, cultivating someone else’s technique was far easier.

But creating a technique had become nearly impossible.

It might take centuries, millennia, maybe even ten thousand years. Only when countless flowers bloomed, when the time was right, might one individual, by sheer coincidence, break into the True Will Realm and create a technique worthy of that realm.

But now...Li Yuan saw endless potential in the darkness character.

Ye Lianhan, having already mastered the darkness character, possessed a natural ability to fuse characters, refine them into completion, and ascend...first past the Greater Insight Realm, then perhaps even past the True Will Realm. Maybe even to a place where he surpassed what he was in his former life.

That’s what a protagonist looks like.

Originally, the destiny of this world was meant to unfold like this. The north would rise, the wolf riders would charge south, the Night Emperor would descend upon the land, and the world would unified beneath his reign. What a pity...

“You met me too soon,” Li Yuan murmured, unable to help himself.

“Winners write the story. There’s no such thing as too soon or too late.” Ye Lianhan shook his head. Then he added, “Your Majesty has likely reached the Greater Insight Realm as well. With a breathing method, physical technique, and visualization, you might be able to master the insights and characters of others.

“It’s hard, yes. But not impossible. The darkness character is a special case. With its nature, Your Majesty could seize control of it, then turn it against me, swallow

my

darkness and make it your own.”

Li Yuan had already considered this. His gaze lowered, thoughts churning beneath the surface.

His journey to the north had gone smoothly. He rode across the plains, deeper into the northern wilds, and arrived at Emperor Blessing Mountain just as early winter fell.

There, atop the mountain, he held a solemn ritual to honor heaven and earth, and with the young followers of the Church of Light at his side, he performed a grand bestowal ceremony rite at the northern pole.

The young acolytes in gray robes lowered their heads in reverence before his white-platinum imperial robes, radiant as ever.

Li Yuan bowed to the heavens.

And they bowed to Li Yuan.

The vast spiritual domain of mountain and river opened its

permissions

to this Emperor of Light.

But the Phantom Camp, nestled here, was not something that could simply be uprooted.

Slaughtering everyone would be meaningless.

Instead, Li Yuan took with him the Saintess, Wolf God, and several of the camp’s elites.

He left behind the rank-and-file warriors...and one volunteer, a devout follower who stepped forward of his own accord.

“What’s your name?” Li Yuan asked.

“Zhao Zang,” the boy replied.

Li Yuan raised an eyebrow. “That’s an unusual name.”

The boy named Zhao Zang nodded. “When I was little, I was ashamed of it. I couldn’t understand why my parents would give me a name that means

burial

. But now...I’m grateful. Because I’ve learned that wherever there is light, there must be shadow. That eternal night can fall at any moment.

“But as long as we hold onto the light, and keep our hearts untainted, we can bury the darkness and let that light endure. My name is Zhao Zang. I was born to carry the light. And I will bury the darkness.”

His face radiated with reverence, as if touched by something divine.

“Then may you be blessed, child.” Li Yuan smiled, and then added, “From now on, your name will be Tang Zang.”

The surname Tang was now sacred in the Tang Dynasty.

The boy, now renamed, lit up with joy. He dropped to his knees in gratitude, bowing deeply for the honor.

Li Yuan stayed for several more days, personally teaching Tang Zang body techniques and visualization.

With that, the boy became not just a disciple of the Church of Light, but a living bridge between the nomadic Phantom Camp and the culture of the Central Plains. Though the camp roamed the wasteland, it would now carry the spark of the traditions of the Central Plains. Over time, the two would grow more alike.

To swallow a nation, you must first swallow its

civilization

.

Force alone would not bend a people’s spine, but culture could.

The Phantom Camp had no deep cultural roots of its own. But thanks to years of effort from Huyan Hai, it had begun forming something, heroic legends, origin myths, and even a kind of wolf totem.

None of it had matured yet.

And so, the Church of Light replaced it before it could.

Meanwhile, Tang Zang would be able to train here in peace.

Of course, Li Yuan hadn’t left him alone. He would gradually send more elements of Central Plains culture to the Phantom Camp.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

And just like that, time slipped by.

Deep winter fell.

In the far north, the snow came down in great, sweeping waves.

Behind Li Yuan rode a hunched figure, hands shackled in iron cuffs, face hidden behind a copper mask. A criminal without a name. Wordless, silent, never leaving his side, he followed Li Yuan on a short-legged, thick-coated horse.

They crossed more than half the realm this way, slowly, step by step. And only in the early winter of the following year did they arrive once more in Yundu.

Li Yuan led the man deep into the palace, into a secret chamber hidden at the heart of the imperial compound.

The moment they entered, the candlelight burst into flame with a sharp hiss, illuminating the cold iron walls.

Li Yuan removed the mask from Ye Lianhan’s face.

He was a shadow of the man he once was, thin as paper, like a deflated husk. His combat power had fallen to 20~215 (20,00–21,500).

He was as close to ruin as one could be.

Even so, Ye Lianhan still looked at Li Yuan and said, “Thank you.”

Li Yuan replied, “Part of it is your power. But mostly...I’m just lonely.”

Ye Lianhan murmured, “Primordial Emperor...will you tell me what really happened in the last era?”

Li Yuan said, “Another time.”

And with that, he turned and left.

Only then did Ye Lianhan look around the room. It was bare. A table. A bed. Nothing more.

He lay down on the bed and started breathing, long, deep breaths, as if he were learning how to live again.

No matter how powerful he once was, Ye Lianhan's body now was no different from any ordinary man’s.

After a while, there was a faint sound from within the chamber. A meal box was slid through a small hatch.

Ye Lianhan scrambled toward it and flipped it open.

There was no meat. But there was plenty of rice, and a jug of wine.

He devoured it like a starving animal.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Days passed.

Then one day, Li Yuan returned to the chamber, this time with a young man in tow. The boy’s face was sharp, his eyes full of hostility.

Ye Lianhan, keeping to the agreement, began teaching him the physical techniques and visualization practices of the darkness character.

The boy had originally been a follower of the Church of Light, part of the group that had accompanied the Emperor for the expedition north. But despite his affiliation, he had a cruel and twisted nature. After committing heinous crimes against innocent civilians, the church did not protect him. Instead, they sentenced him to death.

Yet in the final moment, a condemned prisoner was swapped in his place.

And the boy, rescued from the execution ground, was brought here by Li Yuan.

Li Yuan had told him the Church of Light needed both the light and shadow and that he was the shadow.

The boy had been ecstatic. And from that day on, he began training earnestly under Ye Lianhan’s tutelage.

Li Yuan, meanwhile, simply watched in silence.

When the lessons ended, he would take the boy and leave again.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Seasons turned. Winter passed into spring, then into autumn, again and again.

Soon, five years slipped by.

The Empress, Li Youning, had given birth to twins, a dragon and a phoenix, two years ago. The imperial family rejoiced. The world breathed easier.

But Li Yuan himself could no longer summon that original flicker of familial warmth.

A human heart was not large. And those who lived forever...were still human. Their hearts were just as small.

Then came the day.

Li Yuan brought the boy, now no longer a boy, back to the chamber.

Today was different.

Today, the youth had fully mastered the darkness character.

And today, he would devour Ye Lianhan’s darkness, the original.

Inside the chamber, Li Yuan stood watching, calm and silent. Before his eyes, nothing could hide, not even the numbers that defined power.

Ye Lianhan’s strength began to plummet. The youth’s began to rise.

When Ye Lianhan’s combat power fell to 10~50 (800~2,000), and the youth’s climbed to 1,000~2,400, Li Yuan struck.

A fist, infused with the golden hues of a setting sun, drove into the youth’s spirit.

Within that sunburst came despair.

The boy saw his sins laid bare. And in that light, he realized no one had ever truly forgiven him.

Despair flooded in, seizing every corner of his mind.

Then, a hand reached down.

It emerged from the white-platinum robe of the Emperor of Light, and rested gently on the boy’s head.

Li Yuan had recreated the exact moment he’d once staged with Ye Lianhan.

Only this time, the target was the boy.

With a subtle twist of his hand, Li Yuan sealed off every risk, every possible backlash.

Then, he devoured the darkness character.

That night, Li Yuan walked out of the chamber with Ye Lianhan at his side.

Outside, in the palace graveyard, a fresh corpse had joined the dead. Crows shrieked from the bare branches overhead, their cries hoarse and bitter.

And among the transcendents, the Emperor had etched a new character into his soul.