Imperial God Emperor

She gently patted Ning’er who was sleeping soundly in her arms. Her voice was slightly hoarse as she said, “Really? Great, unfortunately I have only seen such a place in the historical records of the Ancient Sky Dragon Sect. In Ancient Sky Dragon Domain, anyone with a bit of power and status has already left this place, and the remaining are those who are struggling in despair, waiting for the domain to crumble and collapse, waiting for death to come.”

There was a moment of silence. 

There was only the sound of wind, mixed with rocks, debris and sand, whizzing through the surroundings. 

Ye Qingyu understood that, for the ascension of the power of a martial artist, besides relying on their own cultivation, the spiritual qi of a domain was the source of their strength.

The spiritual qi of the Ancient Sky Dragon Domain was so thinly dispersed that there was almost nothing left. If a martial artist were to continue to survive here, it would only delay their cultivation progress and the strength that had been cultivated with great difficulty would gradually weaken.

Moreover, under such poor a environment, there were already not the slightest law and order in Ancient Sky Dragon Domain. It had completely entered a state of primitive law. All living things, in order to survive, had begun to become oppressive, bloodthirsty, insensitive, and displayed predatory behavior. 

In this way, even if there were some good people in this land who wanted to do something it was of no use.

The blowing sand filled the sky. 

Desolate and miserable. 

The station was like an isolated island of death. 

When they arrived at Ancient Sky Dragon Domain, it was Qin Hui who advised Ye Qingyi and the others to come right away to this station. 

This was because the true identity of this station was in fact the stronghold that the old sect Master of the Ancient Sky Dragon Sect, Tian Huayu, secretly set up hundreds of years ago. It had always only obeyed the orders of the old master, and was used to pass on information, so it was not under the control of those revolters. 

After Tian Yunlong, the late father of Qin Hui, had succeeded the sect, he continued to cultivate his trusted disciples and gradually stabilized the power of this station. And the reason that Mother Qin Hui and her son was able to escape the pursuit of Elder Mingjue and the others was all because of the help from the disciples that her late father had secretly cultivated in this stronghold. 

Qin Hui's purpose of choosing the first stop in Ancient Sky Dragon Domain was very simple, to first meet with these loyal disciples, and then collect some news, as references for Ye Qingyu, which would allow him to plan his next move. 

But it was a pity that the cruel facts had shattered Qin Hui's hopes. 

Because at this moment there was not the slightest living creature in the whole station, and not a single figure.

There was not a single one of the disciples in the secret strongholds that Qin Hui had said. 

Luo Yi and Little Nine went around the back to search. It was unknown whether they would find anything.

Ye Qingyu felt bleak. He was really affected by the scenes he saw along the way in Ancient Sky Dragon Domain.

This was a Human Race domain. 

Yet it had ended up in this state. 

After a while. 

“Woof... Master, Woof has checked, what is this place? Woof does not like it here, let's go, there is no water, no food, nothing... Oh, yes, there is only a few pieces of dried old cured meat at the back of the broken house. They don’t look good at all!” 

Little Nine suddenly howled and ran back from the back courtyard with a look of disappointment.  

Luo Yi followed behind him and extremely seriously reported back, “Lord, we found a few bodies in the stone courtyard at the back. It seems they have been dead for some time, we have carefully searched other places, but found nothing.” 

“Bodies?” 

Ye Qingyu was taken aback. 

The dried up old cured meat that Little Nine mentioned were corpses? 

He glanced at Little Nine. 

The dog wagged its tail merrily and looked at his master with a look of innocence. 

Ye Qingyu was somewhat speechless.  

Qin Hui did not react to the Little Nine's words, but upon hearing that Luo Yi had found corpses at the back, there was an abrupt change of expression on her face. She sprang up, looking a little anxious. 

“Go, let’s go and have a look.” Ye Qingyu was the first to walk in the direction of the back courtyard.  

Noticing the change of expression on Qin Hui's face, Luo Yi sighed, walked over to Qin Hui's side, and said, “Madam Qin, I'll hold Ning’er, in a moment we may need you to identify them.” 

Qin Hui hurriedly expressed her thanks, gently passed over Ning’er who was sleeping soundly in her arms to Luo Yi, and darted toward the back hall.

The back hall. 

Six human bodies lay sideways on the ground. 

The floor of blood had dried up, covered up by the dust, and had turned dark red. 

Although the faces and limbs of the dead were slightly dry, their faces were faintly discernible. They looked to be of varying ages, but they were all dressed in the same style of clothing. Evidently, they were the disciples of the Ancient Sky Dragon Sect and had been dead for some time.

After a slight observation, Ye Qingyu could determine that their strength before death was around the Heaven Ascension realm. 

In the present Ancient Sky Dragon Domain, the strength of these people were not low, but each of them were riddled with sword injuries, suggesting that they were attacked by someone of higher strength. Adding to this, it was clear that they were tortured before death. They were deliberately left with so many wounds on their bodies and died from blood loss. 

The murderers were very ruthless. 

Judging from the traces around, these people had died one month ago at most. However, the remaining yuan qi and aura around them had almost diminished completely. It must have been because this place was too dusty and windy, and the spiritual qi was too sparse, therefore speeding up the corrosion of the corpses and the dissipation of yuan qi. 

Next to them there were a few swords that had been completely destroyed.

The body of the swords was covered with cracks, and seemed to have desperately resisted with its master until the end.  

“It's Li Feng... also Liu Chongxu and Guo Yi...” Qin Hui cried. As soon as she stepped into the back hall, she already recognized the corpses on the ground with one glance. Her voice choked with tears as she rushed over, and turned the bodies over one by one with trembling hands to look closely. All of a sudden she burst into tears, “They are the secretly cultivated disciples of my late father over the years... They have suffered a deadly attack, it’s me, it’s my fault.” 

Qin Hui felt as though a knife has been plunged into her heart.

Several months ago, the Sect Master of the Ancient Sky Dragon Sect and Cang Li were betrayed and fell into a scheme led by Elder Mingjue and some others. Almost all the disciples in the sect turned their backs, and even if there were a few dozens of people loyal to Mother Qin Hui and her son, they failed to escape the fate of being massacred. On the same day, Qin Hui and Tian Ning, after much difficulty, managed to flee to the stronghold that her late father had secretly set up, where Gui Yi, Li Feng and Liu Chongxu and other trusted disciples immediately deployed arrangements so that the mother and son had the opportunity to escape from Ancient Sky Dragon Domain. This was to protect the life of the real successor to the Ancient Sky Dragon Sect.  

Now the corpses of these disciples were left in this vast desert. 

It was evident that after the escort of Mother Qin Hui and her son, the secret stronghold and the identity of the trusted disciples were discovered by the traitors of the Ancient Sky Dragon Sect. Under the large-scale siege, they were still unwilling to change sides and speak out the whereabouts of Mother Qin Hui and her son, and thus were brutally murdered. 

Qin Hui looked at these trusted disciples, imagining how they did all they could to fight back at the face of death in order to buy time for her and Ning’er. 

Two streams of tears uncontrollably gushed from her eyes.  

“Sigh. Try not to be so sorrowful.” Ye Qingyu attempted to comfort Qin Hui. 

These disciples were tortured before death, and died in a miserable state because they were interrogated in order to find out about Qin Hui's whereabouts. 

Qin Hui sobbed, feeling incredibly guilty. 

If she had not fled with Tian Ning, then these young disciples would not have been discovered so quickly and brutally murdered.

Ye Qingyu comforted Qin Hui, and then his eyes carefully scanned around. 

Huh? 

At that point, he noticed something and walked towards the body on the left. 

Of the six bodies in the back hall, only the one closest to the left was lying on the ground. Moreover, his posture looked a little strange, with his right arm high above his head, his index finger and his middle finger together, as if pointing at one direction. 

More importantly, his right hand seemed to be tightly gripping onto something. 

“Madam Qin, come and have a look,” Ye Qingyu called out. 

Hearing Ye Qingyu's voice, Qin Hui was startled, dried her tears, and came over to the body. 

“This is Guo Xiong, Guo Yi’s older brother. Among the core disciples that my late husband secretly cultivated over the years, these two brothers were the most outstanding...” Although the body was lying on the ground and the face was unclear, but Qin Hui still recognized the identity of the deceased from his clothing at one glance. 

“Then look again, can you recognize what is in his hand?” Ye Qingyu tried to gently pull out what was clenched in Guo Xiong's right hand, only to find that the thing seemed to have been firmly imprisoned in his hands, as though it had merged together with his flesh. If he applied more force, he was afraid that his fingers, along with the whole palm, would turn into fragments of bones and flesh.  

This is... tenacity? 

Ye Qingyu was surprised. 

It was unthinkable that even though Guo Xiong had died, he still had a hint of tenacity, firmly gripping onto the thing in his hand. 

“Guo Xiong, Madam Tian and Tian Ning are safe. If you can hear us then let go.” Ye Qingyu, with a gentle sigh, said to Guo Xiong's body.

However, there was no response. 

The whole back hall was utterly silent. 

Just then, suddenly a little voice sounded, “Mummy…”

Ning’er! 

Surprised, Qin Hui hurriedly turned toward the direction of Luo Yi. 

Ning'er had already fallen back asleep in Luo Yi's arms, as though was having a bad dream. His little soft face was tensed up, brows tightly scrunched together, and his small fist waving in the air. But soon, he fell asleep again under the reassurance of Luo Yi. 

At this moment, however, something mysterious happened. 

Guo Xiong's right hand was loosened all of a sudden——