Imperial God Emperor

So, this was the reason.

Ye Qingyu remained thoughtful. 

He knew that his fate was a blank slate, and he had even heard the million-year-old soul tell him during his time in the Snow Dragon Den that the mysterious breathing technique he had obtained from his father matched with someone with no fate; it had been prepared for a person with such a fate. 

Therefore, he immediately realized where the problem lied when he heard the sovereign of the Sun clan speak. 

If the Sky Emperor was unable to control the fate of those who had none, then what did the technique that his father left him, which was supposed to be used by people like this, mean? He could only remember that his father was an ordinary warrior. How did he manage to learn something like that? 

However, this was something he had to mull over later. 

Ye Qingyu looked at the old sovereign of the Sun clan and waited for the answer to his second question. How did the old sovereign manage to become Emperor, even though he was not part of the Sky Emperor's camp? And how did he get to know so many secrets? They were things that an ordinary Martial Emperor would not have information about. 

A faint smile appeared on the weak looking expression of the old sovereign again as he said, "I could become an Emperor purely out of chance. I obtained a portion of the Divine Light Emperor's inheritance and concealed myself from the Sky Emperor's senses before I became one. When he finally realized what was going on, it was too late to intervene." 

"What?" Ye Qingyu was greatly shocked. "The inheritance of the Divine Light Emperor? Could you be from his line?" This information was a little too explosive for him to handle, and shook him greatly. 

"Unfortunately, I only inherited a small portion. There's a limit to my luck and fortune, so how could I inherit all of such a line, which is at the apex of all martial artists since the creation of this world?" The old sovereign sighed, but there was a slight hint of pride in his tone. It was the greatest secret of his life, and now that he could finally share it with someone, he felt pleased and comforted. 

Ye Qingyu nodded. 

It seemed like the aura from the line of the Light Temple was able to counter the Sky Emperor to some extent, like the complete bloodline of the Ancient True Phoenixes. 

The old sovereign continued to speak, "The Dao of His Highness from the Light Temple is head and shoulders above anything else since the beginning of time, and only a small portion of it allowed me to become Emperor. After that, when the Sky Emperor recovered from his huge shock, upon realizing that I was generating the aura of the Divine Light Emperor's line—after secret investigations, he began to have other ideas. He wanted to uncover the essence behind the inheritance of the Divine Light Emperor. After all, the Sky Emperor was just a member of the Divine Light Emperor's camp. Although he betrayed the Light Temple, he was still fearful and in awe of his old master, the Divine Light Emperor. He also knew how terrifying the divine techniques of the Light Temple were. In fact, he used to train with the Divine Light Emperor, but he did not grasp the complete essence of his master's techniques. His biggest goal during the battle after his betrayal was to seize the inheritance from the Light Temple; he unfortunately failed. He kept lusting after the techniques and spent the next millions of years searching for them to no avail. After spotting a glimmer of hope in me, he was very careful and observed from the dark, probing with various means but did not directly try to seize them from me. This was because he clearly knew that it was pointless to do so. He was truly in extreme awe of the Light Temple." 

Ye Qingyu's mind was clear now. 

After the round of explanation, everything clicked into place. 

However, there was no way to prove that this matter was connected the grudge between the Light Temple and the Sky Emperor. The old sovereign of the Sun clan was extremely respectful toward the Light Temple, and Ye Qingyu had fought with and even conversed with the doppelganger of the Sky Emperor in the Battlefield of the Stars. It gave him a vague understanding of what sort of person the Sky Emperor was. It was because of this that he believed more of what the old sovereign had told him. 

"So, all of this information that you know, senior, was obtained at the same time when you received a portion of the Light Temple's inheritance by chance, right?" Ye Qingyu asked. 

The old sovereign nodded and replied, "Indeed, it was so. That time, I accidentally entered a gap in the Immortal Domain and saw a few ancient secrets buried in the torrent of time by His Highness the Divine Light Emperor. All of what I've just told you was recorded within, thus I deduced that not all of the Light Temple died during the betrayal. Otherwise, such power and information would not have been left behind. However, I couldn't confirm what the real truth was. After all, I encountered this by luck, and it was brief. The images and messages I saw were also not complete." 

So, this was what happened. 

That explained everything. 

"The Sky Emperor managed to control himself well. He should have been very worried that I was a pawn of the Light Temple, so he controlled himself for a very long while and tried to test me with all kinds of methods. I once experienced countless numbers of battles in the martial way epoch that I belonged to, and even though I had become an Emperor, I was on the brink of death many times. In reality, it had all been arranged by the Sky Emperor. He wanted to use me to find the whereabouts of the Light Temple's survivors. Unfortunately, he was disappointed. When my epoch ended and I cut off my own cultivation to go into retirement, to extend my lifespan and be accepted by the world, he made two plans to test me, using the survival of the Sun clan to force me to rise to a higher level. It was because of this that my lifespan was depleted to this extent," the old sovereign sighed. If it were not for the two times where he was forced to attain a higher level of cultivation, he would still be able to live for a much longer time. After all, he had become Emperor a little later than the Sky-reaching and the Demon Feather Emperors. 

Evidently, the Sky Emperor still wanted to force the old sovereign of the Sun clan to divulge some information he wanted. 

"However, I don't have any regrets because I've finally found the person I've been waiting for. When you finally appeared, I knew that your fate was a blank slate after using the [Light Emperor Detection Technique] to predict your arrival. You're the person in the Divine Light Emperor's prophecy," the old sovereign of the Sun clan said. He was completely opening himself up to Ye Qingyu and explained everything that had happened in complete detail. "The incident of the Sun clan seeking shelter was in reality just an excuse to confound the others. Only in this way could we deceive the eyes of certain people and lead them to believe that I was exchanging a slot on my clan's Immortal Domain training list to receive the protection of a Martial Emperor. In reality, I just wanted to repay His Highness the Divine Light Emperor for passing on his inheritance to me." 

Ye Qingyu was instantly enlightened. 

There had been so much consideration behind the incident. If the old sovereign had not told him about it today, no one would have been able to understand the planning that went behind this. 

"What did the prophecy of the Divine Light Emperor you mentioned earlier refer to, my fellow Taoist friend?" he continued to ask. 

This was the information he was interested in. 

"The portion of the prophecy I saw was incomplete. It was more like a general description. The rough idea was that an incredible character with no fate would wield the power of the strongest sword in the world and shatter the destiny of reincarnation, thereby allowing the fallen stars to shine once again in the skies, while healing the torn apart lands and broken skies, before finally allowing the living beings howling in agony to rest in peace... he would also return the things that had been seized back to their original owners." The old sovereign entered into deep thought before replying, "The miraculous encounter that I chanced upon was largely connected to introducing the concept of the nothingness of fate to me. Other than obtaining a divine pill which helped me become Emperor, the most profound skill I learned was the [Light Emperor Detection Technique]. It allowed me to deduce those that conformed to destiny, and it was in this manner that I managed to confirm your identity and decided to help you at all costs." 

According to the old sovereign, his chance encounter had come quickly and without warning. He could become an Emperor not because of the strength of his techniques, but because he had taken a divine pill that allowed him to cross the divide between Quasi-emperor to Martial Emperor. The pill seemed to have been prepared for him, and aside from that, the most important point was the [Light Emperor Detection Technique]. 

It was one of the Emperor Detection Techniques and had been refined by the Divine Light Emperor to a more profound and advanced level. Besides being able to predict all matters of the world, it also had a special function—to find a special person without any pre-determined fate according to destiny. 

From his description, Ye Qingyu could vaguely sense that the "chance encounter" the old sovereign met with was not entirely coincidental at all. It was because he fit a certain set of conditions and had to complete a task after becoming Emperor. 

The task was to find Ye Qingyu. 

Everything seemed to have been pre-planned. 

"I remembered you once told me, senior, that the Sky Emperor used to be one of the Divine Light Emperor's people; it was obvious. Besides the Sky Emperor, the Divine Light Emperor should have other trusted followers and generals, right? Did all of them perish in battle? Or did they betray their master like the Sky Emperor?" Ye Qingyu continued to ask. 

He had to ask. 

This was because he had already made some connections between some leads to a few people. He wanted to find out whether these people were related to the Divine Light Emperor or not. 

"They either betrayed him, died in battle or went into hiding... I'm not too sure about them, but I'm certain about one thing—the Divine Light Emperor unified all of the worlds and his skill was unmatched. He stepped foot in the Nine Skies and Ten Earths, sweeping through all time. He was someone who was already close to a god, and he built the Light Temple. He had many people under his wing, and the leaders of each department were at the apex of the Martial Emperor community. There were many outstanding talents of their generations that followed him loyally, of which the Sky Emperor was one, and it is impossible for all of them to have betrayed the Light Temple. It's hard to tell where they ended up, and the glorious era is gone forever. How I wish I could have been born a million years ago, to have fought by the Divine Light Emperor's side," the old sovereign said, unconsciously lost in his thoughts as he finished speaking. He had been a faithful follower of the Divine Light Emperor since a long time ago. 

"Does this mean that some of the subordinates of the Divine Light Emperor have survived until now?" Ye Qingyu asked, feeling extremely shaken. "After all, the Sky Emperor survived till this day, so it's possible that the others who fought alongside the Divine Light Emperor could have done the same thing, right?" 

"Logically, that's possible. Those incredible talents that followed the Divine Light Emperor where geniuses that were beyond amazing—and it is hard to say if the Sky Emperor was stronger than them. At the very least, they were on par. Perhaps, they could have survived the betrayal and great battle, but remained hidden among the masses as the time was still not right for them to show themselves," the old sovereign said. "This is just my prediction. I hope that it also comes true." 

Ye Qingyu took in a huge breath of air. 

He had made a few terrifying assumptions.