Chapter 637, Female Emperor or God of War?
Imperial Palace.
Imperial garden.
Ye Qingyu was walking along a little stone-paved path by himself.
On both sides of the winding path were flowers blooming in bright purples and brilliant reds, and a few beautiful butterflies fluttering in the burst of aroma, adding a hint of liveliness.
At the end of the stone path was a white jade pavilion.
In the pavilion was a burly figure standing with his back facing Ye Qingyu.
The Snow Emperor was still wearing a simple white cloth robe, his waist-length hair was tied at the back of his head and the grey in his hair had grown since the last time Ye Qingyu saw him.
Ye Qingyu slowly approached, stopping outside the pavilion.
“I pay respect to His Majesty.”
Ye Qingyu bowed to the rear view of the figure.
The Snow Emperor seemed to have just woken from meditation, turning around slowly.
He wore a faint amiable smile that made all the facial lines on his serious-looking face appear softer.
He had two lines of wrinkles in the corner of his eyes and looked much older than the last time he saw him.
However, even if his brows and hair had become a silver colour, it still could not conceal the charm he had when he was younger and a faint elegance exuded from the inside to the outside.
“Don't be too polite, come and sit.”
Snow Emperor turned to sit on the stone stool in the pavilion, motioning Ye Qingyu to take a seat.
Ye Qingyu slowly walked forward, seating himself opposite of the Snow Emperor.
The him now indeed had the qualification to sit opposite of the Snow Emperor.
He could sense that the aura of the Snow Emperor was a little messy. He understood that it was the internal injury left behind during the battle of the Light Palace, which the Snow Emperor suffered in order to completely seal the Domain Gate of the White Mountain Black Waters Brute Race at the cost of burning his life source.
With the source damaged, even if the Snow Emperor occupied all the treasures and geniuses of the Snow Empire, he still could not restore to his powerful appearance of the past.
Looking at the middle-aged Emperor, who already revealed the state of approaching old age and his breathing was unstable, Ye Qingyu felt a sense of reverence.
“Thank you for bringing Xing’er safely back.” Snow Emperor looked at the young man opposite him in an amiable manner, speaking without the slightest majesty of an Emperor. “The day before when Xing’er came back, she had told me everything that happened in Clear River Domain. I feel very glad to have a genius like you in the Snow Empire.”
“Your Majesty is complimenting me too much, this is what I should do.” Ye Qingyu acted neither humble nor arrogant.
After experiencing the battle of Light City and having met Yu Junhan, Yu Junqing, and the others, for some reason Ye Qingyu was not as reverent to the Human Race Emperor of the Snow Empire as before. He no longer felt that the Emperor was mysterious and high and mighty. Perhaps this had something to do with Ye Qingyu's current martial cultivation and experience.
The Snow Emperor smiled.
Over the next period of time, in this little pavilion, the Snow Emperor was more like a kind elder, telling Ye Qingyu many things. They were all unimportant matters, but he seemed to be very happy.
When the sun shone on the Emperor of the empire, Ye Qingyu had a strange illusion, as if the Emperor who should be at the prime of his life seemed to be somewhat old.
In a twinkling, a few hours had past.
There was no more substantive dialogue, and the conversation finally came to an end.
The Snow Emperor stood up and stretched his shoulders very casually.
Ye Qingyu also hurriedly rose to his feet.
“Do you think the empire needs a female emperor with the blood of the Imperial Yu clan, or a martial arts emperor who can truly reach the peak of perfection?” The Snow Emperor turned around, seemingly asking very casually. “Can Xing'er become a good emperor?”
Ye Qingyu was taken aback. “Hmm?”
The Snow Emperor simply smiled and did not speak anymore.
……
When Ye Qingyu walked the Snow Emperor out of the garden, the clouds at the horizon were already a pale red colour, and the sunset glow gently wrapped the entire Snow capital.
He looked into the distant falling clouds that contrasted with the moonlight, and fell into a trance.
“High Majesty's tone and expression are strange today, and his last remark, is really...” Ye Qingyu shook his head and did not want to dwell on such things.
He walked out of the palace slowly.
“Don't think about other things, the most important matter now is for Heaven Wasteland Domain to resist against the intrusion of other domains and protect the independence of the domain. There are still many problems waiting to be solved, but they also cannot be rushed. Many things are waiting for me to tidy up and plan...”
The next moment.
His figure flashed away, leaving only a wisp of light vanishing with the wind on the stone steps.
……
In the Light Palace.
Ye Qingyu sat cross-legged on the stone bed, operating the nameless breathing technique, entering a meditative state.
But he was not training, rather, he fell into a state of great tranquillity, slowly sorting out a multitude of information and its arrangements.
He sat there throughout the long night.
Suddenly the night faded.
The layers of clouds in the sky gradually faded into a white halo, and rays of dim golden light slowly rose from behind the distant mountains.
The cool breeze awakened the fallen leaves that were glistening with globes of dewdrops in the fire tree woods, producing a rustling sound, as though there was a unique morning tune.
In a small courtyard next to the palace.
Early in the morning, Mother Wu and more than ten kitchen workers had already brought out all the pots and pans, the rhythm of the crisp and neat cutting of vegetables seemed to have created a firework-like atmosphere for Light City.
Ye Qingyu also slowly withdrew himself from the extremely deep meditative state, awakening.
“It seems that we have to rely on support from some sect forces...” He slowly stood up and seemed to have made up his mind.
At this moment-----
“Huh?” Ye Qingyu was in deep thought when suddenly he realized something, his eyes flashed a lightning-like glimmer.
In the Underground Fire Spirit Spring Sword Pit.
A wisp of strange aura passed towards the Light Palace.
“This strange aura, how did I not notice it before?” Ye Qingyu sharply captured a wisp of aura, like a strand of hair in a breeze or like a strand of thread gently brushing past a brook, that was subtly coming from the Underground Fire Spirit Spring Sword Pit below the Light Palace.
He knitted his brows in a slight frown.
“What's going on? This aura... it is definitely the first time it appeared, could there be a change in the sword pit?”
Now it was the time when the situation was most critical. As the important shield of the Snow Empire, nothing can happen to the Light Palace no matter what.
With this thought, he had already jumped into the Underground Fire Spirit Spring Sword Pit.
The fiery atmosphere formed a number of hurricane-like waves that came directly at Ye Qingyu.
The Underground Fire Spirit Spring Sword Pit was originally a world of underground flames.
Back then, the Imperial family and the higher levels of the Snow Empire suppressed the spirits of countless souls and experts of the Heaven Wasteland Domain and other domains in the Underground Fire Spirit Spring Sword Pit. After that battle, although Ye Qingy had been into the sword pit once to cast the [Blood Drinker Sword], but he had not really carefully observed the entire sword pit and the depths of the light treasury.
This time, he planned to dive in and explore.
Once Ye Qingyu entered the sword pit, he did not deliberately sink deeper. Instead he relaxed his body, relying on the natural force and the blast of air of the underground fire to gradually sink into the depths of the sword pit.
He travelled thousands of meters.
Suddenly a purple tongue of flame came licking toward Ye Qingyu's body.
“The flames of this sword pit are a bit different from the last time I came here.” Ye Qingyu looked at the purple flames that instantly swallowed him, a strange expression crossing his face.
The raging purple flames opened its mouth like an ancient beast, devouring everything all the way up.
The purple flames moved violently, and wherever the blazing flame passed, everything around was dyed a purple halo of light that was constantly changing form.
The burning feeling was a hundredfold stronger than ordinary flames. If one were lower than the Bitter Sea stage, they would have been incinerated to ashes at this step.
Ye Qingyu’s current physical cultivation, before transforming into a dragon, was already at the Immortal Step boundary. When his steel-like body was engulfed in the raging flames, it only felt like a feather was gently brushing against his skin.
He passed all the way through the flames and dived about five hundred meters left and right, before steadily falling on the reef-like black rocks above the underground magma.
Landing on the reef, Ye Qingyu exuded a thin layer of violet mist, which flowed slowly and calmly around following his movement. Although seemingly gentle, it formed an invincible protection around him that the intense heat did not have the slightest impact on him.
“After over six months, the remnants of yuan qi and blood stench in the sword pit are as strong as before.” Ye Qingyu stood on the rocks, feeling the five elements qi and bloody aura that rose and fell with the heat wave.
At that battle back then, the countless experts of foreign races and Human Race Jianghu masters were now only a wisp of residual aura in the sword pit magma.
He carefully looked at the magma rolling at his feet and sometimes gushed out a few bubbles.
He released his divine sense to survey the area.
The violently surging magma-like the waves in the sea lifted up a magma wave and slammed it toward the surrounding black cliff. The heavy rumbling of the wave echoed in the sword pit. At this time, Ye Qingyu felt as though he was standing in a bell that had just been struck.
The boundless magma spurted out countless spark-like liquid that splashed everywhere. When it fell on the light purple mist around Ye Qingyu, it instantly evaporated into little wisps of red smoke and dissipated.
“This is?”