Imperial God Emperor

When Ye Qingyu was in the [Cloud Top Cauldron], he felt as if he was trapped in a wine barrel that was bobbing up and down in a choppy sea - he was thrown around in the cauldron without warning and suffered bouts of dizziness as a result.

There seemed to be something that was crashing heavily on the exterior of the bronze cauldron, and the resounding echoes were deafening. Ye Qingyu was soon seeing stars, and the terrible conditions aggravated his injuries, leading him to spew blood from his mouth again...

He wanted to channel the mantra of one hundred and eight characters to activate the defensive mechanism of the [Cloud Top Cauldron], but he could not gather his senses about him amidst all the sound and movement.

Damn, I'm really going to die this time. I'll be shaking to death in this bronze cauldron... Ye Qingyu thought, laughing bitterly.

He was already seriously wounded from the fight with Jiang Xiaohan, and coupled with the fact that one of his arms had been chopped off by the terrible cursed qi activity, he was at his most vulnerable state now. The incredibly violent vibrations caused him to almost faint, but luckily he still had a shred of willpower left that made Ye Qingyu hang on.

Ye Qingyu was in a state of semi-consciousness, and he did not know how long it was he had been inside the cauldron. He was now treading the thin line between life and death.

Gradually, the echoes and vibrations started to disappear.

The interior walls of the [Cloud Top Cauldron] gave off a bronze glow, as if forming a protective halo around Ye Qingyu. A faint but dense vapor of a mysterious yellow color appeared, continually entering and exiting his broken body. It was a weird sight to behold.

Within the space of its interior, at the same spot where Ye Qingyu collected the weird white rocks, pools of blood were flowing away before being subsequently absorbed by the rocks.

Ancient drawings of battle scenes hung on the inner walls of the cauldron. The forebears depicted in these drawings seemed to be alive as they constantly evolved into different scenes of conquest and hunting. Sounds of battle accompanied, the screams and roars extremely realistic. It was as if the drawings were holographic projections, and they kept constantly changing.

The columns of mysterious yellow vapor came from these drawings.

A profound aura that was hard to describe was encompassed in the vapor.

Ye Qingyu's body, which was originally broken, began to slowly regenerate as the vapor passed in and out of it. It looked as if the columns of vapor were threads that were stitching him up.

He was in a state of semi-unconsciousness and death. As such, he could not speak, breathe through his nose, or move his arms and eyes. Subconsciously, he could vaguely feel the changes in his body.

In his dantian world, the yuan qi, which had originally been suppressed by the Black Demon qi of the [Fallen God Abyss], was finally restored completely. The consolidated pool of yuan qi began to surge again, and Yuan Qi True Self-Doppelganger, which was as powerful as a level one hurricane, gave out an angry roar as it suddenly awoke.

At the same time, three rays of splendor, each green, silver, and purple in color respectively, began blinking. They flowed around unpredictably throughout his entire body, passing through his internal organs and spreading throughout his bones and muscles.

The green ray symbolized the power of wind.

It was the Dao foundation of wind given to him by the mysterious figure in the lake below Sunrise City.

The silver ray symbolized heat.

It was the power of the [Supreme Ice Flame].

Finally, the purple ray symbolized light.

It was the power of Chaotic Thunder Liquid left behind by the Lightning Emperor.

These three forms of power could all be considered as among the most rare types that existed in this world. They belonged exclusively to the Martial Emperor and encompassed both the rule and meaning of the pinnacle.

They swimmed around Ye Qingyu's body, constantly entangling and switching places with each other. The mysterious yellow vapor, on the other hand, merged perfectly with them, and the mantra of a hundred and eight characters suddenly appeared on the inner walls of the [Cloud Top Cauldron]. He was now being refined like an elixir.

Time ticked along slowly.

Ye Qingyu remained still in a meditative posture.

...

Two days later.

A figure leaped out from the [Fallen God Abyss] and landed stably on a column of rocks dozens of meters away from its entrance.

The figure could be seen stumbling about; he was Ye Qingyu.

He was covered in wounds and streaks of blood, giving him a wretched appearance.

He knew, however, that his real condition was not as bad as he looked. In fact, the exact opposite was true - he was in peak condition and full of power; he was now dozens of times stronger than when he had gone into the [Fallen God Abyss].

Most importantly, Ye Qingyu could clearly sense that his life force and origin power were now much stronger than before. Not only had he recovered all of his vitality and blood lost during his fight with Jiang Xiaohan, they now existed in larger volumes within his body now.

The arm that had been chopped off previously had now regenerated back.

Only his wounds were still not completely patched; after all, he had been wounded much too seriously.

He carried the [Cloud Top Cauldron] in his hand.

Ye Qingyu could not help but be amazed at the uniqueness of the cauldron. Its exterior was completely unscathed from the onslaught of the terrible cursed qi activity in the [Fallen God Abyss]; it had withstood the attack of the boundless qi activity for two whole days and nights.

At long last, the cursed murderous spirit weakend and disappeared.

Ye Qingyu did not know whether it was because the terrible presence deep in the bowels of the [Fallen God Abyss] was not completely awakened or due to another reason that it had returned to deep slumber and vanished after rampaging violently in the abyss for two days and two nights.

It all seemed very strange.

Even so, it was due to this fact that Ye Qingyu could walk out of the [Fallen God Abyss] alive.

In actual fact, he could have remained longer within the [Cloud Top Cauldron] until he had completely recovered from his wounds, but as he was worried about the domain rating, he chose to emerge earlier than planned.

The problem was that the entire field of [Black Demon Herbs] had already been completely destroyed.

Ye Qingyu did not manage to gather any [Black Demon Herbs] in the end, and had let a good opportunity slip from his hands.

He still had not completed the task stipulated in his test.

What should I do? Now that the last bit [Black Demon Herb]in the [Fallen God Abyss] at this location has been destroyed, there should be no more traces of the herb in the other sixteen districts anymore!

Ye Qingyu's teeth rattled with frustration.

He could not come with a good solution after pondering about the matter for a long while.

If he wanted to resume his attempt of completing the task stipulated in the assessment of the Alliance of Domains, he could only venture forth to the 17th and 18th districts, where there could still be some [Black Demon Herbs].

That said, when Ye Qingyu had searched for maps of the [Fallen God Abyss] in the administrative hall previously, he could only find that of the first sixteen districts in the archives. That meant that there were no known records of the 17th and 18th districts.

Looks like I can only go back to look for the Black Armor Race again. Perhaps they possess some sort of knowledge of the 17th district... Or maybe, they'll have some other way for me to accomplish my task or have other leads?

At this point in time, Ye Qingyu could only harbor the thought that luck would be on his side.

After making up his mind, he leaped up and left the border of the [Fallen God Abyss], advancing toward the desolated mountain ridge at the west of the 16th district.

...

After thirty minutes.

In the space above the desolation ridge where the Black Armor Race resided.

After passing through the torrential waves of Black Demon qi, Ye Qingyu could feel that thick evil blood qi pervaded the air.

Could it be that the Black Armor Race has been raided again? Ye Qingyu thought.

His heart skipped a beat.

His figure blurred into a flash of silver as he dashed to the mountain slope in an instant.

What he saw shook him.

Deathly silence pervaded the entire camp of the Black Armor Race.

The air reeked of blood and a strange smell of decay. There was no soul to be seen, and a lake of blood had formed at a more even spot at the slope.

Dozens of desecrated corpses of warriors from the Black Armor Race were piled around the lake of blood, and sets of scale armor and broken blades and arrows were strewn all over the slope.

What happened?

Was the entire Black Armor Race massacred? Ye Qingyu thought.

He was in a state of shock and surprise as he walked up the mountain slope.

Suddenly, a corpse that was covered with bloody stains and black mud caught his attention.

The corpse belonged to a solidly built warrior, but it was without a head. The scales on the back of the warrior had been shaved off with an extremely sharp blade. It seemed that the warrior had underwgone extreme torture before his death.

He picked up a loose piece of scale beside the corpse and noticed that the end of it which was cut off from its owners body had already been caked with a dark red fluid.

"There's the scent of decay in this fluid..."

Ye Qingyu frowned slightly before continuing to examine the broken scale in detail.

He then examined the black mud underneath his feet, which had already been mixed with blood from the victims. He noticed that there were traces of the same dark red fluid in the blood.

"Could it be that the Black Armor Race was poisoned before being massacred?"

The assailants obviously wanted to ensure that there would be no survivors to have come up with such a careful plan.

What sort of vengeance could have warranted such savagery? Ye Qingyu thought.

Just as he was still perturbed by the entire turn of events, a few figures dashed out from the Black Demon qi.

"Who are you!?"

"Who goes there?"

"How dare you break into an area fenced off by the Black Demon Race!"

Four or five figures surrounded Ye Qingyu with lightning speed.

Ye Qingyu was a little shocked and cast his vision beyond the thick, haze-like demon qi. He could see a few figures wrapped in black vapor and could vaguely make out that they were dressed in black from head to toe.

Even though he could not see their faces or figures, he could sense that they possessed extremely great power, and that the black vapor around them to be from the same source and origin from the demon qi from the [Fallen God Abyss].

They were experts from the Black Demon Race.

"I'm just passing by," replied Ye Qingyu nonchalantly, with the same expression. He slowly channeled his icy power, and a faint icy haze slowly covered him like a muslin curtain. Even though his figure could still be seen, his face remained hidden.

"Passing by? Don't you know that this area is already under lockdown?" an expert clad in black said in a low, chilly tone as he took a few steps forward.

Ye Qingyu could feel many gazes upon him at this moment.

In the Black Demon Pool, it was very common for one to be covered in vapor, thus obscuring one's facial features. As such, the experts clad in black robes did not feel that it was strange in the least bit that they could not see Ye Qingyu's face.

"Are you from the Black Demon Race?" he asked directly.

Likewise, he cast his gaze on the few experts in black slowly advancing toward him. He realized that they held some broken scales and bones in their hands, and one of them was even holding a head.

Ye Qingyu instantly realized that the head was that of the chief of the Black Armor Race.

The chief of the Black Armor Race was beheaded? he thought.

It seemed that this was no ordinary raid to seize the medicinal herbs from the Black Armor Race.

The experts repeatedly took measure of Ye Qingyu and exchanged a few words between themselves. Finally, one of them, who was shrouded in a thick cloud of vapor, said coldly, "We're a scout team from the Black Demon Race. We've come here specifically to investigate the massacre of the Black Armor Race three days ago. This area is now under lockdown. Since you've suddenly appeared, do you know anything about this incident?"

"The entire Black Armor Race has been exterminated? This... I don't know what happened. Three days ago, I bought a knife made of animal bone from the chief of the Black Armor Race. I've come here today with the mind to purchase some medicinal herbs from him," replied Ye Qingyu as he tossed the small knife, about the size of his palm, over.

The Black Demon Race expert received the knife and examined it carefully before replying, "Since that's the case, you'd better leave this area. It's now a restricted zone and you'll be escorted to the judicial hall of the Black Demon Pool as a suspect if you continue to linger here."